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Year in Review 2006 Goddard 02 National Aeronautics and Space Administration www.nasa.gov Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2007 View Year in Review 2006 Goddard 02 NASA Returns to Hubble Table of Contents By Susan Hendrix Goddard Updates NASA Returns to Hubble - 2 New Horizons - 3 Successful Launch of Space Technology 5 (ST5)- 4 Senator Barbara Mikulski Meets with Dr. Weiler to Get Update on NASA/GSFC and Vows Support for JWST - 4 Science on a Sphere Comes to Goddard - 5 NASA’s Twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories Mission , known as STEREO Successfully Launched - 6 NASA Celebrates Discovery Crew Successful Mission! - 7 Image credit: NASA Caption: Hubble on the payload bay just prior to release with beautiful Goddard Launch Updates - 8 Year in Review glowing color of earth in the background. 2006 Innovative Partnerships Program Updates - 9 2006 IPP Office Updates - 10 Goddard Prestigious Award Winners - 11 On October 31, 2006 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced the Agency’s decision to service the observatory Goddard Family to an auditorium full of anxious employees at NASA Goddard Employee Spotlight: In Memoriam: Space Flight Center. Goddard Remembers Yoram Kaufman Cover Caption: On December 16, 2006 a rocket was launched Griffin told the audience, “We have conducted a detailed analysis of the carrying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-2 performance and procedures necessary to carry out a successful Hubble satellite and NASA’s GeneSat-1 microsatellite. The satellites were launched on the four-stage Minotaur I launch vehicle Goddard repair mission…. What we have learned has convinced us that we are able to conduct a safe and effective servicing mission to Hubble. While there is contracted by the Space and an inherent risk in all spaceflight activities, the desire to preserve a truly Missile Systems Center through Orbital Sciences Corpora- international asset such as the Hubble Space Telescope makes doing this tion’s Launch Systems Group. The mission was conducted mission the right course of action.” from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s launch pad on the south end of Wallops Island. Photo Credit: NASA/WFF Long time Hubble supporter Senator Barbara Mikulski, in attendance for Griffin’s announcement, applauded, saying “This is a great day for Maryland, for America, but most of all, for science. Hubble is a national asset and a national priority. GoddardView Info Without question, Hubble has been the most successful NASA Goddard View is an official publication of the Goddard Space program since Apollo. And like Apollo, Hubble has helped Flight Center. It is published biweekly by the Office of Public America lead the way in discovery and exploration.” Affairs in the interest of Goddard employees, contractors, and retirees. A PDF version is available online at: The astronaut crew selected for Servicing Mission 4 included Commander http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/index.html Scott D. Altman, and Pilot and Navy Reservist Capt. Gregory C. Johnson. Mission specialists included veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld and Managing Editor: Trusilla Steele Michael J. Massimino, as well as first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Editor: Alana Little Michael T. Good, and K. Megan McArthur. Deadlines: News items and brief announcements for publica- tion in the Goddard View must be received by noon of the 1st For more information about Hubble, visit: and 3rd Wednesday of the month. You may submit contribu- tions to the editor via e-mail at [email protected]. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/ Ideas for new stories are welcome, but will be published as index.html n space allows. All submissions are subject to editing. GoddardView Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2007 03 NASA Returns to Hubble New Horizons Edited By Trusilla Steele The 2006 year began with blasting the New Horizons spacecraft to its journey at the edge of the solar system. Liftoff occurred January 19, 2006 from Florida. As the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon Charon, New Horizons looks to unlock one of the solar system’s last, great planetary secrets. The New Horizons spacecraft will cross the entire span of the solar system and conduct flyby studies of Pluto and Charon in 2015. The seven science instruments on the piano-sized probe will shed light on the bodies’ surface properties, geology, interior makeup, and atmospheres. n Year in Review Goddard Image credit: KSC Caption: Great white egrets and a great blue heron in the foreground seem to stand watch as NASAs New Horizons spacecraft leaps off the pad on time at 2 p.m. EST aboard an Atlas V rocket from Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This was the third launch attempt in as many days after scrubs due to weather concerns. The compact, 1,050-pound piano-sized probe will get a boost from a kick-stage solid propellant motor for its journey to Pluto. New Horizons will be the fastest spacecraft ever launched, reaching lunar orbit distance in just nine hours and passing Jupiter 13 months later. Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2007 GoddardView 04 Successful Launch of the Space Technology 5 (ST5) Edited By Trusilla Steele Goddard celebrated the successful launch of the Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft on Wednesday, March 22 from a Pegasus XL rocket. Shortly after launch, the three spacecraft were deployed one at a time in a spinning (Frisbee-like) motion. ST5 will test new technologies that will be used in future space science missions. ST5 is the first step in developing missions of tens or hundreds of small spacecraft that would look at phenom- ena such as the space weather that can interfere with our communications, navigation, and power systems. ST5 will demonstrate this capability by utilizing the Magnetometer carried onboard all three spacecraft. n Photo credit: NASA GSFC Year in Review Caption: In the Clean Room at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Thermal Design Engineer Edmonia Caldwell creates blankets to fit on the ST5 spacecraft. Senator Barbara Mikulski Meets With Dr. Weiler to Get Update on NASA/GSFC and Vows Support for JWST Edited By Trusilla Steele Goddard Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland United States Senator and a long-time Goddard champion visited Goddard on Thursday, March 23. Senator Mikulski has been fighting for her state, and for GSFC, for many years. Mikulski was updated on the important activities to ensure, that business thrives at one of the largest concentrations of engineering and high-tech jobs in Maryland. Senator Mikulski vowed continued support and stated that she feels having a balanced program of science and human space flight is very important and Photo credit: Chris Gunn emphasized the necessity for partnerships between the Center and the uni Caption: Senator Mikulski, Paul Carliner, (Senator Mikulski’s office) and versity community to form strategic alliances that are mutually beneficial.n Dr. Ed Weiler, along with Murzy Jhabvala (GSFC) viewing the JWST micro shutter demonstration. GoddardView Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2007 05 Science on a Sphere Comes to Goddard Edited By Trusilla Steele Spring sprung new technologies at Goddard with the new night to dramatic examinations about the science of hurricane exhibit at the Visitors Center called Science on the Sphere formation. Other moons and planets make exciting appear- (SOS). The mesmerizing visualization system developed by ances too, with special presentations of Mars and Earth’s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) moon,” according to Michael Starobin, Senior Media Producer uses computers and video projectors to display animated data at Goddard. on the outside of a suspended, 6-foot diameter, white sphere. Built as a vehicle for education and public outreach programs, SOS targets an informal audience of walk in visitors and scheduled event participants. The first movie titled Footprints, consists of a visually rich pre- Through the innovative exhibit, the general public is introduced to an innova- sentation where “The Earth appears in a variety of guises, from tive perspective of science by way of a new multimedia avenue. n depictions of the biosphere to planetary views of city lights at Year in Review Goddard Photo credit: Chris Gunn Caption: (Left) Dave Himes, NOAA Forecast Systems Software Developer for SOS and (Right) Maurice Henderson, Science Manager of SOS. Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2007 GoddardView 06 NASA’s Twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories Mission, Known as STEREO, Successfully Launched By Rani Gran Year in Review Goddard Image credit: NASA Caption: A close up of loops in a magnetic active region. These loops, observed by STEREO’s SECCHI/EUVI telescope, are at a million degrees Celsius. This powerful active region, AR903, observed here on December 4, produced a series of intense flares over the next few days. STEREO’s nearly identical twin, golf cart-sized spacecraft will make observations to help researchers construct the first-ever three-dimensional views of the Sun. The images will show the star’s stormy environment and its effects on the inner solar system, vital data for understanding how the Sun creates space weather. “The stunning solar views the two observatories will send back to Earth will help scientists get a better understanding of the Sun and its activity than we’ve ever been able to obtain from the ground or any of our other missions,” said Nick Chrissotimos, STEREO project manager at Goddard. The two observatories were launched on Wednesday October 25, on a Delta II rocket in a stacked configuration and separated from the launch vehicle approximately 25 minutes after lift-off. After receiving the first signal from the spacecraft approximately 63 minutes after launch, mission control person- nel at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), confirmed that each observatory’s solar arrays were successfully deployed and were providing power.
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