Orion Pad Abort 1 Launch at White Sands

Pad Abort 1 (PA-1), launched May 6, 2010 from White Sands Missile Range, N.M. PA-1 is the first fully integrated flight test of the launch abort system being developed for the Orion crew exploration vehicle [NASA].

Details via NASA.

White House won't fund NASA moon program

[Ed. Note: Coming as the following story does, from two Orlando Sentinel writers of note, and good reputation, it leaves little ambiguity as to what will be in the White House budget proposal for federal Fiscal Year 2011, which begins November 1, 2010. It's important to remember, however that "the president," as they say, "proposes, but Congress disposes." NASA is a "creature of Congress." In the end, if heat can continue to be brought to bare Congress is likely to restore some or all of this funding for FY '11, especially as the present fiscal year ends within a week of the mid-term federal election and coming, as it does, with the end of the Shuttle program.

I can and will speculate further, later, on motivations and ideologies, etc. - those of interest groups and such, but I will stop there, as I should, for the moment. In the end this kind of policy decision is up to the American voter. They can be prevailed upon to take up that responsibility if they are made to understand this.

- Joel Raupe for Lunar Pioneer]

Robert Block and Mark K. Matthews
Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Washington and Cape Canaveral - NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there, if President Obama gets his way.

When the White House releases its budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to return to the moon. There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases.

"We certainly don't need to go back to the moon," one administration official said.

Instead, according to White House insiders, agency officials, industry executives and congressional sources familiar with Obama's plans, NASA will look at developing a "heavy-lift" rocket that one day will take humans and robots to explore beyond low-Earth orbit. That day will be years away.

Read the full story HERE.

Ares I not dead yet...

Ian O'Neill
AstroEngine

You may be forgiven for thinking that President Obama had decided on the future of NASA’s human spaceflight plans yesterday, but in an official (note: official) statement from the White House today, Obama says that he has made no such decision.

In a nutshell, NASA would get an additional $1 billion in funding and start work on a new (yet undetermined) heavy-lift launch system. Good news for NASA, but not-so-good news for the Ares I (and possibly Ares V, although the larger rocket wasn’t mentioned). Also, this magical silver bullet of a “new” launch vehicle would be ready for blast-off in 2018.

Read the Skinny, HERE.

Ares I-X engineers express confident test flight data match models match

Frank Morring, Jr.
Aviation Week

After 30 days of data reduction, Ares I-X engineers continue to find fairly close correlation between their computer models and the flight performance of the test vehicle, which was the tallest rocket ever launched.

Flight-control algorithms developed for the operational vehicle "worked extremely well," said NASA's Marshall Smith, systems engineering and integration (SE&I) manager for Ares I-X, and the flight data in general validated the computer models being used to design Ares I.

"I, personally, from SE&I, am very, very pleased with the performance of our (guidance, navigation and control) system; the algorithms that we're testing for Ares I worked perfectly and flawlessly," Smith said. "The predictions matched extremely well. I think that is a key point validating our models that we would use to build Ares I, Ares V."

Factors driving thrust oscillation as the first stage nears burnout, once considered a possible danger to the Orion crew, were lower than expected, as was the roll torque generated by the solid-fuel stage, Smith says. Early modeling of the roll torque drove selection of a 600-lb.-thrust roll-control engine to handle it, which may prove more powerful than necessary.

Thrust oscillation pressure was about a third of what was predicted, Smith said, and the frequency was about half of the predicted value.

Read the article HERE.

Briefing on Ares I-X results, Thursday

NASA will host a media teleconference with Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager, at 1900 UT (2 p.m. EST), Thursday, December 3. Ess will update reporters on data gathered during the test flight Ares I-X from Kennedy Space Center, October 28.

The test flight lasted approximately six minutes, from launch until splashdown of the booster stage 240 km (150 miles) away.

The Ares I-X was wired with more than 700 sensors gathering data during flight, giving NASA the opportunity to prove hardware, facilities and ground operations of the test vehicle configuration and providing engineers with critical data for the future.

(Reporters who want to participate in the teleconference should contact Lynnette Madison at 281-483-5111 (lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov) by 2230 UT (5:30 p.m. EST), December 2 for dial-in information.

For more information about the Ares I-X rocket, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX

For more information about the Constellation Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation

Ares I-X test may not save Ares I, but could help future NASA funding

Shelby G. Spires
al.com

NASA's spectacular launch of the Ares I-X test rocket last week may not save the Ares I crew rocket developed at Marshall Space Flight Center, but it could pave the way for more NASA funding overall, a local space expert says.

An independent White House panel gave the president several choices for NASA - options like landing on asteroids, flying around Martian moons or building a lunar outpost - but none relied on the Ares I.

All options need a boost to NASA budgets of about $3 billion a year for several years. The successful Ares I-X test could help that effort, said McDaniel.

"This test gives NASA credibility, not that it was needed from the perspective of engineering. It was needed from the political side," said Mark McDaniel, a Huntsville attorney who formerly sat on the NASA Advisory Council and still advises congressmembers on space issues.

Read the analysis, HERE.

Ares I-X SRB may have been dented in-flight

Underwater image showing a large dent in the lower segment of NASA's Ares I-X after splash down in the Atlantic, ending a test flight Oct. 28. [United Space Alliance].

Tariq Malik
Managing Editor
Space.com

NASA has discovered a large dent on its brand-new moon rocket after the booster splashed into the Atlantic Ocean at the end of a test flight this week.

The damage to the new Ares I-X rocket, which launched from Florida Wednesday on a short test flight, was spotted by a diving team sent to recover the booster's first stage. The first stage — a giant solid rocket booster — was dented near its base.

NASA spokesperson Amber Philman told SPACE.com that the space agency is still awaiting word on what may have caused the damage.

Read the story, HERE.

'We stand today on the shoulders of giants'

Shelby G. Spires
al.com

KSC - For seven minutes at least, there were no politics, no reports and no controversies swirling around space travel.

The Ares I-X - the future of manned space flight to some, a financial impossibility to others - successfully leapt into the air at 10:30 a.m. CDT, taking with it the future of the space agency, as Ares I-X deputy program manager Steve Davis put it after the launch.

"What we do today is really like what Huntsville did with the Mercury-Redstone flights" early in the space program, Davis said. "This is a first. Just like Dr. Wernher von Braun's team did then, our goal is knowledge. We stand today on the shoulders of giants."

Read the story, HERE.

Teamwork credited with Ares I-X launch

NASA's Constellation program's Ares I-X test rocket roars off Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center [NASA/Jim Grossmann].

Outstanding teamwork was the theme of the Ares I-X postlaunch news conference as the successful flight test was discussed.

"I can't say enough about this team," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "They've been together probably a little over three years now, and they went from a concept to flying this vehicle in that period of time, which is the first time this has been done by a human spaceflight team in a long time."

Referring to the weather, which was the only issue of the day, Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley said, "We were ready when Mother Nature was ready, and we took our opportunity and what a great outcome. We're very proud of the result."

"It was a spectacular day," said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager. "The vehicle flew even better than we expected."

"It is just a fantastic day," said Launch Director Ed Mango. "The team really excelled. I can't say enough about the folks who worked together to go make this thing happen. It was a great team, and as you can tell, it was a great vehicle."

NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The flight test lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly modified Launch Pad 39B until splashdown of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles downrange.

Ares I-X flight test carried forward

Rising into the Florida sky, the 327-foot rocket thunders away from the launch pad, marking the first time a new vehicle has launched from the complex since the first space shuttle launch in 1981.

The mission will last two minutes, during which constant data received from the rocket.

At about the T+2 minute point in the flight, the upper stage simulator and first stage will separate at approximately 130,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. The unpowered simulator will splash down in the ocean. The first stage will be fired for a controlled ocean landing with parachutes that will allow recovery by one of NASA's booster recovery ships, while the other ship tracks the upper stage.

A Vision briefly becomes reality

It's been the subject of artist's impressions so often the actual sight of an Ares I-X towering over Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center might seem an anticlimax.

Nevertheless, as Robert Block of the Orlando Sentinel's The Wright Stuff rightly points this morning to a treatment of the real thing by "storied and award-winning photojournalist Red Huber," who "has taken a fantastic series of pictures of Aries I-X" at KSC.

"The rocket is due to lift off on its 28-mile, two minute suborbital journey on Tuesday at 8 a.m. though the weather may not cooperate. NASA managers can wait until Noon Tuesday before having to stand down to try again on Wednesday."

Although the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, chaired by Norm Augustine, is not being celebrated for its few very specific recommendations, among their actual recommendation released last week is to scrap the Ares I as America's next humans-only rocket.

The Augustine committee also sees no way to avoid at least a seven-year gap in NASA's manned spaceflight capability after the Space Shuttle is grounded a year from now.

Anyway you look at it, it may be while before any notion of America's future manned spaceflight capability actually presents itself as a sight "to steal your breath away."

Greason: It's time to base U.S. space policy on the "truth"

Robert Block
The Write Stuff
The Orlando Sentinel

"Jeff Greason is a founder of XCOR Aerospace company, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, and one of the most outspoken members of the White House’s Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee. He has said that the committee work took up about 90 hours a week since it was created last May to take hard look at NASA’s human exploration plans. He spoke to Sentinel Space Editor Robert Block by telephone from New Mexico shortly after the committee report was released in Washington on Thursday."

Here is an excerpt of the interview:

Augustine Final Report released

The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, headed by Norm Augustine, released it's final report, Thursday.

The committee, appointed by President Barack Obama, immediately made the report available online in Adobe Reader format.

To get to the Moon, and eventually to Mars will take more money and technology than NASA has in its recurring availability, the committee concludes.

The committee made several recommendations to President Obama and Congress, including continuing the on-going retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, extension of U.S. support for the International Space Station beyond present commitments through 2015 and continued development of Ares V and Orion, though it will become necessary to recognize that these new resources may not be available until 2017.

The panel said it might be an option to scrap Ares 1, though an initial first test of the configuration is now sitting on Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, in favor or using existing boosters for eventual crew support.

Ares I-X takes its place on the Big Stage

Not an Artist Conception, Ares I-X completed its 4.2-mile journey to the pad and the test rocket is now sitting, secured down to the pedestals, on a mobile launcher. The launch director called “hard down” at 9:17 am EDT.

Dan Kanigan, NASA Blogs
Pad 39-A has a new resident

Everything or nothing, rides with Ares I-X

Ares 1-X test rolls out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Oct. 20. An afternoon launch window for the 28 mile-high suborbital flight of the first, and perhaps the last, Constellation configuration opens October 27. [Jim Grossman/NASA]

Ares I-X rollout overnight, Tuesday AM

Ares I-X (Artist Conception) [NASA]

NASA has rescheduled to Tuesday, Oct. 20, the rollout of the Ares I-X rocket to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The first motion of the Ares I-X out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building is targeted for 12:01 a.m. EDT. The 4.2-mile journey is expected to last about seven hours. Media activities include a first motion photo opportunity and interviews with Ares I-X managers. In addition, a sunrise photo opportunity will be available at 7 a.m.

Live NASA Television coverage with commentary will start at 11:45 p.m., Oct. 19, and 7 a.m., Oct. 20. Video highlights of the move will air on NASA Television's Video File.

Follow updates, HERE.

Ares I-X on-track for Rollout

Chris Bergin
NASASpaceflight.com

Ares I-X is on track to rollout of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on October 19 following the completion of several milestones and processing work relating to an issue involving 78 Upper Stage bolts. Meanwhile, the Constellation Program (CxP) have set September 2010 for a Human Lunar Return (HLR) Systems Requirements Review (SRR) summit.

Ares I-X Latest, HERE.

ATK pink-slips 550

ATK Space Systems division undergoing preparations for test of
new five-segment SRB for Constellation Ares, last July

Paul Foy

(AP)

Salt Lake City — The phase-out of the space shuttle program brought 550 layoffs on Tuesday to a Utah company that makes the booster rockets.

ATK Space Systems said it was handing out pink slips to engineers, factory workers and others at three Utah locations.

AP full story, HERE.

Surprise Augustine Committee hearing set

Robert Block

The Write Stuff
Orlando Sentinel

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee will hold a public teleconference on Thursday, Oct. 8, from approximately 1 to 2 p.m. EDT.

The only topic for discussion will be finalization of scoring of options the committee presented in their summary report on Sept. 8. This meeting will be held by teleconference only. The teleconference will be open to the public. The service limit is approximately 300 dial-in callers. Public participants will be in a listen-only mode.

Read the post, HERE.

Space Coast sees first big round of KSC layoffs

Cape Canaveral — The first round of what are expected to be thousands of layoffs of space-program workers starts today, Friday, with 258 shuttle contractors losing their jobs in anticipation of the space shuttle's retirement next year.

In addition, nine employees of rocket-maker United Launch Alliance also received pink slips Thursday, along with about 70 security workers at Cape Canaveral Air Force station.

The 337 layoffs are the first of what local officials estimate will be 7,000 space-program job losses by the end of 2010.

The 258 shuttle workers were employed by United Space Alliance, which services the shuttle for NASA, and most volunteered to leave. About 20 more will be leaving next week.

Read the post, HERE.

Augustine Committee report two weeks away

According to a report by Shelby Spires at the Huntsville Times, the long-awaited final report by a presidential space panel about the future of NASA and human space flight is unlikely to be sent to President Barack Obama until the middle of October.

Read the post HERE.

Ares I-X launch moved up to Oct. 27

NASA's first version of the rocket slated to replace the space shuttle and send astronauts back to the moon will make its debut test launch Oct. 27, four days early, the space agency announced Tuesday.

The rocket, a demonstration booster called Ares I-X, was previously scheduled to blast off Oct. 31, but engineers preparing the booster were able to complete work in time for the earlier liftoff, NASA officials said. Launch is set for 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, Oct. 27 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Space.com