Where to view the launch

Great maps for the best shuttle launch viewing spots.

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/30/08

Want to know the best places to go view the launch? Check out this interactive map.

To find the best places to go watch, and get advice from our local experts about each particular location: 

CLICK HERE to see the interactive online map.

CLICK HERE for a PDF version you can print out and take with you. 

- John Kelly

IMAGE NOTE: Spectators pack Space View park along the Indian River in Titusville to watch Atlantis launch. Photo by Tim Shortt, FLORIDA TODAY.

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Discovery crew to arrive today

Sigh...I'm going to be on the west coast for the next launch.

I really like these cool new crew photos, but two complaints:
1. I'd like to see the flags of the countries represented better. We need to give a shout-out to the countries who are helping out
2. I'd like to see more the mission patch. I think mission patches are one of the best things about missions and it needs to be displayed more in these pictures.

...other than that I can't wait to see the "Lexus of space station modules" get installed!

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/28/08

The crew of Discovery is scheduled to leave Houston at 10 a.m. EDT today and arrive at Kennedy Space Center at 11:30 a.m., as the space shuttle is prepared for a 5:02 p.m. launch on Saturday.

Technicians were awaiting the arrival of spare parts Discovery will carry to the International Space Station in order to repair the broken main toilet. After the repeated failure of an air/liquid separator, space station astronauts were forced to use a bag collection system.

The countdown begins today at 3 p.m. Before that the Mission Management Team will meet at 9 a.m. Watch The Flame Trench for coverage of a press briefing that will begin no earlier than 10 a.m.

ABOUT THE IMAGE:The crew of Discovery has trained to perform three spacewalks to install the 37-foot Japanese Kibo laboratory.

AIRSPACE CLOSED: 

Pilots are restricted from flying in KSC airspace on Saturday.

BOATING RESTRICTIONS GO INTO EFFECT THIS EVENING:

Parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian River, the Mosquito Lagoon and the Banana River will be closed. All boating restrictions will be lifted approximately one hour after launch. Boating interests should monitor U.S. Coast Guard Channel 16 broadcasting from Port Canaveral.

ROAD CLOSURES:

- The Cape Canaveral National Seashore will close for launch on Tuesday. The Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge will close for launch on Friday, May 30, at 6 p.m.
- State Road 406 east to State Road 3, and State Road 3 south from the Haulover Canal Bridge to State Road 402 leading to Titusville will be open to badged personnel. These roads will close to all vehicle traffic at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, until after a successful launch has occurred.
- State Road 3 from the Gate 2 News Media Pass and Identification Building to State Road 405, NASA Causeway, via Space Commerce Way
will be closed for launch beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday. NASA Causeway between the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also will close starting at that time. Roads will reopen approximately two hours after launch. The Cape Canaveral National Seashore will reopen one day after launch.

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Today Show on Phoenix mission

The Today Show did a really good piece this morning on the Mars Phoenix lander. I hope these links work...

Embedded video:



Video URL:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24836996#24836996




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Beef jerky theft leads to Port St. Lucie arrest

Hometown news...I thought this was funny at first, but then I thought how sad that someone would steal and assault people for a small amount of food. This article really makes me stop and think about what's going on in the world today.

via PalmBeachPost.com - Treasure Coast headlines on 5/27/08

A man was caught trying to hide 23 packs of Slim Jim beef jerky and "hot sausages" in his pants after punching a man at a Marathon gas station on Port St. Lucie Boulevard, according to a police report released today.

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Main toilet broken at space station

The toilet is busted on the space station and company is coming!

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/27/08

How do you call the plumber in space?

Discovery will be loaded with spare parts to fix the main bathroom at the International Space Station. The urine-collection device apparently is not working.

The three crew members on the station, a U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts, are using the toilet in the Soyuz module. The situation could become problematic when Discovery arrives and ten people are required to use the toilet on the tiny Soyuz, which is a Russian capsule also designated to be used at an emergency lifeboat.

Conditions are not unsanitary, said a NASA spokesman.

Though Discovery will carry up replacement parts on Saturday, NASA is not sure which parts will be included for replacement.

With the successful arrival on Mars of the Phoenix spacecraft, NASA is turning its attention to Saturday's launch of Discovery on a mission to deliver a massive Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station.

Technicians returned to work today at launch pad 39A. Most work crews had the Memorial Day weekend off. Discovery's astronaut crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center Wednesday about 11:30 a.m. EDT. The coundown begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Discovery will blast off at 5:02 p.m. EDT on a trip to deliver the 37-foot Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. Three spacewalks will be performed during the 14-day mission.

- Patrick Peterson

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click on the above image to see an updated image of Discovery at pad 39 A.

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Twitter / MarsPhoenix

I'm not sure if this is officially supported by NASA, but it's cool to see someone use "hip" web technology to get the word out regarding the Phoenix lander and Mars. I have to admit Twitter is really amazing yet so simple.

The handle on Twitter is MarsPhoenix.


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The cat who rides in a cab

Here's a video of the West Palm Beach cab with Rambo the cat.

Website Snapshot Local | West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Treasure Coast local news, weather, live radar, investigative from Newschannel 5 | WPTV.com WPTV NewsChannel 5 NBC Affiliate Serving the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast. South Florida's top rated station for News, Weather, Investigative and Breaking News. View our live radar right now!

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Oil: Key players and movements

Click on the link in this article to bring up an interactive map showing oil production, consumption, and movement. Very interesting...

via www.ft.com on 5/21/08

Latest news on what is driving the high prices that have moved the oil and gas markets into sharp focus, plus a briefing on Opec

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Surprise! Space Shuttle replacement delayed

Sorry for the sarcastic tone, but is anyone really surprised about the news in the article below? Of course, I'm not helpful in bringing any solutions to the table. I'm not sure what the priorities are here. It's a hard job to juggle everyone's desires (scientists, politicians, engineers, etc.). The next few years of transition will be interesting.

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/15/08

A five-week slip in NASA's final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission likely will have a ripple effect, pushing back the planned launch next April of the agency's first Ares rocket test flight at Kennedy Space Center to late May 2009, officials said today.

"Right now, the first blush impact assessment suggests a day-for-day slip," said Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA's Project Constellation Program Office, which is developing the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rockets along with Apollo-style Orion capsules and Altair lunar landers for a planned American return to the moon by 2020.

But project engineers and managers are looking at ways to mitigate the shuttle mission delay and reduce the resulting slip to the Ares 1 test flight. "We're working on that. We'll see," Hanley said.

The Ares 1-X mission will be the first of four test flights slated to be carried out under a $1.8 billion contract to design, develop and test the rocket's first stage: a five-segment shuttle-derived solid rocket booster.

The test flight originally was set for launch next April 15 from KSC's launch pad 39B -- the same pad NASA aims to use to launch a rapid-response rescue flight if Atlantis is critically damaged during the agency's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

Astronauts on that flight won't be able to seek safe haven on the International Space Station because the Hubble telescope is in an entirely different orbit, and Atlantis won't have enough propellant to fly to the outpost in an emergency. So NASA intends to have Endeavour ready to fly on pad 39B when Atlantis launches from pad 39A.

NASA had planned to launch the Hubble servicing mission on Aug. 28, but a slow-down in shuttle external tank production is forcing the agency to push back the flight.

Senior managers next Thursday will consider changing the target launch date for the launch to Oct. 8, a move that's largely the result of the extra time now required to manufacture shuttle external tanks equipped with all post-Columbia safety modifications.

The slip also will delay the turn-over of pad 39B to the Ares 1X test team. That will delay pad modifications and launch preparations, forcing a launch delay until sometime in late May 2009, Hanley said.

The inaugural test flight will employ a four-segment shuttle booster, an empty fifth segment and mock-ups of an Ares 1 second atage, Orion spacecraft and a tractor-rocket launch abort system. The empty fifth segment and the dummy upper stages will act as mass simulators that sport outer mold lines that are aerodynamically exact copies of Ares 1 rocket hardware and Orion spacecraft.

The $320 million mission will test first-stage flight control systems as well as the system that separates the first and second stage along with the parachutes that lower the first to the ocean's surface.

The test flight is aimed at ferreting out any design changes that should be made prior to a planned critical design review of all Ares 1 rocket systems in March of 2010. Ares 1 project manager Steve Cook of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center said data from the test flight is needed at least six months ahead of the review.

- Todd Halvorson

ABOUT THE IMAGE: NASA artist's concept of the Ares 1X vehicle on launch pad 39B prior to its first test flight.

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US to leave the International Space Station?

I think it'll be interesting times for NASA around 2015. The article below highlights the debates about how long to be a part of the international space station.

via NASA SpaceFlight.com on 5/16/08

NASA managers have been meeting today to debate the option of removing the US presence from the International Space Station (ISS) when Discovery undocks at the latter part of STS-124. Meanwhile, STS-124 processing continues to pick up the pace, following the recent replacement of a faulty MDM (Multiplexer/Demultiplexer) card (FA2), and a Russian re-supply ship (Progress 29P) has successfully docked with the ISS.

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Update on Dell Problem

Well, after a ton of e-mails back and forth I was finally able to get Dell to admit the issue in an e-mail:

Mr. Borzillo, as the Quicken Home and Business is mentioned in your order confirmation e-mail and not in the invoice, I would request you to contact our Sales Department at the toll free number 1-800-915-3355 between 08:00 AM – 9:00PM (CST), Monday to Sunday. They will be happy to assist you.

So I thought, "Yeah if I call they'll send me right back to customer care."  I went ahead and tried to escalate the issue on this site.  I decided to at least follow through on the suggestion from the last e-mail.  As expected, I explained how the order confirmation didn't match the invoice and I was told I could only return everything, get a refund, and order a new system with my specs.  When I said I didn't want to return the unit and wait several weeks I was "encourged" to at least speak to the returns department to see what we could work out.

A-ha!  Then I spoke to someone who actually asked to see the original order confirmation and agreed that there was a bug on the ordering web site!  Then after waiting for a few minutes he said they'll ship out a copy of my software to resolve the issue.  Wow!

Also, I'd like to thank Chris Byrd for coming across my first blog post and offering to help.   Hopefully I'll get the software delivered and there won't be any more problems.

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Problems with Dell...anyone relate?

I was excited to receive our new Dell desktop today. I ordered it to replace the old one Danielle is using to handle orders for the online used bookstore. Everything was up and running quickly except for one thing. I ordered Quicken Home and Business along with the desktop and I didn't see it installed. I looked through the stack of CDs and didn't notice it there either. When I finally received the invoice I noticed it was missing on the list.

So I called tech support. Tech support said it wasn't a technical issue and I had to talk to customer care (customer service). Customer care routed me to sales who routed me back to customer care (cue the circus clown music here). I hate getting the run around when trying to fix a problem.

When I placed the original order online I kept the e-mail stating what I ordered (the desktop, Quicken software, discount, taxes, and S&H). The total in the original e-mail matched the total on the invoice of the box I received except no Quicken was sent. So I felt like I was in the Bizarro world because in our discussion the rep from Dell would say, "We didn't charge you for Quicken" because Quicken wasn't on the invoice. No duh because it wasn't sent to me, but the total remained the same! There was no adjustment from the original order confirmation. When I moved the conversation to the confirmation e-mail they said that they cannot verify that information and I cannot e-mail them my copy of the confirmation e-mail.

Then (you'll love this) they said my only option was to RETURN the computer and put in a new order. That's not acceptible because the downtime for the business of sending it back and waiting for a new one would add up to much more than the value of the software alone. Why couldn't they just refund me the money or send me the CD? If I sent back the desktop how do I know this problem wouldn't happen again?

So I am taking my complaint through e-mail with customer care where I copy/paste the original order confirmation in my e-mail to CSR. Of course, I keep hearing that I wasn't charged for Quicken so it's not an issue and I keep explaining that somehow Dell's system dropped that line item between order and invoice but my total remained the same.

So, I'm taking this to the blog because after doing some Googling I found a site that says Dell does read blogs and doesn't like bad press. I also came across Michael Dell's e-mail and hope that it is valid. Also, I'll be contesting the charge on the credit card asking for the price of the software to be refunded.

Why are these things so hard? You make a mistake...own up to it!

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British Judicial Robes In A 'Star Trek' Makeover

Click on the links at the end of the article for pictures of the new judicial robes...

via TrekToday Headlines on 5/13/08

New robes for British judges are reminiscent of 'Star Trek' costumes.

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Intelsat And Panasonic To Bring Broadband Service To The Skies

I wonder when the average person will actually see this on a domestic US flight...

via Space News From SpaceDaily.Com on 5/11/08

Lake Forest CA (SPX) May 12, 2008 - Intelsat and Panasonic Avionics have announced the signing of a multi-year service agreement that will result in the next generation of in-flight passenger broadband access. Panasonic, known for delivering state-of-the-art in-flight technology, is introducing an advanced satellite transmission platform that will allow airline passengers the ability to access Internet-based information and entertainment.

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Space Station Tricorder

The future is here...

via Space News From SpaceDaily.Com on 5/11/08

Huntsville AL (SPX) May 12, 2008 - Any Trekkies out there? Remember the tricorder? Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock both carried them, and they came in mighty handy exploring "strange new worlds ...where no one has gone before."

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Cartoon: John Glenn appeals to save shuttle

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/9/08

 

Cartoonist Jeff Parker has weighed in on John Glenn's "don't retire the shuttles yet" plea. You can read more about Parker's development of this cartoon in his blog.

You can talk about the shuttle in Space Chat. 

- John Kelly

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Space Potatoes

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Hard Drive Recovered from Columbia Shuttle Solves Physics Problem

via www.sciam.com on 5/7/08

Researchers have finally published the results of data recovered from a cracked and singed hard drive that fell to Earth in the debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia, which broke up during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members.

The hard drive contained data from the CVX-2 (Critical Viscosity of Xenon) experiment, designed to study the way xenon gas flows in microgravity. The findings, published this April in the journal Physical Review E, confirmed that when stirred vigorously, xenon exhibits a sudden change in viscosity known as shear thinning. The same effect allows whipped cream and ketchup to go from flowing smoothly like liquids to holding their shapes like solids.

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Like to just lay around? NASA needs you!

If you like to just lay around NASA needs you for about 4 months. See study details in this page...

via www.bedreststudy.com on 5/7/08

In order to study a person as if they were in space without gravity, NASA scientists use head down tilt bed rest. The 115-119 day study will follow the Bed Rest Project standard model and be conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Participants will live in a special research unit for the entire study and be fed a carefully controlled diet.

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NASA asteroid landing plan

Interesting article, but is there really a "secret" plan to land on an asteroid?

via www.thelondonpaper.com on 5/7/08

NASA asteroid landing planWednesday, 07 May 2008NASA is hoping to land astronauts on a massive asteroid heading for earth at 28,000mph, it was revealed today.

In 2000 the 40-metre-wide space-rock, called 2000SG344, was though to be on a direct collision course with earth. More recent measurements suggest it will miss the planet – bit only by a hair’s breadth in cosomological terms.

But now NASA bosses want to use the fly-past as a test bed for a voyage to Mars by landing a team of astronauts on the asteroid.

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Way cool crew photos!

The crew photo below is not your usual blue backdrop with an American flag and shuttle model. It's some really cool CG hangar with the NASA logo and an appearance of the shuttle just right behind them. The American flag is missing. I wonder if that's because of the international nature of the space station?

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/6/08

 

From the left are astronauts Gregory E. Chamitoff, Michael E. Fossum, both STS-124 mission specialists; Kenneth T. Ham, pilot; Mark E. Kelly, commander; Karen L. Nyberg, Ronald J. Garan and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshide, all mission specialists. NASA photo.

The Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, a launch rehearsal, begins today with the 5 p.m. arrival of Discovery's crew at Kennedy Space Center.

STS-124 is on schedule to launch May 31 on a 13-day mission to deliver the 37-foot Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. Three spacewalks are scheduled.

Mark Kelly will command the mission. Ken Ham will be the pilot. Mission specialists are Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

Chamitoff will remain on the station as a resident crew member, replacing station flight engineer Garrett Reisman, who will return home on Discovery.

STS-124 is the 123rd shuttle flight, the 35th flight for Discovery and the 26th flight to the station.

Today's crew arrival will be broadcast live on NASA Television. You can watch it in The Flame Trench.

- Patrick Peterson

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Watch it live: U.S. astronaut on Colbert

Interesting PR for the International Space Station...

via FLORIDA TODAY Space Team Blog by SpaceTeam on 5/5/08

 

NASA is bound to raise its cool quotient this week when an astronaut flying on the International Space Station makes an appearance on Comedy Central's hip hit show "The Colbert Report."

Station flight engineer Garrett Reisman, a New Jersey native who threw out a ceremonial first pitch from the outpost prior to a New York Yankees game against the rival Boston Red Sox last month, will do a space-to-ground interview with Colbert at 10:50 a.m. EDT Thursday. The interview, which will be webcast live here in The Flame Trench, will be aired on "The Colbert Report" at 11:30 p.m. EDT that night.

The producers of the show read stories about Reisman's pitch, contacted NASA, and then arranged the interview, agency spokesman Rob Navias said. "Colbert apparently is not only a sports fan but a space fan," he said.

NASA is not absolutely sure what the popular comedian will be asking Reisman, a fan of the show. Said agency spokesman Mike Curie: "It's up in the air."

Reisman, 40, rocketed up to the station aboard shuttle Endeavour in March and helped deliver and install the first part of the Japanese Kibo science research facility. His ride home, shuttle Discovery, is scheduled to launch with the Kibo laboratory module on May 31 and then return to Earth on June 13.

-- Todd Halvorson

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