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This Week at NASA...

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“You’re looking straight into the camera,
absolutely.”

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Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Mikhail Kornienko
spent nearly seven hours

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spacewalking to replace a video camera and
improve cable connections to the

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International Space Station.

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The two Expedition 24 Flight Engineers outfitted
the new Rassvet mini module to host

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automatic linkups with Russian vehicles arriving
at the station. They also routed and

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mated Command and Data Handling cables on
the Zvezda and Zarya modules.

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A video camera was removed and replaced on
the aft end of Zvezda then successfully

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tested. It’ll be used to provide television
views of the final approach and docking of

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future European Automated Transfer Vehicles
carrying cargo to the complex.

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Aerospace engineers at the Ames Research Center
are using wind tunnels to test a

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launch abort system, or LAS, for the Orion
spacecraft. A six per cent scale model of

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the
spacecraft, complex parts and all, is being

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used to mimic various launch conditions so
researchers can better understand the aerodynamics

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of Orion’s liftoff and climb to
orbit.

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“We’re looking at how the aerodynamics
are affected as we do an abort and separation

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maneuver, and then how to control the vehicle
as we go through the abort and recovery

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as it comes down and the shoots come out.”

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Comprised of a tower and cover, Orion’s
LAS has a powerfully built launch abort motor

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which would quickly move the craft and its
human cargo away from the launch vehicle

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in an emergency. The ability to protect astronauts
from a launch pad failure is a critical

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component of human spaceflight, and tests
like these help maintain the safety of

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astronauts throughout their mission.

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Like proud parents watching their baby take
its first steps, mission team members

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gathered in the gallery above the clean room
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to

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witness the Mars Curiosity rover roll for
the first time.

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Curiosity was guided by engineers and technicians
in "bunny suits" as it made its first

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roll on the clean room floor, moving forward
and backward about a meter.

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“It’s gone from designs on napkins, to
Power Point, to CAD drawings, to blueprints

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and
now it’s a rover.”

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Curiosity, also known as the Mars Science
Laboratory, will be the largest rover ever

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sent to the Red Planet. It’ll carry ten
instruments to detect places where life may

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have
existed and whether they have the capacity

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to preserve the evidence. MSL is
scheduled to launch in fall 2011 and set down

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on Mars the following August.

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A camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft
has helped develop the most

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accurate global Martian map ever. And not
only can researchers access the map – so,

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can the public, explore and survey the entire
surface of the Red Planet as well.

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The map is made from nearly 21,000 images
taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging

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System, THEMIS, a multi-band infrared camera
on Odyssey. The pictures have been

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smoothed, matched, blended and cartographically
controlled to make a giant mosaic.

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Users can pan and zoom into the images, with
some of the smallest surface details

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just 330 feet wide. Researchers at Arizona
State University's Mars Space Flight Facility

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and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been
compiling the map since THEMIS began

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observations eight years ago.

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While some portions of Mars have been mapped
at higher resolution, this map is the

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most accurate one to cover the entire planet.

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“This 100 meter resolution map is going
to be extremely helpful in making the planet

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accessible to everybody, and also for adding
in higher resolution images.”

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Explore Mars yourself by following the links
at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey.

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“Welcome all, and thanks for coming, thanks
for playing with us, and by all means,

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thanks for joining me through the Twitter-verse.”

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TJ Creamer, the first NASA astronaut to send
a live message from space via the social

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messaging medium, Twitter, hosted a special
Tweetup at NASA Headquarters.

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T “And here we are doing synchronized swimming.”
(laughter)

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A Tweetup is an informal meeting of Tweeps,
or people who use Twitter.

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“I understand part of your mission was to
set up the live internet connection on the

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space station. Can you speak a little more
about that?”

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While in space, Creamer set up the International
Space Station’s live Internet

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connection and posted updates about his 161
day-stay aboard the complex to his

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Twitter account, sending the first live “tweet”
from orbit.

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“When I got up there; I made it a pet project.
I did what any good geek does on a

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Saturday night, pizza and playing with stuff,
trying different variables and poof – I

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got
lucky! Once we were able to make that connection

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happen, the first thing I did was --
“hey Twitterers.”

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Some 100 participants randomly-selected from
Web registrants attended the event broadcast

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live on
NASA Television.

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The Ames Research Center hosted Exploration
Day featuring NASA’s out-of-this-world missions

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and
technology programs. Fresh from her recent

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tour of the Johnson Space Center, “Star
Trek” star

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Nichelle Nichols was the special guest at
Ames, meeting with students at a science poster

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session and
touring several of the center’s simulators.

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Youngsters were treated to a variety of hands-on
educational experiences. Among them, the Traveling

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Space Museum, offering more than ten stations
of fun and interesting activities.

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The day-long event was part of NASA’s Summer
of Innovation initiative.

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“We’re sharing with them just how exciting
and how engaging science, technology, engineering,

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mathematics is, and we’re doing it by giving
them a first-hand, hands-on, front row seat

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in
the

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experience.”

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The STS-132 crew continued its road trip with
a multi-site stop in Ohio and the nation’s

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capital. Five
crew members, including local native Michael

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Good, shared their mission highlights with
an attentive

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crowd at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland. They toured the iconic landmark

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and presented
museum CEO Terry Stewart with several items

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that flew with the shuttle Atlantis crew to
the

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International Space Station in May. These
included the official Rock and Roll Hall of

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Fame flag, and
copies of the lyrics for Jimi Hendrix’s

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“Purple Haze” and Bruce Springsteen’s
“Born in the U.S.A.”

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Joining Good for the event was Commander Ken
Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists

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Garrett Reisman and Steve Bowen.

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Good and crewmates also met with singer Jon
Bon Jovi and band and later attended a concert

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by the
rock group.

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In Washington, the five astronauts were joined
by 132 Mission Specialist Piers Sellers and

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Expedition
22/23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer to show

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mission highlights to NASA headquarters employees.

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They also participated in other events, including
a presentation to the Smithsonian National

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Air and
Space Museum of Dr. John Mather’s Nobel

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Prize medal flown on their mission.

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Finally, the astronauts joined with 500 Headquarters
and Goddard employees at Nationals Park for

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‘NASA Night at the Nats,’ where they took
part in pre-game ceremonies of a baseball

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matchup
between the visiting Atlanta Braves and the

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hometown Washington Nationals.

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And that This Week at NASA!