NASA

CONTRACT RELEASE : C08-020

April 15, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded a sole-source contract to Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International Inc., Windsor Locks, Conn., for water production services aboard the International Space Station. The firm fixed-price contract has a potential value of $65 million and extends through Sept. 30, 2014.

The Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station: Photo courtesy NASA    » read more »

April 15, 2008 -- PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA is extending the international Cassini-Huygens mission by two years. The historic spacecraft's stunning discoveries and images have revolutionized our knowledge of Saturn and its moons.

Cassini's mission originally had been scheduled to end in July 2008. The newly-announced two-year extension will include 60 additional orbits of Saturn and more flybys of its exotic moons.

"Dragon Storm" Saturn: Photo courtesy NASA

These will include 26 flybys of Titan, seven of Enceladus, and one each of Dione, Rhea and Helene. The extension also includes studies of Saturn's rings, its complex magnetosphere, and the planet itself.    » read more »

This moon is doomed. Mars, the red planet named for the Roman god of war, has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, whose names are derived from the Greek for Fear and Panic. These Martian moons may well be captured asteroids originating in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or perhaps from even more distant reaches of the Solar System.

Mars moon Phobos: Photo by HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA    » read more »

On April 12th, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin became the first human in space. His remotely controlled Vostok 1 spacecraft lofted him to an altitude of 200 miles and carried him once around planet Earth. Commenting on the first view from space he reported, "The sky is very dark; the Earth is bluish. Everything is seen very clearly".

Yuri's Planet - NASA Astonomy Picture of the Day: Photo by ISS Expedition 7 Crew, EOL, NASA

Alan Shepard, the first US astronaut, would not be launched until almost a month later and then on a comparatively short suborbital flight.    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25th landing on the Red Planet.

"This is our first trajectory maneuver targeting a specific location in the northern polar region of Mars," said Brian Portock, chief of the Phoenix navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its 2008 touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars: Pulsed rocket engines control the spacecraft's speed during the final seconds of descent. Image by NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA's Science Mission Directorate has launched a new Web site that provides enhanced and engaging information about NASA's vast scope of scientific endeavors and achievements.

The site will provide in-depth coverage of NASA's past, present and future science missions with features that include:

Screenshot of NASA's new science website

- Interactive tables and searches for Earth, heliophysics, planetary and astrophysics missions
- Insight into dark matter and dark energy, planets around other stars, climate change, Mars and space weather
- Resources for researchers including links to upcoming science solicitations and opportunities    » read more »

April 9, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected nine proposals for negotiation of Phase 2 contract awards in the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. The selected projects have a total value of approximately $5.4 million. The contracts will be awarded to nine hi-tech firms partnered with nine universities in 12 states.

The STTR program is a highly competitive, three-phase award system. It provides qualified small businesses -- including women-owned and disadvantaged firms -- with opportunities to propose innovative ideas that meet specific research and development needs of the federal government. In addition, the STTR program requires a collaborative research effort between small business and research institutions.    » read more »

April 9, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA is preparing to send a small spacecraft to the moon in 2011 to assess the lunar atmosphere and the nature of dust lofted above the surface.

Called the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), the mission will launch before the agency's moon exploration activities accelerate during the next decade. LADEE will gather detailed information about conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust.

The Earth and the Moon: Photo by NASA

A thorough understanding of these influences will help researchers understand how future exploration may shape the lunar environment and how the environment may affect future explorers.    » read more »

April 2, 2008 -- SANTA FE – New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Spaceport America Executive Director Steve Landeene today met with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to discuss the planned Spaceport America being built in Southern New Mexico. Governor Richardson outlined his vision for Spaceport America to play a leading role in the commercial space industry.

Nasa - solid rocket boosters being mated to Delta II rocket: Photo by NASA    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- The following is a statement by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin after today's successful docking of the European Space Agency's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station at 10:45 a.m. EDT Thursday.

ATV Jules Verne Docks with International Space Station: Photo by NASA TV

"I am incredibly proud of and pleased for our European partners with this demonstration of a successful automated docking of the ATV cargo vehicle with the ISS. Only Russia has previously achieved a successful automated docking in space.    » read more »

April 1, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- This month, NASA begins the most extensive field campaign ever to investigate the chemistry of the Arctic's lower atmosphere. The mission is poised to help scientists identify how air pollution contributes to climate changes in the Arctic.

Preparations for the NASA ARCTAS field campaign: Chris Cantrell and Becky Anderson of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., assess an instrument’s operation on NASA's DC-8 aircraft during preparations for the ARCTAS field campaign. Photo: NASA    » read more »

April 1, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA scientist and 2006 Nobel Prize recipient John Mather will devote more of his time at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to provide additional focus and support as senior project scientist and chair of the Science Working Group for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Mather has been dividing his time in that role and serving as lead scientist in the Office of the Chief Scientist within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington since April 2007.    » read more »

2008-04-01 -- In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer to it in the future at "Dextre the Magnificent."

Brandishing power tools that would make any handyperson blush, the mobile servicing system thanked humans for creating it and promised a glorious future where humans would retain an important role in the new robot order.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: New Space Station Robot Asks to be Called "Dextre the Magnificent"

Happy April Fools Day from the folks at APOD.    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA is targeting May 31 as the launch date for shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission to deliver the large Japanese Kibo Pressurized Module to the International Space Station. The liftoff time is approximately 5:01 p.m. EDT.

NASA decided to reschedule Discovery's target launch date from May 25 to May 31 after shipment of the mission's external fuel tank from its assembly plant at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Florida was delayed by weather. The tank arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 26.

Additionally, NASA elected to move the liftoff date in order to avoid having the launch team work through the Memorial Day weekend.    » read more »

NASA is targeting May 31 as the launch date for space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission. STS-124 is the 26th shuttle flight to the International Space Station and the second of three flights to deliver components of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.

Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center: The external tank for STS-124 is lifted to vertical. (Photo: NASA/Jim Grossman)    » read more »