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kl90

Shuttle Departs Station Vicinity

Shuttle Discovery is heading into the home stretch of its highlysuccessful International Space Station assembly mission after soaringon a looping flyaround of the outpost.

Discovery pilot TonyAntonelli fired shuttle steering thrusters at 5:37 p.m., propelling thespaceship and its crew out of the near vicinity of the station and ontoa three-day trip back to Kennedy Space Center.

Click to enlargeeach of this series of NASA TV screen grabs that show station cameraviews of the shuttle as it flew around the outpost:










[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 26-3-2009 02:43 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

Crew Beams Back Station Images


Discovery'sastronauts beamed back awesome video footage of the International SpaceStation as seen from the shuttle during a flyaround of the outpostearlier tonight.

Click on each of the images to enlarge and savethem. They all are NASA TV screen grabs that were captured as the crewwas downlinking the video. There are 10 of them in total. All show thestation with its four massive American solar wings deployed.



















[ 本帖最后由 kl90 于 26-3-2009 02:44 PM 编辑 ]

kl90

New Crew Zooms Toward Station
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft and three space explorers are zooming towardthe International Space Station this morning after a rainy-day launchfrom Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.


Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, American astronaut Michael Barrattand spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi set sail at 7:49 a.m. fromthe same launch pad where Yuri Gagarin launched 48 years ago.

Their Soyuz capsule was deployed in orbit about 10 minutes later.

"Confirmseparation of the third stage. Gravity and G-loads are gone. We are inspace," Padalka reported after a nine-minute flight into orbit.


"Well, guys. Good luck to you," Mission Control in Moscow said.

"Thank you."

All three aboard the Soyuz said they felt well.

Thecrew had reported high gravitational forces during the flight, butnothing out of the ordinary. Live video beamed back from the rocket inflight showed the crew in their Soyuz capsule, waving at cameras insidetheir capsule.

The current crew on the station -- U.S. astronautMike Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and Japanese astronautKoichi Wakata -- watched live video coverage of the launch onboard theoutpost.

"We'd like to pass on our congratulations to our teamin Moscow for the successful launch of Soyuz TMA-14, and we're lookingvery forward to welcoming them aboard in just a few days," said stationskipper Fincke.

"We got to see the launch from up here and itwas quite beautiful. Thank you very much for the coverage, and we'rereally happy for Gennady Padalka, Dr. Mike Barratt and Charles Simonyi.It's going to be great to have them onboard," he said. "And again,congratulations on another picture-perfect launch."

Click to enlarge this look at the rocket:



Discovery's astronauts cleared the way for the launch with their departure Wednesday from the station.

Padalka, Barratt and Simonyi are scheduled to arrive at the station at 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

The shuttle and its crew are due back at Kennedy Space Center at 1:42 p.m. that same day.

kl90

Senate Committee Votes To Keep Shuttles Flying
The Senate Budget Committee passed a spending plan Thursday that would keep NASA's shuttle fleet operating through 2011 and eliminate a fixed retirement date that could create "dangerous scheduling pressures" like those that led to the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia disasters.

A provision in the committee's version of the Fiscal Year 2010 budget would provide NASA with an additional $2.5 billion to fly shuttle missions in 2011 while fully funding the development of next-generation Ares rockets and Orion spacecraft that will replace NASA's three-orbiter shuttle fleet.

NASA now is facing a 2010 deadline to launch nine remaining shuttle missions -- eight to complete the assembly and outfitting of the International Space Station and one to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA has been flying about three shuttle missions per year since 2005 -- the year the fleet returned to service after the Columbia accident. Investigators in both the Columbia and Challenger disasters said schedule pressure contributed to the accidents.

"This decision today in the Senate sends a strong signal that the shuttle should not be retired on a date-certain -- but only when the space station can be safely completed," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, who requested the spending provision.

NASA is "not going to be able to fly nine missions in a year-and-a-half, nor should they," Nelson said.

The inclusion of the spending provision in the Senate Budget Committee's version of the 2010 budget is an initial -- but still major -- legislative hurdle. The budget still must be passed by the full Senate and the House, and it must be signed into law by President Obama.

"This is just the first step in a lot of steps," said Nelson, a Melbourne native who flew on Columbia as a payload specialist on a flight that landed 10 days before the Challenger explosion killed seven astronauts and stunned the nation. "But today was the first major step."

kl90

Shuttle Landing Systems Pass Tests

Discovery's astronauts just completed a standard checkout of systemsthat will play crucial roles in a planned atmospheric reentry and thenlanding Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.


Discovery mission commander Lee Archambault and pilot Tony Antonellitwice pulsed each of the spaceship's 44 nose-and-tail steeringthrusters in a standard day-before-entry test.

All 38 of theprimary jets and six vernier jets worked as advertised. The thrusterswill be used during reentry to maneuver the ship on sweeping S-turns --moves made to dissipate speed as the orbiter plows through theatmosphere.

The astronauts also completed a successful checkout of the spaceship's flight control aerosurfaces.

The weather forecast for landing, meanwhile, looks good, but not perfect.


The shuttle and its crew are scheduled to land at KSC's three-milerunway at 1:39 p.m. Saturday; the crew would have a second opportunityat 3:14 p.m.

The forecast calls for scattered clouds at 5,000 and 20,000 feet.

However,forecasters at the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at NASA's JohnsonSpace Center in Houston say there is a slight chance the scatteredclouds at 5,000 feet might build in to a cloud deck that could preventmission commander Lee Archambault from seeing the runway on finalapproach. That would be a flight rule violation.

Stiff winds areexpected, but coming out of the south, they would present Discoverywith either a 20 knot headwind on Runway 15 on the north end of thelanding strip, which would be within limits.


Sustained winds of 13 knots with gusts to 21 knots are expected, but due to the direction, they would be within limits.

The visibility is expected to be seven miles.

The weather on Sunday is expected to deteriorate significantly.

Forecasterssay there would be a chance of thick electrically charged clouds,thunderstorms within 30 miles of the runway and stiff crosswinds.

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Crew Chats With Obama's School
Discovery's astronauts placed a long-distance space-to-ground call today to the prestigious high school President Obama graduated from in 1979, and they also honored a family that's been sending roses to NASA's Mission Control Center during every shuttle flight since the 1986 Challenger accident.

The aloha to Punahou School in Honolulu was special to Discovery mission specialist Joe Acaba. The former Melbourne High School science teacher was a keynote speaker at the school's annual Lacy Veach Day three years ago.

Former astronaut Charles Lacy Veach, who flew on STS-39 in 1991 and STS-52 in 1992, was a 1962 graduate of Punahou School. He died of cancer in Houston on Oct. 3, 1995.

The astronauts also took time out of their day to honor the Shelton Dallas, Texas: Mark, Terry and their daughter MacKenzie. The Sheltons have sent a bouquet of rises to NASA's Mission Control Center for every shuttle mission since the Challenger accident.

That's 100 bouquets of roses for 100 missions over the past 21 years since the September 1988 launch of STS-26, NASA's first post-Challenger mission.

NASA hosted the Shelton's in the Shuttle Flight Control Room at Mission Control, and the Discovery crew called down to greet them.

Shuttle skipper Lee Archambault noted that the bouquets "show up every mission without fail."

"We really appreciate that. It's a special time to see those roses and we know that it gives not only the crews and flight directors and their teams much support," he said. "We appreciate the support you've shown for our mission in particular. It's the 100th mission since you started that and it's very special to us."

kl90

Discovery Lands Safely At KSC                                         
Shuttle Discovery glided to a safe landing at Kennedy Space Centertoday, winding up a highly successful mission to complete theInternational Space Station's central truss and deliver a fourth andfinal set of massive American solar wings.

With missioncommander Lee Archambault at the controls, the shuttle and its sevenastronauts make n hour-long plunge back through the atmosphere and thenarced out over the Atlantic Ocean before making its final approach toRunway 15 at KSC.


Discovery touched down at 3:13 p.m. and then rolled to a stop on the three-mile long concrete strip.

"Wheels stop, Houston," Archambault radioed to NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.

"Welcomehome Discovery after a great mission to bring the International SpaceStation to full power," fellow NASA astronaut George Zamka replied. "Aspecial welcome home to Sandy (Magnus) after living and working onboardISS as a member of Expedition 18, and to the entire crew of STS-119.Great job everybody."

"Discovery, thank you very much," said Archambault: "It's good to be back home."

Thelanding was about 12 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes after itsspectacular March 15 launch from pad 39A, just about five miles east ofthe runway.

Riding home with the shuttle crew in a recumbentseat: NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who returned to Earth after servinga stint as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.Magnus spent 134 days in orbit.

Discovery landed on its secondand final opportunity of the day. NASA decided to forego a 1:39 p.m.landing opportunity as a result of cloud cover and stiff crosswinds atthe runway.

A sea breeze pushed some of the cloud cover away andcause winds to shift. Archambault landed in a stiff headwind, but onethat was well below the 25-knot limit.

Discovery's mission wasthe 125th for the shuttle program, the 100th since the 1986 Challengerdisaster, the 70th to land at KSC and the 36th for Discovery.

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Fresh Crew Arrives At Space Station

New residents have arrived at the International Space Station after a Soyuz spacecraft capped a two-day trip with an early docking at the orbiting outpost.

Soyuz commander Gennady Padalka took manual control of the spaceship about 200 meters away from the outpost and deftly guided the vehicle to a docking port on the aft end of the Zvezda Service module as both craft flew 218 miles above central Kazakhstan.

Padalka, American astronaut Michael Barratt and billionaire software developer Charles Simonyi ariived nine minutes early. They launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday.

kl90

SpaceX announces launch window
Space Exploration Technologies announced the launch window for ATSB's RazakSAT on Falcon 1 Flight 5 is scheduled to open April 20 at 7 p.m. EDT.

It will be the fifth flight of the single-engine rocket.

SpaceX's Falcon 1 launch site is about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii on Omelek Island, part of the Reagan Test Site at United States Army Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific. Due to the location of the launch site, the Kwajalein local date at the opening of the launch window will be April 21.

RazakSAT was designed and built by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd, a pioneer and leader in the design and manufacture of satellites in Malaysia. The satellite will be launched aboard a two-stage, liquid oxygen/rocket-grade kerosene vehicle, designed from the ground up by SpaceX.



Falcon 1 will place RazakSAT, equipped with a high resolution medium-sized aperture camera, into a near equatorial orbit. According to SpaceX, the payload is expected to provide high resolution images of Malaysia that can be applied to land management, resource development and conservation, forestry and fish migration.

SpaceX will provide live coverage of the Falcon 1 Flight 5/RazakSAT mission via Web cast at www.SpaceX.com. The Web cast will begin 20 minutes before launch and will include mission briefings, live feeds and launch coverage from the launch site. Post-launch, video footage and photos will be available for download on the Web site.

The company also plans the first launch of the much larger Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral later this year.

kl90

Atlas V Targeting Friday Launch From Cape
The Air Force and United Launch Alliance plan to hold a flight readiness review Wednesday to set the launch date for a next-generation military communication satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A Friday liftoff is targeted for an Atlas V rocket carrying the Global Wideband SATCOM-2 spacecraft.

The launch window Friday would run from 8:31 p.m. to 9:33 p.m.

A faulty valve on the rocket's Centaur second stage led to an oxidizer leak during fueling that scrubbed a March 17 launch attempt.

The valve was replaced late last week with a slightly different one, and officials say it has performed well during initial leak tests. The next test will come during the loading of cryogenic propellants on launch day.

ULA is expected to complete in a week or two an investigation into the root cause behind the valve leak, which has not been determined.

The valve in question had exhibited some leakage during a wet dress rehearsal, but within acceptable parameters, said Mark Wilkins, ULA's vice president overseeing the Atlas V program.

"We do want to close this investigation, and depending on the findings there's a potential that it could affect our future missions," Wilkins said. "Certainly we'll be looking much more at any valves that have any out-of-family leakage prior to installing them."

However, Wilkins said ULA has plenty of back-up valves in stock for the Centaur's RL-10 engine.

The Atlas V must launch Friday for NASA to maintain a targeted May 21 liftoff of its unmanned Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on another Atlas V, a date that would have no contingency for delays, a NASA spokesman said.

May 22 and May 23 are also possible dates, or NASA could consider slipping the launch to early June. A decision will be made after the WGS launch.

kl90

NASA Contractor Convicted In Flawed Parts Case


This just in from the Department of Justice:

NASA CONTRACTOR CONVICTED FOR FRAUD INVOLVING SPACE VEHICLE PARTS

HOUSTON -- Richard J. Harmon, 60, has pleaded guilty to one count of fraud involving space vehicle parts, acting United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today.

Harmon owned a machine shop called Cornerstone Machining Inc. located in Alvin, Texas. Harmon was hired by Spacehab Inc. in 2007 to build a part for the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The part was designed to secure cargo to the payload bay of the Endeavour during a flight to the International Space Station in March 2008. The part, called a passive flight releasable attachment mechanism interface plate, was damaged during the manufacturing process.

Harmon covered up the damage by causing it to be welded without informing Spacehab. Harmon delivered the part to Spacehab without disclosing the damage and falsely certified the materials and processes used in machining the part complied with the requirements of applicable drawings. The damage and weld reduced the structural strength of the part by approximately 40 percent.

A NASA engineer discovered the unauthorized weld during an inspection prior to the planned flight and the damaged part was discarded. Had NASA not discovered the damage and used the damaged part as planned, it could have cracked open during flight, allowed cargo to come loose and possibly resulted in the loss of the spacecraft and personnel aboard.

Originally indicted for fraud involving space vehicle parts and making a false statement in November 2008, today Harmon admitted in open court that he knew NASA would not have accepted the part if he had revealed the damage and weld.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, who accepted Harmonâ

kl90

Atlantis on Launch Pad
Editor's note: Atlantis was declared "hard down" on the launch pad at 11:17 a.m.

Shuttle Atlantis has climbed up launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, and workers are lowering its mobile launcher platform on to supporting pedestals.

The shuttle rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:54 a.m., carried by a six million-pound crawler-transporter. It reached the pad around 10 a.m., after a pause to grease a bearing.

"It feels really good to have her come back out again," said Angie Brewer, the flow director for Atlantis.

It's the second 3.4-mile ride out to the pad for the shuttle on its mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Atlantis was on the launch pad in September but rolled back to a hanger after the telescope suffered a computer failure that delayed the mission from October to a targeted May 12 launch.

Brewer said the spaceship took advantage of its time off to get ahead on some processing that otherwise would have been done after the Hubble flight, such as inspecting heat shields for corrosion or damage.

She said the shuttle, which was attached to a 15-story external tank and twin solid rocket boosters last week, is in good shape to fly.

The vehicle has four contingency days before the Hubble payload is delivered to the pad on April 18. Then, there's no margin for error to maintain the launch date, Brewer said.

For the Hubble mission, Endeavour also must be prepared to fly as a rescue shuttle, because Atlantis would not be able to dock at the International Space Station in the event it suffered serious damage.

Endeavour is expected to roll over from its processing hangar to the assembly building April 10, and then out to launch pad 39B on April 17.

It likely will be the last time a shuttle rests on pad 39B, the more northern of the two shuttle launch sites.

After the Hubble mission, NASA plans to turn the pad over to the Constellation program so modifications can be made for a test flight this summer of the Ares I-X launch vehicle.

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Atlas V will attempt Friday launch
A next-generation military communications satellite will make its second launch attempt from Cape Canaveral at 8:31 p.m. Friday, the Air Force confirmed today.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying the Boeing-built Global Wideband SATCOM-2 spacecraft, was given the go-ahead for launch after replacement and testing of an oxidizer valve in the Centaur upper stage.

The valve leaked during a first attempt March 17 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, causing the launch to be scrubbed.

Friday's launch window extends a little over an hour, until 9:33 p.m.

The Air Force had advised mariners to stay clear of a specified Launch Hazard Area between 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. EDT, or face
fines of up to $50,000.

Click here to see a map of the area and coordinates, and read the official advisory here.

Today's forecast from the 45th Space Wing's Weather Squadron shows a 40 percent chance of conditions suitable for launch on Friday, and a 70 percent chance if it's delayed until Saturday.

Read the forecast here.

And click here for more background on the WGS program.

Friday's payload is the second of three WGS communications satellites that are intended to replace the Department of Defense's existing constellation.

The first WGS satellite launched successfully from the Cape in October 2007 on an Atlas V, and the third is targeted for launch this summer on a ULA Delta IV.

kl90

Ares I-X Flight Test Could Move to Late August
The first flight test of the moon rocket that NASA hopes will replace the space shuttle may slip to late August, according to agency officials.

Some preparations for the Ares I-X flight test, which had been tentatively targeted for launch July 11 from Kennedy Space Center, can't continue until after shuttle Atlantis completes its May 12 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

During that mission, Endeavour will be standing by on launch pad 39B - the same pad from which Ares I-X will blast off - in case it's needed for a rescue flight.

NASA had considered stationing Endeavour in the Vehicle Assembly Building so it could turn over pad 39B to the Ares I-X team sooner, so more modifications necessary for the new rocket could proceed. Doing so would have delayed nine remaining shuttle flights by about a month.

But given the safety benefits of using both pads, the progress already made modifying pad 39B and the readiness of Ares I-X, the decision was made to proceed with shuttles on both pads as originally planned.

"We were able to get a lot of work done at the pad that still allows us to launch an orbiter off of that," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, during a briefing at KSC that followed Discovery's landing Saturday. "We think it's more of our normal plan to have the orbiter out at the pad. It gives us a little more robustness from a crew standpoint."

Gerstenmaier said the impact to Ares I-X would likely be three to four weeks, placing the launch in late July or early August, which "isn't too big of an impact to them."

But a spokesman at NASA headquarters said this week that the decision's impact is estimated to mean a move toward the end of August, though no date has been set yet.

"Detailed replanning and an official change to the launch date is in work by the I-X team, the Constellation Program, and the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate," spokesman Gray Hautaluoma wrote in an e-mail.

Completed modifications to pad 39B so far include the erection of three 600-foot-tall lightning towers and installation of an access arm on the Rotating Service Structure.

NASA plans to retire the shuttle by the end of next year, launching each mission from pad 39A. The first manned flights of Ares I, which is intended to eventually return astronauts to the moon, are tentatively targeted for 2015.

kl90

NASA Moon Mission Slips to June
The launch from Cape Canaveral of an unmanned NASA probe that will map lunar landing sites has been moved from May to early June, the agency has confirmed.

The date change from May 21 to no earlier than June 2 allows the mission more flexibility following this Friday's scheduled launch of a military communications satellite on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, also launching on an Atlas V, would have no days to spare even if the Wideband Global SATCOM-2 satellite, or WGS-2, launches as planned on Friday.

The scrub of a March 17 WGS-2 launch attempt because of an oxidizer leak in the rocket's Centaur upper stage made the May timeline too tight.

"With the WGS launch moving out to Friday from its original launch date, it left us with zero days of contingency, and we didn't want to go into that flow with no contingency time," said George Diller, a spokesman at Kennedy Space Center.

Diller said the specific launch date in June would be refined based on the mission's science goals.

Possible days early in the month include the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th. More opportunities arise in the third week of June.

The lunar orbiter will spend a year mapping the moon for potential landing sites for astronauts, who are scheduled to return around 2020. Read a fact sheet here.

A secondary payload is the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite. The spacecraft and the Atlas V Centaur upper stage will crash in to the moon and record data from the plume created by the impact.

kl90

Atlantis Crew Visiting KSC for Training
Seven Atlantis astronauts are scheduled to jet into Kennedy Space Center this afternoon for some refresher training in advance of their targeted May 12 launch to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Led by mission commander Scott Altman, the crew will conduct the fifth and final mission to service the observatory, an 11-day flight that includes five spacewalks.

Joining Altman are pilot Gregory Johnson and mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, Megan McArthur, Andrew Fuestal and Michael Good.

The group will depart separately from Houston in NASA's T-38 training jets and land on KSC's three-mile runway, the same one on which they'll hope to land Atlantis on May 23.

On Thursday, the astronauts have a full day of "familiarization" with the Hubble payload hardware stored in the spaceport's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility clean room.

There, a new Science Instrument Control and Data Handling computer unit will be attached to a cargo palette for flight.

The failure of that unit in orbit last fall led to the postponement the mission's planned Oct. 14 launch.

Hardware removed to make room for the new unit will not affect the mission, NASA says.

Friday morning, the crew will get a refresher course on procedures covered during three days of training last September, which included steps for how to escape from the orbiter and launch pad during an emergency.

The crew will not repeat the full launch countdown dress rehearsal performed in September, called the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT.

The astronauts plan to fly back to Houston around noon Friday, and aren't expected to return to KSC until a few days before the launch.

The arrival for training comes just a day after KSC workers rolled Atlantis out to launch pad 39A.

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Orion Mock-up Visits KSC Visitor Complex
Guests to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex today and Friday can see a prototype of the spacecraft NASA is designing to carry astronauts into space after the shuttle's planned retirement next year.

After a stint on the mall in Washington, D.C., a full-size mock-up of the Orion crew capsule is now stationed in the rocket garden outside the Visitor Complex (left).

NASA astronaut Dan Burbank will be on site Friday to talk to guests about the capsule, which is an updated, larger version of the Apollo-era capsule designed to hold four to six crew members.

After Friday, the capsule will enter Kennedy Space Center for testing in water to see how the spacecraft behaves, the kind of motion crews would experience after a splashdown and conditions recovery teams would encounter.

The Post-landing Orion Recovery Test, or PORT, is planned Tuesday.

The Orion spacecraft, to be launched on top of an Ares I rocket, is targeted to return humans to the International Space Station in 2015. By 2020, NASA hopes to return to the moon.

You can compare Orion to the Apollo 14 capsule "Kitty Hawk" on display at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, just down the road from the Visitor Complex and included with admission.

Check out this Web site for more information about the KSC Visitor Complex, or call (321) 449-4444. Admission is $38 plus tax for adults, or $28 plus tax for kids (ages 3-11)

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Atlas V Rolling to Launch Pad; Forecast Improves
Editor's note: ULA confirmed at 10:15 a.m. that the Atlas V and spacecraft were securely positioned on the launch pad.

The weather forecast for Friday's planned 8:31 p.m. launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket has improved.

The Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron now expects a 60 percent chance of favorable launch conditions Friday, up from 40 percent forecasted the day before.

Around 9 a.m. today, the 192-foot rocket is expected to roll out of its processing tower to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The rocket is carrying an advanced military communications satellite called Wideband Global SATCOM-2, or WGS-2, which will assist troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The launch window extends until 9:33 p.m.

We'll have live launch coverage here in The Flame Trench with online updates all day and a live launch webcast beginning about 25 minutes prior to liftoff.

kl90

Posey proposes flying shuttle until Ares ready
From FLORIDA TODAY's Eun Kyung Kim

WASHINGTON - Rep. Bill Posey introduced a bill today that would continue flying the space shuttle until its replacement, the Ares rocket, or another U.S.-made spacecraft could immediately resume taking Americans into space.

The measure represents the latest attempt by federal lawmakers to extend the life of the shuttle program beyond its scheduled retirement next year. Once NASA grounds the shuttles, it will be forced to rely on Russia to fly U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station until 2015. That's when the Ares rocket, part of the Constellation program replacing the shuttle, should be ready to fly.

Posey's bill calls for at least two shuttle missions a year, starting in 2010.

"Or, they could have three (launches) one year, two the next," said the Rockledge Republican. "We just don't want to lose our launch team. We'll never be able to get back that kind of talent again."

NASA estimates it would cost about $2.5 billion per year to keep flying the shuttle after 2010. Posey called that estimate high. He said he believes the price to be about $1.5 billion per year instead. Although his legislation does not include any funding, he plans to introduce a separate appropriations bill that would provide $1.5billion for next year's fiscal budget "to get things started."

Posey's bill also calls for various cost-cutting measures, including the possible retirement of one of the shuttle orbiters. NASA also would be required to cut back on shuttle upgrades not related to safe operation.

Posey's bill mirrors legislation introduced by his predecessor, former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic. Posey's bill, however, allows for the shuttle to retire once a U.S.-based supplier (such as Space X) is certified to take NASA astronauts to the space station.

Posey said several lawmakers have expressed interest in co-sponsoring the legislation. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, the New Smyrna Beach Democrat whose district includes Kennedy Space Center, was reviewing the bill, said her spokesman, Marc Goldberg.

According to the budget blueprint released earlier this year by the White House, President Barack Obama plans to stick with his predecessor's plan to end the shuttle program next year. Posey would not say whether his bill has a chance to advance, in light of that directive.

"If you don't shoot for the moon, you don't ever get out of your own backyard," he said.

Last month, a Senate budget panel passed a resolution urging lawmakers include an extra $2.5 billion to NASA's budget to fly the shuttle for an additional year.

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NASA's Chief Auditor Resigns
NASA's embattled top auditor, Robert "Moose Cobb," has resigned effective April 11, the agency announced.

Here's the text of a letter that Cobb, who led NASA's Office of Inspector General since 2002, submitted today to President Obama:

Dear Mr. President:

With this letter I tender my resignation as the Inspector General of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, effective April 11, 2009.

I have been honored to serve the United States over the past seventeen years, first at the Office of Government Ethics, then at the White House, and for the last seven years as Inspector General.

A new Inspector General will find an organization with extraordinarily talented employees dedicated to rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse and promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of NASA.

At NASA, the seemingly impossible is turned into marvels of human achievement. Challenges facing NASA are many, but I am confident that they will be ably met by your Administration, working with NASA's gifted scientists, engineers, institutional leaders, and contractor workforce.

I wish you every success.

Very Respectfully,

Robert W. Cobb


Here's a press release applauding the resignation from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat who heads the senate committee with NASA oversight:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator John D (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, issued the following statement regarding the resignation of NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb:

"Only a few short weeks ago, Senator McCaskill and I expressed deep concerns to President Obama that the NASA Inspector General, Robert Cobb, had been repeatedly accused of stifling investigations, retaliating against whistleblowers and prioritizing social relationships with top NASA officials over proper federal oversight. I respectfully asked that the President take immediate action to put an end to IG Cobb's conflict of interest and cronyism and remove him from the system.

"News of Robert Cobb's resignation is certainly welcome and this is an important step forward. I applaud the White House for taking a zero tolerance approach to lax enforcement and oversight. President Obama is setting the tone from the top and holding all employees who serve the American people accountable for improper conduct and just plain not doing their jobs. The time has come to close the door on this troubling chapter for NASA and a fresh start awaits."

Here's a letter requesting Cobb's ouster that Rockefeller and others sent to Obama last month.

Here's Cobb's official bio:

Following nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate, Robert W. Cobb took office as NASA's Inspector General on April 22, 2002. As Inspector General, Mr. Cobb is a member of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency He also served as an "observer" to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which examined the February 1, 2003, loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew.

Mr. Cobb was previously Associate Counsel to the President. In this role, he handled the administration of the White House ethics program under the supervision of the Counsel to the President and was responsible for administration of the conflict of interest and financial disclosure clearance processes for candidates for nomination to Senate-confirmed positions.

Prior to joining the Office of the Counsel to the President in January 2001, Mr. Cobb worked for almost nine years at the United States Office of Government Ethics. Prior to Government service, he worked for five years as an associate attorney at Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver. Mr. Cobb is a 1986 graduate, cum laude, from George Washington University's National Law Center, and a 1982 graduate, cum laude, from Vanderbilt University.