Cutting Edge

The Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft undocks from the International Space Station.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Outgoing space station commander Frank De Winne, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk strapped into a Russian Soyuz capsule, undocked and fell back to Earth on Tuesday, braving icy weather in Kazakhstan to close out a 188-day stay in space.

Descending under a large orange-and-white parachute, Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft made a rocket-assisted touchdown about 50 miles northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 2:15:34 a.m. EST, about three hours and 20 minutes after undocking from the International Space Station.

Recovery forces, including U.S. and Russian flight surgeons, were near the landing site to help the returning spacemen out of the spacecraft's cramped descent module. Despite icy weather that forced authorities to ground the helicopters normally used, recovery crews in all-terrain vehicles reached the spacecraft within about 15 minutes of touchdown.

It was the first December landing of a Soyuz since 1990, but the Russians said the weather was acceptable for a safe descent.

Russian recovery teams surround the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft, helping extract the crew members.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Monitoring the re-entry and landing from the International Space Station were Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams and flight engineer Maxim Suraev, who arrived at the outpost in early October.

"Four more months, guys, then it's your turn," De Winne said before departing. "Have a good flight. It's wonderful in space, enjoy it.

The Soyuz descent module landed upright, and recovery crews extracted Romanenko, Thirsk and then De Winne one at a time, transporting them on stretchers to nearby vehicles. All three were reported to be in good condition.

Because NASA is responsible for arranging Canadian, Japanese, and European Space Agency rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, NASA flight surgeons and managers joined Russian recovery crews to assist the returning station fliers and carry out initial medical checks.

Frank De Winne waves as he is helped from the Soyuz descent module.

(Credit: NASA TV)

With the departure of Romanenko, Thirsk and Belgium's De Winne, the European Space Agency's first station commander, the International Space Station was left in the hands of Williams and Suraev. It is the first time since mid-2006 the station has been staffed by just two crew members.

But the solitude will not last long. Three more crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA flight engineer Timothy Creamer, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled for launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft on December 20. Docking is expected two days later.

I can understand why people are so keen to find alien life. It isn't so much a scientific fascination with what might be out there. It's more a pained hope that what is out there might be more enjoyable than what is down here.

So I am wrestled to the ground by a certain sympathy for Brad Niesluchowski.

According to the Arizona Republic, Niesluchowski was asked to resign after allegedly using his position at the Higley Unified School District to exercise his own (and our) need for an alien encounter.

This was not a case of uploading pictures of potential lady friends from Eastern Europe. No, this was a rather more imaginative downloading of software that searches for extra-terrestrial life.

The Republic's sleuths got their hands on documents that suggest Niesluchowski was encouraged to resign after he downloaded free University of California (the terribly forward-thinking Berkeley branch) software that uses idle computers to examine information collected by radio telescopes.

This would be information that might indicate that ET is, indeed, flying around in a bike basket somewhere out there.

Might someone out there try to correct this situation?

(Credit: Cc Joka2000/Flickr)

Niesluchowski, you see, enjoyed the authority to purchase all sorts of technology for his district. And his alleged downloading of alien-hunting software might well have used additional energy resources and caused other related damage or accelerated depreciation to the hardware. The school district estimates these losses at between $1.2 million and $1.6 million.

Specifically, Niesluchowski stands accused of downloading a program called SETI@home to every computer in the school district.

You might rather enjoy perusing the SETI Web site. One of its recent small steps for man was to launch a site for Iran so that Iranians might also co-operate in accelerating the incidence of Klingon contact.

However, SETI might not have been the only software Niesluchowski donated to Higley. The school district also claimed it had found another program, with the heavenly name of BOINC, that also emanated from Berkeley.

Perhaps Niesluchowski's alleged behavior was not entirely thought through. Perhaps he simply hoped no one would ever notice. But, using the moniker "NEZ" he had reportedly become one of the most active and admired alien hunters. The Republic suggests that he earned 575 million "credits,", representing the enormous hours he spent in the search for the next world.

I would, however, like to offer an alternative theory as to why he might have behaved in the way he allegedly did.

The Polish roots of the name "Niesluchowski" are the words "not" and "listening". It seems perfectly possible to me that Niesluchowski merely wanted to prove that, despite his name, he was doing more future-focused listening that anyone in the world.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--The shuttle Atlantis dropped out of a crystal clear Florida sky and glided to a "picture-perfect" landing at the Kennedy Space Center Friday to close out a successful 11-day space station mission, bringing astronaut Nicole Stott back to Earth after 91 days in space.

The view through shuttle pilot Barry Wilmore's heads-up display as Atlantis lined up on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center.

(Credit: NASA TV)

With commander Charles Hobaugh at the controls, Atlantis executed a sweeping right overhead turn to line up on runway 33, pilot Barry Wilmore deployed the ship's landing gear and the shuttle settled to a tire-smoking touchdown at 9:44:23 a.m. EST.

"Houston, Atlantis, wheels stopped," Hobaugh radioed as the orbiter rolled to a halt on the runway center line.

"Roger, wheels stopped, Atlantis, that was a picture-perfect end to a top-fuel mission to the space station," replied astronaut Chris Ferguson from mission control at the Johnson Space Center. "Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole."

Hobaugh, Wilmore, flight engineer Leland Melvin, and spacewalkers Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, and Randolph Bresnik doffed their pressure suits for a traditional runway inspection about an hour and a half after touchdown.

"We really had truly an amazing mission," Hobaugh said on the runway. "It was not us, it was not any single group, but it was just an incredible team from all around the nation.

"We were lucky, I mean, part of it's luck and part of it's just pure, great skill, workmanship in processing Atlantis, getting it ready for us. We had no hitches, we went off on time, we landed on time. ... Nicole came back with us, she's doing great, she's headed back to see her family."

Atlantis settles to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Launched to the lab in August, Stott made the trip back to Earth resting on her back in a recumbent seat on the shuttle's lower deck to ease her return to gravity after 91 days in orbit.

Flight surgeons were standing by to help her off the shuttle and carry out initial medical checks before accompanying her to crew quarters for a more detailed exam. Looking comfortable and in good spirits, she told a NASA interviewer a few hours later that while her vestibular system had not yet re-adapted to gravity, she was in good shape and glad to be home.

"As you move, everything else seems to be moving around you," she said. "And it's not a spinning, dizzy feel, it's more if I get up, then everything else seems to want to move up. ... But other than that, the main thing was when they opened the hatch, it smelled like fresh, clean, fall air. And that was really nice."

Her husband and 7-year-old son were on hand to welcome her back to Earth and "I have the promise of a Coca-Cola with crushed ice in a styrofoam cup and some good food, Thanksgiving left overs, waiting for me upstairs. There are also nice, warm showers here so that's a definite luxury I think I will enjoy for some time."

Stott, Hobaugh, Wilmore, Melvin, Foreman, and Satcher planned to fly back to Houston early Saturday. Bresnik, whose wife Rebecca gave birth to the couple's second child on Saturday, flew home right away aboard a NASA training jet to meet his daughter for the first time.

Stott is the last space station crew member to launch and land aboard a space shuttle. With just five more shuttle missions before the fleet is retired next year, all future U.S. station astronauts will fly to and from the lab complex aboard Russian Soyuz capsules.

Stott's former station crewmates face a busy weekend in orbit preparing for the December 1 departure and landing of Expedition 21 commander Frank De Winne of Belgium, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, who were launched to the lab May 27. They are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-15 capsule around 2:16 a.m. EST Tuesday to close out a 188-day stay in space.

Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, who arrived at the lab complex in October, will have the outpost to themselves until December 23 when three fresh crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, astronaut Timothy Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled to arrive.

A braking parachute is deployed as the shuttle Atlantis races down the runway .

(Credit: NASA)

Hobaugh and his shuttle crewmates delivered nearly 15 tons of spare parts and equipment to the space station, including two pallets loaded with large components as a hedge against failures after the shuttle is retired.

The gear included two orientation control gyroscopes, a spare pump module, nitrogen pressurization tank and ammonia coolant for the lab's external cooling system, equipment for the mobile transporter that carries the station's mechanical arm, a new latching end effector, or hand, for the space crane, and equipment for the lab's electrical system.

The astronauts also carried out three spacewalks to prepare the complex for the attachment of NASA's final major module in February and the eventual arrival of additional spare parts and equipment that will be ferried up next year. In addition, a high-pressure oxygen tank was attached to the station's Quest airlock module.

For the trip back to Earth, the shuttle carried 2,100 pounds of station gear, including a urine distillation centrifuge that failed shortly before Atlantis took off. A replacement will be carried aloft on the next shuttle mission in February.

Only five shuttle flights reamin on NASA's manifest between now and the end of September as the agency works to complete the space station and retire the fleet.

UPDATED at 4 p.m. EST: Astronaut Randy Bresnik flew back to Houston shortly after landing to meet his new daughter; adding comments from Stott.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Astronaut Randy Bresnik carried out a spacewalk Saturday awaiting word of the birth of his second child. Responding to a wake-up call from Houston early Sunday, he delivered the news that his wife, Rebecca, had given birth, saying "good morning, Houston. Good morning, Rebecca, good morning, Wyatt, and good morning to our little girl."

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to report some good news," he said later in the morning. "At 11:04 last night, Abigail Mae Bresnik joined the NASA family and momma and baby are doing very well. I'm very thankful for everyone...that's been so supportive and so helpful the last couple of days with everything that's been going on."

Rebecca and Randy Bresnik discussed the pending birth of their daughter in a pre-flight NASA interview.

(Credit: NASA TV)

The shuttle crew's wake-up music--chosen by Bresnik's wife--was a song titled "Butterfly Kisses," which starts off with the lyrics: "There's two things I know for sure: She was sent here from heaven and she's daddy's little girl."

For medical reasons, Rebecca Bresnik was scheduled for an induced delivery Friday, two weeks before her December due date. There was no word Friday, and her husband, after participating in a six-hour spacewalk Saturday, presumably went to bed awaiting word of the birth.

"Like most parents, I would prefer to be there at the birth for sure, but we don't pick this timing," he said during a pre-launch NASA interview. "Fortunately, through the wonders of modern technical advancements and our amazing communications systems on the ISS and space shuttle, hopefully I'll be able to see the pictures and maybe talk to her on the IP (internet protocol) phone and see some video shortly thereafter. I'll be home only a few days afterward."

Rebecca said she, too, was "a little disappointed he won't be able to be there, but understanding that we don't choose the timing. I'm excited for him that he's doing what he's doing. He's trained one year for this mission, but really he's been here five, almost six years and I'm just real excited for him, excited for us, and just be gone basically a week beyond her being born."

She said the couple's son Wyatt "thinks he's naming the baby Nemo. He's just ready to be big brother, he's excited about the baby, he's always asking 'when is the baby going to come out and play?'"

"He goes up to her belly button and says 'baby, come out!'" said her husband.

"I say that too, sometimes," she joked.

"The amazing thing about him, you know, a year ago today we hadn't even met him yet," Bresnik said. "Within 48 hours of me being assigned to (shuttle mission) STS-129, we got the call saying we had a date to go to the Ukraine for our adoption.

"So we were over there 40 days last fall adopting him, came back in late December. So we've got this wonderfully happy, healthy little three-and-a-half-year-old boy who's life changed completely and he's gone from being in an orphanage on the other side of the planet to being in the space shuttle simulator here flying with his dad a couple of weeks ago.

"A miracle adoption as well as the miracle of childbirth, all in one year," he said. "We're just amazingly blessed."

Bresnik and his shuttle crewmates are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center the day after Thanksgiving.

Perhaps space travel has become old. Perhaps people have come to take it for granted. It's been seen in so many movies. So many space shuttles have taken off and returned to Earth that we think little more of them than we do of jumbo jets.

NASA therefore has to use its imagination to persuade tomorrow's generations that space travel continues to be a large step for man.

One small step in this process is a new public service annoucnement featuring that fearsome space creature, "The Rock." Dwayne Johnson himself, a man who has appeared in so many scientifically concocted movies such as WWF SmackDown, WWE Backlash, and WWE Crush Hour, is now telling kids that NASA is cool.

Why Johnson? Well, he plays Captain Chuck Baker in the new movie "Planet 51." The voice of Chuck Baker, to be precise. And that seems to be a sufficient connection for him to tell us that all of the clever things NASA discovers in the dark and beyond are also put to use here on the mundane round lump called Earth.

I know Johnson is trying to inspire, but when he tells us that NASA technologies allow us to enjoy the freeze-dried fruit in our cereal, I wonder how many viewers will look at their Raisin Bran with a jaundiced eye and quivering lips.

The Rock is a professional. He convinced when he played Agent 23 in "Get Smart," just as he did when he when he played Rick Smith in "Reno 911."

But even he struggles with the last line of this PSA. For reasons best known to someone, somewhere, perhaps even out there, Johnson is required to end this PSA with the words" There's no space like home."

Oh, goodness. He's Dwayne Johnson. He's the Rock. Couldn't they have got him to deliver an NASA smackdown? Or are we all just trying to nice-ify our images to the point of blandness?

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Commander Charles "Scorch" Hobaugh piloted the shuttle Atlantis to a precision docking with the International Space Station Wednesday after a spectacular back-flip maneuver 220 miles above the Atlantic Ocean that allowed the lab crew to inspect the ship's fragile heat shield.

Approaching from directly in front of the 670,000-pound lab complex, the shuttle's docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the station at 10:51 a.m. CST to cap a two-day rendezvous as the two ships orbited southeast of Australia.

The shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station.

(Credit: NASA TV)

A few moments later, the docking mechanism pulled the two spacecraft firmly together. And after a series of leak checks were conducted, the hatches were opened around 12:28 p.m.

Waiting in the forward Harmoney module, European Space Agency commander Frank De Winne of Belgium, cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Roman Romanenko, NASA astronauts Jeffrey Williams and Nicole Stott, and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk welcomed Hobaugh and his shuttle crewmates--pilot Barry Wilmore, Leland Melvin, and spacewalkers Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, and Randolph Bresnik.

Facing a busy afternoon in space, the two crews shared brief hugs and handshakes before a mandatory safety briefing and the start of equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Along with delivering 15 tons of spare components and supplies to the orbital complex, Atlantis will bring Stott back to Earth after three months in space. With Atlantis docked to the station, Stott is now considered a shuttle crew member and will start sleeping aboard the orbiter.

Approaching the station from behind and below, Hobaugh paused at a distance of roughly 600 feet directly below the lab complex as the two spacecraft passed high above South America. He then kicked off a computer-controlled 360-degree back-flip maneuver, exposing heat shield tiles on the orbiter's belly to the space station.

Shuttle Atlantis begins a back-flip maneuver crossing the northeastern coast of South America. The rendezvous pitch maneuver allows station crew members to photograph fragile heat shield tiles on the shuttle's belly to look for signs of damage.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Stott and Williams, looking down through portholes in the Russian Zvezda command module, then snapped hundreds of digital images using powerful telephoto lenses to help engineers assess the health of the shuttle's heat shield.

Spectacular television images from the station showed Atlantis slowly flipping about as the shuttle passed over the coast of northeastern South America and out over the Atlantic Ocean. Zoomed-in views of the shuttle's belly revealed no obvious problems, but engineers will base their assessment on the digital images shot by Stott and Williams.

After the rendezvous pitch maneuver was complete, Hobaugh guided Atlantis up to a point directly in front of the space station before the final approach to docking.

The primary goal of the 129th shuttle mission is to deliver some 15 tons of spare components and equipment to the station to protect against failures after the shuttle is retired next year. The equipment is mounted on two Express Logistics Carrier pallets in Atlantis' cargo bay.

Atlantis, midway through the rendezvous pitch maneuver.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Mounted on the pallet's upper deck are a 600-pound control moment gyroscope, a solar array battery charge-discharge unit, a device to prevent electrical arcing between the station and the space environment, and a latching end effector for the station's robot arm. Mounted on the lower surface are a 550-pound nitrogen tank assembly, a 780-pound external cooling system pump module, and a 1,700-pound ammonia coolant tank.

Shuttle Flight Director Mike Sarafin said Atlantis completed the rendezvous in good shape. The only technical problem of any significance was a bandwidth issue that is slowing data transfers to and from the ground.

On the station side, engineers are continuing to troubleshoot a problem with the lab's water processing system, but Sarafin said enough stored water was available to avoid any near-term concern.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--The United States and China have agreed to discuss expanded cooperation in space science and to start a "dialogue" on human space flight and exploration, according to a joint statement released in Beijing on Tuesday. The U.S.-China Joint Statement said both nations looked forward to reciprocal visits by the NASA administrator and appropriate Chinese space leaders in 2010.

"The United States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity, and mutual benefit," the joint statement said. "Both sides welcome reciprocal visits of the NASA administrator and the appropriate Chinese counterpart in 2010."

President Obama visits the Forbidden City in Beijing.

(Credit: Pete Souza/White House)

John Logsdon, a space policy analyst at George Washington University, said expanded cooperation makes sense, but only if both sides are open with each other and share the technical data necessary to ensure safe operations.

"I think it's great," he said in a telephone interview. "It opens the door to see whether, in fact, there's a basis for cooperation. I think the operative word in there is 'transparency.' If China is willing to provide the information we need to work with them and vice versa--they were the ones who have been somewhat reticent to do that--I think it makes total sense."

The future direction of the U.S. manned space program is unclear as NASA waits for the Obama administration to make a decision on how the agency should proceed after the space shuttle is retired next year.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--The space shuttle Atlantis roared to life and raced into orbit Monday on a critical mission to deliver 15 tons of equipment and spare parts to the International Space Station, gear needed to protect against failures after the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

The shuttle's three hydrogen-fueled main engines fired up at 120-millisecond intervals and six seconds later, after computers verified the powerplants were operating normally, Atlantis' twin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a flash at 2:28 p.m. EST, instantly pushing the orbiter skyward.

The space shuttle Atlantis begins an 11-day space station delivery mission with an on-time launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

(Credit: NASA TV)

As commander Charles Hobaugh and pilot Barry "Butch" Wilmore monitored the computer-controlled ascent, Atlantis wheeled about its vertical axis and arced away to the northeast, into the plane of the space station's orbit in the first step of a complex two-day rendezvous.

The shuttle's boosters operated normally, separating from Atlantis' external fuel tank as planned two minutes and four seconds after liftoff, and the spaceplane continued toward its planned preliminary orbit on the power of its three main engines.

A television camera mounted on the side of Atlantis' external tank provided spectacular views as the shuttle thundered toward space, showing the Florida coastline and scattered clouds dropping away below as the ship accelerated toward space.

Making a bigger splash than expected, the crash of an empty rocket stage in a permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole last month kicked up a surprising amount of water ice and vapor, confirming the presence of a potentially valuable resource for future space travelers.

"I'm here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water," said Anthony Colaprete, the project scientist and principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. "And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount."

Holding up water jugs to make the point, he said "if you remember, a month ago we were talking about teaspoons going into glasses over football fields. Well, now I can say today that in the 20- to 30-meter (65- to 100-foot-wide) crater LCROSS made, we found maybe about a dozen of these two-gallon buckets worth of water."

And more than water. Data from the LCROSS instruments show signs of other compounds that may shed light on the moon's evolution.

"It's a whole lot more beyond the water," Colaprete said. "That's the exciting part in my mind, it's not only about the water now. There's actually a lot more here that we're going to be talking about in the months ahead, looking at the LCROSS data."

Spectroscopic data from NASA's LCROSS lunar impactor shows the presence of water in two specific bands (yellow regions).

(Credit: NASA)

Said Greg Delory, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley: "This is not your father's moon. Rather than a dead and unchanging world, it could in fact be a very dynamic and interesting one that could tell us unique things about the Earth-moon system and the early solar system."