SpaceX launches Crew-3 mission to ISS | NBC News - NASA Astronauts Col.Raja Chari,USAF;Thomas Marshburn ;Lt.Cdr. Kayla Barron,USN ;and ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer - 10 November 2021

SpaceX CRS-18 Mission live from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Expedition 59 Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan - 25 June 2019 - return of Oleg Kononenko,Anne McClain and David St.Jacques

Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway Planning Accelerated as the ISS Partnership Met In Holland

Construction of the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway,as the ISS successor is now being called,is projected to begin in the first half of the 2020s.The LOP-G is the main destination for the Orion Program in the 2020s,building up enough experience for missions beyond the Moon and possibly to Mars and even a Venus flyby in the 2030s.The LOP-G is being designed by the five space agencies of the ISS Partnership to succeed the aging Low Earth Orbit station:NASA,ESA,Roscosmos,the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency.The second meeting for LOP-G planning was held in August 2017 at the European Space Centre,ESTEC,in Noordwijk,the Netherlands.*
An outline of the LOP-G initiative has been drawn up.It lays out establishing a cislunar presence as Phase 1 of the project,the core of which is the new space station.The LOP-G is not meant to be continually staffed,unlike the ISS;instead,with the Orion spacecraft docked,a crew of four would work in space for 42 day periods.The LOP-G would consist of a power/propulsion module;a habitation module;a possible airlock for space walks,similar to the Space Shuttle setup;likely an updated Canadarm robot arm;and possibly an advanced glass cupola for a 360-degree view of the Moon and Earth.
The core LOP-G would be assembled by 2025 over three SLS flights,each with a crewed Orion capsule.This could possibly be changed to two SLS flights plus a less expensive SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy flight for the power/propulsion module deployment,given the President's 2019 NASA budget proposal.
Commercial or international partners could provide the resupply flights.The final construction mission,to bring up the airlock,is projected for 2026.*
With the LOP-G,NASA will practice complex deep space rendezvous,while learning to live and work where a quick return to Earth is not possible.The 40kw solar-electric propulsion system,more powerful than any SEP currently operating,will allow LOP-G to transition between an always-sunlight halo lunar orbit to other orbits that could be used for other applications,including lunar landings.Anyone can come and use the LOP-G,both the commercial and international partners.*
In Phase 2,the Deep Space Transport,depicted as a cylindrical vehicle in concept artwork,will be developed.The LOP-G will be a lunar port of call for a large crew vehicle,the DST.Between each trip,the DST will be resupplied,refurbished and maintained at the LOP-G.Each DST will be good for a total of three roundtrips to Mars.One SLS cargo flight will carry a DST to lunar orbit in 2027.No other launch vehicle but the SLS can carry the 41 metric tonnes of the DST to the Moon in one piece,the minimum size for a Mars-class transport.*
In 2029,a crew would board the DST for a one-year shakedown mission.In 2033,there will be the first crewed flight to a Mars orbit.If a Venus assist,or slingshot,is used to reach Mars,the astronauts could observe the clouds of Venus and the volcanoes of Mars on one mission.*
This is the basic outline sketched by the ISS partners in Holland last summer.Details may be altered,but President Donald Trump and the National Space Council under Vice President Mike Pence are committed to the Orion Program and its commercial and international partnerships.The President's 2019 NASA Budget proposal funds both EM-1 and EM-2,which are the first two Orion missions;the ISS through 2024;as well as the Parker Solar Probe,James Webb Space Telescope and other important missions such as New Horizons.

Orion Program Update:2018,a year of urgent tasks

The year 2018 will see a great amount of activity at NASA and contractor centres to prepare for the launch of the first integrated test of the Orion system,Exploration Mission-1,an uncrewed mission targeted for 2019.NASA aims to have all major hardware completed by the end of 2018.At the same time,construction for the first crewed mission of Orion,EM-2,planned for the early 2020s,has already begun and will continue apace thoughout 2018.*
In early 2018,NASA says the heat shield will be bolted to the EM-1 crew module.When
the ESA Orion Service Module,or powerhouse,arrives from Europe,it will be mated with and stacked beneath the crew module.In January,the US Navy and NASA personnel will again be refining capsule recovery procedures off the California coast.*
Over the course of 2018,the core stage of the new Space Launch System,the world's most powerful rocket,will be completed and its four RS-25 main engines,evolved from the Space Shuttle main engines and built by Aerojet Rocketdyne,will then be attached to it.*
In spring 2018,the mobile launcher will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center for testing of the fit between launcher and pad systems,then be trucked to the huge Vehicle Assembly Building for testing of mount mechanisms;ignition overpressure and sound suppression water pipes;nitrogen and helium supply lines;and access platforms.Then it's back to the pad once more for several months of full system testing.*
In summer 2018,critical software updates for command and control in support of EM-1 will be wrapped up.In 2019,the complete Orion system will be stacked,integrated,tested and rolled out to the pad to await launch.The ultimate goal of the program is to produce a flexible,reuseable and sustainable infrastructure that will support deep space missions of graduated complexity for decades to come.*
EM-1,besides testing the integrated Orion system,will also be carrying a payload of 13 small satellites for a broad spectrum of research projects.*
At the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide,Australia on 27 September 2017,NASA and the Russian Space Agency,Roscosmos,signed a joint statement on a common vision for human exploration.Indeed,the entire ISS partnership of NASA,Roscosmos,Canada,ESA and Japan are intent on ensuring that full advantage be taken of ISS technological development and demonstration,as well as of lessons learned from its assembly and operations for this future exploration.
For its part,industry is currently devising a series of study and risk reduction concepts for NASA's Deep Space Gateway,which is to be a small space station in lunar orbit for support of Orion missions,and for the transport needed for Mars exploration.Those awarded contracts for the effort include Bigelow Aerospace;Boeing;Lockheed Martin;Orbital ATK;Sierra Nevada Corporation;and Nanoracks.Five of the six companies have been chosen to develop full-sized ground-based engineering prototypes of habitation systems to be completed in 2018.NASA has also solicited industry for proposals for studies on concept development of a power and propulsion element,which will be the first pieces of Deep Space Gateway architecture to be placed in lunar orbit.*
NASA and The National Space Council,chaired by Vice President Mike Pence,is committed to carrying on in the spirit of international and industry cooperation that has characterised the ISS.*
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc,NYSE:AJRD

US Army Astronaut Kimbrough to Assume ISS Command - how he got where he is today

West Point graduate,Gulf War veteran and retired US Army Colonel Robert Shane Kimbrough,49,is set to launch to the International Space Station on 19 October 2016 at 4:05 a.m. EDT from Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan.He will be on the 50th expedition of the ISS with Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko.When the Expedition 49 crew currently running the ISS returns to Earth in just over a week's time,COL Kimbrough will assume command.*
COL Kimbrough was selected for the astronaut corps in 2004 in the first class following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster,having served as an attack helicopter platoon leader;aviation liaison officer;and helicopter battalion operations officer in the first Gulf War,Operation Desert Storm in 1991.In 1994,he commanded an Apache helicopter company at Fort Bragg,North Carolina,earning a master's degree in Operations Research at Georgia Tech in 1998.
In 2004,the Army assigned him as a flight simulation engineer on the Shuttle Training Aircraft.He got his first flight assignment in 2008 to STS-126.Launched on shuttle Endeavour in 11-08 for a 16-day mission,he performed two EVAs for a total of about 13 hours to maintain and upgrade the ISS.His crew also expanded the living quarters to accommodate six crew members as of May 2009.COL Kimbrough then worked in the Robotics Branch of the Astronaut Office and as chief of the Vehicle Integration Office until selected for Expedition 49-50 in February 2015 on Soyuz MS-02.
The new Soyuz-MS has higher efficiency solar arrays;better propulsion system redundancy;new rendezvous hardware,control and autonomous navigation capabilities.It is planned that COL Kimbrough will perform two EVAs to install six Lithium-Ion batteries on the ISS that will replace 12 nickel-hydrogen ones in January 2017.

Understanding NASA's Journey to Mars - what to expect and when

NASA'S Journey to Mars consists of three phases,and two of them have already begun.The first phase is the Earth Reliant.It runs from today to the mid-2020s,and is centered on the International Space Station,which operates through 2024.The ISS,NASA says,is a world-class test bed for the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space.The astronauts are ascertaining what it takes to live and work in space for extended periods.In particular,NASA wants to know how the body changes over time in the harsh environment of space and how to protect astronaut health.*
Besides this quest for knowledge,we are working with our commercial crew and cargo partners on providing access to Low Earth Orbit and eventually stimulate new economic activity,allowing NASA to continue using the station while preparing for deep space missions.*
The second phase,Proving Ground,runs from 2018-30.There will be regular crewed missions and spacewalks in cislunar space,or lunar orbit.Their goal is to verify deep space habitation.Three of these crewed cislunar missions have been mentioned so far.Before them,in November 2018,the uncrewed Exploration Mission-1 will go 40,000 miles beyond the Moon on an approximately three-week mission to test the new Space Launch System rocket and European Service Module for the Orion spacecraft.In the 2021-23 time frame,EM-1 will be basically replicated by the first crewed mission of the Orion programme,EM-2,which will set a new record for distance traveled from Earth on a human spaceflight.There will also be an Asteroid Redirect Mission culminating in the mid-2020s that will test deep spacewalking and sampling techniques;along with Solar Electric Propulsion,which will be used to deliver substantial cargo for human missions to Mars;and a planetary security manoeuvre,the gravity tractor experiment,that will test a technique which may be able to deflect an asteroid getting too close to Earth.Finally in the 2020s will be a year-long mission to validate readiness for the Mars mission.*
The third phase of the Journey to Mars plan is the Earth Independent,running from now to the early 2030s.Mars rovers are already studying potential Exploration Zones for compelling scientific research sites and resources our astronauts could possibly use.The next rover goes up in 2020;a round-trip robotic sample return mission is planned for the late 2020s.A mission to send humans into Low Mars Orbit is envisioned for the early 2030s.
This phase will test the entry,descent and landing techniques needed to get humans to the surface of the red planet and study what's needed for in-situ resource utilisation.NASA is confident we are well on the way to getting there,landing there,and living there.

NASA Identifies Target Asteroid for Redirect Mission - intensive planning for forays into deep space

In a draft report dated 23 November 2015,NASA's Formulation Assessment and Support Team for the Asteroid Redirect Mission,a group of government and academic solar system exploration experts that provide timely inputs for mission requirement formulation,revealed that NASA has identified a reference target asteroid for the mission.It is known as Near Earth Asteroid 2008 EV5 (the 5 is formally rendered as a subscript numeral).Final target selection will be made approximately a year before launch.2008 EV5 provides a valid target that can be used to help with formulation and development efforts,so was the main NEA around which the FAST group focused its attention.2008 EV5 is about 400 meters in diameter and has a reflectance spectrum consistent with carbonaceous chondrite meteorites (meteorites are small pieces of asteroids or comets that enter the atmosphere and reach Earth's surface).
It is possible to identify 6 distinct candidate 10-m scale boulders for collection on 2008 EV5's surface by visual inspection of radar images.There are likely millions of 10-cm scale cobbles on 2008 EV5,and 3,000 1-5m boulders would be expected on the surface of 2008 EV5.One of the candidate boulders is located near the South Pole of the asteroid;the location of the others is uncertain at this time.
Radar observations show that 2008 EV5 has a top-like shape with an equatorial bulge.
Initial dynamic modeling indicates that 2008 EV5 began its existence as part of a much larger body in the Asteroid Belt (likely diameter greater than 100 km) and migrated inward across the inner main belt over many millions of years until it reached a planetary gravitational resonance that drove it into the NEA population.Besides robotic boulder collection,2008 EV5 will be used for an enhanced gravity tractor asteroid deflection demonstration (Earth defence).*
The ARM has two segments:the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission and the Asteroid Redirect Crew Mission.The ARRM mission is planned for an end of 2020 launch.The Solar Electric Propulsion-powered robotic spacecraft will intercept the asteroid,land on it and retrieve a boulder with its robotic arm,then fly the boulder to a Selenocentric Distant Retrogade Orbit at a height of 45,000 km above the Moon.In late 2025,the Orion spacecraft will be launched on the Space Launch System rocket to carry out the Asteroid Redirect Crew Mission and will rendezvous and dock with the robotic spacecraft.The 180-day crewed mission will entail spacewalking astronauts exploring the redirected boulder, collecting and packing samples of the boulder for return to earth.That high above the Moon,they will be farther out in space than any previous astronauts and,far from the Earth's protective Van Allen Belts,exposed to higher levels of solar and cosmic radiation,but have new spacesuits and spacecraft shielding to deal with that.Psychologically,they may be affected by how distant Earth will be-small enough to cover it with your thumb.*
Before all this,an uncrewed Orion mission,Exploration Mission-1,will be launched to the Moon on the SLS in 2018;and then the first Orion crewed mission,EM-2,to a lunar orbit.NASA's Orion program is an incremental deep space exploration process beginning in cislunar space and building to journeys to the Martian system,including the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos as well as Mars itself.The agency is welcoming international participation along the lines of the International Space Station,which is currently researching and testing solutions to the challenges posed by deep space exploration.

Special Report (Revised and Updated):Unplanned ISS Spacewalk Needed - rail car got stuck

The Mobile Transporter rail car,or "space train," that moves along with the attached Canadarm2 robot arm along a truss on the outside of the International Space Station has gotten stuck.It got within 10 cm of its target work site directly above the US laboratory,NASA said,but would go no further,perhaps because of a faulty brake handle.The MT must be checked out and repaired by the astronauts;moved to a work site;latched into place and electrically mated to the complex as a precaution for the docking of the new ISS Progress 62 cargo spacecraft on Wednesday following its Monday launch.
The unplanned spacewalk for the urgent repair will be made by American astronauts Scott Kelly,the ISS commander,who is currently on a one-year mission aboard ISS with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko,and his colleague,flight engineer Tim Kopra,who just arrived at the ISS on Thursday.Kelly is a veteran of two ISS spacewalks,one of them just weeks ago,and Kopra had performed one during the Space Shuttle era.They began preparing their spacesuits on Friday.Kopra was aware before his Soyuz launch that he might have to make a repair spacewalk at any time during Expedition 46.The four other ISS crew members will be available to assist in preparing and monitoring the spacewalk,which it is estimated will take between three and three-and-a-half hours for the rail car repair.
NASA mission managers will meet on Sunday morning Eastern time to give the final go-ahead and decide if the walk will be made on Monday or Tuesday.The astronauts have been instructed to inspect the repair area to see if there are any other repairs they can make while they are out there.It will be the 191st spacewalk for ISS repair or assembly.Actually,they look forward to such challenges.
Update:The ISS Mission Management Team has approved the spacewalk for Monday morning beginning at 7:10 am Central time,or 8:10 am Eastern.It may be delayed,however,as astronaut Tim Kopra has to perform a fit check on his spacesuit before the spacewalk begins.If the repair is made expeditiously,the astronauts may then go ahead and route cables in advance of installation of the International Docking Adapter for the new US commercial crew vehicles;they may also open a door housing a power distribution system relay boxes just above the worksite to facilitate robotic replacement of modular components.

New NASA Report Clarifies the Mission To Mars

NASA has released an intricate roadmap of its central manned spaceflight mission:"NASA's Journey To Mars:Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration."According to NASA Administrator General Charles Bolden,US Marine Corps Retired,the report,which was reviewed by this blog,consists of additional details about our journey to Mars and how we are aligning all of our work in support of this goal.The plan presents three thresholds of challenges,each more difficult than the last as the distance from Earth increases:
1.Earth Reliant Exploration is centered on the International Space Station,where the world class microgravity laboratory is testing technologies and advancing human health and performance research that will enable deep space,long duration missions.
2.Proving Ground:NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment that is just days from Earth.Primarily,this means cislunar space,or that volume of space which is around the Moon.Cislunar space features multiple possible staging orbits for future deep space missions.In this phase,NASA will advance and validate capabilities needed for humans living and working at vast distances from Earth,such as at Mars.This phase is linked to the upcoming Orion Exploration Mission flights and the Asteroid Redirect Mission.
3.The Earth Independent threshold builds on the previous two to enable Mars missions,possibly to low-Mars orbit or one of the Martian moons before an eventual landing on Mars.*
This strategy charts a course toward horizon goals,while delivering near-term benefits and defining a resilient architecture that can accommodate budgetary changes;political priorities;new scientific discoveries;technological breakthroughs;and evolving partnerships,said Dr.William Gerstenmeier,NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.The ultimate goal is enabling humans to thrive beyond Earth for extended periods of time,leading to a substantial presence in deep space.The near-term missions have a cadence of compelling and integrated human and robotic missions providing for an incremental buildup of capabilities for more complex missions over time.At least one crewed mission per year is envisioned for the Proving Ground,cislunar phase.
The Proving Ground phase begins in 2018 with Exploration Mission 1,the first integrated test of the new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft,including the SLS launch performance;Orion's heat shield performance following return from deep space;and deep space navigation.
Exploration Mission 2 will be the first crewed mission for Orion,featuring the addition of the Exploration Upper Stage and the possibility of co-manifested payloads within the EUS-to-Orion launch vehicle adapter,such as pressurised modules for habitability.*
Beyond these initial cislunar missions,the Asteroid Redirect Mission introduces Solar Electric Propulsion,which utilises energy from the sun to accelerate ionised propellant to very high speeds,to provide thrust for months or years-transporting big loads with far less propellant than with chemical propellant,extending the deep space exploration capabilities critical for Mars and beyond.
Deep space acronyms mentioned in the report include EDL-Entry,Descent and Landing;ISRU-Insitu Resource Utilisation;SEP-Solar Electric Propulsion;EUS-Exploration Upper Stage;and ECLSS-Environmental Control and Life Support Systems.NASA emphasises that its Mission to Mars is for all of humanity and international in character, relying heavily on partners from the ISS missions and more,as well as space industry partners.For example,the European Space Agency is providing the test Service Module that is stacked beneath the Orion spacecraft.

USAF Boeing X-37B Helps Ensure Leadership in Space Technology

The US Air Force will launch the fourth unmanned mission of its dedicated space plane,the Boeing X-37B,on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 20 May 2015.The mission,known as OTV-4,or Orbital Test Vehicle-4,will be focused on the testing of experimental payloads,says Randy Walden,director of the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office.The RCO will test an experimental propulsion system developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space and Missile Systems Center,among other experiments.A NASA advanced materials investigation is also on the docket.No other experiments have been disclosed.
We're very pleased with the experiments lined up for our fourth OTV mission,Mr.Walden said.We'll continue to evaluate improvements to the space vehicle's performance,but we're honoured to host these collaborative experiments that will help advance space technology.*
The Air Force has two of the vehicles,which are 8.8 meters/29 ft. long.One of the OTVs flew missions 1 and 3;the other flew mission 3.The last mission,OTV-3,lasted nearly two years at 674 days in orbit,landing on 14 October 2014.OTV-1 launched in April 2010 and lasted 225 days;OTV-2 blasted off in March 2011 and lasted 469 days.The duration of the OTV-4 mission wasn't released.*
The X-37B began as a NASA project in 1999,but was transferred to the USAF in 2004.The spacecraft was based on the aerodynamic design of the space shuttle.Indeed,it was originally intended to be launched from the shuttle's cargo bay,but was converted to an independent launch format when that was deemed too costly.Originating in Boeing's Phantom Works,it became a classified project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and part of the Department of Defense's independent space policy after the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.The program is concerned with risk reduction,experimentation and operational concept development for reusable space technologies in support of long-term developmental space objectives.*
The X-37B has been landing at Vandenburg Air Force Base,California,with Edwards Air Force Base,California as an alternate site.By the end of 2014,the OTVs were to be housed in the former space shuttle hangars at Kennedy Space Center,OPF-1 and OPF-2,following the hangars' renovation.The spacecraft is the world's smallest orbital space plane,one-fourth the size of the space shuttle.It is powered by one Aerojet Rocketdyne human-rated AR2-3 engine.Flying an orbit of the same altitude as reconnaissance satellites and the International Space Station at 410 kilometers/255 miles,it is a crucial exponent of the Air Force's space doctrine that space is vitally important to everything it does,be it secure communications;intelligence,search and rescue;missile warning;weather prediction;or precision navigation and timing,all of which rely on space,a domain that is increasingly contested.*
One of the main experiments on OTV-4 will test the Hall effect thruster in support of the Advanced High Frequency Communications Satellite program.The AEHF satellites are nuclear-hardened and cost one billion dollars each.They are designed to ensure the continuity of military communications in the most drastic wartime scenarios.Three AEHFs have been deployed,with three more planned.
The Hall effect thruster experiment involves collection of telemetry from the thruster operating in the space environment,as well as measurement of the thrust imported on the vehicle.The data will be used to validate and improve Hall thruster and environmental modeling capabilities,which will enhance the ability to extrapolate ground test results to actual in-orbit performance,the Air Force said.A more efficient on-orbit thruster capability is highly significant.Less fuel burn lowers the cost to put a satellite in orbit,as well as enhances a spacecraft's operational flexibility,survivability and longevity.
The Hall thruster is a 4.5 kilowatt unit that uses electricity and xenon to produce thrust for maneuvering satellites.It produces whisper-like thrust by ionising and accelerating xenon gas.Xenon fuel weighs just a fraction of conventional hydrazine fuel,but takes longer to utilise.It is an electric propulsion system that needs very long periods of time to harness for orbital maneuvering.That may explain why the OTV-3 mission lasted almost two years.*
Boeing (BA),Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (AJRD)

Manned Spaceflight Update:First Space Launch System Booster Test;International Space Station One-Year Crew Nears Launch

On 11 March,a major milestone was reached when the Space Launch System's solid rocket booster passed the first of two flight qualification tests for deep space missions.The two minute test mirrored an actual flight,since it lasted the same amount of time the booster will burn on liftoff.The test was conducted at the Orbital ATK test facility in Promontory,Utah.After the second qualification test 2016,the flight booster hardware will be transported to Kennedy Space Center for the first flight of the SLS and Orion spacecraft together,Exploration Mission 1 in 2018.
The work being done around the country today to build SLS is laying a solid foundation for future exploration missions, and those missions will enable us to pioneer far into the solar system,said Dr.William Gerstenmaier,NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations.*
The SLS booster was heated for months to reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit,so it could be tested at the highest end of the propellant temperature range.The second test in early 2016 will test the booster at 40 F,the low end of the propellant temperature range.
Our partnership with Orbital ATK and more than 500 suppliers across the country is keeping us on the path to building the most powerful rocket in the world,said SLS program director Todd May.Some 102 design objectives were assessed during the test with more than 531 instrumentation channels.The SLS booster met applicable ballistic performance requirements,including thrust and pressure.Data was also gathered on the new internal motor insulation and liner and the improved nozzle design.
Two SLS boosters will be grouped with four RS-25 main engines for the launch,operating in parallel for the first two minutes of the launch.The boosters provide more than 70% of the thrust required to escape Earth's gravitational field.SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-tonne/77 tonne lift capacity to carry the unmanned Orion spacecraft beyond Low Earth Orbit in EM-1,the first flight of the integrated system.The projected date of EM-1 is 30 September 2018.On future manned missions to deep space,SLS will be configured for a record-breaking lift capacity of 130-metric-tonnes/143 tonnes.*
On 27 March,NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly,Captain US Navy Retired,and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will be launched for the One-Year Crew Mission aboard the International Space Station,accompanied by Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.They will be launched aboard a Soyuz YMA-16M spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan.Kelly will be the first NASA astronaut to spend a year in space,but Russia has completed four manned missions of at least one year in duration.Padalka will return to Earth before Kelly and Kornienko.
The One-Year Crew will pave the way for the deep space missions of the future,including Orion flights,by gathering critical physiological and psychological data on the effects of long duration space flights.American and Russian scientists will collaborate on the project using the ISS technology,which is more advanced than the technology Russia had for its long duration studies some 20 years ago,yielding a more comprehensive picture.*
Orbital ATK Inc (ATK)

Coast Guardsman and Astronaut

Captain Dan Burbank,50,is the second Coast Guardsman to be a NASA astronaut.Born and raised in Connecticut,he graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1985 and became an instructor pilot.Primarily a helicopter aviator,he flew more than 1800 missions,with more than 300 of them being search and rescue.Obtaining an M.S. degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,he began his space flight career with two missions aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2000 and 2006,respectively.These involved space walks in which Captain Burbank racked up 7 hours and 11 minutes of EVA time.By 2011,he was on International Space Station crews,serving on Expedition 29 and as Commander on Expedition 30,which just concluded on 27 April.His total time in space is 247 days.Captain Burbank has been decorated with the Legion of Merit;the Air Medal;the National Defense Service Medal with two stars;the NASA Exceptional Service Medal;the Coast Guard Commendation Medal with one award star;and several others.A photo of Captain Burbank after touchdown in Kazakhstan is offered in the previous post. Commander Bruce Melnick,U.S. Coast Guard retired,was the first member of his service to fly in space.