Station Crew Prepares for Space Travelers

Meanwhile aboard the station, the Expedition 23 crew prepared for the arrival of its new crew members while getting ready for the coming of the STS-131 crew aboard space shuttle Discovery.

Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov, along with Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, reviewed the STS-131 joint-mission timeline with control teams on Earth.

After launching April 5, Discovery and the STS-131 crew will arrive at the orbital laboratory April 7. Discovery is delivering new science racks and ammonia tanks. While there, two shuttle astronauts will perform three spacewalks to switch out ammonia tanks on the station.

After the Soyuz and shuttle arrive, there will be 13 people living in space for over a week. Two Japanese astronauts will be working in space together for the first time – Noguchi and Mission Specialist Naoko Yamazaki. There also will be four female astronauts living in space concurrently for the first time – Caldwell Dyson, Yamazaki and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Stephanie Wilson.

Troubleshooting, Maintenance for Crew Before Visitors Arrive

Expedition 23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer continues troubleshooting the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) in conjunction with specialists in Mission Control. Last week after he performed leak checks on the WPA, ground specialists decided to take a closer look at a catalytic reactor. They uplinked more troubleshooting procedures to the crew before continuing further work. On Tuesday, Creamer downlinked live close-up video of condensation collecting on the WPA to assist Mission Control.

Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi were in the Zvezda service module replacing equipment inside the treadmill vibration isolation system (TVIS). They also took detailed photographs of the TVIS and its various parts for analysis on Earth.

Next week two spacecraft carrying eight astronauts and two cosmonauts will dock to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-18 rolls out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Wednesday morning for an April 2 launch. The Russian spacecraft will carry new Expedition 23 Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko. The new crew members will dock to the station April 4.

On April 7, space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew will arrive at the orbital laboratory. Discovery is delivering new science racks and ammonia tanks. While there, two shuttle astronauts will perform three spacewalks to switch out ammonia tanks on the International Space Station.

Station Crew Prepares for New Crew Members, Shuttle Arrival

Aboard the high-flying International Space Station, the Expedition 23 crew began a new week Monday with preparations for the imminent arrival of three additional crew members and the space shuttle Discovery, as well as the regular duties of orbital life.

The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft.

Discovery’s STS-131 mission begins with the shuttle’s scheduled launch on April 5 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module, or MPLM, filled with science racks to be transferred to laboratories on the station. The shuttle is slated to dock with the station on April 7.

All three station crew members worked to move equipment and prepare the station for Discovery’s arrival and to make room for the supplies being delivered in the Italian-built MPLM named Leonardo, making its final round-trip before being refitted to become a Permanent Multipurpose Module on the station .

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer reviewed video of the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver that every space shuttle performs during its approach to the orbital outpost. During this maneuver, Kotov and Creamer will take photos of Discovery that will be sent to experts on the ground who will use them to assess the condition of the orbiter’s heat shield.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi charged batteries for the spacesuits that will be used during the STS-131 mission’s three spacewalks outside the station, and prepared the Destiny and Columbus laboratories for the arrival of new research facilities.

Creamer also performed maintenance on the station’s potable water dispenser.

Expedition 23 Preparing for New Crew Members, Shuttle Visitors

Sitting in front of the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft are (from left) Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko. The three flight engineers will join the other Expedition 23 crew members already on the station. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. On April 7, space shuttle Discovery with the seven-member STS-131 crew will visit the orbiting laboratory and deliver science racks and ammonia tanks.

Crew Conducts Emergency Training; Prepares for Arrivals

The Expedition 23 crew members aboard the International Space Station were busy Thursday with an emergency Soyuz descent training drill and preparations for the arrival of space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew.

Commander Oleg Kotov, with Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, conducted an emergency Soyuz descent training drill and discussed procedures with ground controllers on Earth. These periodic drills prepare the crew members for an escape in the docked Soyuz vehicles in the unlikely event of an emergency serious enough to require evacuation.

Noguchi gathered and packed items that will be transferred from the station to Discovery after it arrives next month.

Discovery and the STS-131 crew are targeted to launch to the station on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

Creamer spent time doing maintenance on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, the component of the Air Revitalization System which scrubs carbon dioxide from the station’s environment. He worked to install jumpers to bypass an erratic temperature sensor which has been causing CDRA to shut down prematurely.

Kotov worked with the Russian experiment known as Relaxation, observing radiation patterns from Earth’s ionosphere. He also conducted routine maintenance and inspections in the Russian segment of the station.

Three new Expedition 23 flight engineers are scheduled to arrive at the station on April 4 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson are in Baikonur, Kazakhstan preparing for their launch on April 2.

Mars' Concepcion Crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image in preparation for the first autonomous selection of an observation target by a spacecraft on Mars.

Opportunity used its navigation camera to take this image after a drive during the 2,172nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission on Mars (March 4, 2010). Using newly developed and uploaded software named Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, the rover analyzed the image to identify the feature that best matched criteria given for selecting a target. The top target that Opportunity selected with AEGIS is shown by the yellow marker. AEGIS was directed to look for rocks that were larger and darker in color. The rover then used the software to take more detailed observations of the selected target using its panoramic camera.

The more-than-50 rocks in this image are near a young crater called 'Concepcion' and might have been thrown outward by the impact that excavated the crater.

Crew Prepares for Arrivals

The engines of the docked ISS Progress 36 cargo craft ignited at 5:15 a.m. EDT Wednesday for a 7-minute, 5-second reboost of the International Space Station.

The reboost raised the station’s altitude by a little over one statute mile and began to place the complex at the proper altitude for spacecraft scheduled to dock to the station in April.

Three new Expedition 23 flight engineers are scheduled to arrive at the station on April 4 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson are in Baikonur, Kazakhstan preparing for their launch on April 2.

Space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew are targeted to launch to the station on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

Aboard the station Wednesday, the other members of the Expedition 23 crew prepared for the upcoming arrivals.

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer conducted a practice session of rendezvous pitch maneuver photography. During Discovery’s approach next month, they will take detailed digital imagery of its heat shield that will be sent down to Earth and analyzed by experts at Johnson Space Center.

Creamer also recharged spacesuit batteries for the three spacewalks to take place during the STS-131 mission.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi prepared the Kibo laboratory to receive more science racks arriving with Discovery.

Crew Prepares for Soyuz and Shuttle Dockings

With a Soyuz spacecraft and a space shuttle on tap to arrive at the International Space Station in early April, the Expedition 23 crew continued to pack items for return to Earth, review timelines and tackle the usual workload of science and station maintenance Tuesday.

Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer began their day by conducting a periodic health status evaluation. The results from these routine physical examinations are downlinked to researchers who are charting any changes to crew health that could be due to the long-term exposure to weightlessness.

Later, Commander Oleg Kotov joined Noguchi and Creamer for a review of items to be transferred to and from the station when space shuttle Discovery arrives. They also conducted an audio conference with logistics specialists in Houston to discuss the choreography involved in the transfers. The STS-131 crew of Discovery is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

STS-125 Crew Visits the Stock Exchange

NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Mike Massimino of the STS-125 mission visit the New York Stock Exchange to support the release of Hubble 3D, the newest IMAX film, which documents the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and features never-before-seen 3D flights through Hubble imagery such as the Orion Nebula. In honor of the occasion, Altman and Massimino ring 'The Closing Bell' ending the day's trading at the Exchange on Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Discovery's Payload Arrives at the Launch Pad

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:14:49 PM GMT+0530

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the canister carrying the payload for space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission to the International Space Station made its way to Launch Pad 39A in the predawn darkness this morning, arriving at 2:51 a.m. EDT. The canister will be installed in the pad's payload changeout room, and its contents, including the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, is set to be transferred to Discovery's cargo bay on March 24.

During the upcoming weekend, crews at the launch pad will perform additional tests on Discovery's right reaction control system helium regulators. Engineers will evaluate the data and discuss options Tuesday morning.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, STS-131 astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson will rehearse techniques for the mission's third spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab's huge tank.

Expedition 22 Lands in Kazakhstan, Expedition 23 Begins

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 18, 2010. NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian Cosmonaut Maxim Suraev are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews

Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev have completed their mission aboard the International Space Station after 167 days. They parachuted to a landing in their Soyuz TMA-16 descent module at 7:24 a.m. EDT in Kazakhstan.

Staying behind are Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer and new Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov. Expedition 23 officially began its increment when Williams and Suraev undocked at 4:03 a.m. from the Poisk Mini-Research Module. The trio, who will stay until June, joined Williams and Suraev after arriving in their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft in December 2009.

Joining Expedition 23 and expanding the station crew to six will be Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko. They will arrive in the Soyuz TMA-18 on April 4.

Change of Command as Expedition 22 Prepares for Return

Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams (right) shakes hands with Expedition 22 Flight Engineer/Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov while Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev (obscured behind Kotov), Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer look on during the change of command ceremony Wednesday aboard the International Space Station.

The crew aboard the International Space Station conducted a change of command ceremony Wednesday as Expedition 22 comes to a close and two crew members prepare for an early Thursday return home.

In a brief ceremony at 8:45 a.m. EDT, Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams thanked the international ground teams and his fellow crewmates, Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev, Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, and T.J. Creamer, before handing over command of the station to Kotov, who will lead Expedition 23 when Williams and Suraev depart.

Afterwards, the crew wrapped up the day’s activities and headed off to bed for a 10-hour sleep period beginning at 10 a.m. to rest up for a busy night of departure work.

Crew Does Science, Prepares for Undocking

The Expedition 22 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific research Tuesday while preparing for the departure of two of its members.

Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer worked on the Long Term Microgravity: A Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease with New Portable Equipment (Card) experiment that studies blood pressure decreases when the human body is exposed to microgravity. In order to increase the blood pressure to the level it was on Earth, salt is added to the crew members' diet. To monitor this, blood pressure readings are performed at different intervals during the mission.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi performed routine maintenance on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) which he later used to exercise. The ARED uses vacuum cylinders to mimic weightlifting exercises in the microgravity environment of space.

Meanwhile, Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev continued preparations for their departure Thursday. After undocking from the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft, they will take a three-and-a-half-hour ride that will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan early that morning.

Noguchi, Creamer and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will continue their stay on the station, becoming the new Expedition 23 crew. Kotov will become the new station commander. A change of command ceremony is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

Crew Members Prep for Undocking, Future Arrivals

Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi performs maintenance on the cooling loops in the U.S. spacesuits housed in the International Space Station’s Quest airlock.

Soaring high over the Earth in the International Space Station, the astronauts and cosmonauts of the Expedition 22 crew began a new week Monday, the final week in space for two of their number.

Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev will depart the station Thursday aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft. They will undock from the orbiting complex and take a three-and-a-half-hour ride that will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan early that morning.

Williams and Suraev began their final week in orbit by testing the Soyuz spacecraft’s motion control system and recharging the satellite telephone they will carry with them in the unlikely event that they land off course in the barren landing region and need to contact search and recovery forces. They also spent three hours going over procedures for their homeward flight with specialists on the ground.

As members of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews, Williams and Suraev will have spent 169 days in space. Including his time on the Expedition 13 and STS-101 crews, this will give Williams a total of 362 days in space, placing him fourth on the all-time U.S. list of space travelers behind Peggy Whitson with 377 days, Mike Foale with 374 and Mike Fincke with 366. Williams will be 26th on the all-time endurance list for all space travelers.

Small Fine Arm Deployment Complete; Williams, Suraev Prepare for Departure

Expedition 22 Flight Engineers Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer completed the deployment and calibration of the new small fine arm (SFA). The SFA was assembled then installed inside the Kibo laboratory’s airlock by Noguchi where it was removed with the module’s main robotic arm – the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System. The SFA performs delicate robotics work, is an extension of the Kibo laboratory’s main robotic arm and has been temporarily parked on Kibo’s Exposed Facility.

Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev continue packing for their return to Earth on March 18. They will enter their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft and undock from the International Space Station for a three-and-a-half-hour ride with a landing in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 22 crew members Noguchi, Creamer and Oleg Kotov will continue their stay on the station becoming the new Expedition 23 crew. Kotov will become the new station commander in a change of command ceremony that takes place on March 17.

On April 4, Expedition 23 will expand to a six-member crew. Arriving in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft will be new station crew members Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko.

On April 7, space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to arrive for a thirteen day mission to supply the station with new science racks and ammonia tanks. STS-131 will feature three spacewalks and the delivery of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

Chopper Crash Test a Smash Hit

The second crash test of a small lightweight helicopter at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., was a smashing success, literally -- just as engineers had predicted.

"Three, two, one, release," said the technician on the loudspeaker at the Landing and Impact Research Facility. With that countdown the helicopter smacked hard into the concrete. Its skid gear collapsed, its windscreen cracked open and its occupants lurched forward violently, suffering potentially spine-crushing injuries according to internal data recorders. The crash test was all in the name of research to try to make helicopters safer.

"The goal of any research program that has an element of impact dynamics is to develop an understanding of the crash response of the vehicle," said Karen Jackson, an aerospace engineer who oversaw the test. "Once we understand that response we can look at ways to improve the crash performance."

In December 2009 researchers dropped the same MD-500 at a similar angle from the same height of 35 feet (10.7 m). Inside were the same instruments that collected 160 channels of data and the same four crash test dummies. Three of the dummies were full bodies and one was a special torso model equipped with simulated internal organs. Technicians set up the same cameras to record the impact from inside and outside the helicopter.

NASA Launches Interactive Simulation of Satellite Communications

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA today unveiled an interactive computer simulation that allows virtual explorers of all ages to dock the space shuttle at the International Space Station, experience a virtual trip to Mars or a lunar impact, and explore images of star formations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

In an effort to excite young people about space and NASA's missions, the agency has launched the online Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) simulation, designed to entertain and educate. The interactive simulation offers a virtual 3-D experience to visualize how data travels along various space communications paths.

"The elaborate space communications networks that connect scientists and engineers with NASA's spacecraft is essential to all of NASA's missions and can be a challenging concept to comprehend," said Barbara Adde, a policy and strategic communications manager for the Office of Space Communications and Navigation at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This simulation helps explain this complex infrastructure in an engaging way by using an interactive 3-D game."

The interactive Space Communication and Navigation simulation allows visitors to select spacecraft and experience a "flythrough," or a tutorial with images and descriptions of NASA's three space communication networks. For example, the Near Earth Network flythrough shows how data originates at an antenna at McMurdo Station, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The data is then sent to NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, as it passes overhead.

The Space Network flythrough also shows how data is relayed from NASA's White Sands Test Facility, N.M., to the space station via the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a network of communication satellites and ground stations NASA uses for space communications.

Finally, in the Deep Space Network demonstration, visitors learn how NASA communicates with the Mars Exploration Rovers, Sprit and Opportunity, by using the Madrid Deep Space Network antenna to send data to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which then relays the data to the rover.

"Making this interactive simulation available to young people is important and may lead them to consider a career in engineering, science or information technology as it relates to space," said Chris C. Kemp, chief information officer at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "NASA is embracing the fact that programs like this help convey NASA's message to people who respond well to virtual and online learning environments."

The space communication network simulation features nine spacecraft to choose from, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the space station, the space shuttle orbiter, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Cassini, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), ICESat and Aura. Once a spacecraft is contacted, visitors can request actions such as "choose an imaging target" and "take pictures" of the Crab Nebula as seen from Hubble, or view videos of the space shuttle docking at the station.

In addition to the Space Communication and Navigation simulation, NASA provides interactive applications and other online educational tools on its Web site.

To explore the Space Communication and Navigation network simulation, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resources/spacecomm.html

For more information about the Space Communications and Navigation network, visit:



http://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA's educational resources, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/education

NASA Extends Johnson Safety and Mission Assurance Contract

WASHINGTON -- NASA has exercised a $60 million, one-year extension option for a contract with Science Applications International Corporation of Houston to provide support to safety and mission assurance activities at the agency's Johnson Space Center.

The Safety and Mission Assurance Support Services contract helps ensure safety, reliability, maintainability and quality in the International Space Station, space shuttle and Constellation programs.

The cost-plus-award-fee contract option that has been exercised continues services from May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011. Work under the contract will be performed at Johnson, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.

Significant subcontractors in the work include Futron Corp. of Bethesda, Md.; GHG of Houston; M.H. Chew of Livermore, Calif.; URS - Washington Division of Princeton, N.J.; Management Technology Associates of Huntsville, Ala.; J&P Technologies and JES Tech, both of Houston; SoHaR Incorporated of Culver City, Calif.; and Texas Southern University of Houston.

For more information about NASA's Johnson Space Center, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/johnson

Crew Focuses on Robotics and Command Change

Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams uses a still camera at a window in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

Robotics and handover activities took center stage Tuesday aboard the International Space Station as Expedition 22 draws to a close and the crew prepares for new residents and a visit by space shuttle Discovery.

After breakfast and a checkout of station systems, Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi began his day with a ham radio call to students at Ikaruga Elementary School in the town of Taishi, Hyogo, Japan.

Afterwards, Noguchi joined Commander Jeff Williams and fellow flight engineers Maxim Suraev, Oleg Kotov and T.J. Creamer for a safety handover briefing. With the departure of Williams and Suraev set for March 18, the crew reviewed the changing roles and responsibilities during an emergency such as a fire, an ammonia leak or a sudden loss of air pressure within the station.

Williams and Suraev will return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft, signifying the end of Expedition 22 and the beginning of Expedition 23 under the command of Kotov.

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, three additional Expedition 23 crew members – astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko -- are preparing for their April 2 launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18. The trio conducted Sokol launch and entry suit training Tuesday and reviewed Russian systems manuals.

Tuesday also marked a busy day for robotics aboard the orbiting complex as both the Japanese and Canadian robotic arms were poised for upcoming activities.

First, Noguchi and Creamer maneuvered the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) into position to transfer the Small Fine Arm assembly from the airlock. Over the next three days, the two flight engineers will check out the assembly and use the JEMRMS to install it for experiment replacement work on the station’s exterior.

Next, Noguchi and Creamer commanded the 57-foot Canadarm2 to a different grapple fixture in a procedure known as a “walk off.” This will allow flight controllers on Earth to move the arm to a grapple fixture on the Harmony node to conduct robotics work during the STS-131 space shuttle mission in April.

The Waste and Hygiene Compartment is temporarily down due to a separator issue. Tuesday, the crew replaced the pump separator with an on-board spare, but this did not resolve the issue. Mission Control in Houston has sent the crew additional troubleshooting instructions that will be used to replace the pump’s controller Wednesday.

Crew Members Prep for Undocking

Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer works with flex hoses in the International Space Station’s U.S. Destiny laboratory.

The Expedition 22 crew spent Monday preparing for two of its members to travel home while also keeping busy with daily science and maintenance duties aboard the orbiting International Space Station.

With just over a week left in their half-year mission on the International Space Station, Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev continued preparing to leave the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft. Their Earthward journey will begin with a scheduled undocking at 4:03 a.m. EDT March 18 and end with a landing about 3.5 hours later.

Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will take over as expedition commander as he and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi remain on the orbital outpost, becoming the Expedition 23 crew. New crew members Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko will join them two weeks later. They are slated to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on April 2.

Williams worked with the Integrated Cardiovascular (ICV) experiment in the Columbus laboratory. ICV researches the extent of cardiac atrophy and seeks to identify its mechanisms.

In advance of a depressurization test of the Kibo laboratory’s airlock, Noguchi and Creamer spent time Monday installing equipment in the airlock that is designed to facilitate its depressurization for experiment placement on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese module.

Watch Students Compete Using Lego Robotics

Watch school teams test their software-enabled Lego robots via a live Internet program during the annual Southern California NASA Explorer Schools Robotics Competition.

Students in grades 4 through 12 will command their robots to complete tasks on a simulated Martian terrain.

The competition and related activities will be held at JPL on Tues., Mar. 9, from 12:15 to 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, with the awards ceremony at 3 p.m. Pacific time. The event can be seen live on this page, or at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .

All participating teams are part of the NASA Explorer Schools project, a partnership between NASA and about 200 elementary and middle schools nationwide. The project teaches and encourages students to pursue disciplines critical to NASA's future engineering, science and technical missions. JPL and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., are the local NASA partners for approximately 25 schools in Southern California.

More information can be found online at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/default.aspx .

Student teams from the following California schools will be participating:

Charles T. Kranz Intermediate School, El Monte
Jack Weaver School, Murrieta
Johnson Magnet School for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, San Diego
Lake View Elementary School, Huntington Beach
Mesa Union School, Somis
Nestle Avenue Elementary School, Tarzana
North Ridge Magnet School, Moreno Valley
Roosevelt Middle School, Glendale
San Cayetano Elementary School, Fillmore
Shirley Avenue Elementary School, Reseda
Sycamore Hills Elementary School, Fontana
Village Academy High School, Pomona
Vintage Math Science Technology Magnet School, North Hills

Winds of Change

This is a composite image of NGC 1068, one of the nearest and brightest galaxies containing a rapidly growing supermassive black hole. The X-ray images and spectra obtained using Chandra's High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer show that a strong wind is being driven away from the center of NGC 1068 at a rate of about a million miles per hour. This wind is likely generated as surrounding gas is accelerated and heated as it swirls toward the black hole. A portion of the gas is pulled into the black hole, but some of it is blown away. High energy X-rays produced by the gas near the black hole heat the ouflowing gas, causing it to glow at lower X-ray energies.

X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in red, optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope in green and radio data from the Very Large Array in blue. The spiral structure of NGC 1068 is shown by the X-ray and optical data, and a jet powered by the central supermassive black hole is shown by the radio data.

This Chandra study is much deeper than previous X-ray observations. Using this data, researchers believe that each year several times the mass of our sun is being deposited out to large distances, about 3,000 light years from the black hole. The wind likely carries enough energy to heat the surrounding gas and suppress extra star formation.

These results help explain how a supermassive black hole can alter the evolution of its host galaxy. It has long been suspected that material blown away from a black hole can affect its environment, but a key question has been whether such "black hole blowback" typically delivers enough power to have a significant impact.

NGC 1068 is located about 50 million light years from Earth and contains a supermassive black hole about twice as massive as the one in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy.

3-2-1 and Liftoff of GOES-P!

A Delta IV launch vehicle lifts off carrying GOES-P into orbit.

The Delta IV carrying GOES-P lifted off at 6:57 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

After reaching orbit, GOES-P will become GOES-15. The satellite will be used to monitor and predict weather, measure ocean temperatures, perform climate studies, and detect hazards with its emergency beacon support and Search and Rescue Transponder.

GOES-P was built by Boeing for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P, or GOES-P, is the latest in a series of meteorological satellites designed to watch for storm development and weather conditions on Earth. From its location in Earth orbit, GOES-P's state-of-the-art instrumentation will supply data used in weather monitoring, forecasting and warnings. It also will detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support.

Crew and Shuttle Get Ready for Launch

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:36:32 AM GMT+0530

Thursday morning, the STS-131 astronauts participated in a media question-and-answer session at Launch Pad 39A before beginning their practice of emergency exit procedures. The crew is at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week for a full-dress launch rehearsal, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test.

Also Thursday, technicians at the launch pad were set to close space shuttle Discovery's crew hatch and perform tests in preparation for a targeted liftoff on April 5.

At Launch Complex 37, the United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket set to carry the NASA/NOAA GOES P spacecraft sits poised on the launch pad.

Today's planned liftoff of the GOES-P satellite aboard a Delta IV rocket is a "go." Mission managers gave their approvals during yesterday's Launch Readiness Review. Liftoff from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is set for 6:17 p.m. EST. The weather forecast calls for a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather during the one-hour launch window that extends to 7:17 p.m.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P, or GOES-P, is the latest in a series of meteorological satellites designed to watch for storm development and weather conditions on Earth. From its location in Earth orbit, GOES-P's state-of-the-art instrumentation will supply data used in weather monitoring, forecasting and warnings. It also will detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support.

GOES-P, to be launched for NASA and NOAA, is a United Launch Alliance commercial launch for Boeing Launch Services under a Federal Aviation Administration license.

Discovery at the Pad, Crew Continues Training

Space shuttle Discovery has completed its 3.4-mile trip from Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A.

Just before midnight last night, space shuttle Discovery began its slow roll from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Riding aboard the crawler-transporter, the shuttle completed the 3.4-mile trip and was secured to the pad by 7 a.m. EST.

The seven astronauts for Discovery's STS-131 mission, who are at Kennedy for their launch countdown dress rehearsal this week, were on-hand for the beginning of the move. The crew will continue prelaunch training today.

Commander Alan Poindexter is set to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planned spacewalks, with work to include replacing an ammonia tank assembly, retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior, and switching out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 segment of the station’s truss structure.

STS-131 will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station.

Discovery and Crew Prepare for STS-131 Mission

Commander Alan Poindexter is set to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planned spacewalks, with work to include replacing an ammonia tank assembly, retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior, and switching out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 segment of the station’s truss structure.

Inspection, Science, Maintenance for Crew

Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi works in the Japanese Kibo laboratory aboard the International Space Station.

Aboard their orbiting home, the Expedition 22 crew members kicked off the week Monday by inspecting breathing apparatus, conducting a variety of experiments and performing scheduled maintenance activities.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency inspected portable breathing apparatus as well as fire extinguishers aboard the International Space Station to make sure the devices would be ready in the unlikely event of a fire inside the station.

Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer collected blood and urine samples for use in the station’s Human Research Facilities, or HRFs, and stored them in the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. The HRFs provide on-orbit laboratories that enable scientists conducting human life science research to evaluate the physiological, behavioral and chemical changes induced by spaceflight.

Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov worked with a Russian experiment known as BIMS, which evaluates the skin and mucous membranes to see if there are changes over long-duration space missions. The experiment uses video and digital photography to capture areas of skin, gums, nasal passages and the ear canal.