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This Week at NASA…

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The Kennedy Space Center hosted several events
to celebrate 50 years of Americans

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in orbit.

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“Roger the clock is operating we’re on
the way – I hear you loud and clear.

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Roger we’re
programming and the roll is OK.”

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John Glenn, the first to achieve the goal,
made his three-orbit flight in Friendship

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7 on
February 20, 1962.

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“It’s been 50 years, it’s hard for me
to believe that.

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It seems like just a couple of week s
ago to me.”

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Three months later, fellow Mercury astronaut
Scott Carpenter followed Glenn with his

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flight aboard Aurora 7 on May 24, 1962.

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Glenn and Carpenter spoke to employees and
met with the media sharing stories about their

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adventures.

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The pair also participated in "On the Shoulders
of Giants," a ceremony honoring all

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who made NASA's Project Mercury possible.

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Senator Glenn also took advantage of an
opportunity to sit inside orbiter Discovery

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with Center Director Bob Cabana.

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Glenn flew
on Discovery when he returned to space in

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October 1998 as a payload specialist
aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission.

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“And liftoff of Discovery with a crew of
six astronaut heroes and one American legend.”

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“Fifty years ago today , Friendship 7 was
orbiting planet Earth and that helped in a

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big
way to pave the way for America to become

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a space power and to go to the moon and to
do the things that we’re doing right now

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on the International Space Station.”

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An in-flight call during the NASA Future Forum
at the Ohio State University provided

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an opportunity for The International Space
Station crew to congratulate Glenn on the

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Anniversary of his historic flight and for
the Senator, a big proponent of the ISS, to

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hear
first-hand about life onboard the orbiting

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outpost.

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“I don’t know whether you know the exact
number of research experiments you have on

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board right now, do you have any idea of how
many are on board?”

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“We have well over one hundred and they
all come with an acronym that you either

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have no vowels in it, so it makes it hard
to pronounce.”

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“We’ve got a whole ensemble of life science
experiments that basically probe the gravity

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knob for life since it evolved on Earth under
constant gravity, and now all of a sudden

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we
can change the magnitude of gravity by a factor

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of a million.”

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And for what may be the first question Glenn
has been asked from space, the crew

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wanted to know …

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“Did you ever really find out what the fireflies
were on your first orbit?

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“Yeah we did, I think you know Scott Carpenter
on the second flight was able to hit the

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side of the spacecraft, the capsule and send
the whole shower of them out and scientists

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working on this, they could relate them to
the water dripping out through the heat

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exchanger.

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And then they just collected in a large cloud
around the spacecraft.”

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With the 2013 budget rollout complete, NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden and

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Deputy Administrator Lori Garver are making
the rounds to NASA field centers.

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Following an All-Hands meeting to discuss
the budget with employees at The Goddard

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Space Flight Center, Bolden received a progress
update on the James Webb Space

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Telescope.

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He also met with employees at The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.

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Garver spoke with employees at several other
centers about the 20-13 budget.

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At
Stennis Space Center she was joined by Stennis

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Deputy Director Rick Gilbrech and by
Center Director Mike Coats at the Johnson

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Space Center.

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She also toured several
facilities at Langley Research Center with

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Director Lesa Roe.

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NASA’s budget request
supports an ambitious program of space exploration

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that will build on new
technologies and proven capabilities to expand

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America’s reach into the solar system.

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Researchers from Cal-Poly State University
in San Luis Obispo, California recently

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tested a future aircraft concept model called
AMELIA – the Advanced Model for

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Extreme Lift and Improved Aeroacoustics.

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The 1/11th scale model with a 10-foot
wingspan was tested in the National Full-Scale

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Aerodynamic Complex at the Ames
Research Center.

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AMELIA is designed as an efficient, 150-passenger
airliner capable

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of short takeoffs and landings.

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“We’re hoping, targeting ‘N plus 2’,
so maybe 2020 or something like that we can

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have
the technologies needed at the readiness level

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so that industry can pick it up and maybe
put a vehicle like this on the market.”

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Testing of AMELIA was conducted for NASA’s
Fundamental Aeronautics Program,

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Educators from across the nation visited the
Johnson Space Center to fly experiments

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in microgravity.

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During the flights, a modified aircraft flew
parabolic arcs that simulate

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weightlessness.

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The opportunity was provided by three NASA
education initiatives

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designed to spark interest in science, technology,
engineering and math, or STEM.

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“The uniqueness of it is this environment
provides an amazing journey for the teachers.

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They’re taking these students on this journey
with them for the past four to five months

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and then it culminates with the flight.

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They go back and share everything that they’ve
learned and experienced with their students

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and their communities.”

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“We did three experiments all examining
the aspects of gravity and how gravity affects

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motion and so on.

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And we did these experiments in the classroom
first.

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And then we did
the experiments up on the plane and examined

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the effects in zero gravity.

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I teach juniors
and seniors and we’re talking about careers

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after high school.

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This opens another door
for them and that’s what it’s all about

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for us.”

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JSC’s Education Office will host college
students on similar reduced-gravity flights

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later this year.

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New images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter spacecraft show the moon's

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crust is being stretched, forming minute valleys
in a few small areas of the lunar

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surface.

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Scientists propose this geologic activity
occurred less than 50 million years

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ago – that’s recent, considering the moon
is more than 4-point-5 billion years old.

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The high-resolution images show small, narrow
trenches – typically much longer than

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they are wide.

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This indicates the lunar crust is being pulled
apart at these locations.

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LRO is managed by the Goddard Space Flight
Center.

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In February of 2011, NASA astronaut Al Drew
was floating in space, having just

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finished his first spacewalk.

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“That was awesome.

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Oh man that was great, the views were outstanding."

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Flash forward a year – Drew was back on
the ground at the Virginia Air and Space

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Center in Hampton, Virginia helping the Langley
Research Center and the community

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celebrate Black History Month.

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"What's your name, young lady?"

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Drew flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery’s
last mission.

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But, just because NASA is
moving forward from the Shuttle Program doesn’t

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mean astronauts' jobs are over.

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"Astronauts are busier than ever right now.

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Although the shuttle program wound down
last July we continue as we have been for

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years flying to the International Space Station,
although strictly on the Russian Soyuz rockets.

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We’re engaged heavily with the
commercial space operators, right now, all

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these prospective folks who want to be taxis
and rental cars for us to help them to design

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their cockpits, design their operations
plans."

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The Hampton event highlighted Cockpits and
other parts of two kinds vehicles –

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rockets to racecars and NASA's contributions
to both.

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Visitors participated in hands-on
activities that explored some of the similarities

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– like aerodynamics and propulsion.

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“Yeah!!!”

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Kids and adults also had the chance to chat
with an original member of the country's

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first all-black aerial combat unit, the Tuskegee
Airmen.

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"It was sort of a test.

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They thought that and intended for it to fail.

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But our commander, he
insisted that we learn the job and do it well."

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That was one message the astronaut and aviators
passed along to youngsters get the

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education to do the job well and they may
someday rocket into history.

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“Wow … is that cool or what?”

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“You can windsurf …”

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The NASA Headquarters Chapter of Blacks In
Government celebrated the

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achievements of Black Women in American History
with a program reflective of the

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official 20-12 theme for African-American
History Month, “Black Women in American

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Culture and History”.

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For the entire month of February, NASA has
proudly recognized

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the contributions of African-Americans to
the advancement of Space Exploration.

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And in March, which is Women’s History Month,
the Women @ NASA website is a

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great place to learn about the outstanding
contributions being made to the space

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program by women who work at NASA.

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You can also learn about Women’s History
Month festivities being planned at NASA Centers.

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The official theme for this year is
“Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment”.

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To visit the Women@ NASA website,
log on to www.women.nasa.gov.

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“3-2-1 and liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia
to broaden our view of the universe through

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the Hubble Space Telescope.”

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Ten years ago, on March first, 2002, space
shuttle Columbia launched on the fourth

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Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

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“Roger, roll Columbia.”

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Commander Scott Altman, pilot Duane Carey,
Payload Commander John Grunsfeld,

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and Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, James
Newman, Richard Linnehan, and Mike

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Massimino flew on the 11-day mission, during
which five spacewalks were made to

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outfit Hubble with new equipment – including
the Advanced Camera for Surveys, new

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Solar Arrays, a new Power Control Unit and
an experimental cooling system for

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NICMOS – the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object
Spectrometer.

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And that’s This Week @ NASA!

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