A Busy Week for NASA
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barbara mountjoy
I’ve been writing since I can remember, everything from romance to science fiction. I’ve had some moderate success, but keep the ultimate goal to have novels in print. Meantime, I’ve got my day job as a family law attorney, my night job as parent to three children with special needs, and I write when I can. Find out more at http://awalkabout.wordpress.com
By barbara mountjoy
Published on 06/3/2008
Eyes are to the skies this week as NASA personnel and equipment explore with, repair and install a variety of technical gadgets...
Millions of miles apart, NASA teams make history
Eyes are to the skies this week as NASA personnel and equipment explore with, repair and install a variety of technical gadgets.
The Discovery has docked with the International Space Station (ISS), carrying several precious bits of cargo, not the least of which is the replacement part for the space toilet aboard the station.
The big news is the delivery of the second part of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), which is Japan's first human space facility. The 37-foot long JEM took up nearly the entire shuttle payload bay, forcing the shuttle to leave its inspection boom back on earth. They've now recovered another that was left at the ISS previously, and have successfully installed this one on Discovery. The inspection boom is very important in the process of checking the shuttle for damage before re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, to avoid potential disaster like what befell the shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Today's major task was a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk to install the 32,000-pound JEM onto the ISS. This 195th spacewalk takes place on the 43-year anniversary of the first American's walk in space, made by astronaut Ed White on June 3, 1965. By way of contrast, White's walk took only 23 minutes and involved just getting to the end of a tether and back three times.
Once Kibo is fully operational, astronauts will be able to conduct a multitude of experiments in biotechnology, space medicine, materials production and more. The first part of the Kibo equipment was delivered during a shuttle rendezvous with the ISS in March 2008; the third and final delivery has not received a date certain at this time.
Meanwhile, other observers are focused on Mars, as the Phoenix Mars Lander, having survived its actual landing, is now in the business of testing the soil in the northern polar region of the Red Planet that is our neighbor. According to the NASA mission site, the objectives of the Phoenix mission are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.
If all this excitement isn't enough for one week, NASA is also expecting to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) into orbit no earlier than June 7. This apparatus, created under a joint international team as well as the US Department of Energy, will be able to provide analysis of high-energy gamma rays, as well as probing dark matter and providing a new outlook on the universe from a new perspective.
The Discovery has docked with the International Space Station (ISS), carrying several precious bits of cargo, not the least of which is the replacement part for the space toilet aboard the station.
The big news is the delivery of the second part of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), which is Japan's first human space facility. The 37-foot long JEM took up nearly the entire shuttle payload bay, forcing the shuttle to leave its inspection boom back on earth. They've now recovered another that was left at the ISS previously, and have successfully installed this one on Discovery. The inspection boom is very important in the process of checking the shuttle for damage before re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, to avoid potential disaster like what befell the shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Today's major task was a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk to install the 32,000-pound JEM onto the ISS. This 195th spacewalk takes place on the 43-year anniversary of the first American's walk in space, made by astronaut Ed White on June 3, 1965. By way of contrast, White's walk took only 23 minutes and involved just getting to the end of a tether and back three times.
Once Kibo is fully operational, astronauts will be able to conduct a multitude of experiments in biotechnology, space medicine, materials production and more. The first part of the Kibo equipment was delivered during a shuttle rendezvous with the ISS in March 2008; the third and final delivery has not received a date certain at this time.
Meanwhile, other observers are focused on Mars, as the Phoenix Mars Lander, having survived its actual landing, is now in the business of testing the soil in the northern polar region of the Red Planet that is our neighbor. According to the NASA mission site, the objectives of the Phoenix mission are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.
If all this excitement isn't enough for one week, NASA is also expecting to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) into orbit no earlier than June 7. This apparatus, created under a joint international team as well as the US Department of Energy, will be able to provide analysis of high-energy gamma rays, as well as probing dark matter and providing a new outlook on the universe from a new perspective.