ISS News: January 2009 Archives

NASA Sets Briefing With Members of First Six-Person Station Crew (With Internal NASA Technical Documents)

"NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. CST, Wednesday, March 4, with the International Space Station residents who will usher in an era of six-person crews. The briefing will originate from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and will be broadcast live on NASA Television. Questions will be taken from reporters at participating NASA sites."

NASA International Space Station 6-Crew Strategic Planning Document

"The purpose of this document is to compile the important assumptions, concepts, and strategic requirements used to formulate the nominal 6-Crew operations and planning guidelines for the International Space Station (ISS)."

NASA ISS Increment Definition and Requirements Document for Increments 19 and 20

"This document provides the assignment of flight dates, resources and accommodations, as well as defines the requirements for Increments 19 and 20. Requirements are provided for both joint International Space Station (ISS)/mated vehicle operations and ISS-only continuous operations stages of the increment."

Astronauts on International Space Station lose alarming amounts of hipbone strength, University of California-Irvine

"Astronauts spending months in space lose significant bone strength, making them increasingly at risk for fractures later in life. UC Irvine and UC San Francisco led a study evaluating 13 astronauts who spent four to six months on the International Space Station and found that, on average, astronauts' hipbone strength decreased 14 percent. Three astronauts experienced losses of 20 percent to 30 percent, rates comparable to those seen in older women with osteoporosis. These results alarmed researchers because they revealed a greater rate of bone deterioration than previously measured using less powerful technologies. "If preventive measures are not taken, some of our astronauts may be at increased risk for age-related fractures decades after their missions," said study leader Joyce Keyak, UCI orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering professor."

Trip to Mars Will Challenge Bones, Muscles: Former Astronaut calls for More NASA Research on Exercise in Space, American College of Sports Medicine (2007)

"The rate at which we lose bone in space is 10-15 times greater than that of a post-menopausal woman," said Pawelczyk. "There's no evidence that bone loss ever slows (in space.) Further, it's not clear that space travelers will regain that bone on returning to gravity. Recent data suggests that not all people are recovering."

Testimony of Dr. James Pawelczyk at Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Hearings: "International Space Station" (2003)

"We need the capability to house these organisms on the ISS and that's expected within five years. But equally important, we need time for crew members to prepare and conduct these experiments, and that time can be found only when the ISS moves beyond the core complete configuration. The potential return is immense; the application of this research to our aging public could become one of the most important justifications for an International Space Station."

"Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, [aka "Spanky"] aboard the International Space Station with Flight Engineers Sandy Magnus and Yury Lonchakov, recently filmed a high-definition tour of the orbiting complex. With a mass of almost 630,000 pounds, the station has grown to a size larger than an average four-bedroom house on Earth. The next space shuttle mission, designated STS-119, will continue the station's assembly by delivering a fourth and final set of solar arrays. Shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew are targeted to launch Feb. 12."

Video (in four parts)

American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology Input to National Research Council Request For Information

"Research funding for the International Space Station (ISS), advocated by life scientists and authorized by Congress, was siphoned off into spacecraft engineering. This action crippled the space biology research community participation and generated mistrust of NASA to follow through on its commitments. In the 2005 timeframe, over $1B annually was devoted to Biological and Physical Science Research. This funding was confiscated under the guise of redirecting it to higher priority research directed toward implementing the "Vision for Space Exploration". NASA is asking other federal science agencies to conduct fundamental biological research. However, no transition plan, budget and agency has been identified to continue stewardship. Years of US invested research and intellectual capital are being abandoned without proper vetting."

PlanetSpace Has Filed With the GAO a Protest to the Selection Decision of NASA Under the ISS Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) Competition

"After a careful review of all the facts and in consideration of all of the source selection documentation provided to date, PlanetSpace has filed a protest to NASA's award of the ISS Commercial Resupply Services Contract. PlanetSpace offered a superior proposal. It received a higher Mission Suitability score, from NASA's Source Evaluation Board (SEB), and was lower in Cost than one of the two proposals selected by NASA. Thus, the PlanetSpace proposal represented better value to the Government. We believe that the GAO will find that flaws in the procurement justify award to PlanetSpace. We look forward to the GAO's review of this case."

NASA awards to space station cargo haulers on hold, Reuters

"The GAO declined immediate comment on the protest, other than to say that NASA would have 30 days to respond to the complaint and that it would issue a ruling by April 29. NASA, meanwhile, said only that it was required to suspend work on the contracts in response to the complaint."

NASA May Face Protest Over Recent Commercial-Cargo Contract, Wall Street Journal

"A NASA source selection panel ranked Orbital's overall proposal and its projected costs less favorably than bids submitted by the PlanetSpace team and a third bidder, Space Exploration Technologies Inc, according to one person familiar with the details.But William Gerstenmaier, the senior agency official who made the decision, opted to go against those rankings, according to people familiar with the details. Mr. Gerstenmaier, for example, disregarded the management strengths the selection board said stemmed from the participation of Boeing and Lockheed. Instead, NASA in theend cited PlanetSpace's "complete lack of experience as a prime contractor," according to documents provided to the bidders."

COTS Commercial Cargo Winners: Orbital and SpaceX