Transcript: This Week at NASA, February 25 - March 3
03.03.06
HEROIC EFFORT - NASA
The space shuttle's redesigned external fuel tank arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, thanks to the heroic efforts of workers at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. Despite Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on many of their personal lives, the Michoud workers got the redesigned E.T. external tank on its way and ready for the next Space Shuttle mission. Designated ET-119, the tank has considerable safety changes, including the removal of the protuberance air load ramps from which foam shed during the last shuttle mission.
SHUTTLE UPDATE – KSC
At a NASA Space Shuttle Program Update from the Kennedy Space Center, Program Manager Wayne Hale acknowledged the External Tank milestone – and the status of STS-121's scheduled launch later this year.
SOT Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Program Manager: "We're very excited about that. As you know, folks all around the Space Shuttle program have been working very, very, very hard to get to this point. We have a considerable amount of work ahead of us."
HEADS OF AGENCY MEET – KSC
Administrator Michael Griffin and his counterparts from the International Space Station partnership met at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The International Space Station Heads of Agency meeting brings together the leaders of the Canadian, European, Japanese, Russian, and U.S. space agencies. Agency leaders discussed plans for launching the remaining components of the station and how it'll be operated during the assembly process.
NASA UPDATE - HQ
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin was joined by Deputy Administrator Shana Dale for another NASA Update to employees agency wide. Among other topics, Griffin affirmed the importance of NASA's mission of exploration – and conveying that to the American public.
SOT Griffin "The pursuit of the frontier, the pursuit of exploration, is intimately tied to the long term security of Americans as a people and as a nation. And I don't mean security in the sense of weapons handling, not at all. NASA is a civilian agency. I mean security in the sense of being preeminent I world affairs.
PORTRAIT OF A GALAXY – STScI
The Hubble Space Telescope has a new image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier, or M101. It’s the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy ever released from Hubble. The galaxy’s portrait is composed of 51 individual Hubble exposures and elements from ground-based photos.
GROUNDBREAKING – SSC
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was among the dignitaries participating in the groundbreaking ceremony for the NASA Shared Services Cente at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Among others lifting golden shovels were Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, NSSC Executive Director Richard E. Arbuthnot, and NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. The NASA Shared Services Center will centralize agency services and employ some 500 contractors and civil servants in an area hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.
WIND BENEATH OUR WINGS – MSFC
It's been 50 years since the U.S. Army installed a Trisonic wind tunnel at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Since then, the tunnel, which operates in the subsonic, sonic and supersonic ranges, has helped engineers develop numerous major projects, including NASA’s Mercury-Redstone and Saturn rockets, and the Space Shuttle. The14-inch tunnel continues to help test the vehicle configuration on NASA’s newest spacecraft.
MERGING ON MARS – JPL
On March 10, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft will fire its main thrusters and then slow itself enough for the Red Planet’s gravity to grab the spacecraft into orbit. Ground controllers expect the mission-critical burn to start shortly after 4:25 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The burn will end during what promises to be a suspenseful half hour with the spacecraft behind Mars and out of radio contact.
AMBASSADOR CRONKITE – JSC
Launch Announcer SOT: "…Okay Engine Stop!"
Cronkite SOT: "Man on the Moon."
Launch Announcer SOT: "We copy it down Eagle."
Cronkite SOT: Whew! Boy!
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was honored by NASA with a moon rock in recognition of his decades-long coverage of America's space program.
Cronkite SOT: "...It’s beyond anything I could have believed ever would happen, or would expect happen but you have made it happen at NASA."
Cronkite received his Ambassador of Exploration Award at a ceremony at the University of Texas in Austin, where his moon rock will be on permanent display. Once known as "the most trusted man in America," Cronkite is the first non-astronaut and only non-NASA "Ambassador of Exploration."
Cronkite SOT : "His quote was: That’s One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind."
And that's the way it is, this week at NASA.
+ Listen Now (mp3)
