Issue 1 AIAA Houston Section Winter 2007/2008

Home , Michael Coats, Odyssey Space Research

Volume 33, Issue 1 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org Winter 2007/2008

Photographs courtesy of Navigant Vacations and Virgin Galactic AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 1 Winter 2008

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

From the Editor 3 HOUSTON Chair’s Corner 4

Horizons is a quarterly publication of the Houston section AIAA Historic Aerospace Sites 5 of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Address by Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator 6

Douglas J. Yazell State of the Center Address by Michael Coats, JSC Center Director 8 Acting Editor Staying Informed (2 pages) 10 AIAA Houston Section Executive Council Membership News 12

Douglas Yazell Lunch-and-Summary, Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade 14 Chair National Engineers Week with AIAA Houston Section 16

Chad Brinkley Section News: International Space Activities Committee (ISAC) 18 Chair-Elect College & Co-op Activities: EVA Presentations at Student Sections 20 Dr. Jayant Ramakrishnan Past Chair Calendar 22

Sarah Shull Cranium Cruncher & Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) News 23 Secretary Odds & Ends 24 Tim Propp Treasurer AIAA Houston Section Annual Technical Symposium (ATS 2008) 25

JJ Johnson Sean Carter Our 2-page Cover Story: Tara Hyland, a Local Accredited Space Agent 26 Vice-Chair, Operations Vice-Chair, Technical

Operations Technical

Nick Pantazis Dr. Al Jackson Gabe Garrett Dr. Zafar Taqvi Munir Kundawala Sheikh Ahsan Dr. Douglas Schwaab Bill Atwell Svetlana Hanson Ludmilla Dmitriev Douglas Yazell, Editor* William West Gary Cowan Paul Nielsen Horizons and AIAA Houston Web Amy Efting Dr. Michael Lembeck Site Matthew Easterly Dr. Kamlesh Lulla AIAA National Jim Palmer Gary Brown Communications Award Linda Phonharath Chet Vaughan Winner Dr. Jaehyung “Joshua” Ju Bebe Kelly-Serrato Lisa Voiles Bob Beremand Joel Henry Benjamin Longmier

Councilors

Shirley Brandt Bob McCormick 2005 2006 2007 Aaron Morris Dr. Rakesh Bhargava Dr. Merri Sanchez This newsletter is created by members of the Houston section. Opinions expressed herein other than Brenda Weber by elected Houston section officers belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily represent the Mike Lammers position of AIAA or the Houston section. Unless explicitly stated, in no way are the comments of Ellen Gillespie individual contributors to Horizons to be construed as necessarily the opinion or position of AIAA, Lorenn Vega-Martinez NASA, its contractors, or any other organization. Please address all newsletter correspondence to David Segrera the Editor:[email protected]

More information at: www.aiaa-houston.org/orgchart Cover: Images Courtesy of Navigant Vacations & Virgin Galactic

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 2 Page 3

From the Acting Editor DOUGLAS YAZELL

Jon Berndt took this newslet- building as Jon at Space Center Linda Phonharath, our Col- ter, Horizons, to a new level the Blvd and Bay Area Blvd, so they lege and Co-op Chair, wrote about past 3 years, winning 1st place in will meet soon. Bill West’s visits to Texas A&M our category nationwide 3 years in University and Rice University to Jon gave me a customized a row. He now moves on to other talk to our student sections. He template in Microsoft Publisher roles, but he will be nearby to took a Russian Orlan spacesuit format, so I will use Publisher and ? advise us. He gave Horizons a with him for both visits. Linda Jon’s template. new, modern look with a strong and I joined Bill at Rice to meet visual emphasis. He wrote an Bill Miller gave us another those 8 students. Photo of our editor’s column each quarterly, Cranium Crunch for this month. We don’t have a cover story next editor online-only issue. And he found Let’s give him lots of replies! about Virgin Galactic, but I hope cover stories and other features BeBe Kelly-Serrato will write you are seeing these photos for that inspired us. about her first AIAA lunch-and- the first time. Below is Our current candidate for learn, “Lunar Communications “Mothership Construction”. Else- editor (see below) has not met Updated”, presented by Oron where in this issue is Jon yet, so I am acting editor for Schmitt, as soon as her article is “SpaceShipTwo_technical dia- now, aiming at bimonthly releases OK’d regarding various categories gram”. On the cover is “Spaceship on February 25, April 25, and such as Sensitive But Unclassified. Two and Burt Rutan”. And I June 25. Our AIAA year ends on About 35 people attended that added a photo of our local Virgin June 30, and we will return to a event, so BeBe is off to a good Galactic Accredited Space Agent quarterly schedule at that time. start as Chair of our section’s Tara Hyland of Navigant Vaca- Space Operations technical com- tions. She is shown in a recent Dr. Rattaya “Chow” Yala- mittee. photo with Sir Richard Branson manchili/Jacobs has volunteered and Burt Rutan. as editor. He works in the same

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Chair’s Corner DOUGLAS YAZELL, AIAA HOUSTON CHAIR Enthusiasm is high as we work the schedules of the past two section’s good work in having in Houston on shuttle, ISS, years, Thursday, April 10, Johnson Space Center selected and a shuttle replacement. The 2008, will be the date of confir- for this honor. The plaque is upcoming International Year mation of our ballot, the clos- shown in Chet’s photograph of Astronomy is 2009, and we ing date for petitions, and Fri- on its granite base which was thank our French sister section day, April 11, 2008, will be the donated by JSC. It rests in its member Michel Bonavitacola date we post the ballot online. place of honor near the Saturn for calling this to our attention. Twenty days later, on Thurs- V building. A similar plaque Space and Astronomy: Decade day, May 1, 2008, all ballots will be presented in a cere- by Decade, was the title of our must be in. A teller committee mony at the 1940 Air Terminal popular lunch-and-learn on will report election results on Museum in the coming January 11, 2008, described or before May 15, 2008. months. A list of these 33 elsewhere in this issue of Hori- AIAA Historic Aerospace zons. We plan a fitting set of Our search for a new editor led Sites from past years is pre- events for National Engineers us to Dr. Rattaya (“Chow”) sented on the next page. Week, February 17-23, 2008. Yalamanchili of Jacobs. I am This issue of Horizons should acting editor for now, but Note that every third Saturday be online by February 25, Chow will probably take over is Wings and Wheels Day at 2008. We plan two more bi- ASAP. Thanks go to Jon this museum at Hobby Airport. monthly issues, online April Berndt, our outgoing editor, for For $10 admission for adults, a 25, 2008 and June 25, 2008, his prize-winning years of casual lunch (burgers, hot then a return to a quarterly work and his intention to stay dogs, soft drinks, etc.) is in- schedule. close and advise us. cluded, along with special outdoor displays, museum Our AIAA year ends on June Webmaster Gary Cowan vol- tours, etc. 30, 2008. Our search for a new unteered to update our web slate of candidates will begin site’s backbone, if that’s the I was fortunate to see the soon. The organization chart at right word. That will change launch of Atlantis and STS- www.aiaa-houston.org de- the web site’s look. At the 122 on February 7, 2008, as a scribes what we need, and same time, we will follow the guest of a French astronaut’s bylaws at the same web site results of a credit card feasibil- family. Thanks to wisdom, supply the rest of the details. ity study by our section’s Com- organization, and sacrifice on Our 1100 membership in- munications Chair, Gabe the part of my wife of 22 cludes 850 professional mem- Garrett, by starting the use of years, my 3-day trip to this bers and 45 positions on the PayPal. The date for this historic event was possible. org chart. The elected mem- change is not yet decided, but it This launch of the European bers number only 20, and will be as soon as possible. Laboratory module Columbus these are the ones with the was historic for our interna- privilege of voting on ques- Congratulations to our sec- tional ISS partnership and the An antique plane owned by tions that come before our tion’s History Committee Chair space programs of all of those the museum at the 1940 Air council. Eight of our ten coun- in our technical branch, Ches- nations. I return to this work in Terminal Building cilors will be up for election to ter Vaughan, on the acceptance Houston and worldwide with (www.1940airterminal.org) is two-year terms. Chair and of the nomination of the 1940 renewed humility, pride, and seen with a taxiing Southwest Past-Chair will not be on the Air Terminal Building enthusiasm. jet during a typical Wings ballot, but the other positions (www.1940airterminal.org) at and Wheels Day, which is coming up for election to one- Hobby Airport as an AIAA every third Saturday. year terms are Chair-Elect, Historic Aerospace Site! Chet Secretary, Treasurer, Vice has been documenting the his- Chair – Operations, Vice Chair tory of our section, and we are – Technical, Programs, Mem- working to place those docu- bership, and Communications. ment on our web site for easy A call for candidates will go viewing. A recent example of a out in late March. Based on successful nomination is our

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33 AIAA Historic Aerospace Sites Prior to 2008’s Addition of the 1940 Air Terminal Building at Hobby Airport

1. Cincinnati Observatory, Cincinnati, Ohio (last site listed, 2007) 2. Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tennessee 3. Woomera, South Australia 4. Marine Park, Great Kills, Long Island, New York 5. Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey 6. Travel Air Manufacturing Company, Wichita, Kansas 7. Local de nascimento de Alberto Santos-Dumont (Portuguese) 8. Birthplace of Alberto Santos-Dumont, Cabangu, Minas Gerais, Brazil 9. NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 10. Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland 11. Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California 12. White Sands Missile Range, White Sands, New Mexico Two snapshots of the 1940 Air Ter- 13. Reaction Motors, Inc., Denville, New Jersey minal Building at Hobby Airport 14. Aeronautical Concourse of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo. (www.1940airterminal.org) 15. Purdue University Airport, West Lafayette, Indiana 16. Bendix Aviation Corporation, Teterboro, New Jersey 17. Thiokol Chemical Corporation, Elkton Division, Elkton, Maryland 18. Naval Air Missile Test Center, Pt. Mugu, California 19. College Park Airport, College Park, Maryland 20. The Boeing Red Barn, Seattle, Washington 21. North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, California 22. First Aerojet Manufacturing Facility, Pasadena, California 23. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 24. Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory, Rocket Center, West Virginia 25. Oakland Airport, Oakland, California 26. Site of First Balloon Launch, Annonay, France (French) 27. Site of First Balloon Launch, Annonay, France 28. Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, Virginia 29. Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, California 30. "Aunt Effie's Farm," Site of First Goddard Rocket Launch, Auburn, Massachusetts 31. Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California 32. Dutch Flats Airport, San Diego, California 33. "The Rocket Site," Edwards Air Force Base, California (first site listed, 2004)a

The plaque designating Johnson Space Center an AIAA His- NASA/JSC donated a monument of solid granite. It is no toric Aerospace Site, displayed outdoors near the Saturn V longer sitting squarely on its cement support. It was proba- building in Rocket Park near the main gate bly bumped by a delivery truck. Our request to JSC will probably fix it, but if not, our members may want to try.

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 5 Page 6

Administrator Michael Griffin extending that date to 2013. The new President probably Address by addressed a crowd of NASA What do you think of that? won’t ask me to stay. A new NASA Adminis- employees and contractors on Answer: That’s a bad idea. It’s president has about 414 ap- Monday, January 7, 2007 at the a financial question. The space pointments to make, and only 1 trator Michael Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom shuttle program has a high ratio or 2 stay on from the past ad- at NASA/JSC. After a few brief of fixed cost to variable cost, ministration. My chances are Griffin remarks from JSC Center Di- and I speak as someone who better trying to make a hole in rector Michael Coats, Mr. Grif- earned an MBA (Masters in one on a par 3. fin made one or two prepared Business Administration). It remarks and then took ques- costs $300B per year to own Question: How are we doing tions for almost an hour. From this space shuttle fleet. Until with systems engineering, some notes we took, we present and unless we stop, we can’t which is something you have a rough summary which will free up that money for ARES, worked with? certainly contain errors since Orion, Altair, etc. We won’t Answer: My best work was we cannot write as fast as we get enough money to keep the with systems engineering. The would like, read our own hur- shuttles flying and do these is the most crucial part of ried handwriting, or remember other things, though I wish we NASA’s work for our country the comments made while we could. CAIB (the Columbia and sometimes for the world. wrote. Accident Investigation Board) Even big companies merge said that after 2010 the space these days, as they should when Congress approved the magni- shuttle fleet would need recerti- it is in the best interest of stock- tude of the NASA budget re- fying. That is very expensive, holders. But we do the systems quest from the President’s of- so the Bush administration cut engineering. Recent decades fice, but moved about $10M to the cord. All of our programs gave us less of that work. Now earmarks, an improvement over then planned on that. It seems we are doing new things. Sys- about $85M in earmarks in like a good idea to close the tems engineering cannot be 2006. NASA is doing well on gap (from 2010 to the time taught from a book or even a the hill. Congress wanted to CEV is ready), but saving university course. Once you send NASA more money than $100M now would cost $140M have done it, then you know. the President would accept. If later. We are doing what is we don’t do well with our needed to get past the limits of Question: We have walked on launches, space station work, the space shuttle program and the Moon but not Mars. What etc., we don’t get that kind of out of Earth orbit. I am sorry technology can help us get to support, so, “Good work!” our leaders won’t provide more Mars? money. We must sometimes Answer: We need lots of mass Question: What is the probabil- remind ourselves: we execute in low Earth orbit (LEO), about ity of success for our ambitious policy, we don’t make it. one million pounds, less if we work on Moon, Mars and Be- use nukes and have some favor- yond with a constant budget Question: Would you stay in able opportunities. So we start from year to year? your job if the new President by recreating our heavy lift Answer: We are not that far asked you to stay? launch capability, which we along. For now, the focus is 6 Answer: I am often asked that will do for the next 10 years. crew members in orbit in the question, and I can never tell if Then we will work on Entry, Crew Exploration Vehicle they want me to stay or go. Descent and Landing (ED&L) (CEV). Then ARES V, then the Here is what I tell them. I serve technology. Mars has just Moon. For now, it’s a constant at the pleasure of the President. enough atmosphere to be a budget and on to Mars. I think I am required to submit my pain. In the mid-1970’s we had we can get there in the mid- resignation. If asked to stay, Viking, and the Mars Surface 2030’s. For me, the Moon and if I have a chance to be Laboratory (MSL) is about the comes first. This is the correct successful, which means no same size. We will increase that Douglas Yazell, order. I don’t have a success budget cuts, then I would stay. size by an order of magnitude. probability. We are doing well with our But we will work these tasks Chair & David budget requests. Early 1970’s one at a time. Apollo had a big Segrera, Coun- Question: September 2010 is space policy hurt our nation, budget increase for 4 or 5 years the deadline to stop space shut- since human space flight was to work technology tasks in cilor tle operations and retire the stuck in low Earth orbit. I also parallel. We will do ours se- shuttles. Someone proposed want to create my own team. (Continued on page 7)

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quentially. “Mars in its own Answer: I have not given it strategy welcomes them. There time.” much thought. I traveled there are many pieces of this Moon once. I read the open literature. mission to work on. We spent a Question: My neighbor thinks I have some contacts. I am im- couple of years devising that astronauts are rich and the new pressed. They are committed as strategy. We received kudos capsule is old fashioned. How a nation to being a big nation as from Europeans recently where do we educate the public? befits the size of their popula- Americans have not been get- Answer: We can do better with tion. They completed two ting so many of those lately. public outreach. Here are some manned flights in orbit, but things I tell people I meet. Why their first one accomplished Question: Please comment on does Orion (CEV capsule) have what we did with our first six the European space program. this look? The goal is not LEO. Mercury flights. Their second Answer: They want to see us We knew this capsule shape for one matched half of our Gemini meet our existing obligations. space vehicles. It works. It goes flights. Their third one will put They invest as much in ISS as to the moon. Its insides are not 3 men in orbit and leave a small we do proportionally. For me, like Apollo. The shape can module in space to dock with the ISS exists for the Moon and come back fast, from the Moon. future flights. Their steps are Mars, but that debate is over. I It can go the Moon and stay being done in a measured way. think the Europeans like the there for six months. Why do Our first moon landing was our Moon mission. Keep your eyes most planes look alike, with a 21st human spaceflight. China on the results of the European tube for a fuselage, wings, a will need more time but fewer Ministerials of 2008 and 2011. tail, etc.? We need to convince launches. In some lines of one person at a time. work, we focus on intentions, Question: What is the minimum not capabilities. number of space shuttle flights Question: It seems the press is needed before they retire in not interested in telling our Question: Please comment on 2010? story. COTS (Commercial Orbital Answer: We tried to make the Answer: I am making some Transportation Systems). last flights less important. Like efforts now with the fourth es- Answer: Congress cut $75M. I Clint Eastwood said the a Dirty tate. The agency was stillborn will ask them to restore it. Harry movie, “Do you feel 35 years ago. As a nation, we COTS will help commercial lucky?” From what we know need to leave LEO. Don’t let spaceflight capabilities. Avia- about failure rates, we will need the discussion be the shape of tion had a good mix of com- those last flights. the OML (Outer Mold Line of mercial and government financ- STS-122 launch, operations the CEV). We need to interest ing, but space has been all gov- Question: We have a lot of re- with the European laboratory the media. I used to say ISS ernment. The cut to the COTS tirements and fewer graduates. Columbus, and landing. Photos (the International Space Sta- budget was very damaging. What human capital resources coutesy of NASA. tion) was for science. It is not are needed for 2030? just for science. It is an outpost Question: Please comment on Answer: I don’t know. We must which is only of value if we international cooperation. reverse the trend of fewer leave LEO. We need to tell that Answer: Great nations make graduates in engineering, sci- to the press and public. ISS is some things for themselves and ence, and math in our country. how we learn to be in space. hope other nations make their If not reversed, it will cause us We never told the story that own. It is unfit and unseemly to a lot of grief, and not just in way. rely on other nations for human space. When I was a graduate spaceflight capability. ISS is a student, many of my fellow Question: Do we need CEV good example. We maintain students came here to study, landings on land? one lab and the infrastructure. then stay, but now they go Answer: We won’t lose our Three labs come from IPs back. We need incentives for crews. We must do both. Then (international partners). This them to stay here, and we need it’s economics. Engineering and provides redundancy for the more homebred graduates. We economics hats are needed. The capability provided by the labs. need excitement attributed to bottom line then becomes the This could work for the Moon. math and science as it was dur- lowest life cycle costs. We need things our country ing the Apollo era. cannot afford. We chose to do Question: Please comment on the transportation part. We wel- the Chinese space program. come other nations, and this

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Dinner Meeting State of the Center by Michael Coats Address by ELLEN M. GILLESPIE, COUNCILOR NASA/JSC Cen- ten NASA centers are active ing lessons learned. A joint dinner meeting of with timely aerospace projects. • To eliminate problems ter Director Mi- AIAA Houston Section, Until recently 3,000 NASA associated with a “not chael Coats United Space Alliance Leader- workers did not have projects invented here” mentality ship Association (USALA), to support. That number has at JSC, Mr. Coats is en- and SouthWest Aerospace been reduced to 300. couraging diversity of Professional Representatives professions and back- grounds on key project Association (SWAPRA) was The biggest concerns faced as held on Friday, January 25th, at teams. JSC Center Director are con- • Benchmarking is in work the JSC Gilruth Center Alamo ducting safe Space Shuttle Pro- Ballroom. Michael Coats, JSC by visiting other organiza- gram (SSP) missions, and tions to share ideas, such Center Director, was the fea- avoiding workforce upsets as- tured speaker, and drew a as sharing MCC concepts sociated with the end of the with US Air Force Con- crowd of approximately 150 SSP. To fly the CEV 4 ½ years people. trol Centers and the NY of SSP budget, without sup- Terrorist Control Center. porting the SSP, is needed to The dinner meeting started at This could help JSC reach fund the Orion program. This 4 its goal of reducing the 5:30 PM with registration and ½ year program gap should be a cash bar social. Dinner was cost MCC operations by minimized to avoid a problem 50%. served at 6:15 PM, and Mi- with the American public, who chael Coats spoke at 7:00 PM • Stress is being placed on will realize that the US is no leadership. JSC’s leader- on the state of JSC. longer a space faring nation. ship programs are avail- Fortunately, the Space Explo- able to everyone, and JSC’s core competencies are ration Act was approved by Mission Control Center these classes encourage a Congress, and a new admini- concern for others. (MCC) operations, astronaut stration will have to pass new • JSC facilities are being training, human health space legislation before a NASA pro- enhanced with environ- science, space debris center, gram redirection could occur. mentally friendly building engineering, and large pro- upgrades. A new fence is gram management. Mr. Coats Mr. Coats provided commen- to be installed around the cited excellent teamwork with tary on the problems in work at center. our international partners and NASA and JSC today: superb large program manage- • While NASA is ranked • Transportation to Low ment as JSC’s key strengths. the fourth best govern- Earth Orbit (LEO) is to be The future of JSC is to comment agency to work for, given to the commercial plete ISS assembly via the people who work for JSC sector, which could pro- final space shuttle missions, tend to have high expecta- vide this service 30% conduct a Hubble Space Tele- tions that create chal- cheaper. scope servicing mission, sup- lenges in our work/life port Orion development with • The Human Health Sci- balance and lead to burn- ences team is working on new facilities and hardware out. A policy is in place at how astronauts could ob- testing, continue to serve as a JSC to help prevent work- tain vitamin D in space, as space debris collection center, place violence. Employ- this vitamin is normally perform medical research for ees are now required to obtained by spending time extended space missions, and report any threat of vio- provide program management in the sunshine outdoors. lence in the workplace. for all projects. • NASA databases are being There were cases re- enhanced to work together, viewed at JSC since the

and include information recent murder-suicide, from Apollo, Gemini, and JSC is to support Michael and 8 individuals have Mercury programs. since been fired, or at Griffin’s “Ten Healthy Cen- • JSC is currently working ters” policy to ensure that all to do a better job of track- (Continued on page 9)

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State of the Center by Michael Coats ELLEN M. GILLESPIE, COUNCILOR

(Continued from page 8) least lost the privilege of having a JSC badge. An ger management classes (as advertised in JSC To- day, a daily e-mail note) are available for those in need. (Note from the editor: those who need it are the last to know it, but we, I mean they, usually get the message eventually.) • JSC is partnering with schools (elementary and middle schools) to encourage children to select a technical career. Left to right: John Bailey (SWAPRA), AIAA Houston Section Pro- grams Chair Nick Pantazis, Gary Waits (USALA), Janet Morris We have completed 50 suc- (USALA), Mrs. Coats, JSC Center Director Michael Coats. cessful years of space operations this year, and should celebrate our JSC accomplish- ments.

Mr. Coats kindly allowed us to put his charts on our web site at www.aiaa-houston.org. They are on the opening page in a section called, “Take a Closer Look?” Thanks to Pro- grams Chair Nick Pantazis, Treasurer Tim Propp, our section’s other volunteers, USALA, and SWAPRA, who make such dinner meetings so successful.

ISS016-E-029873 (16 Feb. 2008) --- STS-122 and Expedition 16 crewmembers pose for a group photo following a joint news conference in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Sta- tion while Space Shuttle Atlantis is docked with the station. From the left (bottom) are NASA astronaut Steve Frick, STS-122 commander; and Peggy Whitson, Expedition 16 commander. From the left (middle row) are NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, STS-122 mission specialist; European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Leopold Eyharts, Expedition 16 flight engineer; and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Expedition 16 flight engineer representing Russia's Federal Space Agency. From the left (top row) are NASA astronaut Stanley Love, ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel, NASA astronauts Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, all STS-122 mission specialists; and Alan Poindexter, STS-122 pilot. Tani, who joined the station's Expedition 16 crew in October, is being replaced by Eyharts, who arrived at the station with the STS-122 crew. Photo courtesy of NASA.

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 9 Page 10 Staying Informed COMPILED BY THE EDITOR PlanetQuest http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov

http://www.nasa.gov/50th/home.html

Better-suited for the moon's surface NASA revising astronauts' wardrobe for missions on dusty landscape BY MARK CARREAU Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5488918.html

“Finally, I need to ask, plainly and simply, for recognition from the science community that NASA is not solely, or even primarily, about science. Yes, science is a very important part of NASA, and I have in numer- ous speeches, including this one, reinforced its seminal im- portance to me, to the agency, and to the nation. The goal of scientific discovery is a noble one. I will never feel otherwise. I am incapable of believing otherwise.

But does the science community understand it when I say, with equal emphasis, that ex- panding the range of human presence is a goal fully as noble as that of scientific discovery? Where is the mutual re- spect for goals that are linked by the common disciplines of flight in air and space, but dis- parate in their specifics, that is Another Virgin Galactic milestone, unveiling the design of White Knight 2 and Spaceship 2 in necessary if we are ever truly January 2008. Photo courtesy of Houston Clear Lake area Accredited Space Agent Tara Hyland to be a “space community”? I (license plate ZERO-G) of Navigant Vacations. believe this is not only desir- able, but needful, in the sense that Ben Franklin meant when he said, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."

Michael Griffin NASA Administrator Keynote Address American Astronomical Society Austin, Texas 8 January 2008

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 10 Page 11 Staying Informed COMPILED BY THE EDITOR

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New Members LISA VOILES, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Report of November 1, 2007: Educator associates trans- David Cooper New members: ferred in: Tarun Dhall Leif Anderson James A. Meyer Steven Everett Scott Bird Michael Lamberty Kevin Choi Report of December 1, 2007: Julie Robinson Griffin Corpening Thomas Hart New members: Kelly Soich Kathryn Hurlbert Robert Carmody Haoyu Wang Wes Kelly Jimmie Dowd Beatriz Kelly-Serrato (chair of Chun Yin Fu New student members: our section’s Space Operations Robert Gordon Gaurav Agarwal technical committee) Andrea Hsu Steven E Anderson Samantha Kujala Justin Johnson Grant J Atkinson John Lach (member of our sec- Dipankar Sahoo George C Bagnall tion’s GN&C technical commit- David Segrera (Councilor for Brittany J Barth tee) Jeffrey Lasater our section) Alex C Bayeh Prasenjit Sengupta Andrew R Benson Lisa Voiles (our section’s Mem- New student members: Kyle C Benson bership Chair) Lindsey Edwards Erin D Bishop Michael Wells Celine Kluzek Andrew L Boles Ian Nelson Alicia J Broederdorf New student members: Rebekah Reed Eric W Bryant Michael K Aparicio Yun Wong Michelle K Caron Brad L Belcher Jerry W Carter Chris Brammer New educator associates: Brannen M Clark Jessie H Daniel Amanda L. Davis Aaron Colunga Daniel D Hult Travis A Condit Andrea D Ilg Members transferred in: Jacalyn L Cossette Sungeun Jeon Reynaldo Gomez Austin B Cox Omari R Nundu Gary Lantz Brian Crawford Robi Resnik Gregory Potts William N Cunningham Keenan J Turner Chad Rasmussen Christina M Daughtrey Alessandro Vagata Nallely E Davila New educator associates: Stephen S Davis Melissa A. Smith Student members trans- Richard A Deresz Members transferred in: ferred in: Glen T Duncan Joseph Buontempo Denise Brown Mary Tess Eggebrecht Maijinn Chen Daniel Decino Aaron M Embry Kevin Choi Daniel Hult Danielle M Fitch Griffin Corpening Lauren Hunt Monica A Foster Neal Hammond Ashley Sparkman Matthew P Fritz Thomas Hart Adam J Galli Jennie Hulse Educator associates trans- James A Gaston Heather Love ferred in: David R Gilchrist Ram Poudel James W. Bourland Stephen T Glenn Matthew Snelling Susan S. Fontanilla Daniel W Greisser John M Guthery Student members transferred Report of January 1, 2008 & Bilel Hadri in: February 1, 2008 (some Luis G Hedina Sarah Canterbury problems reported: next re- John M Hibbeler Brandon Carringer port March 1, 2008): April E Hughes Chi Mai New members: Adam W Hughes Brian Anderson Sarah E Hunsinger Kevin Colburn (Continued on page 13)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 12 Page 13

New Members (continued from page 12) LISA VOILES, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Travis R Husman Bradley W Toellner Important notes: Justin P Jackson Brad J Tribley • Not a member? See the end page. Brian W Jacobs Christy L Tucker Blake A Jasken James A Vollenwei- William P Jinkins der Nominate a Colleague Nathan H Jones Adam J Watkins for One of AIAA's Top Ryan M Kelley Casey A Whalen Awards Dastan Khussainov Brad D Whelan Do you know of a colleague Lucas T Krehbiel Jared O Wissel who has made significant Arthur R L'Roy Jacob N Yunis contributions to aeronautics Randell M Labio Nicholas E Yunkun or astronautics or to AIAA? Joshua K LeBlanc Altay Zhakatayev Nominate them for one of Casandra S LeVano AIAA's top awards. Anny Lee New educator associates: Kimberly R Liotta Visit http://www.aiaa.org Scott P Loftin Jennifer S. King Mauricio A Lopez Justin R Mason Members trans- Jonathan D ferred in: McClellan Kimberly Campbell Nicholas J Meli Jarvis C Lehmann Cory D Monzingo Anne V Martt Holly N Nava Jeffrey McQuillan Sarah E Nelson Matthew J Roode Andrew Q Nguyen Haoyu Wang Aibek S Niyetkaliyev Joshua C Osterhout Student members Marcus B Payne transferred in: Austin Probe Brad L Belcher Antonio W Rucker Jeffrey R Bell Samuel T Russell Richard S Mar- Trevor B Saultz gulieux Stacy E Saxon Clark K Moody Steven M Shepherd Renato Zanetti Sawan Suman New member and Councilor David Segrera at the registration David A Surovik Educator associates table (at right) with Scholarship Chair Douglas Schwaab at our Wilson C Tenney transferred in: section’s National Engineering Week workshop on February 20, William L. Decker 2008, at the NASA/JSC Gilruth Center

Membership News

Please verify your AIAA member AIAA Houston Section welcomes reports and the next one will be record is up to date. Knowing our membership chair back from released on March 1, 2008), the where our members are working Moscow. Lisa Voiles can be total was up to 1150, with 813 is vital to the Houston Section in reached at membership@aiaa- members, 255 student members, obtaining corporate support for houston.org. She submitted the and 82 educator associates. local AIAA activities (such as our following reports. Our member- monthly dinner meeting, work- ship in November 2007 was 1086, Welcome to the two new mem- shops, etc.). Please take a few which included 844 members, 166 bers from our membership drive minutes and visit the AIAA web- student members, and 76 educator of February 20, 2008: David site at http://www.aiaa.org/ to associates. For December, that Marmarosh and Vaselia (Lia) update your member information was down to 1075 from 1086, and Patterson. Several more plan to or call customer service at 1-800- for January/February of 2008 join at www.aiaa.org thanks to NEW-AIAA (639-2422). (some problems occurred in these our events of that day.

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 13 Page 14

Lunch-and-Learn Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade Summary DOUGLAS YAZELL, ASTRODYNAMICS TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

Marianne Dyson spoke about Ohio and now lives in Houston years later using the observa- her new book, Space and As- with her husband and cat; and tory that he built. The “PL” in tronomy: Decade by Decade who speaks about space to Pluto are initials used in his (Facts On File, 2007), at the thousands of children every honor. NASA/JSC Gilruth Center on year. She is also the program Friday, January 11, 2008. We book coordinator for the For 1911-20, she selected started out in the Coronado RNASA (Rotary National Henry Norris Russell (1877- room, but when 30 people Award for Space Achieve- 1957). He is credited with the showed up, we moved to the ment) Foundation. The Foun- discovery of the main se- Longhorn room next door. Her dation will announce the win- quence, that most stars lie presentation was so popular ner of the National Space Tro- along a specific curved, diago- that she stayed an extra hour to phy by the end of this month. nal band when their brightness talk about this science history, (absolute magnitude) is plotted bringing it up to the present, Dr. Albert A. Jackson, Chair against their temperature (also and half of the attendees of our section’s Astrodynam- labeled spectral class and stayed for the extra time. ics Technical Committee, in- color). This band is shown on troduced Marianne after a a plot called the Hertzsprung- Who is Marianne? In short: the round of applause in honor of Russell Diagram. She ex- author of five published books, his recent election to the mem- plained that Russell was a Pu- Assignments Editor of Ad As- ber grade of AIAA Associate ritan and had done his thesis tra, the magazine of the Na- Fellow. Marianne told enter- work on an unnamed asteroid. tional Space Society, a free- taining stories about the re- When that asteroid was then lance writer, editor, webmas- markable people featured as named Eros, he was teased ter, and technical reviewer scientists of the decade in her mercilessly for being an expert who has a degree in physics book. For 1901-10, she se- on the God of Love. from Rice University; was one lected Percival Lowell (1855- of the first ten women flight 1916) who firmly believed that For 1921-30, she selected controllers for NASA; has intelligent beings had built Edwin Powell Hubble (1889- won the Golden Kite and canals on Mars and pushed the 1953). She explained that American Institute of Physics state of the art in astronomy to Hubble was not famous until Science Writing awards; has a prove it. He also searched in Einstein said he had changed black belt in Kuk Sool; has vain for “planet x” that was his mind about his static uni- two brilliant sons; grew up in found by Clyde Tombaugh verse theory because of Hub- ble’s data showing the expan- sion of the universe.

For 1931-40, she selected Robert H. Goddard (1882- 1945). In the 1920’s, some of his rockets pulled themselves up instead of pushing, since the exhaust nozzle was near the nose of the rocket, well above the fuel tanks. He launched the first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926. In 1935, one of his rockets became the first to break the speed of sound.

For 1941-50, her choice for (Continued on page 15)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 14 Page 15

Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade Lunch-and-Learn Summary

(continued from page 14) was a household name from planets. scientist of the decade is the TV show Cosmos and ap- Werner von Braun (1922-77). pearances on the Tonight Show We will work to persuade In late 1944, von Braun is (and he had a $2 million ad- Marianne to return to tell some quoted as saying, “I had 10 vance for his book), he was of these and other tales about orders on my desk. Five prom- refused admission to the Na- the history of science and as- ised death by firing squad if tional Academy of Sciences. tronomy and these great scien- we moved, and five said I’d be tists and engineers at our sec- shot if we didn’t move.” His For 1981-90, her choice is tion’s Annual Technical Sym- team moved to the US side, Vera Cooper Rubin (1928- posium in this same building which later allowed the US to present) who confirmed the on Friday, May 9, 2008. Her beat the Soviets to the Moon. existence of dark matter by web page is studying the velocities of stars www.mdyson.com, and any- For 1951-60, her choice is in Andromeda. Many astrono- one interested in purchasing Sergei Pavlovich Korolev mers did not take her work copies of her books may use (1907-66) who barely survived seriously because of her gen- the e-mail contact there to being sent to the gulag in Sibe- der. make arrangements. ria. His career rose in secret when he began working with For 1991-2000, her choice is We are always looking for the new USSR leader Khru- Geoffrey Marcy (1954- new members to join Al Jack- shchev. He “…delivered the present) who discovered many son, Tim Crain, Prerit Shah, first spacewalk, the first flight exosolar planets. He would and me in the volunteer work of a woman in space, the first have discovered the first one if of our section’s astrodynamics photos of the Moon’s far side, he hadn’t assumed that giant technical committee. A web and the first impact on the planets in other solar systems page exists at www.aiaa- Moon and on Venus.” He take years to revolve around houston.org/tc/astrodynamics, worked on plans to allow So- their stars like Jupiter does in and our e-mail contact is as- viets to land on the Moon us- ours. After someone else [email protected]. We ing an N-1 rocket, but he died found one with a period of hope you join us in our efforts at age 59, early in 1966, when days, he went back and found to be of service to our profes- a tumor was discovered during he already had data for several sion. a routine polyp removal.

For 1961-70, her choice is Robert Rowe Gilruth (1913- 2000), a surprising choice for the decade when we first walked on the Moon, but soft spoken Gilruth formed the Space Task Group that became NASA. He hired and managed the first NASA engineers, scientists, and flight directors, and built the Manned Space- craft Center that became John- son Space Center.

For 1971-80, her selection for scientist of the decade is Carl Sagan. He was never given tenure at Harvard despite packed classes. Later, after he

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 15 Page 16

Banner Display, National Engineers Week Workshop, and DOUGLAS YAZELL, CHAIR Lunch-and-Learn Celebrating National Engi- bridge, Massachusetts and Japanese Manipulator Flight neers Week from 17-23 Febru- continuing at the MIT Plasma Demonstration (MFD) robotic ary, 2008, AIAA Houston Sec- Fusion Center before moving arm), STS-98 in 2001 (with 3 tion displayed its banner near the project to the Johnson spacewalks by Mr. Curbeam the main gate at NASA/JSC Space Center in 1994, and into and delivery of the U.S. labo- just off Saturn Drive (“Go the private AARC laboratory ratory Destiny, and STS-116 Engineers!”), conducted a in 2007. in 2006, when Mr. Curbeam workshop at the Gilruth Center became the first person to con- from 08:00 to 13:00 hours on Dr. Jared Squire received his duct four spacewalks in a sin- Wednesday, February 20, and Ph.D. in experimental plasma gle mission. That last space- completed a lunch-and-learn at physics from the Massachu- walk with Swedish astronaut Ad Astra Rocket Company in setts Institute of Technology in Christer Fugelsang helped in the Houston Clear Lake area 1993. With a 10 year back- the retraction of a sticking AGI employees earned on Thursday, February 21. ground in fusion research, Dr. solar array. some fun: left to right: Squire joined Dr. Chang Díaz Robert Hammett, Todd The latter event was so suc- at the NASA Johnson Space A membership drive was a Modi, and Joshua Lane cessful that 120 signed up for Center in Houston Texas, part of this workshop, and two it despite the limit of 60 US starting the beginning of a 10 new members signed up. Sev- citizens, so we agreed to re- year research and development eral more are probably on their peat the event a week later to phase for VASIMR technol- way to sign up at handle the overflow crowd. ogy. Dr. Squire is currently www.aiaa.org, thanks to our Our thanks go to Andrew Ilin the director of research for the volunteer work. of AARC as well as tour Ad Astra Rocket Company. guides Jared Squire and Tim A unique part of this event Glover. And we thank AARC The workshop planners aimed was our enjoyment of the tech- employee Ben Longmier who at attracting 50 attendees on nology of Segway Personal initiated this event after volun- Wednesday, February 20, Transporters, available here teering to be our section’s pro- 2008, and 38 signed up ad- from 08:00 to 13:00 hours and fessional development chair. vance, so we knew we could even a little later. For this we relax somewhat before that thank our sponsors Navigant Ad Astra Rocket Company day. We started at 08:00 hours Vacations and Virgin Galactic Gregg Singer accelerates (AARC) is a rocket propulsion with a light continental break- (and Tara Hyland, a local Vir- company dedicated to the de- fast. At 09:00 hours AGI, the gin Galactic Accredited Space velopment of advanced plasma makers of Satellite ToolKit Agent at Navigant Vacations rocket propulsion technology. (STK), gave their presenta- in our Houston Clear Lake The company is continuing tions with principal speakers area), who helped us to ensure with development of the Vari- Joshua Lane and Todd Modi, that we had 8 Segways available Specific Impulse Mag- who were joined by their col- able along with their owners netoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) league Bob Hammett. At and instructors. And our and its associated technolo- 11:30 hours, our buffet BBQ thanks go the two Segway gies. AARC was incorporated lunch was served, and we owners who conduct tours via on January 14th, 2005 and thank AGI for both meals. their companies Lean and officially organized on the Glide (Mr. Pat Patterson, near Gregg Singer and a friend 15th of July of 2005. Dr. Our luncheon speaker was Kemah, see pose for a souvenir picture Franklin Chang Díaz serves as Robert Curbeam, VP of Ares www.LeanAndGlide.com) and company CEO and comes Corporation, who recently left Cajun 2 Wheels (Mr. Jay Guil- from a 25 year career as a his NASA job as an astronaut lot, at the Strand in Galveston, NASA astronaut. Dr. Chang and veteran of three space see www.Cajun2Wheels.com). Díaz invented the VASIMRTM shuttle flights. Those flights Our attendees kept them busy concept and has been working were STS-85 in 1997 (with a starting at 08:00 hours, and on its development since 1979, CRISTA-SPAS payload de- that continued all during this starting at the Charles Stark ployed and retrieved by the event except for a short spell Draper Laboratory in Cam- crew and operation of the (Continued on page 17)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 16 Page 17

National Engineers Week DOUGLAS YAZELL, CHAIR

(continued from page 16) of rain at about 11:00 hours.

These Segways contain aerospace-like technology with their stick-balancing type of control system and redundant computers. When I first stepped onto one, Pat told me not to try to balance myself while stopped there, but to allow the Segway to do the balancing. For the first minute Above: Thanks to Jay Above: Left to right: or so, I was doing it wrong, Guillot of Cajun 2 Scholarship Chair making the Segway work Wheels, we can see in- Douglas Schwaab and much more than necessary. side a Segway. Five sili- Councilor David The sensation of leaning for- con gyroscopes are Segrera at the registra- ward to accelerate from a dead mounted with different tion tables stop is exhilarating, though a orientations to be used as speed limit is set at either 5, sensors. 7.5, or 12 miles and hour. A pilot told me that helicopters might have a similar feel when the nose is lowered in order to accelerate. I am told that turns Above: Eight Segways take a break for lunch with a Segway sometimes feel like water skiing or snow- skiing, a smooth and pleasant Below: Todd Modi of AGI begins the presentations to a crowd which quickly grew in size form of exercise.

Sincere thanks go to our volunteers who were led by Councilor David Segrera. They included Jim Palmer, Douglas Schwaab, Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier, Tim Propp, Below: Our National En- and BeBe Kelly-Serrato. gineers Week banner on These events provided some- display February 17-23, Below: Pat Patterson of thing of great value to our 2008, at the NASA/JSC Lean and Glide introduces attendees as we continued our main gate near Rocket the Segway experience to work to be of service to our Park a workshop attendee profession.

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 17 Page 18

Section International Space Activities Committee (ISAC) News D OUGLAS YAZELL, CHAIR & LUDMILA DMITRIEV-ODIER, CHAIR OF ISAC Our section’s International planned short trip (about 12 1942. This was our country’s Space Activities Committee days) to Houston, Orlando, first military response to the added a few names to our then DC, starting in late Octo- Pearl Harbor attack of Decem- membership list on our web ber of 2008. They are working ber 7, 1941. It boosted im- page (www.aiaa-houston.org/ to find 30 members to com- measurably the morale of our tc/isac). New names include plete that delegation. We of- citizens. It required a bailout Dr. Gary Turner, Dr. Albert A. fered to open some of our plan over China, targeting Jackson, David Jih, George homes to them. We are work- parts of China not already oc- Abbey, Jr., and Michael Kezir- ing to prepare their welcome cupied by the Japanese mili- ian. here and in DC. In Orlando, tary. A Wikipedia article Disney and other attraction (Doolittle Raid) led to http:// The two of us are working to parks will roll out the red car- www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ organize a Houston Section pet for them. battlefield/ lunch-and-learn or an informal doolittle_raid_midway/, which dinner meeting before April Mila is working with her many asserts, “The Japanese would 2008. Speakers and speech contacts in Houston to start a eventually execute 250,000 subjects have not yet been Russian sister section relation- Chinese for helping the selected. We have an excellent ship or activities focused on American fliers escape.”, and restaurant in mind, but its new our Russian professional col- “…71 men eventually came location in the Clear Lake area leagues in Houston. Pat Norris home.” Another web site is not open just yet: 888 Chi- contacted us from the UK to (http://beijing.usembassy- nese Restaurant talk about being a dinner china.org.cn/ (www.888chineserestaurant.co speaker using the subjects of ww2operationaloutline.html) m). As of February 10, 2008, the book he authored, Spies in reports tens of thousands of its new location will be open the Sky. Mr. Norris is also ac- Chinese killed in these repri- in 4 or 5 weeks, or by about tive as a volunteer in profes- sals. Doolittle was later the March 16, 2008. Its new loca- sional societies in the UK, and NACA Chairman (http:// tion will be at or near the cor- he will join us (Dr. Gary history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch4- ner of Bay Area Boulevard Turner, Dr. Albert A. Jackson, 3.htm, a reference which men- and El Camino Real. David Jih and Sheikh Ahsan) in our on- tions Dryden as the NACA might be available to advise us going work of looking into the Director at the same time) when we order, though his creation of a British sister sec- when President Eisenhower volunteerism is not focused on tion. called on him and others to our Chinese sister section. transform NACA into NASA. Douglas first went to this res- Our Chinese sister section rela- Jim’s father James McLane, taurant at the Dickinson loca- tionship is showing signs of Jr. founded our Chinese sister tion with him and a few others. life after a dormant period, and section in 1986. The older Jim David ordered for our group of we call attention to its long McLane went to college using six using the Chinese menu, history of excellent work since the GI Bill championed by but the English language menu 1986. Coincidentally, our Chi- Doolittle. has plenty of delicious items. nese sister section member James McLane III recently had Our French sister section rela- dinner with a famous World tionship is going strong in its War II aviator. The photo on first year of its 3-year charter the next page shows Jim with (and planned work includes retired Colonel Dick Cole renewing it regularly after (http://www.af.mil/news/ that). We are exchanging two airman/0706/PDFs/40- newsletter articles, one written 43_HumbleHero.pdf), the co- in France and one written in pilot in the leader’s plane, the the USA. The Toulouse – first plane to take off from the Midi-Pyrenees branch of aircraft carrier Hornet in the AAAF has advertised its Doolittle Raid on April 18,

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 18 Page 19

International Space Activities Committee (ISAC) Section News The current membership list for AIAA Houston Sec- tion ISAC (please look us up and join us: www.aiaa- houston.org/tc/isac):

1. Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier, United Space Alliance, Chair 2. George Abbey, Jr., United Space Alliance 3. Linda Andruske, NASA/KSC 4. Dr. Albert Jackson, Jacobs, FBIS (Fellow, British Interplanetarty Society), Visiting Scientist, Lunar Planetary Institute - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/ jackson 5. David Jih, NASA/JSC 6. Michael Kezirian, Engineer - The Boeing Com- pany, Adjunct Professor - University of Southern California 7. James McLane III 8. Padraig Moloney, NASA/JSC 9. Dr. Zafar Taqvi, Barrios 10. Chris Taylor 11. Dr. Gary Turner, Odyssey Space Research 12. Douglas Yazell, Honeywell

Above: After enjoying our section’s lunch-and- learn by Dr. Albert A. Jackson a few months ago (attendance 130 in a NASA auditorium), James McLane III looked for and found some of his photos which he took more than 40 years ago when von Braun visited Texas A&M University at Col- lege Station. The year was probably 1966. This was taken at a reception following a speech about Apollo plans. The teen- age girl in the back- ground is von Braun’s daughter Iris. Jim took this with available light using 35 mm Kodak tri- X pan and printed it him- self on high-contrast enlarging paper.

Left to right: Retired Colonel Richard (Dick) Cole of the Doolittle Raiders with ISAC and Chinese sister section member James McLane III

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 19 Page 20

U.S. & Russian Co- AIAA Houston Section EVA the space programs of both design of spacesuits and tools, technical committee Chair Bill countries was approached very and the challenge of integrat- operation in Extra- West addressed the student differently given the varied ing these two different ap- Vehicular Activity section of Texas A&M Uni- goals of each countries pro- proaches into one program. He versity at College Station in gram. In the middle 1990's, the looked at the lessons November of 2007. We thank EVA communities of both the learned from the ISS, in the Linda Phonharath the Student Section Speaker United States and Russia were context of international coop- College and Co-op Chair, Brad Tribley, for ar- brought together as part of the eration, and how they can be ranging this successful presen- International Space Station applied to future programs. Chair tation. (ISS) Program. Since that time the members of both countries Brief Biography: Mr. West has Below are some notes from the EVA communities have worked at JSC for 19 years as speaker: worked together to create an a contractor in the areas of integrated approach to per- Space Shuttle trajectory de- Over the last 40 years the forming EVAs onboard the sign, training of Space Shuttle United States and Russia/ ISS. crews in flight control and USSR have independently propulsion systems, Space developed not only the capa- Mr. West’s talk incorporated Shuttle propulsion systems bility for launching humans the chronicle this history, start- safety engineer, and for the into space, but also for per- ing with the early years of last 7 years for Hamilton forming tasks outside EVA up to the present, and a Sundstrand Corp as an ISS the spacecraft in spacesuits. little beyond. He compared and EVA Manager in the NASA The development of this capa- contrasted the different ap- EVA Office. During that time bility, commonly known as proach to performing EVAs he worked very closely with spacewalking or Extra- taken by both countries, such Russian EVA specialists as Vehicular Activity (EVA), in as the varied paths taken in the (Continued on page 21)

AIAA Houston Section Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) Technical Committee Chair Mr. Bill West (at right) and Texas A&M University student section members with the Russian Orlan spacesuit

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 20 Page 21

(Continued from page 20) U.S. & Russian Co- part of the ISS Joint EVA Working Group. He obtained operation in Extra- his BS in Aerospace Engineer- Vehicular Activity ing from Parks College of St. Louis University and an M.S. in Space Science from the Linda Phonharath University of Houston - Clear College and Co-op Lake. He has been a member of AIAA since 1982. Chair

On Monday, February 11, 2008, Mr. West repeated this talk at Rice University for their student section. Atten- dance was 8 students and two other AIAA Houston Section officers, Linda Phonharath and Douglas Yazell.

Another successful Aggie graduate wearing the class ring

Orlan spacesuit entrance

Bill West (at right) and in no particular order, the eight attendees rounded up by the Rice Univer- Annie Jones at Rice University sity student section: Lindsey Edwards, Tony Castilleja, Jon Allison, Beth Rowan, Annie Jones, Ozkan Celik, and Josh Langsfeld, and Alex Stoll (next to Bill)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 21 Page 22

Calendar subject to change. See www.aiaa-houston.org for updates Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for further details.

February (National Engineers Week 17-23 February, 2008) 13 Lunch-and-learn: Lunar Communications Updated, Space Ops Technical Committee 20 National Engineers Week Workshop at NASA/JSC Gilruth Center, Wed., 08:00- 13:00: AGI workshop, luncheon speech by Robert Curbeam/VP Ares Corporation and former NASA astronaut, membership drive, & 8 Segway Personal Transporters from 08:00 to 13:00, a free event courtesy of our sponsors 21 National Engineers Week Lunch-and-learn: tour of Ad Astra Rocket Company, 141 W. Bay Area Blvd., Webster: limit 60 US citizens. Followed by an informal lunch with our tour guides. Note Ad Astra is just behind Samurai Japanese Restaurant. Since 120 attendees signed up, we repeated the event a week later. 25 Horizons online at www.aiaa-houston.org/horizons 28 Lunch-and-learn: tour of Ad Astra Rocket Company, 141 W. Bay Area Blvd., Webster

March 3 Council meeting at Honeywell instead of Northrup Grumman 10 Lunch-and-learn by Dr. Mark Adler/JPL, Mars rovers Spirit & Opportunity, Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom, free appetizers & tea 11:30 AM, talk at noon 11 Dinner meeting: John Frassanito & Associates: NASA/JSC Gilruth Center 12 Lunch-and-learn by Nazareth Bedrossian/Draper, “Sailing the Space Station with Zero-Propellant Maneuver (ZPM) Guidance”, Guidance, Navigation & Control Tech- nical Committee 13 Co-sponsoring Space Center Lecture Series (www.spaceCenterLectureSeries.com) at Space Center Houston IMAX theater: Harrison Schmitt, the last person to step onto the Moon

April 7 Council meeting: see our org chart for contact information at www.aiaa-houston.org 12 Yuri’s Night indoor & outdoor at Space Center Houston: www.yurisnighthouston.net 15 11th Congressional Visits Day in DC (2 days): see our public policy chair for information 18 Our regional (4-state) Student Paper Conference, 2 days, Friday and Saturday, 18th & 19th 25 New issue of Horizons online if we stick to this schedule 30 Dinner meeting, NASA/JSC Gilruth Center, speaker TBD

May 5 Council meeting: see our org chart for contact information at www.aiaa-houston.org 9 Our section’s Annual Technical Symposium (Fri., 8 to 5): NASA/JSC Gilruth Center

June 2 Council meeting: see our org chart for contact information at www.aiaa-houston.org 10 Dinner meeting for our section’s honors & awards: speaker TBD 25 New issue of Horizons online if we stick to this schedule: quarterly again after this 30 End of this AIAA year

July (no council meeting this month: a leadership retreat might take place) 24 Regional Leadership Conference, 2 days, Thursday & Friday, 24-25th (Hartford, CT)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 22 Page 23

Cranium Cruncher BILL MILLER, SENIOR MEMBER A manager was upset by the low attendance at his weekly department meeting. This resulted in the following email to the department members:

"At the last department meeting there were only three people present besides me, even though it was "Bring Your Child To Work Day". Therefore, I would like the non-attendees to solve the following problem: The product of the ages of the attendees is 2450. The sum of their ages is twice my own age. Please figure out the ages of the three attendees."

One of the department members replied:

"You haven't given us enough information to solve the problem! I don't know how old you are!"

Which resulted in the following email from the manager:

"It is enough for you to know that I was the oldest person there."

How old is the manager? Assume all ages are integers.

(Send answers to [email protected].)

Richard Sessions, President of the Houston Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), flies over the Clear Lake area in January of 2008. Richard is building his own plane of this kind, a VariEze.

EAA Chapter 12 Home Page: http://www.eaa12.org/ EAA National Home Page: http://www.eaa.org/

Upcoming EAA events in the Houston Clear Lake area: 4 March 2008 – Directed Discussion – Aluminum Con- struction Considerations and Techniques Series: Part 2. Riveting, Phil Perry, RV-10, Location: Southwest Ser- vices/Hanger AP, Ellington Field 2 April 2008 – Directed Discussion – Aluminum Con- struction Considerations and Techniques Series: Part 3. Corrosion Protection, Phil Perry, RV-10, Location: Southwest Services/Hanger AP, Ellington Field

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 23 Page 24 Odds and Ends

Images courtesy of Virgin Galactic, thanks to Ac- credited Space Agent Tara Hyland, our neighbor in the Houston Clear Lake area.

In 1993, Branson was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough Uni- versity. He was knighted in 1999[29] for "services to entrepreneurship". Branson is the patron of several charities, including the International Rescue Corps and Prisoners Abroad, a registered charity which supports Britons who are detained outside of the UK. Sir Richard appears at No. 85 on the 2002 list of "100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public). Sir Richard also ranks No. 86 on Channel 4's 2003 list of "100 Worst Britons". Sir Richard was also ranked in 2007's Time Magazine Top 100 Most Influential People in the World. On 7 December 2007, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon presented Branson with the United Nations Correspondents Association Citizen of the World Award for his support for environmental and humanitarian causes. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 24 Page 25

Odds & Ends: An early version of the call for abstracts for ATS 2008

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 25 Page 26

Cover Story Virgin Galactic Unveils Final Spaceship Designs TARA HYLAND, ACCREDITED SPACE AGENT

I recently returned from the 1st It was definitely an experience unique opportunities to sell Virgin Galactic Global Forum to remember and one which Virgin Galactic sub-orbital for Accredited Space Agents will allow me to discuss the space flights. Another interest- in Philadelphia held at the dynamics and the thrill of the ing part of the experience was NASTAR Center held January flight with my prospects for to hear from some of those 20-22, 2008. Virgin Galactic sub-orbital founders who have already space flights. The flight I did purchased seats what moti- I experienced the thrill of a was a 50% profile of the real vated them to do so. lifetime when I participated in flight and gave me a much NASTAR Center’s space better understanding of what The highlight of the trip was training S-400 simulator flight the first civilian astronauts will January 23, 2008. The Accred- and experienced 3 g forces on experience. ited Space Agents were invited the ascent and reentry. The to be special guests at a major simulator takes one passenger My meeting with other Ac- press conference at the Mu- at a time in a small capsule credited Space Agents from seum of Natural History in which is attached to the arm of around the world was truly an New York where the Sir Rich- a 27 foot centrifuge. It was a international experience. Dur- ard Branson and Burt Rutan breath taking experience coming 2 days of training by the unveiled the final designs of plete with views of the starry Virgin Galactic staff, I also the launch vehicle, White sky and the curvature of the participated in breakout ses- Knight 2 and Spaceship 2. It Below: the full version of earth as we reached altitude sions where the group brain- was truly remarkable to be our cover photograph, and zero g. stormed marketing ideas and present at this history making courtesy of Virgin Galactic learned about each other’s (Continued on page 27)

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Virgin Galactic Unveils Final Spaceship Designs Cover Story TARA HYLAND, ACCREDITED SPACE AGENT

(continued from page 26) of Natural History in the event. Space Exhibit section. Along Editor’s note: In Space News with Sir Richard Branson, his of February 25, 2008, page 32 It is anticipated that the vehi- family and the Virgin Galactic is a full-page article about the cles will begin testing later Staff also attending were many NASTAR Center. Page 2 has 4 this summer and be tested for of the founders who bought short paragraphs under the approximately 12-18 months. the first 100 seats. headline, “Burt Rutan Under- Once the testing is complete, goes Open-Heart Surgery”, the space flights will begin The NASTAR Center in Phila- and the news about his recov- flights. delphia is now offering vari- ery is good so far. Our cover photograph of Sir Rich- ous air and space virtual ex- ard Branson, Houston’s own Tara It is hoped that Spaceport periences which the Accred- Hyland, and Burt Rutan at the America being built in New ited Space Agents are now unveiling of the final design on Mexico will be completed registered to sell .You can January 23, 2008, at the Museum about the same time. This will view NASTARS space or of Natural History in New York be the permanent home for the flight adventure simulation City. Virgin Galactic space flights options at which will originally launch www.nastarcenter.com. from Mojave, California until For more information about the New Mexico spaceport is Virgin Galactic or NASTAR, completed. contact Tara Hyland at 832- 439-7363 or space- Below: Spaceship 2, cour- My trip ended with a Virgin [email protected] or tesy of Virgin Galactic Galactic party at the Museum [email protected].

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