NASA News: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's Statement About The 50th Anniversary Of U.S. Human Spaceflight
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden issued the followingstatement Thursday, May 5, about the 50th anniversary of United
States human spaceflight:
"50 years ago today, Alan Shepard rocketed into space on America's
first manned space mission. That flight set our nation on a path of
exploration and discovery that continues to this day.
"May 5, 1961, was a good day. When Alan Shepard launched toward the
stars that day, no American had ever done so, and the world waited on
pins and needles praying for a good outcome. The flight was a great
success, and on the strength of Shepard's accomplishment, NASA built
the leadership role in human spaceflight that we have held ever since.
"I was a teenager at the time and just sorting out the field of study
I wanted to pursue. Though I never dared dream it growing up in
segregated South Carolina, I was proud to follow in Alan's footsteps
several years later and become a test pilot myself. The experiences
I've had would not have been possible without Alan's pioneering
efforts. The inspiration that has created generations of leaders to
enlarge our understanding of our universe and to strive toward the
highest in human potential was sparked by those early achievements of
our space program. They began with Freedom 7 and a daring test pilot
who flew the ultimate experimental vehicle that May day 50 years ago.
"Today we celebrate a first -- and we celebrate the future. Project
Mercury gave our country something new, including an astronaut corps
and the space vehicles that began our human exploration efforts.
"I encourage everyone to not only remember that remarkable
achievement, but to be reminded that we are still driven to reach for
new heights in human exploration.
"At NASA, each first is grown and expanded until we make the next
breakthrough. 50 years ago, we sent the first American into space.
Today we have a space station flying 250 miles overhead right now on
which men and women have lived continuously for more than 10 years.
"With the same spirit of innovation and grit of those early days of
space flight, we now move out on an exciting path forward where we
will develop the capabilities to take humans to even more
destinations in the solar system. With our support and assistance,
commercial companies will expand access to that rarefied area Alan
Shepard first trod for America, allowing NASA to focus on those
bigger, more challenging destinations and to enable our science
missions to peer farther and farther beyond our solar system.
"We are just getting started. Our future, as an agency and as a
country, holds many more firsts. We know the next 50 years will be
just as exciting as the last - filled with discovery, innovation and inspiration.
NASA TV To Air 2011 U.S. Astronaut Hall Of Fame Induction May 7
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Television will provide live coverage ofthe 2011 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3 p.m. EDT
on Saturday, May 7. The ceremony will take place at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
Joining the hall of fame this year are former astronauts Karol J. "Bo"
Bobko and Susan J. Helms. Their inductions bring the total number of
space explorers enshrined to 79.
Bobko flew on three shuttle missions and logged more than 386 hours in
space during his 19 years in the astronaut program. He served as
pilot during the first voyage of shuttle Challenger aboard STS-6 in
April 1983 and as commander during the maiden flight of shuttle
Atlantis aboard STS-51J in October 1985.
Helms flew on the shuttle five times and logged 5,064 hours in space.
While serving as a member of the second crew to live aboard the
International Space Station in 2001, she performed the longest
spacewalk ever at 8 hours and 56 minutes.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a 2006 Hall of Famer, will deliver
remarks at the event. CNN reporter John Zarrella will serve as the host.
Reporters interested in covering the event should contact Andrea
Farmer at 321-449-4318 or Jillian McRae at 321-449-4273.
For more information about the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, visit:
http://www.kennedyspacecenter.
For biographies for Bobko and Helms, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming
video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
NASA Selects Summer Of Innovation Projects
WASHINGTON -- NASA announced partnerships with nine organizations thatwill help the agency implement its 2011 Summer of Innovation (SoI)
education program.
SoI uses NASA's out-of-this-world missions and technology programs to
boost summer learning in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics, or STEM, particularly for underrepresented and
underperforming students.
The SoI 2011 partners are:
- Chester County Intermediate School District-Unit 24, Downingtown,
Pa.
- Albany State University, Albany, Ga.
- Nebraska Department of Education, Lincoln
- Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, Houston
- University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
- Puerto Rico Institute of Robotics, Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Rio Grande Valley Science Association, Edinburgh, Texas
- Indiana Association of United Ways, Inc., Indianapolis
- South Dakota Discovery Center and Aquarium, Pierre
"I am delighted that we have such a broad and diverse group of partner
organizations ready to implement this year's Summer of Innovation
program." said Leland Melvin, NASA associate administrator for
education. "We look forward to building on the momentum that began
last year, so we can engage and inspire even more middle school
students to reach higher and pursue STEM career opportunities."
NASA intends to award nine cooperative agreements for these SoI
partnerships that total approximately $6.75 million. Awards have a
period of performance of 48 months. The selected partners will engage
students during the summer with follow up during the academic year
through afterschool programs.
Awardees will develop strong collaborations between school districts
and informal education providers to excite and engage thousands of
students in high quality learning experiences. NASA also will support
these partner institutions as they engage local teachers in
professional development to support high quality instruction in STEM
disciplines.
NASA's goal is to increase the number of future scientists,
mathematicians and engineers, with an emphasis on broadening
participation by low-income and minority students.
For more information about the Summer of Innovation program, visit:
http://www.nasa/gov/soi
For information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
NASA's Gravity Probe B Confirms Two Einstein Space-Time Theories
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed twokey predictions derived from Albert Einstein's general theory of
relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test.
The experiment, launched in 2004, used four ultra-precise gyroscopes
to measure the hypothesized geodetic effect, the warping of space and
time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, the amount a
spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.
GP-B determined both effects with unprecedented precision by pointing
at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in a polar orbit around Earth. If
gravity did not affect space and time, GP-B's gyroscopes would point
in the same direction forever while in orbit. But in confirmation of
Einstein's theories, the gyroscopes experienced measurable, minute
changes in the direction of their spin, while Earth's gravity pulled at them.
The findings are online in the journal Physical Review Letters.
"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet
rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with
space and time," said Francis Everitt, GP-B principal investigator at
Stanford University. "GP-B confirmed two of the most profound
predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications
across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological
innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space."
GP-B is one of the longest running projects in NASA history, with
agency involvement starting in the fall of 1963 with initial funding
to develop a relativity gyroscope experiment. Subsequent decades of
development led to groundbreaking technologies to control
environmental disturbances on spacecraft, such as aerodynamic drag,
magnetic fields and thermal variations. The mission's star tracker
and gyroscopes were the most precise ever designed and produced.
GP-B completed its data collection operations and was decommissioned
in December 2010.
"The mission results will have a long-term impact on the work of
theoretical physicists," said Bill Danchi, senior astrophysicist and
program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every future
challenge to Einstein's theories of general relativity will have to
seek more precise measurements than the remarkable work GP-B accomplished."
Innovations enabled by GP-B have been used in GPS technologies that
allow airplanes to land unaided. Additional GP-B technologies were
applied to NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer mission, which
accurately determined the universe's background radiation. That
measurement is the underpinning of the big-bang theory, and led to
the Nobel Prize for NASA physicist John Mather.
The drag-free satellite concept pioneered by GP-B made a number of
Earth-observing satellites possible, including NASA's Gravity
Recovery and Climate Experiment and the European Space Agency's
Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer. These
satellites provide the most precise measurements of the shape of the
Earth, critical for precise navigation on land and sea, and
understanding the relationship between ocean circulation and climate patterns.
GP-B also advanced the frontiers of knowledge and provided a practical
training ground for 100 doctoral students and 15 master's degree
candidates at universities across the United States. More than 350
undergraduates and more than four dozen high school students also
worked on the project with leading scientists and aerospace engineers
from industry and government. One undergraduate student who worked on
GP-B became the first female astronaut in space, Sally Ride. Another
was Eric Cornell who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001.
"GP-B adds to the knowledge base on relativity in important ways and
its positive impact will be felt in the careers of students whose
educations were enriched by the project," said Ed Weiler, associate
administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., managed the
Gravity Probe-B program for the agency. Stanford University, NASA's
prime contractor for the mission, conceived the experiment and was
responsible for the design and integration of the science instrument,
mission operations and data analysis. Lockheed Martin Corp. of
Huntsville designed, integrated and tested the space vehicle and some
of its major payload components.
For more information about Gravity Probe B, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
and
http://einstein.stanford.edu/
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