<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 size="4" class="">Hi all,</font><div class=""><font size="4" class=""> Hope everything is going well and the kids are making your life fun :-) :-) I have finished an amazing week of visiting schools... <span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt; background-color: white;" class="">I presented to 6 schools speaking with
kids in 1st, 5th, 7th, 8th grades, and HS…it was amazing to have that wide an
age r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class="">ange in such a short time… On Wed I was at Keene’s Cross
Elem to present the school with a special gift…from there to SunRidge
Elementary and then to American Heritage School to speak with a group of HS
students at a Pre-Engineering Society Meeting. It is a wonderful curriculum for
HS students interested in engineering to gain both educational and practical
experience…on Thurs I was at Pride Elem & Williams Magnet Middle schools
with the first graders in the morning, they were adorable…I was with them for
an hour… and 7th & 8th graders
in the afternoon... then on Sat </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt; background-color: white;" class="">I did a
presentation and participated in a very special day at Florida Polytechnic
University… 200 HS students were given the opportunity to</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class=""> attend mini
classes to experience this amazing university. I realize many schools in the US are off for the Thanksgiving holiday but still wanted to send an update since I will be leaving for almost 3 weeks in Norway on Saturday. </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;" class="">This</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class=""> will be my first </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;" class="">Thanksgiving</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class=""> in </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;" class="">the</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class=""> US in 4 years as I have spent the last 3 in Norway, which has been fine</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;" class="">… I have been at so many schools I thought I would include the link to see the ISS from your home…Wishing everyone who is celebrating and all those</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;" class=""> around the world to share in our THANKSGIVING DAY</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;" class="">…</span><font color="#666666" class=""> </font></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">which began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year…but I like to say to give thanks for all the good in our lives, for the people who mean the most to us, and for the chance to help others...</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">On Saturday I leave for Norway, maybe Sweden, for almost 3 weeks so I will try to update you as I can...</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span>we
have to always remember to 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, make each day special, smile & have fun! Gabe</font></div><div class=""><font size="4" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:19.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:
Cambria;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 21px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(29, 33, 41); letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;" class=""><b class="">See the Space Station From the Ground:</b> </span><font color="#0433ff" class=""><span style="cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;" class=""><a href="http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/" class="">http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/</a></span> </font></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 21px;" class=""><font color="#0433ff" class=""><br class=""></font></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 21px;" class=""><font color="#0433ff" class=""><br class=""></font></span></div><div class=""><font color="#0433ff" class=""><span style="font-size: 21px;" class="">Florida Polytechnic University</span></font></div><div class=""><img height="960" width="1280" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" apple-inline="yes" id="5BA6E336-D645-4252-8FFF-CE4C1D2E9D83" src="cid:6E0287CA-A35B-48BD-8114-403100240D22" class=""></div><div class=""><font color="#0433ff" size="5" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 738.75px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit;">NASA Launches NOAA Weather Satellite Aboard United Launch Alliance Rocket to Improve Forecasts</h1></div></div><section id="ember789" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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/jpss-launch-3a.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="985" height="488" alt="Delta II Rocket Roars to Life Launching JPSS-1" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="15A4589D-1848-49E0-9CDB-A84DB1E39F6B" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:357A9FE5-57C5-4AC0-A770-8DC23E5978C0" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">At Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2, the Delta II rocket engines roar to life. The 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), liftoff begins the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, mission. JPSS is the first in a series four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between NOAA and NASA.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: NASA</div><div class="link" style="font-size: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"><a href="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""></a></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><font size="4" class="">NASA has successfully launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the first in a series of four highly advanced polar-orbiting satellites, equipped with next-generation technology and designed to improve the accuracy of U.S. weather forecasts out to seven days. The Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) lifted off on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 1:47 a.m. PST Saturday. Approximately 63 minutes after launch the solar arrays on JPSS-1 deployed and the spacecraft was operating on its own power. JPSS-1 will be renamed NOAA-20 when it reaches its final orbit<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">.</strong> Following a three-month checkout and validation of its five advanced instruments, the satellite will become operational. “Launching JPSS-1 underscores NOAA’s commitment to putting the best possible satellites into orbit, giving our forecasters -- and the public -- greater confidence in weather forecasts up to seven days in advance, including the potential for severe, or impactful weather,” said Stephen Volz, director of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. JPSS-1 will join the joint NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite in the same orbit and provide meteorologists with observations of atmospheric temperature and moisture, clouds, sea-surface temperature, ocean color, sea ice cover, volcanic ash, and fire detection. The data will improve weather forecasting, such as predicting a hurricane’s track, and will help agencies involved with post-storm recovery by visualizing storm damage and the geographic extent of power outages. “Emergency managers increasingly rely on our forecasts to make critical decisions and take appropriate action before a storm hits,” said Louis W. Uccellini, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “Polar satellite observations not only help us monitor and collect information about current weather systems, but they provide data to feed into our weather forecast models.” JPSS-1 has five instruments, each of which is significantly upgraded from the instruments on NOAA’s previous polar-orbiting satellites. The more-detailed observations from JPSS will allow forecasters to make more accurate predictions. JPSS-1 data will also improve recognition of climate patterns that influence the weather, such as El Nino and La Nina. The JPSS program is a partnership between NOAA and NASA through which they will oversee the development, launch, testing and operation all the satellites in the series. NOAA funds and manages the program, operations and data products. NASA develops and builds the instruments, spacecraft and ground system and launches the satellites for NOAA. JPSS-1 launch management was provided by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Today’s launch is the latest example of the strong relationship between NASA and NOAA, contributing to the advancement of scientific discovery and the improvement of the U.S. weather forecasting capability by leveraging the unique vantage point of space to benefit and protect humankind,” said Sandra Smalley, director of NASA’s Joint Agency Satellite Division. Ball Aerospace designed and built the JPSS-1 satellite bus and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite instrument, integrated all five of the spacecraft’s instruments and performed satellite-level testing and launch support. Raytheon Corporation built the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite and the Common Ground System. Harris Corporation built the Cross-track Infrared Sounder. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems built the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder and the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument. To learn more about the JPSS-1 mission, visit: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><a href="http://www.jpss.noaa.gov/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">http://www.jpss.noaa.gov/</a> </strong>and <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/jpss-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/jpss-1</a></strong></font></p></div></section><div class=""> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b style="font-size: 31px;" class="">In case you didn’t see this</b></div><div class=""><img height="721" width="1280" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" apple-inline="yes" id="9B58BE41-F88E-48D6-A5F7-014638EC8514" src="cid:6AB0332D-4F8B-41A9-A3BD-2042D7554067" class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 31px;" class=""><font face="HelveticaNeue" class=""><b class="">SpaceX has postponed its next launch from the Kennedy Space Center indefinitely to examine data from a recent payload fairing test for another customer.</b></font></span></p><figure id="attachment_28583" class="alignnone wp-caption" style="margin: 1.25rem 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; width: 675px;"><img class=" wp-image-28583 lazy-loaded lazy" src="https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" data-lazy-src="https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2.jpg" alt="" width="675" height="394" data-lazy-srcset="https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2.jpg 900w, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-300x175.jpg 300w, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-768x448.jpg 768w, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-678x396.jpg 678w" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px" srcset="https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2.jpg 900x, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-300x175.jpg 300x, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-768x448.jpg 768x, https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/14224409/34681559323_d41bdee6c3_k-2-678x396.jpg 678x" sizes="(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: bottom; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.75rem; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;">File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><br class=""></p></div><div class=""><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 738.75px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit;">NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Performs First Supersonic Parachute Test </h1></div></div><section id="ember790" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-full_width" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; 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/spin-up_frz2.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(42, 100, 150); outline: 0px;" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="985" height="554" alt="58-foot-tall Black Brant IX sounding rocket launches from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility " title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="6FBBFD0B-C2F5-4BBA-9E96-04E33B8C2956" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:57DA652E-3700-4BD5-9CE5-B9729FC64001" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">A 58-foot-tall Black Brant IX sounding rocket launches from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Oct. 4. This was the first test of the Mars 2020 mission's parachute-testing series, the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment, or ASPIRE.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: NASA/Wallops</div><div class="link" style="font-size: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><font face="Verdana" size="4" class="">Landing on Mars is difficult and not always successful. Well-designed advance testing helps. An ambitious NASA Mars rover mission set to launch in 2020 will rely on a special parachute to slow the spacecraft down as it enters the Martian atmosphere at over 12,000 mph (5.4 kilometers per second). Preparations for this mission have provided, for the first time, dramatic video of the parachute opening at supersonic speed. The Mars 2020 mission will seek signs of ancient Martian life by investigating evidence in place and by caching drilled samples of Martian rocks for potential future return to Earth. The mission's parachute-testing series, the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment, or ASPIRE, began with a rocket launch and upper-atmosphere flight last month from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. "It is quite a ride," said Ian Clark, the test's technical lead from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "The imagery of our first parachute inflation is almost as breathtaking to behold as it is scientifically significant. For the first time, we get to see what it would look like to be in a spacecraft hurtling towards the Red Planet, unfurling its parachute."</font></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="title-bar" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 738.75px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit;">Hubble’s Cosmic Search for a Missing Arm </h1></div></div><div class="feature-image-container" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -2em 2em; font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/potw1746a.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(42, 100, 150); outline: 0px;" class=""><img class="feature-image" alt="beautiful full disc spiral galaxy with pink and blue swirls" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%;" apple-inline="yes" id="492D0F9C-BB84-4A44-B056-19CC3CFE1A88" height="555" width="1041" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:ECA8D5E0-9596-4DA5-9E3A-450AAD719FCC"></a></div><section id="ember786" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><font size="4" class="">This new picture of the week, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the dwarf galaxy NGC 4625, located about 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). The image, acquired with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), reveals the single major spiral arm of the galaxy, which gives it an asymmetric appearance. But why is there only one such spiral arm, when spiral galaxies normally have at least two? Astronomers looked at NGC 4625 in different wavelengths in the hope of solving this cosmic mystery. Observations in the ultraviolet provided the first hint: in ultraviolet light the disk of the galaxy appears four times larger than on the image depicted here. An indication that there are a large number of very young and hot — hence mainly visible in the ultraviolet — stars forming in the outer regions of the galaxy. These young stars are only around one billion years old, about 10 times younger than the stars seen in the optical center. At first astronomers assumed that this high star formation rate was being triggered by the interaction with another, nearby dwarf galaxy called NGC 4618. They speculated that NGC 4618 may be the culprit “harassing” NGC 4625, causing it to lose all but one spiral arm. In 2004 astronomers found proof for this claim. The gas in the outermost regions of the dwarf galaxy NGC 4618 has been strongly affected by NGC 4625</font><span style="font-size: 1em;" class="">.</span></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA </em></strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Text credit: European Space Agency</em></strong></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="article-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; overflow: hidden;"><div class="title-bar" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 738.75px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit;">First SLS Rocket Hardware Turned Over to Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center</h1></div></div><section id="ember787" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-side_image" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0em 3em 2em; max-width: 320px; float: right; clear: right; width: 320px;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ksc-20171107-ph_sww01_0078c.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="320" height="200" alt="Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage Turnover Ceremony" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="73A1F0AD-17D3-4CBF-A5CE-9921096CC4EF" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:DE990794-66FD-4679-B6BD-F9935A57D6B7" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mike Bolger, Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, speaks to guests during a ceremony in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility. The event marked the milestone of the Space Launch System rocket's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage being turned over from NASA's Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution organization to the spaceport's GSDO directorate.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: NASA/ Bill Wh<span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">ite</span></div><div class="link" style="font-size: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"><a href="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""></a></div></div></div><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-side_image" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0em 3em 2em; max-width: 320px; float: right; clear: right; width: 320px;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/34143356066_907bbb9ec4_oa.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="320" height="132" alt="Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="207E0033-B125-4A0C-8311-AAB9EB684426" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:08FF1187-0824-404E-BB88-99898773AFD5" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">On April 11, 2017, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for NASA's Space Launch System rocket is being moved out of the United Launch Alliance Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the Delta Operations Center.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br class=""></div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br class=""></div><div class="link" style="font-size: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"><a href="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""></a></div></div></div><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-side_image" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0em 3em 2em; max-width: 320px; float: right; clear: right; width: 320px;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/36355869805_76912ccdf3_oa.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="320" height="214" alt="Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage moved inside the Space Station Processing Facility" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="0054517A-0BB9-4AC8-B2B6-F65F9A68764D" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:ACC01067-E068-45C8-9AEE-A86F0DC9EB07" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Packed inside its canister on July 26, 2017, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage has been moved inside the low bay of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett</div><div class="link" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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=""><br class=""></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><font size="4" class=""><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class="">NASA recently marked another key milestone in preparation for human </font><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars" style="color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;" class="">deep space exploration near the Moon.</a><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class=""> Officials with the </font><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html" style="color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;" class="">Space Launch System</a><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class=""> (SLS) Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution organization formally turned over processing of the rocket's </font><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sls/interim_cryogenic_propulsion_stage_141030.html" style="color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;" class="">interim cryogenic propulsion stage</a><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class=""> (ICPS) to the center's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. </font><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The SLS is a new heavy-lift rocket designed to send astronauts aboard the</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html" style="color: rgb(66, 139, 202); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;" class="">Orion</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to the vicinity of the Moon, and ultimately the Red Planet. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">During a recent ceremony in the high bay of the spaceport's Space Station Processing Facility, Mike Bolger, manager, GSDO Program at Kennedy, noted the ICPS is the first piece of hardware being turned over to GSDO for processing in preparation for the first integrated flight of SLS and Orion, which is an uncrewed mission known as Exploration Mission-1. </span><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class="">"It's great to be standing in front of flight hardware," he said. "Over the next year, the components of the most powerful rocket in the world will be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center.” </font><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">John Honeycutt, SLS program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, thanked the Kennedy team for years of effort preparing the Florida spaceport's facilities for processing SLS and Orion. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">"I've seen all your hard work that you're doing relative to the accomplishments you've made in the</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/vehicle-assembly-building-prepared-for-another-50-years-of-service" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Vehicle Assembly Building</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">, on the</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/718660main_mobile-launcher.pdf" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">mobile launcher</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">and out at the</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/launch-pad-39b-infrastructure-upgrades-will-support-nasa-s-journey-to-mars" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">launch pad</a><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class="">," Honeycutt said. "We’re looking forward to getting you some more pieces of hardware to start moving over to the VAB so you can put the rocket together.” </font><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The ICPS arrived at Port Canaveral aboard the United Launch Alliance's (ULA's) Mariner barge earlier this year, and is the first integrated piece of flight hardware completed for NASA's SLS rocket. It was shipped from the ULA facility in Decatur, Alabama. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">After arrival, the ICPS was transported to the ULA Horizontal Integration Facility near Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There it was removed from its shipping container for initial inspections. Next, the ICPS was moved to the Delta Operations Center for further checkouts. It then was packed inside a canister and transferred to the Space Station Processing Facility. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">The ICPS now will be processed and prepared for Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of SLS and Orion. NASA is</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-completes-review-of-first-sls-orion-deep-space-exploration-mission" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">managing to December 2019</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">with four-to-six months schedule risk for launch. With the Orion attached, the ICPS sits atop the SLS rocket and uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. The interim stage will provide Orion with the additional thrust needed to travel tens of thousands of miles beyond the Moon. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">"Our human spaceflight mission at NASA is to push humans deeper out into the solar system," said Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We are going to take the Orion spacecraft, with the help of ICPS, farther into the solar system than any spacecraft built for humans has ever gone."</span></font></p><div class="editor-info" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;"><div class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit;" class="">Tags: </span><span style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html" style="font-family: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Journey to Mars</a><span class="comma" style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; box-sizing: border-box;">,</span><span style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html" style="font-family: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Kennedy Space Center</a><span class="comma" style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; box-sizing: border-box;">,</span><span style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html" style="font-family: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Space Launch System</a></div></div></div></section></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></section></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br class=""></div></div></section></div></div></body></html>