Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/2004/0404_cover_p4.pdf Дата изменения: Thu Dec 29 02:06:39 2005 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 01:05:07 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: universe

SP ACE CENTER

April 2004
L YNDON B. JOHNSON SP ACE CENTER

Houston, Texas Volume 43 Number 4

In This Issue
Director's Message

2
Expedition 9 Crew Profile

3
Putting the pieces together

4-5
WSTF Overview

6
Stardust

7
JSC at the rodeo

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The big blue marble
This view of the Earth was seen by the Apollo 17 crew as they traveled toward the Moon on their NASA lunar landing mission. This outstanding translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. To learn more about ISS Earth observation photography, see pages 4 and 5.


From the desk of Lt. Gen. Jefferson D. Howell Jr.

Director's Message
Seize the moment
President Lyndon Johnson could have been called a "momma's boy" because he was very close to his mother. She played an important role in everything he did throughout his childhood and into manhood. However, he also had great respect for his father, who was a prominent political operative in Texas during the early 1900s. President Johnson used to say that the best advice he got from his father was how important it was to "seize the moment." His father told him that in the dynamics of business, or politics or human social activity, opportunity is very fleeting. He said that if one didn't take advantage of opportunity when it arose, he would lose it very quickly. President Johnson did just that when he pushed through the civil rights legislation in the post-Kennedy assassination period. Randy Stone seized the moment when he came to work at NASA. As a young graduate of the University of Texas, he had opportunities to work in the very robust petro-chemical and oil businesses in Texas, but he decided to come to work for NASA at the new Johnson Space Center in Houston. By taking advantage of that opportunity, for the next 37 years he played a significant role in our nation's history by being a part of the Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. Randy Stone made history because he seized the moment as a young man. Our President has given us a great opportunity with his new vision for space exploration. This will not be easy to do. However, if we don't do it, it won't get done. Therefore, all of us, if we are going to succeed at this, have to come together. First, we must help convince our fellow citizens of how important this is. Secondly, we must be willing to embrace change, whether in the way we do things or in our jobs themselves, while always striving for excellence. You and I have a great opportunity to make history by participating in one of the noblest endeavors in the history of humankind. We are starting the journey into the cosmos. LET'S SEIZE THE MOMENT!

It's great to be alive and in Houston. Beak sends.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Beak's BEACH BASH
Guest Space
William Gerstenmaier
International Space Station Program Manager

Featuring The Flightline Follies Coming Soon!

The integrated International Space Station Team ­ including the ISS Program office team, ISS teams at other NASA centers, the International Partners and the ISS contractor teams ­ has done a remarkable job maintaining the hardware and crew onboard the Space Station. The teams have also been planning and preparing new hardware and equipment for flight. We have begun 2004 with our first-ever spacewalk where no crewmembers were left inside the Station. The preparation for this spacewalk helped us to learn more about Space Station systems and improve operational interfaces with our Russian partners. The execution of the spacewalk was phenomenal. The teams were on top of their game and watching the execution of the spacewalk was exhilarating. This was spaceflight at its best. The suit cooling problem was handled professionally and well coordinated. Watching the

Russian and U.S. teams perform this joint activity showcased the strength of our partnership. We each are learning from each other. On January 14, 2004, the President unveiled his new mission for the Agency. Space Station is accomplishing many things to prepare for the new exploration vision. We're learning how to operate in space for long durations. Without the Space Shuttle operating in this time frame we're learning how to get by with minimal supplies and how to do maintenance on board. ISS processes, analytical tools, lessons learned and skill bases could provide a significant jump-start for exploration and reduce costs. Our robotic operations and science investigations will also play a key role in exploration. The future is bright for Space Station. We are doing today what others are dreaming and planning. We are developing the people, techniques and hardware that will be used for further exploration of the universe.

Expedition 6 Science Officer Don Pettit took many nighttime photos of cities from the International Space Station. This photo of star trails over Earth at night is one of his favorites. "You're in a place that has amazing beauty that offers a perspective that's completely different from when you live on the surface of the planet," Pettit said, "to be in that environment and not be able to take pictures would be a cruel act. It would be like being in a candy store and not being able to sample any of the candies."

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The crew of Expedition 9

Same passion, different paths
By Kendra Phipps

B

y all rights, the Expedition 9 crewmembers may seem like the odd couple. One is American; the other, Russian. One dreamed of flying in space at the age of 3; the other didn't give space much thought until later in life. One is a space rookie; the other has spent nearly 200 days in orbit. Despite these differences, the pair has much more important things in common: a strong friendship and a love for their work. Soon, Astronaut Mike Fincke and Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka will be rooming together in the International Space Station. Expedition 9 is scheduled to launch April 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Though they were assigned to this mission less than three months before it was scheduled to launch, Fincke and Padalka have trained together for the past two years. "It was very much a surprise," Fincke said of the last-minute crew change. "But on the other hand, I knew that Gennady and I were ready to go. ... We know each other's strengths and each other's weaknesses. We know how to motivate each other, and we're both really excited." Padalka agreed that they are a compatible crew. "I know Mike very well," he said. "He is a very sociable man, and he has a good sense of humor, which is very important in space. We are very, very comfortable with our friendship." This crew change was not the first for Expedition 9. The original commander, Astronaut Bill McArthur, Jr., was replaced by Astronaut Leroy Chiao mid-January due to a temporary medical issue. Then, NASA and its partners decided it was optimal to keep the existing Expedition teams together. Since Fincke and Padalka had trained together for years, as had Chiao and Cosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov, the partners modified the crew assignments, bumping Fincke and Padalka to Expedition 9. Chiao and Sharipov are the Expedition 9 backup crew and the Expedition 10 prime crew. The situation "shows the wisdom of Space Station planning that we have backup crews," Fincke said, "and that we have a pool of astronauts and cosmonauts who are ready to fly."
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka

Astronaut Mike Fincke

...it shows what human beings can do when we work together constructively and not destructively.
While Fincke pursued spaceflight throughout his life, Padalka arrived at his current career in a different way. It could even be said that spaceflight came to him. "I met our famous Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov ­ he participated in the Soyuz-Apollo project, he was the first man who performed a spacewalk ­ and he suggested that I become a cosmonaut," Padalka said. At the time, Leonov was the head of a medical commission on a cross-country cosmonaut recruitment trip. "To a larger extent it was by chance," Padalka said. He became a test-cosmonaut in 1991 and made his first flight, as Commander of the Mir26 mission, in 1998. Padalka's and Fincke's paths converged in 2002 when they began training together as a Space Station crew. term space travel on the human body, along with experiments on materials science and fluid mechanics. "There are fundamental fluid mechanics problems that we're solving with ingenious contraptions that are easy to operate and give real-time data back to the scientists on the ground," Fincke said. Padalka, who also has a background in ecology, said he is looking forward to the Russian star spectrometer experiment, which is associated with both astronomy and ecology. "Only recently did I actually start to think how really exciting that is ­ to be alone in the cosmos without a spacecraft around me except for this suit that was put together by human hands," Fincke said. Padalka expressed his certainty about the mission's success. "I am deeply convinced that our mission will make us take steps forward," he said, "and eventually it will help us to solve many problems on the ground." When the time comes to leave the Space Station, Fincke expects it to be a bittersweet moment. "I'll be so excited to go home and see my family. I'll have a new baby girl waiting for me, my little boy who's 3 years old is going to have missed me, and of course I want to see my wife's beautiful smile ­ so, that'll be the sweet part," he said. "The bitter part is leaving our home of six months." But even that bitterness should be sweetened by the knowledge that their mission may have inspired children on Earth ­ the same way Fincke was inspired during the Apollo era ­ and that the Space Station continues to serve as a "great example of peaceful cooperation," as Padalka said. "I think this is a great example of how our life can be established on the ground in the ideal," Padalka said. Fincke agreed: "It's not just for the glory and nationalism, but it's also for all of humanity," he said. "And that's why we're working on the International Space Station: it shows what human beings can do when we work together constructively and not destructively."

`A hectic life' for six months
Padalka has one space mission under his belt, but Expedition 9 will be Fincke's first journey into space. To put it mildly, the rookie is looking forward to the mission. "In life, I don't think we always get a chance for our dreams to come true. But I can tell you, right here and right now, that I'm living my dream," Fincke said. "And not only that, but I've always really had an affinity for the Russian space program. It's such an honor to get a chance to fly aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft." After the crew takes off in its Soyuz capsule ­ along with European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut AndrИ Kuipers ­ a whirlwind of activity awaits them. "It's a hectic life during handover operations," Padalka said. He explained that the crew will be busy conducting experiments and learning the nuances of the Space Station from the Expedition 8 crew before that crew's farewell ceremony. Kuipers will spend about a week aboard the Space Station conducting scientific experiments under a commercial agreement between ESA and Russia and will return to Earth with Expedition 8 crewmembers Mike Foale and Alexander Kaleri. During the rest of Expedition 9, Fincke and Padalka have their work cut out for them in the form of two spacewalks and about 100 science experiments. There will be many life sciences experiments to further study the effects of long-

Same passion, different paths
Fincke and Padalka share a love for aviation. Fincke, who will be the mission's Flight Engineer and Space Station Science Officer, attended college on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, became a test pilot and has now flown more than 30 types of aircraft. Padalka, Expedition 9 Commander, has logged more than 1,500 hours of flight time through his years with the Russian Air Force and is also a General Parachute Training instructor. He said he knew early on that he wanted to be a pilot. "I was fascinated with aviation, and that is why I entered the Eisk Military Aviation College," he said. While Padalka entered the aviation college and the Russian Air Force for the sake of flying, for Fincke, the U.S. Air Force was more of a means to an end. He had dreamed of becoming an astronaut since he was 3 years old. "For me (the Air Force) was a stepping-stone to work at NASA, but also, I always wanted to serve my country, so it was very much a win-win situation," Fincke said. He later studied cosmonautics in Russia and attended the Air Force Test Pilot School as an engineer. "I can't tell you how thrilling it was," he said. "Getting a chance to see how we humans put aerospace vehicles together, and how to make them better ... enhances my ability to be a good Flight Engineer for the ninth Expedition."

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Putting the pieces together
More than 100,000 pictures have been taken from the Space Station
By Debbie Nguyen

Photographed by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station, this image shows the limb of the Earth at the bottom transitioning into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and bluecolored atmosphere. The silvery-blue noctilucent clouds extend far above the Earth's troposphere. The sliver of the setting Moon is visible at upper right.
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T

he mysteries of life can be thought of as an extraordinary puzzle with missing pieces. Our innate curiosity creates a network of questions, each trying to answer "Why?" and "How?" and fill in the gaps in human knowledge. Thanks to the photographs taken by crews aboard the International Space Station, more than 100,000 of those puzzle pieces have been located, furthering us in our quest for answers. The number of photographs of Earth taken by Space Station astronauts recently crossed the 100,000 mark. These images are not only breathtaking but also support all three objectives of the NASA Mission.

In order to get high-quality, useful images of Earth, astronauts must know what to look for. To accomplish this, Kamlesh Lulla, Chief Scientist for Earth Observation at Johnson Space Center, coordinates Earth Observation training for Space Station astronauts. The astronauts are trained to become "Earth smart" so they can be our "eyes and ears in orbit," Lulla said. Aboard the Space Station, astronauts are equipped with commercial Kodak professional digital cameras and take their photos through the optical-quality window in the Space Station's Destiny module. One application of these Earth photographs is urban development. For instance, photos of cities at night can tell engineers and researchers how populated an area is and how functional the local transportation systems are. Expedition 6 Science Officer Don Pettit took many nighttime photos of cities from the Space Station, which were highlighted by Lulla in a technical publication article.

Environmental events can also be studied more effectively with photography from space. For example, pictures from the Russian space station Mir helped scientists explain natural events like El NiЯo and biomass burning. The Earth's environment is dynamic and ever changing. From the vantage point of the ground, these changes can be nearly undetectable. With a view from space, the world looks a lot different: the vastness of hurricanes and the paths of forest fires can be seen in a blink of an eye, and dust storms and the movement of glaciers can be tracked more easily.

`To understand and protect our home planet'
Space provides an unequalled vantage point for observing and tracking changes on Earth. Pictures of the planet from space can greatly increase understanding of Earth's ongoing transformations ­ both natural and human-caused.

`To inspire the next generation of explorers...as only NASA can'
On December 7, 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts captured the first full image of Earth from space ­ the famous shot called "the Blue Marble." Since then, it has become the most requested space image, igniting humanity's curiosity. The following Earth photography outreach efforts help to inspire and educate the public:
s http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov: "The Gateway to

Astronaut Photography of Earth," the Earth and Imaging Department's premiere online collection of astronaut photos

A mass of storm clouds was captured with an electronic still camera (ESC) from the International Space Station (ISS) by the Expedition 1 crewmembers. The picture was the first Earth observation still image downlinked by the three-man crew.
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