Solar Flare Alert!

Danger? Danger?!?

Do you still have your special eclipse glasses from the June eclipse and Venus transit events? You might be able to see a large sunspot complex on the lower half of the solar disk. Designated AR1520, this large sunspot group erupted a large CME event (Coronal Mass Ejection) on July 12. This large amount of solar matter is expected to impact the Earth orbit on Saturday, July 14 at about 3:17 AM Eastern time (1:17 am Mountain time). The eruption is already bathing the Earth in a pulse of UV rays and radio signals from stations in the arctic circle noticed disruptions. However, no severe incidents to our lives are to be expected, though there may be beautiful Northern Lights. Thank goodness for the magnetic field.

SHIELDS UP! A blast of solar energy is approaching the Earth! Of course most of us will be hunkered down in our beds, as this event will occur in the wee hours after midnight. I will be safely ensconced in the SpaceRubble Command Bunker, but will be tuning in to news on the solar event on the Internet. 

Don't forget to look up information about this event on http://www.spaceweather.com/. 

Expedition 32: Second crew prepares for launch

Soyuz Rocket on the pad at Baikonur.

Currently, Expedition 32 on the ISS consists of Commander Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, cosmonaut Sergei Revin, and astronaut Joe Acaba. Their expedition started when Expedition 31 undocked from the ISS and landed on Earth on July 1st. Tomorrow, on Saturday July 14, the second part of the Expedition 32 crew will board their Soyuz rocket (TMA-05M) and blast off to join their team members on ISS.

TMA-05M crew training for rendezvous and docking.

The reinforcements include Soyuz commander cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, and NASA astronaut Suni Williams. They are expected to dock on July 17.

50 Years Ago: Titan-2 Test Launches

Titan-2 ICBM test launch from silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

On July 11 and 12, 1962, the US Air Force made the second and third successful launches of the Titan-2 rocket. This second version of the Titan rocket could carry twice the payload of the Titan-1, and used a storable version of liquid propellants that would enable it to be fueled long before actual launch, making its readiness easier. While the initial version of the rocket carried the largest of the American nuclear warheads, this rocket would become an essential piece of the NASA program of space exploration, launching both satellites and astronauts into space.

50 Years Ago: Deke gets Reassigned

Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. NASA portrait.

Back on July 11, 1962, the Mercury Seven astronaut lineup got a shake-up. Major Deke Slayton (USAF) was re-assigned to take over new operational and planning responsibilities for the astronaut program. He had originally been scheduled to fly the second orbital mission, but Scott Carpenter had flown that mission instead. NASA Doctors had declared Deke was suffering from "Atrial Fibrilation" of the heart. As one astronaut put it, "Don't all our hearts fibrilate?" There was much grief among the astronauts at this decision, but NASA feared such a condition could lead to a medical emergency while in space away from medical help. Deke was a realist, and understood that he could still be of use to NASA. He would eventually resign from the Air Force in 1862, and take up full time administrative work as the head of the astronaut program. He would work extensively with astronaut training programs, detail their schedules and also the flight rotation for missions. And he would never give up on his desire to go into space.

Original Mercury Seven. Slayton is front row, second from left.

Deke was quite a pilot. He had flown B-25 bomber missions over Europe in World War 2, and later flew A-26 missions over the Pacific. His postwar college schooling got him a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and he became a test pilot for the Air Force, flying the "Century" series of fighter-bombers. His heart condition grounded him from flying.

50 Years Ago: TELSTAR-1 and the New Age of Communications

NASA art of TELSTAR-1 in space.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of a great leap forward in world communications, the launch of TELSTAR-1 from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962. TELSTAR-1 was not the first communications satellite; that was ECHO-1A sent up on May 13, 1960. But ECHO was a reflective-passive device; signals were bounced, or reflected, off the spherical surface and received on Earth beyond the horizon. TELSTAR broke new ground. To begin with, TELSTAR was the first privately sponsored space launch effort. The satellite was built at Bell Telephone Laboratories, and included transponders which relayed television or telephone channels back to the ground, another first. Third, the launch was the 10th successful blast-off of the Thor-Delta rocket system. Other Thor-Delta launches had included ECHO-1, TIROS weather satellites, EXPLORERs 10 and 12, ARIEL-1, and OSO-1.

A TELSTAR satellite under construction.

Weighing about 170 pounds, TELSTAR was powered by small solar panels which generated about 14 watts of energy. It would eventually transmit the first public television and telephone signals (including the first Fax!) and would also transmit the first transAtlantic television signal.

Thor-Delta rocket.

TELSTAR-1 was sent into space from Launch Complex 17, pad B, on a Thor-Delta rocket. Its orbit was elliptical, or egg-shaped, and the satellite circled the Earth every 2 hours and 37 minutes. It continued in operation until February the next year, but TELSTAR-1 still orbits the Earth to this day. The end of TELSTAR-1 was premature, because it was exposed to higher amounts of radiation than it normally would have encountered from the Van Allen radiation belt. The day before its launch, the US Air Force had launched a nuclear weapon into space to test the effects of the blast on potential enemy rockets. Further space nuclear tests, including a Soviet explosion in October 1962, eventually degraded the electronics.

To realize the significance of this launch, you only have to think of how many times each day you call someone cross-country, watch television on your satellite channels, or receive the Internet on your computer. Yes, a lot of towers and cables are involved locally, but the transmission of channels and frequencies to those localities is done through satellite communications. Also consider how much of our nation's defense depends upon secure transmission of coded signals to our troops and installations around the world. And it all started 50 Years Ago. We live in a world our ancestors barely dreamed about.

UPDATE: NASA History Office noted the anniversary today on its Twitter account (@NASAhistory) and provided this link to a wonderful short news film from the day which shows TELSTAR's construction, launch,and the first images transmitted. Wonderful little film, thanks, NASA!
http://ia600401.us.archive.org/27/items/1962-07-12_A_Day_in_History/1962-07-12_A_Day_in_History_512kb.mp4

Expedition 31 Returns to Earth

Expedition 31 crew members prepare to close the hatch.

Just after midnight on Sunday July 1st, the three members of the 31st expedition to the International Space Station undocked their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft and headed for home. Expedition commander Oleg Kononenko, and flight engineers Don Petite and Andre Kuipers had been in space for about 6 months. Later on Sunday, the spacecraft made its final deorbit burn and re-entered the atmosphere. Under parachute, the crew touched down in Kazakhstan on Sunday afternoon.

The Soyuz spacecraft moves away from the ISS.

Great view of the Soyuz from above the Earth.

Russian view of descending crew capsule. Several Mi-8 helicopters circled the capsule as it approached the landing site.

Thrusters fired just before landing to slow the capsule for a softer landing. Touchdown!

With the end of Expedition 31, the remaining crew on the ISS now take over command and begin Expedition 32. Cosmonaut Gennady Pedalka leads the expedition, and marks his 3rd command of the ISS! He is accompanied by Flight engineers Joe Acaba (NASA) and Sergei Revin (Russia). The second half of the crew will arrive on July 17. 

Rocket Summer

Up, up and away for the Delta-4. Credit: ULA.

For rocket lovers, we live in a wonderful time for rocket watching. Every summer is a rocket summer. On July 29 rocket fans watched United Launch Alliance and the US Air Force launch a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Blasting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center), the Delta-4 Heavy lifted a classified NRO satellite (NROL-15) into orbit. 

Liftoff from LC-37. Credit: ULA.

The Delta-4 Heavy is the most powerful variant of the Delta family of rockets (scroll down to the article on the Atlas-5 launch for the graphic display of the Delta family of rockets). It's even more powerful now, with this latest launch featuring new versions of the RL-68 rocket engines, the RL-68A's. These new engines feature an additional 36-39,000 pounds of thrust for a total of 797,000 pounds of thrust. The distinguishing feature of the Delta-4 Heavy is the addition of the two side boosters, which are liquid-fueled instead of the commonly-seen solid rocket boosters. 

With this Delta-4 Heavy launch, it means we've seen recently a launch of the Delta-4, the Atlas-5, the Long March variant for Shenzhou-9, with upcoming launches of the Soyuz and another Atlas-5 in July.

Rocket Motor Two tests in the desert. Credit: Virgin Galactic.

And it's not just rocket flights, either. There's plenty of rocket engine testing going on in the race for commercial rocket development. Virgin Galactic is preparing for the first tourists flights into sub-orbit, and continuing testing of the Rocket Two engine at their facilities in the Mojave desert.

ATK fires up in the Utah desert. Credit: ATK

ATK continues working feverishly to advance the Liberty rocket system. In northern Utah at their facility near Brigham City, ATK fired the GEM-60 solid rocket motor which will power the first stage of Liberty. Liberty is expected to fly in 2014.

Liberty rocket and capsule. Art by ATK.

In fact, it's not just rocket engines that fly the machines, it's computers as well. ATK has recently completed a technical review of its program software with NASA, fulfilling another step in the long checklist of items towards launch. ATK expects to have two unmanned launches in 2014 and 2015, with the first crewed launch in 2015. Other companies will have to press onward quickly to match this schedule, should ATK manage to maintain this pace.