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Home , Alan Bean, Edward Gibson, Gerald Carr (astronaut), Jack Lousma, Launch Services Program, Owen Garriott

Aug. 9, 2013 Vol. 53, No. 16 News John F. - America’s gateway to the universe

MAVEN arrives, next stop By Steven Siceloff Spaceport News gather for AVEN’s approach to Mars studies will be ’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 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 / why. 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 . above Mars. The results are Six Skylab astronauts partici- expected to let scientists test pated in a panel discussion dur- theories that the ’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) 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 . “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 , 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 . 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 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 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 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- 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 Systems University of , 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 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 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- The effort also was an important mile- 1973, , , and was unusable. Crippen, Bobko and Thorn- stone in human as it was the first held the ’ 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, and who in the mid-1990s. launched aboard 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 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. A CCtCap contractor also ince its inception, the procurement Conference can be found on the NASA Acquisition will plan, manage and execute long-term strategy of NASA’s Commercial Crew Internet Service (NAIS) website at: http://go.nasa.gov/18aHdF1 production and operational plans for its Program (CCP) has been based on For information about NASA’s Commercial Crew crew transportation system (CTS). S Program, visit: reaching common ground with industry The certification portion of CCtCap will partners as they work together to establish http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew To watch a video of the history of include a contractor completing at least one safe and cost-effective American crew and humanity’s passion for new adventures crewed flight test to the International capabilities to low-Earth orbit and and new ships to sail, go to: Station. NASA plans to award at least two the International Space Station. http://go.nasa.gov/12Jh1TA and up to six additional post-certification “The success of this program is directly missions during the CCtCap period of per- related to the success of our industry part- formance prior to a follow-on space station ners,” said CCP Manager Ed Mango. “While Pre-Solicitation Conference was meant to services contract. our program priorities have not changed, it’s keep the line of communication flowing and “This next phase brings us closer to ac- important that we have this open dialogue ensure the official Request for Proposals complishing our dual strategies at NASA,” now and set expectations together so that (RFP) is on target when released this fall. said Phil McAlister, director of NASA NASA can have the highest quality crew “The CCtCap will be a full and open Commercial Spaceflight Development at transportation system come 2017.” competition and all offerors will be evalu- the agency’s Headquarters in Washington, As the program prepares to enter its final ated equally based on the criteria outlined “to launch our astronauts from U.S. soil phase of NASA certification efforts, agency in the official RFP that will be released this and continue critical research aboard the officials met with company representa- fall,” said Maria Collura, CCP certification International Space Station, while venturing tives who are interested in competing for a manager. deeper into space than ever before.” contract during this next Commercial Crew Beginning in summer of 2014, when Transportation Capability (CCtCap) phase. awards are anticipated for one or more For the complete story, go to Held at Kennedy Space Center Aug. 1, the contractors, CCtCap efforts will be focused http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy Pinpoint payload drop advances U By Steven Siceloff “We feel ready for more chal- The earlier flights did not Spaceport News lenging payloads and relieved succeed in large part because because we didn’t want to move the payload package wouldn’t n instrument pack- forward until we got this capa- separate from the balloon on age released from a bility taken care of,” said Nicole command. high-altitude balloon A Dawkins, a Kennedy engineer Dawkins said the team parachuted to a precise location who leads the Rocket Univer- would not be able to fly heavier, July 26 in a demonstration that sity’s aerial balloon segment. more complex payloads until is expected to open the door to Rocket University is a NASA it proved it could make precise more elaborate experiments for effort to enhance technical predictions of landing zones and a team of Rocket University prowess at the agency by push- recover the packages. engineers and designers at Ken- ing engineers and managers into The team will participate in a nedy Space Center. areas outside their specialties. project to gather microbes from For this flight, a parachute The teams are divided into sev- the stratosphere next summer and 5-pound instrument box eral areas and involve people at using a high-altitude balloon were carried beneath a all the NASA field centers. and return the payload to the balloon to 65,000 feet -- about It took a couple of tries for ground safely. twice the altitude of a cruising the team to reach success, but “As long as we keep chal- airliner -- and released. The the achievement marked a lenging and bringing in new par- parachute opened and floated moment of celebration for the ticipants, I think this is a really NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis down to the ocean where a program. good step for Rocket Univer- A team of Rocket University participants fills recovery crew gathered it up. “The team has met the sity’s near-space environments a high-altitude balloon before launching it The parachute had no steering objective of predicting where curriculum,” Dawkins said. with a 5-pound instrument package July 26. ability, but the team was able to Equipped with a parachute, the instrument the payload will land once it’s package was dropped from 65,000 feet and predict where the payload would released from the balloon,” For the complete story, go to http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy recovered in the ocean. land using a computer model. Dawkins said. Page 4 SPACEPORT NEWS Aug. 9, 2013 Aug. 9, 2013 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 5 Skylab paved way for International Space Station 40 years ago he International Space Station has been in operation By Bob Granath solar wing in a folded position. Using a rope sling, Conrad with research ongoing since Nov. 2, 2000. America’s Spaceport News forced the array beam to deploy. Full extension of the solar Tfirst space station, Skylab, helped pave the way for panel occurred later, providing electrical power crucial for permanent operations in low-Earth orbit 40 years ago this year. the three planned piloted missions. Skylab was hailed as a “bold concept” by Rocco Petrone, Kennedy’s The longest American spaceflight at that point had been the 14-day director of launch operations before becoming director of the agency’s mission of astronauts and James Lovell. Skylab Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., from 1973 to 1974. 2 doubled that record and showed that the astronauts adapted well. “The program demanded innovation and ,” said Petrone in “Mobility around here is super,” Conrad said. “Every kid in the Skylab, Our First Space Station, a NASA report published in 1977. “Ex- United States would have a blast up here.” perience and knowledge gained from earlier space programs provided Following in the Pacific Ocean and recovery of Skylab 2 a solid foundation on which to build, but the Skylab Program was truly on June 22, 1973, NASA Administrator James Fletcher had high praise making new pathways in the sky.” for the crew and the entire agency-industry Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979. team. NASA file/1973 The 169,950-pound space station included a “For the first time, a crew of astronauts During a spacewalk June 7, 1973, astronaut Joseph Kerwin uses a cutting instrument to workshop, a , a multiple dock- has returned from an extended tour in a space remove metal that had jammed the solar array in a partially opened position. ing adapter and systems to allow three crews to spend up to 84 days in space. While the space laboratory,” he said. “Essentially all of the NASA file/1972 objectives for this mission have been com- The Skylab orbital workshop arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building station lifted off unpiloted as Skylab 1 atop a Sept. 26, 1972. , the astronaut crews pleted.” were launched to orbit by Saturn 1B . Skylab 3 launched the second crew on July Liftoff of Skylab 1 came on May 14, 1973, 28, 1973, with , Owen Garriott and but within minutes it was apparent that there Jack Lousma aboard. was trouble. NASA’s Skylab Program Manager Early in the mission, Garriott and Lousma William Schneider filled in the details at a post- performed a spacewalk to erect a new twin- launch news conference. pole solar shield that provided better thermal “At approximately 63 seconds into the control for the remainder of the Skylab mis- launch of Skylab 1, there was an indication sions. of premature deployment of the The second crew returned to Earth Sept. 25, protective shield,” Schneider said. “If that has 1973, following 59 days in orbit. happened, the shield was probably torn off. The Skylab 4 originally was planned for a mis- NASA file/1973 thermal indications are that it is gone, and we sion of about the same length. When the final Skylab 3 Science Astronaut Owen Garriott operates the Apollo Mount from a have some indication that our solar array on the Skylab expedition was extended to 80 days console in the Skylab space station Aug. 8, 1973. Observations of the sun were a primary achievement of the program. workshop also did not fully deploy.” NASA file/1973 or more, NASA’s Preflight Operations Branch As a result of the uncertainty, launch of Sky- NASA file/1973 As the crew of Skylab 2 departs June 22, 1973, the gold, parasol- at Kennedy, under Raul “Ernie” Reyes, was The Skylab 1-Saturn V space vehicle is launched from 39A May 14, 1973. lab 2 with the crew of Charles Conrad, Joseph like sun shield covers the main portion of the space station. The given the challenge to squeeze another 980 solar array at the top was the one freed during a spacewalk. Kerwin and Paul Weitz, scheduled for the next pounds of food, film and equipment into the day, was postponed. Apollo command module. Using Reyes’ “a place for everything, and The NASA-industry team located throughout the country went into everything in its place” philosophy, his team succeeded in using every action to develop plans and hardware necessary to save Skylab. The cubic inch of storage space. astronauts practiced using special tools to remove material that jammed On Nov. 16, 1973, astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and Wil- the remaining solar array, allowing it to provide Skylab with the needed liam Pogue lifted off. During their 84-day mission, the Skylab 4 crew electrical power. A square thermal shield, which operated like a sun- continued the comprehensive research programs. shade, also was developed to protect the station from the heat of the sun. The crew launched May 25, 1973, aboard an Apollo command-ser- All three expeditions produced a vast study of Earth -- its crops, vice module and mission commander Conrad expressed confidence that weather and changes in environment. They also completed a revealing the preparations would pay off right away. study of the sun, while crews manufactured alloys, grew perfect crystals “This is Skylab 2, we fix anything,” he said at the moment of liftoff. and learned to work in space. The crew deployed the new solar shield through a small scientific Skylab 3 pilot Jack Lousma recently noted that the program helped experiment located in the side of the workshop normally facing pave the way for long-duration missions in low-Earth orbit or to Mars the sun. Once outside, the shield popped open like a parasol, with four and beyond. struts extending outward from a segmented center post. Temperatures “Flights of 28, 59 and 84 days were forerunners of what we are doing NASA file/1973 NASA file/1974 inside the lab soon lowered to near-normal levels. now aboard the International Space Station,” he said. “The fact that we Skylab 2 Commander Charles Conrad undergoes a medical examination by science astro- Skylab 4 Commander Gerald Carr flies the Astronaut Maneuvering Equipment Experiment naut Joseph Kerwin during the summer of 1973. In the absence of an examination chair, Next came the spacewalk to free the jammed solar array. After con- could work in space for longer periods is one of the things we were able in the forward compartment of the Skylab space station Feb. 11, 1974. The jet-propelled Conrad simply rotated his body to an upside down position to facilitate the procedure. siderable work, Kerwin was able to cut the metal that had jammed the to prove during Skylab.” back pack was designed to demonstrate the unit’s flying qualities. Page 6 SPACEPORT NEWS Aug. 9, 2013 Scenes Around Kennedy Space Center

Photo courtesy of Northrop /Steve Potter Bob Watkins, retired vice president and assistant base manager for , addresses guests and VIPs during an event July 20 honoring the Grumman Lunar Module team that had gathered at the Apollo/Saturn V Facility to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

CLICK ON PHOTO NASA/Jim Grossmann NASA/Charisse Nahser Workers pour concrete onto the movable launch platform for the Project Morpheus Kennedy Space Center workers James Davis, Maxine Daniels, and Bettye Lee serve food at the north end of the (SLF) July 30. Testing of the prototype to attendees of the 2013 Black Employee Strategy Team (BEST) BBQ at KARS I Park lander has been ongoing at NASA’s in in preparation for on Merritt Island on July 27. Events included a noncompetitive car show and a spades free flight. The SLF will provide the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic test- tournament. BEST hosts the barbecue as a fundraiser for the Evelyn Johnson Scholar- ing, complete with rocks, craters and hazards to avoid. Morpheus utilizes an autonomous ship, which is handed out every year to students who exemplify significant achievement landing and hazard avoidance technology, or ALHAT, payload that will allow it to navigate both academically and in their community. The scholarship is in honor of Evelyn Johnson, to clear landing sites amidst rocks, craters and other hazards during its descent. For more a founding member of BEST and former deputy director of Kennedy’s Diversity and Equal information on Project Morpheus, click on the photo. Office.

CLICK ON PHOTO NASA/Jim Grossmann A Lockheed Martin technician performs tube welding on the crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1 inside a clean room processing cell in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center July 26. For more about Orion’s future missions, click on the photo. Aug. 9, 2013 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 7 Curiosity celebrates first year on Mars By Kevin Ball in Pasadena, Calif. Spaceport News Two flights were required for the ASA’s appropriately named Air Force C-17 cargo plane to carry vehicle, the Curiosity rover, the spacecraft components from Nmade its majestic arrival on March Air Reserve Base in River- the surface of Mars one year ago. side, Calif., to Kennedy. Reassembly Since then, Curiosity has sent more and testing took countless hours of than 70,000 pictures back to Earth work by a group of engineers and and collected more than 190 gigabits technicians in the Payload Hazardous of data. The rover also accomplished Servicing Facility cleanroom. its primary objective of finding On Nov. 26, 2011, the MSL environmental signs that suggest spacecraft was launched from Cape Mars once was suitable enough for Canaveral Air Force Station. The supporting microbial life. These find- self-steering spacecraft tactically ings may be an indicator to additional maneuvered through the Martian scientific discoveries that lie ahead atmosphere and a parachute, along as Curiosity moves toward Mount with , slowed the descent Sharp. before lowering the rover on a tether “Successes of our Curiosity -- that into its landing site, the Gale Crater, dramatic touchdown a year ago and on Aug. 6, 2012. the science findings since then -- ad- Curiousity still has a lot of work vance us toward further exploration, ahead as it nears the base of Mount including sending humans to an aster- Sharp where geological layers in that oid and Mars,” said NASA Adminis- area can give details of Mars’ past trator . “Wheel tracks environment. Researchers hope to now will lead to boot prints later.” discover additional indications of the NASA’s planet’s habitability and how much it (MSL) mission and its rover are part has evolved of the years. of a long-term operation by the Mars NASA already is looking ahead to- Exploration Program to learn about ward the next mission to Mars, which the Red Planet’s capability to be will study processes in the upper inhabited. atmosphere. The Mars Atmosphere NASA/Kim Shiflett The 1-ton, automobile-sized and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN), is The Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover, shown here on Oct. 31, 2011, launched from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 26, 2011, and rover began its life in a clean room being prepared for launch in Novem- landed on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012. at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ber.

FY 2013 Third Quarter Length of Service Awardees Barbara Naylor TA 40 Debra Kral LX 30 Kenneth Tenbusch FA 25 Denise Coleman EX 35 Barbara Brown NE 30 Douglass Lyons GP 25 Pedro Rosado GP 35 Eric Schafer NE 30 Brian Cheshire NE 25 Laurette Brown IT 35 Eric Smith NE 30 Fernando De La Pascua NE 25 Craig Baker NE 35 Bhupendra Deliwala SA 30 Donald Dehart II NE 25 Albert Folensbee NE 35 William Higgins SA 30 William Espinosa NE 25 Arthur Edwards SA 35 Mark Hoffman SA 30 Cassandra Getter NE 25 Dennis Bayon TA 35 Jeffrey Pryor SA 30 Kevin Grant NE 25 Martin Lougheed VA 35 Maynette Smith SA 30 John Branard SA 25 Cheryl Hurst EX 30 Michael Carney VA 30 Matthew Carroll TA 25 Tracy Anderson GP 30 Gerard Durback VA 30 George Coleman TA 25 William Haase III GP 30 Rex Engelhardt VA 30 Brian Graf TA 25

Patty Hepburn GP 30 Claire Neptune VA 30 Herschel McCoy TA 25 NASA/TonyNASA/Sandra Gray Joseph Gregory Katnik GP 30 Cheryl Malloy FA 25 Robert Kuczajda UB 25 Barbara Naylor, who joined NASA Timothy Potter GP 30 Armando Oliu FA 25 David Burris TA 20 in 1973, recently achieved 40 Darrell Thomas IT 30 Roger Rudig FA 25 Pauline Shook TA 20 years of service on June 25. Page 8 SPACEPORT NEWS Aug. 9, 2013 NASA Employees of the Month: August NASA Spinoffs: Did You Know?

NASA Major League Baseball takes a swing at NASA’s Mars image technology During its year on the Martian surface, the Curiosity rover has become a bit of a celebrity. The robotic explorer recently released a gigapixel image -- that’s 1.3 billion pixels -- of the Red Planet’s surface using NASA’s custom built tripod. The NASA/Rick Wetherington process works by taking dozens, hundreds, or thousands Employees of the Month for August are, from left, John L. Kelley, Procurement; Marianne of still photographs and combining them into one seamless Colon Zambrana, IT and Comm Services; Miroslava J. Guisbert; and Technol- image. ogy; Charles E. Loftin, Safety and Mission Assurance; Jennifer P. Horner, Public Affairs; Here on Earth, baseball fans can have a similar view of Gordon B. Coffey, Ground Processing; Jennifer L. Tharpe, Center Operations; and Matthew their team on the field by using Spinoff technology. Gigapan A. McGuire, Financial Office. Not pictured are Bradley W. Smith, Chief Council; Stephen K. and TagOrganic now allow users to see their team’s entire Cox, Ground Systems Development and Operations; Richard Birr, Engineering and Tech- nology; Bartholomew A. Pannullo, ISS and Spacecraft Processing; and Jeffrey R. Ehrsam, stadium at a glance. What’s even more impressive, like Launch Services Program. Curiosity’s gigapixel shot, is that you can zoom in and see close ups of everything in the image. Not only can you find yourself, relatives and friends, the new technology allows you to tag yourself in Facebook. Looking up and ahead . . . Joining thousands of other Spinoff technologies that make life on Earth easier and more enjoyable, this new social fea- * All times are Eastern ture couples nicely with gatherings and scenic events. Sept. 6 Mission: Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Launch Vehicle: V Launch Site: , Va. Launch Time: 11:27 p.m. Launch Pad: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0B Description: LADEE will gather detailed information about conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust. A thorough understanding of these influences will help researchers understand how future exploration may shape the lunar environment and how the environment may affect future explorers.

To watch a NASA launch online, go to http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

John F. Kennedy Space Center Spaceport News

Spaceport News is an official publication of the Kennedy Space Center and is published online on alternate Fridays by Public Affairs in the interest of KSC civil service and contractor employees. Contributions are welcome and should be submitted three weeks before publication to Public Affairs, IMCS-440. Email submissions can be sent to [email protected]. Managing editor ...... Chris Hummel Editor ...... Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Assistant editor ...... Linda Herridge Copy editor ...... Kay Grinter Editorial support provided by Abacus Technology Corp. Writers Group. NASA at KSC on the Web, at http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy Photos Courtesy of Major League Baseball SP-2013-07-160-KSC • NASA Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs