Kennedy Space Center’s

January 2015 Vol. 2 No. 1

2014
YEAR IN PHOTOS
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER’S NASA’S
SPACEPORT MAGAZINE LAUNCH
Click the cover to link to any of this years issues SCHEDULE
Date: Jan. 6 -- 6:18 a.m. EST
Mission: Fifth SpaceX
Commercial Resupply Services
Flight with Cloud-Aerosol
Transport System (SpaceX
CRS-5)
Description: Launching from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Florida. SpaceX CRS-5 will
deliver cargo and crew supplies
APRIL 2014 MAY 2014 JUNE 2014
to the International Space
Station. It will also carry CATS,
a laser instrument to measure
clouds and the location and
distribution of pollution, dust,
smoke, and other particulates in
the atmosphere.

Targeted Date: Jan. 29

Mission: Soil Moisture Active
Passive (SMAP)
JULY 2014 AUGUST 2014 SEPTEMBER 2014 Description: SMAP is an Earth
satellite mission designed to
measure and map Earth’s soil
moisture and freeze/thaw state
to better understand terrestrial
water, carbon and energy cycles.
It will launch on a Delta II 7320
from Complex 2 at Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif.

No Earlier Than: February

Mission: Sixth SpaceX
OCTOBER 2014 NOVEMBER 2014 DECEMBER 2014 Commercial Resupply Services
Flight (SpaceX CRS-6)
Cover: A Delta IV Heavy rocket lifts off from Space Launch Back Cover: Expedition 42 crew members take a break from
Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida training to pose for a fun crew portrait. Pictured are NASA Description: Launching on a
carrying NASA’s Orion spacecraft on an unpiloted flight test to astronaut Terry Virts, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Air
Earth orbit. Liftoff was at 7:05 a.m. EST. During the two-orbit, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samoukutyaev, all flight Force Station, SpaceX CRS-6 will
four-and-a-half hour mission, engineers evaluated the systems engineers; NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, commander; flight
critical to crew safety, the launch abort system, the heat shield engineers Russian cosmonaut Elena Serova and European deliver cargo and crew supplies
and the parachute system. For more information, visit www. Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. to the International Space Station.
nasa.gov/orion Image credit: NASA
Photo credit: NASA

THE Editorial Writers Group Graphics Group

SPACEPORT Managing Editor............ Chris Hummel Anna Heiney Bob Granath Richard Beard Amy Lombardo

MAGAZINE Editor............................. Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Kay Grinter Linda Herridge Lynda Brammer Matthew Young

TEAM Assistant Editor.............. Linda Herridge Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Steven Siceloff Greg Lee

Copy Editor.................... Kay Grinter

Ashley Stockbridge

I am a Telecommunications Engineer for NASA in the IT Voice and Imagery Branch.

My career in the space industry began as a five-semester co-op systems engineer for
United Space Alliance where I worked in the space shuttle orbiter communications group.
My duties entailed testing and troubleshooting the shuttle communications systems.

After earning a bachelor’s in electrical engineering at Mississippi State University (Hail

State!), I worked 2.5 years for the Department of Defense specializing in electro-optics/
infrared systems testing, but I longed to return to Kennedy Space Center. Last year, I was
able to return and now I oversee Kennedy’s Land Mobile Radio (LMR) and voice recording
systems while also training to become Kennedy’s alternate RF spectrum manager.

As we, at Kennedy, endeavor to address the need of new customers while retaining our
existing customers with LMR solutions, our legacy radio system needs to be upgraded
and replaced. This is a common challenge across NASA Centers. This challenge has led to
an expansion of my duties to extend beyond Kennedy. I now am the LMR service element
manager for the agency. In this role, my responsibility will be to work with the other NASA
Centers to find solutions that will lead to every center meeting their LMR needs.
NEARLY FLA
Orion passes Exploration said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager.
Just four-and-a-half hours earlier, Orion sat
Flight Test-1 with flying colors
on the other coast of the country, atop a Delta
By Steve Siceloff IV Heavy rocket waiting to launch from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The liftoff
A spacecraft built for humans left the domain had already been delayed by a day because of
of low-Earth orbit Dec. 5 for the first time in 42 high winds and then balky fill-and-drain valves.
years when NASA’s first Orion soared 3,604 Neither problem showed itself Friday, though,
miles above Earth and returned safely hours and the three engines of the United Launch
later, having accomplished a flawless flight test Alliance rocket ignited on time at 7:05 a.m.
as part of NASA’s journey to Mars. EST to begin a brilliant climb into space. With
“We as a species are meant to press humanity the core boosters separated, the second stage
further into the solar system and this is a first lifted Orion into its initial orbit and the launch
step,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate abort system tower and service module support
administrator for the Human Exploration and fairings jettisoned as planned, two important
Operations Directorate. “What a tremendous system tests for the new spaceship.
team effort.” The harsher aspects of the flight came later
It was just the kind of mission NASA hoped for, when the second stage re-ignited to send Orion
all the while knowing that the first mission by any 3,604 miles above Earth, an altitude 15 times
spacecraft often turns up significant glitches. higher than the International Space Station.
That was not the case this time though. The The spacecraft flew through the high radiation
cone-shaped Orion held up to all the pressures in the Van Allen belts on the way out and then
of launch and ascent into orbit, then made two on the way back but its systems held up fine.
passes through the high radiation of the Van The spacecraft sent back video shot through its
Allen belts before facing the searing plunge into two windows of what Earth looks like from that
Earth’s atmosphere and splashing down under height.
three billowing parachutes. “The upper stage put us right where we wanted
Watching the spacecraft descend through to be and some of those pictures where you
the sky over the Pacific Ocean in real time via could see the frame of the window, you don’t
an unmanned aircraft system dispatched from feel like you’re watching like a satellite, you feel
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in like an astronaut yourself,” Geyer said.
California, Orion managers and NASA’s senior “That picture really meant something to me,”
leadership seemed to hold their breath until the said astronaut Rex Walheim, a mission specialist
first drogue parachutes deployed from the who flew on the final space shuttle mission and
nose of Orion. Gasps turned quickly to applause is now helping develop this new generation of
and hugs moments later when the huge main human spacecraft.
parachutes opened to slow the capsule to a The fiery plunge through the atmosphere came
gentle 20 mph splashdown 270 miles west of next, with Orion slamming into the thickening air
Baja California. at 20,000 mph, fast enough to produce a 4,000
“It is hard to have a better day than today,” degree F plasma field around the spacecraft.
AWLESS
The test was made strenuous on purpose: “We’re already working on the next capsule,”
spacecraft coming back from lunar orbit are said Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin’s Orion
travelling faster than those returning from low program manager, the company that built Orion
Earth orbit, so engineers wanted to test the and operated the flight for NASA. “We’ll learn a
Orion armor in as realistic a circumstance as tremendous amount from what we did today.”
they could. The next spacecraft is being built to fly
That was the same approach to designing the Exploration Mission-1, or EM-1. It will also fly
whole mission, Geyer said. without astronauts onboard, but will make a
“We had the models and we have the best much longer flight, this time going around the
people on the planet, but until
you fly it, you don’t know,”
Geyer said.
Orion touched down about a
mile away from the landing spot
controllers predicted before
launch, achieving a statistical
bulls-eye splashdown for
something returning to Earth
from 3,600 miles away.
Engineers will evaluate all the
data recorded on the ground
and on the spacecraft’s onboard
systems including readings from
1,200 sensors placed throughout
the crew module to find out more
details about all the elements of
the spacecraft and the details of
their performance.
“The first look looks really
good from a data standpoint,”
Gerstenmaier said, comparing watching the moon carrying an operational service module
well-executed flight to an artist pondering a to produce power and topping off the first test
masterwork. of the gigantic Space Launch System rocket
Orion did not carry any people into space now under development. Although the Delta
during this flight, but is designed to take IV could get Orion into high Earth orbit, the
astronauts on deep space missions in the spacecraft will require the power of the SLS to
future. It became the first spacecraft designed push it out into deep space.
for humans to leave low-Earth orbit since the “I don’t think you could find an astronaut who
Apollo 17 mission, the last moon landing by wouldn’t be excited to fly Orion,” Walheim said,
NASA. “This is true exploration.”
The Orion crew module is recovered
after splashdown in the Pacific
Ocean about 600 miles off the coast
of San Diego, California on Dec. 5.

NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed

Martin coordinated efforts to recover
Orion and secure the spacecraft
inside the well deck of the USS
Anchorage.

After lifting off at 7:05 a.m. EST

atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from
Space Launch Complex 37 at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
in Florida, NASA’s Orion spacecraft
completed a two-orbit, four-and-a-
half hour mission to test systems
critical to crew safety, including the
launch abort system, the heat shield
and the parachute system.

The Ground Systems Development

and Operations Program led the
recovery efforts.

For the complete story, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/13rVMXn

Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy

In January, NASA and President Obama’s Administration
agreed to extend operation of the International Space Station
until at least 2024.

First, it will allow NASA to complete necessary research

activities aboard the station in support of planned long-
duration human missions beyond low-Earth orbit -- including
our planned human mission to an asteroid by 2025 and to
Mars in the 2030s. 

Second, it will extend the broader flow of societal benefits

from research on the station.

For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Photo credit: NASA

John Hennessey, founder of Hennessey Performance and

maker of the Hennessey Venom GT, brought his high-
performance production sports car to the 3.5-mile-long
Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in January
to evaluate its aerodynamics and see how the car would
handle throughout its performance range.

The runway is one of only about a half dozen places in the

world that has the kind of room and infrastructure to make test
runs safely.

To watch a video of the test, go to: http://go.nasa.

gov/1zYHgmX

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The Ground Systems Development
and Operations Program
completed testing of the new
traction roller bearings on crawler-
transporter 2 (CT-2) on two of the
massive vehicle’s truck sections, A
and C, in late January.

Upgrades to CT-2 are necessary

in order to increase the lifted-
load capacity from 12 million to
18 million pounds to support the
weight of the Mobile Launcher and
future launch vehicles, including
the Space Launch System and
Orion.

For more information, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1qfWy1s

Photo credit: NASA

A ground support technician applies heat to a
casing of crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) inside the
Vehicle Assembly Building on March 11.

New roller bearing assemblies have been

installed on CT-2. The modifications are
designed to ensure the crawler’s ability
to transport launch vehicles currently in
development, such as the agency’s Space
Launch System, to the launch pad.

The Ground Systems Development and

Operations Program office at Kennedy is
overseeing the upgrades.

For more information on Ground Systems

Development and Operations,
visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1zZ7mpJ

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Six-year-old Connor Johnson and his
family, from Denver, learned of potential
budget cuts last year that threatened his
dream of working for NASA so he decided
to start a petition on the White House
website.

And it’s that forward thinking that allowed

Connor and his family to be invited as
guests of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor
Complex.

Connor proudly gave Kennedy Center

Director Bob Cabana $9 to help fund
NASA. “Every penny helps,” a delighted
Cabana said.

For more information, visit: http://

go.nasa.gov/1GpBrkq

Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

Ecologist Carlton Hall is on a different kind of mission at Kennedy Space
Center -- one to take care of and protect the center’s land and resources
for current and future generations.

To recognize his efforts in climate change research related

to Kennedy’s future launch capabilities, Hall, with InoMedic
Health Applications Inc., received the KSC Scientist of the
Year Award during the 2014 NASA Kennedy Space Center
Honor Awards ceremony.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1BMP0Yx

Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

Found only in the Sunshine State, the intelligent, social

Florida scrub jay serves as an environmental indicator of the
health of the state’s scrub habitats. Ecologists at Kennedy
Space Center are supporting adaptive resource-management
science to help save the species.

The Florida scrub jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is endemic

to the region; you won’t find one anywhere else in the world.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1zZoaNp

Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

Fog envelopes the top of the
405-foot-tall Mobile Launcher that
towers above its construction site in
the heart of Launch Complex 39 at
Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 7.

The mobile launcher will support

NASA’s next heavy-lift launch vehicle,
the powerful Space Launch System.
It is being bulked up in preparation for
the forces of liftoff.

Modifications of the ML expanded the

exhaust opening from about 22 by 22
feet to about 64 by 32 feet

For more information, visit: http://

go.nasa.gov/1qg13Jf

Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite-L (TDRS-L), the 12th
spacecraft in the agency’s TDRS
Project, launched Jan. 23 aboard a
United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
in Florida.

The mission of the TDRS Project,

established in 1973, is to provide
follow-on and replacement
spacecraft to support NASA’s space
communications network.

TDRS-M, the next spacecraft in this

series, is on track to be ready for launch
in late 2015.

For more information about TDRS,

visit: http://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov

Photo credit:
NASA/Tony Gray and Sandy Joseph
Special Rescue Operations
firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue
Services in the Protective Services
Office at Kennedy Space Center
participated in a training exercise
at the Shuttle Landing Facility on
March 6.

Firefighters, wearing protective gear,

use hoses to put out a fire burning
on a mock-up of a small plane.
Kennedy’s firefighters achieved Pro
Board Certification in aerial fire truck
operations and also completed
vehicle extrication training using the
Jaws of Life.

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

A set of Nano CubeSats were deployed by the Expedition 38
crew onboard the International Space Station on Feb. 11.

More than 120 students were involved in the design,

development and construction of the CubeSats that were
flown as auxiliary payloads on the SpaceX CRS-3 cargo
resupply mission to the ISS.

The CubeSat program contains a variety of experiments

such as Earth observations and advanced electronics
testing.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/nXOuPI

Photo credit: NASA

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft full of cargo, experiments and equipment arrived at the International
Space Station where it was grappled by the Canadarm2 and locked into place so astronauts could
retrieve almost 5,000 pounds of equipment, experiments and supplies April 20.

The manifest for the flight included a spacewalking suit for astronauts plus related hardware and
supplies for more than 150 science investigations to be conducted by the space station crews.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1BVzZGE

Photo credit: NASA

The historic site where American astronauts first launched to the
moon was the location of a recent landmark agreement, part of
NASA’s continuing process to transform the Kennedy Space Center
into a 21st century spaceport.

During ceremonies April 14, agency officials announced they signed

a property agreement with SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., for use and
operation of Launch Complex 39A for the next 20 years.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1ztLjGy

Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

From weather observations to navigation to
communications, Earth-orbiting spacecraft are now
so prevalent they could easily be taken for granted.

A team at Kennedy Space Center, collaborating with

counterparts at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, demonstrated ground
breaking technology that could add additional years
of service to satellites.

Engineers are performing the design, development

and qualification testing of the critical hypergolic
propellant transfer system for a simulated servicing
satellite.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.

gov/1uQ2VHF

Photo credit: NASA

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a longtime
resident at Kennedy Space Center, which shares boundaries
with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s east
coast.

This is a unique population that spends a large amount of time

in an estuarine environment.

Although they typically choose to stay in or near the water,

they’re often spotted crossing roads, sunning themselves on
runways, venturing into parking lots or wandering a little too
close to buildings.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1wDCvhm

Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

Wearing sunglasses, NASA
astronaut Steve Swanson
activates the Veggie plant
growth system and Veg-01
experiment May 8 in the
Columbus module on the
International Space Station.

A root mat and six plant

“pillows,” each containing
‘Outredgeous’ red romaine
lettuce seeds, were inserted
into the chamber. The
pillows received about 100
milliliters of water each to
initiate plant growth.

Inside each plant pillow is a

growth media that includes
controlled release fertilizer
and a type of clay used on
baseball fields.

For more information,

visit: http://go.nasa.
gov/1wDMcMW

Photo credit: NASA

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft full of NASA
cargo, experiments and equipment blazed
into orbit April 18, aboard the company’s
Falcon 9 rocket.

The astronauts aboard the International

Space Station unloaded the supplies after
the Dragon arrived.

The manifest for the Dragon included

almost 5,000 pounds of material including a
spacewalking suit for astronauts plus related
hardware and supplies for more than 150
science investigations to be conducted by
the space station crews.

For more information, visit: http://

go.nasa.gov/1BVzZGE

Photo credit: NASA

Team “Astrobotics,” from the University of Alabama in collaboration with
Shelton State Community College, received the top award, the Joe Kosmo
Award for Excellence, at NASA’s Fifth Annual Robotic Mining Competition
awards ceremony.

The mining competition, coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education

Office, was held May 19-23 at the Kennedy Visitor Complex.

The weeklong competition featured teams of undergraduate and graduate

students from 36 colleges and universities across the United States.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1sBJiZn

Photo credit: Kim Shiflett

Ground support technicians use a special work stand to guide a roller bearing shaft for
insertion on the C truck of crawler-transporter 2, or CT-2, inside the Vehicle Assembly
Building at Kennedy Space Center on April 17.

The modifications are designed to ensure CT-2’s ability to transport launch vehicles
currently in development, such as the agency’s Space Launch System, to the launch pad.
The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is
overseeing the upgrades.

For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/crawler-transporter.

Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

NASA and Lockheed Martin
technicians and engineers conduct
a center of gravity (CG) test on the
Orion crew module June 8 inside the
Operations and Checkout Building high
bay at Kennedy Space Center.

The CG tool measured the exact

location of the vehicle’s center of
gravity.

This test is important as it affects the

handling and control characteristics of
the vehicle.

The first unpiloted test flight of Orion,

EFT-1, launched atop a Delta IV rocket
and returned to Earth on Dec. 5.

For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion

Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

Kennedy Space Center has created a master plan describing how
to transform it from a single-user federal entity to a 21st century
spaceport supporting a multitude of users and operations.

This effort includes a central campus consolidation with a new

headquarters building as one of the major components of its
strategy.

There currently are about 700 facilities on the space center’s

144,000 acres.

For more information, go to http://go.nasa.gov/1Am3Ypd

Image credit: NASA

Wildfires are in the
news almost every day.
Firefighters respond with
teams on the ground and
in the air.

The most up-to-date tools

include helicopters and
aircraft that drop large
quantities of water and
flame retardants.

This technology also is

available at Kennedy
Space Center.

Aircraft Operations teams

train to perfect the skills
needed to ensure they
are ready to use these
tools in the event of an
out-of-control blaze at the
spaceport.

For more information,

go to http://go.nasa.
gov/1EfV79g

Photo by NASA/Frankie
Martin
This close-up view shows the
United Launch Alliance Delta IV
Heavy rocket for Exploration Flight
Test-1 being raised into the vertical
position at the pad at Space Launch
Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida on Oct. 1.

The Delta IV Heavy was readied and

launched Orion on its first flight test
Dec. 5.

For more information, go to

http://www.nasa.gov/orion/

Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

A six-month project to repair protective sand dunes along the
shoreline of Kennedy Space Center was completed by the
middle of the year.

Frequent pounding from storms, especially Hurricane Sandy

in October 2012, along with other weather systems, such as
higher than usual tides, destroyed the sand dunes protecting
important infrastructure at the spaceport.

Some 180,000 plants were planted and as they take root and
grow, the vines and shrubs should hold the sand in place.

For more information, go to http://go.nasa.gov/1w6hVBf

Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray

History was made in the 525-foot-tall
Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at
Kennedy Space Center. It was inside
the VAB that NASA’s Apollo/Saturn
V rockets and space shuttles were
prepared for their rollout to launch pads
39A and B to begin their missions.

Today, the Ground Systems

Development and Operations Program
and support contractors at Kennedy
are busy upgrading the massive
building for the next chapter in human
exploration.

For more information, go to

http://go.nasa.gov/13lyzpN

Photo credit: NASA/

Dimitri Gerondidakis
An adult osprey returns home carrying a fish in its
talons to its nest atop a speaker platform in the Press
Site parking lot June 4 at Kennedy Space Center.
In the background is a 12,300-square-foot NASA
logo painted on the side of the 525-foot-tall Vehicle
Assembly Building.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established

in 1963 as an overlay of Kennedy.
Consisting of 140,000 acres, the refuge provides
habitats for more than 1,500 species of plants and
animals.

For information on the refuge, visit

http://go.nasa.gov/1uWDpkK

Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

During a helicopter survey of wildlife at Kennedy Space

Center, an alligator is seen sharing a shallow marsh with
a school of drum fish.

Since the earliest days of America’s space program,

telemetry has been used to track rockets and
spacecraft. Similar technology now is being put to work
by marine biologists to aid in studying activities of over
a dozen managed fish and sea turtle species in the
waters surrounding Kennedy Space Center.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.

gov/136wrT5

Photo credit: InoMedic Health Applications/Russ Lower

NASA’s Exposing Microorganisms in the Stratosphere
(E-MIST) experiment launched to the Earth’s stratosphere
on the exterior of a giant scientific balloon gondola at
about 8 a.m. MST on Aug. 24 from Ft. Sumner, New
Mexico.

Soaring 125,000 feet above the Earth, E-MIST was

exposed to the upper atmosphere during a five-hour
journey over the desert, to understand how spore-
forming bacteria, commonly found in spacecraft assembly
facilities, can survive.

For more information, go to

http://go.nasa.gov/1vcwiWH

Photo credit: NASA/GoPro

Coupled Florida East Coast Railway, or FEC, locomotives

No. 433 and No. 428, shown, pass the Vehicle Assembly
Building in Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center
on their way to NASA’s Locomotive Maintenance Facility.

A Rail Vibration Test for the Canaveral Port Authority was

conducted to collect amplitude, frequency and vibration
test data utilizing two Florida East Coast locomotives
operating on KSC tracks to ensure that future railroad
operations will not affect launch vehicle processing at the
center.

For more about the NASA Railroad, go to

http://go.nasa.gov/1Am3Iqd

Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

When visitors come to Kennedy Space Center, facilities such
as the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pads leave
lasting impressions. A facility that has had a long-standing
impact on America’s human spaceflight programs recently
was renamed in honor of Neil Armstrong.

Originally constructed as the Manned Spacecraft Operations

Building, the facility was renamed the Operations and
Checkout Building before the start of the Space Shuttle
Program. It was dedicated as the Neil Armstrong Operations
and Checkout Building in ceremonies July 21.

For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1ADzFIy

Photo credit: TBD

An eruption of fire and smoke sent a
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft skyward
laden with 5,000 pounds of scientific
equipment and supplies destined for
use by the crew of the International
Space Station.

Lifting off at on Sept. 21 from Launch

Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Florida, the SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon etched a
yellow and white arc across the sky as
it flew on a path roughly paralleling the
East Coast of America.

For more information, go to http://

go.nasa.gov/1Am3uzl

Photo by NASA/Jim Grossmann

How many times do we see an innovation
and think, “Of course! Why didn’t I think
of that?” Our minds start turning towards
thoughts of our own invention, sparking
ideas and building possibilities.

This type of inspiration is the concept

behind the International Space Station
Program Science Office’s new 15-book
Researcher’s Guide Series.

When scientists see what their colleagues

have going on in orbit, their mental wheels
may begin to speed up!

You can read the full story at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1nyCRl3
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

www.nasa.gov

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