|
|
|
|
|
NASA buys boosters for Orion abort flight tests NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: April 16, 2007 WASHINGTON - NASA has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to support abort flight test requirements for the Orion Project. The Air Force has contracted with Orbital Sciences Corp. of Chandler, Ariz., to provide launch services for the flight tests. The agreement with the Air Force's Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., provides for abort test boosters that will serve as launch vehicles for Orion ascent abort flight tests that are set to occur from 2009 through 2011 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The first abort test is scheduled for 2008, but will not require a functional booster. The tests will support certification of the Orion crew exploration vehicle's launch abort system. The system includes a small escape rocket designed to ensure the safety of the crew in the event of a launch vehicle malfunction while on the launch pad or during ascent to orbit. A total of six tests are planned, pending environmental assessments. Two will simulate an abort from the launch pad and will not require a booster. The rest will use abort test boosters and simulate aborts at three stressing conditions along the Ares launch vehicle trajectory. The Orion Project Office, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, designated Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as the lead NASA center for abort flight test integration and operations, including procurement of the boosters. The project is developing the Orion spacecraft as part of an effort by NASA's Constellation Program to return humans to the moon and prepare for future voyages to Mars and other destinations in our solar system. Through a competitive procurement, the Air Force has awarded a task order for two abort test boosters with options for two others under the existing Sounding Rockets Program 2. This indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract task order is valued between $35 million and $57 million. The four Sounding Rockets Program 2 contractors, including the winner, Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., were allowed to compete for the job of providing booster integration and launch support services. The Air Force has conducted 16 launches in the past 11 years under the Sounding Rockets Program. The agreement for abort flight test support benefits both NASA and the Air Force. By making use of the experienced Air Force and contractor team, NASA reduces development risk associated with design and development of a new and unique launch vehicle for these tests. NASA also achieves financial savings while meeting an aggressive Orion test schedule. The Air Force benefits through reduced risk associated with future Air Force small launches, increased opportunity for service personnel to gain expertise, and a greater chance to share technologies. The 3rd Space Test Squadron, a unit of the Air Force's Space Development and Test Wing, will manage abort test booster launch support services and integration of decommissioned Peacekeeper-class intercontinental ballistic missile assets. On a cost reimbursable basis, the squadron will provide integration support, project management support and related services. The squadron regularly uses decommissioned Minuteman II and Peacekeeper rocket motors for government research and development of space launch and missile defense test target vehicles. |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
The Russian Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 15 cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, along with tourist Charles Simonyi, fly to the space station following launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
One of the most daunting yet crucial human spaceflights occurred in December 1993 as the crew of shuttle Endeavour embarked on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory had been launched three-and-a-half years earlier with a crippling vision flaw. Two teams of spacewalkers carried out five EVAs to install corrective optics and other equipment to fix the telescope's problems. The astronauts take you through the mission in this post-flight film.
Narrating a highlights film from their STS-51 mission, the shuttle astronauts from Discovery's September 1993 flight describe launching the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite with its Transfer Orbit Stage plus the deployment and retrieval of the Shuttle Pallet Satellite carrying the German ORFEUS ultraviolet telescope. TV and IMAX cameras on the SPAS craft provide stunning views of the shuttle. A spacewalk also occurs to test tools and procedures for the upcoming first servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope.
This documentary looks back at Apollo 7, the first manned flight of the Apollo program. Apollo 7 was designated as the essential engineering test of the spacecraft before the ambitious lunar missions could be attempted.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams will run the Boston Marathon on a treadmill aboard the International Space Station. To preview the event, Williams, an accomplished marathoner, and Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria talk with The Boston Globe and the
New England Sports Network.
International Space Station Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Suni Williams give a show-and-tell about the exercise equipment and routines aboard the orbiting complex.