Robert Knudsem, Office of the Military Aide

50 Years Ago, Today... President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would land men on the Moon by the end of that decade during a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas. What makes this speech so special is that his goal, even though Kennedy wouldn't live to see it happen, became a reality about seven years later with Apollo 11. Since then, presidents such as George H.W. Bush and even his son George W. Bush tried to lay out the same ambitious plans for NASA (with George Bush Sr. announcing in 1989 that astronauts would venture to the Moon and Mars with the Space Exploration Initiative, and George Bush Jr. declaring in 2004 that humans would head to the aforementioned celestial bodies with the Vision for Space Exploration)...only to see these plans either shot down by Congress or the president himself not following through on providing adequate funding for the program.

President Obama has proposed that a manned mission be sent to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025. Even though NASA is making good progress on developing the Space Launch System needed for this flight, it remains to be seen if the U.S. space agency will actually achieve Obama's goal thirteen years from now—if at all. Stay tuned.

NASA / Kim Shiflett

Atlantis & Endeavour: Retirement Updates... While work nears completion on Atlantis final decommissioning at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as well as her new home (in the pics posted above and below) at the KSC Visitor Complex in Florida, plans continue to be released in terms of Endeavour's impending departure from KSC on September 17 and her arrival in Southern California on September 20. Below are the locations that Endeavour—placed atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (designated as NASA 905) which will ferry her across the country—will fly over during her 3-day voyage to downtown Los Angeles.


NASA / Kim Shiflett

Sites and cities that Endeavour / NASA 905 will fly over between September 17-20:

- Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Florida (9/17)

- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida (9/17)

- Patrick Air Force Base, Florida (9/17)

- NASA Stennis Space Center, Mississippi (9/17)

- Michoud Assembly Facility, Louisiana (9/17)

- Houston, Texas (9/17)

- Clear Lake, Texas (9/17)

- Galveston, Texas (9/17)

- NASA Johnson Space Center, Texas (9/17)

- White Sands Test Facility, New Mexico (9/19)

- NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, California (9/19)

- NASA Ames Research Center, California (9/20)

- San Francisco, California (9/20)

- Sacramento, California (9/20)

- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California (9/20)

- Los Angeles, California (9/20... Landing at LAX targeted for 11 AM, Pacific Daylight Time)

(Source: NASA.Gov)


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann

NASA / Sunita Williams

Photos of the Day... Last Thursday, the first spacewalk to be initiated from the U.S. Quest airlock since the shuttle flight STS-134 in May of 2011 was conducted at the International Space Station (ISS). The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) was the third longest in NASA history. The EVA lasted 8 hours, 17 minutes...while the record holder (which took place during an ISS assembly mission back in 2001) had a length of 8 hours, 56 minutes.

NASA is planning a contingency EVA for this Wednesday since spacewalkers Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide were unable to install a new Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) into the ISS' power grid last week. The MBSU is crucial to the station in that it allows the orbital outpost to draw electricity from all 8 of its 115-foot-long solar arrays. The ISS is currently receiving power from 5 of the arrays.


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NASA / Jim Grossmann

SpaceX update... Yesterday, the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the next International Space Station (ISS)-bound Dragon vehicle was rolled out to the launch pad to conduct a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) in preparation for Dragon's upcoming flight to the ISS...which takes place next month. During the WDR, which occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Falcon 9 was fully loaded with fuel—and a simulated countdown was conducted that concluded with a simulated engine shutdown just before liftoff. The launch rehearsal was a success, and SpaceX is ready to officially begin the first of twelve cargo-delivery flights to the ISS as part of its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The flight, known as Dragon C3, is targeted for launch on October 8.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann

NASA DFRC / Jim Ross

Endeavour: Retirement Update... Two days ago, the twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) that were originally on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California. For the next few years, the SRBs will be in temporary storage at Edwards AFB while the California Science Center (CSC) constructs the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center...a new museum wing that will permanently house the decommissioned orbiter Endeavour. Once the new Air and Space Center is completed, the SRBs will be transported to downtown Los Angeles to be displayed next to Endeavour. In fact, the CSC will combine the orbiter with the SRBs in vertical position (the external fuel tank that Endeavour will actually be attached to will be a replica), to simulate the launch configuration that Endeavour enjoyed for 25 flights before her retirement last year.

About three weeks remain before the shuttle embarks on her cross-country ferry flight to Southern California. Endeavour will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on September 20, and be transported (during a parade through the streets of L.A.) to CSC's Samuel Oschin Pavilion, the orbiter's temporary home, on October 13. Endeavour will then officially open to the public on October 30.

One last thing I need to say is, the giant SRBs parading through the streets of Los Angeles towards their destination at CSC will definitely be a sight to see in person!


NASA DFRC / Jim Ross


NASA DFRC / Jim Ross

NASA

Orion Update... While the world continues to honor Neil Armstrong after he passed away last Saturday, NASA continues to make progress on the spacecraft that will hopefully allow a new generation of explorers follow in the footsteps of Armstrong and his fellow Apollo astronauts within the next decade or so. Here are photos from yesterday's successful Orion parachute drop test, which once again took place above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in southwestern Arizona:


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NASA / Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)... Thank you, Mr. Armstrong, for making that giant leap for mankind 43 years ago. The former test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 astronaut passed away today at the age of 82. May Armstrong Rest In Peace.


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NASA / Neil A. Armstrong


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NASA / Frankie Martin

The Final Shuttle Swap... Earlier today, Endeavour and Atlantis switched places—for the last time—inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-2 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Endeavour is about a month away from being towed from the VAB to the Shuttle Landing Facility to begin her cross-country ferry flight to Southern California. And finishing touches will be made to Atlantis inside OPF-2 as her decommissioning process comes to an end, and Atlantis herself becomes a space artifact at the nearby KSC Visitor Complex. As mentioned in last Friday's journal entry, Atlantis' transport down the street to the Visitor Complex will take place on November 2. After that, KSC proper will finally find itself bereft of the historic orbiters that called Spaceport USA their home for more than 30 years. It is after Atlantis' departure from KSC that the presence of the Orion EFT-1 vehicle a few miles down the street at the KSC Industrial Complex (inside the Operations and Checkout Facility, to be exact) takes on more meaning. A new era of manned spaceflight for NASA will soon begin.


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

NASA / Jim Grossmann

Photos of the Day... Now that Endeavour has pretty much completed final decommissioning activities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, the orbiter will be transported from KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building on August 16 for temporary storage...prior to her being rolled out to the Shuttle Landing Facility next month to undergo final preps for her ferry flight to Los Angeles on September 17. Endeavour will then arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) a few days later on September 20, and will briefly reside in a United Airlines hangar at LAX before she embarks on a 12-mile-long 'parade' through the streets of L.A. (mostly in the City of Inglewood) between October 12 and 13. Endeavour will arrive at the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion at the California Science Center on the evening of October 13—and will open to the public for the first time on October 30th.


California Science Center

A few days after Endeavour officially becomes available for viewing at the California Science Center, Atlantis will be rolled over to her final home at KSC's Visitor Complex on November 2. The second oldest orbiter in NASA's retired shuttle fleet will then open to the public next July.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


Gene Blevins / LA Daily News

The DragonRider in Pasadena... Yesterday, I attended Planetfest 2012 at the Pasadena Convention Center to watch a live NASA TV broadcast (with around 2,000 people in attendance inside the auditorium) of the Curiosity rover safely landing on Mars. Needless to say, the event was memorable—not just because a new U.S.-built spacecraft is now on the surface of the Red Planet, but also because the flight engineering model of SpaceX's crewed version of the Dragon capsule was on display outside of the convention center. The symbolism of the replica's presence at Planetfest should not be lost on anyone... Although NASA is making strides developing the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System that will hurl Orion into deep space, it is not far-fetched to think that the DragonRider could also be responsible for sending Mars-bound astronauts to low-Earth orbit first (to rendezvous with the vehicle that will take the crew to Earth's rust-colored planetary neighbor). Of course, if SpaceX's plan for the so-called Red Dragon robotic Mars mission is any indication, it's not so inconceivable to ponder that the DragonRider will find itself orbiting hundreds of miles above the Red Planet as well. That would be awesome.