SpaceX Launch to Space Station Reset for March 30

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SpaceX has confirmed it will target its next cargo mission launch to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, for 10:50 p.m. EDT, Sunday, March 30.

NASA Television launch coverage begins at 9:45 p.m. for the company's third contracted resupply mission to the orbital laboratory. A post-launch news conference will follow at approximately 90 minutes after liftoff. If for any reason the launch is postponed, the next launch opportunity is 9:39 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, with NASA TV coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m.

NASA TV also will air a prelaunch news conference at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A 2 p.m. briefing on the science and technology cargo being delivered to the space station by SpaceX will follow.

A March 30 launch would result in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft arriving at the station on Wednesday, April 2, at approximately 7 a.m. NASA TV coverage of rendezvous and berthing will begin at 5:45 a.m. for a 7 a.m. capture. Coverage of Dragon's installation will begin at 9:30 a.m.

MEDIA CREDENTIALING

Media may request accreditation onlineto attend the prelaunch events, including the launch pad photo opportunity, prelaunch news conference and launch, at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

The deadline for U.S. media to apply for accreditation is March 25. The deadline has passed for international media to apply.

Media credentials will be valid for mission activities from launch through splashdown at both the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

For further information about media accreditation, contact Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598.

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SpaceX Launch to Space Station Reset for March 30

Space Station 76: SXSW Review

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The Bottom Line

Sci-fi outing flirts with parody but is strangely sincere.

South By Southwest Film Festival, Visions

Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Matt Bomer, Marisa Coughlan, Kylie Rogers, Kali Rocha, Jerry O'Connell, Keir Dullea

Jack Plotnick

AUSTIN An oddball pastiche whose intent is hard to decipher, Jack Plotnick's Space Station 76 winks more than enough to be judged a comedy but behaves more like a sincere soap opera a sci-fi workplace drama about lonely souls whose personal connections are fraudulent, if they exist at all. Set on the kind of space station that could only have been designed in the 1970s, the pic's visuals and CG-shunning, model-loving FX will appeal to genre fans with a nostalgic streak. The presence of Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson in leading roles is a further enticement, but probably isn't enough to make this peculiar outing more than midnight-movie fare in theaters.

Wilson plays Captain Glenn, the station's deeply unhappy leader, who drinks to forget a secret gay relationship with a former coworker. Jessica (Tyler) is that man's replacement, whose professionalism makes her stand out in a crew whose characters feel less like astronauts than the kind of Me Generation suburbanites whose floundering and philandering filled innumerable trashy novels.

The most easily recognized vintage stereotype here is Misty (Marisa Coughlan), the psychobabble-spewing pill-popper who attends to her own imagined emotional needs much more urgently than to those of her daughter (Kylie Rogers) or husband Ted (Matt Bomer). Ted, a maintenance man who fills the void in his love life with a hidden stash of pot, is of course subject to fantasies involving sad-eyed Jessica, who's quickly becoming a surrogate mother to his child.

From the opening shots in which a transport vehicle might as well be a terrestrial RV with its wheels replaced by booster rockets to scenes involving a toy-robot psychiatrist and his limited catalogue of preprogrammed self-help aphorisms, the film has all the trappings of a straight, if cheap, retro-aping comedy. But Plotnick has clearly directed his cast to take the film's melodramas seriously, and the script (created via improv by a handful of actors) musters just enough heft to make that plausible. A couple of scenes transcend their metafictional trappings, with actors unironically finding pathos in their characters' loneliness, and one can imagine a small cult of generous viewers going along on that ride. Though it doesn't quite hit the target, Plotnick's vision of the future of the past is peculiar enough to resist quick dismissal.

Production Companies: Rival Pictures, Om Films

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Space Station 76: SXSW Review

SpaceX Resets Space Station Launch with Revolutionary Rocket Legs and Robonaut Legs to March 30

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The Dragon spacecraft, filled with about 4,600 lbs of cargo bound for the space station, is mated with Falcon 9. Launch is rescheduled to March 30. Credit: SpaceX

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL Following last weeks sudden and late in the processing flow postponement of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, SpaceX announced a reset of its next cargo mission launch for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS) to a new target date of Sunday, March 30.

The commercially developed Falcon 9 booster and Dragon cargo vessel are slated for a spectacular night time liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:50 p.m. EDT on March 30.

This mission, soaring to space under a resupply contract to NASA, could ignite a revolution in both rocketry and robotics.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket sports a quartet of never before tried landing legs and the Dragon freighter is loaded with a set of lanky legs to enable mobility in space for NASAs Robonaut 2 standing at the cutting of robotics technology.

Launch preparations were suddenly halted less than 72 hours prior to the then planned March 16 early morning launch because of unspecified technical issues concerning the sudden discovery of contamination, sources told me.

The Falcon 9 rocket with landing legs in SpaceXs hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fl, preparing to launch Dragon to the space station this Sunday March 30. Credit: SpaceX

To ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance and allow additional time to resolve remaining open items, the team is taking additional time to resolve open items and ensure SpaceX does everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch, according to a statement from SpaceX.

Several sources told me that the problem related to contamination that was found in the unpressurized truck section at the rear of the Dragon spacecraft.

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SpaceX Resets Space Station Launch with Revolutionary Rocket Legs and Robonaut Legs to March 30

Lockheed Martin Researchers Achieve Breakthrough In Robotics For Space

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Fri, Mar 21, 2014

In a breakthrough that will help make it possible for astronauts and robots to work together in deep space, researchers at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (ATC), working with NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station, have demonstrated coordinated control of robots in space by astronauts in space and operators on the ground. The breakthrough is the first-ever demonstration of such collaborative tele-operations. The maneuvers create new opportunities to extend the reach of human and robotic missions in Earth orbit and beyond.

Astronaut Karen Nyberg and ATC engineer Humberto Ormeno used an ATC-developed, 3-D user interface to command NASA's Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Re-orient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) robots on the space station. Inside the space station, the robots (each about the size of a soccer ball) were commanded in "follow-the-leader" exercises and simulated approach-and-docking maneuvers, like those required for in-space assembly of large space structures and asteroid exploration. There is also flexibility within the system, meaning automated control of one or more robots can be combined with manual control of another.

Remote commanding of robots in space, or tele-operation, poses several unique challenges. Commands and telemetry can take one to three seconds to travel between space and the ground via satellite relays, forcing remote operators to predict the effects of their actions using old data. Delicate components designed for weightlessness can be damaged by accidental collisions or even exhaust gases produced by other satellites, so safe maneuvering is essential. The work on the space station is demonstrating how to deal with the time delays associated with signal transfer from the ground.

"The ATC has started to confront these challenges by performing multiple experiments with the SPHERES robots, through a no-cost Space Act Agreement with the International Space Station National Laboratory Office," said Dr. Nelson Pedreiro, ATC director of Science and Technology. "This technology exemplifies how breakthroughs can be achieved in a cost-effective and agile manner."

"Supervising a team of robots in microgravity requires intuitive and informative user interfaces so operators can maintain control over sensitive maneuvers without being overwhelmed by details," says Andrew Zimdars, who leads the ATC effort. "SPHERES enables us to work with the astronauts who will command future exploration missions and develop software technologies that meet their needs."

(SPHERES image provided by NASA)

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Lockheed Martin Researchers Achieve Breakthrough In Robotics For Space

Space station astronaut shares stories about missions

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Astronaut Karen Nyberg speaks Thursday at NASA Glenn Research Center about the end of her mission. After spending months in space aboard the International Space Station, she returned to Earth in November aboard a Russian capsule. She said that after they landed, she was sitting upside-down strapped into her seat and they left her until last after the Olympic torch, which was carried into space, was removed. BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE

CLEVELAND Karen Nyberg has had a view of the world that most people will never see.

An astronaut for NASA, she spent six months living and working on the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 6 crew. During the expedition, the crew completed 2,656 orbits of the Earth while traveling more than 70 million miles.

The 44-year-old said spending time away from her family was hard, but theres nowhere shed rather be than in space.

If I can just go, like that, and live there, and be there, and have my family with me, that would be fantastic. Its really a neat place; its an amazing place to live, she said.

Now in her post-flight period, Nyberg is enjoying spending time with her husband, also an astronaut, and their 4-year-old son. Nyberg is also traveling the United States to discuss her experiences in space, stopping in Cleveland on Thursday at NASAs Glenn Research Center.

The center played a role in Nybergs expedition.

Nyberg supported several experiments that were managed by Glenn, including the capillary flow experiment, which examines liquids behavior in microgravity environments. The experiment was designed to allow NASA to better design systems to process liquids aboard spacecraft, such as liquid fuel tanks, thermal fluids and water processing for life support, according to NASA.

Nyberg said during downtime she worked on a square for a quilt project. She said the simplest things on Earth are very difficult and time consuming in space. Its not as simple as just holding down a piece of material and cutting.

Other experiments included combustion and flame extinguishing studies. The Glenn Research Center also designed improved harnesses for running on the treadmill in space with help from the Cleveland Clinic.

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Space station astronaut shares stories about missions

NASA Unveils Orions Powerful Delta IV Heavy Rocket Boosters for Dec. 2014 Blastoff

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Two of the three United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV heavy boosters for NASAs upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission were unveiled during a media event inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana spoke to the media along with NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot and Tony Taliancich, ULA director of East Coast Launch Operations. Credit: Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL Production and assembly of virtually all of the key hardware elements for NASAs eagerly anticipated Orion EFT-1 uncrewed test flight are either complete or nearing completion at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral.

Two of the three first stage boosters comprising the mammoth Delta IV Heavy rocket that will propel Orion to high Earth orbit have arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and were unveiled this week by top NASA managers at a media briefing attended by Universe Today.

The triple barreled Delta IV Heavy rocket is currently the most powerful rocket in Americas fleet and the only one capable of launching the Orion EFT-1 capsule to its intended orbit of 3600 miles altitude above Earth.

Due to urgent US national security requirements, the maiden blastoff of the unmanned Orion pathfinder capsule that will one day send humans back to the Moon and beyond Earths realm has just been postponed about three months from September to December 2014 in order to make way for the accelerated launch of recently declassified US Air Force Space Surveillance satellites as I reported here.

Two of the three United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV heavy boosters for NASAs upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission were unveiled during a media event inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 17, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer kenkremer.com

The center and starboard side boosters recently arrived at the Cape aboard a barge from Decatur, Alabama where they were manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA).

The remaining port side booster and the Centaur upper stage are due to be shipped by ULA to Cape Canaveral in April.

Its great to see Orion, the next step in our journey of exploration, said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot. And its very exciting to see the engines integrated into the booster.

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NASA Unveils Orions Powerful Delta IV Heavy Rocket Boosters for Dec. 2014 Blastoff

Flight 370: Facts few, imaginations run wild

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(CNN) -

Malaysia Airline Flight 370, a Boeing 777 on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, simply vanished from the sky on March 8. In the two weeks since, the mystery of what happened to its 227 passengers and 12 crew members has set off a frenzy of speculation and conspiracy theory hatching.

It was a rogue pilot. Or was it a hero pilot? Terrorists took over the plane. Or were they air pirates? Space aliens? Maybe the crew flew the plane into Pakistan. Or a black hole? Somebody shot it down. Aha! We can't see the plane because it's invisible! No, it's a sign from God that the Rapture is coming! The Illuminati are behind this! And last but not, least here's that old Internet standby so popular among conservative conspiracy theorists: It's Obama's fault.

Pop-culture aficionados have weighed in, too, with comparisons to the television series "Lost" and "Fantasy Island." Singer Courtney Love went to her Facebook fan page and posted a helpful map drawn on a satellite photo; she said it showed the wreckage in the waters near the island of Palau Perak.

And YouTube commenters suggested that Pitbull and Shakira might have foreseen the trouble, pointing to their 2012 song "Get it Started." They ponder this lyric: "Now it's off to Malaysia," Pitbull sings, "Two passports, three cities, two countries, one day."

Hmmmm.

Outlandish as some of these theories sound, they are so much more comforting than the truth. The truth is unfathomable. The truth is, we just don't know. We can't know yet and we might never know. Highly trained professionals can't figure it out, even with all their satellites and radar and pingy things. Think people don't just disappear from the sky? Tell that to folks who have spent a lifetime trying to figure out what happened to Amelia Earhart or D.B. Cooper.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 "is going to be a long haul," Malaysia's acting transportation minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said on Friday. "The focus is to reduce the area of search." Right now, it follows two possible flight paths: One arcs over parts of Cambodia, Laos, China and Kazakhstan, and the other over the Indian Ocean. No signs of the plane or a crash site have been spotted on land. And one official compared searching the ocean for the plane to "looking for a needle in a stack of needles."

Searchers and investigators from two dozen countries have pitched in but are left scratching their heads. They're checking data from satellites, running passenger background checks, dispatching ships and flying planes low over thousands of square miles of ocean, looking for a speck of something, anything, among all that rolling blue and gray. The aerial searchers are doing it the old-fashioned way, by peering out the window.

The most promising development has focused on a possible debris sighting in a remote spot in the Indian Ocean more than 1,400 miles southwest of Perth, Australia. That's roughly 6,000 miles from where Flight 370 should have landed. It takes so long to get there and back, the aerial crews can only search the vast open ocean for a two hours at a stretch. China and Japan are dispatching ships, but it will take them several days to get there. A Norwegian commercial ship that was already in the area is looking for signs of survivors. Other merchant ships are on their way, and these are practically uncharted waters.

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Flight 370: Facts few, imaginations run wild

MENS ICE HOCKEY | Red Will Take on Union in ECAC Semifinals Showdown

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By EMILY BERMAN

Less than five days after junior forward Brian Ferlins overtime goal sent the mens ice hockey team pouring over its bench and onto the ice to celebrate its game three ECAC Hockey quarterfinals victory over Clarkson in front of a raucous Lynah crowd, the fourth-seeded Red heads to Lake Placid for a Friday afternoon semifinals showdown with two-time defending league champion Union.

Union, who entered the tournament as the top seed, swept Dartmouth in its quarterfinals matchup to extend its current unbeaten streak to 11. The Dutchmen recently jumped to second in the major national polls and previously grabbed the ECAC regular season title with an 18-3-1 league record.

Theyre great defensively theyve got great stick position on the ice surface, they make it difficult to make plays on [and] theyre very committed as a group of players to the defensive side of the puck, head coach Mike Schafer 86 said of the Dutchmen. Everyone will go and point and say theyre one of the best offensive teams in the country, but they spring that a lot from the defensive side of it.

Union is the only team to beat Cornell twice in the regular season, taking the Red, 3-0, in the first matchup and then beating the team, 4-1, at Lynah. While both Schafer and several players have cited the first game against Union as one of the low points of the season the Red mustered only 11 shots on goal throughout the entire game the second game was a physical, hard-fought battle with a more even balance of scoring chances.

We had a tough game against [Union] here at home, we thought we played pretty solid and ended up losing the hockey game, but we were happy with our game plan and we were happy with how we played, Schafer said.

Junior defenseman Jake Macdonald shrugged off the notion that the Red needed to make any drastic changes to the teams game plan to defeat the Dutchmen.

Honestly, I just think we have to play the same way we did the last time we played them, he said. I thought that we outplayed them if we can continue to chip pucks into their zone and get pressure on their defense and just have an all-around solid game, I think well be in good shape.

Two of Unions biggest threats stem from what Schafer called the one-two punch of defensemen senior Mat Bodie and junior Shayne Gostisbehere, who both figure prominently in the Dutchmens attack with 29 and 28 points, respectively. Gostisbehere was recently named one of 10 Hobey Baker award finalists.

You have to be a little more careful with some of the talented D-men they have back there jumping into the play, junior forward Joel Lowry said. You dont want to give them too much time or space, you want to limit them and not let them jump up because they can make plays.

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MENS ICE HOCKEY | Red Will Take on Union in ECAC Semifinals Showdown

Christmas Island residents told to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Gillian

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Christmas Island is on red alert as a category one tropical cyclone heads towards it.

Tropical Cyclone Gillian is about 140 kilometres north-east of Christmas Island and moving west at 20 kilometres per hour.

Gale force winds are expected to develop this morning and may continue into Sunday, as the cyclone passes north of the island and then heads west.

Linda Paterson from the Bureau of Meteorology says it may intensify into a category two system.

"Conditions though are good for it to intensify so we do expect it to reach a category two system just west of the island, but we don't expect it to intensify into a category three system until it's further away from the island, so they should be at least spared that," she said.

"There is a risk of destructive wind gusts during Saturday on the island, if it doesn't move as fast as we've forecast or it intensifies a bit quicker than we expect, so residents should be prepared that it may reach a category two system while it's still quite close to the island."

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Christmas Island residents told to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Gillian

Scene & Heard

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It's not easy being red

If you've ever felt like a redheaded stepchild literally there is now a movie for you. A screening of the documentary "Being Ginger" is being presented by the League of Extraordinary Red Heads at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River St., Troy. The movie is about the search for acceptance, even if you only make up about two percent of the world's population.

Filmmaker Scott Harris will be on hand to present his movie about being a redhead looking for love as a carrot-topped American living in Edinburgh, Scotland, "the redhead capital of the world." Even there, though, he finds the attitudes about redheads less than welcoming. In the film, one woman says to him, "You're like an orangutan. You're not just ginger, you're like the joke ginger," while another advises he stick to dating red-haired women to "keep the genetics together ... just keep ginger on ginger and not on other people."

Admission is $10. After the screening, Harris will answer questions from the audience, followed by a free after-party with Harris and The League of Extraordinary Red Heads at Lucas Confectionery wine bar, located at 12 Second St., for those 21 and older. For more information, call 274-2723. To reach the Arts Center, call 273-0552 or visit http://www.artscenteronline.org/

Art entries needed soon

The deadline is Monday, March 31, to submit entries for exhibits at the Saratoga Arts Center Gallery, 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs. Submissions will be reviewed by a committee and the selected works will be exhibited during four shows throughout the year.

Emerging and established artists working in the media of painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, mixed media, video, sculpture, ceramics, fiber and glass are encouraged to apply.

For more information, visit http://saratoga-arts.org/exhibitions/gallery/opportunities Download a submission form at http://saratoga-arts.org/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/images/call%20for%20submissions%202016.pdf

Hymns for modern age

Matthew Smith, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who writes brand new music to centuries-old hymn texts, will be performing at 7 p.m. Friday, April 4, at the First Presbyterian Church in Schenectady. He is a founding member of the Indelible Grace community, whose work is used in churches around the world.

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Scene & Heard