NASA Shuttle Discovery Crosses U.S. On Landing

Boston (dbTechno) - The NASA space shuttle Discovery made its return to Earth after having a two-week mission to the International Space Station. Upon its return it crossed directly over the entire United States.

Commander Pamela Melroy stated that “Discovery is rolling out on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up a 6.25 million mile mission. Discovery completing its 34th mission to space and the 23rd shuttle flight to the International Space Station.”

Discovery flew east across the United States before landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA stated that the Discovery mission was one of the hardest in the history of NASA. The space shuttle was to bring up a module called Harmony which would be used for expansion of the International Space Station.

From here though NASA was forced to alter spacewalks due to a tear seen on the solar wings of the station.

The next mission for NASA is December 6th when space shuttle Atlantis takes off to deliver a European-built laboratory to the International Space Center, which it will link up with thanks to the Harmony delivery from Discovery.

Life Possible On Newly Discovered Planet

Boston (dbTechno) - Scientists have come out and confirmed that they have found a new planet orbiting a distant star. The planetary system goes around the star 55 Cancri.

Astronomers from California made the announcement on Tuesday. They stated that they can safely confirm that new planet has been discovered. They have found that this particular planet is orbing the star known as 55 Cancri. The unique aspect about this is that the particular star it is circling is very similar to the sun in our solar system.

This is the first time five planets have been found orbiting a solar system outside of our own!

Researchers stated that the new planet is 45 times larger than Earth and has an orbit which lasts 260 days.

They also stated that temperatures on the planet could support life as well as water, making it a “habitable zone.”

Debra Fischer, lead author in a report which will be soon published, stated they believe that there are many more planets in the 55 Cancri system, some which like this planet, can support actual life.

Space Shuttle Discovery En Route Back To Earth

Houston (dbTechno) - NASA space shuttle Discovery is on the way back to Earth after it undocked from the International Space Station on Monday, concluding an 11-day mission which had astronauts repairing a solar panel on the space station.

The pilot of Discovery George Zamka pulled away from the International Space Station on Monday as Discovery began its two-day trip heading home.

Space Station Commander Peggy Whitson stated to Discovery, “Thank you guys for the Harmoney module.”

Discovery dropped off the module which will help European and Asian expansions of the International Space Station to take place.

The shuttle launched on October 23rd from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is scheduled to land there at 1:02 p.m. on Wednesday.

All necessary tests have been completed on the heat shield of Discovery which is now well on its way, just one day away from returning home to Earth.

NASA Discovery Astronauts Repair Solar Array

Boston (dbTechno) - A spacewalk was held on Saturday to attempt to repair a solar panel on the International Space Station, a new addition to NASA Discovery astronauts’ mission.

Astronaut Scot Parazynski worked very hard on the International Space Station on Saturday along with others as they tried to repair the solar array, and get ready to expand the station with the Harmony attachment.

The spacewalk on Saturday was to fix a ripped solar panel on the International Space Station. The repair has allowed the panels to carry electricity to the space station, which is a must.

The lead flight director for the shuttle Discovery mission, Derek Hassmann, stated that Dr. PArazynski and others pushed the limits to make the repair possible.

Parazynski went farther from the airlock than any other astronaut had ever been before, going out on a 50-foot boom. He stretched out and has to juggle repairs and avoiding being shocked by the electricity.

Former shuttle astronaut Tom Jones stated “People always said that we’re going to encounter problems we can’t even think of right now and have to be ready for them in some way. Well, here it is, the actual unexpected. And it always throws everybody a curve. We’d better get used to this.”

NASA Delays Discovery Spacewalks Due To Damage

Boston (dbTechno) - Not long after it was announced on Tuesday that a tear has been found in the solar array of the International Space Station, NASA made the announcement that spacewalks for the Discovery mission would be delayed.

A spacewalk was originally set up to take place on Thursday as there was an inspection set for the rotary joint on the ISS. This spacewalk has been delayed indefinitely as o fright now so it appears that it will never happen.

They have put an end to that spacewalk but did so in order to be ready for a spacewalk on Friday which will be very important. The spacewalk Friday will consist of them trying to fix the torn solar array. Many engineers have been stating that in its current state the solar array is simply not stable.

During spacewalks on Sunday astronauts moved the solar array to a location where it will not again move on the ISS. On Tuesday astronaut noticed a two-and-a-half foot tear in the wings of the solar array.

Mike Suffradini, the space station program manager stated “Given the fact that we could potentially damage this array if we leave it in this configuration, and if we damage it enough we could potentially not have it available for the life of the program, this then becomes our priority.”

So it appears that Friday will be the big day as NASA tries to fix the solar array as part of the modified Discovery mission at the International Space Station.

NASA Astronauts Find Tear In Solar Panel Of ISS

Boston (dbTechno) - NASA astronauts on a spacewalk around the International Space Station have spotted a tear in the Solar Power Tower to the International Space Station.

The tear was found in the 2nd solar panel. On Tuesday the astronauts tried to do some repairs to the solar power tower as they bolted the tower directly to the International Space Station. The hope is that this will keep it from moving and prevent any further tearing while the problem is fixed.

All was good until a rip was spotted in the second solar panel, causing an alarming situation for NASA. The tower needs to be functional in order for station equipment on the ISS to work in time for European and Asian research laboratories to head up to the ISS and link up.

The astronauts doing work on the solar tower Douglas Wheelock and Scott Parazynski halted as soon as they saw the rip next to the edge of the solar panel.

The move by NASA to try and stop the rotary joint from moving freely will cause the ISS to lose the ability to generate massive amounts of power.

NASA is currently looking over images gathered during the spacewalk to determine the best course of action from here.

NASA Extends Discovery Shuttle Mission

Boston (dbTechno) - NASA has made the announcement that they have added a day to the shuttle Discovery’s mission up at the International Space Station to allow for further work to be done on the power system of the outpost.

NASA made the announcement on Monday stating that more time is needed for spacewalkers to be able to look into and address the problems regarding the power system of the International Space Station.

The Discovery will be staying in space a bit longer as they were originally supposed to depart from the ISS next Sunday. Instead they will have to stay one extra day coming back on Monday.

Spacewalker Dan Tani satted that he found shards of metal scrapings all around the area of the joint on the space station. He stated “I was quite sure there was something anomalous with the mechanism.”

NASA has decided to lock the solar panels in place to avoid further damage. This will kepe them from working the rotary joint. These limit the amount of power the station can produce. The International Space Station must be prepared before the Japan science lab, Kibo launches next year.

NASA stated this delay will likely cut the launch window for the next mission by a day. The next mission is for the NASA shuttle Atlantis to fly the Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. The target launch date is set for December 6th.

ISS Suffers Power System Damage

Cape Canaveral (EON) - During a spacewalk, astronauts found a significant amount of damage to an important part of the power system of the International Space Station.
This was the second of five scheduled spacewalks during the NASA shuttle Discovery mission.

The spacewalk was expected to last over six hours with the astronauts working out in space trying to remove a solar array from the top of the ISS. They wanted to unmount it so that they could move it to the side of the station.

They also needed to continue to work on the brand new “Harmony” module. This was the key aspect of the Discovery mission as it is going to allow various new laboratories from Europe to connect up to the International Space Station.

The Solar Array Rotating Joint or SARJ sits toward each end of the station’s truss. Daniel Tani who was one of the two spacewalkers stated that “It’s quite clear, there’s metal-to-metal scraping, or something, and it’s widespread.”

Mission managers added the inspection to the spacewalk schedule on Friday but stated that it is still unclear as to the level of damage. Kirk Shireman stated that there are backup motors and controllers for each rotary joint. Shireman is the deputy space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA is continuing to look into the problem as Derek Hassman who is the lead space station flight director stated “As long as we can get it into an attitude that’s reasonably good for power generation, combined with what the other SARJ can produce, we wouldn’t have any significant power impacts that we couldn’t deal with.”

X Prize Cup Rocket Goes Up In Flames

Washington (EON) - Armadillo Aerospace’s mod lunar lander prototype went up in flames on Sunday during its final launch attempt at the X Prize Cup backed by NASA.

The event took place at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and unfortunately for Armadillo Aerospace, the the year-long quest to win the air and rocket show ended up in flames.

This is the second year ina row that the Armadillo team ended up losing their quest to win the $350,000 in prize money from NASA. The team is backed by millionaire video-game programmer John Carmack.

There were no injuris according to Brett Alexander, the X Prize Foundations executive director for space prized. The rocket craft was not totally destroyed but ended up in flames.

Alexander quoted Carmack as stating “Today is officially a bad day.”

A total of $2 million in potential prized makes up the Lunar Lander Challenge from NASA’s Centennial Challenges program.

Peter Diamandis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the X Prize Foundation stated “From the field we heard a little bit of a boom and there was a hard start on the engien of some type.”

“I would expect that next year there will be more than one team competing, but I don’t know. I do know now that all $2 million is still on the table. So there’s an incentive for those that are still pushing…and an incentive for us to hold the Cup and have a great event,” Alexander explained at a post-Lunar Lander Challenge press conference.

NASA Shuttle Discovery Arrives At ISS

Boston (dbTechno) - The NASA space shuttle Discovery completed its long journey as the Discovery linked up with the International Space Station on Thursday to begin a challenging mission.

The mission involved the astronauts getting the International Space Station ready for new European and Japanese laboratories to link up to it via the connector called Harmony.

Shuttle commander Pamela Melroy controlled the Discovery as it made its way and latched onto the docking port at 8:40 a.m. EST.

Discovery’s lead space-walker Scott Parazynski stated “Everybody here is just ecstatic. We’re so fired up to be here.”

The ISS will host the 10 men and women from the Discovery and station crew for the next 10 days or so.

Discovery launched on Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it took two days to reach the ISS.

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