NASA transfers ownership title of space shuttle to museum

As of Tuesday, space shuttle Endeavour is officially the property of the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The retired orbiter is set to go on permanent display at the museum, located just south of downtown. To mark the occasion, crew members from Endeavour’s last mission held a ceremony at the center to formally transfer ownership of NASA's youngest space shuttle.

PHOTOS: Space shuttle history | 1972-2011

Over at L.A. Now, Times reporter Rong-Gong Lin II  sat down and talked aerospace with three of Endeavour’s last crew members — pilot Greg "Box" Johnson, 49, and mission specialists Mike Fincke, 44, and Drew Feustel, 46 — and got their thoughts on the shuttle program, as well as the future of the space program.

Here's a sample:

Q: I want to get your views on the space shuttle selection process. Did any of you think Houston should've gotten a space shuttle?

Johnson: Of course. Trouble is, there's not enough space shuttles to go around. I know there's a lot of logic going into the thinking. We have a bunch of smart people. The space shuttle was born here in California. There's a population center here in California.

Fincke: This is a bastion of aerospace.

Check out the entire post here.

The Science Center already features some of the most impressive flying machines ever dreamed up, including Lockheed Corp.’s A-12, which was a precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, and Lockheed’s supersonic F-104 Starfighter interceptor aircraft.

"NASA is pleased to share this wonderful orbiter with the California Science Center to help inspire a new generation of explorers," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "The next chapter in space exploration begins now, and we're standing on the shoulders of the men and women of the shuttle program to reach farther into the solar system."

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Photo: The space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 9, 2010, is silhouetted against the backdrop of Earth's horizon before docking with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

NASA issues award in green aviation competition

NASA has seen the future of aviation and awarded it $1.35 million.

On Monday, the space agency issued the award to team Pipistrel-USA.com of State College, Pa., as part of the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency, or CAFE, Green Flight Challenge.

The competition, sponsored by Google, was created to inspire the development of more fuel-efficient aircraft and spark the start of a new electric airplane industry, NASA said. The winning aircraft had to fly 200 miles in less than two hours and use less than one gallon of fuel per occupant, or the equivalent in electricity.

Fourteen teams registered for competition, which took place Sept. 25 to Saturday above Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa. NASA said that the competing teams collectively invested more than $4 million in pursuit of the prize purse.

A photo gallery of the event is posted on NASA's Flickr account.

Pipistrel-USA.com and the second-place team, EGenius of Ramona, Calif. -- both of which used electric-powered aircraft -- achieved twice the fuel efficiency requirement of the competition. That means they flew 200 miles using just over a half-gallon of fuel equivalent per passenger.

"Two years ago the thought of flying 200 miles at 100 mph in an electric aircraft was pure science fiction," Jack W. Langelaan, team leader of Team Pipistrel-USA.com, said in a statement. "Now, we are all looking forward to the future of electric aviation."

NASA, which frequently uses prize competitions to address particular problems or challenges in the aerospace industry, said that the $1.35-million award was the largest in aviation history.

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Photo: Pipistrel-USA.com's Green Flight Challenge-winning aircraft. Credit: NASA via Flickr

NASA launches sound bite gallery for ringtones, alarms

Next time a text message pops up on your phone, have Neil Armstrong tell you about it.

“The Eagle has landed.”

NASA recently made historic sound bites available on its website to be downloaded to cellphones or computers as ringtones, alarms and notifications.

The sound files run the gamut from the familiar "Houston, we've had a problem" on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the other-worldly radio emissions of the planet Saturn.

"NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years," Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at the agency's Ames Research Center, said in statement. "Now we're making some of these memorable sounds easy to find and use."

The NASA sounds are available in MP3 format, which play on smartphones and computers. The space agency also made them available on the iPhone-compatible M4R files. NASA said they will continuously update the collection as new sounds become available.

To listen to and download the sound gallery, go here.

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Photo: Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, at the Lunar Module "Eagle" during the first moon landing mission. Credit: NASA

Follow astronauts' footsteps on the moon in new photos

NASA has released photos of the moon taken by an orbiting spacecraft that are so crystal clear that the twists and turns of the paths made when the astronauts explored the lunar surface are visible.

The spacecraft, dubbed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is zooming as low as 13 miles above the moon's surface and has captured some of the sharpest images ever taken of the moon landing sites.

NASA's Apollo moon landing missions took place from 1969 to 1972.

"We can retrace the astronauts' steps with greater clarity to see where they took lunar samples," Noah Petro, a lunar geologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement.

Take a look at the photo above, or here, and flip through a NASA gallery here.

Not only are the astronauts footprints visible, but the flag they planted and the tracks laid down by their moon buggy are evident as well.

“The images also show where the astronauts placed some of the scientific instruments that provided the first insight into the moon's environment and interior,” NASA said.

At each site are trails that run to the west of the landers, where the astronauts placed the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, to monitor the moon's environment and interior.

“This equipment was a key part of every Apollo mission,” NASA said. “It provided the first insights into the moon's internal structure, measurements of the lunar surface pressure and the composition of its atmosphere.”

The photos are taken from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s two narrow-angle cameras that have resolutions down to about 3 feet. A third, wide-angle camera is taking color and ultraviolet images over the complete lunar surface at an almost 330-foot resolution. The technology was developed at Arizona State University.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 18, 2009. NASA said the mission was intended to be the first step to extend human presence in the solar system.

 

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Photo: A newly released image of the landing site of Apollo 17, the last moon mission. Credit: Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University

NASA launches new Web tool to explore solar system

Want to explore the solar system and follow NASA space missions in real time?

NASA is giving you the chance to through a new interactive Web-based tool called Eyes on the Solar System.

The space agency said that the tool combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft as they explore the cosmos.

"You are now free to move about the solar system," Blaine Baggett, a manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, said in a statement. “See what NASA's spacecraft see -- and where they are right now -- all without leaving your computer.”

By using a keyboard and mouse, online users can zip through space and explore anything that catches their interest. For example, NASA in August launched a probe called June that will explore Jupiter.

Users can follow the Juno spacecraft and look over its “shoulder” to see what it sees -- and even look ahead to find out what’s ahead on Juno's five-year journey. Users' point of view can alternate from faraway to close-up, and switch from 2-D to 3-D with the aid of 3-D glasses.

Users can also travel back in time because Eyes on the Solar System has NASA data dating from 1950.

Download the tool here. A free browser plug-in, available at the site, is required to run it.

 

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Image: Screen grab of "Eyes on the Solar System" via NASA.

Russian spaceship fails to reach orbit after launch

An unmanned Russian cargo space capsule carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies to the International Space Station failed to reach orbit Wednesday and crashed soon afterward, according to NASA.

The capsule, named Progress 44, was fixed atop a Soyuz rocket that blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan around 6 a.m. PDT. Mission Control Moscow reported that communication with the craft was lost 5 minutes, 20 seconds after launch.

“We'll try to figure out what has happened and what the cause was,” said Maxim Matuchen, the head of the Russian Mission Control Center told Russian cosmonauts aboard the space station.

Progress 44 was carrying 2.9 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the space station. It has not been disclosed where the capsule crashed or whether there were casualties.

The failed launch is the first since the U.S. and Russia began putting the space station together in 1998. And it is the first resupply mission since the NASA retired its fleet of space shuttles.

The last shuttle mission ended in July. Now NASA plans to send astronauts to the station aboard Russian rockets, shelling out $63 million per seat.

NASA wants private companies to one day take astronauts to the station, but those spaceships aren't yet ready. The space agency also has plans to build a new launch system to send humans on deep space missions, including an effort to land on an asteroid by the mid-2020s.

On the last shuttle mission, space shuttle Atlantis delivered a year’s worth of supplies to the station. That’s good news for the six people now aboard the space station, which include two U.S. astronauts.

NASA had planned to air footage of Progress 44 docking with the station.

On its website the space agency said: “International Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini held a news conference at the Johnson Space Center discussing the loss of the resupply vehicle and the impact it may have on the program and the crew. There are plenty of supplies to support the crew, and the station is in a good configuration. However, a Russian commission will be formed to investigate the root cause of the vehicle loss which may affect upcoming Russian spacecraft launches.”

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Photo: In this image made from Rossiya 24 television channel, a Soyuz rocket booster carrying Progress supply ship is launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Associated Press / Rossiya 24 TV Channel

Human-like robot comes alive aboard space station

A 330-pound humanoid robot was electronically awakened aboard the International Space Station this week, beginning its life as an astronaut's assistant.

The robot named Robonaut 2, or R2, will help with routine tasks such as holding tools and vacuuming air filters. The robot was sent up on space shuttle Discovery in February, but it wasn't powered up until now.

Check out the video above as R2 gets unpacked.

Clad in a gold helmet with a shiny metallic visor, R2 has a torso, two arms and two five-fingered hands. For now, it sits on a fixed pedestal inside the space station.

"Next steps include a leg for climbing through the corridors of the space station," NASA said.

Once fully built, NASA envisions R2 assisting astronauts during space walks as they make mechanical fixes to the outside of the space station.

R2 was jointly developed and built by NASA and General Motors engineers at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. But some of the engineering know-how and robotic innards came from California, such as HRL Laboratories in Malibu, JR3 Inc. in Woodland and Cirexx International Inc. in Santa Clara.

If you want to find out more about R2 or talk to it, NASA has established a Twitter account for the robot. Take a look here.

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SpaceX plans to dock capsule with space station this year

 

Hawthorne-based rocket venture Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is planning to send a rocket into space carrying a capsule that will dock with the International Space Station later this year. It is a mission that takes the company one step closer to cashing in on a $1.6-billion contract with NASA.

In a statement, SpaceX revealed that the space agency has approved a mission in which its Dragon space capsule would dock with the space station.

"NASA has given us a Nov. 30, 2011 launch date, which should be followed nine days later by Dragon berthing at the ISS," the company said.

SpaceX makes the Dragon capsule and 18-story Falcon 9 rocket at a sprawling facility in Hawthorne that once housed the fuselage assembly for Boeing Co.'s 747 jumbo jet. However, the hardware is put on a big rig and sent to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for launches.

Last December, SpaceX became the first private company to blast a spacecraft into Earth's orbit and have it return intact. The unmanned flight was intended to show NASA that SpaceX could handle the task of carrying cargo into space.

If it pulls off a trip to the space station, it will be the clear frontrunner take over the responsibility of running cargo missions and possibly carrying astronauts to the space station for NASA now that the space shuttle is retired.

Think of it as a space taxi.

SpaceX already has a $1.6-billion contract to haul cargo in 12 flights to the space station for NASA. If the November mission is successful, the company would start in earnest to fulfill the contract.

"This next mission represents a huge milestone not only for SpaceX, but also for NASA and the U.S. space program," the company said.

While nearly everyone's eyes were on the final flight space shuttle flight in July, SpaceX engineers and technicians at Cape Canaveral were readying the rocket that will lift the capsule into orbit.

The rocket has just two successful test launches.

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Video: On December 8, 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to recover a spacecraft from orbit.

NASA awards $10 million in contracts to private space firms

NASA handed out $10 million in contracts this week to seven commercial space companies to boost the space agency's payloads into the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.

It is yet another step by NASA in its course to provide seed money to companies to develop the next step in spaceflight technology.

The winners of the two-year contracts included four California companies: Camarillo-based Whittinghill Aerospace, as well as Masten Space Systems, XCOR Aerospace Inc. and Virgin Galactic -- all three of which are based in Mojave.

NASA was not specific on how much of the $10 million each company will receive, or what exactly they will be lifting into sub-orbit. Rather, NASA said in a statement that "the flights will carry a variety of payloads to help meet the agency's research and technology needs."

Other companies selected were Armadillo Aerospace of Heath, Texas; Near Space Corp. of Tillamook, Ore.; and Up Aerospace Inc. of Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Bobby Braun, NASA’s chief technologist, said in a statement: "The government's ability to open the suborbital research frontier to a broad community of innovators will enable maturation of the new technologies and capabilities needed for NASA's future missions in space."

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Video: Masten Space Systems, one of seven companies to receive NASA contracts, tests its Xaero rocket vehicle for flight earlier this year. Credit: Masten Space Systems via YouTube

Video: NASA's Jupiter probe blasts off aboard massive rocket

With a thunderous blastoff, a massive rocket lifted the NASA spacecraft Juno into space Friday on a five-year, 1.7-billion-mile trip to Jupiter.

Watch the event above or here as the 19-story Atlas V rocket roars to life and climbs beyond the confines of Earth.

The booster is made by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of aerospace giants Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. Parts of the rocket are made by ULA in San Diego, and some of the rocket engines are manufactured by Canoga Park-based Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

The Atlas V blasted off at 9:25 a.m. PDT from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Affixed atop the massive rocket was Juno, which is set to “produce the first comprehensive mapping of Jupiter's gravitational and magnetic fields, and answer a longstanding debate over whether there is a solid core inside Jupiter's swirling bands of gas. Juno is also expected to yield the first solid reading of water and oxygen on Jupiter,” as the Times told you here.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge is managing the $1.1-billion mission. Scientists hope that the endeavor will unlock clues to Earth's origins.

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