Tue May 14th, 2024

STARLINER PUSHED BACK TO TUESDAY, MAY 21 4:43 PM EDTStarliner is now slated for a launch date of no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 21, to complete additional testing.FROM BOEING:"Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) teams continue working remaining open tasks in preparation for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. On May 11, the ULA team successfully replaced a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage. The team also performed re-pressurization and system purges, and tested the new valve, which performed normally.Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster. Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire and is not combustible or toxic.NASA and Boeing are developing spacecraft testing and operational solutions to address the issue. As a part of the testing, Boeing will bring the propulsion system up to flight pressurization just as it does prior to launch, and then allow the helium system to vent naturally to validate existing data and strengthen flight rationale. Mission teams also completed a thorough review of the data from the May 6 launch attempt and are not tracking any other issues.The Atlas V and Starliner remain in the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, still in preflight quarantine, returned to Houston on May 10 to spend extra time with their families as prelaunch operations progress. The duo will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the coming days." ... See MoreSee Less

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Tue May 14th, 2024

LAUNCH OF AMERICA'S FIRST SPACE STATION, SKYLAB 1, TODAY, MAY 14, 1973(Tom Usciak photo) It was 1:30 pm in the afternoon on a Monday, and no doubt many on the Florida Space Coast walked outside on a hot Spring day to see the last Saturn V rocket rattle the window of the Florida Space Coast. As the Saturn V reached a cloud deck, a tension strap on the meteoroid shield broke, ripping off the shield and a solar panel with it just 1 minute into launch. That created a rescue scenario for the first crew, 11 days later, to deploy a shield and bring down the 100-degree temperature in side Skylab.The launch of the last Saturn V rocket for earth-orbiting payload of the space station, improvised out out a Saturn third stage rocket, begins some numbering confusion when talking about the three crews that occupied itConfusing is this launch of the Skylab Space Station is called Skylab 1 by the engineers for the Orbital Workshop. Engineers continued the number sequence for the crews, but the media called the crews 1, 2 & 3. ... See MoreSee Less

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Tue May 14th, 2024

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SATURDAY TO THREE AIR FORCE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS: DON McMONGLE, BILL GREGORY and JIM KELLY!We wish a happy birthday on May 14th to three Shuttle space fliers, Don McMonagle, 72; William G. “Borneo” Gregory, 67; and James “Vegas” Kelly, who is 60 years old today.Donald Ray “Don” McMonagle was born on May 14, 1952, in Flint, Michigan, and was a mission specialist, pilot and then commander on his three Shuttle flights in the 1990s. The Air Force colonel was pilot of STS-39 in April 1991; STS-534 in 1993 and commander of STS-66 in 1994. William George "Borneo" Gregory was born in Lockport, New York on May 14, 1957 into an Albanian American family and spent 16 days in space in 1995 on STS-67, an astronomy mission of Astro 2. He is an Air Force lieutenant colonel. James McNeal "Vegas" Kelly was born in Burlington, Iowa, May 14, 1964. STS-102, Discovery in 2001, and STS-114, in 2005, the return to flight in Discovery. An Air Force colonel, he has 26 days in space, both as a Shuttle pilot. He currently serves as CAPCOM Branch Chief as a “management” astronaut. McMonagle NASA Biowww.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mcmonagle_donald.pdfGregory NASA Bio:www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gregor-w.pdf Kelly NASA Biowww.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/kellyjm.pdf ... See MoreSee Less

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Mon May 13th, 2024

Steve Agid, a space worker on Hubble Shuttle missionSteve Agid, a Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex communicator and former space worker, features the 2002 STS-109 Hubble Telescope upgrade. ... See MoreSee Less

Steve Agid, a space worker on Hubble Shuttle mission

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Steve Agid, a Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex communicator and former space worker, features the 2002 STS-109 Hubble Telescope upgrade.

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Mon May 13th, 2024

STEVE AGID SHARES HIS SHUTTLE WORK EXPERIENCE ON HUBBLE MISSIONS TODAY 4 PM EDT or anytime on YouTube www.youtube.com/@AmericanSpaceMuseum/streamsSteve is a regular on SC, and in his "retirement" he is an excellent educator at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. ... See MoreSee Less

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Mon May 13th, 2024

MONSTER SUNSPOT THAT CAUSED AURORA MOVING BEHIND SUNSpaceweather.comPhoto and illustration by Philip Smith, Manorville, NYThis Behemoth Monster Sunspot AR3664 unleashed its biggest solar flare yet, sparking radio blackouts on Earth, in orbiting satellites and giving a sky show of aurora to the world. Sunspot AR3664 is massive! One of largest sunspot complex on record, it is ~124,000 miles wide, the size of 15 Earth diameters, and has been in the news all week. NOTE: DO NOT LOOK AT SUN WITH CAMERA, BINOCULARS OR TELESCOPE WITH OUT PROPER SOLAR FILTER. EYE DAMAGE WILL RESULT. ... See MoreSee Less

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Mon May 13th, 2024

HAPPY 67TH BIRTHDAY TO FRANCE'S FIRST FEMALE ASTRONAUT CLAUDIE HAIGNEREAn international campaigner for STEAM education with two missions to two different space stations (and four Soyuz spaceships!), Claudie Haignere, the first French woman in space, is celebrating her 67th birthday today. Born Claudie Andre-Deshays in Le Creusot, France on May 13, 1957, she has spent 25 days in space. She and her future husband Jean-Pierre Haignere were among the first seven France astronauts chosen out of 10,000 candidates. The asteroid 135268 Haigneré is named in their combined honor. She is a medical doctor specializing in rheumatology. On August 17, 1996, Haignere became the first French woman to go to space as she and two Russian cosmonauts launched into space aboard the Soyuz TM-24 on the Russian-French Cassiopée mission. She visited the Mir space station for 16 days while American woman Shannon Lucid was in residence. Haignere conducted comprehensive experiments in the fields of physiology and development biology, fluid physics and technology. She returned in the Soyuz TM-23 spaceship. As the flight engineer on Soyuz TM-33 in 2001, she became the first European woman to visit the International Space Station. Spending 8 days on the ISS, Haignere again returned to space in an older Soyuz TM-32 spaceship, launching and landing in four different Soyuz during her spaceflight career. After her space missions, Claudie Haigneré continued her involvement in space science by attending scientific workshops and conferences. She also contributed to data analysis and construction ideas for the scientific programs of future projects. She eventually retired from ESA on 18 June 2002.Haigneré recently accepted the position to chair the Jury of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, which is an annual pan-African student competition in which students write an essay or create a poster focusing on science and technology fields as a source of inspiration to unlock opportunities for Africa. The essays and posters will then be judged by an international panel of industry experts, government and academic world members, based on accuracy, creativity, originality and innovation. Claudie Haigneré's acceptance of this assignment marks the first time a woman has served on the panel for the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards.Claudie' ESA bio: www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Claudie_Haignere_formerl... ... See MoreSee Less

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Sun May 12th, 2024

HAPPY 62ND BIRTHDAY TO GREG "BOX" JOHNSON, TWICE ENDEAVOUR PILOTWith the nickname “Box” given during Desert Storm service, Gregory Harold Johnson was born 62 years ago on May 12, 1962 in South Ruislip, Middlesex, UK, but he was raised in America in Fairborn, Ohio and Traverse City, Michigan. "Box" Johnson piloted Endeavour twice, STS-123 in March 2008 and the last flight of OV-105, STS-134 in May 2011. A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate in May 1984, Johnson was designated as an Air Force pilot in May 1986 at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. He is not to be confused with astronaut Gregory “Ray J” Johnson, who piloted STS-125 in 2009. "Box" Johnson flew 34 combat missions in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1990. Colonel Johnson has logged over 5,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft. He retired from the Air Force on February 1, 2009.Johnson has said the origination of the name "Box Johnson" came from his tour in Desert Storm. In 1990. Johnson incurred a back injury that led him to being sent home early. He put all of his belongings in a box and then he was taken back to the states. The box was left in the barracks, and it became a reminder to all his fellow soldiers about how he was at home. So they wrote "Box Johnson" on the box and the name stuck".Johnson became the deputy chief and ultimately, the Chief of the Astronaut Safety Branch, focusing on all aspects of Space Shuttle, International Space Station and T-38 safety. In 2007, Johnson was selected to pilot Endeavour on the STS-123 mission that launched in March 2008. In May 2011, Johnson piloted Endeavour's final flight, STS-134. From October 2011 to November 2012, Johnson was appointed on a one-year detail as Associate Director of External Programs, Center Operations, at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. There, he managed all public affairs, outreach and educational programs at NASA Glenn. After returning to JSC in late 2012, Johnson headed the visiting vehicles working group within the astronaut office, which helped plan, train and execute missions of Space X Dragon, Orbital Cygnus and JAXA HTV cargo vehicles to and from the International Space Station. In August 2013, Johnson departed NASA to accept a position as Executive Director, CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space) until 2018. He now is an executive with Lockeed Martin. www.nasa.gov/.../atoms/files/johnson_gregory_h.pdf ... See MoreSee Less

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Sat May 11th, 2024

STS-125 AND STS-400 IN RARE, DOUBLE STACKED LAUNCH PADS FOR HUBBLE REPAIR AND POSSIBLE RESCUEIn one of the rarest "opportunity" photos of the Space Age, two Space Shuttles occupy the NASA Launch complexes 39A & 39B in early May 2009.STS-125 and Atlantis is in the foreground on LC-39A, and the "rescue" Shuttle of Endeavour, designated STS-400, is in the background on LC-39B, 1.5 miles away. The STS-125, May 11 launch in 2009 went as planned. As did the mission of 13 days, all the final Hubble upgrades performed as planned. Because of the different orbits of the 400-mile high Hubble Space Telescope and the 200-mile high orbit of the International Space Station, a separate "rescue" Shuttle was put on a launch pad, a precaution dictated by lessons learned in the Columbia disaster. The first rollout of the two Shuttles was in September 2008, but in October 2008 STS-125 was delayed and rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. A new flight manifest necessitated swapping Endeavour to orbiter Discovery (redesignated STS-401), but before tollout, the Hubble mission was further delayed, resulting in the rescue mission reverting back to Endeavour. The STS-400 Endeavour crew were part of STS-126 (launched Nov. 15, 2008 on a 16-day ISS mission): Commander Christopher Ferguson; pilot Eric Boe; Robert Kimbrough and Stephen Bowen. If a problem with Atlantis developed, STS-400 could launch in three days with a seven-day flight ending with the return of the seven STS-125 astronauts--11 astronauts total upon reentry. On May 21, three days before Atlantis' landing, NASA officially released Endeavour from the rescue mission, freeing the orbiter to begin processing for STS-127. This also allowed NASA to continue processing LC-39B for the upcoming Ares I-X launch on Oct. 28, 2009. ... See MoreSee Less

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Sat May 11th, 2024

LAST HUBBLE SERVICE MISSION LAUNCHED 15 YEARS AGO TODAY IN 2009STS-125 with a crew of seven and new equipment for the Hubble Space Telescope was launched on May 11, 2009 at 2:01 pm EDT for a 13-day mission that included 5 spacewalks by four astronauts. This was the last flight for Atlantis that didn’t go to the International Space Station, and let the Hubble continue operation as it is now in its 31st year of imaging the cosmos. The service upgrades of Hubble by STS-125 in 2009 were to allow one of the world’s greatest scientific instruments to work through 2014. It is still going strong in 2022.Celebrating its 34th year in space on April 24th (STS-31), the Hubble Space Telescope is expected to last at least another five years. A new report suggests that the iconic spacecraft has a strong chance of enduring through the late-2020s.The crew of STS-125 included three astronauts who had previous experience servicing Hubble. Scott Altman visited Hubble in 2002 as commander of STS-109, the fourth Hubble servicing mission. John Grunsfeld, an astronomer, has serviced Hubble twice, performing a total of five spacewalks on STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109. (Grunsfeld is the last person to physically touch the Space Shuttle). Michael Massimino served with both Altman and Grunsfeld on STS-109, and performed two spacewalks to service the telescope. Other astronauts on the mission were pilot Greg Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Good, Andrew Feustel and Megan McArthur. Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. It is still working in 2020. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by a robotic spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan. The mission also carried an IMAX camera with which the crew documented the progress of the mission for the 2010 IMAX film, Hubble.NASA managers and engineers declared the mission a complete success. The completion of all the major objectives, as well as some that were not considered vital, upgraded the Hubble telescope to its most technologically advanced state since its launch nineteen years before and made it more powerful. The upgrades helped Hubble to see deeper into the universe and farther into the past, closer to the time of the Big Bang.STS-125 was the only visit to the Hubble Space Telescope for Atlantis; the telescope had been previously serviced twice by Discovery and once each by Columbia and Endeavour. The mission was the 30th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis and also the first by Atlantis in over 14 years not to visit a space station, the last one being STS-66. ... See MoreSee Less

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“Build-A-Brain” Educational STEM Workshops – “Basics of Electronics” – May 2024

“Build-A-Brain” Educational STEM Workshops – “That’s Just Cold – Cryogenics” – June 2024

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