October 2014 Vol. 1 No. 7 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Kennedy Space Center’s MAGAZINE PAIR OF CONTRACTS E-MIST EXPERIMENT RESCUED KENNEDY AWARDED TO JOURNEYS TO EAGLE ‘STARS’ AT FLY ASTRONAUTS STRATOSPHERE TEXAS THEME PARK PAGE 8 PAGE 4 PAGE 24 Ground Systems Education and ISS and Spacecraft Information Launch Services Commercial Center Operations Development and External Relations Processing Technology Program Crew Program Operations NASA’S KENNEDY SPACE CENTER’S LAUNCH SPACEPORT MAGAZINE SCHEDULE Date: No Earlier Than Oct. 20-- 9:29 p.m. EDT Mission: Orbital-3 Commercial Resupply Services CONTENTS Flight 4 �������������������E-MIST experiment soars in Earth’s stratosphere Description: Launching on an Antares rocket from 7 �������������������Kennedy prepped station-bound seeds Wallops Flight Facility, Orbital-3 will deliver cargo and crew 8 �������������������NASA announces crew transportation contracts supplies to the ISS. 11 ����������������Tech Roadmaps target solar system, deep space Date: Oct. 29 Mission: Progress 57 ����������������MAVEN meets Mars 12 Description: Launching on a 14 ����������������Delta IV boosters attached first Orion flight Russian Soyuz from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 20 ����������������Team supports Orion Underway Recovery Tests Progress 57 will deliver cargo and crew supplies to the ISS. 24 ����������������Kennedy eagle lands in San Antonio Date: Nov. 23 26 �����������������Brilliant launch kicks off scientific cargo run to ISS Mission: Expedition 42 Launch to the ISS ����������������SpaceX CRS-4 payload processed by Kennedy 29 Description: Launching on 32 ����������������Ensuring safety, reliability of spacecraft software Soyuz 41 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 36 ����������������Tom Joyner reunion encourages STEM education Soyuz 41 will take Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti to 40 ����������������NASA OK’s Ground Systems’ progression the ISS. Date: No Earlier Than December Mission: SpaceX 5 Cover: On Sept. 16, NASA announced two Back: A four-image mosaic of Comet Commercial Resupply Services I am a program analyst in the Resources Management Office of Kennedy Space contracts that will enable the agency to launch ChuryumovñGerasimenko was taken Sept. 19 Flight with Cloud-Aerosol Center Office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) co-located to the Launch Services its astronauts from Florida’s Space Coast. These when the spacecraft Rosetta was about 18 miles Transport System Program (LSP). I support all fiscal and resources management activities related to the vehicles will carry four crew members and critical away. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta Description: Launching LSP Flight Projects Branch. One of my primary responsibilities is to ensure that the cargo, doubling the amount of scientific research mission will deploy its lander, Philae, to the from Cape Canaveral Air visions of the CFO -- making sure dollars make sense -- and the LSP Program are Force Station, Fla. SpaceX 5 performed on the International Space Station. surface of comet Nov. 12. NASA contributed ALICE, met by ensuring the program provide on-cost launch services to its customers. Learn more on Page 8. MIRO, and IES - plus a significant portion of the will deliver cargo and crew electronics package for another instrument. supplies to the International My most challenging and rewarding tasks are using my acquired analytical skills to Photo credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM Space Station. develop customized budget solutions for LSP internal and external customers. In doing so, I accommodate all the financial mission requirements for my assigned mis- sions from inception to launch. I also enjoy the outreach opportunities and events I Editorial Writers Group Graphics Group have participated in since joining NASA, and it is extremely rewarding to see the kids’ THE eyes light up when they learn about NASA at these events. SPACEPORT Managing Editor ........... Chris Hummel Bob Granath Anna Heiney Richard Beard Amy Lombardo Cooper DeAntae Editor ............................ Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Kay Grinter Linda Herridge Lynda Brammer Matthew Young To me, working for NASA is a rewarding career and far beyond my wildest dreams. I MAGAZINE take great pride in viewing the launches of LSP missions and knowing that I am part TEAM Assistant Editor ............. Linda Herridge Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Steven Siceloff Greg Lee of the team that makes it happen. Copy Editor ................... Kay Grinter SPACEPORT Magazine 3 Preparations are underway Aug. 24 to launch NASA’s E-MIST experiment on a giant scientific balloon gondola from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, into the stratosphere above the Earth. Photo credit: NASA/David J. Smith Up, Up and Away E-MIST experiment soars in Earth’s stratosphere BY LINDA HERRIDGE ASA’s Exposing Microorganisms E-MIST was contained in a special Nin the Stratosphere (E-MIST) carrier that was conceived and built experiment launched to the at Kennedy’s Prototype Development lead, Smith, and engineers microbes, and to demonstrate “The stratosphere is an stratosphere on the exterior of a giant Laboratory. The 80-pound structure from NASA’s Rocket University hardware functionality, then affordable and accessible scientific balloon gondola at about features four doors that rotate to provided guidance, mentoring closed again. Data was proving ground for fundamental 8 a.m. MST on Aug. 24 from Ft. Sumner, expose up to 10 experimental samples and support. collected, including humidity, biology questions we want to New Mexico. Soaring 125,000 feet each for a predetermined period According to Adam Dokos, a altitude, light, time and answer for Mars,” Smith said. above the Earth, E-MIST was exposed of time. The structure also features Rocket University mentor and temperature, on the inside and “We have a whole library of to the upper atmosphere during a a control board for autonomous lead engineer in the prototype surface of the hardware. spacecraft assembly facility five-hour journey over the desert, operations and customizable avionics, lab, some of the carrier’s Bharrat said it was very microbes to test, and we to understand how spore-forming power, environmental controls and components were 3-D printed exciting to start a project from are grateful for future flight bacteria, commonly found in spacecraft sensors. and others were acquired over the beginning and then see it fly. opportunities provided by the assembly facilities, can survive. A team of more than 20 design, the counter. “I was thrilled to see our NASA Balloon Program Office.” “Like Mars, the Earth’s stratosphere avionics, structures, analysis, science, The carrier contained heaters experiment go up on the high- The NASA Balloon Program is extremely dry, frozen, irradiated logistics and safety engineers worked to keep the samples at room altitude balloon,” Thakrar said. is managed by the agency’s and hypobaric,” said David J. Smith, on the carrier, including Anthony temperature as they reached “It was especially exciting to Wallops Flight Facility in Ph.D., E-MIST principal investigator in Bharrat, avionics lead; Prital Thakrar, the stratosphere. During the have a live feed of the payload Virginia. E-MIST was funded Kennedy Space Center’s Engineering design lead and student engineer flight, the four doors rotated from the on-flight cameras by Rocket University, a Directorate. “Results from E-MIST trainee from the University of Florida; to expose the samples, each during ascent. A lot of my training program developed may contribute to development of and Evan Williams, an Education containing up to 1 million family, friends and co-workers by Kennedy’s Engineering and procedures for preventing the microbial intern from the University of Central were watching, so I received Technology Directorate and Left: NASA’s E-MIST experiment soars above the Earth contamination of Mars by robotic Florida. Nicole Dawkins, E-MIST project on Aug. 24 aboard a scientific balloon from Ft. Sumner, several congratulatory phone funded by NASA’s Office of the spacecraft exploration.” manager and systems engineering New Mexico. Photo credit: NASA/GoPro. calls during and after the flight.” Chief Engineer. 4 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 5 I am National Aeronautics and Space Administration Sue Gaines Preece Packing for Planting Air Force Eastern Range Liaison Packing for Planting GSDO GROUND SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS Kennedy prepped seeds for flight to space station online more Several tiny seeds have begun their mission as a pathfinder for future space-grown food crops. The University of Wisconsin-Madison sent seeds of the Arabidopsis thaliana plant to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s fourth commercial resupply mission to learn how the microgravity environment affects their patterns of growth and gene expression. These seeds will grow into a small flowering plant commonly used for scientific study. The plants are grown inside a canister called BRIC-19, short for Biological Research in Canisters. The mission launched Sept. 21 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Just days before liftoff, the specimens arrived at Kennedy Space Center and were carefully packed into two bread box-sized Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) containers in preparation for the ride into orbit aboard a look online SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The results of the study, called BRIC-19, could lead to a better understanding of how to grow fresh food for astronauts on future missions. Kennedy Space Center -- By Anna Heiney Exploration Begins Here To read the complete