[Spacetalk] https://www.nasa.gov/index.html

Sun Feb 21 23:30:49 CST 2016

Good morning all,
 I hope you had a wonderful weekend and will look forward to the week ahead, of course, one day at time. I had great time at the Daytona Speedway last week, it was fun to be a part of speaking with the public about NASA and the Space program…allot of people came by the display to ask questions….NASA & NASCAR….seems they should go together….actually there are many lessons learned in the space program that are used in making the race cars safer…on Friday Expedition 46 astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra of NASA commanded the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to released the Cygnus spacecraft while the space station was flying above Bolivia. Earlier, ground controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center had maneuvered Cygnus into place for its departure. Once the spacecraft was a safe distance from the station, its engines fired twice, pushing it into Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean. If you have a minute you can go to the subject link (https://www.nasa.gov/index.html) to show it to the kids…make sure you also go to the subject link for all the latest...we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, let those we care about most know, smile & have fun…gabe

This Week @ NASA, February 19, 2016 <http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTYwMjE5LjU1NDQ1MTMxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE2MDIxOS41NTQ0NTEzMSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MjcwNTc4JmVtYWlsaWQ9Zm9yZGdhYmVAbmV0emVyby5jb20mdXNlcmlkPWZvcmRnYWJlQG5ldHplcm8uY29tJmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&100&&&http://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/this-week-nasa-february-19-2016?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

thanks to Jamie for sharing…..
Exotic Cosmic Locales Available as Space Tourism Posters <http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/exotic-cosmic-locales-available-as-space-tourism-posters>

 <http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/exotic-cosmic-locales-available-as-space-tourism-posters>	

Exotic Cosmic Locales Available as Space Tourism Posters
 <http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/exotic-cosmic-locales-available-as-space-tourism-posters>Fourteen space travel posters of colorful, exotic cosmic settings are now available free for downloading and printing
View on www.nasa.gov <http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/exotic-cosmic-locales-available-as-space-tourism-posters>	
Preview by Yahoo

this might be a great class project….practice STEAM….:-) :-) all ages...
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/16-019.png>
 <http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-send-artwork-to-an-asteroid/#> <http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-send-artwork-to-an-asteroid/#> <http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-send-artwork-to-an-asteroid/#> <http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-send-artwork-to-an-asteroid/#> <http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-public-to-send-artwork-to-an-asteroid/#>
NASA Invites Public to Send Artwork to an Asteroid 
NASA is calling all space enthusiasts to send their artistic endeavors on a journey aboard NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. This will be the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in September and travel to the asteroid Bennu. The #WeTheExplorers campaign invites the public to take part in this mission by expressing, through art, how the mission’s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives. Submitted works of art will be saved on a chip on the spacecraft. The spacecraft already carries a chip with more than 442,000 names submitted through the 2014 “Messages to Bennu” campaign. “The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire the public to express their creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space.” A submission may take the form of a sketch, photograph, graphic, poem, song, short video or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer. Submissions will be accepted via Twitter and Instagram until March 20. For details on how to include your submission on the mission to Bennu, go to: http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorer <http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorers> “Space exploration is an inherently creative activity,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their art work on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.” The spacecraft will voyage to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) and return it to Earth for study. Scientists expect Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of the water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona, Tucson leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program.  NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information on OSIRIS-Rex, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex <http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex>

Looking Back: Astronaut Mae Jemison Suits Up For Launch
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ksc-92pc-1881.jpg>
On Sept. 12, 1992, launch day of the STS-47 Spacelab-J <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-47.html> mission on space shuttle Endeavour, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html> waits as her suit technician, Sharon McDougle, performs a unpressurized and pressurized leak check on her spacesuit at the Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Jemison was the science mission specialist on the eight-day joint mission with Japan's space agency, which included 24 materials science and 20 life sciences experiments. She was the first African-American woman to fly in space. McDougle <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/McDougleSC/McDougleSC_7-9-10.htm> said of her role as Dr. Jemison's suit tech, "I just wanted it to be a good experience for her. I’m sure it was probably a little scary for her being the first African-American woman to go into space, so I wanted to do my part in making it special for her too. And for me, because I was excited about being a part of history."

NASA Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the Universe 
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/wfirst_space.jpg>
NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), illustrated here, will carry a Wide Field Instrument to capture Hubble-quality images covering large swaths of sky, enabling cosmic evolution studies. Its Coronagraph Instrument will directly image exoplanets and study their atmospheres.
Credits: NASA/GSFC/Conceptual Image Lab
After years of preparatory studies, NASA is formally starting an astrophysics mission designed to help unlock the secrets of the universe -- the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). With a view 100 times bigger than that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, WFIRST will aid researchers in their efforts to unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, and explore the evolution of the cosmos. It also will discover new worlds outside our solar system and advance the search for worlds that could be suitable for life. NASA's Agency Program Management Council, which evaluates the agency's programs and projects on content, risk management, and performance, made the decision to move forward with the mission on Wednesday. “WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "This mission uniquely combines the ability to discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe in a quest to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.” WFIRST is the agency's next major astrophysics observatory, following the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2018. The observatory will survey large regions of the sky in near-infrared light to answer fundamental questions about the structure and evolution of the universe, and expand our knowledge of planets beyond our solar system – known as exoplanets. It will carry a Wide Field Instrument for surveys, and a Coronagraph Instrument designed to block the glare of individual stars and reveal the faint light of planets orbiting around them. By blocking the light of the host star, the Coronagraph Instrument will enable detailed measurements of the chemical makeup of planetary atmospheres. Comparing these data across many worlds will allow scientists to better understand the origin and physics of these atmospheres, and search for chemical signs of environments suitable for life. "WFIRST is designed to address science areas identified as top priorities by the astronomical community," said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington. “The Wide-Field Instrument will give the telescope the ability to capture a single image with the depth and quality of Hubble, but covering 100 times the area. The coronagraph will provide revolutionary science, capturing the faint, but direct images of distant gaseous worlds and super-Earths.” The telescope’s sensitivity and wide view will enable a large-scale search for exoplanets by monitoring the brightness of millions of stars in the crowded central region of our galaxy. The survey will net thousands of new exoplanets similar in size and distance from their star as those in our own solar system, complementing the work started by NASA's Kepler mission <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/> and the upcoming work of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite <http://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/>. Employing multiple techniques <https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/qa-session-about-nasas-wfirst-mission>, astronomers also will use WFIRST to track how dark energy and dark matter have affected the evolution of our universe. Dark energy is a mysterious, negative pressure that has been speeding up the expansion of the universe. Dark matter is invisible material that makes up most of the matter in our universe. By measuring the distances of thousands of supernovae, astronomers can map in detail how cosmic expansion has increased with time. WFIRST also can precisely measure the shapes, positions and distances of millions of galaxies to track the distribution and growth of cosmic structures, including galaxy clusters and the dark matter accompanying them. "In addition to its exciting capabilities for dark energy and exoplanets, WFIRST will provide a treasure trove of exquisite data for all astronomers," said Neil Gehrels, WFIRST project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "This mission will survey the universe to find the most interesting objects out there WFIRST is slated to launch in the mid-2020s. The observatory will begin operations after traveling to a gravitational balance point known as Earth-Sun L2, which is located about one million miles from Earth in a direction directly opposite the Sun. WFIRST is managed at Goddard, with participation by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, also in Pasadena, and a science team comprised of members from U.S. research institutions across the country. For more information about NASA's WFIRST mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wfirst <http://www.nasa.gov/wfirst>

Flowers Harvested on the Ground and in Space for Deep-Space Food Crop Research
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ksc-20160211-ph_sww0001_0026.jpg>
Chuck Spern, a project engineer with Vencore on the Engineering Services Contract, removes a base tray containing zinnias from a controlled environment chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. innia plants from the Veggie ground control experiment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida were harvested Feb. 11 in the same way that crew member Scott Kelly harvested the zinnias growing in the Veggie system aboard the International Space Station <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html> on Feb. 14—Valentine’s Day. Flowering plants will help scientists learn more about growing crops for deep-space missions and NASA’s journey to Mars.

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