Happy Friday everyone. Great to see J. B. Fox at our monthly luncheon yesterday at Hibachi Grill. Have a safe and great weekend everyone.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Research Announcement
- Crazy for Calendars - A New Button Will Help
- Orion Monthly Trivia Question
- Office of Chief Counsel Reduced Staffing Next Week
- U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction - May 3
- Recent JSC Announcement - Organizations/Social
- RSVP Now for the May JSC NMA Luncheon - Jobs and Training
- Spaceflight Acoustics Research and Operations - Community
- Volunteers Needed - Houston Pride Parade
- Help Students Test Their Rockets |  |
| Headlines - Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Research Announcement
Do you know any graduate students or post docs? Tell them about this NASA research solicitation recruiting young researchers to compete for the opportunity to have their research conducted aboard the International Space Station. Read more here. - Crazy for Calendars – A New Button Will Help
Sure, you put your event or meeting in JSC Today to spread the word. And yes … there is that new "Add to calendar" option that you can choose to have folks save the date/time to their personal Outlook calendars. Well, now there's a way to reach people who inadvertently skip JSC Today in favor of the JSC Community Events calendar on the Inside JSC internal home page: We have a button for that! So after clicking "yes" that your JSC Today submission is indeed an event with a date/time, be sure to also click this magical box: "Display this event on JSC Community Events calendar?" If you check the box, your event will automatically populate on that heavily trafficked Inside JSC calendar feature. Plus, you're killing two birds with one stone. No longer must you complete a JSC Today submission and then enter a calendar item on the JSC Community Events calendar. We've just made things a whole lot easier for you. You're welcome! - Orion Monthly Trivia Question
It's time to test your knowledge of the Orion spacecraft! Answer the trivia question correctly and you are automatically entered into the drawing for a prize. Email your answers here. April Trivia Question: Name the three main elements that make up Orion. - Office of Chief Counsel Reduced Staffing Next Week
As previously mentioned, the Office of Chief Counsel will operate with greatly reduced staff next week. This means that matters arriving in the office next week may not be acknowledged right away or completed that week. It would be helpful if clients could please try to defer the delivery of lower-priority work that might otherwise come to us that week. We will, of course, always get to any true emergencies right away. - U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction - May 3
NASA TV will provide live coverage of the 2014 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 2 p.m. CDT Saturday, May 3. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a 2006 hall of famer, and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, in 2008, will deliver remarks at the event. Former astronauts Shannon W. Lucid and Jerry L. Ross will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during Saturday's ceremony at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction in Florida. A veteran of five missions and a member of NASA's first astronaut class to include women, Lucid logged more than 223 days in space. From August 1991 to June 2007, she held the record for the most days in orbit by any woman in the world. Lucid is the only American woman who served aboard the Russian Mir space station, where she lived and worked in 1996 for more than 188 days -- the longest stay of any American on that spacecraft. Ross flew on seven shuttle missions, logged more than 58 days in space and conducted nine spacewalks totaling 58 hours and 18 minutes. He was the first person to be launched into space seven times. Ross' time spent conducting spacewalks is the all-time second highest among U.S. astronauts. The induction of Ross and Lucid brings the total number of space exploring Hall of Famers to 87. For more information about the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, click here. Event Date: Saturday, May 3, 2014 Event Start Time:2:00 PM Event End Time:3:00 PM
Event Location: NASA TV
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JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Recent JSC Announcement
Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement: JSCA 14-009: Communications with Industry Related to the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Organizations/Social - RSVP Now for the May JSC NMA Luncheon
The JSC National Management Association (NMA) invites you to a luncheon featuring Richard Allen, president of Space Center Houston, who will speak on the "Independence Shuttle SCA Exhibit" on May 14 at 11:30 a.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. Date: May 14 Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (lunch) Location: Alamo Ballroom in the Gilruth Speaker: Richard Allen, president of Space Center Houston Topic: Independence Shuttle SCA Exhibit Cost for members: FREE Cost for non-members: $20 Menu selections: - Chicken picatta
- Almond-crusted salmon
- Cheese-stuffed pasta shells with artichoke
Desserts: cake RSVPs are required by 3 p.m. Thursday, May 8, so don't delay. RSVP now! Jobs and Training - Spaceflight Acoustics Research and Operations
Join the Human Systems Academy lecture on Spaceflight Acoustics Research and Operations. The course is on May 6 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. As space is limited, please register in SATERN. Community - Volunteers Needed - Houston Pride Parade
The 35th annual Pride Parade and Festival is June 28 in the Montrose area of Houston. The Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group (ERG) will walk behind a banner that identifies us as protected federal employees of NASA. Gather by 7 p.m.; the parade kicks off at 8:15 p.m. We invite all supporters to come out and walk. Last year, more than 400,000 people attended the festival/parade, providing an incredible opportunity to reach the public by showcasing NASA as an inclusive and supportive place to work. To all interested in participating, please contact Robert Blake, Kim Reppa and Roger Galpin for meeting arrangements. Sign up to walk in the parade and order mandatory glow sticks/optional parade items via this link by May 16. To volunteer to support the Festival NASA Booth on June 28 between noon and 7 p.m., please sign up in V-CORPS under "Houston Pride Festival." See you there! - Help Students Test Their Rockets
Are you free Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.? We have a great way for you to fill your time—helping students launch their rockets during the SystemsGo Aeroscience High School Program! Where: Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge SystemsGo is an educational nonprofit supporting progressive and innovative STEM programs in high schools throughout Texas. Volunteers are needed to help 19 gulf-coast-area high schools test the project vehicles that they have designed and fabricated to either loft a one-pound payload to one mile or attempt transonic velocity. All volunteers will be trained prior to launch date. Volunteers needed for: - GPS tracking - two volunteers needed daily
- Pad techs - two volunteers needed daily
- Mission Control - two volunteers needed daily
- Runner - one volunteer needed daily
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Friday – May 2, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Injunction bars ULA from buying Russian rocket engines
William Harwood - CBS News
The U.S. Court of Federal Appeals has issued a temporary injunction barring United Launch Alliance from purchasing Russian engines and hardware for its venerable Atlas 5 rocket following a complaint by SpaceX alleging such sales violate U.S. sanctions imposed in the wake of Russia's actions in Ukraine.
3 new flight directors selected for International Space Station missions
Alexander Supgul - Fox News (Houston)
Three new NASA flight directors will manage International Space Station operations at Houston-based Johnson Space Center.
NASA chief tries to reassure Congress amid rift with Russia over Ukraine
Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times
Deteriorating relations with Russia have not harmed Americans' ability to get astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Congress on Thursday, trying to reassure lawmakers who fear the diplomatic rift could derail the U.S. space program.
Federal court temporarily blocks purchase of Russian rocket engines
James Dean – Florida Today
United Launch Alliance is concerned after a federal court ruling has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.
United Launch Alliance said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by a federal court ruling that has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby rips NASA over Space Launch System funding
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) ripped NASA today for underfunding the Space Launch System (SLS) while "spending billions to help private companies develop a launch vehicle" with almost no financial oversight.
Senate Appropriations chairwoman "deeply troubled" by proposed NASA budget
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is one of the most powerful members of Congress given her position as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She's used that power to help NASA—or, at least, specific programs within the agency—win funding. However, she's not shy to speak up when she thinks the agency is off course, which is what she did on Thursday.
SpaceX accuses its rivals of violating Russia sanctions. Now a federal court agrees.
Brian Fung- Washington Post
A federal court has sided with entrepreneur Elon Musk in his bid to challenge top competitors in the space business, blocking aerospace partners Boeing and Lockheed Martin from buying a piece of Russian-made rocket hardware that's critical to their operations.
ULA says SpaceX may be threatening national security with court battle
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
A federal judge's injunction late Wednesday barring United Launch Alliance and the Air Force from buying more Russian rocket engines drew a strong reaction from ULA today. SpaceX sought the injunction as it tries to get a piece of the national security satellite launching business. ULA is the Air Force's sole supplier of launches now and builds the Atlas rockets that do most of the lifting at its plant in Decatur, Ala.
Cosmic commencement: Astronaut giving UConn speech
Pat Eaton-Robb – AP
University of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio would have liked to deliver this year's graduation address to the school of engineering in person. But he'll be out of town on May 10 — orbiting the globe on the International Space Station.
Robot Arms Embrace Space Station Cargo Duties
Mark Carreau – Aviation Week
NASA's Mission Control team took over cargo operations aboard the International Space Station this week, commanding Canadian furnished robot arms to reach into the recently berthed SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule to extract a pair of external experiments -- the agency's own HDEF commercial high definition external video camera assessment and the OPALS laser communications evaluation.
Space-Grown Crystals May Help Crack Huntington's Disease
Scientists hope space-grown crystals of the protein behind Huntington's disease could help them better understand the deadly neurodegenerative disorder.
NASA's Space Spiders Star in e-Book for 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'
Even NASA loves Spider-man, and it has a book about "spidernauts" to prove it.
Space buffs hope to reawaken old NASA probe
Mark K. Matthews – Orlando Sentinel
When NASA launched a space-weather probe called ISEE-3 in 1978, Jimmy Carter was president, the Commodores' "Three Times a Lady" topped the charts and sci-fi fans had seen only one "Star Wars" movie: the original.
COMPLETE STORIES
Injunction bars ULA from buying Russian rocket engines
William Harwood - CBS News
The U.S. Court of Federal Appeals has issued a temporary injunction barring United Launch Alliance from purchasing Russian engines and hardware for its venerable Atlas 5 rocket following a complaint by SpaceX alleging such sales violate U.S. sanctions imposed in the wake of Russia's actions in Ukraine.
In a complaint filed Monday, SpaceX also claims a sole-source Air Force contract with ULA for 27 Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, a five-year "block buy" valued at $11 billion, should be reversed and opened to competition.
ULA, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, claims SpaceX's relatively new Falcon 9 rocket was not fully certified for national security missions at the time the contract was awarded last December and that ULA's family of Atlas and Delta boosters represented the only proven rockets available at the time for critical military launches.
By purchasing a large block of rockets at one time, the Air Force will save some $4 billion, ULA says. SpaceX, not surprisingly, disagrees, saying its Falcon 9 rockets would cost taxpayers much less. And the company challenged existing policy that allows the use of Russian engines in a rocket used to launch U.S. spy satellites.
The RD-180 engine, built by NPO Energomash, has powered the first stage of ULA's Atlas 5 rocket for the past two decades. The engines are marketed by RD AMROSS, a partnership between Energomash and U.S. engine builder Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Their major U.S. customer is United Launch Alliance.
In the complaint filed Monday, SpaceX said "the Russian space and defense industries are led by Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister of Russia. Mr. Rogozin is on the United States' sanctions list as a result of Russia's annexation of the Crimea.
"In other words," SpaceX alleged, "under the ULA contract, the Air Force is sending millions of dollars directly to an entity controlled by Russia and to an industry led by an individual identified for sanctions."
Rogozin has ridiculed such claims, tweeting that people suggesting he personally profits from such transactions are "morons." In a subsequent tweet after SpaceX filed its complaint, he reportedly said that "after analyzing the sanctions against our space industry I suggest the US delivers its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline."
Rogozin was referring to NASA's use of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry U.S. and allied astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
SpaceX is competing for a NASA contract to build a new crewed spacecraft to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit as a commercial venture. Two other companies in that competition -- Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp. -- plan to use the Atlas 5 to boost their spacecraft into orbit.
The SpaceX complaint suggested ULA was attempting to speed up delivery of RD-180 engines as a result of the recent sanctions, adding that "it is hard to imagine any way in which entrenching reliance on Russian rocket engines while funding the Russian military industrial complex with U.S. tax dollars serves national security interests."
Judge Susan G. Braden granted a temporary injunction Wednesday night barring United Launch Alliance and its subsidiaries "from making any purchases from or payment of money to NPO Energomash or any entity ... that is subject to the control of Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin" until the court gets opinions from the departments of State, Commerce and Treasury that such payments would not violate the sanctions against Rogozin.
United Launch Alliance said in a statement it was "deeply concerned" by the ruling and will work with the Department of Justice to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The company has said it already has enough RD-180 engines in the United States to support missions planned for the next two years.
"SpaceX's attempt to disrupt a national security launch contract so long after the award ignores the potential implications to our national security and our nation's ability to put Americans on board the International Space Station," ULA said.
The company said NASA and "numerous other companies" routinely -- and lawfully -- conduct business with Energomash and other Russian space entities.
"This opportunistic action by SpaceX appears to be an attempt to circumvent the requirements imposed on those who seek to meet the challenging launch needs of the nation and to avoid having to follow the rules, regulations and standards expected of a company entrusted to support our nation's most sensitive missions," ULA said in its statement.
Boeing, which designed the Delta 4 family of rockets, and Lockheed Martin, designer of the Atlas 5, initially competed for military and civilian launch contracts, but joined forces as part of an Air Force decision to keep both production lines open to ensure access to space for high-priority national security payloads.
Since the company's founding, ULA has launched more than 80 successful missions in a row, including spy satellites, military voice and data relay stations, weather satellites, navigation beacons and NASA science spacecraft, including the Curiosity Mars rover.
SpaceX, founded by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to launch at least 12 uncrewed cargo ships to the International Space Station using the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 version 1.1 rocket also is used to launch commercial communications satellites.
SpaceX has launched nine Falcon 9 missions, all of them successful, and Musk believes his rockets offer a reliable, lower-cost alternative for military payloads in the Falcon 9's lift capability.
ULA was awarded the block buy contract last December, before SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 version 1.1 rocket had met Air Force certification requirements. SpaceX has since completed the flight requirement -- three successful launchings in a row -- and is in the process of working through remaining engineering reviews.
Musk claims Air Force launch vehicle certification is required before a company can be cleared to launch a military payload, but says it is not required to compete for a launch contract.
3 new flight directors selected for International Space Station missions
Alexander Supgul - Fox News (Houston)
Three new NASA flight directors will manage International Space Station operations at Houston-based Johnson Space Center.
Amit Kshatriya, Jeffery Radigan, and Zebulon Scoville, who are all veteran employees at JSC, will lead teams of flight controllers, support personnel, and engineering experts in the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center. They also are involved in cargo and crew vehicle integration with the ISS and developing plans for future exploration missions.
"These new flight directors will help us transition the knowledge and experience gained from our human spaceflight programs into the next period of ISS operations," said chief flight director Norm Knight. "This includes the development of new technologies and techniques for our exploration and commercial endeavors."
Kshatriya, Radigan and Scoville will supervise U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft and American commercial crew transports as they arrive at and depart from the space station. They will also help ensure that crews of the orbiting laboratory have what they need to conduct scientific research and help better prepare NASA for long-duration exploration in deep space as part of the development of the Orion spacecraft and its Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle.
The three flight directors will also assist crew members as they demonstrate emerging technologies aboard the space station that will help the agency accomplish more significant space exploration goals.
Following completion of training and certification, NASA will have 26 active flight directors supporting the space station, exploration, commercial spaceflights and new technology demonstration initiatives. Before Kshatriya, Radigan, and Scoville were selected, 83 people had served as flight directors throughout the more than five decades of NASA-led human spaceflight.
Kshatriya started his career at JSC as an instructor for the space station robotics system responsible for training multiple space shuttle and station crews. He is from the Houston area and earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Radigan began his career at JSC as a member of the station flight control team assigned to the electrical power system. He is originally from Ohio, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio State University.
Scoville started his JSC career as both an instructor and flight controller for the Extravehicular Activity operations team and has experience in both space shuttle and space station operations. He is originally from Vermont and earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in astronautical engineering from Stanford University.
NASA chief tries to reassure Congress amid rift with Russia over Ukraine
Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times
Deteriorating relations with Russia have not harmed Americans' ability to get astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Congress on Thursday, trying to reassure lawmakers who fear the diplomatic rift could derail the U.S. space program.
Mr. Bolden made the comments two days after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said U.S. astronauts soon will need a trampoline to get to the space station. His mocking underscored how much NASA, which recently retired its space shuttle program, relies on the rocketry capacity of its Cold War foe.
American astronauts have been hitching rides on Russian craft to the tune of about $70 million per seat.
The "trampoline" comment notwithstanding, Mr. Bolden said ties between the two countries' space programs remain strong.
The Obama administration has slapped leading Russian officials, including some with ties to the space program, with economic sanctions in response to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine.
Some U.S. lawmakers believe the space truce is in danger, especially if Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his posture toward Ukraine and forces the U.S. and its allies to pursue further sanctions.
"So we're all OK, doing 'Kumbaya' now, but you know, it's a delicate situation internationally. We're going to be escalating our sanctions. And I'm not talking about your current relations. I'm talking about our future relations," Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Mr. Bolden.
Indeed, Mr. Bolden's own words demonstrate just how much power Moscow has over American space exploration. U.S. astronauts at the space station have just one way to get home: Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
"Today, we are dependent on the Russians. If something were to happen that caused us to have to evacuate the [space station], the plan, the contingency plan, is we have two vehicles that are there, two Soyuz spacecraft. We would get the crews into the Soyuz spacecraft and we would come home," Mr. Bolden said. "That is the escape right now. That is the emergency return vehicle. It is the nominal return vehicle. It is the only vehicle we have."
Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has become entirely reliant on Russia to transport its people to and from orbit. By 2017, Mr. Bolden said, private companies contracted with NASA will be able to ferry astronauts to the station and return them to Earth.
Until then, Russia's Roscosmos space agency is the only option.
Mr. Bolden said NASA has paid in advance all costs associated with transporting astronauts on Russian craft through 2017. The Obama administration's commitment to sending Moscow hundreds of millions of dollars for the next three years also has led to criticism.
"For being ex-communists, they've turned into wonderful free-market people and know the value of a good monopoly and have charged us accordingly," said Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican and outspoken critic of the administration's space policy.
Space programs historically have been immune to politics, though a collapse of bilateral relations could lead to problems.
"Space cooperation has been in recent years one of the few positive aspects of the U.S.-Russian relationship. It's been one of the few feel-good news stories. There really hasn't been intrusion of political considerations at the working level in recent years," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a former associate administrator at NASA.
"On the other hand," he said, "you can't separate space cooperation from the political relationships. Space cooperation doesn't happen in spite of political relationships. It happens in part because of political relationships. The space cooperation will be one of the last areas of cooperation to go" if U.S.-Russian relations collapse.
The U.S. might have avoided potential complications by continuing the space shuttle program, which ended with the July 21, 2011, landing of Atlantis.
"The answer was to keep the shuttle going. We had the most advanced space vehicle ever developed. We suddenly gave up that capability," said George W.S. Abbey, a senior fellow in space policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and a former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who worked on the Apollo program in the 1960s. "The shuttle was a capability we should have maintained until it could be replaced by something better."
Federal court temporarily blocks purchase of Russian rocket engines
James Dean – Florida Today
United Launch Alliance is concerned after a federal court ruling has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.
United Launch Alliance said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by a federal court ruling that has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.
In a preliminary injunction issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Judge Susan Braden said no purchases of the RD-180 engine flown by ULA's Atlas V rocket should proceed until several federal agencies determine they do not violate U.S. sanctions against Russia's top defense and space official.
The ruling came in response to a bid protest that SpaceX filed Monday challenging the Air Force's block buy of 36 ULA rockets for national security launches through 2017, arguing that some of the missions should have been open to competition.
SpaceX also said that since most of those launches would be performed by the Atlas V with a main engine built by NPO Energomash, the deal would funnel millions of dollars to "an entity controlled by Russia and to an industry led by an individual identified for sanctions."
That individual is Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's deputy prime minister, who was among officials sanctioned in March in connection with Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.
The ruling won't affect ULA's near-term launches because the company has at least a two-year supply of RD-180 engines available. Procurement of rocket components starts two to three years before missions are scheduled to launch.
Still, ULA on Wednesday decried SpaceX's "attempt to disrupt" the Air Force contract, saying it could impact both national security and NASA's ability to buy rides for astronauts to the International Space Station from Russia.
"This opportunistic action by SpaceX appears to be an attempt to circumvent the requirements imposed on those who seek to meet the challenging launch needs of the nation and to avoid having to follow the rules, regulations and standards expected of a company entrusted to support our nation's most sensitive missions," Kevin MacCary, ULA's general counsel, said in a statement.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Thursday that the agency's need for seats through at least 2017 on Russia's Soyuz crew spacecraft to the ISS — each costing about $70 million — would not violate sanctions.
That's because the entire bill was settled several months ago, Bolden told members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for America's civil space program.
"We have already paid Russia through 2017, so we are not impacted," Bolden said. "We're ahead of the game."
That did not stop Russia's Rogozin, whom SpaceX alleges benefits from sales of rocket engines to ULA, from warning the U.S. about its dependence on Russia for crew access to the orbiting lab.
After analyzing the sanctions, Rogozin said in a Twitter message earlier this week, "I suggest the US deliver its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline."
The Air Force has already begun a review of its reliance on the RD-180 engine, including looking at options for dealing with a potential supply disruption. The study is expected to be completed this month.
Judge Braden's preliminary injunction requested opinions from the Commerce, Treasury and State departments on whether future RD-180 purchases violate U.S. sanctions. Responses are likely to take weeks, and a hearing will follow.
Michael Listner, a space law expert not involved in the case, said the injunction was surprising because while SpaceX had identified the sanctions as a concern, it did not ask the court to halt RD-180 engine sales.
"The court zeroed in on this and said this is something that has to be addressed, and we're going to issue this order on our own," said Listner, founder and principal of Space Law and Policy Solutions in New Hampshire. "Things should move quickly on this because this is a pretty serious issue that involves national security."
Listner said the injunction did not necessarily imply the court's support for SpaceX's primary argument that the Air Force contract award to ULA was illegal, and that SpaceX should be allowed to compete for some of the launches.
Until the issue is resolved, ULA's MacCary said, "ULA will continue to demonstrate our commitment to our national security on the launch pad by assuring the safe delivery of the missions we are honored to support."
The company plans two launches from Cape Canaveral this month: a Global Positioning System satellite May 15 on a Delta IV rocket, and a spy satellite May 22 on an Atlas V.
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby rips NASA over Space Launch System funding
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) ripped NASA today for underfunding the Space Launch System (SLS) while "spending billions to help private companies develop a launch vehicle" with almost no financial oversight.
Shelby, the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released his statement at a hearing on NASA's 2015 budget request. His comments were directed at NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
"While your statement depicts SLS as critical to NASA's exploration goals, the requested budget does not reflect a true commitment to that endeavor," said Shelby. "Instead, the budget request maintains a resource level that underfunds SLS and inserts unnecessary budgetary and schedule risk into the future of human exploration. For the first time in recent memory, NASA has a strategic plan for space exploration that will utilize one platform to meet the needs of multiple exploration missions well into the future. That platform is SLS.... None of this will be possible if we short change this effort."
On commercial space, Shelby said NASA has "little or no access to the books and records associated with its investment." None of the companies competing to build private space taxis "will publicly disclose its investment in this so-called 'public private partnership,'" Shelby said. "Is the federal government a majority investor or a minority investor?"
Shelby said NASA's 2015 budget proposal is $186 million below this year's allocation. The Space Launch System is being developed in Alabama at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center.
Senate Appropriations chairwoman "deeply troubled" by proposed NASA budget
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is one of the most powerful members of Congress given her position as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She's used that power to help NASA—or, at least, specific programs within the agency—win funding. However, she's not shy to speak up when she thinks the agency is off course, which is what she did on Thursday.
"I was deeply troubled to receive the President's budget," she said at a hearing by the committee's Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) subcommittee Thursday morning on the NASA budget proposal. "I was deeply troubled in the area of NASA because there was a reduction of $186 million from fiscal [year] 2014." In addition, she said she was concerned about a $200-million cut in programs administered by the Goddard Space Flight Center (or "Goddard Space Agency," as she called it) in her home state, as well as cuts in the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden, the sole witness at the hour-long hearing, worked to reassure Mikulski that Goddard was not being singled out. "I firmly believe that Goddard will continue to be an integral part of all the programs we have going forward," he said.
Nonetheless, Mikulski pressed Bolden not to single out science programs—which constitute much of Goddard's work—for cuts. "I don't want to talk about future missions. I want to talk about now," she said. "I don't want science to fund, to be a bank account, for other projects that might or might not happen in the future," she said.
Much of the hearing, attended only by Mikulski and ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), covered familiar topics. Shelby expressed his worries about funding levels for SLS in particular, as well as the lack of transparency in the commercial crew program, saying that it used "the same flawed model" as the commercial cargo program.
As he has done in previous appearances, Bolden emphasized the need to fully fund commercial crew in the 2015 request to keep the program on track to start transporting astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017. "If the Congress funds to the President's requested level in 2015, we're on a good trajectory to get there," he said, one of several similar statements he made at the hearing.
Bolden also, as he has done in recent appearances, sought to tamp down concerns about a loss of access to the station given the ongoing tensions with Russia. "What I am striving to do is continue the relationship I have with Mr. [Oleg] Ostapenko, who heads Roscosmos, to make sure he does everything he can in Russia to calm down the diplomats and the politicians there, as we're trying to do here in the US," said Bolden, who called the NASA partnership with Roscosmos "steady" and "firm."
Bolden declined to speculate on whether the preliminary injunction filed late Wednesday against ULA and the Air Force regarding purchases of RD-180 rocket engines would affect NASA missions. Asked by Shelby if this injunction would prevent NASA from buying seats on Soyuz missions to the ISS, should the scope of the injunction expand to other Russian space programs, Bolden did say NASA had already paid for those seats through 2017 and thus he believed would not be directly impacted by the injunction.
At the end of the hearing, Mikulski said she expected that the appropriations committee would get its overall spending allocations by next week, and she said she hoped to have a CJS spending bill passed by the full committee before the Senate recesses at the end of June for the Independence Day break. "There is not new money on the horizon, so I think we have to be candid about that," she warned. "Though we agree on the goals [of NASA], I'm not so sure we agree on some of these priorities."
SpaceX accuses its rivals of violating Russia sanctions. Now a federal court agrees.
Brian Fung- Washington Post
A federal court has sided with entrepreneur Elon Musk in his bid to challenge top competitors in the space business, blocking aerospace partners Boeing and Lockheed Martin from buying a piece of Russian-made rocket hardware that's critical to their operations.
The injunction, issued late Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, agrees with Musk's accusation that Boeing and Lockheed violated White House trade restrictions against Russia when purchasing RD-180 rocket engines from a state-owned corporation. Musk argued at a news conference last week that the U.S. government had improperly granted the two companies' space partnership — a company known as United Launch Alliance — a contract for 36 rocket launches without allowing SpaceX to compete for the job. On Monday, Musk sued the United States over the issue.
The Russian firm, NPO Energomash, makes engines that United Launch Alliance (ULA) needs to put American military satellites, among other Pentagon equipment, into orbit.
Here's the problem with that. NPO Energomash is directly connected to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country's space program. Earlier this year, the Obama administration named Rogozin as a target of U.S. sanctions. So by selling engines to ULA, the court ruled, Rogozin was illegally benefiting from U.S. money.
In response to the sanctions, Rogozin tweeted on Tuesday that perhaps NASA astronauts should find another way to the international space station — like a trampoline.
The resulting injunction bars ULA from making any further purchases from NPO Energomash.
"ULA is deeply concerned with this ruling and we will work closely with the Department of Justice to resolve the injunction expeditiously," ULA said in a statement. "SpaceX's attempt to disrupt a national security launch contract so long after the award ignores the potential implications to our national security and our nation's ability to put Americans on board the International Space Station."
The injunction marks a big win for SpaceX, and a huge headache for ULA; the contract at issue is worth as much as $9.5 billion. By 2030, the Defense Department anticipates spending $70 billion on space launches.
ULA says SpaceX may be threatening national security with court battle
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
A federal judge's injunction late Wednesday barring United Launch Alliance and the Air Force from buying more Russian rocket engines drew a strong reaction from ULA today. SpaceX sought the injunction as it tries to get a piece of the national security satellite launching business. ULA is the Air Force's sole supplier of launches now and builds the Atlas rockets that do most of the lifting at its plant in Decatur, Ala.
"SpaceX's attempt to disrupt a national security launch contract so long after the award ignores the potential implications to our national scurity and our nation's ability to put Americans on board the International Space Station," ULA attorney Kevin MacCary said in a statement Thurday morning. "Just like ULA, NASA and numerous other companies lawfully conduct business with the same Russian company, other Russia state-owned industries, and Russian Federation agencies."
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Susen G. Braden ruled Wednesday that ULA's continued purchase of RD-180 engines from the Russian company NPO Energomash could violate sanctions by the U.S. goverment against Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the Russian space industry. She ordered the purchases stopped pending the outcome of SpaceX's suit.
Reports this week said ULA is trying to step up delivery of RD-180 engines to meet the demands of its current sole-source contract with the Air Force. SpaceX wants that contract competed, but the Air Force has not yet certified the company for the national security work. SpaceX says it has met the flight requirements and awaits certification.
Reports on the injunction suggest ULA is reacting so strongly because Judge Braden's injunction may signal she thinks SpaceX's argument in the overall lawsuit has merit. To get an injunction, a party has to show a reasonable chance it will prevail in the final decision and irreparable harm if it doesn't get the injunction.
Cosmic commencement: Astronaut giving UConn speech
Pat Eaton-Robb – AP
University of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio would have liked to deliver this year's graduation address to the school of engineering in person. But he'll be out of town on May 10 — orbiting the globe on the International Space Station.
So UConn has arranged for the 54-year-old astronaut give the speech from space.
His recorded address will be shown on the video boards at Gampel Pavilion to about 5,000 people, including more than 400 graduating seniors and their families, and several members of Mastracchio's family, including his wife, Candi.
"I remain a bit nervous," said Kazem Kazerounian, the dean of the engineering school, who helped set up the unusual graduation speech. "We have never tried anything like this before, and I know that the world will be watching us. So, while I'm excited, I still have to have my fingers crossed."
Mastracchio, Waterbury native who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer engineering from UConn in 1982, will receive an honorary doctorate.
He is wrapping up his fourth trip into space, an eight-month stint aboard the space station, and has spent more than 51 hours on space walks outside the orbiting laboratory.
He recorded the speech over the weekend and beamed it back to NASA, which was converting the file Thursday to send to UConn.
This won't be Mastracchio's first contact with a Connecticut audience from space.
Last month, he and colleague Steve Swanson did a live question-and-answer session from the space station with children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has a new building since the December 2012 shooting that killed 26 people.
This is at least the third astronaut to give a commencement speech from space, NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. The first two both occurred at the University of North Dakota, including an address in August by astronaut Karen Nyberg. The other was a brief live "drop-in" by astronaut Mike Fincke in 2004 during a speech by NASA chief Dan Golden.
Mastracchio is scheduled to fly back to Earth aboard a Russian spacecraft on May 13.
Robot Arms Embrace Space Station Cargo Duties
Mark Carreau – Aviation Week
NASA's Mission Control team took over cargo operations aboard the International Space Station this week, commanding Canadian furnished robot arms to reach into the recently berthed SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule to extract a pair of external experiments -- the agency's own HDEF commercial high definition external video camera assessment and the OPALS laser communications evaluation.
Ground command of the 58-foot-long Canadarm2 and two armed 11-foot-long Dextre has become near routine in the post-assembly phase of the six person ISS in order to keep crew time focused on internal research, explained NASA's Troy McCracken, who serves as MCC lead for the robotic activities that began Wednesday and were expected to take three days or more.
Astronaut control of the robot arms is reserved primarily for capturing the U.S. commercial Dragon and Cygnus resupply capsules and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle as well as moving crew members around during spacewalks. The division of duties also allows station crews to focus on research activities as they train before flight rather than learn some of the more complex operating procedures required for Dextre.
Both HDEF and OPALS arrived April 20 aboard the latest Dragon mission, stowed inside the unpressurized "trunk," a compartment at the back of the capsule reserved for hardware that will not come inside the ISS.
Canadarm2 and Dextre can be re-anchored around the station by the MCC team, or fastened to the Mobile Transporter, a rail car that rides along the station's 356-foot-long solar power truss. For HDEF and OPALS unstowing, McCracken and his controllers placed Dextre in the grasp of the Canadarm2 to extract and install HDEF on an Earth-facing attach point on the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory.
HDEF was switched on quickly and was beaming back imagery Thursday as efforts to transfer OPALS to the Express Logistics Carrier 1 on the station's port side truss got under way.
OPALS, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will evaluate the use of laser transmissions to improve space communications.
Space-Grown Crystals May Help Crack Huntington's Disease
Scientists hope space-grown crystals of the protein behind Huntington's disease could help them better understand the deadly neurodegenerative disorder.
A novel experiment to study the so-called Huntingtin protein arrived at its orbital laboratory on the International Space Station on April 20 along with 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of cargo delivered on board SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
When mutated, the huntingtin protein causes Huntington's disease, a hereditary illness that impairs muscle control and cognition. There is no cure for the disorder, which is typically diagnosed in mid-adult life. For now, Huntington's disease is "essentially a death sentence," Gwen Owens, a Caltech graduate student who designed the experiment, said in a video.
To understand how proteins function, scientists often use a technique called X-ray crystallography, which allows them to peer at the molecular structure of the protein when it's in a solid crystal form. So far, researchers haven't had much luck creating crystals of the huntingtin protein on the ground, but Owens explained that crystals tend to grow more effectively in microgravity.
"On the ISS, we really hope to be able to finally get crystals that are big enough and perfect enough that we can solve the structure of the huntingtin protein," Owen said in the video.
If the experiment works, the huntingtin crystals will be brought back to Earth this fall to be studied in an X-ray crystallography lab.
SpaceX, a private company based in Hawthorne, Calif., launched the Dragon resupply ship toward the International Space Station on Friday (April 18) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida using its own Falcon 9 rocket. The mission was SpaceX's third of 12 cargo delivery missions under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
NASA's Space Spiders Star in e-Book for 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'
Even NASA loves Spider-man, and it has a book about "spidernauts" to prove it.
To mark the launch of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in theaters this week, NASA is touting "Spiders in Space," a free educational e-book touting the space agency's experiments to study how spiders react to weightlessness in space.
NASA is re-releasing the "Web-based" teacher's guide (it first debuted in 2012) through Scholastic and Sony Pictures in conjunction with the new film. [Venomous Spiders in Space (Video)] "Spiders and space are two things that capture the imagination of most kids, so it's a recipe for fascinating science in the schools," said Tara Ruttley, associate program scientist for the International Space Station, in a statement.
Spiders have flown several times in space, but much of the book is based on spiders that launched into space in 2011 during NASA's STS-134 space shuttle mission.
"I think this creates great memories for the students, and a way to show them how science can be fun as their science classes become more challenging through the years."
Along with its seven-astronaut crew, the two spidernauts flown were observed to see how the creatures behaved in microgravity. The "golden orb" spiders (or Nephila clavipes) spun webs in a closed habitat for researchers to compare how those webs changed from on the ground.
The zero-gravity spider webs looked a bit more circular than those on the ground, and the spiders spun their webs on a timetable – in contrast to another space experiment showing the spiders spun all day. Some school kids followed along with the spider webs' development and compared them to similar spiders living in habitats in their classrooms.
Other partners on the book were BioServe Space Technologies and the Baylor College of Medicine.
Besides STS-134, NASA stated, orb spiders flew to the Skylab space station in 1973 (the winning proposal from a high-school competition) and on shuttle mission STS-126 in 2008.
Space buffs hope to reawaken old NASA probe
Mark K. Matthews – Orlando Sentinel
When NASA launched a space-weather probe called ISEE-3 in 1978, Jimmy Carter was president, the Commodores' "Three Times a Lady" topped the charts and sci-fi fans had seen only one "Star Wars" movie: the original.
Thirty-six years and five "Star Wars" movies later, the NASA craft, unused by the agency since 1997, is again the talk of the space world.
A group of garage engineers — ranging from a 23-year-old former UCF student to an 81-year-old ex-NASA official — wants to get the bookshelf-sized probe working again when it whips by the moon this summer.
The aim is to restart its mission of monitoring space weather and — if the group can pull it off — send it to study an incoming comet in 2018.
"This is something that has never been done before," said Robert Farquhar, 81, a former NASA manager who worked with the spacecraft in the 1980s.
But waking a NASA probe in space for nearly four decades is no easy task. Not only do team members have to figure out how to "talk" to the spacecraft and give it commands, but they'll also have to do it without NASA funding.
NASA is helping the campaign by releasing related documents, but the cash-strapped agency isn't spending any money on the project. Dwayne Brown, a NASA spokesman, said in a statement that "re-contacting ISEE-3 would have little scientific value" for NASA.
Still, supporters argue that any new data could be helpful and that reviving the craft could help get the public excited about space. That's why the team is trying to crowd-fund the project — having so far raised about 60 percent of the goal of $125,000.
The "vast majority of the donations are $10 or $50, [but] pocket change in large numbers can turn into something," said Keith Cowing, editor of the NASAWatch website and one of the project's directors.
Adding to the pressure is lack of time. Unless the team can get the probe working again by mid-June — and alter its current flight path — the spacecraft will sail by the moon in August and disappear into space. It won't come close to Earth again until 2029, said Dennis Wingo, another project director.
"It's do or die," Wingo said. "Every day is precious. Every hour is precious right now."
It's a strange new chapter for a spacecraft last seen on Earth on Aug. 12, 1978, the day NASA launched ISEE-3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a mission to study space weather.
NASA wanted to better understand solar wind and how it interacted with Earth's magnetic field, so ISEE-3 was dispatched to a stable orbit about 930,000 miles from Earth to take measurements. Equipped with instruments advanced for the time, ISEE-3 gathered data "at the rate of once every 40 minutes," according to NASA — about 10,000 times slower than current spacecraft.
A few years into that initial mission, however, NASA officials, including Farquhar, commandeered the craft for an entirely different mission: chasing comets. So in the early 1980s, NASA fired the spacecraft's thrusters and sent it to follow a comet known as Giacobini-Zinner.
The hunt was successful, and in 1985 the craft made history by becoming the first probe to fly past a comet — getting as close as 5,000 miles from the core of Giacobini-Zinner. There it made measurements that confirmed scientists' suspicions that comets essentially were space's "dirty snowballs": fast objects comprised of ice, rock and gases.
A year later, ISEE-3 did a similar flyby of Halley's Comet and afterward spent several years studying the sun until NASA stopped operating it in 1997.
But the spacecraft remained "alive," albeit barely. A 2008 test found ISEE-3 was still sending out signals, and subsequent tests in recent weeks have come to the same conclusion.
Still, the team says there's a major difference between "hearing" signals from the spacecraft and transmitting commands that would allow the probe to fire its thrusters and change course.
So Cowing, Wingo and volunteers nationwide have been scouring old NASA documents to gain a better understanding of how the spacecraft works and how to control it.
Jacob Gold, 23, is part of the effort. The former University of Central Florida student said he has been developing a virtual model of ISEE-3.
His computer image will allow the team members to test the power and timing of the craft's maneuvers so that when the time comes, they can set it on the right course. He's also helping to rebuild the craft's "mission control" center, which — in a sign of how far technology has come — will total as few as two or three computers.
"I'm actually pretty optimistic about this working," said Gold, who grew up in the South Florida city of Weston and is now attending the University of Arizona studying aerospace engineering. "It's by no means guaranteed. But we have a lot of good people on the project, and we are getting tremendous support from the Internet community."
END
Three new NASA flight directors will manage International Space Station operations at Houston-based Johnson Space Center.Amit Kshatriya, Jeffery Radigan, and Zebulon Scoville, who are all veteran employees at JSC, will lead teams of flight controllers, support personnel, and engineering experts in the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center. They also are involved in cargo and crew vehicle integration with the ISS and developing plans for future exploration missions."These new flight directors will help us transition the knowledge and experience gained from our human spaceflight programs into the next period of ISS operations," said chief flight director Norm Knight. "This includes the development of new technologies and techniques for our exploration and commercial endeavors."Kshatriya, Radigan and Scoville will supervise U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft and American commercial crew transports as they arrive at and depart from the space station. They will also help ensure that crews of the orbiting laboratory have what they need to conduct scientific research and help better prepare NASA for long-duration exploration in deep space as part of the development of the Orion spacecraft and its Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle.The three flight directors will also assist crew members as they demonstrate emerging technologies aboard the space station that will help the agency accomplish more significant space exploration goals.Following completion of training and certification, NASA will have 26 active flight directors supporting the space station, exploration, commercial spaceflights and new technology demonstration initiatives. Before Kshatriya, Radigan, and Scoville were selected, 83 people had served as flight directors throughout the more than five decades of NASA-led human spaceflight.Kshatriya started his career at JSC as an instructor for the space station robotics system responsible for training multiple space shuttle and station crews. He is from the Houston area and earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.Radigan began his career at JSC as a member of the station flight control team assigned to the electrical power system. He is originally from Ohio, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio State University.Scoville started his JSC career as both an instructor and flight controller for the Extravehicular Activity operations team and has experience in both space shuttle and space station operations. He is originally from Vermont and earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in astronautical engineering from Stanford University.NASA chief tries to reassure Congress amid rift with Russia over UkraineBen Wolfgang - The Washington TimesDeteriorating relations with Russia have not harmed Americans' ability to get astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Congress on Thursday, trying to reassure lawmakers who fear the diplomatic rift could derail the U.S. space program.Mr. Bolden made the comments two days after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said U.S. astronauts soon will need a trampoline to get to the space station. His mocking underscored how much NASA, which recently retired its space shuttle program, relies on the rocketry capacity of its Cold War foe.American astronauts have been hitching rides on Russian craft to the tune of about $70 million per seat.The "trampoline" comment notwithstanding, Mr. Bolden said ties between the two countries' space programs remain strong.The Obama administration has slapped leading Russian officials, including some with ties to the space program, with economic sanctions in response to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine.Some U.S. lawmakers believe the space truce is in danger, especially if Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his posture toward Ukraine and forces the U.S. and its allies to pursue further sanctions."So we're all OK, doing 'Kumbaya' now, but you know, it's a delicate situation internationally. We're going to be escalating our sanctions. And I'm not talking about your current relations. I'm talking about our future relations," Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Mr. Bolden.Indeed, Mr. Bolden's own words demonstrate just how much power Moscow has over American space exploration. U.S. astronauts at the space station have just one way to get home: Russian Soyuz spacecraft."Today, we are dependent on the Russians. If something were to happen that caused us to have to evacuate the [space station], the plan, the contingency plan, is we have two vehicles that are there, two Soyuz spacecraft. We would get the crews into the Soyuz spacecraft and we would come home," Mr. Bolden said. "That is the escape right now. That is the emergency return vehicle. It is the nominal return vehicle. It is the only vehicle we have."Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has become entirely reliant on Russia to transport its people to and from orbit. By 2017, Mr. Bolden said, private companies contracted with NASA will be able to ferry astronauts to the station and return them to Earth.Until then, Russia's Roscosmos space agency is the only option.Mr. Bolden said NASA has paid in advance all costs associated with transporting astronauts on Russian craft through 2017. The Obama administration's commitment to sending Moscow hundreds of millions of dollars for the next three years also has led to criticism."For being ex-communists, they've turned into wonderful free-market people and know the value of a good monopoly and have charged us accordingly," said Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican and outspoken critic of the administration's space policy.Space programs historically have been immune to politics, though a collapse of bilateral relations could lead to problems."Space cooperation has been in recent years one of the few positive aspects of the U.S.-Russian relationship. It's been one of the few feel-good news stories. There really hasn't been intrusion of political considerations at the working level in recent years," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a former associate administrator at NASA."On the other hand," he said, "you can't separate space cooperation from the political relationships. Space cooperation doesn't happen in spite of political relationships. It happens in part because of political relationships. The space cooperation will be one of the last areas of cooperation to go" if U.S.-Russian relations collapse.The U.S. might have avoided potential complications by continuing the space shuttle program, which ended with the July 21, 2011, landing of Atlantis."The answer was to keep the shuttle going. We had the most advanced space vehicle ever developed. We suddenly gave up that capability," said George W.S. Abbey, a senior fellow in space policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and a former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who worked on the Apollo program in the 1960s. "The shuttle was a capability we should have maintained until it could be replaced by something better."Federal court temporarily blocks purchase of Russian rocket enginesJames Dean – Florida TodayUnited Launch Alliance is concerned after a federal court ruling has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.United Launch Alliance said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by a federal court ruling that has temporarily stopped it from buying Russian rocket engines for launches of U.S. national security missions.In a preliminary injunction issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Judge Susan Braden said no purchases of the RD-180 engine flown by ULA's Atlas V rocket should proceed until several federal agencies determine they do not violate U.S. sanctions against Russia's top defense and space official.The ruling came in response to a bid protest that SpaceX filed Monday challenging the Air Force's block buy of 36 ULA rockets for national security launches through 2017, arguing that some of the missions should have been open to competition.SpaceX also said that since most of those launches would be performed by the Atlas V with a main engine built by NPO Energomash, the deal would funnel millions of dollars to "an entity controlled by Russia and to an industry led by an individual identified for sanctions."That individual is Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's deputy prime minister, who was among officials sanctioned in March in connection with Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.The ruling won't affect ULA's near-term launches because the company has at least a two-year supply of RD-180 engines available. Procurement of rocket components starts two to three years before missions are scheduled to launch.Still, ULA on Wednesday decried SpaceX's "attempt to disrupt" the Air Force contract, saying it could impact both national security and NASA's ability to buy rides for astronauts to the International Space Station from Russia."This opportunistic action by SpaceX appears to be an attempt to circumvent the requirements imposed on those who seek to meet the challenging launch needs of the nation and to avoid having to follow the rules, regulations and standards expected of a company entrusted to support our nation's most sensitive missions," Kevin MacCary, ULA's general counsel, said in a statement.NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Thursday that the agency's need for seats through at least 2017 on Russia's Soyuz crew spacecraft to the ISS — each costing about $70 million — would not violate sanctions.That's because the entire bill was settled several months ago, Bolden told members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for America's civil space program."We have already paid Russia through 2017, so we are not impacted," Bolden said. "We're ahead of the game."That did not stop Russia's Rogozin, whom SpaceX alleges benefits from sales of rocket engines to ULA, from warning the U.S. about its dependence on Russia for crew access to the orbiting lab.After analyzing the sanctions, Rogozin said in a Twitter message earlier this week, "I suggest the US deliver its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline."The Air Force has already begun a review of its reliance on the RD-180 engine, including looking at options for dealing with a potential supply disruption. The study is expected to be completed this month.Judge Braden's preliminary injunction requested opinions from the Commerce, Treasury and State departments on whether future RD-180 purchases violate U.S. sanctions. Responses are likely to take weeks, and a hearing will follow.Michael Listner, a space law expert not involved in the case, said the injunction was surprising because while SpaceX had identified the sanctions as a concern, it did not ask the court to halt RD-180 engine sales."The court zeroed in on this and said this is something that has to be addressed, and we're going to issue this order on our own," said Listner, founder and principal of Space Law and Policy Solutions in New Hampshire. "Things should move quickly on this because this is a pretty serious issue that involves national security."Listner said the injunction did not necessarily imply the court's support for SpaceX's primary argument that the Air Force contract award to ULA was illegal, and that SpaceX should be allowed to compete for some of the launches.Until the issue is resolved, ULA's MacCary said, "ULA will continue to demonstrate our commitment to our national security on the launch pad by assuring the safe delivery of the missions we are honored to support."The company plans two launches from Cape Canaveral this month: a Global Positioning System satellite May 15 on a Delta IV rocket, and a spy satellite May 22 on an Atlas V.U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby rips NASA over Space Launch System fundingLee Roop – Huntsville (AL) TimesU.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) ripped NASA today for underfunding the Space Launch System (SLS) while "spending billions to help private companies develop a launch vehicle" with almost no financial oversight.Shelby, the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released his statement at a hearing on NASA's 2015 budget request. His comments were directed at NASA Administrator Charles Bolden."While your statement depicts SLS as critical to NASA's exploration goals, the requested budget does not reflect a true commitment to that endeavor," said Shelby. "Instead, the budget request maintains a resource level that underfunds SLS and inserts unnecessary budgetary and schedule risk into the future of human exploration. For the first time in recent memory, NASA has a strategic plan for space exploration that will utilize one platform to meet the needs of multiple exploration missions well into the future. That platform is SLS.... None of this will be possible if we short change this effort."On commercial space, Shelby said NASA has "little or no access to the books and records associated with its investment." None of the companies competing to build private space taxis "will publicly disclose its investment in this so-called 'public private partnership,'" Shelby said. "Is the federal government a majority investor or a minority investor?"Shelby said NASA's 2015 budget proposal is $186 million below this year's allocation. The Space Launch System is being developed in Alabama at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center.Senate Appropriations chairwoman "deeply troubled" by proposed NASA budgetJeff Foust – Space PoliticsSen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is one of the most powerful members of Congress given her position as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She's used that power to help NASA—or, at least, specific programs within the agency—win funding. However, she's not shy to speak up when she thinks the agency is off course, which is what she did on Thursday."I was deeply troubled to receive the President's budget," she said at a hearing by the committee's Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) subcommittee Thursday morning on the NASA budget proposal. "I was deeply troubled in the area of NASA because there was a reduction of $186 million from fiscal [year] 2014." In addition, she said she was concerned about a $200-million cut in programs administered by the Goddard Space Flight Center (or "Goddard Space Agency," as she called it) in her home state, as well as cuts in the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.NASA administrator Charles Bolden, the sole witness at the hour-long hearing, worked to reassure Mikulski that Goddard was not being singled out. "I firmly believe that Goddard will continue to be an integral part of all the programs we have going forward," he said.Nonetheless, Mikulski pressed Bolden not to single out science programs—which constitute much of Goddard's work—for cuts. "I don't want to talk about future missions. I want to talk about now," she said. "I don't want science to fund, to be a bank account, for other projects that might or might not happen in the future," she said.Much of the hearing, attended only by Mikulski and ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), covered familiar topics. Shelby expressed his worries about funding levels for SLS in particular, as well as the lack of transparency in the commercial crew program, saying that it used "the same flawed model" as the commercial cargo program.As he has done in previous appearances, Bolden emphasized the need to fully fund commercial crew in the 2015 request to keep the program on track to start transporting astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017. "If the Congress funds to the President's requested level in 2015, we're on a good trajectory to get there," he said, one of several similar statements he made at the hearing.Bolden also, as he has done in recent appearances, sought to tamp down concerns about a loss of access to the station given the ongoing tensions with Russia. "What I am striving to do is continue the relationship I have with Mr. [Oleg] Ostapenko, who heads Roscosmos, to make sure he does everything he can in Russia to calm down the diplomats and the politicians there, as we're trying to do here in the US," said Bolden, who called the NASA partnership with Roscosmos "steady" and "firm."Bolden declined to speculate on whether the preliminary injunction filed late Wednesday against ULA and the Air Force regarding purchases of RD-180 rocket engines would affect NASA missions. Asked by Shelby if this injunction would prevent NASA from buying seats on Soyuz missions to the ISS, should the scope of the injunction expand to other Russian space programs, Bolden did say NASA had already paid for those seats through 2017 and thus he believed would not be directly impacted by the injunction.At the end of the hearing, Mikulski said she expected that the appropriations committee would get its overall spending allocations by next week, and she said she hoped to have a CJS spending bill passed by the full committee before the Senate recesses at the end of June for the Independence Day break. "There is not new money on the horizon, so I think we have to be candid about that," she warned. "Though we agree on the goals [of NASA], I'm not so sure we agree on some of these priorities."SpaceX accuses its rivals of violating Russia sanctions. Now a federal court agrees.Brian Fung- Washington PostA federal court has sided with entrepreneur Elon Musk in his bid to challenge top competitors in the space business, blocking aerospace partners Boeing and Lockheed Martin from buying a piece of Russian-made rocket hardware that's critical to their operations.The injunction, issued late Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, agrees with Musk's accusation that Boeing and Lockheed violated White House trade restrictions against Russia when purchasing RD-180 rocket engines from a state-owned corporation. Musk argued at a news conference last week that the U.S. government had improperly granted the two companies' space partnership — a company known as United Launch Alliance — a contract for 36 rocket launches without allowing SpaceX to compete for the job. On Monday, Musk sued the United States over the issue.The Russian firm, NPO Energomash, makes engines that United Launch Alliance (ULA) needs to put American military satellites, among other Pentagon equipment, into orbit.Here's the problem with that. NPO Energomash is directly connected to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country's space program. Earlier this year, the Obama administration named Rogozin as a target of U.S. sanctions. So by selling engines to ULA, the court ruled, Rogozin was illegally benefiting from U.S. money.In response to the sanctions, Rogozin tweeted on Tuesday that perhaps NASA astronauts should find another way to the international space station — like a trampoline.The resulting injunction bars ULA from making any further purchases from NPO Energomash."ULA is deeply concerned with this ruling and we will work closely with the Department of Justice to resolve the injunction expeditiously," ULA said in a statement. "SpaceX's attempt to disrupt a national security launch contract so long after the award ignores the potential implications to our national security and our nation's ability to put Americans on board the International Space Station."The injunction marks a big win for SpaceX, and a huge headache for ULA; the contract at issue is worth as much as $9.5 billion. By 2030, the Defense Department anticipates spending $70 billion on space launches.ULA says SpaceX may be threatening national security with court battleLee Roop – Huntsville (AL) TimesA federal judge's injunction late Wednesday barring United Launch Alliance and the Air Force from buying more Russian rocket engines drew a strong reaction from ULA today. SpaceX sought the injunction as it tries to get a piece of the national security satellite launching business. ULA is the Air Force's sole supplier of launches now and builds the Atlas rockets that do most of the lifting at its plant in Decatur, Ala."SpaceX's attempt to disrupt a national security launch contract so long after the award ignores the potential implications to our national scurity and our nation's ability to put Americans on board the International Space Station," ULA attorney Kevin MacCary said in a statement Thurday morning. "Just like ULA, NASA and numerous other companies lawfully conduct business with the same Russian company, other Russia state-owned industries, and Russian Federation agencies."U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Susen G. Braden ruled Wednesday that ULA's continued purchase of RD-180 engines from the Russian company NPO Energomash could violate sanctions by the U.S. goverment against Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the Russian space industry. She ordered the purchases stopped pending the outcome of SpaceX's suit.Reports this week said ULA is trying to step up delivery of RD-180 engines to meet the demands of its current sole-source contract with the Air Force. SpaceX wants that contract competed, but the Air Force has not yet certified the company for the national security work. SpaceX says it has met the flight requirements and awaits certification.Reports on the injunction suggest ULA is reacting so strongly because Judge Braden's injunction may signal she thinks SpaceX's argument in the overall lawsuit has merit. To get an injunction, a party has to show a reasonable chance it will prevail in the final decision and irreparable harm if it doesn't get the injunction.Cosmic commencement: Astronaut giving UConn speechPat Eaton-Robb – APUniversity of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio would have liked to deliver this year's graduation address to the school of engineering in person. But he'll be out of town on May 10 — orbiting the globe on the International Space Station.So UConn has arranged for the 54-year-old astronaut give the speech from space.His recorded address will be shown on the video boards at Gampel Pavilion to about 5,000 people, including more than 400 graduating seniors and their families, and several members of Mastracchio's family, including his wife, Candi."I remain a bit nervous," said Kazem Kazerounian, the dean of the engineering school, who helped set up the unusual graduation speech. "We have never tried anything like this before, and I know that the world will be watching us. So, while I'm excited, I still have to have my fingers crossed."Mastracchio, Waterbury native who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer engineering from UConn in 1982, will receive an honorary doctorate.He is wrapping up his fourth trip into space, an eight-month stint aboard the space station, and has spent more than 51 hours on space walks outside the orbiting laboratory.He recorded the speech over the weekend and beamed it back to NASA, which was converting the file Thursday to send to UConn.This won't be Mastracchio's first contact with a Connecticut audience from space.Last month, he and colleague Steve Swanson did a live question-and-answer session from the space station with children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has a new building since the December 2012 shooting that killed 26 people.This is at least the third astronaut to give a commencement speech from space, NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. The first two both occurred at the University of North Dakota, including an address in August by astronaut Karen Nyberg. The other was a brief live "drop-in" by astronaut Mike Fincke in 2004 during a speech by NASA chief Dan Golden.Mastracchio is scheduled to fly back to Earth aboard a Russian spacecraft on May 13.Robot Arms Embrace Space Station Cargo DutiesMark Carreau – Aviation WeekNASA's Mission Control team took over cargo operations aboard the International Space Station this week, commanding Canadian furnished robot arms to reach into the recently berthed SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule to extract a pair of external experiments -- the agency's own HDEF commercial high definition external video camera assessment and the OPALS laser communications evaluation.
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