Aeronautics and Space Report of the President Fiscal Year 2015 Activities Aeronautics and Space Report OF THE PRESIDENT Fiscal Year 2015 Activities The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 directed the annual Aeronautics and Space Report to include a “comprehensive description of the programmed activities and the accomplishments of all agencies of the United States in the field of aeronautics and space activities during the preceding calendar year.” In recent years, the reports have been prepared on a fiscal-year basis, consistent with the budgetary period now used in programs of the Federal Government. This year’s report covers activities that took place from October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015. Please note that these activities reflect Aeronautics and SpaceAeronautics Report of the President the Federal policies of that time and do not include subsequent events or changes in policy. On the title page, clockwise from the top left: 1. Pluto is seen from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. Credits: NASA/Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)/Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). 2. A DHC-3 Otter is flown in NASA’s Operation IceBridge-Alaska survey of mountain glaciers in Alaska. Credit: NASA/Chris Larsen, University of Alaska-Fairbanks. 3. This image shows an artist’s concept of NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)–California Institute of Technology. 4. Engineers at Orbital ATK prepare to test the largest, most powerful booster ever built for NASA’s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Credit: Orbital ATK. 5. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly works outside the International Space Station (ISS) on the 190th spacewalk in support of ISS assem- bly and maintenance. Credit: NASA. 6. This schlieren image of shock waves created by a T-38C in supersonic flight was captured using the sun’s edge as a light source and then processed using NASA- developed code. Credit: NASA. TABLE OF CONTENTS Fiscal Year 2015 Activities 2015 Year Fiscal National Aeronautics and Space Administration . 1. Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 1 Science Mission Directorate 19 Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 43 Space Technology Mission Directorate 52 Department of Defense . .61 . Federal Aviation Administration . .77 . Department of Commerce. 85 Department of the Interior. 99 Federal Communications Commission . 117. U.S. Department of Agriculture . 121. National Science Foundation . 131 . Department of State . .141 . Department of Energy . 147 . Smithsonian Institution. 155 Appendices A-1 U S Government Spacecraft Record 162 A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond 163 B Successful Launches to Orbit on U S Vehicles 164 C Human Spaceflights 166 D-1A Space Activities of the U S Government—Historical Table of Budget Authority in Millions of Real-Year Dollars 167 D-1B Space Activities of the U S Government—Historical Table of Budget Authority in Millions of Inflation-Adjusted FY 2015 Dollars 168 D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget 169 D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget 170 Acronyms . 171. iv This page is intentionally left blank. Aeronautics and SpaceAeronautics Report of the President 1 Fiscal Year 2015 Activities 2015 Year Fiscal NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) continued its focus on research and tech- nology development in such disciplines as biology, human research, biotechnology, Earth science, physical science, astrophysics, and satellite servicing during FY 2015. Also during FY 2015, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) com- pleted two commercial cargo missions and Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) completed one cargo mission. NASA continued modifications to docking ports that will allow the ISS to accommodate two docking ports for visiting vehicles, enabling traffic flexibility and port redundancy for U.S. operating segment crew and cargo vehicle missions. FY 2015 presented one of the ISS Program’s toughest logistical challenges. Over the course of eight months, the ISS Program lost three cargo resupply vehicles in launch mishaps: Orbital-ATK’s Orbital 3 failed immediately after launch on October 28, 2014; Russia’s Progress 59P, just before reaching orbit on April 28, 2015; and SpaceX-7, a few minutes into flight on June 28, 2015. The ISS Program man- aged to mitigate the impacts; consumables remained in good shape and research was stockpiled on board, waiting to be executed. The ISS Program successfully planned for contingencies, evidenced by the fact that after losing three cargo resupply flights in about eight months, the Station supported six crewmembers 2 and continued a full research utilization program. The Russian Progress returned to flight in June 2015; Orbital ATK planned to return to flight in December 2015; and SpaceX plans to return to flight in early 2016. During 2015, NASA continued planning the ISS’s extension to at least 2024 to align with the Obama administration’s announced intent. The extension allows NASA a decade to help transition low-Earth orbit from exclusive to accessible; offers scientists and engineers the time they need to assure the future of explora- tion, scientific discoveries, and economic development; and presents important new opportunities to develop the tools needed for future missions to deep space, such as testing essential technologies and hardware related to long-duration journeys. Expedition 42 crewmembers NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Roscosmos cosmo- naut Anton Shkaplerov, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti joined the Expedition 41 crew on the ISS on November 23, 2014. Crewmembers performed three extravehicular activities (EVAs) to prepare for the arrival and installation of the International Docking Adapters, which will provide additional docking capabilities for visiting vehicles. SpaceX-5 launched on January 10, 2015, delivering 3,700 pounds of pressurized and unpressurized cargo, includ- ing research experiments, food, crew provisions, and exercise equipment, plus the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to measure and characterize cloud and aerosol effects to improve climate models. On March 27, 2015, Expedition 43 crewmembers NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, Aeronautics and SpaceAeronautics Report of the President and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka joined the Expedition 42 crew on the ISS. NASA began a one-year, U.S.-Russian joint human health and performance research project with Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, who will stay aboard the Station for one year. While Kelly lives on board the Station, his identical twin brother, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, is par- ticipating in the study on Earth, allowing NASA to better isolate the deleterious effects of spaceflight on the human body and aid in the development of counter- measures for these effects. This research should be invaluable to the preparation for future missions to study the effects of long-duration space missions on the human body. SpaceX-6 launched on April 14, 2015, delivering 4,200 pounds of research experiments, food, crew provisions, and exercise equipment. The cargo included 20 mice for the second Rodent Research investigation to continue the study of accelerated bone and muscle loss in space, which could lead to new treatments for 3 osteoporosis and muscle wasting on Earth, as well as the Robotic Refueling Mission Activities 2015 Year Fiscal Phase 2 (RRM-P2) equipment to continue the robotic servicing investigation for satellite servicing. The loss of Russia’s Progress 59P on April 28, 2015, delayed the return of the Expedition 42 crew to Earth for four weeks and the launch of the Expedition 43 crew for eight weeks. The Expedition 42 crew returned to Earth on June 11, 2015, after spending six months on orbit. On June 28, 2015, the SpaceX-7 cargo resup- ply vehicle failed a few minutes into flight, resulting in the loss of all cargo on board. The Russian Progress returned to flight on July 3, 2015, after a thorough investigation, carrying 1,900 pounds of propellant, oxygen, water, food, and experi- ment hardware. With this delivery, the ISS had sufficient supplies to last until October 2015. The Expedition 44 crewmembers—NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui—joined the Expedition 43 crew on the ISS on July 22, 2015. The arrival of the three crewmem- bers returned the Station’s crew complement to six. Russian crewmembers con- ducted a six-hour spacewalk on August 10, 2015, to install new equipment on the Russian segment and conduct a detailed photographic inspection of the exterior of the Station. On August 19, 2015, Japan’s HTV-5 launched with 10,000 pounds of cargo and science materials, including critical spares lost on SpaceX-7, as well as the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), designed to search for dark matter, measure cosmic rays, and observe sources of high-energy phenomena in the galaxy. These crewmembers became the first to harvest and eat crops grown aboard the Station in the Veggie hardware, another necessary advance for astronauts trav- eling on deep space missions. Finally, Expedition 45 crewmembers Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov launched on September 2, 2015, joining Expedition 43 and 44 crew to support ten days of nine crew operations for the first time since 2013. On September 15, 2015, Kelly and Kornienko reached the halfway point of their one-year mission to advance understanding of the medical and psychological challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight. 4 Launch Services During FY 2015, the Launch Services Program (LSP) successfully launched two major science missions: the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). SMAP launched on January 31, 2015, aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.