NASA's Marshall Center to Conduct Active Shooter Emergency Exercise April 17

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NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will conduct a full-scale active shooter emergency exercise on the morning of Thursday, April 17. The event will involve a mock shooter and victims; simulated emergency radio traffic, alerts and announcements; Marshall, Redstone Arsenal and area emergency responders and response teams; and other activities to test the center's emergency response and communications preparedness.

During the event, Emergency Notification System announcements and other messages will be preceded by "EXERCISE." While the event will be held at the center's facilities on Redstone Arsenal, it is important the community at large is aware that any unusual activity that might be seen or heard is part of the test and not an actual emergency.

The active shooter exercise is part of the Marshall Center's ongoing commitment to protecting employees its most valuable assets. For more information or for interviews with Carole Valenti, Marshall's emergency management director, contact Marshall Public Affairs Officer Jennifer Stanfield at 256-544-7199.

For more information about NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, visit us on the Web:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall

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NASA's Marshall Center to Conduct Active Shooter Emergency Exercise April 17

One twin to spend year in space to study impact on body

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NASA HRP Twins Research Study with Craig KundrotNASA.gov Video

Identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly are to be separated for a year: Scott will spend a year on the International Space Station while Mark will stay behind. This unprecedented experiment aims to improve understanding of the impact of long-term space flight on the human body.

Nasa astronaut Scott will head up to the ISS in March 2015, where he will join cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko for a year. Mark is also an astronaut, although has retired, so will stay at home acting as a control while his brother orbits the Earth at 27,000 KPH. The twins will undergo a series of tests before, during and after the mission. "For the first time, we'll be able to study two individuals who are genetically identical," said Craig Kundrot of Nasa's Human Research Program at Johnson Space Centre.

Nasa is to fund 10 investigations into the molecular, physiological and psychological effects of spaceflight. It has selected 10 proposals (out of 40) from 10 institutions, and has allocated $1.5 million (900,000) in funding to them in total over three years. These include studies of vision and intracranial pressure, gut bacteria, DNA and RNA methylation, cognition and vascular function. In one study, for example, both twins will be given a flu vaccine to see how their immune systems react.

Scott has already spent six months on the space station and been on board two space shuttle flights. Mark has been on four space shuttle flights and spent 54 days in low-Earth orbit. Throughout the year that Scott is on the Space Station, Mark will be living out his life in Arizona.

Nasa has a keen interest on the impact of microgravity on the human body, particularly as we cross into an era of long-term space travel, such as manned missions to Mars.

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One twin to spend year in space to study impact on body

Red and Black Prom Dresses on Sale at TheCelebrityDresses.com

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(PRWEB) April 15, 2014

Red and black are two classic colors and top options when choosing prom dresses. Red and black prom dresses are timeless and easy to get matched shoes and accessory. A long black prom dress will also make a girl look slimmer and taller. And a hot red prom dress will always turn heads when properly styled.

TheCelebrityDresses.com has large collections of both red and black prom dresses. There more than 1000 styles of stylish, trendy long and short evening dresses that are inspired by red carpet fashions in their online store. The styles are carefully selected with all body types and skin tones in mind so every girl can find their perfect prom dress.

TheCelebrityDresses.com is a well known online store selling high fashion affordable bridesmaid and cocktail dresses. Most of the celebrity and designer prom dresses are on sale at prices under $200. They are offering special discount on red prom dresses this month. Customer ordering red or burgundy prom dresses can get a 10% special discount.

A black prom dress is definitely a must for all girls wardrobe. TheCelebrityDresses.com carries the most popular black prom dresses. They have both long and short black evening dresses, black one shoulder prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses with hi-low hem.

TheCelebrityDresses.com has proudly served tens of thousands of customers from all over the world during the past 5 years. It is now one of the best online prom store that sells both designer prom dresses and celebrity inspired prom dresses.

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Red and Black Prom Dresses on Sale at TheCelebrityDresses.com

NASA Hosts Media Teleconference to Announce Latest Kepler Discovery

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NASA will host a news teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) Thursday, April 17, to announce a new discovery made by its planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope.

The journal Science has embargoed the findings until the time of the news conference.

The briefing participants are:

-- Douglas Hudgins, exoplanet exploration program scientist, NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington

-- Elisa Quintana, research scientist, SETI Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

-- Tom Barclay, research scientist, Bay Area Environmental Research Institute at Ames

-- Victoria Meadows, professor of astronomy at the University of Washington, Seattle, and principal investigator for the Virtual Planetary Laboratory, a team in the NASA Astrobiology Institute at Ames

Launched in March 2009, Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone -- the range of distance from a star in which the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might sustain liquid water. The telescope has since detected planets and planet candidates spanning a wide range of sizes and orbital distances, including those in the habitable zone. These findings have led to a better understanding of our place in the galaxy.

For dial-in information, media should e-mail their name, affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington atj.d.harrington@nasa.govno later than 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT) Thursday.

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NASA Hosts Media Teleconference to Announce Latest Kepler Discovery

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to visit CU-Boulder April 18

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will give a free public talk at the University of Colorado Boulder April 18 on Americas space program and the challenges and opportunities the space agency will encounter as it moves through the 21st century.

The talk, titled NASAs Roadmap to Tomorrows Missions, will be held at CU-Boulders East Stadium Club on the east side of Folsom Field from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

Bolden will address the current and future capabilities of the orbiting International Space Station, as well as the growing opportunities for commercial providers in the space industry. He also will address new rocket and crew vehicle systems under development to extend the human reach into the solar system, as well as current and future NASA space missions.

Because seating for the CU-Boulder event is limited, those who would like to attend must register athttp://bit.ly/NASA-Bolden-CU.

CU-Boulder is the No. 1 public university in the nation in NASA funding, with nearly $500 million in sponsored research awards from the space agency in the past decade. LASP currently is involved with a number of NASA planetary and solar science missions, including spacecraft now en route to Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, as well as a $32 million instrument package flying on NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory to help scientists better understand and mitigate damage from severe space weather.

CU-Boulders Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy designed a $70 million instrument now flying on the Hubble Space Telescope to gather information from ultraviolet light emanating from distant objects, allowing scientists to look back in time and space and reconstruct the physical condition and evolution of the early universe.

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, a joint venture of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been involved with NASA on a number of collaborative research efforts. NASA chose the CIRES/CU-Boulder National Snow and Ice Data Center, for example, to manage the nations data on sea ice, ice shelves, ice sheets and snow cover, data often critical for decision makers. Water managers and farmers in the arid West, for example, rely on up-to-date snowpack conditions, since melting snow feeds thirsty cities and crops.

In 2013, CU-Boulder led a NASA airborne science campaign staged out of Houston using satellites, a NASA DC-8 airliner, jets and ground-based instruments that probed weather patterns and air pollution over a vast expanse of North America that have potential global climate consequences. The campaign also involved CIRES, NOAA, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and 15 universities, including CU-Boulder, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Innsbruck.

Bolden, who has been the NASA administrator since 2009, has overseen the transition from 30 years of space shuttle missions to a new era of exploration focused on the space station and the development of space and aeronautics technology. During his tenure, NASA has made significant progress toward returning to launching astronauts from American soil, which is now expected to occur by 2017.

A retired major general, Bolden had a 34-year career with the Marine Corps, including 14 years as a member of NASAs Astronaut Office, flying four space shuttle missions to the space station during that period.

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to visit CU-Boulder April 18

NASA Astronauts Will Breathe Easier With New Oxygen Recovery Systems

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For NASA's long-duration human spaceflight missions, travelers will need to recycle as much breathable oxygen in their spacecraft environments, as possible. To turn that need into a reality, NASA is seeking proposals for lightweight, safe, efficient and reliable systems for regenerating oxygen on future human exploration missions.

The first of two phases of this new NASA solicitation will consist of a detailed design, development, fabrication, and testing of an advanced oxygen recovery technology. Under a two year Phase II contract, the proposer then will develop a prototype hardware system, capable of an oxygen recovery rate of at least 75 percent.

"Lengthy spaceflight missions in Earth's orbit and beyond must have life support systems that are more self-sufficient and reliable," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The spacecraft life support system technologies for this proposal must significantly improve the rate of oxygen recovery while achieving high degrees reliability. NASA and its partners will need to develop new technologies to 'close' the atmosphere revitalization loop."

In addition to improving the oxygen recovery rate, the new systems must reduce mass required or take up less space and reduce power consumption. NASA's goal is to award technology development efforts that will increase the oxygen recovery rate to at least 75 percent without adversely impacting other design requirements.

The agency's Game Changing Development Program will accept proposals from NASA centers, other government agencies, federally funded research and development centers, educational institutions, industry and nonprofit organizations. NASA expects to make approximately six Phase I awards, ranging in value up to $750,000.

The Advanced Oxygen Recovery for Spacecraft Life Support Systems Appendix is part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate Game Changing Development Program NASA Research Announcement, "Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2014" for high priority technology areas of interest to NASA.

The SpaceTech-REDDI-2014 Advanced Oxygen Recovery for Spacecraft Life Support Systems Appendix is available through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System website by going to "Solicitations" and then "Open Solicitations" at:

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/

NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., manages the Game Changing Development Program for the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate remains committed to developing the critical technologies required to enable future exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit. The directorate continues to solicit the help of the best and brightest minds in academia, industry, and government to drive innovation and enable solutions in a myriad of important technology thrust areas. These planned investments are addressing high priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep-space exploration.

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NASA Astronauts Will Breathe Easier With New Oxygen Recovery Systems

NASA to Provide Live Coverage and Commentary of April 14-15 Lunar Eclipse

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The public will have the opportunity to view and learn more about the upcoming total lunar eclipse on NASA television, the agency's website and social media. Coverage begins at 11 p.m. PDT Monday, April 14, and will last approximately three hours. The eclipse's peak, when the moon will enter the Earth's full shadow or umbra, will occur at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 15.

The United States will be in a prime orbital position and time of day to view the eclipse. Depending on local weather conditions, the public will get a spectacular view looking into the sky as the moon's appearance will change from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and perhaps gray. The eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs when Earth, the moon and the sun are in perfect alignment, blanketing the moon in Earth's shadow. People in the United States will not be able to witness an entire full lunar eclipse again until 2019.

NASA spacecraft in lunar orbit, including the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, must survive harsh conditions as they and the moon pass through Earth's deep shadow. Starved of sunlight for power and enduring deep cold, they will rely on batteries to see them through. Like the other missions, LADEE is expected to survive but it wasn't designed to, and this is space, so surprises can occur.

Leading up to the eclipse, NASA will host a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) at 11 a.m. April 14, with astronomers from the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Various NASA researchers also will be available for media interviews. NASA Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Instagram followers will be able to join the conversation and ask questions using the hashtag #eclipse.

The public will be able to tag and share their images of the eclipsed moon on Instagram and the agency's Flickr group at:https://www.flickr.com/groups/nasalunareclipse

Lunar eclipse video resources are available at:http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/2014TotalLunarEclipse.html

Live NASA TV coverage and commentary will begin at 10 p.m. April 14. To view the coverage and access eclipse streaming video, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information on NASA's eclipse activities, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1kkfFXX

For more information about the LADEE mission, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/ladee

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NASA to Provide Live Coverage and Commentary of April 14-15 Lunar Eclipse