14 hours ago NASAs Robonaut 2 with its newly developed climbing legs, designed to give the robot mobility in zero gravity. With legs, R2 will be able to assist astronauts with both hands while keeping at least one leg anchored to the station structure at all times. Credit: NASA

(Phys.org) Getting your "space legs" in Earth orbit has taken on new meaning for NASA's pioneering Robonaut program.

Thanks to a successful launch of the SpaceX-3 flight of the Falcon 9/Dragon capsule on Friday, April 18, the lower limbs for Robonaut 2 (R2) are aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Safely tucked inside the Dragon resupply vehicle, R2's legs are to be attached by a station crew member to Robonaut's torso already on the orbiting outpost.

R2's upper body arrived on the space station back in February 2011 during the last flight of the space shuttle Discovery. That event signaled the first human-like robot to arrive in space to become a permanent resident of the laboratory.

Jointly developed by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology mission directorates in cooperation with with General Motors, R2 showcases how a robotic assistant can work alongside humans, whether tasks are done in space or on Earth in a manufacturing facility.

"NASA has explored with robots for more than a decade, from the stalwart rovers on Mars to R2 on the station," observes Michael Gazarik, the associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). "Our investment in robotic technology development is helping us to bolster productivity by applying robotics technology and devices to fortify and enhance individual human capabilities, performance and safety in space."

Some assembly required

The R2 now consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands. With the addition of the newly developed climbing legs, the robot can augment its chief role: to help astronauts by taking over some of their duties on the space station.

But before R2 is up and running with its new limbs, there's some assembly required.

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Lower limbs for Robonaut 2 are aboard the International Space Station

Space Flight Program Final Build

By: Daniel Sims

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Space Flight Program Final Build - Video

Image Caption: International Space Station crewman, Dan Burbank, shakes hands with NASAs Robonaut 2. Credit: NASA

NASA

Getting your space legs in Earth orbit has taken on new meaning for NASAs pioneering Robonaut program.

Thanks to a successful launch of the SpaceX-3 flight of the Falcon 9/Dragon capsule on Friday, April 18, the lower limbs for Robonaut 2 (R2) are aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Safely tucked inside the Dragon resupply vehicle, R2s legs are to be attached by a station crew member to Robonauts torso already on the orbiting outpost.

R2s upper body arrived on the space station back in February 2011 during the last flight of the space shuttle Discovery. That event signaled the first human-like robot to arrive in space to become a permanent resident of the laboratory.

Jointly developed by NASAs Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology mission directorates in cooperation with with General Motors, R2 showcases how a robotic assistant can work alongside humans, whether tasks are done in space or on Earth in a manufacturing facility.

NASA has explored with robots for more than a decade, from the stalwart rovers on Mars to R2 on the station, observes Michael Gazarik, the associate administrator for NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). Our investment in robotic technology development is helping us to bolster productivity by applying robotics technology and devices to fortify and enhance individual human capabilities, performance and safety in space.

Some assembly required

The R2 now consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands. With the addition of the newly developed climbing legs, the robot can augment its chief role: to help astronauts by taking over some of their duties on the space station.

But before R2 is up and running with its new limbs, theres some assembly required.

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Robonaut 2 Getting Its 'Space Legs'

HANCOCK COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -

It was an event in Hancock County that could one day send men further into space than ever before. Monday afternoon the ribbon was cut for a new program to test rocket components for SpaceX, a commercial space flight company. The test program is an important step towards the future of space travel.

It's high tech gadgetry that will test rockets that could eventually blast astronauts to Mars.

"SpaceX and others like them, with the help of NASA, will one day take man to Mars and bring him back safely, but you know and I know they are going to have to pass through Hancock County to get there," said Governor Phil Bryant.

Work crews have spent the past several months modifying the E-2 test stand at Stennis Space Center. The stand will test a methane powered rocket engine. Company leaders say there will be nothing else like it in the world.

"What looks like a modest E-2 test stand, but actually it's going to be one of the most capable high pressured test facilities on the planet," said SpaceX President and COO, Gwynne Shotwell.

Rep. Steven Palazzo, who is chairman of the congressional space subcommittee, says it's partnerships between NASA and commercial companies like SpaceX that will help the nation regain space superiority.

"Most Americans have no idea we are currently paying the Russians $70 million a seat to maintain a U.S. presence on the International Space Station. U.S. leadership in space is not just a matter of national pride but a matter of national security," said Palazzo.

Initially, SpaceX will employ a handful of people at Stennis, but the company hopes to increase its staff as the need for its product grows.

SpaceX hopes to send its first manned flight to Mars within the next 13 to 15 years.

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SpaceX opens doors at Stennis

In a spacewalk lasting less than an hour, two members aboard the International Space Station successfully restoreda critical computer system.

A pair of NASA astronauts replaced a dead backup computer on the International Space Station during a short spacewalk Wednesday (April 23) to restore a critical computer system back to full strength.

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NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson made quick work of their repair during the spacewalk, removing the faulty station computer and installing a spare less than an hour after floating outside the orbiting laboratory at 9:56 a.m. EDT (1356 GMT).

"It looks like a good day for you guys to take a walk in space," Mission Control radioed the astronauts as the spacewalk began. The spacewalk was slated to last only 2.5 hours. [See photos from today's spacewalk]

Mastracchio and Swanson replaced a computer known in NASA parlance as a Multiplexer-Demultiplexer, or MDM. The device is a backup computer for routing commands to systems supporting the space station's solar arrays, robotic arm rail car and other critical systems along the station's backbone-like main truss.

The 10-year-oldMDM computer failed on April 11during a standard test. The primary computer in the system is working fine, but NASA station flight controllers ordered today's repair spacewalk to restore redundancy in the system.

"Looks like we've got a new MDM," Mastracchio said as he finished the job.

A quick test showed the new computer was working fine.

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Space station astronauts step outside to replace dead computer

space flight day
Santa Fe team movements.

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Space Flight Final

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Space Flight Final - Video

EE Week STEM Lounge Hangout: Girls in STEM
National Environmental Education Week is hosting a Google+ Hangout on Air with NASA engineers and students to promote awareness about the role and importance...

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EE Week STEM Lounge Hangout: Girls in STEM - Video

When the SpaceX-3 cargo resupply mission launched to the International Space Station April 18, two experiments designed by researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville were among the cargo headed to space.

One experiment, Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC), will focus on the growth and development of seedlings in microgravity. Seedlings will be preserved with a chemical fixative and returned to the ground for post-flight evaluation.

The other experiment, Molecular Biology of Plant Development in the Space Flight Environment (Characterizing Arabidopsis Root Attractions (CARA)), investigates the growth and development of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in microgravity environment, focusing on how a root knows which direction to grow in when gravity is absent. Plants are harvested in orbit, preserved with a chemical preservative and returned to the ground for post-flight evaluation.

SpaceX-3 is NASA's third contracted resupply mission to the space station by U.S. company SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft launched atop the company's Falcon rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at3:25 p.m. EDT.

SpaceX developed its Dragon capsule, the only cargo spacecraft currently servicing the space station with the capability to return cargo back to Earth, with NASA and now successfully has completed three missions to the orbiting outpost. Expedition 39 crew members captured the SpaceX-3 Dragon using the station's robotic arm at 7:14 a.m. Sunday, April 20. The capsule is scheduled to remain attached to the station until May 18. It then will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast California. It will return samples from scientific investigations currently underway aboard the space station.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had continuous human occupation since November 2000. In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about the SpaceX-3 mission and the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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University of Florida Among NASA Cargo Launching to Space Station

Two instruments that played critical roles in discoveries made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope now are on display in an exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

"Repairing Hubble" recognizes the 24th anniversary of Hubble's launch into space aboard space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The exhibit features Hubble's Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) instrument and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).

Soon after Hubble began sending back images in 1990, scientists discovered the telescope's primary mirror had a flaw called spherical aberration. The outer edge of the mirror was ground too flat by a depth of 4 microns, which is roughly equal to one-fiftieth the thickness of a human hair. The flaw resulted in images that were fuzzy because some of the light from the objects being studied was being scattered. After the amount of aberration was understood, scientists and engineers developed WFPC2 and COSTAR, which were installed in Hubble during the first space shuttle servicing mission in 1993.

COSTAR deployed corrective optics in front of three of Hubble's first generation instruments the Faint Object Camera, the Goddard High Resolution Spectrometer, and the Faint Object Spectrograph. COSTAR could not correct the vision for the Wide Field/Planetary Camera (WFPC) currently on Hubble. So, a replacement instrument, which was already in work as an upgrade, was hastened to completion as WFPC2. WFPC and WFPC2 were built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

WFPC2 was separately fitted with corrective optics to compensate for the scattered light from the primary mirror. This allowed the camera to record razor-sharp images of celestial objects from nearby planets to remote galaxies -- for more than 15 years. A landmark observation was the Hubble Deep Field taken in 1995. This long-exposure captured the light of 4,000 galaxies stretching 12 billion years back into time.

WFPC2 was one of Hubble's main cameras until the Advanced Camera for Surveys was installed in 2002. WFPC2's 48 filters allowed scientists to study precise wavelengths of light and to sense a range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared light.

COSTAR and WFPC2 were removed from Hubble in 2009 during the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission and returned to Earth. COSTAR's removal made way for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. WFPC2 was replaced by Wide Field Camera 3.

Development of the National Air and Space Museum exhibit was supported by NASA, including the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The exhibit was designed and constructed by museum staff.

A reception at the National Air and Space Museum Wednesday featured presentations by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who was the pilot for Discovery during the Hubble deployment mission in 1990; Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey, museum director; John Grunsfeld, NASA's Science Mission Directorate associate administrator and astronaut on several shuttle Hubble servicing missions; and John Trauger, former WFPC2 principal investigator at JPL. The presentations will air on NASA Television. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

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NASA Hubble Instruments Highlight New National Air and Space Museum Exhibit

(Washington, DC April 22, 2014) The Washington DC-based National Space Society (NSS) congratulates SpaceX on the successful launch of Commercial Resupply Services 3 (CRS-3) from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 18th at 3:25 pm EDT. NSS Executive Senior Operating Officer Bruce Pittman said, "The successful reusability tests of the Falcon 9 v1.1 during the CRS-3 mission are a vital step on the path to dramatically reducing the cost of access to space."

The National Space Society will present two special awards to SpaceX at their 2014 International Space Development Conference (ISDC). Elon Musk, SpaceX Chief Designer and CTO, will accept the Robert A Heinlein Memorial Award. Gwynne R. Shotwell, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer, will accept the Space Pioneer Award for the Entrepreneurial Business category.

The Dragon capsule berthed with the ISS at 9:06 AM EDT Sunday April 20th. This is the first flight of the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 to the ISS, and the fourth overall flight of the v1.1 version. In addition to carrying a record up mass (cargo) of 1,580 lb/3,476 kg to the ISS, the Falcon 9 v1.1 demonstrated for the first time the unfolding of the landing legs on the first stage. CRS-3 was part of a series of tests of reusable spacecraft technology that are planned to eventually lead to the full re-use of the Falcon 9. If this occurs, it will drive a revolution in access to space via lowering launch costs.

The Dragon capsule pressurized area carried a record of one GLACIER and two MERLIN freezers for transporting experiment samples, a replacement Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), or in everyday English, a spacesuit, plus additional supplies of food, water, and personal items. The unpressurized Dragon trunk contained the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) and the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) package made up of four commercial HD cameras. Dragon also brought VEG-01, a plant growth chamber to the ISS, where it will be used for experimental food production.

As expected for this early test flight, SpaceX did not recover the first stage, which "soft landed" in the ocean. At this time it appears that CRS-3 met SpaceX's reusability milestones, including first stage re-ignition to slow the first stage on it's return. Reusability tests of the Falcon 9 will continue throughout 2014, with a target of full first stage reuse by the end of 2014 or early 2015.

On Thursday April 17th the SpaceX Falcon 9R flew for the first time from McGregor, Texas, to a height of 250 m. The Falcon 9R is a 3-engine successor to the single-engine "Grasshopper" and will continue the development of reusable SpaceX rocket technology. Later this summer the Falcon 9R will move to Spaceport America in New Mexico for high-altitude test flights.

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National Space Society Congratulates SpaceX on CRS-3 & First Flight of the Falcon 9R

Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of Manilas International Airport in Paranaque. AP FILE PHOTO

Health authorities have opened a Facebook account, bought newspaper ad space for the names of 174 out of the 415 passengers of a flight from the Middle East who had yet to submit themselves as of Monday to nose-and-throat swab test for a deadly virus and enlisted the help of the police in tracing them.

President Benigno Aquino III would have wanted that all the copassengers of a male Filipino nurse, who initially tested positive for the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV), be contacted by the Department of Health (DOH) by Tuesday.

At a press briefing, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH Emerging Infectious Diseases program manager, on Tuesday said that Mr. Aquino had strongly recommended that the agencys contact-tracing efforts for all the passengers of Etihad Airways Flight No. EY 0424 should have been completed a week after they had arrived in the country.

The male nurse, who arrived in Manila from the United Arab Emirates on April 15, was initially diagnosed with MERS-CoV while he was still at the UAE. But the two tests conducted on him by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City yielded negative results.

The nurse came into contact with a Filipino paramedic who died of MERS-CoV in the UAE.

The strong recommendation by the President is for us to be able to contact and locate all the passengers within today. We are working hard and all our efforts are focused on finding these passengers. We are optimistic we can meet the Presidents deadline, Lee Suy said.

So far, were doing good. We dont see any problem with (contact tracing). But of course, the faster, the better, he added.

MERS-CoV is a communicable disease that may be passed on to others through close contact with a positive carrier. It has an incubation period of 10 to 14 days and symptoms may include fever, coughing, sneezing and runny nose two weeks after exposure.

The World Health Organization has recorded 242 confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, including 93 deaths, since it was first discovered in March 2012 in Saudi Arabia.

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MERS-CoV scare: Search for 174 passengers intensified

Welcome to the dawn of commercial space flight.

Elon Musks SpaceX has just posted video of a successful launch of its re-usable rocket concept, according to SlashGear. The shuttle is shown taking off, rising to 250 meters, then landing right next to the launch pad. In a second test, SpaceX said the first stage of a rocket that docked with the International Space Station over the weekend successfully test-fired its boosters in a way that will allow it to land in the ocean. Reusable rockets would go a long way to making space flight a business.

Power over distance. According to a news release, a Korean team has made an advance in wireless power transfer. Chun T. Rim, a professor of nuclear and quantum engineering at theKorea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and his team last week demonstrated a great improvement in the distance that electric power can travel wirelessly, up to five meters. In 2007, scientistsused a magnetic field to transfer energy for a distance of 2.1 meters. What a boon wireless electric power would be.

Cord-cutters grow.A new report from Experian Marketing Services says more people are droppingcable or satellite and instead watching video online.The number of cord-cutters, which Experian considers people with high-speed Internet whove either never subscribed to or stopped subscribing to cable or satellite, has risen from 5.1 million homes to 7.6 million homes, or 44 percent, in three years.

Wearing computers wears out. The tech pundits have been saying that wearable computers are the next big thing. But Nike begs to differ. Cnet.com reported that Nike is getting ready to jettison its wearable-hardware products, including the FuelBand fitness tracker and the Nike+ SportWatch. The company informed members of the 70-person hardware team part of its larger, technology-focused Digital Sport division comprised of about 200 people of the job cuts last week, Cnet reports.

Floating for free. Japanese rail operator JR Tokai said it would not charge the U.S. to license its proprietary maglev technology, which allows trains to hover about 4 inches above tracks and travel at speeds of 310 mph, according to Nikkei. It is hoping the U.S. will use its train for a proposed high-speed rail line between Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

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Ced Kurtz's TechMan Texts: SpaceX ushers in new age of space flight

After a two day trip, a SpaceX cargo mission carrying resupply items includinga robotic astronaut's legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday.

On Sunday, the crew aboard the International Space Station received a unique Easter gift: a cargo ship carrying about 2.5 tons of resupply items, includinga pair of robotic legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings. The supplies will support more than 150 scientific investigations planned for Expeditions 39 and 40.

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The SpaceX cargo ship, dubbed 'Dragon' is expected to spend four weeks attached to ISS, after which it is scheduled to return back to Earth with 1.8 tons of experiment samples and hardware.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule lifted off Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After a two-day trip, Dragon was finally wrangled using a 57-foot robotic arm, at 7:14 a.m. as it flew within about 32 feet of the orbiting complex. "At the time of capture, the orbital laboratory was flying around260 statute miles over Egypt, west of the Nile River," NASA said in a statement.

According to the Associated Press, as the capsule was secured into place, NASA's Mission Control said, "Gentlemen, the Easter Dragon is knocking at the door."

Commander Koichi Wakata from the ISS tweeted, "Congratulations to the entire ops team for the successful launch, rendezvous and capture operation. The vehicle, the spacecraft was very solid and very stable. And the Canadarm2 was really solid, and it made it easier for us to capture."

The recent SpaceX-3 mission was delayed due to a helium leak on the Falcon 9's first stage.

Prior to that "despite the loss Friday of a backup computer command relay box called a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) that resides in the stations S0 truss," NASA had decided to go ahead with the launch of what will be SpaceX's third commercial cargo re-supply mission to the ISS. In the next few days, two of the crewmembers aboard the space station will replace the faulty MDM with a spare one from inside the station.

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Space station astronauts get a 'Dragon' for Easter (+video)

space flight to rocket and missiles
my songs.

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Soda cans retrofitted for pouring in microgravity, a baby dinosaur bone and human ashes are among the strange things that have traveled into space aboard U.S. space shuttles.

Cans of Coca Cola and Pepsi were on the same July 1985 flight, STS-51F, according to The Richest.com. Coke started the idea, with an interest in the effects of space flight on taste, and then Pepsi jumped onboard, the website stated.

Specially modified cans of both cola brands were on the shuttle, with their own line item in the schedule: Carbonated beverage container evaluation, according to a 45-page press kit.

The baby dinosaur bone, the first to fly in space, was on the same Challenger flight as the soda cans, which launched July 29, 1985. The bone rode along at the suggestion of scientists from Montana State University, a Johnson Space Center representative said Monday.

More recently, on a June 2010 flight of a Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, U.S. astronaut Shannon Walker wore a watch that belonged to Amelia Earhart, therichest.com reported. Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, disappeared in July 1937 over the Pacific.

Other odd items that have flown into space include:

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Lightsabers and dino bones: Weirdest stuff ever launched into space

8 hours ago by Susan Hendrix All four stacked Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, spacecraft with solar arrays are ready to move to the vibration chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where they will undergo environmental tests. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

(Phys.org) Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., accomplished another first. Using a large overhead crane, they mated two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories also called mini-stacksat a time, to construct a full four-stack of observatories.

Next, the MMS four-stack will be carefully transported from their Goddard cleanroom to a special vibration facilityhoused within the same immense integration and testing facilitywhere they will be secured to a large shaking table and subjected to vibration tests. These tests help to ensure the structural integrity of the stacked spacecraft prior to shipment to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

The vibration tests determine whether the four MMS spacecraft can withstand the extreme vibration and dynamic loads they will experience inside the fairing of the Atlas V launch vehicle on launch day. It's during the first moments after lift-off that the spacecraft is exposed to the most stress.

The MMS mission consists of four spacecraft outfitted with identical instruments. The mission will fly through near-Earth space to study how the sun and Earth's magnetic fields connect and disconnect, an explosive process that can accelerate particles through space to nearly the speed of light. This process is called magnetic reconnection and occurs throughout all space.

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MMS is a Solar Terrestrial Probes Program, or STP, mission within NASA's Heliophysics Division. STP program missions improve our understanding of fundamental physical processes in the space environment from the sun to Earth, to other planets, and to the extremes of the solar system boundary. Goddard is building the MMS spacecraft and the Fast Plasma Instrument for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Explore further: NASA's MMS team assembles final observatory

On May 20, 2013, the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., reached an unprecedented milestone. The team mated the instrument and spacecraft ...

(Phys.org) -- The decks have arrived. Engineers working on NASA'S Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission have started integrating instruments on the first of four instrument decks in a newly fabricated cleanroom ...

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NASA's MMS observatories stacked for testing

Actor John Corbett is better known for his roles in movies and popular TV shows such as Northern Exposure, Sex in The City and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but last Saturday, he was shooting for the stars to help knock out Parkinson's disease by auctioning off a space flight with XCOR Aerospace to benefit Muhammad Ali's Parkinson's Research Center.

At the 20th Anniversary of Celebrity Fight Night's gala fundraiser, Mr. Corbett joined other entertainment industry luminaries such as Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal, Michael Buble, Reba McEntire and Kenny Rogers to raise $8+ Million for Muhammad Ali's Parkinson's Research Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute, Saint Joseph's Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona and other deserving charities.

On the live auction stage Mr. Corbett and former Space Shuttle Pilot, Commander and XCOR Chief Test Pilot, Rick Searfoss were able to bring in a quarter million dollars for Parkinson's and related charities by selling a very special XCOR Lynx space flight package. The flight package includes a space flight training at Air Combat USA of Fullerton, California, a space suit fitting and an actual space flight experience onboard the XCOR Lynx, a two-seat fully reusable suborbital spacecraft. Searfoss will pilottwo separate missions to the edge of space onboard Lynx, one with the auction winner and one with John Corbett.

Searfoss noted that "as someone who has personally witnessed Parkinson's through those close to me, I could not be more pleased to be able to contribute time to such a great foundation. And auctioning the flight onstage with John, well, I feel like I've already piloted the flight!"

In addition to his well-known roles in film and TV, John Corbett is a successful country musician. His self-titled debut country album climbed to number 42 on Billboard's Country Albums chart. "This could not be for a more worthy cause, and it was an honor to be a part of it with Rick. As a child who was inspired by the Apollo program, I would never have dreamed that the experience of space would be so close at hand--until I connected with XCOR. To be standing at the threshold of an actual space flight is almost more than I can imagine."

Searfoss noted that each XCOR Lynx flight is "all of the experiences I had flying the Shuttle, all those phases of flight: the boost, the weightlessness." But the best part, he added, "is the fact that you're up in a pilot seat, with me, as opposed to being in the back like a passenger on an airliner. It's really a 'Right Stuff' experience. And I couldn't be more excited to share the opportunity for this experience with John and the winning bidder."

XCOR Retail Sales Director Greg Claxton added he "couldn't be more pleased with the results. What is truly out of this world is that we have the opportunity to be part of such a meaningful event. We look forward to continuing the adventure and contributing further to many more worthwhile causes in the very near future."

XCOR Aerospace: XCOR Aerospace is based in Mojave, California. It is currently creating a Research and Development Center in Midland, Texas, and will be establishing an operational and manufacturing site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. XCOR builds safe, reliable and reusable rocket-powered vehicles, propulsion systems, advanced non-flammable composites and rocket piston pumps. XCOR works with aerospace prime contractors and government customers on major propulsion systems, while also building Lynx. Lynx is a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable liquid rocket-powered vehicle that takes off and lands horizontally. The Lynx family of vehicles serves three primary missions depending on their specific type including: research and scientific missions, private spaceflight and micro satellite launch (only on the Lynx Mark III). Lynx production models (designated Lynx Mark II) are designed to be robust, multi-mission (research/scientific or private spaceflight) commercial vehicles capable of flying to 100+ km in altitude, up to four times per day. Lynx vehicles are available to customers in the free world on a wet lease basis to start their own manned space flight program. Learn more at http://www.xcor.com.

X

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Actor John Corbett and XCOR Aerospace Garner Nearly Quarter Million Dollars at Celebrity Fight Night

After a two day trip, a SpaceX cargo mission carrying resupply items includinga robotic astronaut's legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday.

On Sunday, the crew aboard the International Space Station received a unique Easter gift: a cargo ship carrying about 2.5 tons of resupply items, includinga pair of robotic legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings. The supplies will support more than 150 scientific investigations planned for Expeditions 39 and 40.

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The SpaceX cargo ship, dubbed 'Dragon' is expected to spend four weeks attached to ISS, after which it is scheduled to return back to Earth with 1.8 tons of experiment samples and hardware.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule lifted off Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After a two-day trip, Dragon was finally wrangled using a 57-foot robotic arm, at 7:14 a.m. as it flew within about 32 feet of the orbiting complex. "At the time of capture, the orbital laboratory was flying around260 statute miles over Egypt, west of the Nile River," NASA said in a statement.

According to the Associated Press, as the capsule was secured into place, NASA's Mission Control said, "Gentlemen, the Easter Dragon is knocking at the door."

Commander Koichi Wakata from the ISS tweeted, "Congratulations to the entire ops team for the successful launch, rendezvous and capture operation. The vehicle, the spacecraft was very solid and very stable. And the Canadarm2 was really solid, and it made it easier for us to capture."

The recent SpaceX-3 mission was delayed due to a helium leak on the Falcon 9's first stage.

Prior to that "despite the loss Friday of a backup computer command relay box called a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) that resides in the stations S0 truss," NASA had decided to go ahead with the launch of what will be SpaceX's third commercial cargo re-supply mission to the ISS. In the next few days, two of the crewmembers aboard the space station will replace the faulty MDM with a spare one from inside the station.

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Space station astronauts get a 'Dragon' for Easter

The Dragon cargo ship, operated by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday morning

It's not exactly the Easter bunny, but a commercial Dragon cargo ship built by SpaceX made an Easter delivery to the International Space Station Sunday (April 20) to deliver tons supplies, and possibly even some treats, for the astronauts on board.

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The roboticDragon spacecraftarrived at space station Sunday morning, floating within reach of the orbiting laboratory's robotic arm. Station astronauts used the arm to capture the Dragon spacecraft as both spacecraft sailed 260 miles (418 kilometers) above Egypt and the Nile River.

"Great work catching the Dragon," NASA astronaut Jack Fischer radioed the station crew Mission Control in Houston. The station crew then carefully attached the Dragon cargo ship to a docking port on the station, completing the job in just under three hours. [See photos of SpaceX's Dragon launch and station arrival]

The Hawthorne, Calif.-basedSpaceXlaunched the Dragon cargo ship toward the space station on Friday (April 18) using its own Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission is SpaceX's fourth Dragon flight to the space station and third of 12 cargo delivery missions under a $1.6 billion deal with NASA.

The Dragon spacecraft is carrying 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of food, supplies and gear for 150 different experiments. A miniature lettuce farm, space robot legs and laser communications system are among the delivery's highlights.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said Friday that he wasn't sure if those supplies included any chocolate eggs, jelly beans or other Easter goodies for the station crew.

"It'll be a surprise for all of us when they open the hatch," Gerstenmaier said. That hatch opening is slated to occur on Monday.

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SpaceX Dragon capsule makes Easter delivery to space station