Transcript: This Week at NASA, March 18 - 24
03.24.06
TWAN HEADLINE: ST5 - WAY TO GO! - GSFC
This week at NASA...
NASA’s three ST5 satellites successfully deployed from their Pegasus rocket on March 22 and are now orbiting earth. Each spacecraft will be checked out on orbit and then begin its mission -- to test new micro-spacecraft technologies, operations techniques and study the effect of the sun’s activity on the Earth’s magnetosphere.
TWAN HEADLINE: TESTING 1…2…1 - KSC
The STS-121 crew participated in an equipment interface test at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. They inspected the resupply stowage racks in a pressurized cargo compartment known as Leonardo. The crew also performed tool and equipment interface checks with a box containing heat shield repair tiles. Discovery will evaluate new inspection and repair techniques to improve shuttle safety. STS-121 is targeted for July.
Launch Announcer SOT: Contact to the Soyuz spacecraft to Zvedza docking port confirmed.
TWAN HEADLINE: ISS PREP - JSC
On Monday, March 20, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev flew their Soyuz spacecraft from one docking port to another to prepare for the arrival of the Expedition 13 crew. The pair left the station unoccupied for about 22 minutes, as they relocated their Soyuz vehicle. Tokarev undocked the Soyuz at 1:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time from the Earth-facing port of Zarya and re-docked at the aft of the Zvezda module at 2:11 a.m. Eastern. This is the first time in ISS history that a crew has used all three docking ports.
TWAN HEADLINE: WARMER WATER - GSFC
Glaciers and ice sheets are threatened with a big problem: warmer waters; and those warm waters are increasing melting and ice flow in polar areas. Last month NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported an acceleration of ice flow into the sea from several Greenland glaciers. Using advanced computer models and powerful scientific instruments, NASA measures sea surface temperature from space and studies temperature processes. The information gleaned from these studies is crucial as sea surface temperatures play a vital role in climate and weather issues.
TWAN HEADLINE: ECLIPSE 2006 - GSFC
On March 29, 2006, for just a few minutes, parts of the world will experience the glory of a total solar eclipse. This year's Sun-Earth Day will shed some light on this phenomenon and how it has inspired generations of scientists to explore the complex sun-earth connection.
TWAN HEADLINE: FREE SPIRIT - HQ
NASA’s first female space shuttle commander -- Eileen Collins received the 2005 Al Neuharth Free Spirit of the Year Award. Collins talked with several U.S. high school seniors in the nation’s capital where the award was presented. The Freedom Forum gives the award annually to a person in the news who has stirred the public’s hearts and souls by demonstrating the human capacity to dream, dare and do.
EILEEN COLLINS SOT: “I believe that part of our happiness come from sharing, sharing our knowledge, our experience and our good fortune with others. This award is going to help us with a scholarship program that has been set up in my home town to help young people in high school go on to college.”
Also honored this year was Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno, and Sean Tuohey, founder of Playing for Peace, an organization that brings diverse groups together to learn to work and play as a team.
And that's this week at NASA.
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