Aug. 9, 2013 Vol. 53, No. 16 Spaceport News John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe MAVEN arrives, Mars next stop Astronauts By Steven Siceloff Spaceport News gather for AVEN’s approach to Mars studies will be Skylab’s Mquite different from that taken by recent probes dispatched to the Red Planet. 40th gala Instead of rolling about on the By Bob Granath surface looking for clues to Spaceport News the planet’s hidden heritage, MAVEN will orbit high above n July 27, the Astronaut the surface so it can sample the Scholarship Foundation upper atmosphere for signs of Ohosted a dinner at the what changed over the eons and Kennedy Space Center’s Apollo/ why. Saturn V Facility celebrating the The mission will be the first 40th anniversary of Skylab. The of its kind and calls for instru- gala featured many of the astro- ments that can pinpoint trace nauts who flew the missions to amounts of chemicals high America’s first space station. above Mars. The results are Six Skylab astronauts partici- expected to let scientists test pated in a panel discussion dur- theories that the sun’s energy ing the event, and spoke about slowly eroded nitrogen, carbon living and conducting ground- dioxide and water from the Mar- breaking scientific experiments tian atmosphere to leave it the aboard the orbiting outpost. dry, desolate world seen today. Launched unpiloted on May “Scientists believe the planet 14, 1973, Skylab was a complex CLICK ON PHOTO NASA/Tim Jacobs orbiting scientific laboratory. has evolved significantly over NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft rests on a processing the past 4.5 billion years,” said stand inside Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility Aug. 3. MAVEN is being Three crews of astronauts were David Mitchell, MAVEN’s prepared for its scheduled November launch to Mars. Positioned in an orbit above the Red sent up to perform micro- project manager for NASA’s Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. For more gravity experiments for up to about the mission, click on the photo. Goddard Space Flight Center in three months in a shirt-sleeve Maryland. “It had a thicker at- taking the first steps in getting it The spacecraft will be environment. The program also mosphere and water flowing on ready for launch in November. powered on during its second provided information about how the surface. It wasn’t like Earth, The instruments, systems week at Kennedy and tests will humans adapt to work during but it was not like it is today.” and all-important, power-gen- begin in earnest soon afterward, long periods of weightlessness. Before any of those studies erating solar array wings on the Mitchell said. Lessons in living and work- can take place at Mars, though, 5,400-pound spacecraft (once When the testing and fueling ing in space learned from the the spacecraft will see a few fueled) will be tested repeat- is complete, a payload fairing Skylab Program paid dividends months of intense launch pro- edly inside the clean room at the will be placed around MAVEN throughout the space shuttle cessing at Kennedy Space Kennedy facility. Engineers also and it will be trucked to Launch era, and now are being applied Center. The MAVEN spacecraft, will fuel the spacecraft so it can Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral during International Space short for Mars Atmosphere and maneuver through space and ar- Air Force Station. MAVEN will Station missions and plans for Volatile Evolution, stands inside rive safely in orbit around Mars. be hoisted atop a United Launch future long-duration missions the Payload Hazardous Servic- MAVEN arrived at Kennedy Alliance Atlas V for launch Nov. beyond low-Earth orbit. ing Facility at Kennedy where Aug. 2 on a C-17 transport 18 to begin a 10-month cruise engineers and technicians are aircraft. to Mars. To SKYLAB, Page 2 Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS Aug. 9, 2013 OSIRIS-REx mission: Asteroid recon By William Steigerwald launch costs currently thousands -- since asteroids are relics from for asteroid exploration that Goddard Space Flight Center of dollars per pound, you want our solar system’s formation, will benefit anyone interested in to use water already available in analysis of the sample is ex- exploring or mining asteroids,” steroids could one day space to reduce mission costs,” pected to give insights into how Lauretta said. be a vast new source Lauretta said. the planets formed and life origi- “The mission will be a of scarce material if A The spacecraft, scheduled to nated. Also, the spacecraft will proof-of-concept -- can you go the financial and technological launch on an Atlas V from Cape accurately measure how the tiny to an asteroid, get material, and obstacles can be overcome. Canaveral Air Force Station in push from sunlight alters the A key step along the way will bring it back to Earth,” Lauretta September 2016, will arrive at orbit of Bennu, helping astrono- said. “Next, people will have be taken by NASA’s OSIRIS- the asteroid Bennu in Octo- mers better predict this influence REx when it surveys and then to industrialize it so that the ber 2018 and study it in detail on the path of any asteroid that economy works out, so for the collects a sample from a near- before returning with a sample presents an impact risk to Earth. Earth asteroid. recoverable value in any given of material from its surface. Its “However, the mission will asteroid, you’re spending half The possibilities of what primary purpose is scientific develop important technologies might be found in an asteroid that to bring it back.” have intrigued scientists for de- Launch Services Program cades and the latest information (LSP) is responsible for NASA shows a good chance of critical oversight of launch operations elements, including water, being and countdown management, found in the space rocks. providing added quality and “Water is a critical life- mission assurance in lieu of support item for a spacefaring the requirement for the launch civilization, and it takes a lot of service provider to obtain a energy to launch it into space,” commercial launch license. said Dante Lauretta of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems University of Arizona, Tuc- is building the spacecraft. son, principal investigator for Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard/Chris Meaney OSIRIS-REx is the third mis- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid An artist’s concept of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft preparing to take a sample from sion in NASA’s New Frontiers sample return mission. “With asteroid Bennu. Program. From SKYLAB, Page 1 walks were a crucial part of Skylab, paying required us to develop new technologies,” dividends in the future. he said. “That put us in a more competitive Skylab 2 astronauts Joseph Kerwin and “We developed the procedures and position. What we got back from it econom- Paul Weitz, along with the late Charles techniques for doing effective spacewalks ically was at least two to three times what (Pete) Conrad, were the first to staff the sta- on Skylab that were used so successfully we put into it.” tion. Their stay took place May 25 through in putting together the International Space Skylab 4 completed the program when June 22, 1973. Station,” he said. the Apollo command module splashed down When Skylab 2 was launched, freeing a Lousma described the astronauts’ view in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 8, 1974. stuck electricity-generating solar array was from a spacewalking perspective. the top priority. According to Skylab 2 pilot “From outside you can see the entire Also participating in the gala celebra- Weitz, the spacewalk in which Conrad and Earth in a three-dimensional perspective,” tion were astronauts Vance Brand, Robert Kerwin completed that task was crucial in he said. “You’re riding along on this ‘magic Crippen, Karol “Bo” Bobko and William order to continue the mission. carpet.’ There’s no vibration, no sound, and Thornton. “Pete and Joe’s successful deployment a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes. You Brand, along with Don Lind, was pre- of that solar array was an extraordinary just want to stay out there.” pared to fly a mission to rescue a Skylab endeavor,” he said. Launched aboard Skylab 4 on Nov. 16, crew if its Apollo command-service module The effort also was an important mile- 1973, Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and was unusable. Crippen, Bobko and Thorn- stone in human spaceflight as it was the first William Pogue held the United States’ ton took part in a 56-day activity during time astronauts completed a major repair of spaceflight endurance record of 84 days 1972 called SMEAT -- Skylab Medical Ex- an orbiting spacecraft. until Americans spent up to six months periment Altitude Test -- that preceded the The second crew to the station was Alan working aboard the Russian space station launch of Skylab and helped NASA evalu- Bean, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma who Mir in the mid-1990s. launched aboard Skylab 3 on July 28, 1973. Gibson, who served as Skylab 4’s science ate equipment and procedures proposed for They remained in orbit for 59 days, return- pilot, spoke of the era leading to the first the long-duration Skylab missions. ing Sept. 25, 1973. lunar landings and the Skylab space station. Skylab celebrates 40 years, pages 4-5 Skylab 3 pilot Lousma noted that space- “Apollo was really a great program that Aug. 9, 2013 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3 Commercial Crew Program eyes future flights By Rebecca Regan on developing, verifying and validating Spaceport News More online an integrated system that is safe for crew Questions and answers from the Pre-Proposal transportation.