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New NASA Advisory Council holds inaugural meeting NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: November 29, 2005 Two former Apollo astronauts joined 22 other experts in the first meeting of the newly restructured NASA Advisory Council, a group of eminent U.S. citizens organized to provide guidance and policy advice to the administrator of America's space agency. The NASA Advisory Council will be chaired by former Senator and Apollo astronaut Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt. Former Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong joins Schmitt as one of the distinguished experts on the council, along with Gen. Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.), former commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Dr. Charles F. Kennel, director, Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The NASA Advisory Council was restructured to meet agency needs as it implements the Vision for Space Exploration, outlined by President Bush two years ago to take astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. A number of previously-chartered standing committees are incorporated into the restructured council. The NASA Advisory Council will include subject matter experts in five key areas: exploration, science, aeronautics, human capital, and audit and finance, and also include three ex-officio members from the National Research Council's Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, and the Institute of Medicine. "I am looking forward to working closely with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and NASA senior management as they address the exciting challenges facing the agency as it prepares for its next 50 years," Schmitt said. "These challenges include returning the space shuttle safely to flight, completing the International Space Station, developing a new crew exploration vehicle and returning humans to the surface of the moon and then on to Mars." Senator Schmitt will be joined on the NASA Advisory Council by the following distinguished experts:
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Scientists marvel at the achievements made by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in this produced movie looking at the crown jewel observatory that has served as our window on the universe.
Mercury astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, when he is launched aboard Friendship 7.
International Space Station commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev mark the Thanksgiving holiday in orbit during this downlinked message.
Expedition 12 Soyuz commander Valery Tokarev and station commander Bill McArthur temporarily leave the International Space Station. They undocked their Soyuz capsule from the Pirs module and then redocked the craft to the nearby Zarya module. The move clears Pirs for use as the airlock for an upcoming Russian-based spacewalk.
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This week marks the anniversary of arguably the most daring and complex space shuttle mission. The astronauts successfully launched two satellites and then recovered two others during extraordinary spacewalks by astronauts using jet-propelled backpacks and pure muscle power.
Commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev conduct a 5 1/2-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station, installing a TV camera, doing repair chores and jettisoning a failed science probe.
Return to flight space shuttle commander Eileen Collins narrates an interesting slide show featuring some favorite photographs of Earth taken during her previous shuttle missions.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin goes before the U.S. House of Representative's Science Committee to provide an update on the moon-Mars exploration program, the future of the space shuttle and space station, possible servicing of Hubble, cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope and the agency's aeronautics research.