November 16, 2007 Vol. 47, No. 24 Spaceport News John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/snews/spnews_toc.html Discovery home after historic mission sets up future space station growth HE space shuttle Discovery (right) and its crew landed Tat NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 1:01 p.m. Nov. 7 after completing a 15-day journey of more than 6.2 million miles in space. Discovery’s STS-120 mis- sion added a key component to the International Space Station and featured an unprecedented space- walk to repair a damaged solar array. “This mission demonstrates the value of having humans in space and our ingenuity in solving problems,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations at NASA Headquarters Paolo Nespoli delivered the Node returned with the STS-120 crew. in Washington. 2 module, known as Harmony. With Discovery and its crew “The teams on the ground Harmony will provide attachment safely home, the stage is set for the worked around the clock, along points for European and Japanese next phase of station assembly. with the crews in space, to develop laboratories to be added later this Before Atlantis’ STS-122 mis- a plan to fix the array. Our high year and early in 2008. sion delivers the European Space level of preparedness gave us the Tani remained behind on the Agency’s Columbus laboratory edge necessary to make this a suc- station as part of the Expedition module to the station, Harmony Right, Commander Pamela Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists cessful mission.” 16 crew. He is scheduled to return must be relocated to its permanent Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson and Discovery’s crew of Com- home aboard space shuttle Atlantis location at the front of the com- Doug Wheelock after landing on Runway mander Pam Melroy, Pilot George on a mission targeted to launch plex. The station crew will conduct 33 of the Shuttle Landing Facility. Zamka and Mission Specialists Dec. 6. Tani replaced Clayton three spacewalks and robotically Scott Parazynski, Doug Wheelock, Anderson, who spent almost five move two components to complete Stephanie Wilson, Dan Tani and months on the station, arriving in that task, allowing Atlantis to dock (See NASA TV below for more European Space Agency astronaut June aboard Atlantis. Anderson and Columbus to attach to Harmony. information.) NASA TV to cover November space station spacewalks, work and briefings OLLOWING the wake of the spacewalks and major robot- for the relocated mating adapter Whitson and Tani conduct a final Fspace shuttle Discovery's ics work will be broadcast live on and Harmony module. A press con- 6.5-hour spacewalk to complete delivery of the Harmony connect- NASA Television. ference will follow the spacewalk the hookup of the mating adapter ing module to the International At 4:30 a.m. Nov. 20, NASA on NASA TV, originating from and Harmony module to the sta- Space Station, the station crew will TV will broadcast live coverage as NASA's Johnson Space Center tion. This will leave them ready conduct two more spacewalks and Commander Peggy Whitson and with questions from participating for the docking of space shuttle robotically move two components Flight Engineer Daniel Tani con- NASA sites. Atlantis and delivery of Columbus this month to prepare for delivery duct a 6.5-hour spacewalk to hook At 4:30 a.m. Nov. 24, NASA on mission STS-122. of a European laboratory. All of up fluid, electrical and data lines TV will broadcast live coverage as Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS November 16, 2007 SpaceX breaks ground on launch complex PACE Explora- Putting spades to work at tion Technologies, ground-breaking ceremonies for or SpaceX, broke SpaceX’s new Falcon 9 rocket S launch facilities at Space Launch ground on Nov. 2 at Launch Complex 40 to Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral build new launch facili- are (from left) Thad Altman, Florida representative; Jeff Kottkamp, ties at Cape Canaveral Florida lieutenant governor; Elon Air Force Station. The Musk, founder and chief execu- U.S. Air Force Space tive officer of Space Exploration Command's 45th Space Technologies; U.S. Air Force Brig. Wing granted a license Gen. Susan Helms, commander to SpaceX to operate on of the 45th Space Wing; Lynda Space Launch Complex Weatherman, Brevard County 40, which was previ- Economic Development Commis- ously used for Titan 4 sion chief executive officer and president; Steve Koehler, president launches. of Space Florida; Janet Petro, SpaceX will be able deputy director of NASA's Kennedy to launch both the Falcon Space Center; Patricia Grace 9 and Falcon 9-heavy Smith, Federal Aviation Adminis- from the site. The com- tration associate administrator for pany is planning to debut commercial space transportation; the Falcon 9 in late 2008. and Steve Cain, Kennedy COTS As part of NASA’s project manager. Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, competition, SpaceX will launch a shuttle operations. Falcon 9 with a cargo-carrying payload on a series of three demonstration In operation since 1965, Space Launch Complex 40 has hosted numer- missions from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station, culmi- ous launches, including two interplanetary missions: the Mars Observer nating with the delivery of supplies to the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX on Sept. 25, 1992, and the Saturn-bound Cassini-Huygens, which rode says it intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering, berthing and return into space on Oct. 15, 1997, atop a Titan IVB launcher. abilities by 2009 – a year before NASA has scheduled the end of space A fire began Nov. 7 during demolition activities at the launch complex. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Fire Department arrived NASA honors USA employee nine minutes later and promptly extinguished the flames. There were no injuries and no damage to for technical excellence surrounding property. Demolition contractors using HE NASA Engineering and Space Alliance employee Delmar Research Center in Virginia. The steel cutting torches were section- Safety Center, known as Foster during ceremonies at a lead- ceremony recognized individuals T ing an aging structure in prepara- NESC, recently honored United ership meeting at NASA's Langley for their contributions to critical technical assessments over the past tion for removal when adjacent year. materials ignited. The work was Foster received an NESC En- monitored by a fire watch, and the gineering Excellence Award in fire department was summoned recognition "of technical expertise according to standard operating and outstanding proactive support procedures. in establishing the processes and “This kind of thing is not un- techniques for SAS software utili- heard of during large-scale demoli- zation within the Data Mining and tion. That’s why we have proce- Trending Working Group." dures in place. Everyone acted pro- The Engineering Excellence fessionally and by the book, and Award honors individual accom- fortunately no one was hurt,” said plishments of NESC job-related Norman Bobczynski, SpaceX’s tasks of such magnitude and merit launch site director. as to deserve special recognition. Chief Executive Officer Elon This is the fourth year the Musk was informed of the situa- NESC has recognized employees tion and stated that SpaceX will and NASA partners for outstanding work closely with officials at Cape contributions to NESC-sponsored Canaveral to investigate the fire and will make any changes deemed At NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ken Cameron (left), NESC deputy director activities and to encourage critical for safety, and Ralph Roe, NESC director, present an NESC Engineering Excellence Award examination of engineering necessary. to Delmar Foster (center) of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. problems. November 16, 2007 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3 Atlantis rolls to Launch Pad 39A PACE shuttle Atlantis rolled Space Shuttle out to Launch Pad 39A on Atlantis, secured Nov. 10 and preparations for atop a mobile launch S platform, nears the STS-122 mission are moving the top of the five forward. percent grade to the The first motion of the shuttle top of the hardstand out of the Vehicle Assembly Build- on its final approach ing was 4:43 a.m. The 3.4-mile to Launch Pad 39A. journey to the launch pad took The rotating service about a little more than 7 hours. structure, adjoined The primary payload on to the fixed service Atlantis is the Columbus Labora- structure at left, has tory (see below for more about been rolled back in preparation for Columbus). Launch to the Interna- the shuttle’s arrival. tional Space Station is targeted for After a 7-hour trip, Dec. 6. The addition of this mod- the shuttle was hard ule to the space station was made down on the pad at possible with the installation of the 11:51 a.m. Harmony Node 2 module on mis- sion STS-120 in October. 24th shuttle mission to the space station to add Columbus Laboratory UILT by the European Space Agency, or ESA, Columbus Bwill expand the research facilities of the station, provid- ing crew members and scientists around the world the ability to conduct a variety of life, physical and materials science experiments. The module is approximately 23 feet long and 15 feet wide, allowing it to hold 10 large racks of experi- ments. Columbus is ESA's largest single contribution to the space station. ESA has developed a range of payload racks, all tailored to squeeze the maximum amount of research from the mini- mum of space. The Biolab, for example, supports experiments on micro-organisms, cells and tissue cultures, and even small plants and small insects. The Material Science Laboratory Electromagnetic Levita- tor is a facility for melting and solidifying conductive metals, alloys or semi-conductors.