August 10, 2007

John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe

Spaceport Newshttp://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/snews/spnews_toc.html

Vol. 46, No. 16

STS-118 crew members proud of modified Endeavour

NASA’s Phoenix begins journey to sample Mars water

(See PHOENIX, Page 7)

THE DELTA II rocket carrying NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander launches fromPad 17A on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Phoenix will land in icysoils near the permanent ice cap of Mars in May 2008.

By Linda Herridge Staff Writer

At press time, the SpaceShuttle Endeavour and theSTS-118 seven-member

crew were scheduled to lift off fromLaunch Pad 39A on Aug. 8.Commander Scott Kelly will leadPilot Charlie Hobaugh andMission Specialists TracyCaldwell, Alvin Drew, RickMastracchio, Barbara R. Morganand Dave Williams on the sched-uled 11-day mission.

The 22nd flight to the Interna-tional Space Station will be thefirst mission for Morgan, theteacher-turned-astronaut whoseassociation with NASA beganmore than 20 years ago. Themission also marks the first flight

for Endeavour since 2002.An excited orbiter team

cheered as Endeavour made itsway from the Orbiter ProcessingFacility to the Vehicle AssemblyBuilding last month for matingto its external tank and solidrocket boosters. After spendingnearly five years in the facilityfor intense orbiter modificationand maintenance, known asOMM, Endeavour was readyto fly.

When the OMM and return-to-flight modifications werecompleted in June, the team hadinspected, tested, repaired,replaced, modified or upgradedpractically every piece of theorbiter’s components.

The first “station-to-shuttle

(See ENDEAVOUR, Page 4)

NASA’s Phoenix Marsmission blasted off Aug. 4and is now aiming for a

May 25, 2008, arrival at the RedPlanet for a close-up examinationof the surface of the northern polarregion.

Perched atop a Delta II rocket,the spacecraft left Cape CanaveralAir Force Base Launch Pad 17A at5:26 a.m. The spacecraft estab-lished communications with itsground team via the Goldstone,Calif., antenna station of NASA’sDeep Space Network at 7:02 a.m.after separating from the thirdstage of the launch vehicle.

The NASA Launch ServicesProgram at Kennedy Space Centerand the United Launch Allianceare responsible for the Delta IIlaunch service.

“The launch team did aspectacular job getting us on theway,” said Barry Goldstein,

Phoenix project manager atNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryin Pasadena, Calif. “We are allthrilled!”

Phoenix will be the firstmission to touch water-ice onMars. The spacecraft’s robotic armwill dig to an icy layer believed tolie just beneath the surface. Themission will study the history ofthe water in the ice, monitorweather of the polar region, andinvestigate whether the subsurfaceenvironment in the far-northernplains of Mars has ever beenfavorable for sustaining microbiallife.

The Phoenix Mars mission isthe first of NASA’s competitivelyproposed and selected Mars Scoutmissions, supplementing theagency’s core Mars ExplorationProgram, whose theme is “followthe water.” The University of

SPACE SHUTTLE Endeavour’s cockpit instrumentation was replaced witha new multi-functional electronic display system, also called the glasscockpit. The orbiter has undergone nearly five years of modifications.

SPACEPORT NEWS August 10, 2007Page 2

Awards

The National Space Club ofFlorida will recognize spacepioneers Norris “Chief”

Gray, Jay Honeycutt and CharlieMurphy with the 2007 LifetimeAchievement Awards during aluncheon at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 14 atthe DoubleTree Hotel in CocoaBeach.

“Jay, Charlie and Norris eachhave made significant contribu-tions to the space communitythrough their impressive careers,”said Adrian Laffitte, chairman ofthe non-profit organization. “TheSpace Club is proud to acknowl-edge their achievements.”

Gray, retired since 1984, stillserves as a NASA public affairsvolunteer with almost 60 years ofinvolvement in rocket launchingactivities at Cape Canaveral andKennedy Space Center, spanningfrom the Bumper rocket launch tothe Space Shuttle Program’s STS-117 mission. His spaceport careerbegan in 1949 at the Joint Long-Range Proving Ground beforemoving on to the Cape Canaveral

National Space Club honors three with Lifetime Achievement Awards

Missile Annex as fire chief andemergency preparedness officer.

Honeycutt’s career has spannedalmost the entire history of the U.S.human spaceflight program. Heserved as director of KennedySpace Center and director ofshuttle management and opera-tions at KSC. He was responsiblefor engineering management andtechnical direction of preflight,launch, landing and recoveryactivities for shuttles. Honeycutt

served as special assistant to theassociate administrator forspaceflight, and coordinatedPresidential Commission andCongressional activities related tothe Challenger accident. He retiredfrom a Lockheed Martin programvice president position in 2004.

Murphy, a recently retiredsenior executive for United SpaceAlliance, is a 48-year veteran ofaerospace launch operations. Hehas served critical roles on the

FROM LEFT, Norris “Chief” Gray, Jay Honeycutt (pictured left) and Charlie Murphy will be honored by the NationalSpace Club of Florida with Lifetime Achievement Awards on Aug. 14 at the montly luncheon.

XSM-64 Navaho Program; theTitan, Atlas and MinutemanIntercontinental Ballistic MissilePrograms; the S-II stage of theSaturn V; the Apollo Commandand Service Module; and theSpace Shuttle Program, where hedirected launch and landingoperations and all orbiter logistics.

For reservations, contactLaDonna Neterer at 867-0895 orLaDonna.J.Neterer@boeing.com.

The crew members forNASA’s STS-120 missionrecently completed their

Crew Equipment Interface Test, orCEIT, at the Kennedy SpaceCenter. Among the activitiesstandard to a CEIT are harnesstraining, inspection of the thermalprotection system and cameraoperation for planned extravehicu-lar activities.

The STS-120 mission willdeliver the Harmony module,christened after a school contest,which will provide attachmentpoints for European and Japaneselaboratory modules on theInternational Space Station.

Also known as Node 2, it issimilar to the six-sided Unitymodule that links the U.S. andRussian sections of the station.Built in Italy for the United States,Harmony will be the first new U.S.pressurized component to beadded. The STS-120 mission istargeted to launch on Oct. 20.

Visit www.nasa.gov/shuttle forthe latest update.

STS-120 crew members complete test for October missionINSPECTING THE thermal protectionsystem, or TPS, tiles under SpaceShuttle Discovery in Orbiter ProcessingFacility bay 3 are, from left, Expedition 16Flight Engineer Daniel Tani; MissionSpecialist Douglas Wheelock; PilotGeorge Zamka; Mission Specialist PaoloNespoli (sitting), a European SpaceAgency astronaut from Italy; MissionSpecialist Scott Parazynski; CommanderPamela Melroy; Allison Bolinger(kneeling), an EVA technician with NASA;and Mission Specialist StephanieWilson.

STS-120 CREWmembers handle toolsthey will use during themission. Around thetable, from left withflight suits, are MissionSpecialists ScottParazynski, DouglasWheelock, PaoloNespoli and Expedition16 Flight EngineerDaniel Tani.

GIVING A close inspection to Discoveryare Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson(left) and Commander Pamela Melroy.

SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3August 10, 2007

Hail monitoring system provides accurate analysis

JOHN LANE, an ASRC Aerospace engineer, kneels next to the hailmonitoring system. Other developers of the monitor include, from left, JoeDean, Bill Haskell, Bob Cox and Dr. Bob Youngquist.

August NASA employees of the month

By Jeff Stuckey Editor

Between the late-Februaryhailstorm that forced SpaceShuttle Atlantis to roll back

from Launch Pad 39A to theVehicle Assembly Building, to theJuly torrential rainstorms thatbrought the potential for more hail,Kennedy Space Center engineershave been relying on a new haildetection system more than ever.

NASA and ASRC Aerospaceengineers have developed aspecial hail monitor, called thesize distribution impact transducer,to better detect and assess hail-storms that could damage a spaceshuttle or its fuel tank whilestanding on a launch pad. Theshuttles have been struck fivetimes while at the pad undergoingpreparation for launch.

The new hail monitoringsystem was first used at LaunchPad 39B for last year’s STS-115mission.

“Armed with this hail impactdata, a more informed judgmentcan now be made as to the size,depth and number of damagedsites to expect, and the possibletype of repair that may be re-quired,” said Charlie Stevenson,NASA technical assistant to theshuttle chief engineer. “When fullydeployed, the hail monitor willtransmit data back to the LaunchControl Center. This is another

great example of NASA ingenu-ity.”

The original hail detectionsystem used sheets of aluminumfoil stretched over Styrofoam, asystem developed by ColoradoState University. The foil revealedwhen hail struck an area byshowing large indentations on thesurface.

The need for an advancedsystem became apparent after hailstruck Space Shuttle Discovery inMay 1999 while awaiting launchfor STS-96. The hail monitors havenot replaced manual inspectionsafter a storm, but rather supplementvisual inspections. Engineersretrieve information from themonitors at the launch pad.

According to ASRC Aerospaceengineer John Lane, the sound ofrain deflecting off a vehicle isdistinctly different than the soundproduced by falling hail. Thesound of hail is not only louder, italso contains higher frequenciesdue to its hardness.

“The hail monitor sensor is ametal plate in the shape of ashallow pyramid which deflectshail from the sensor surface afterone hit, thus preventing multiplebounces from the same hail stone,”Lane said. A microphone pickup ismounted beneath and in the centerof the metal plate.

The output of this microphoneis connected to an electroniccircuit which digitizes and

processes the microphone signal.By placing three hail monitor-

ing systems close to the launchpad, any hail striking the shuttle orthe launch pad structures can bedetected by the monitors andrecorded by the liquid crystaldisplay, or LCD, counters. Groundoperations personnel check thecounters daily when a vehicle is onthe pad.

Lane said by performingspecial data processing, the haildata, coupled with velocity data,can be merged into a four-dimen-sional picture showing space andtime of hail size distributions.Specific impact areas can then bepointed out for inspection crewsimmediately following a hailstorm.

The August NASA employeesof the month include, fromleft, Renee Debing, Informa-

tion Technology and Communica-tions Services; Fayann Hull,External Relations; Sheila Plourd,International Space Station andSpacecraft Processing; TammyBurlein, Procurement Office;Damara Belson, Chief FinancialOffice; Maurice Lavoie, CenterOperations; Theresa Kroning,Launch Services Program; GiselleAltman, Engineering Directorate;and Vera Murphy, Safety andMission Assurance.

Page 4 SPACEPORT NEWS August 10, 2007

Endeavour ready to fly after major modificationsENDEAVOUR . . .(Continued from Page 1)

power transfer system” wasinstalled in Endeavour’s payloadbay. The orbiter also receivedreturn-to-flight modificationsincluding the orbiter boom sensorsystem, wing leading edgeinstrumentation and a digitalexternal tank separation camera.

NASA Launch Director MikeLeinbach said the changes makeEndeavour quite unique. “Inparticular, the station-to-shuttlepower transfer system work makesthe orbiter a more flexible ship tosupport the continuing construc-tion of the station by allowing forlonger docked times with thestation.”

The orbiter also carried with itsomething not visible — the hopesand dreams of hundreds of NASA,United Space Alliance and Boeingengineers, planners, technicians,quality inspectors and many otherswho painstakingly worked aroundthe clock to prepare the vehicle forflight.

During the OMM, the process-ing team completed 195 modifica-tions and 205 special tests,according to Tassos Abadiotakis,Endeavour’s flow director since2000.

“This was a long and challeng-ing flow for the team and I’m reallyproud of their hard work anddedication,” Abadiotakis said.

Extensive structural and wiringinspections were completed on thevehicle. Approximately 150 milesof wiring was inspected and manycomponents were removed to gainaccess to the vehicle’s airframe for

inspection.The orbiter’s cockpit instru-

mentation was gutted and replacedwith a new multi-functionalelectronic display system, alsocalled the “glass cockpit.” Aglobal positioning satellite systemwas added and the cockpit’soutermost windows on each sidewere replaced with thickerwindow panes.

Approximately 2,045 tiles wereremoved and replaced, and 72Boeing reusable insulation tileswere installed in critical areas onwing leading edges, and main andnose landing gear doors. All wingleading edge reinforced carbon-carbon panels were removed andinspected using non-destructiveevaluation. A record-breaking2,000 thermal control systeminsulation blankets were removedfrom inside the vehicle and eitherrefurbished or replaced.

“This was a unique flow withthe large volume of work accom-plished by a lot of great people,”said Mike Parrish, USA’s opera-tions chief for orbiter Endeavour.

Among the major componentsremoved, inspected and reinstalledwere the remote manipulatorsystem, forward reaction controlsystem, orbital maneuveringsystem pods, rudder speed brakesand body flap.

Every orbiter system wasinspected and tested, including thehydraulics, electrical and mainpropulsion systems. The vehicle’smechanisms, communicationssystems, environmental control lifesupport system, fuel cells, struc-tures, cryogenics and flightcontrols were also tested.

TECHNICIANSREINSTALL theremote manipulatorsystem (above) inEndeavour as partof the orbitermodification andmaintenance. Atleft, a technicianinspects one of2,045 tiles thatwere replaced.

More than 400 participants attended the Innovative Strategiesfor Cultivating the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineeringand Mathematics) Conference in Orlando and at the Kennedy

Space Center on Aug. 5-8. They included educators of kindergartenthrough 12th grades, university faculty and students, informal educationleaders (from science centers, the Girl Scouts and others), and companiessuch as Microsoft and Google. The conference focused on discussinginnovative programs at all educational levels to attract and retain morestudents in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disci-plines to help build the technical work force of the future. The confer-ence was sponsored by NASA’s Office of Education and the SpaceOperations mission directorate.

Teachers in space conferencehelps build future work force

FORMERNASAastronautRobertSpringer talksto attendeesof theteachers inspaceconference inthe Apolllo/Saturn VCenter.

Page 5SPACEPORT NEWSAugust 10, 2007

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and the Netflix Live!on Location concert and movie series teamed up to offer a liveconcert with the Bruce Willis Blues Band on Aug. 2 in the Rocket

Garden. The concert was followed by a free outdoor screening of the1998 Academy Award-nominated classic “Armageddon,” which includedscenes filmed at the center. The series pairs a free screening of a pop-culture movie classic with a live musical performance by one of thefilms’ featured stars in locations uniquely associated with the movies.Entertainment correspondent and actress Maria Menounos hosted theevent and introduced the band and the film.

Bruce Willis Blues Band, ‘Armageddon’ screeningentertains guests at Visitor Complex

THE BRUCE Willis Blues Band begins performing in the Rocket Gardenat the Netflix Live! on Location concert held Aug. 2.

BRUCE WILLIS(right) playsharmonicaduring theconcert. Theactor alsoappeared in themovie“Armageddon”shown after themusicperformance.

THE AUDIENCE, estimated between6,000 to 7,000 people, was able to bringlawn chairs to enjoy the “Armageddon”screening. For the day, the Visitor Complexset a one-day attendance record of 9,400people. The Netflix Live! on Locationconcert series pairs a free screening of amovie classic with a live musicalperformance by one of the films’ featuredstars in locations associated with themovie.

CENTER DIRECTOR Bill Parsons welcomes the crowd to the concertwhile host Maria Menounos looks on.

THE CROWD at the Netflix Live! on Location concert at the VisitorComplex welcomes The Bruce Willis Blues Band to the stage.

Page 6 SPACEPORT NEWS August 10, 2007

NASA’s Space Grant projects inspire students, teachers

Plourd honored by space station, spacecraft processing team

SHEILA PLOURD of theInternational Space Station andSpacecraft Processing directorateis an August NASA employee ofthe month.

By Linda Herridge Staff Writer

College students and theirinstructors will soonparticipate in exciting and

educational research and develop-ment opportunities throughNASA’s new Space Grant StudentProject and Space Grant FacultyProject. The agency’s ExplorationSystems mission directorateoversees both projects.

Dr. Lesley Garner, who man-ages the projects for the agency atKennedy Space Center, said theysupport NASA’s educationframework by contributing to thedevelopment of the science,technology, engineering andmathematics work force.

The goal is to establish a closerelationship between NASA’scenters and the National SpaceGrant Consortia, also known asSpace Grant, and increase thecollaboration between NASA andthe academic community thatcontributes to the agency’sobjectives.

“Students are exposed tosystems engineering in a real-world setting through internshipsand senior design projects,”

Garner said.Garner is a higher-education

program specialist in the educationprograms and university researchdivision of the External Relationsdirectorate at KSC.

For the Faculty Project, Garnersaid five faculty members werecompetitively selected for the 10-week summer program, with eachworking at two NASA field centers.They serve as liaisons betweenNASA, the universities and thestudents.

At KSC, the ExplorationSystems Space Grant facultyparticipant is Dr. Jose Granda, aprofessor in mechanical engineer-ing at California State Universityin Sacramento.

Prior to arriving at the center,Granda spent five weeks at AmesResearch Center at Moffett Field,Calif. He has been a NASA FacultyFellow since 2002 and serves asthe campus director at CSU-Sacramento for the CaliforniaSpace Consortia.

Granda met with researchersand engineers to gather seniordesign project ideas and internshipopportunities relative to thedirectorate’s needs.

“The word ‘inspire’ is key to

the success of students in anyNASA internship program,”Granda said. “What I’m doing hasa direct impact on motivating andtraining the future NASA andcontractor work force, and contrib-uting to the success of students is avery rewarding experience for aprofessor.

“It’s very exciting, workingwith the engineers that make thespace program move forward. It isan enriching experience, bothtechnically and personally.”

Granda met with representa-

tives from the Launch ServicesProgram, the Life SciencesDivision, Applied Technology,Constellation Project Office,Engineering Development,environmental, guidance andcontrol systems, and many othersto discuss their internship andsenior project needs.

The directorate’s internshipsand senior design projects for 2008will be available to view at http://education.ksc.nasa.gov/ESMDspacegrant/.

DR. JOSE Granda, aprofessor inmechanicalengineering atCalifornia StateUniversity, has met withrepresentatives frommany of the center’sdirectorates to talkabout future internshipand senior projectneeds. “What I’m doinghas a direct impact onmotivating and trainingthe future NASA andcontractor work force,”Granda said.

By Jennifer Wolfinger Staff Writer

Management supportassistant Sheila Plourdwas chosen as the

International Space Station andSpacecraft Processing directorate’sAugust employee of the month forher ability to balance an ever-changing schedule of activities, ademanding work load and thecompeting priorities of hercolleagues.

“I was very honored to beselected, because our directoratehas a lot of high achievers, so to becompared to them was a greathonor,” she shared.

When her husband, Steve, wasassigned to be a senior chief andmedical department representativeat the Naval Ordnance Test Unit atCape Canaveral Air Force Station,she immediately wanted to work at

NASA. Plourd’s wish was fulfilledwhen she joined the agency in2005. She supports thedirectorate’s deputy of operations,the chief of operations, branchmanagers and their staff. Shehandles all the administrative tasksfor 35 employees, streamlines thedivision’s activities and calendars,coordinates travel arrangementsand performs many other tasks.

“The people are very apprecia-tive and I feel valued at my job. Iconsider it a real honor to be amember of the International SpaceStation processing team,” she said.“An added bonus was being ableto see the flight hardware up closeand personal, and touring theOrbiter Processing Facility andboth launch pads.”

Plourd believes her can-doattitude and dedication to helpingpeople led to her recognition. Herdivision chief, Gennaro Caliendo,

recently was impressed by herability to handle complex andinternational travel orders.

“Her professionalism andexcellent attitude in making last-minute changes to travel plansremoves the stress from thetraveler, allowing them to focus onthe actual business rather thanworry about travel planning,” hesaid.

She and her husband have oneadult daughter, Jennifer, who isstudying finance at the Universityof South Florida in Tampa. Plourdalso looks forward to sharing herexperiences with future genera-tions.

She said, “I can’t wait to tellmy grandchildren, with pride, thatI worked with the people who builtthe International Space Station,which helped us prepare to goback to the moon and travel toMars.”

SPACEPORT NEWSAugust 10, 2007 Page 7

Remembering Our Heritage

THE ORBITER Enterprise soars above the NASA 747 carrier aircraft only seconds after separating during thefirst free flight of the shuttle Approach and Landing Tests. Astronauts Fred Haise (left) and Gordon Fullertonwere the crew members of the Enterprise.

By Kay Grinter Reference Librarian

On Aug. 12, 1977, astro-nauts Fred Haise andGordon Fullerton took the

orbiter Enterprise for the firstpiloted free flight during theApproach and Landing Test, orALT, program for NASA’s newmanned vehicle, the space shuttle.

Sixteen various exercises wereconducted altogether, culminatingin five free flights.

The free flights were designedto verify the orbiter’s subsonicairworthiness, the operation of itsintegrated system, and its pilot-guided approach and landingcapabilities.

The crew was trained toseparate the orbiter from atop theShuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA,and glide to a landing on a drylake bed at Edwards Air Force Basein California. During the first freeflight, a tail cone was installedover the orbiter’s dummy mainengines to reduce buffeting.

Roy Tharpe is the deputy siteleader for Boeing Florida Opera-tions at Kennedy Space Center.From 1975 to 1977, though, helived in Lancaster, Calif., and wasNASA’s manager of the ShuttleTest Support Office at DrydenFlight Research Center.

30 years ago: First free flight for shuttle orbiter draws a crowd

“The office staff was made upof employees assigned from threespace centers,” Tharpe recalled. “AJohnson recruit interacted with theflight crews, a Dryden employeecoordinated the logistical support,and Kennedy provided a manager— me — and a console operator,Don Eversberg. I was the ‘go-to’guy for anything and everythingthat had to do with test support forALT ground operations.

“The first free flight was thefirst test to require all aspects of anactual shuttle mission: groundprocessing to prepare the orbiter

and SCA for flight, a missionprofile, and landing and post-landing ground operations.”

In flight, the SCA performed ashallow dive on cue, and Haisetriggered the explosive boltslinking the two aircraft. Enterpriselifted free. One of the redundantcomputers on the orbiter failed atseparation, cutting off flight-control accelerometers but withoutaffecting the flight.

Both astronauts gave theorbiter a good evaluation.“Enterprise’s handling qualitieswere better than experienced in our

simulators,” Haise reported.Fullerton described its perfor-mance as “like a fighter aircraft,rather than a freighter.”

After flying free for 5 minutes,22 seconds, Enterprise toucheddown on Rogers Dry Lake at aspeed of 207 miles per hour androlled about two miles beforecoming to a stop.

Approximately 70,000 specta-tors braved the heat in the MojaveDesert just after 9 a.m. Pacific timefor the orbiter’s historic firstlanding.

Arizona was selected to lead the mission in August 2003 and is the firstpublic university to lead a Mars exploration mission.

Phoenix uses the main body of a lander originally made for a 2001mission that was cancelled before launch.

Samples of soil and ice collected by the lander’s robotic arm will beanalyzed by instruments mounted on the deck. One key instrument willcheck for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soilsamples in tiny ovens and examining the vapors that are given off.

PHOENIX . . . (Continued from Page 1)

The lander carries seven instruments. They include the robotic arm,which will dig into the ground and deliver samples to two instrumentsfor analysis; the robotic arm camera, which will provide close-up colorimages of the soil and ice; the thermal and evolved-gas analyzer that willheat soil samples delivered by the arm and measure how much watervapor, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds are given off asthe temperature climbs; the microscopy, electrochemistry and conductiv-ity analyzer; the surface stereo imager; the meteorological station; andthe Mars descent imager, which will provide geological context for thelanding site.

ON LAUNCHPad 17A atCape CanaveralAir ForceStation, the firsthalf of thefairing is movedinto placearound thePhoenix Marslander forinstallation. Thespacecraft isscheduled toland on Mars onMay 25, 2008,for a close-upexamination ofthe surface ofthe northernpolar region.

Page 8 SPACEPORT NEWS August 10, 2007

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Managing editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber PhilmanEditor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeff StuckeyCopy editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Corey Schubert

Editorial support provided by InDyne, Inc. Writers Group.NASA at KSC is located on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedyUSGPO: 733-049/600139

Spaceport News

Spaceport News is an official publication of the Kennedy Space Center andis published on alternate Fridays by External Relations in the interest of KSCcivil service and contractor employees. Contributions are welcome and should be submitted two weeks beforepublication to the Media Services Branch, IDI-011. E-mail submissions can besent to Jeffery.Stuckey-1@ksc.nasa.gov.

Intercenter Walk/Run set for Sept. 18 at landing facility

SPACEPORT EMPLOYEES line up for the start of last year’s Intercenter Walk/Run at the Shuttle Landing Facility.This year’s 2-mile walk/run, 5K run and 10K run events are scheduled for Sept. 18.

The Kennedy Space CenterFitness Centers are sponsor-ing the Intercenter Walk/

Run which will start at 5 p.m. onSept. 18 at the Shuttle LandingFacility. The 2-mile walk/run, 5Krun and 10K run are free for allspaceport employees.

Stop by either fitness center bySept. 14 to pre-register. Lateregistration will take place at therace. T-shirts may be ordered atany NASA Exchange storebeginning Aug. 13. The orderdeadline for T-shirts is Sept. 7.

Anyone interested in helpingout should call 867-7829 or e-mailDebra.L.Orringer@nasa.gov.

By Steven Siceloff Staff Writer

SPACEHAB is preparing toclose the hatch on its shuttleresearch and cargo carrier

enterprise 14 years after its firstpressurized module flew into spaceon an orbiter, while the companybegins its strategic journey intospace-based microgravity process-ing.

The company provided its firstspace-rated travel trailer of sorts toNASA in 1993. Later, the designwould come in especially handyfor missions to the Mir spacestation and during the constructionof the International Space Station.

The single module bolted intoEndeavour’s cargo bay willcontinue that work by carryingsome 5,800 pounds of equipmentand supplies to the InternationalSpace Station, according to DonMoore, director of ground opera-tions at the company’s CapeCanaveral facility.

Pete Paceley, SPACEHABFlight Services vice president said,“It is a transition flight for us andwe’re excited about the demonstra-tion tests for microgravity process-ing that we’re flying, as well.”

The space agency could stillenlist a pressurized module for ashuttle supply run in the future,but the flight manifest currentlyleaves that task to the Italian-builtmulti-purpose logistics modules,or MPLMs.

THE LAST SPACEHAB module is loaded for transport to Endeavour’scargo bay for the STS-118 mission.

Last SPACEHAB module assists STS-118 missionThe MPLMs are built to attach

directly to the space station duringa shuttle mission, but still comeback with the orbiter. A modulefrom SPACEHAB remains in thecargo bay during the entire flight.

Since flying its first pressurizedmodule in 1993 aboard STS-57,the company has claimed themantle of a successful aerospacecorporation by catering to re-searchers and others willing to payto get their experiments into spaceand back aboard an orbiter.

The hundreds of past experi-ments carried out aboard themodules include aerogel, thesuper-lightweight substance thatbecame the centerpiece of theStardust mission to gather particlesfrom interstellar space.

Just packing the module takesconsiderable planning, especiallyconsidering that some of the bagshave to be loaded while themodule is on its back insideEndeavour at the launch pad. Theloaders devise a complex choreog-raphy to get the 5,800 pounds ofgear on racks and stacked in bagsexactly where the astronautsexpect to find the items.

In the case of STS-118, thecrew can expect a tight fit in themodule because of all the gearstrapped to the walls. The goodnews is that what seems like a tightfit on Earth opens up significantlyin space, where the lack of gravitylets astronauts float up to themodule’s window.