Volume 30, Number 6 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org July/August 2005 Accelerating the Crew Exploration Vehicle STEVE KING, AIAA HOUSTON CHAIR Almost everyone is in agree- the first spacecraft of its weeks later which included as ment that the United States kind since the Apollo Com- part of its charter these words: needs a new means to safely mand Module." and effectively put humans into Assessing the top-level CEV low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the Initial NASA plans called for the requirements and plans to space beyond – this being re- first, "boilerplate" flight tests of enable CEV to provide crew cently reinforced by the suspen- the CEV to occur in 2008. They transport to ISS, and acceler- sion of Shuttle flights as a re- were to be followed by ate the development of the sult of debris shedding on STS- more capable, un- CEV and crew-launch system HOUSTON 114. The development of the crewed flight tests in to reduce the gap between Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) 2011 which would Shuttle orbiter retirement is envisioned as our follow-on lead to an opera- and CEV initial operational vehicle for human space trans- tional, crewed capability (IOC). portation. The question now is: capability in Image at right: Initial Crew Explora- when can we realistically expect 2014. This As of this writing the official tion Vehicle concept from Lockheed to see the first crewed flight of plan un- results of this team study will Martin - Crew Vehicle (top) with the the CEV? From approval to pro- nerved not be released until August mission module (center) and the ceed (ATP) to Gemini’s first many or September 2005. It is Trans-Earth Injection Module crewed flight, Gemini 3, was 40 law- generally believed that their (bottom). The Trans-Earth Injection Module would be used to return the months. Apollo 7, the first assessment will call for an CEV from lunar missions back to crewed flight of Apollo, flew 84 IOC to transport crews to ISS Earth. [Northrop/Boeing has not re- months after ATP and includes and back again to be avail- leased any concept art at this time.] the setback of Apollo 1. If the able by no later than mid Image courtesy of Lockheed Martin. Apollo 1 fire had not occurred 2011. This is roughly 89 and the mission launched as months from the President’s planned, the duration would CEV announcement. Later have been 64 months. Many versions of the CEV will still Contents challenges must be addressed need to operate for extended before this new spacecraft duration in close proximity to Accelerating the Crew Exploration 1 takes flight. or on the surface of the Vehicle Moon and Mars. Chair’s Corner 2 On January 14, 2004 the offi- makers cial clock on CEV started when who do not While accelerating CEV to From the Editor 2 President George W. Bush an- want the minimize the gap be- Letters to the Editor 6 nounced the CEV as part of the United States tween Shuttle retire- NASA Space Act 8 Vision for Space Exploration to have to rely ment and CEV IOC Staying Informed 8 (VSE): on other coun- is a great idea, Membership Page 9 tries to catch a many program- "Our second goal is to de- ride to the In- matic - not nec- Books: Risk and Exploration 10 velop and test a new space- ternational essarily techni- Annual Technical Symposium Report 12 craft, the Crew Exploration Space Station cal challenges - Advent Launch Services Seeks Help 13 Vehicle, by 2008, and to (ISS) after Shut- must be dealt conduct the first manned tle retirement in with. These in- LnL Summary: ISS Phantom Torque 14 mission no later than 2014. 2010. In April clude: Outreach and Education 15 The Crew Exploration Vehi- 2005 during his Section Announcements 15 cle will be capable of ferry- Senate confirmation Budget: CEV Calendar 16 ing astronauts and scien- hearing, new NASA Ad- must be ade- tists to the Space Station ministrator Dr. Mike Griffin quately funded Cranium Cruncher 17 after the shuttle is retired. called for accelerating the CEV to have any Odds and Ends 18 But the main purpose of this program to bring it into service likelihood of Upcoming Conference Presentations 21 spacecraft will be to carry as soon as possible. He estab- meeting a shortened astronauts beyond our orbit lished an Exploration Systems schedule. This may result in AAS Conference 22 to other worlds. This will be Architecture Study team two- (Continued on page 4) Mission Statement / Membership 24 Page 2 Chair’s Corner STEVE KING, AIAA HOUSTON CHAIR Happy New Year! No, you have- Making all this possible comes up a whole new world of interac- n’t picked up an old issue of the from the teamwork and volun- tion with others regardless if newsletter. Each July the Hous- teer time of members serving they are competitors, execu- ton Section kicks off a new ad- on the Section’s Executive tives, elected officials, educa- ministrative year, and this one Council and its committees. tors or students. In addition, promises to offer a lot of con- Lance Armstrong could not have you might not be aware that tent and variety as a service to won his 7th consecutive Tour de some employers will cover all or our membership and commu- France without the help of his part of your AIAA membership nity. Our technical committees teammates and other riders in based on your level of involve- will be hosting a diverse selec- the peloton. The Houston Sec- ment. Another benefit to con- tion of lunch n’ learns and we tion is fortunate to have team- sider. are working to secure dinner mates that give of their time meeting speakers to discuss and can be counted upon in These are exciting and dynamic topics ranging from non- turning our plans into reality. times for all of us in the busi- traditional space to the restora- We are always looking to add to ness of human spaceflight with tion of JSC’s Saturn V. Plus our team and get more mem- many new begins – Shuttle Re- throw in a “space trivia” night to bers involved. Whether your turn to Flight, the start of Crew determine who has local brag- interest is in technical ex- Exploration Vehicle Phase 1, ging rights. All of this will be change, professional develop- new NASA top leadership, com- complemented by outings, so- ment, community outreach, mercial bidding for Space Sta- cials, tours, a kid’s balsa glider public policy or networking, tion cargo services, the X-PRIZE workshop, a Student Paper Con- there is a place for you. Ever Cup, etc. May your association ference, our Annual Technical wonder what’s happening out- with AIAA serve you well as we Symposium, and much more. side of your local work organiza- seek to explore. Let’s continue Stay tuned in for details. tion? Getting involved can open the journey… -SK From the Editor JON S. BERNDT, EDITOR, “HORIZONS” We’ve finally seen the return to shuttle program is at its lowest target, some was misleading, flight of the space shuttle, and a point in the past 20 years. some was sensationalized, and successful landing. Some have These figures beg the answer to some was incorrect. For in- referred to this mission as a the question: what information stance, of the solid rocket very successful test flight (it do American citizens draw from boosters, he wrote: “Solid rock- was an acknowledged test to form their opinions? From ets can fail in two ways. They flight) – even among the more respected space industry publi- can explode; enough said. Or successful missions of the shut- cations? From network news they can shut down spontane- tle program. Yet, we also wit- coverage? From publications ously. If a booster shuts down, nessed a couple of unexpected that write of space events only there will be 2.5 million pounds events. The press seized on the when there is a sensational of thrust on one side battling loss of some foam on the ET – a event that can be spun to sell zero pounds on the other.” Solid significant event, to be sure. In as many issues as possible? rockets in general can (and the media frenzy that followed, have) exploded, but according The New York Times labeled the Words matter. People can be to ATK Thiokol, the STS SRB shuttle as an old jalopy. Some misled. Bad information sticks propellant cannot detonate. And are asking if it's ready for retire- around for a long time. Here’s a I’m not aware of any solid ment (if not for ISS and our in- specific example: In 1980, rocket booster that has sponta- ternational obligations, the deci- sometimes-sports-writer and neously shut down. Neither of sion on whether to retire the avowed shuttle critic Gregg Mr. Easterbrook’s “two ways” shuttle program before 2010 Easterbrook wrote what could was the way that Challenger’s would of course be a lot more be viewed as the journalistic SRB failed. In addition, he clear-cut). Some opinion writers equivalent of shooting fish in a stated in no uncertain terms, have even called the return to barrel. In “Beam Me Out Of This “You've probably heard, for in- flight a failure, viewing the en- Death Trap, Scotty”, Mr. Easter- stance, that the space shuttle tire flight in narrower terms. brook wrote of the engineering will retrieve damaged satellites hurdles the shuttle program and return them to earth for According to a recent CBS poll was overcoming at the time.