Space Station Happenings

Japan's H-2 rocket prepares for Launch

My busy schedule doesn't always leave me room for blogging, and a lot of space activity has been going on recently that catches my interest. On the ISS front, besides a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts to make some maintenance repairs, there has been a vitual salvo of rocket shots aimed at the station. Japan made a successful launch of the H-2 rocket and sent its new cargo pod to the ISS.

HTV-2 docks at ISS.

The cargo pod, designated HTV-2 (Heavy Transfer Vehicle 2) reached orbit and a couple days later rendezvoused with the ISS. Using the robotic arm, the astronauts captured the pod and attached it to the docking port.

Canadarm grabs the drifting HTV-2.

Commander Kelly opening the hatch to HTV-2.

With the ending of the Space Shuttle program, the ISS will depend on regular shipments of supplies by using these automated robotic spacecraft. But Japan was not the only cargo shipper lately. Russia also launched another Progress vehicle which just arrived at the station.

Progress on the launch pad in Kazakhstan.

The Progress 41 cargo ship was carrying extra propellant, oxygen, water, and a ton and a half of parts and food. Russia has developed a very successful robotic resupply program with the Progress series. Russia also keeps one or two Soyuz capsules docked to the station for use by the astronauts and cosmonauts. Again, with the demise of the shuttle program, the Soyuz capsules are the only access for people to and from the ISS until the USA develops something new.

ESA's ATV "Jules Verne" approaching ISS.

The third cargo ship used to transfer supplies to ISS is the European Space Agency's ATV. The ATV is the largest of the cargo pods and carries about 22 tons. The first ATV was named "Jules Verne." The next one to launch is named "Johannes Kepler" and is scheduled to launch on February 15th this year.

America is also in on the cargo ship game. Just a month ago, Space X launched its very successful Falcon 9 rocket with the first Dragon cargo capsule. Unlike the other three cargo pods, instead of burning up in the atmosphere after their mission is finished, Dragon returns safely to the Earth for refurbishment and reuse. Space X plans to develop a human-rated version of the Dragon in the near future. It may even be completed before NASA is able to design a replacement for the shuttle!

On January 21st, Russian cosmonauts Kondratyev and Skripochka made a 5-hour spacewalk to retreive some experiments and install communications equipment.

Challenger disaster thoughts

Crew of mission STS-51 L, lost January 28, 1986

Commander Francis R Scobee

Pilot Michael J Smith

Judith A Resnik

Ellison S Onizuka

Ronald E McNair

Gregory B Jarvis

Sharon Christa McAuliffe

Wreckage of Challenger during recovery from Atlantic ocean.

While we commemorate the loss of the crew, and recognize the courage of those who explore space and understand the value of the risk, let's also remember why it happened. I'm not talking about the actual failure of the frozen o-ring which allowed hot gas to escape the solid rocket motor. I'm talking about the failure of leadership. Someone was too eager to please superiors and succumbed to the pressure of a schedule, ignoring warnings from those who understood the danger. Seven lives were lost. The failure was doubled later, when those guilty of the failure tried to cover up their mistakes by blaming and persecuting the very engineer and team that warned them about the danger.

May NASA and ATK (formerly Thiokol) never make that mistake again.

Challenger in orbit, picture taken from the SPAS satellite.

After the accident, America endured a period of waiting while engineers and scientists examined the cause of the accident and modified the shuttle boosters so that the same problem would not occur. Let's also remember that there were great sacrifices made by NASA and contractor workers to solve the problems and get us flying again. Eventually, shuttle Discovery returned our nation to space travel.

We need to encourage private companies to continue their work on new launch vehicles and crew capsules which will give us alternatives to just one government launch system. With the competitive nature of Boeing, Lockheed, Space X, and Virgin Galactic, we look forward to a more prosperous space travel scenario.

NASA Remembrance Day

Today has been set apart as a Day of Remembrance for the lives lost during the great exploration of Space. Although we specifically honor American lives lost, we also remember the lives lost by the Russian explorers in tragic accidents of the past.

As symbolized in the space patches shown above, we specifically remember the loss of Apollo 1 on the test pad in 1966, the crew of the shuttle Challenger in 1986, and the loss of the crew of the shuttle Columbia in 2003. All these brave men and women were lost due to mechanical errors, and each was different from each other. That means we learn from our mistakes and press on, overcoming the obstacles to achieving the goal of making risky space exploration as safe as we can.

Every year when we commemorate our fallen space explorers, we are told that the explorers felt the risk was worth it. History proves that this is generally true. Closer to Earth, think about the many losses in the past of exploration history. How many voyagers lost their lives to unexpected storms crossing the oceans to discover opportunity in the New World? How many lives have been lost in the attempt to conquer air travel? And don't forget that lives have been lost by explorers who have sought adventure discovering underground passages and treasures.

But today we remember men and women like Ed White (first American to walk in space) who perished in the fire of Apollo 1, Christa McAuliffe (chosen to be America's first teacher in space) who was killed in the Challenger explosion, and Ilan Ramon (first Israeli to fly in space) who died in the breakup of Columbia during re-entry.

While Senators, Representatives, and Presidents argue over how much money to cut from NASA and cannot find a consistent path for our American space program, let's remember the true cost of space exploration and remind ourselves that we cannot let those sacrifices be made in vain. In a year that will see the end of a major space program, let's hope that we may also see the birth of a compelling and exciting new space exploration program.

For more information, go to NASA's website commemorating the losses of our explorers: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/dor11/

50 YA - Tiros 2: Second Weather Satellite

Tiros prototype being installed at Smithsonian.

With the success of Tiros-1 earlier in the year, Tiros-2 was launched on a Thor-Delta rocket into orbit on November 23rd, 1960. Like the first version, Tiros-2 was powered by 9,200 solar cells covering the outside of the craft.

Thor-Delta rocket.

Once in orbit, mission controllers determined that the craft had not stabilized correctly. Tiros-2 was equipped with ten small rockets designed to spin the craft precisely to ensure a stable positioning of the camera system. Because the spin was not correct, the camera system was not taking pictures correctly. There were problems with the contrast between light and dark areas on the images.

By the 25th, engineers had managed to increase the spin stabilization which made for a better controlled orientation. Additionally, they had increased the power generation of the solar cells. By the 28th, the system was operating as designed.

Tiros-1 image of hurricane.

The Tiros program was essential in developing weather forecasting procedures. It was so successful, that evidently some people wondered why we needed to develop more complicated spy satellites. As you can see from the image above though, the two really could not compare. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

Astronauts return for Thanksgiving

Doug Wheelock knows what's important.

The last three astronauts of Expedition 25 have landed in Kazakhstan at about 9:46 p.m. MST Thursday night. These brave explorers have finished a 5-month stay on the ISS. So naturally they would be really feeling the effects of Earth's gravity when they arrived. The Russians take good care of the crew, helping them out of the capsule and moving them about on specially designed couches which can be carried around from the capsule to the medical tents to the helicopters.

Please place your trays in the upright position...

The Soyuz capsule is designed to land on solid ground, unlike previous pre-shuttle American craft which were designed for water landings. It is very likely that the next capsules designed for NASA will also be designed for landing on solid ground. Can't be sure yet though, there are several designs under development and nothing is certain yet.

On a good note for commercial development, Space X (builder of the Falcon 9 rocket) has received a permit for de-orbit operations. This is a first for commercial space activities. Space X will be preparing to launch their Dragon cargo capsule in about a month, after the shuttle Discovery makes its last voyage to the ISS. Dragon hopes to build a human-rated spacecraft based on the Dragon design. Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace are also building a competitive design, as is Lockheed. I hope all three have success.

Meanwhile, back in space, the ISS Expedition 26 officially started at the moment that the Expedition 25 crew left the station in the Soyuz capsule. Expedition 26 is commanded by American astronaut Scott Kelly with Russian flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka.

L-R: Shannon Walker, Doug Wheelock, Fyodor Yurchikhin

The Americans of the recently returned crew described their landing as pretty exciting "... an E-ticket ride" and "...a series of explosions followed by a crash." Nothing to worry about though, that's exactly how the Soyuz lands. They return having completed the first decade of permanent manned operations on the ISS. Whether we continue another 10 years of continual operations is a question to which Americans and Russians will have to seriously dedicate themselves.

Progress in War Against Comets

Comet Jets in action.

Congratulations to our scientists who study comets and asteroids. JPL EPOXI mission controllers managed to fly the spacecraft to within 800 miles of Comet Hartley 2 to get some of the best pictures yet of a comet in action, The picture above shows streaming jets of dust and gas coming off of the surface. This time scientists were able to pinpoint jets to particular surface features, something we haven't been able to do before. All I could think of as I saw the pictures come in was, "SO that's what a comet does!" The comet tumbles as it orbits around the sun, the surface warms up and begins spewing jets of stuff out into space, forming a cloud of tiny debris which is blown away from the comet itself by the action of the solar wind. Much later, as Earth moves in its own orbit around the Sun, it encounters remnants of this debris release, and the particles end up entering our atmosphere at extreme speeds, creating our meteor showers.

Japanese scientists made a breakthrough with the Hayabusa satellite, which captured some of the debris left behind either by comets or shattered asteroids floating in the inner solar system.

Asteroid bits captured in gel.

The Hayabusa spacecraft spent two and a half months flying around the astroid Itokawa in 2005. It captured buts of the asteroid floating around it, and made a return course back to Earth. The sample capsule plunged into the Earth's atmosphere and was retrieved. Scientists are now studying the particles to learn the composition of the asteroid.

Celebrations here in the Bunker. Our close reconnaissance of Comet Hartley 2 gives us unprecedented views of the enemy in action. We can actually see in the photos how the rock bomber releases its micro weapons into an orbit which the enemy hopes intercepts the Earth. Such tactical information may be of great use to us as we plan counter-operations.

Kudos to the Japanese who have actually obtained unexploded asteroid ordinance for us to examine. Scientists will use these pieces to begin unravelling the mystery of these enemy weapons which could cause untold devastation if they should happen to smack into our planet.

It's advances like these that keep our hope alive that we may yet find a way to protect ourselves from deadly attacks from the Comet Empire.

Leonids Space Attack!

Duck and Cover Thanksgiving version!

It's time once again for the Leonids Meteor Shower, when the Earth enters the left-over debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Tonight, November 17th is our closest approach to the comet trail orbiting the sun in our path. Experts predict that this year there doesn't seem to be much chance of an impressive show, as our planet's orbit is missing the densest part of the debris trail. According to SpaceWeather.com, patient observers in a dark-sky location might average seeing less than a couple of dozen Leonid meteor trails per hour. The best view will come after midnight and before dawn, and the meteors will seem to come from the constellation of Leo the Lion.

Aha! The Comet Empire has botched this latest assault on our world. With such a slow rate of fire the world may not even take notice. We'll be shutting the bunker down early, instead preferring to listen to the radio and smile when the BYU Cougars wup on USU in a great basketball confrontation.