The director of JSC NASA Ellen Ochoa PHOTO: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’m happy to welcome back all employees, contractors, partners, with astronauts aboard the International Space Station or enter students and interns to our Houston campus, as well as our White our challenge to design space habitats; to students studying Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. I hope you had an opportunity science, technology, engineering and math fields and interning to spend quality time with family and friends and get some much- with NASA; to the general public following us on every needed rest and relaxation over the holidays. imaginable social media outlet and also flocking to popular This month brings a new presidential administration, and Johnson culture movies and books about or inspired by NASA (such as the Space Center will be working with NASA Headquarters to assist in excellent new feature “Hidden Figures”); and even the parents making the transition a smooth one. We have a great story to tell who named their children Orion after being inspired by the first about NASA’s value to the country. test flight of that spacecraft. NASA is held up as an example of The benefits from NASA activities are ones that the government what our government does right. has deemed important to the country as a whole, and that really Johnson Space Center is the leader in human space exploration belong in the purview of the government to guide and shape: because of the tremendous work and dedication of our workforce. • NASA, particularly human spaceflight, has been linked to foreign Our team is fueled by the passion that every single one of you brings policy since its inception and today provides one of the most to work each day, ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation. positive examples of global leadership and collaboration. Our JSC 2.0 efforts will continue to help us advance human space • We enhance national security by maintaining a capability for exploration by being lean, agile and adaptive to change. Stay tuned access to space—both robotic and (soon again) human—in low- for more on JSC 2.017 specific goals. Earth orbit and beyond, including assuring that we have a robust We have a variety of activities planned in 2017, including: industrial base across the country capable of producing • First uncrewed Commercial Crew Program vehicle test flight to aerospace-quality components and reliable systems and the space station spacecraft. • One-year mission Human Research Program research results • Space also provides a unique laboratory to expand our scientific • Orion crew and service module stacking knowledge and address national and global issues impacting • Arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope health and well-being. • Human Research Program Human Exploration Research Analog • We bring economic benefit to the country both through new habitat 45-day missions technology that can be applied across many industries and by • Announcement of a new astronaut class creating demand for a space economy, particularly in low-Earth I look forward to accomplishing these goals together as a team. As orbit. always, I invite you to send your questions and suggestions to JSC-Ask- • Finally, America’s space program continues to inspire people [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter: across the country and around the globe—from kids who talk @Astro_Ellen IMAGE OF THE QUARTER Noah Michelsohn demonstrates the distance from Earth to the International Space Station, moon and Mars during the Nov. 18, 2016, NASA on Campus event. Read more about how Johnson Space Center interns brought the human spaceflight story to life for local elementary kids at http://go.usa.gov/x8Myj. 2 LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER Manipulating microsamples: Early-career scientists learn how to handle materials from other worlds WHAT HAPPENS TO SAMPLES FROM SPACE ONCE THEY ARRIVE ON EARTH? With its many laboratories housing extraterrestrial materials ranging from the moon, to the sun, to meteorites from Mars—and with more samples to come in the next few years—management of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center decided that the time was ripe to train new scientists in the handling of these precious scientific samples. To meet this objective, ARES leaders, in coordination with the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), held a two-day training session Nov. 15 and 16 to teach early-career scientists how to handle extraterrestrial samples. The first day at Johnson featured hands-on training in the Meteorite Processing and Cosmic Dust laboratories NASA and instructions in new handling techniques in the Microsample PHOTO: Handling Clean Laboratory, which houses the newly installed Dr. Scott Messenger, NASA planetary scientist, with micromanipulator. This device allows users to manipulate samples Dr.Carolyn Crow and Kim Fendrich (from left) examine the using controls on a computer rather than by hand. Classroom new micromanipulator in the Microsample Handling Clean sessions in preparing a successful sample request, accessing sample Laboratory. information and sample security, led by LPI Deputy Director Dr. Allan Treiman, highlighted the second day at LPI. Attending the training were: Dr. Carolyn Crow, Lawrence research to include Martian meteorites. Livermore National Lab; Dr. Christine Jilly-Rehak, University of “It is easy to become focused on the methods and questions California, Berkeley; Dr. Nicole Lunning, Smithsonian Institution; and particular to one’s research,” Crow said. “This class exposed me Kim Fendrich, American Museum of Natural History. to new analytical techniques that will allow me to investigate my The goals of the training were to broaden access to the sample samples in new ways. I’ve already got some ideas for collaborations collections to new scientists, build skills in the handling of the with JSC.” materials and allow the new scientists to assess how the techniques ARES scientists Dr. Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, Dr. Scott to handle the samples may apply to their own research. Messenger and Dr. Lindsay Keller conducted the sessions at The skills needed to handle the microscopic samples impressed Johnson with the support of several Jacobs Engineering contractor the trainees. specialists. “What I found to be most interesting was the skill and dexterity The ARES Division at Johnson is charged with preserving NASA’s involved in handling such extraordinarily small and precious collection of extraterrestrial samples, keeping them safe and specimens,” Fendrich said. “Mechanized sample manipulation providing them to the global scientific community for research. The is possible using a micromanipulator; however, many of the collection includes samples from the moon, Mars, sun, asteroids, preparatory and analytical techniques that are employed require comets and other stars. Samples from the OSIRIS-REx mission to precise manual manipulation at an incredibly small scale.” the asteroid Bennu and the Japanese Space Agency’s Hayabusa 2 The primary objective of Fendrich’s research is to locate Stardust mission will be added to the collection in the coming years. grains embedded in aerogel and characterize them in situ using For more information on ARES, go to: non-destructive methods to constrain the original properties of http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/astromaterials the particles and identify those that warrant extraction and further Follow ARES on social media at: investigation. Facebook: facebook.com/NASAastromaterials Crow, a postdoctoral researcher who studies the early history of Twitter: twitter.com/Astromaterials the moon recorded in Apollo samples, is interested in expanding her Instagram: instagram.com/NASAastromaterials LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER 3 2016 jan mar may NASA/PHOTO: JOEL KOWSKY NASA/PHOTO: PHOTO: PHOTO: BIGELOW AEROSPACE NASA/PHOTO JAN. 21: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left) MARCH 3: Expedition 46 Commander Scott MAY 28: Pressurization of the Bigelow and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko Kelly of NASA, right, is seen with (from left) Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) began (right) marked their 300th consecutive day NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Dr. at 3:34 p.m. CDT, and the eight tanks filled aboard the International Space Station. The John Holdren, director of the White House with air completed full pressurization of the pair will spend a total of 340 days in space on Office of Science and Technology; and Dr. Jill module 10 minutes later. BEAM’s pressure will their one-year mission as researchers hope to Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, after be equalized with that of the International better understand how the human body reacts returning to Houston, following his return Space Station, where it will remain attached and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. to Earth. Kelly and Flight Engineers Mikhail for a two-year test period. Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos landed in their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on March 1. Kelly and Kornienko completed an International Space Station record year-long mission as members of expeditions 43, 44, 45 feb and 46 to collect valuable data that will be used to formulate a human mission to Mars. june april NASA/PHOTO FEB. 18: More than 18,300 people applied to join NASA’s 2017 astronaut class—almost three times the number of applications received in 2012 for the most recent astronaut BILL INGALLS NASA/PHOTO: class and far surpassing the previous record JUNE 18: The Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft NASA/PHOTO: CHRIS GUNN NASA/PHOTO: of 8,000 in 1978. Applications opened Dec. is seen as it lands with Expedition 47 crew 14 and closed Feb. 18, but that is just the APRIL 27: Engineers unveiled the giant members Tim Kopra of NASA, Tim Peake beginning of an 18-month process that golden mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space of ESA (European Space Agency) and Yuri will end with the selection of eight to 14 Telescope as part of the integration and Malenchenko of Roscosmos near the town individuals for the opportunity to become testing of the infrared telescope at NASA’s of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.