Transcript: This Week at NASA, April 15 - 21
04.14.06
ARMSTRONG HONORED - HQ
NASA presented former astronaut Neil Armstrong with the Ambassador of Exploration Award. Armstrong, an Ohio native, received the award from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin at a ceremony carried live on NASA TV from the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.
SOT Mike Griffin: “…We commemorate you and we celebrate your accomplishments and thank you for being here with you today.”
SOT Neil Armstrong: “…Receiving this honor is very impressive but an even bigger honor to me is you presence here. Thank you for being here.”
Armstrong, a former X-15 test pilot, served as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, which performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. But, above all, Armstrong will be remembered as commander of Apollo 11, and the first man to step on the surface of the moon, on July 20, 19-69.
"That one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
Fourteen Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts have now received the Ambassador of Exploration Award. NASA plans to similarly honor the remaining 24, and key individuals from those space programs. The Ambassador of Exploration Award is a small sample of lunar material brought back to Earth by the Apollo astronauts that's been encased in Lucite and mounted for public display. Armstrong's award will be on public display at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.
CAMERAS' DEBUT - JPL
More new test images are in from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – and they're as good as the others! These test images of portions of the Red Planet's southern hemisphere were taken by two of the three science cameras on MRO. Like those images previously released from the third camera, these confirm the performance capabilities of the instruments onboard the spacecraft. The orbiter, meanwhile, has begun shrinking its orbit to the low-altitude shape it will fly during the mission's main science phase that begins this fall.
SPIN DOCTORS - ARC
In a pilot study at Ames Research Center this month, scientists are studying the effects of exercise and artificial gravity on cardiovascular responses and fluid shifts within the body. Using the 20-G centrifuge, scientists hope to better understand how astronauts cope with long-term exposure to the low gravity of space and other planets, and how they re-adjust to Earth's gravity
when they return home.
MARK HOWARTH SOT: “We can really only tolerate upwards of three G’s in this environment depending on the radial position. So if I weigh roughly 200 pounds now, under three 3G’s, I’m gonna feel like I essentially weigh 600 pounds. So if you could imagine if you tripled your weight walking around on earth, how that would feel? “ NASA has teamed with the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University in this effort to make space travel safer for astronauts.
G-WAVE - GSFC
Modeling ripples in spacetime has never been easy, but scientists have found a new way to translate Einstein's grueling math so that computers can accomplish the task. Researchers utilized the Columbia supercomputer at the NASA Ames Research Center to create a three-dimensional simulation that models the collision of two orbiting black holes and their subsequent gravitational waves. Einstein's Theory of Relativity predicted that moving objects give off gravitational waves. The gravitational waves from a single merger of two orbiting black holes can carry more energy than all the stars in the visible universe.
KENNEDY HONORED – KSC
Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy has been honored by the National Space Club Florida Committee as this year's winner of its Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award. Kennedy was recognized for his outstanding personal and professional efforts in supporting the U.S. space program, especially his recent work managing the space shuttle return-to-flight last July. The award is named for the Kennedy Space Center's first Director, Dr Kurt Debus.
CROSSFIELD REMEMBERED - HQ/DFRC
And our final story this week…
NASA mourns the loss of aviation pioneer Albert Scott Crossfield.
Crossfield was a Navy flight instructor during World War II. In 1950 he joined NASA's predecessor the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics -- NACA — as a research pilot at the High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Over the next five years, he flew most of the experimental aircraft being tested at Edwards.Crossfield made aeronautical history in 1953 when he reached a speed of more than 1,320 miles per hour, or Mach 2, in a Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket. He played an important role in the agency's highly successful X-15 research aircraft program in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1993, Crossfield was honored with the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his contributions to aeronautics research and development over his historic 50 year career.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said "Scott Crossfield was a true pioneer whose daring X-15 flights helped pave the way for the space shuttle. NASA remembers Scott not only as one of the greatest pilots who ever flew, but as an expert aeronautical engineer, aerodynamicist, and designer who made significant contributions to the design and development of the X-15 research aircraft and to systems test, reliability engineering, and quality assurance for the Apollo command and service modules and Saturn V second stage. Today, those of us in the aeronautics and space communities extend our condolences and deepest sympathies to Scott's family."
For additional information about Crossfield and his contributions to aeronautics visit,
http://www.nasa.gov/home
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