#39;Exploring the Mun #39; [S04-E02] KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM
Kerbal Space Program is a rocket building/space flight simulator with a flair for the ridiculous. It has garnered so much praise and attention that NASA them...

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'Exploring the Mun' [S04-E02] KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM - Video

GLOBAL WARMING: NEW HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS SET 25 September 2014
GLOBAL WARMING: NEW HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS SET 25 September 2014 (BEST VIEWED, FULL SCREEN!) LINK TO MY TALK AT NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on 6 December: http://mediastream.ndc.nasa.gov...

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GLOBAL WARMING: NEW HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS SET 25 September 2014 - Video

RUSSIA: US space tourism firm Space Adventures is offering a spaceflight around the moon to private tourists on "proven" Russian Soyuz spacecraft - saying that the sponsors will not have to wait for long for their trip.

Space Adventures has posted a statement describing its 'Circumlunar' mission on its website.

"Using flight-proven Russian space vehicles we will fly two private citizens and one professional cosmonaut on a free return trajectory around the far side of the moon. They will come to within 100km of the moon's surface," the statement said.

The exact price of the space trip is not listed. "The price of the spaceflight depends on the vehicle you choose, the timing and the exact mission profile."

Meanwhile, Space Adventures estimates that the first mission will kick off by 2018.

Some of the main attractions on the journey will include an "illuminated far side of the moon" and "Earth rising above the surface of the moon."

The space adventure will begin with the launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. The travelers will then disembark at the International Space Station where they will spend 10 days.

A second rocket will then launch a Lunar Module, which would consist of a lunar living module and a propulsion module.

The Soyuz spacecraft will rendezvous with the Lunar Module in low-Earth orbit. The other part of the journey will take six days, according to the company.

Space travel has been making waves in the entrepreneurial world of space discovery.

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Space tourism firm offers flight around the moon on Soyuz craft

September 26, 2014

Image Caption: ESA and NASAs Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured this image of a coronal mass ejection bursting off the leftside of the image at 9:25 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2013. This sun itself is obscured in this image, called a coronagraph, in order to better see the dimmer structures around it. Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

Karen C. Fox, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

Two main types of explosions occur on the sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Unlike the energy and x-rays produced in a solar flare which can reach Earth at the speed of light in eight minutes coronal mass ejections are giant clouds of solar material that take one to three days to reach Earth. Once at Earth, these ejections, also called CMEs, can impact satellites in space or interfere with radio communications. During CME Week from Sept. 22 to 26, 2014, we explore different aspects of these giant eruptions that surge out from the star we live with.

[ Watch the Video: ENLIL Model Of March 5, 2013 CME ]

Those who study Earths weather have a luxury of data points to study. From thousands of weather stations measuring temperature and rainfall to satellites tracking storm fronts up in space, meteorologists can watch detailed maps of the weather as it sweeps across land or sea.

Compared to this, the study of space weather including CMEs is a much younger science, with far fewer observatories available. However, our resources have grown dramatically in the last decade: NASA currently flies 18 missions to study the suns effects at Earth and on the entire solar system, a field known as heliophysics, and additionally launches numerous short-flight rockets for observations of solar impacts in and above Earths atmosphere. Coupled with improved computer modeling, keeping an eye on and getting a better understanding of CMEs has taken a giant leap forward in the 21st century.

Over the past ten years, we have had a major breakthrough in understanding space weather, said Antti Pulkkinen a space weather scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. We can now track the basic properties of CMEs. When our solar observatories see a CME, we can tell what direction its going in and how fast its traveling.

Improved observations combined with improved models has led to hybrid descriptions of a CME, relying partially on computer simulations and partially on actual observations. NASA houses a collection of space weather models available for public access at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at Goddard. Together with observations they can provide a holistic picture of any given CME.

For example, NASAs Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, might see a CME erupt on the sun. When that imagery is combined with observations from the European Space Agency and NASAs Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, scientists can create a 3-dimensional picture of the giant cloud. Scientists then input this data into a model and then track how the CME unfolded and spread through space until it passed by NASA observatories closer to Earth. These observatories can directly measure the magnetic fields and speed of the CME as it passes by, as well as see how it affected Earths own magnetic fields the magnetosphere.

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How NASA Watches Coronal Mass Ejections

The new six-member Expedition 41 crew, comprising American, Russian and European astronauts and cosmonauts gathers in the Zvezda service module on the International Space Station for a welcoming ceremony, Sept. 26, 2014. NASA TV

Looking like a wounded bird with only one of its two solar wings deployed, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft glided to an otherwise picture-perfect docking with the International Space Station late Thursday, boosting the lab's crew back to six with the addition of a veteran cosmonaut, a NASA shuttle flier and the first female cosmonaut to win a station berth.

With commander Alexander Samokutyaev at the controls, flanked on the left by board engineer Elena Serova and on the right by Barry "Butch" Wilmore, the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft engaged the docking mechanism on the station's upper Poisk module at 10:11 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) as the two spacecraft sailed 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean approaching the coast of Ecuador.

"Contact and capture confirmed," someone said over a translated Russian audio loop. "Congratulations."

The linkup came six hours -- four orbits -- after a sky-lighting launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The eight-minute 45-second climb to space went smoothly, but only one of the Soyuz's two solar panels unfolded after the ship reached orbit.

The Soyuz TMA-14M rocket is launched with Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Barry "Butch" Wilmore of NASA, Sept. 26, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

NASA

A little more than a half hour after docking, perhaps helped along by the slight jarring of impact or the extreme temperature swings spacecraft experience in orbit -- or both -- the stuck left-side solar array suddenly popped free, easing any concerns about the ship's return to Earth next March.

"It's fully deployed, and it's as beautiful as they come," Samokutyaev reported in a translated call to Russian flight controllers.

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Soyuz delivers team of 3 to space station

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft takes off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying three crew members bound for the International Space Station. NASA TV

Last Updated Sep 25, 2014 5:30 PM EDT

An experienced Russian cosmonaut, a NASA shuttle veteran and the first female cosmonaut to be assigned to the International Space Station blasted off Thursday aboard a Soyuz ferry craft, kicking off a six-hour flight to the orbiting lab complex. One of two solar arrays failed to initially deploy, but officials said the spacecraft had more than enough power for the planned four-orbit rendezvous.

With Soyuz TMA-14M commander Alexander Samokutyaev at the controls, flanked on the left by board engineer Elena Serova and on the right by Barry "Butch" Wilmore, the Soyuz rocket thundered to life at 4:25 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 2:25 a.m. Friday local time), lighting up the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as it climbed away.

Launching directly into the plane of the space station's orbit, the iconic Russian rocket soared away through a cloudy, deep overnight sky, putting on a dramatic show for family members, spaceport workers and agency managers as it accelerated toward space through low clouds.

The ascent went smoothly and all three crew members appeared relaxed in live video downlinked from the Soyuz. Eight minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff, the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft separated from the rocket's upper stage into an orbit with a low point of 118 miles and a high point of around 143 miles, trailing the space station by about 2,311 miles.

But only one of the spacecraft's two solar panels initially deployed as planned.

"There's a problem with the port array," said a NASA official at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It's no mission impact as long as they stay on a four-orbit rendezvous. They have plenty of battery power for rendezvous and docking."

He said engineers were optimistic the panel would "shake" free at some point with rendezvous rocket firings and with orbital temperature swings.

"It looked like a good ride, we got to see about the first 30 seconds then we lost the Soyuz behind the Dragon (cargo ship)," astronaut Reid Wiseman radioed from the space station. "So we were happy to be watching NASA TV and see these guys safely in orbit. We'll have dinner waiting for them."

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Soyuz blasts off with three bound for space station

#39;Contractually Obligated #39; [S04-E01] KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM
Kerbal Space Program is a rocket building/space flight simulator with a flair for the ridiculous. It has garnered so much praise and attention that NASA themselves have worked closely with...

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'Contractually Obligated' [S04-E01] KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM - Video

September 26 -- TDIPH#7 -- Space Capsule Emergency Separation Device
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE AWESOME VIDEOS - http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=ThePatentyogi This day in patent history (TDIPH) On SEPT 26, 1961. On SEPT 26, 1961 Maxime Faget...

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September 26 -- TDIPH#7 -- Space Capsule Emergency Separation Device - Video

The Soyuz TMA-14M crew (left to right): Shuttle veteran Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Soyuz commander and space station veteran Alexander Samokutyaev and rookie flight engineer Elena Serova, the first female cosmonaut assigned to a long-duration stay aboard the station. NASA

An experienced Russian cosmonaut, a NASA shuttle veteran and the first female cosmonaut to be assigned to the International Space Station geared up for launch Thursday aboard a Soyuz ferry craft for a four-orbit flight to the orbiting lab complex.

With commander Alexander Samokutyaev at the controls, flanked on the left by board engineer Elena Serova and on the right by Barry "Butch" Wilmore, the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft was scheduled for blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:25 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 2:25 a.m. local time). The timing allows the Soyuz to launch directly into the plane of the station's orbit for a fast-track six-hour rendezvous.

If all goes well, Samokutyaev and Serova will oversee an automated sequence of rocket firings to catch up with the space station, moving in for docking at the upper Poisk module around 10:15 p.m. Standing by to welcome them aboard will be Expedition 41 commander Maxim Suraev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman.

Suraev, Gerst and Wiseman have had the station to themselves since Sept. 10, when outgoing commander Steven Swanson, Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev returned to Earth aboard the TMA-12M ferry craft.

Samokutyaev is a veteran of a previous station flight, logging 164 days in space in 2011. Wilmore has a shuttle flight to his credit, serving as pilot of the Atlantis for an 11-day station visit in 2009. Serova, the fourth female cosmonaut and the first to visit the space station, is making her first flight.

"There were a number of women on the ISS before me, but I will be the first Russian woman cosmonaut," she said in a NASA interview. "I never thought about it too much because space is what I do for work, and that's what I think about it: It's my work. But obviously for Russian women it might be a breakthrough in this area."

Married to an aerospace engineer and the mother of an 11-year-old child, Serova is firmly focused on the job at hand, dismissing questions about the greater significance of her mission.

"There have been quite a few female astronauts before me, and I don't see my flying as such an outstanding event," said said in a later interview. "Each of us is first and foremost governed by his or her primary tasks aboard the station. So, I would say this is a regular and nominal occurrence. Nothing special."

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Soyuz set for launch to carry three to space station

Media are invited to the third annual Racin' the Station duathlon Sept. 27 at NASA'sMarshall Space Flight Centerin Huntsville, Alabama.

More than 200 athletes of all ages will try to finish a specially designed course in the same amount of time a little over 90 minutes that it takes the International Space Station, traveling about 17,000 mph, to complete one circuit around Earth.

The timed course for adults begins at 8:30 a.m. CDT with a 3.14 km run, followed by a 23 km bicycle ride, and finishes with another 3.14 km run, with the start and finish line at Marshall's Wellness Center Building 4315. The length of the running portion of the race is not a coincidence. Race organizers arranged the distance to coincide with the number pi or , approximately equal to 3.14159.

The race is designed for participants of any ability. If the event seems too strenuous, adult participants can form two-person relay teams, in which one does the running portions and a partner handles the cycling.

After a successful inaugural race in 2012, race organizers introduced a youth "anti-duathlon" in 2013 where participants reverse the activities and bike, run and bike again on the shorter courses -- also based on pi. The youth event begins immediately following the main event. There are two different overall lengths based on the self-assessed ability of the youth. The short course starts and finishes with a two-mile bike ride (approximately 3.14 km) with a half-mile run in between. The youth long course is twice the length of the short: four-mile rides with a one-mile run separating them.

Racers will travel by many Marshall Center facilities including the Payload Operations Integration Center, the command post of space station science. At race headquarters, they will have the opportunity to learn about NASA programs, including the International Space Station, the Space Launch System, Mighty Eagle, the United Launch Alliance Atlas IV and Delta V rockets and exhibits of the Patriot missile and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from the U.S. Army. Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony following the end of the race.

The event is organized by theTeam Rocket Triathlon Clubin Huntsville and by the Marshall Association, a professional employee service organization at the Marshall Center whose members include civil service employees, retirees and contractors. It provides informal networking and community-building opportunities for its members. Proceeds from the registration fee for the event go to the Marshall Association scholarship fund.

News media interested in covering the event should contact the Marshall Center Office of Public & Employee Communications at 256-544-0034 no later than 2 p.m. Sept. 26.

For details on the race, including course maps and distances, visit the Racin' the Station Duathlon website:

http://www.imathlete.com/events/RacintheStation

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Media Invited to Racin' the Station Duathlon on Redstone Arsenal Sept. 27

September 25, 2014

Image Caption: Credit: NASA/STEREO

Karen C. Fox, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

Two main types of explosions occur on the sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Unlike the energy and X-rays produced in a solar flare which can reach Earth at the speed of light in eight minutes coronal mass ejections are giant clouds of solar material that take one to three days to reach Earth. Once at Earth, these ejections, also called CMEs, can impact satellites in space or interfere with radio communications. During CME Week from Sept. 22 to 26, 2014, we explore different aspects of these giant eruptions that surge out from our closest star.

[ Watch the Video: Many Views Of A Massive CME ]

On July 23, 2012, a massive cloud of solar material erupted off the suns right side, zooming out into space. It soon passed one of NASAs Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, spacecraft, which clocked the CME as traveling between 1,800 and 2,200 miles per second as it left the sun. This was the fastest CME ever observed by STEREO.

Two other observatories NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory and the joint European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory witnessed the eruption as well. The July 2012 CME didnt move toward Earth, but watching an unusually strong CME like this gives scientists an opportunity to observe how these events originate and travel through space.

STEREOs unique viewpoint from the sides of the sun combined with the other two observatories watching from closer to Earth. Together they helped scientists create models of the entire July 2012 event. They learned that an earlier, smaller CME helped clear the path for the larger event, thus contributing to its unusual speed.

Such data helps advance our understanding of what causes CMEs and improves modeling of similar CMEs that could be Earth-directed.

Watch the movie to see how NASAs solar-observing missions worked together to track this CME.

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Mapping The Journey Of A Giant Coronal Mass Ejection

Wernher von Braun presents: Apollo / Saturn 5 rocket " Now in development " (1963)
Impressive view of the Apollo program in 1963. This is a fascinating journey through time. This NASA movie "Moon Mission"(16mm), from George Marchall Space Flight Center (NASA) and San Diego...

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Wernher von Braun presents: Apollo / Saturn 5 rocket " Now in development " (1963) - Video

By Matt Schudel September 24 at 8:49 AM

Oleg Ivanovsky, a Soviet rocket scientist who played a central role in developing satellites at the dawn of the space age, including the first vehicle to carry a human being in orbit around the Earth, died Sept. 18. He was 92.

His death was announced by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The cause and location were not reported.

Mr. Ivanovsky worked for many years as a top engineer at the secret Soviet space facility known as Star City, where he helped design Sputnik, which was launched on Oct. 4, 1957. The unmanned satellite, just 23inches in diameter, circled the globe for three months and prompted alarm in the United States that the Soviets had taken the lead in engineering, rocketry and the Cold War in general.

A month after the first Sputnik launch, the Soviets sent Sputnik 2 into space, this time with a dog on board. The dog, named Laika, died after a few hours in orbit, apparently from heat exhaustion, but she gave much to biology, Mr. Ivanovsky said later.

We didnt know if an animal could survive for longer than a few minutes in weightlessness, he said. But from the data from Sputnik 2, we could see that she moved, and even ate, after the launch.

Encouraged that a mammal could survive in space, at least for a short time, Mr. Ivanovsky took a leading role in building a capsule that could carry a Soviet cosmonaut into orbit. A 27-year-old pilot, Yuri Gagarin, was chosen to fly the spacecraft, called Vostok 1.

In 1960, an explosion at the Soviet launch pad in Kazakhstan killed 126 people, and there were other technical setbacks along the way. Mr. Ivanovsky and other engineers estimated the chances of a successful manned flight at no more than 50-50.

Gagarin wrote a farewell letter to his wife in case he would not return from his mission, but he blithely sang a folk song as he climbed into the cockpit on April 12, 1961. His heart rate stayed at a steady 64 beats per minute while he awaited liftoff.

Mr. Ivanovsky accompanied Gagarin to the cockpit.

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Oleg Ivanovsky, Soviet engineer who was a key designer of early spacecraft, dies at 92

Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, who led the first expedition on board Russia's final Salyut space station, died Saturday (Sept. 20). He was 72.

"[Anatoly Berezovoy] was a member of a legendary generation of cosmonauts, a man of great will and courage, [and] a top-class professional who did so much for the development of cosmonautics and major research projects," said Oleg Ostapenko, the chief of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos. "His memory will live on forever in the hearts of those who knew and loved [him]."

Chosen to be a cosmonaut in April 1970, Berezovoy made his first and only spaceflight 12 years later as commander of the Soyuz T-5 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Launched on May 13, 1982, Berezovoy and flight engineer Valentin Lebedev spent a then-record 211 days aboard the orbiting outpost, which was the last of its type before the launch of the Mir space station in 1986.

During his expedition, which was flown under the call sign "Elbrus," Berezovoy and Lebedev operated cameras and a telescope, materials processing furnace, and plant growth chamber. The two crewmates also deployed a small radio communications satellite, which the Soviet Union claimed as the world's first satellite to be deployed from a manned spacecraft (NASA's space shuttle Columbia would launch with two communication satellites on the STS-5 missionlater that same year).

Berezovoy and Lebedev also made a two-hour, 33-minute spacewalk on July 30, 1982, to retrieve material exposure samples and replace equipment.

The two cosmonauts were visited by four robotic resupply ships and two crews. Among Berezovoy's and Lebedev's temporary crew members were the first French citizen to fly in space, Jean-Loup Chrtien, and the second woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, as well as Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Alexander Ivanchenkov, Leonid Popov and Alexander Serebrov.

Berezovoy and Lebedev returned to Earth from the Salyut 7 space station on Dec. 10, 1972 on board the Soyuz T-7 spacecraft. Touching down in heavy snow and on uneven land, which caused their capsule to roll down a slope, the two cosmonauts already weak from being in space for so long spent the night with recovery personnel, waiting for a helicopter to come the next day.

In total, Berezovoy logged 211 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes in space.

Although he served as a back-up commander for several other Soyuz flights, Berezovoy did not fly again. He retired from the cosmonaut corps in October 1992 after suffering injuries in an armed robbery.

Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy was born April 11, 1942, to a Ukrainian family in the Russian village of Enem. He attended the A.F. Masnikovin military flying school, where he graduated in 1965.

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Soviet-era Cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, Salyut Space Station Commander, Dies at 72

75 year old grandma playing elite dangerous on oculus rift
Gave my 75 year old grandma a go at some serious space flight, she #39;s pretty good! Better watch out pirates!

By: Blake Hixson

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75 year old grandma playing elite dangerous on oculus rift - Video

Philips and Xcor join forces
Like to be part of an incredible SPACE adventure? http://philips.to/SpaceChallenge Philips and XCOR Space Expeditions are offering space flights in the Lynx Mark II spacecraft. Take a test...

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Philips and Xcor join forces - Video

The age of commercial spaceflight is finally here. From Richard Branson to Elon Musk, some of the worlds greatest innovators have spent years developing a new kind of space shuttle, with the promise that one day, in the not too distant future, all of us will have a chance to hop on a flight to space.

And Kevin Heath wants to make sure we dont puke on the way.

Heath is the founder and CEO of Waypoint 2 Space, a space-training startup based at the Houston Technology Center incubator at NASAs Johnson Space Center. Its goal is to prepare potential space tourists for the trip, using similar training methodology and technology that NASA astronauts receive. Waypoints staffmany of whom are former NASA trainerswill prepare students not only for maneuvering their bodies in a weightless environment and completing a lunar walk, but for the psychological toll that even a short trip to space can take. Were not a Disneyland experience. This is not space camp, Heath says. Were literally training people to go to space.

Heaths timing is right. Just last week, NASA awarded two contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to develop and deploy their own space shuttles, sending a $6.8 billion cash infusion straight into the heart of the commercial space flight industry. Though the shuttles will only be used to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station for now, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that the partnership promises to give more people in America and around the world the wonder and exhilaration of space flight.

Were not a Disneyland experience. This is not space camp. Were literally training people to go to space.

But space tourism is only a fraction of the potential market. A constellation of industries is now popping up around the development of commercial shuttles, from companies like Planetary Resources that want to mine the moon for natural resources, to companies like Virgin Galactic and Bigelow Aerospace, which have plans to open so-called space hotels for wealthy space travelers in the near future.

If were to see the logical extension of the technological gains of the last 30 years, we need people in space, ways to get them there and training for the trip, says Mike Lousteau, a partner at I2BF Global Ventures, which has invested in several space-related startups (though not Waypoint). Whether were talking about advanced telecommunications, resource exploration or imaging and Earth observation, a trained human element can provide operation, maintenance and innovation. As these industries and others draw more people to go to and stay in space, the need to train more people will only increase.

Heath has been waiting for this moment in time for nearly a decade. Back then, he was working in business development at SpaceDev, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp., and he was involved in the launch of SpaceShipOne, the spacecraft that completed the first manned private spaceflight back in 2004. He became fascinated with the market, watching as billionaires like Branson, Musk, and Microsofts Paul Allen poured their substantial fortunes into building the burgeoning commercial spaceflight industry.

But he also realized that while many companies were spending their time and money on the vehicles themselves, none had truly thought about how to train a new generation of amateur astronauts. If youre not adequately trained, youre basically going to spend a lot of money to spend your time in a barf bag, Heath says. If things start happening that people arent prepared for, theyre going to freak out, and theyll risk not only the enjoyment of the flight, but they could potentially risk the safety of the mission.

Heath recruited Dr. Kelly Soich, an Air Force veteran who trained and evaluated astronauts while working at NASA, and together they developed a training curriculum, which is now approved by the FAA. The program is broken down into four classes, each one increasing in the intensity of the training. It begins with a 7-day spaceflight fundamentals course, which costs $45,000, including the cost of room and board. After that, students can graduate to a 3-day sub-orbital training course, or, beginning in 2016, an 8-12 week orbital training course.

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The Next Big Thing You Missed: This Startup Will Train You for That Trip Into Space

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Anticipation is building in India over its rendezvous with Mars.

NASA erupted into cheers after confirmation Sunday night that its space probe MAVEN injected into the Martian orbit. NASA's success came two days ahead of a critical engine burn designed to place an Indian spacecraft around the Red Planet, in a project dubbed MOM, Mars Orbiter Mission.

Sleepless scientists conferring at the Space Center in Bangalore passed a crucial dry run Monday: a four-second fire-up of a Mars Orbiter engine that has been dormant in space for some 300 days. The moment of truth comes, says A.S. Kiran Kumar, director of India's Space Application Center, when they will flip the switch for a much longer duration.

"Now it has to fire," Kumar says. "So that is the tricky part."

Trickier still, he says the orbiter must reorient its trajectory to place itself into the Martian orbit.

Kumar says the engine will reverse thrust like a plane does after it touches down and slow the spacecraft to 2.5 miles per second. Plan B is for scientists at the Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organization, India's version of NASA, to fire eight small thrusters to elbow the probe into place. Failing that, the probe could shoot past Mars and move into the outer reaches of the solar system.

The carefully calculated maneuver is slated for Wednesday, when Kiran Kumar says the craft is nearest to Mars.

"That is when we are firing these engines to reduce its velocity," he says. "And with that reduced velocity Mars' gravitational influence will be sufficient to bring the satellite into an elliptical orbit [around Mars]."

Adding to the suspense, at that moment Mars will cast a shadow over the spacecraft, blocking communication with ground control.

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Look out MAVEN, India's Mars orbiter is closing in

Mars has welcomed a new robotic visitor from Earth.

After a 10-month journey through deep space, NASA'sMAVEN probearrived in Mars orbit late Sunday (Sept. 21), on a mission to help scientists figure out why the Red Planet changed from a relatively warm and wet place in the ancient past to the cold, arid world it is today.

MAVEN, whose name is short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, fired its engines in a crucial 30-minute braking burn Sunday night, slowing down enough to be captured by the planet's gravity around 10:24 p.m. EDT (0224 GMT Monday, Sept. 22). [See images from the MAVEN mission]

"Congratulations! MAVEN is now in Mars orbit," MAVEN navigation team member Dave Folta, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, announced to a round of cheers from mission control.

MAVEN joins three other operational probes in Mars orbit NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft andMars Reconnaissance Orbiter(MRO), and the European Space Agency's Mars Express. NASA also has two rovers actively exploring the planet's surface: the golf-cart-size Opportunity and its younger, bigger cousin, Curiosity.

And Mars orbit should get even more crowded just a few days from now. India's first-ever Red Planet effort, the $74 millionMars Orbiter Mission, is due to arrive Tuesday night (Sept. 23).

The $671 million MAVEN mission blasted off as planned on Nov. 18, 2013, though not without a bit of prelaunch drama.

Liftoff preparations were frozen when the government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1, 2013, sending ripples of anxiety through the MAVEN team and the global planetary science community. But NASA granted MAVEN an emergency exception a few days later, getting things back on track. (The shutdown ended on Oct. 17, 2013.)

MAVEN is the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying the upperatmosphere of Mars, NASA officials said. The mission will use MAVEN's three suites of scientific instruments to measure and characterize gas escape from the Martian atmosphere, which was once relatively thick but is now just 1 percent as dense as that of Earth at sea level.

MAVEN's observations should help scientists get a better handle on what happened to the water that flowed and sloshed across Mars billions of years ago whether it escaped into space or sank into the planet's crust, said mission principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars]

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Air-sniffing space probe arrives in Mars orbit. What will it smell?

MARCIA DUNN, The Associated Press Published Saturday, September 20, 2014 11:07AM EDT Last Updated Sunday, September 21, 2014 10:05AM EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A SpaceX cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday, carrying the first 3-D printer for astronauts in orbit.

In all, the unmanned Dragon capsule is delivering more than 5,000 pounds of space station supplies for NASA.

Dragon should reach the space station Tuesday. It's the fifth station shipment for the California-based SpaceX, one of two new commercial winners in the race to start launching Americans again from home soil.

The space station was soaring over the South Pacific when the SpaceX Falcon 9 thundered into Florida's pre-dawn sky. Sunday's weather was ideal for flying, unlike Saturday, when rain forced a delay. The rocket was visible for nearly three minutes as it sped out over the Atlantic.

Sunday was a red-letter day for NASA in more ways than one.

Besides the flawless launch, the space agency's Maven spacecraft was on the verge of reaching Mars. The robotic explorer was scheduled to go into orbit around Mars late Sunday night.

The space station-bound 3-D printer was developed by Made in Space, another California company. It's sturdier than Earthly models to withstand the stresses of launch, and meets NASA's strict safety standards. The space agency envisions astronauts one day cranking out spare parts as needed. For now, it's a technology demonstrator, with a bigger and better model to follow next year.

A $30 million device for measuring ocean winds is also flying up on Dragon, along with 20 mice and 30 fruit flies for biological research and metal samples for a golf club manufacturer looking to improve its products.

Much-needed spacesuit batteries are on board as well, along with the usual stash of food, clothes and electronic gear. Routine U.S. spacewalks were put on hold following last year's close call with an astronaut's flooded helmet. That problem was solved, then the battery fuses were called into question. NASA hopes to resume spacewalks next month.

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Astronauts to get 3-D printer at space station