NASA News

27 Feb 2009

NASA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR CONSTELLATION SPACESUIT FOR THE MOON

WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded an interim letter contract to
Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston to begin work on the
design, development and production of a new spacesuit system for the
Constellation Program. The system will protect astronauts during
voyages to the International Space Station and exploration of the
moon's surface.

The letter contract requires Oceaneering International to begin work
on the basic period of performance while NASA and the company
negotiate the contract's final terms. The current award amount for
the performance of the letter contract is limited to $9.6 million. It
will become effective March 2 and be in effect until the full
contract is defined, no later than Aug. 29, 2009.

The defined contract will include the same basic period of performance
and contract options as those in the contract awarded in June 2008.
The project schedule has been updated to align with the latest
Constellation Program schedule. Changes also were made to include
Federal Acquisition Regulation and NASA Federal Acquisition
Regulation Supplement updates. The schedule updates result in a basic
period of performance of March 2009 to September 2015. The extension
of the period of performance is required to support the Constellation
Program schedule.

Option 1 covers completion of design, development, test and evaluation
for the moon surface suit components. It has been adjusted to begin
in October 2011 and run through September 2020. Option 2, for the
suit astronauts will wear in the Orion crew module, provides for
production, processing and sustaining engineering under a
cost-plus-award fee or a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery,
indefinite-quantity contract structure. It will begin at the end of
the basic performance period in October 2015 and run through
September 2020.

The spacesuit and support systems will provide protection against the
launch and landing environment and spacecraft cabin leaks. The system
offers the ability to conduct contingency spacewalks. For short trips
to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon
walks. The system also must be designed to support multiple
spacewalks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions.
Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four
astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station
travelers.

Animation of the new designs and more information about NASA's
Constellation Program are available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/constellation

Feb. 24, 2009
NASA'S LAUNCH OF CARBON-SEEKING SATELLITE IS UNSUCCESSFUL

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to
reach orbit after its 4:55 a.m. EST liftoff Tuesday from California's
Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch
vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that
encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.

A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine
the cause of the launch failure.

NASA LUNAR SPACECRAFT SHIPS SOUTH IN PREPARATION FOR LAUNCH

Feb. 11, 2009 GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO,
spacecraft was loaded on a truck Wednesday to begin its two-day
journey to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch is targeted
for April 24.

The spacecraft was built by engineers at Goddard, where it recently
completed two months of tests in a thermal vacuum chamber. During its
time in the chamber, the spacecraft was subjected to hot and cold
temperatures it will experience as it orbits the moon.

The satellite's mission is one of the first steps in NASA's plan to
return astronauts to the moon. LRO will spend at least one year in a
low polar orbit on its primary exploration mission, with the
possibility of three more years to collect additional detailed
scientific information about the moon and its environment.

The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with
detailed maps of the lunar surface and enhance our understanding of
the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition
and natural resources. Information gleaned from LRO will be used to
select safe landing sites, determine locations for future lunar
outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The polar
regions of the moon are the main focus of the mission because
continuous access to sunlight may be possible and water ice may exist
in permanently shadowed areas of the poles.

"This is the culmination of four years of hard work by everyone on the
LRO Project," said Cathy Peddie, LRO deputy project manager at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "LRO now begins its
launch site processing, where it will be prepped for integration with
our sister mission LCROSS, and eventually encapsulated in the Atlas V
for its journey to the moon."

LRO's instruments have considerable heritage from previous planetary
science missions, enabling the spacecraft to transition to a research
phase under the direction of NASA's Science Mission Directorate one
year after launch.

Accompanying LRO on its journey to the moon will be the Lunar Crater
Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, a mission that will
impact the lunar surface in its search for water ice. The LCROSS
mission is managed by NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif.

Goddard manages the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about LRO, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/lro

NASA'S GREAT OBSERVATORIES CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY

WASHINGTON -- Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in
1609, marking the dawn of modern astronomy. To commemorate 400 years
of exploring the universe, 2009 has been designated the International
Year of Astronomy.

In conjunction with Galileo's birthday on Feb. 15, NASA is releasing
images from its Great Observatories -- the Hubble Space Telescope,
Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory -- to more
than 100 planetariums, museums, nature centers and schools across the
country.

The selected sites will unveil a large 9-square-foot print of the
spiral galaxy Messier 101 that combines the optical view of Hubble,
the infrared view of Spitzer, and the X-ray view of Chandra into one
multi-wavelength picture. "It's like using your eyes, night vision
goggles and X-ray vision all at the same time," said Dr. Hashima
Hasan, lead scientist for the International Year of Astronomy at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.

Participating institutions also will display a matched trio of Hubble,
Spitzer and Chandra images of Messier 101. Each image shows a
different wavelength view of the galaxy that illustrates not only the
different science each observatory conducts but also how far
astronomy has come since Galileo.

Messier 101 is a spiral galaxy about 22 million light-years away in
the constellation Ursa Major. It is larger than our own Milky Way
galaxy but similar in many ways. Hubble's visible light view shows
off the swirls of bright stars and glowing gas that give Messier 101
its nickname "the Pinwheel Galaxy." In contrast, Spitzer's
infrared-light image sees into the spiral arms and reveals the glow
of dust lanes where dense clouds can collapse to form new stars.
Chandra's X-ray uncovers the high-energy features in the galaxy, such
as remnants of exploded stars or matter zooming around black holes.
The juxtaposition of observations from these three telescopes
provides an in-depth view of the galaxy for both astronomers and the
public.

"The amazing scientific discoveries Galileo made four centuries ago
are continued today by scientists using NASA's space observatories,"
said Denise Smith, the unveiling's project manager at the Space
Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "NASA's Great Observatories
are distributing huge prints of spectacular images so the public can
share in the exploration and wonder of the universe."

The unveilings will take place Feb. 14-28 at 76 museums and 40 schools
and universities nationwide, reaching both big cities and small
towns. Sites are planning celebrations involving the public, schools
and local media.

The Astrophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate
supports the International Year of Astronomy Great Observatories
image unveiling. The project is a collaboration among the Space
Telescope Science Institute, the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena,
Calif., and the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.

A list of places exhibiting these images can be found at: http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/events/iya/participants.php

Find out more about NASA's contributions to the International Year of
Astronomy at: http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov

STS-119 Mission Update
NASA Sets Special Review Meeting
Monday, February 09, 2009 11:39 AM
NASA's Space Shuttle Program managers will hold a special meeting Feb. 13 to review flow control valve data and determine whether to proceed with the Joint Flight Readiness Review, or FRR, for space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

The valves under assessment channel gaseous hydrogen from the shuttle's main engines to the external fuel tank. One of these valves in shuttle Endeavour was found to be damaged after its STS-126 mission in November. As a precaution, Discovery's three gaseous hydrogen valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled.

In light of a positive outcome from the special meeting, the official launch date will be set at the FRR, although for planning purposes, the liftoff currently is scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 22.

Meanwhile, STS-119 Commander Lee Archambault and Pilot Tony Antonelli will fly to White Sands Space Harbor in Las Cruces, N.M., in T-38 training jets late today for night landing practice in NASA's shuttle training aircraft.