<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font face="Times" style="font-size: 17px;" class="">good morning all,</font><div class=""><font face="Times" style="font-size: 17px;" class=""> I wanted to get this off to you quickly as I hope you can share the launch with your students…<span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The next three crew members bound for the </span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/station" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">International Space Station</a><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> are set to launch on Tuesday, Dec. 15. NASA Television will provide full coverage of the launch beginning at 5 a.m. EST. I know this is too early for those in </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" class="">the</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> US but great </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" class="">timing</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> for schools </span><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;" class="">overseas…I hope you can share this with your students…see it on NASA TV and the schools in the US you will be able to see a replay on NASA TV… </span><font color="#428bca" class=""><span style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv" class="">http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv</a></span></font> we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, be appreciative of the good in our lives, let those we care about most know, smile & have fun! Gabe</font></div><div class=""> </div><div class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 704px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit; font-size: 2.2em;">NASA Television Coverage Set for Next Space Station Crew Launch</h1></div></div><section id="ember940" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-full_width" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto 2em;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/23159697140_588e3d2240_o.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial;" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="985" height="657" alt="Expedition 46 crew" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="11AE01F8-8D5A-42E1-9160-EC9F43D38803" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:949E1B44-9237-40BB-9AEA-4260B634A8CB" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 46-47 crewmembers Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (left), Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Tim Kopra of NASA (right) pose for photos Dec. 1 in front of their Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft during a crew fit check. The trio will launch Dec. 15 from Baikonur for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Credits: NASA/Victor Zelentsov</div><div class="link" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; background-size: inherit; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The next three crew members bound for the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/station" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">International Space Station</a> are set to launch on Tuesday, Dec. 15. NASA Television will provide full coverage of the launch beginning at 5 a.m. EST. <span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Astronauts</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/astro_tim" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Tim Kopra</a><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">of NASA and</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/astro_timpeake" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Tim Peake</a><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">of ESA (European Space Agency), and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:03 a.m. (5:03 p.m. Baikonur time) for a six-month stay on the orbital complex.</span></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The three will travel in a Soyuz spacecraft, rendezvous with the space station and dock to the Rassvet module at 12:24 p.m. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 11:45 a.m.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The hatches between the Soyuz and space station will be opened at about 2:25 p.m., and the newly arrived crew members will be greeted by Expedition 46 Commander</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Scott Kelly</a><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos. NASA TV coverage of the hatch opening will begin at 2 p.m.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Kelly and Kornienko will return in March 2016 with Volkov after spending a</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/one-year-crew" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">year on the station</a><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">collecting valuable biomedical data that will improve our understanding of the effects of long duration space travel and aid in NASA’s journey to Mars.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Together, the Expedition 46 crew members will continue the several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">For the full schedule of prelaunch, launch and docking coverage, visit: </span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv" style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Follow the space station crew members on Instagram and Twitter at: </span><font color="#428bca" class=""><span style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://instagram.com/iss" class="">http://instagram.com/iss</a></span></font> & <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station%C2%A0" style="line-height: 1.4em; font-weight: 700; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station </a></div><table class="content-table" border="0" width="700" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; width: 700px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td colspan="1" align="left" valign="top" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><div class="rss_title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px;"><a href="http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTUxMjE0LjUyNzA0MzgxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE1MTIxNC41MjcwNDM4MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MjM3MDAxJmVtYWlsaWQ9Zm9yZGdhYmVAbmV0emVyby5jb20mdXNlcmlkPWZvcmRnYWJlQG5ldHplcm8uY29tJmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&100&&&http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/expedition-46-soyuz-rollout?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery" class="">Expedition 46 Soyuz Rollout</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></section></div><div class=""><table class="content-table" border="0" width="700" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; width: 700px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td colspan="1" style="padding-bottom: 15px;" class=""><div class="rss_enclosure"><img src="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/23088705953_d186d56a8e_o.jpg" width="700" height="421" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">In this one minute exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky as the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015 in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz is scheduled for Dec. 15 and will send Expedition 46 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA, and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) to the International Space Station for a six-month stay.</span></div><div class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></td></tr><tr class=""><td colspan="1" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><div class="rss_description"><br class=""></div><div class="rss_description"><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 704px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit; font-size: 2.2em;">Strange Star Likely Swarmed by Comets </h1></div></div><section id="ember942" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-full_width" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto 2em;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia20053-label.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial initial;" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="237" height="133" alt="This illustration shows a star behind a shattered comet" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="6AED62D6-8025-47AE-8995-F290BD489CE9" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:3F126906-F939-489F-B58C-468D6F90A1E8" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" class="">T</font><font size="4" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">his illustration shows a star behind a shattered comet. Observations of the star KIC 8462852 by NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes suggest that its unusual light signals are likely from dusty comet fragments, which blocked the light of the star as they passed in front of it in 2011 and 2013. The comets are thought to be traveling around the star in a very long, eccentric orbit.</font></div><div class="credits" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" class="">Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech</font></div><div class="link" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; background-size: inherit; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><p style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class="">A star called KIC 8462852 has been in the news recently for unexplained and bizarre behavior. NASA's Kepler mission had monitored the star for four years, observing two unusual incidents, in 2011 and 2013, when the star's light dimmed in dramatic, never-before-seen ways. Something had passed in front of the star and blocked its light, but what?</p><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Scientists first reported the findings in September, suggesting a family of comets as the most likely explanation. Other cited causes included fragments of planets and asteroids.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">A new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope addresses the mystery, finding more evidence for the scenario involving a swarm of comets. The study, led by Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University, Ames, is accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">One way to learn more about the star is to study it in infrared light. Kepler had observed it in visible light. If a planetary impact, or a collision amongst asteroids, were behind the mystery of KIC 8462852, then there should be an excess of infrared light around the star. Dusty, ground-up bits of rock would be at the right temperature to glow at infrared wavelengths.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">At first, researchers tried to look for infrared light using NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, and found none. But those observations were taken in 2010, before the strange events seen by Kepler -- and before any collisions would have kicked up dust.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">To search for infrared light that might have been generated after the oddball events, researchers turned to Spitzer, which, like WISE, also detects infrared light. Spitzer just happened to observe KIC 8462852 more recently in 2015.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">"Spitzer has observed all of the hundreds of thousands of stars where Kepler hunted for planets, in the hope of finding infrared emission from circumstellar dust," said Michael Werner, the Spitzer project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and the lead investigator of that particular Spitzer/Kepler observing program.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">But, like WISE, Spitzer did not find any significant excess of infrared light from warm dust. That makes theories of rocky smashups very unlikely, and favors the idea that cold comets are responsible. It's possible that a family of comets is traveling on a very long, eccentric orbit around the star. At the head of the pack would be a very large comet, which would have blocked the star's light in 2011, as noted by Kepler. Later, in 2013, the rest of the comet family, a band of varied fragments lagging behind, would have passed in front of the star and again blocked its light.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">By the time Spitzer observed the star in 2015, those comets would be farther away, having continued on their long journey around the star. They would not leave any infrared signatures that could be detected.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">According to Marengo, more observations are needed to help settle the case of KIC 8462852.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">"This is a very strange star," he said. "It reminds me of when we first discovered pulsars. They were emitting odd signals nobody had ever seen before, and the first one discovered was named LGM-1 after 'Little Green Men.'”</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">In the end, the LGM-1 signals turned out to be a natural phenomenon.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">"We may not know yet what's going on around this star,” Marengo observed. “But that's what makes it so interesting.” </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Caltech manages JPL for NASA.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">For more information about Kepler and Spitzer, respectively, visit: </span><font color="#2a6496" style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/kepler" class="">http://www.nasa.gov/kepler</a></span></font><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class=""> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-weight: 700; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://kepler.nasa.gov" class="">http://kepler.nasa.gov</a></span> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-weight: 700; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer" class="">http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer</a></span> </span><a href="http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;" class="">http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu</span></a></div><div class="feature-credits" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"></div></div></section></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 704px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit; font-size: 2.2em;">This Week @ NASA, December 11, 2015</h1></div></div><section id="ember949" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-astronaut-kjell-lindgren-completes-space-station-mission-safely-returns-to-earth" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;" class="">Space station astronauts return safely to Earth</span></a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">On Dec. 11 aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, bid farewell to crew members remaining on the station -- including Commander Scott Kelly, NASA’s one-year mission astronaut. The returning members of Expedition 45 then climbed aboard their Soyuz spacecraft for the trip back to Earth. They safely touched down hours later in Kazakhstan – closing out a 141-day stay in space.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 700; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-coverage-set-for-next-space-station-crew-launch" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Next space station crew prepares for launch</a></span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Meanwhile, preparations continue at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch of the next three additions to the space station crew – including NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. He’s participating in prelaunch training with Expedition 46-47 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency. Launch of their Soyuz to the station from Kazakhstan is scheduled for Dec. 15.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 700; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-cargo-launches-to-space-station-aboard-orbital-atk-resupply-mission" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Supply mission arrives at space station</a></span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">Orbital ATK’s enhanced Cygnus cargo craft arrived at the space station on Dec. 9, three days after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Florida. This is the first flight of the enhanced Cygnus – with its greater payload capacity. The 7,000-plus pounds of cargo delivered by Cygnus includes science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware in support of the approximately 250 science and research investigations that will occur during the Expeditions 45 and 46 missions.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 700; background-position: 0px 0px;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/ames/feature/nasa-invites-media-to-tour-quantum-computing-lab-talk-to-experts" style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration: none; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">Quantum computing lab</a></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">On Dec. 8, members of the media toured the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory or (QuAIL) at NASA’s Ames Research Center. The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is the agency's hub for an experiment to assess the potential of quantum computers to perform calculations that are difficult or impossible using conventional supercomputers.</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The QuAIL team hopes to demonstrate quantum computing and algorithms that may someday dramatically improve NASA’s ability to solve difficult optimization problems for missions in aeronautics, Earth science, and space exploration.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/inventionchallenge/" style="line-height: 1.4em; font-weight: 700; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(42, 100, 150); outline: 0px; background-position: 0px 0px;" class="">2015 Invention Challenge</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory hosted the annual Invention Challenge recently in Pasadena, California. Middle and high school teams demonstrated unique devices they built to compete in this year’s challenge – the “Ball Fling Contest”. The goal of the challenge was to hit three different targets with playground balls in less than 60 seconds. Twenty-one student teams and three teams of JPL engineers and scientists were invited to compete.</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;" class="">The competition promotes creativity, strategic thinking and improvement of science, technology, engineering and math or STEM skills.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></section><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>