NASA readies the space shuttle Discovery for its scheduled launch on Feb. 24. – The space shuttle Discovery reached Launch Pad 39A following its 3.4
mile trek on the crawler-transporter from the Vehicle Assembly
Building, NASA reported, noting the first motion began Jan. 31.
The space agency reported the rotating service structure was closed
around Discovery the morning of …
The space agency and President Obama pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration. – Throughout the storied history of the U.S.
space program, which put a man on the moon, sent unmanned satellites into the
farthest reaches of our solar system and inspired generations with the heroic
deeds of dozens of astronauts, there have been moments of heartbreak. In 1967,
three astronauts w…
NASA Shared Services Center is using RightNow CX as part of its cloud effort to improve the Website experience as well as to cut costs for maintaining live phone operators. – NASA has moved its citizen-support center to the RightNow Secure Government
Cloud, RightNow Technologies said Jan. 27. The support site will be using the
RightNow CX customer experience platform to improve Website efficiency, the
company said.
The NASA Shared
Services Center
is a public/privat…
NASA works to gather financial support for a final space shuttle launch tentatively planned for late June. – As the space agencys storied space shuttle program winds down, NASA announced it has “baselined” the STS-135 mission for a target launch date of June 28. The mission would see space shuttle Atlantis deliver supplies to the International Space Station, including a replacement for a malfunctioning pum…
In late 2010, NASA awarded contracts to three teams Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing to study advanced concept designs for aircraft that could take to the skies in the year 2025. At the time of the award, the team gave NASA a sneak peek of the particular designs they planned to pursue. Now the space agency, in the last throes of its space-shuttle glory days, is making some of those designs public. The space agency also recently sponsored an 18-month effort to visualize the passenger airplanes of the future. Instead of exotic new designs seemingly borrowed from science fiction, familiar shapes dominated the pages of advanced concept studies, which four industry teams completed for NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program in April 2010. While each design looks very different, the space agency noted all final designs have to meet NASA’s goals for less noise, cleaner exhaust and lower fuel consumption. Shape-memory alloys, ceramic or fiber composites, carbon-nanotube or fiber-optic cabling, self-healing skin, hybrid electric engines, folding wings, double fuselages and virtual-reality windows are just a few of the far-out conceptual materials that aircraft of the future might embody. – …
A trio of advanced aircraft designs, commissioned by NASA, offer a glimpse into the future of flight. – In
late 2010, NASA awarded contracts to three teams Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman and Boeing to study advanced concept designs for aircraft that could
take to the skies in the year 2025. At the time of the award, the team gave NASA
a sneak peek of the particular designs they plan to pursue. …
NASA sets a date for the final launch of space shuttle Discovery after finding a fix for external fuel tank cracks. – After months of delays caused by the appearance of cracks in space
shuttle Discoverys external fuel tank, NASA officials announced the
shuttle now has a planned launch date of Feb. 24. Space shuttle program
managers briefed senior NASA officials Jan. 10 about the status of
repairs and engineerin…
The long delayed final launch of the space shuttle Discovery will move ahead as planned, despite evidence of new cracks. – The launch of the space shuttle Discovery remains on track for early
February, despite the need for additional repairs to the shuttle’s fuel tank,
according to NASA officials. The 26-year-old Discovery, which has been in orbit
38 times and is the senior citizen of the U.S.
space program, is to b…
Arguably the biggest story to come out of the NASA space program in 2010 is the winding down of the space shuttle program. That not only affects NASA, but also thousands of American workers who now face an uncertain future. While NASA plans to launch at least two more missions in 2011, the end of the three-decade space shuttle program marks the eclipse of some of NASA’s most storied achievements. These events, however, should not diminish what NASA achieved this year. The space agency and its international partners celebrated 10 years of permanent human habitation on the International Space Station (ISS) on Nov. 2, and participated in the August rescue of trapped Chilean miners. "NASA achievements this year across the spectrum& from science to aeronautics, education and human spaceflight& provided incredible value to our nation," according to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. "We continue to build upon our rich history, taking on new challenges and doing the things that no one else can do& all for the benefit of humanity." – …
A recent NASA audit underscored how weak IT asset disposal policies can endanger your company’s data. – Protecting PCs doesn’t stop when they are still being used by employees; it
continues to the very end of a machine’s life the day when it heads to the
dump.
This was underscored recently by
a NASA audit that revealed a number of security failures connected to
machines slated for disposal. At NA…
According to an internal audit at four NASA facilities, inspectors found that equipment was being sold without verifying that all data had been removed, in violation of existing data security requirements. – Personnel at NASA failed to remove data from obsolete
computers before selling or discarding them, according to a NASA Office of
Inspector General audit report released Dec. 8.
Titled quot;Preparing for the Space
Shuttle Program’s Retirement, quot; the audit focused on the disposal
procedures …
The space agency on Dec. 3 postponed what was to be the final launch of Discovery until after the holidays. – NASA is not taking any chances with the 26-year-old Space Shuttle
Discovery, which has been in orbit 38 times and is the senior citizen
of the U.S. space program.
The agency on Dec. 3 postponed for the third time what was to be the
final launch of Discovery until after the holidays. It origina…
A research team funded by the space agency found life built with the toxic chemical arsenic in a California lake. – NASA-funded researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono
Lake in California
announced they have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to
thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic, a discovery NASA
officials said has changed the fundamental knowledge …
Images captured by NASA’s spacecraft after the recent encounter with Comet Hartley 2 revealed a cosmic snow storm created by carbon dioxide jets spewing out tons of golf-ball to basketball-sized fluffy ice particles from the peanut-shaped comet’s rocky ends. “This is the first time we’ve ever seen individual chunks of ice in the cloud around [...]
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered evidence of the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighbourhood. The 30-year-old black hole could help scientists better understand how massive stars explode, which ones leave behind black holes or neutron stars, and the number of black holes in our galaxy and others. It is a [...]
Technicians at the space agency say the cracks found in the space shuttle’s fuel tank insulation can be repaired. – Officials at NASA said two cracks found in the space shuttle Discovery’s
fuel tanks can be repaired while the shuttle sits on the launch pad. Agency
officials said they discovered cracks along the foam insulation lining of the
fuel tanks. The cracks (one is at least 20 inches long) were found whi…
A fuel leak delays the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery until at least Monday, NASA reports. – The launch of the space shuttle Discovery encountered another delay due to a
fuel leak, space agency NASA reported. Space shuttle managers scrubbed
Discovery’s launch attempt due to a hydrogen leak at the Ground Umbilical
Carrier Plate, or GUCP.
NASA officials said the next launch opportunity w…
Discovery’s final flight is delayed by electrical glitches: NASA says a Thursday launch is now likely. – Electrical glitches have caused a launch delay for the final flight of the
space shuttle Discovery. NASA announced that its Prelaunch Mission Management
Team wants to give engineers more time to look deeply into electrical issues
from a main engine computer controller that cropped up this morning…
The space shuttle Discovery goes up to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, NASA reported. – NASA’s shuttle program Mission Management Team met this morning as the
countdown remained on track to launch space shuttle Discovery Wednesday on the STS-133
mission, with a scheduled launch time just before 4
p.m. EDT.
The weather forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions…
In “SpaceShipTwo” (October 16th) we said that the latest NASA authorisation bill paved the way for an unmanned mission to an asteroid. That should, of course, have been “a manned mission”. Several asteroids have already been visited by robot spaceships, and NASA’s Dawn craft is currently on its way to two others, Ceres and Vesta, which are the largest of them all.
…
