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Gabrielle, George F. (KSC-ISC-4011)[URS Federal Technical Services, Inc.] george.f.gabrielle at nasa.gov
Tue Mar 3 06:51:07 CST 2015


Good morning all,
 I hope your week is going great...very busy here but always having fun....I hope you were able to watch some of the activities on the space station over the weekend....awesome views of the astronauts modifying the ISS for future US ships taking astronauts from the US, instead of having to rely on Russia. Hopefully, you can go to the subject link to see replays and show the kids what was being done as the astronauts were completing the modifications. Also check out the New Horizons mission to Pluto as the kids always seem fascinated with Pluto...wishing you a wonderful day...we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, be appreciative of the good in our lives, let those we care about most know, smile & have fun! gabe

Astronauts Complete Series of Three Spacewalks
On Sunday, March 1, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry Virts and Commander Barry "Butch
 <http://www.nasa.gov/content/astronauts-complete-series-of-three-spacewalks>  <http://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/>
Astronauts Complete Successful Series of Spacewalks
 <http://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/>
NASA astronauts Terry Virts and Barry Wilmore ended their spacewalk on Sunday with the repressurization of the Quest airlock. Virts and Wilmore completed installing 400 feet of cable and several antennas associated with the Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles system known as C2V2. Boeing's Crew Transportation System (CST)-100 and the SpaceX Crew Dragon will use the system in the coming years to rendezvous with the orbital laboratory and deliver crews to the space station.


NASA Spacecraft Nears Historic Dwarf Planet Arrival
        [http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/673xvariable_height/public/thumbnails/image/15-027-ceres-gif-650.gif] <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-027-ceres-gif-650.gif>
Ceres rotates in this sped-up movie comprised of images taken by NASA's Dawn mission during its approach to the dwarf planet. The images were taken on Feb. 19, 2015, from a distance of nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers). Dawn observed Ceres for a full rotation of the dwarf planet, which lasts about nine hours. The images have a resolution of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) per pixel.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Ceres Awaits Dawn<http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/dawn/pia18920>
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet when it enters orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6.
"Dawn is about to make history," said Robert Mase, project manager for the Dawn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "Our team is ready and eager to find out what Ceres has in store for us."
Recent images show numerous craters and unusual bright spots that scientists believe tell how Ceres, the first object discovered in our solar system's asteroid belt, formed and whether its surface is changing. As the spacecraft spirals into closer and closer orbits around the dwarf planet, researchers will be looking for signs that these strange features are changing, which would suggest current geological activity.
[http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/226xvariable_height/public/thumbnails/image/15-027-dawn-ceres.jpg]<http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-027-dawn-ceres.jpg>
NASA's Dawn spacecraft took these images of dwarf planet Ceres from about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) away on Feb. 25, 2015. Ceres appears half in shadow because of the current position of the spacecraft relative to the dwarf planet and the sun. The resolution is about 2.3 miles (3.7 kilometers) per pixel.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
"Studying Ceres allows us to do historical research in space, opening a window into the earliest chapter in the history of our solar system," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "Data returned from Dawn could contribute significant breakthroughs in our understanding of how the solar system formed."
Dawn began its final approach phase toward Ceres in December. The spacecraft has taken several optical navigation images and made two rotation characterizations, allowing Ceres to be observed through its full nine-hour rotation. Since Jan. 25, Dawn has been delivering the highest-resolution images of Ceres ever captured, and they will continue to improve in quality as the spacecraft approaches.
Sicilian astronomer Father Giuseppe Piazzi spotted Ceres in 1801. As more such objects were found in the same region, they became known as asteroids, or minor planets. Ceres was initially classified as a planet and later called an asteroid. In recognition of its planet-like qualities, Ceres was designated a dwarf planet in 2006, along with Pluto and Eris.
Ceres is named for the Roman goddess of agriculture and harvests. Craters on Ceres will similarly be named for gods and goddesses of agriculture and vegetation from world mythology. Other features will be named for agricultural festivals.
Launched in September 2007, Dawn explored the giant asteroid Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, capturing detailed images and data about that body. Both Vesta and Ceres orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter, in the main asteroid belt. This two-stop tour of our solar system is made possible by Dawn's ion propulsion system, its three ion engines being much more efficient than chemical propulsion.
"Both Vesta and Ceres were on their way to becoming planets, but their development was interrupted by the gravity of Jupiter," said Carol Raymond, deputy project scientist at JPL. "These two bodies are like fossils from the dawn of the solar system, and they shed light on its origins."
Ceres and Vesta have several important differences. Ceres is the most massive body in the asteroid belt, with an average diameter of 590 miles (950 kilometers). Ceres' surface covers about 38 percent of the area of the continental United States. Vesta has an average diameter of 326 miles (525 kilometers), and is the second most massive body in the belt. The asteroid formed earlier than Ceres and is a very dry body. Ceres, in contrast, is estimated to be 25 percent water by mass.
"By studying Vesta and Ceres, we will gain a better understanding of the formation of our solar system, especially the terrestrial planets and most importantly the Earth," said Raymond. "These bodies are samples of the building blocks that have formed Venus, Earth and Mars. Vesta-like bodies are believed to have contributed heavily to the core of our planet, and Ceres-like bodies may have provided our water."
"We would not be able to orbit and explore these two worlds without ion propulsion," Mase said. "Dawn capitalizes on this innovative technology to deliver big science on a small budget."
In addition to the Dawn mission, NASA will launch in 2016 its Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. This mission will study a large asteroid in unprecedented detail and return samples to Earth.
NASA also places a high priority on tracking and protecting Earth from asteroids. NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program at the agency's headquarters manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of asteroids and comets whose orbits periodically bring them close to Earth. NASA is pursuing an Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which will identify, redirect and send astronauts to explore an asteroid. Among its many exploration goals, the mission could demonstrate basic planetary defense techniques for asteroid deflection.
Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft.
The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.
For a complete list of mission participants, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
For more information about Dawn, visit:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov<http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/>
For more information on OSIRIS-REx and ARM visit:
http://www.nasa.gov<http://www.nasa.gov/>



[X]
New Spaceport Magazine Available Online Today
NASA's One-Year Mission is just around the corner. Our journey to Mars and beyond depend on a better understanding of human reactions to long-term space travel.

Celebrate our 12th issue<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015> by sharing with friends!

In the March issue:
*       One-Year Crew preps for deep space travel<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/6>
*       Crew access tower construction begins<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/20>
*       Swarmies aim for more efficient search methods<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/10>
*       Giant crawler-transporters turn 50 years old<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/14>
*       Celebrate Literacy Week highlights bookworms<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/12>
*       BEST celebration honors MLK<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/34>
*       Gemini technology driving today's exploration<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015/38>


Check out the magazine<http://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine/docs/spaceport_magazine_____march_2015> on the ISSUU digital newsstand or click the cover photo. View past issues at the ISSUU digital newsstand here<https://issuu.com/spaceportmagazine>.
To download or view the accessible PDF version or view past PDF issues of the magazine, go to http://go.nasa.gov/1k2qusq.


View the Latest Edition of "This Week at NASA" (Published Feb. 27, 2015)
View the latest "This Week at NASA" produced by NASA Television for features on agency news and activities. Stories in this program include:

*       U.S. Spacewalks Continue on ISS
*       Preview of Magnetic Mission
*       Earth Is Changing. We're on It.
*       Soil Moisture Satellite Deploys Antenna
*       Groundbreaking for Commercial Crew Access Tower
To watch this edition of "This Week at NASA" dated Feb. 27, 2015, click on the image below:
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zczwVH4jcDQ>
Watch the Video
You also may access this edition of "This Week at NASA" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zczwVH4jcDQ
For more information on these and other stories, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/twan
This Week at NASA" and other NASA features are available at http://www.nasa.gov under NASA Multimedia, http://www.youtube.com/nasatelevision and iTunes.


ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICTURES


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