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This Week at NASA…

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The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 34
Commander Kevin Ford of NASA and his Russian

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crewmates, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy
and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin, put down

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safely on the Kazakh steppes to complete their
successful mission aboard the International

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Space Station.

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Left by Ford to command the orbital laboratory
was Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian Space

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Agency astronaut so entrusted, who received
a congratulatory call from Canadian Prime

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Minister Stephen Harper.

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“Commander I just want to congratulate you
on this historic achievement.

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You’re the first Canadian ever to command
the International Space Station -- we’re

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all very proud of you here.”

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“I ask every Canadian from the machine shops
that helped build this place to the software

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labs, to the inventors – the creative minds
that made all this possible – when they

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look up and see the point of light that is
the International Space Station, all Canadians

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should take pride in what we can do together.”

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Hadfield and Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn
of NASA and Roman Romanenko of the Russian

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Federal Space Agency are scheduled to be joined
on March 29 by Expedition 35/36 crew members

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Pavel Vinogradov, NASA Flight Engineer Chris
Cassidy and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin

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of Russia.

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“When we think about the Mars Science Laboratory
event that we had last August, the landing

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of Curiosity on the planet Mars, often what
comes to mind is the seven minutes of terror.”

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“Touchdown confirmed … we’re safe on
Mars … (applause).

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“

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to hear about today.”

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A news briefing Tuesday at NASA Headquarters
focused on analysis of the first ever sample

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of rock powder collected on Mars by the Curiosity
rover and the big news resulting from that

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analysis – an answer to the fundamental
question on which the rover’s prime mission

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is based – Was the Gale Crater area of the
Red Planet ever capable of supporting microbial

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life?

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“I think the answer is yes!

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I think this is probably the only definitively
habitable environment that we’ve described

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and recorded.”

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“We have found a habitable environment that
is so benign and supportive of life that probably

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if this water was around and you had been
on the planet you would have been able to

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drink it.”

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Here, now in this week’s Curiosity Rover
Report – the details of the work behind

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this big discovery …

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Hi, I'm Joel Hurowitz, a scientist with the
surface sampling system team and this is your

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Curiosity rover report.

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This week the Curiosity science team released
its initial findings from its first ever drilled

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sample on Mars.

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This sample was collected from the “John
Klein” drill site, which is located about

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500 meters east of where we landed about 7
months ago.

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Curiosity obtained her first drill sample
and passed that sample on to her onboard analytical

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lab instruments, called CheMin and SAM.

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These powerful instruments tell us about what
minerals are present in these rocks and whether

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they contain the ingredients necessary to
sustain life as we know it.

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What the Curiosity team has found is incredibly
exciting.

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When we combine what we have learned from
our remote sensing and contact science instruments

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with the data that’s coming in from CheMin
and SAM, we get a picture of an ancient watery

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environment, which would have been habitable
had life been present in it.

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As an example, the information that we’re
getting from the CheMin instrument, tells

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us that the minerals that are present in this
lakebed sedimentary rock at John Klein are

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very different from just about anything we’ve
ever analyzed before on Mars.

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And they tell us that the John Klein rock
was deposited in a fresh water environment.

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This is an important contrast with other sedimentary
environments that we‘ve visited on Mars,

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like the Meridiani Planum landing site where
the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, has

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been operating since 2004.

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At that site, the sedimentary rocks record
evidence of an environment that was only wet

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on a very intermittent basis, and when it
was, the waters that were there were highly

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acidic, very salty, and not favorable for
the survival of organic compounds.

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This is in direct contrast to the fresh water
environment we’re seeing here at the John

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Klein Site.

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The SAM instrument is telling us that these
rocks contained all of the ingredients necessary

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for a habitable environment.

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We found carbon, sulfur and oxygen, all present
and a number of other elements in states that

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life could have taken advantage of.

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All in all, these few tablespoons of powder
from a Martian rock have provided the Curiosity

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science team with an exciting new dataset
that tells us that Gale Crater, and perhaps

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all of Mars, contained habitable environments.

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This is an incredible success for the Curiosity
mission to Gale, and the science team is looking

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forward to digging deeper into Mars’ ancient
watery past in the weeks, months, and years

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ahead.

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This has been your Curiosity rover report.

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Please check back for more updates.

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NASA has announced the creation of a new Space
Technology Mission Directorate.

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STMD will be a catalyst for creating cross-cutting,
advanced technologies and innovations needed

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for future space missions and bettering life
here on Earth.

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“To do the things that we want to go do
– we need to solve some problems.

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We need technology to be able to help us go
do these things.

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We are a focal point right now of change for
the agency.

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We unleash the talent and the innovation that
exists in the agency to go work on these tough

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problems.”

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The Space Technology Mission Directorate will
employ a portfolio approach, spanning a range

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of discipline areas and technology readiness
levels.

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Research and technology development will take
place within NASA centers, in academia, and

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industry, and leverage collaboration with
other government and international partners.

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“We are tapping into the nation’s brightest
and best.

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We’re all harnessing those folks and it’s
really the people that are a key to go solve

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these problems.”

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The formation of STMD is in keeping with the
Obama Administration's recognition of the

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critical role of space technology and innovation
in maintaining U.S. leadership in space while

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benefiting our economy here at home.

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At the Johnson Space Center, with NASA’s
next spacecraft, Orion, as their backdrop,

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Administrator Charlie Bolden, Associate Administrator
for Education Leland Melvin and officials

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from the spacecraft’s prime contractor,
Lockheed Martin, unveiled details about the

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agency’s new Exploration Design Challenge.

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The unique, STEM-based program seeks K through
12 students around the world to play a role

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in the future of human spaceflight.

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The students are to think and act like scientists
to overcome one of the major hurdles of long-duration

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exploration.

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“This will require new technology.

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Including new ways to keep our astronauts
safe from deep space radiation.

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That is the purpose of this challenge and
we’re excited that American students will

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be helping us solve that problem.”

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“The things that we’re trying to do with
Orion and the Exploration Design Challenge

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will help you find that curiosity, will help
you solve problems – to help our astronauts

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and maybe even you one day to fly on Orion
to Mars.”

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NASA also highlighted the Exploration Design
Challenge with a Google+ hangout.

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Melvin was joined by fellow astronaut Rex
Walheim inside an Orion mockup, to discuss

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the spacecraft’s capabilities and answer
questions about the future of human space

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exploration.

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“As the World’s leading Space Agency,
NASA is a major employer of STEM educated

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workers and we need to be even more committed
to full participation of women in STEM fields.”

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NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver provided
the opening remarks for “Women Inspiring

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Innovation Through Imagination,” a Women’s
History Month program at headquarters.

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Named for this year’s Women’s History
Month theme, the presentation celebrated women

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in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

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“We have a lot of very amazing women here
at NASA and they’ve been helping us to create

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a brighter future from our earliest days.”

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“These women clearly made contributions
in science, technology, engineering and math

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and also transcend that particular moment
in time.”

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Featured were several speakers and a video
tribute to the late, great NASA astronaut

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and space pioneer, Sally Ride.

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“And it’s a great day for both New Orleans
and our entire State.”

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NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans,
the agency's only large-scale advanced manufacturing

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facility, will soon be building liquefied
natural gas tanks with commercial applications

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on Earth.

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At a ceremony that included Louisiana Gov.
Bobby Jindal, Lockheed Martin Corporation

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announced it will tap the unique experience
and equipment at Michoud to manufacture the

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LNG tanks.

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As prime contractor for NASA's Orion spacecraft
being built at Michoud, Lockheed Martin is

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familiar with the facility's capabilities.

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“Michoud has been a place where so many
of the nation’s proud, unequaled accomplishments

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in space literally came together.”

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This new deal represents another innovative
use of the assembly facility, which has a

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37-year history of producing the giant external
tanks used by the space shuttle.

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NASA's Operation IceBridge is preparing for
another season of Arctic research.

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Instrument and aircraft teams at Wallops Flight
Facility have been readying the P-3B airborne

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laboratory for its March 18 through May 3
campaign.

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During that series of flights researchers
aboard the aircraft will survey ice in Greenland

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and the Arctic Ocean.

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Operation IceBridge has been gathering detailed
data on ice elevation and thickness in the

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Arctic and Antarctic since NASA’s ICESat
mission stopped collecting data from orbit

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in 2009.

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IceBridge will take measurements until the
ICESat -2 satellite is up and running in 2016.

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The six-year IceBridge mission will yield
an unprecedented three-dimensional view of

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Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves
and sea ice.

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IceBridge is managed for NASA by Goddard Space
Flight Center.

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The P3-B aircraft is based at NASA’s Wallops
Flight Facility.

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Engineers working on NASA's new Space Launch
System at the Marshall Space Flight Center

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visited their alma mater of Tennessee Tech
University in Cookeville during the school's

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Engineers Week.

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There, they discussed with area students the
value of science, technology, engineering

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and math.

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These Tennessee Tech alumni took questions
from hundreds of grade school STUDENTS over

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a distance learning network hosted at the
university's STEM Center.

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“It has allowed us to reach so many more
students than we normally would be able to.

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There are so many restrictions on bus travel
right now.

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To be able to get you all into the classroom
with the flip of a switch is very powerful.”

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A traveling SLS exhibit was unveiled that
allowed students to check out the different

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parts of the next generation rocket that will
allow humans to travel farther into space

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than ever before.

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The new exhibit helped triple attendance records
at the STEM Center's "FAB Friday" event.

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The NASA group also talked with Tennessee
Tech engineering students about space-related

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careers during a panel discussion.

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Also in Cookeville, SLS Program Manager Todd
May visited nearby Flexial Corporation, where

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he gave details on the overall vehicle to
employees who in turn updated May on the progress

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of the J-2X engine part being built there.

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“Having Todd May here talking to our employees
of corse is a really strong enthusiasm booster.

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Now looking forward on SLS for the Space Launch
System these are exciting things.”

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Even Cosmo the astronaut got in on the action,
visiting with TN Tech fans during a basketball

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game, where outreach volunteers answered questions
about For more information on the Space Launch

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System, visit www.nasa.gov/sls

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It was a day filled with duct tape boats and
coffee filter lunar landers at NASA’s 2013

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Career Days.

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The event was a joint collaboration between
NASA Langley and the Newport News shipbuilding,

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where 600 high schoolers from Virginia took
on two design challenges.

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“So, you are designing a capsule to land
on Mars, just like NASA did in August.”

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The second challenge was to build a boat made
out of duct tape and make it float in water,

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all while piling weights in it.

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As the day went on, students expressed excitement
over what they were learning.

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“You really need hands on experience – you
have to talk to people and ask questions to

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learn about it.”

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And most of all, they learned what it means
to be an explorer.

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“Because we need you, because you’re the
next generation of explorers”

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Forty-seven years ago, on March 16, 1966,
the Gemini Titan 8 launched from Cape Canaveral,

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Florida, on its way to becoming NASA’s first
manned docking mission.

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Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott successfully
hooked up with an unmanned Agena target vehicle,

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but a thruster malfunction caused the combined
vehicles to go into a violent yaw and tumble.

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The crew managed to disengage from the target
vehicle and eventually stabilize their spacecraft.

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However, that maneuver left them short of
fuel – requiring an immediate return to

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Earth, the first emergency landing of a manned
U.S. spacecraft.

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Just over 10 hours after launch, Gemini 8
safely splashed down in the western Pacific

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Ocean about 500 miles west of Okinawa.

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Gemini served as a bridge between the Mercury
and Apollo programs -- testing equipment and

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procedures, and preparing astronauts and ground
crews for future missions to the moon.

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On that same day 40 years earlier, Robert
Goddard successfully launched the world’s

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first liquid-fuel rocket from a field in Auburn,
Massachusetts.

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Goddard continued his rocket development work
throughout the remainder of his life, achieving

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numerous milestones, and helping pave the
way for contemporary spaceflight.

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Established in 1959, the Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland is named in

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his memory.

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And, two years ago, in a different kind of
launch, the Women @ NASA Website was first

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published.

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The site includes a collection of videos and
essays from women who contribute to NASA’s

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mission in different ways and whose stories
illuminate the vibrant community of dedicated

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employees playing a vital role across the
agency.

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Visit the Women @ NASA website at http://women.nasa.gov.

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And that’s This Week @NASA.