Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This Week at NASA…
“Touchdown confirmed … we’re safe on Mars … applause.”
Following a daring plunge through the Martian Atmosphere – billed as 7-minutes of Terror,
The Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover made a successful, on-target landing
on the Red Planet in Gale Crater. Confirmation of the newest resident rover’s safe touchdown
reached the MSL flight team courtesy of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft which, from its vantage
point orbiting Mars, was able to directly communicate with Curiosity.
In addition to NASA TV and nasa.gov, coverage of Curiosity’s landing was available for
public viewing at various locations – including Times Square in New York City.
“It’s a huge day for the nation, it’s a huge day for all of our partners that have
something on Curiosity and it’s a huge day for the American people. As I told people
as we went around earlier tonight, everybody in the morning should be sticking their chests
out, saying, ‘that’s my rover on Mars’ because it belongs to all of us.”
“For us being able to land something in larger and larger measures with this capability
will come the ability to land humans.”
“Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronization for
this to happen. It was an incredible performance by the Jet Propulsion Lab, by NASA, by the
teams around the country that had contributed to this and indeed partners from around the
world.”
Curiosity is scheduled to conduct a two-year mission to investigate the most intriguing
places on Mars in an effort to determine if microbial life is possible on the planet.
We’ll have more on Curiosity’s landing with public reaction from NASA Centers on
the next edition of This Week At NASA.
Engineers at the Johnson Space Center have conducted a successful 70-second test firing
of the Project Morpheus Lander. Morpheus is a vertical test bed vehicle demonstrating
new green propellant propulsion systems and ALHAT - Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance
Technology This final test at JSC had the vehicle tethered to a crane and included a
60-second hover test, with a 4-second ascent and a 6-second descent.
The lander was later shipped to the Kennedy Space Center, where it’s to undergo its
first free-flight testing.
An unpiloted Russian resupply ship, loaded with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies,
linked up to the International Space Station just six hours after its launch from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Additional engine firings early in its mission were a test to expedite the Progress’ journey
to the orbiting laboratory, which normally takes about two days. After analysis by Russian
engineers and managers, the technique could be used to similarly shorten a Soyuz vehicle’s
route to the station, thereby improving crew comfort as well as extending the life of the
return vehicle while docked to the ISS.
“You are Olympians – you’re the best of the best. You are the ones who help us
reach for new heights.”
Deputy Administrator Lori Garver led the 2012 NASA Honor Awards recognizing those in the
agency whose outstanding efforts in the past year have helped NASA reach new milestones.
A new video spotlighting NASA’s Curiosity Rover was featured during a performance of
the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, outside
Washington, D.C. The video, from director Duncan Copp, was accompanied by a musical
selection from the late French composer Georges Bizet. The NSO was under the direction of
conductor Emil de Cou. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden was on hand for the performance.
“This mission will not only help unlock the mysteries of Mars, it’s a precursor
to achieving President Obama’s goal of sending humans to the Red Planet by the 2030’s.”
The Curiosity visuals were a portion of NASA imagery featured as part of Gustav Holst’s
“The Planets”, the evening’s main program.
The 2012 NASA headquarters Take Your Children to Work Day gave younger NASA family members
a peek inside the agency and its diversity of people and professions.
Hands-on activities also represented tasks performed in some of the varied and exciting
careers at NASA.
This summer has also been a learning experience at Headquarters for a group of high school
students. Administrator Charlie Bolden spoke to participants of the 2012 NASA Engineering
Apprenticeship Program. NEAP targets high school sophomores, juniors and seniors interested
in science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM careers. Under the eight-week program,
students work on a project under the guidance of a volunteer mentor. NASA has hosted more
than 200 students since the program began in 1995. Many NEAP students have gone on to
top colleges and positions within NASA and other industry organizations.
Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis came home from space for the last time in 2011, touching
down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center.
"Mission complete, Houston. After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle's
earned its place in history, and it's come to a final stop."
After each final landing, Kennedy's Landing Operations Team used a temporary spray paint
to note where the wheels stopped.
But NASA wanted a long-lasting way to preserve this part of shuttle history.
Local artist Chad Stout, of C Spray Glass Blasting, designed, manufactured and installed
the markers.
Wearing safety gear, he etched the final design in "Absolute Black" granite, an extremely
durable stone. The pavers are extra thick and weigh at least
100 pounds each, but he installed them by hand.
All three pavers are aligned with the etchings on the runway centerline... and, like the
shuttles' legacy, will stand the test of time. NASA has donated a piece of space shuttle
history to the Coca-Cola Space Science Center at Columbus State University in Georgia.
The science center has taken possession of main engine nozzle number 5002 (5-thousand-two)
from the Marshall Space Flight Center’s Propulsion Research Development Lab. This
particular nozzle has flown to space numerous times on four different shuttles – including
the STS-60 mission in February 1994. Commanding space shuttle Discovery for that flight – then-astronaut
Charlie Bolden – who is now, of course, NASA administrator.
The NASA artifact will be displayed at the Coca-Cola Science Center to inspire the next
generation of scientists and engineers.
Fifteen years ago on August 7, 1997, Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space
Center on STS-85. Her crew, Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Kent Rominger, Mission Specialists
Jan Davis, Bob Curbeam and Steve Robinson, and Payload Specialist Bjarni Tryggvason (Bee-YARN’-knee
TRIG’-vuh-son) of the Canadian Space Agency, worked with a complement of payloads focused
on “Mission to Planet Earth” objectives as well as the then-upcoming assembly of the
International Space Station.
Among them, the Japanese Manipulator Flight Development, MFD, to evaluate the robotic
Small Fine Arm that later became part of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory on the ISS.
Discovery and crew returned to Earth 11 days later– landing safely at KSC on August 19.
Five years ago on August 8, 2007, Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from KSC on STS-118 – the
twenty-second shuttle flight to the International Space Station. Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot
Charlie Hobaugh, and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dave Williams of the Canadian
Space Agency, Barbara Morgan, Tracy Caldwell and Al Drew continued construction of the
ISS by delivering S-5, the station’s third starboard truss segment. The crew also replaced
a defective gyroscope, and installed an external storage platform. They closed out the mission
12 days later when Endeavour touched down on the runway at KSC.
And August 5th marks the one year anniversary of the launch of the Juno spacecraft atop
an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch marked
the start of Juno’s five-year journey to Jupiter to study the planet’s structure
and decipher its history.
And that’s This Week @NASA.
For more on these and other stories, or to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and other social
media, log on to www.nasa.gov.
4