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This Week at NASA…

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Each year, NASA honors the Apollo 1, Challenger
and Columbia crews, as well as other members

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of the our family whose lives were lost in
the support of the agency’s mission of exploration

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and discovery.

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This year's Day of Remembrance, Feb. 1, the
10th anniversary of the loss of Columbia,

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saw tributes held around the agency.

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Among them…

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A wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery’s
astronaut memorial by NASA Administrator Charles

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Bolden and other senior officials.

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A memorial at the Marshall Space Flight Center’s
Morris Auditorium with guest speaker, astronaut

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and former Marshall engineer, Jan Davis.

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The event included a moment of silence and
a candle lighting ceremony.

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And a wreath-laying ceremony hosted by the
Astronauts Memorial Foundation televised live

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on NASA television from the Space Mirror Memorial
at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

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“For many of us gathered here in Florida
today, this commemoration is not only historic,

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it’s also very personal.

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We remember the Columbia crew as colleagues,
as friends, as parents and as spouses.”

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“Often times when lacking sufficient data
we make poor decisions and that results in

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events like Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.

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It’s important that we pause to remember
and reflect.

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We must do our very best to prevent something
like that from ever happening again.”

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A special memorial tribute was featured on
nasa.gov.

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NASA thanks these Fallen Heroes and the families
they left behind for their sacrifices in the

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service of our nation and America’s space
program.

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Media touring the Kennedy Space Center’s

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“Swamp Works” research laboratories also
got a photo op with the Orion spacecraft inside

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KSC’s Operations and Checkout building where
it’s being prepped for Exploration Flight

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Test-1 scheduled for 2014.

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Kennedy Director Bob Cabana updated attendees

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on the center’s continuing transformation
to a multiuse government and commercial space

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launch complex.

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“We have a plan and we are executing that

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plan and we have made tremendous progress.

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We have a very positive path forward.”

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Orion, designed to take U.S. astronauts farther

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into space than ever before, will be propelled
by NASA's new heavy-lift Space Launch System.

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The SLS is designed to be flexible for launching
crew and cargo spacecraft from KSC and will

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enable new human missions of exploration beyond
low-Earth orbit and across the solar system.

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The successful launch of NASA’s new TDRS-K
communications satellite on Jan. 30 was also

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occasion for the Kennedy Space Center to host
a two-day get-together for ardent users of

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social media.

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The select group of Tweeps and other tech-savvy
space afficianados heard from special guest

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speakers about NASA’s continuing mission
of exploration and discovery.

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Among them, Badri Younes, the head of NASA’s
Space Communication and Navigation, or SCaN

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program, who outlined the role and advanced
capabilities of the next-generation comm satellite.

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“We support all of the launches that take
place here in the United States.

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We are preparing the stage for the future
as I said, to make sure that the future of

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human exploration will be carried forward
as contemplated, as planned.”

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The International Space Station will be getting
a new instrument in 2014 that’ll measure

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ocean-surface wind speed and direction.

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The ISS-RapidScat instrument will help improve
weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring,

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and understanding of how ocean-atmosphere
interactions influence Earth's climate.

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Rapid-Scat is a clever re-purposing of hardware
originally built to test parts of NASA's QuikScat

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satellite that, until 2009, spent ten years
successfully collecting ocean and wind data.

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NASA wants your ideas on how the International
Space Station can be better used to test new

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technologies!

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The agency’s National Lab and Technology
Demonstration offices are taking proposals

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to develop advanced or improved exploration
technologies aboard the world’s only laboratory

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in microgravity!

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They’ll also welcome your suggestions for
improving the unique laboratory environment

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of the orbiting outpost.

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For details, go to http://go.nasa.gov/Uqkccz
. You’ve got ‘til Sept. 30 to “weigh

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in.”

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NASA chief technologist Mason Peck was briefed
at the Dryden Flight Research Center on projects

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to develop technologies for next-generation
aircraft and spacecraft.

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Peck says the transfer of such technologies
will help fuel industry’s future in space.

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“I think we're actually seeing for the first
time the level of private investment in commercial

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space that we really haven't seen before,
and that actually could indicate the start

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of a commercial space age.

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But NASA is right at the center of that.”

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Peck also visited several NASA partners at
the Mojave Air and Space Port, including Firestar

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Technologies, XCOR Aerospace and Masten Flight
Systems.

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NASA's Flight Opportunities Program has contracted
with Masten and XCOR to fly promising technologies

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on sub-orbital space-access vehicles, while
Firestar has developed several technical innovations

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to benefit NASA via the agency's Small Business
Innovative Research and Technology Transfer

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programs.

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The first Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System,
or NLAS has been shipped for integration for

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a launch expected in late 2013.

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Right now, nanosatellites can be deployed
only in small numbers by rocket or from the

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International Space Station.

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But NLAS, developed by the Ames Research Center,
can hold up to 24 cube satellites, opening

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up opportunities for smaller research projects
to access space.

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NLAS is expected to be used by NASA, other
government agencies, and commercial entities.

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Representatives from the Glenn Research Center
joined media and the Cleveland Regional Transit

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Authority in braving single-digit temperatures
to show off the system’s new hydrogen-powered

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bus – and Ohio’s first operational electrolysis-based
refueling station.

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Refueling at the bus’s depot station eliminates
the vehicle’s need to lug large hydrogen-filled

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supply tanks.

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Glenn coordinated the technical effort that
included contracting with the Sierra Lobo

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Corporation to install the refueling station.

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The project is sponsored by NASA's Space Technology
Game-Changing Development Program.

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Marshall Space Flight Center and nearby Redstone
Arsenal have both been awarded the designation

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of Storm-Ready Community by the National Weather
Service.

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The designation recognizes the work of both
facilities to document their notification

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systems and severe weather preparedness.

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Weather service officials were at the arsenal
to present Marshall and Redstone with their

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Storm-Ready Community signs for their Welcome
Centers.

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“The purpose of Storm Ready is just what
it says.

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It’s weather preparedness, safety and awareness
and making sure that the communities are very

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much prepared for significant weather events
that impact the area.”

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“This is a great way to recognize all the
hard work that has gone into this – to our

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facility to be able to make sure that we have
the best possible protection available for

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our employees.”

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Marshall is only the second federal location
in Alabama to receive this Storm-Ready designation.

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My name is Sorita Wherry.

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I’m the lead systems engineer for the robotic
lunar lander development project.

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I’m supporting the Warm Gas test article
now known as the Mighty Eagle.

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My duties as a lead systems engineer includes
making sure that I understand the system and

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functions of the Mighty Eagle as well as the
most important thing is making sure that the

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vehicle is safe at all times.

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Diversity is important at NASA because it
gives us a variety of backgrounds and cultures

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so that we can see the experiences, the values,
the ideas and opinions of other people who

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may be different within the organization.

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I look at my career.

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And I look at all the things that I’ve accomplished,
the different projects that I’ve worked

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on, and what better way to culminate my career
is being on the project that I’m on now

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– the Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project
and supporting the Mighty Eagle.

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I’ve worked at NASA for 27 years.

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It’s a project where it feels good when
you can see things that happen.

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To see something that flies.

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To work with a team of people who are very
smart, very intelligent, and can actually

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develop something that flies.

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I love what I do.

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It’s new to me, but it’s an awesome experience.

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And this journey that I’ve had at Marshall
Space Flight Center has been a great journey.

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Thirty-nine years ago, on February 5, 1974,
a flyby of Venus by Mariner 10 enabled the

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spacecraft to conduct atmospheric studies
and collect photographs of the planet’s

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extensive cloud cover.

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While Venus’ clouds are nearly featureless
in visible light, Mariner 10’s ultraviolet

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camera filters captured them in never-before-seen
detail.

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“We have main engine start … zero and
liftoff of Stardust.”

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And, fifteen years ago, on February 7, 1999,
the Stardust probe launched atop a Delta II

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rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Station
for a rendezvous with Comet Wild2.

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Stardust became the first U.S. mission to
a comet and the first-ever spacecraft to bring

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back a comet sample when it successfully returned
to Earth on January 15, 2006.

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And, employees of the Marshall Space Flight
Center commemorated this year’s 40th anniversary

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of Skylab by hosting five astronauts who flew
on America's first space station, Joe Kerwin,

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Paul Weitz, Ed Gibson, Gerald Carr and Jack
Lousma shared their stories and highlights

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from their missions aboard Skylab.

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From May 1973 to February 1974, three crews
occupied Skylab, a Saturn V rocket modified

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at Marshall.

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Its nine astronaut residents conducted human-adaptation
and materials experiments, as well as scientific

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studies of the Earth, sun, and stars.

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The research they performed on Skylab then
enabled the ground-breaking science being

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studied now aboard the International Space
Station for the benefit of humankind.

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\h
And that’s This Week @NASA.

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