International Space Station Crew Welcomes Albert Einstein ATV

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June 17, 2013

Image Caption: Europe's supply ferry ATV Albert Einstein on approach to the International Space Station. Credit: ESA

ESA Press Release

ESAs fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, completed a flawless rendezvous with the International Space Station on June 15 when it docked smoothly with orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now connected to the Space Station.

Bravo Europe, bravo ESA, bravo ATV. Thank you Member States, thank you industry, thank you CNES, thank you Russian partner, commented Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.

With the fourth ATV now ready to support and supply the Space Station with essential supplies and scientific experiments, ESA again proves itself to be a reliable partner in the international station upon which the future can be developed.

The 20-ton ferry, the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, flew autonomously and docked with the 420-ton complex with a precision of a few cm as both circled Earth at 28 000 km/h.

Such a gentle contact between a spacecraft the size of a double-decker bus and a Station 20 times larger is an amazing achievement, highlighting the impressive level of control achieved by this European space system developed by our industry under ESAs direction, said Thomas Reiter, ESAs Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

These impressive technological capabilities will live on in the service module of NASAs upcoming Orion crew vehicle.

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International Space Station Crew Welcomes Albert Einstein ATV

Lifting Body: "Flight Characteristics of the HL-10 Manned Lifting Entry Vehicle" 1967 NASA Langley – Video

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Lifting Body: "Flight Characteristics of the HL-10 Manned Lifting Entry Vehicle" 1967 NASA Langley
more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/ The HL-10 was developed into the HL-20 Personnel Launch Vehicle concept spacecraft, which was the basis for the Sierra...

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Lifting Body: "Flight Characteristics of the HL-10 Manned Lifting Entry Vehicle" 1967 NASA Langley - Video

Martian Gully Formation: "Dry Ice Moves on Mars" 2013 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Video

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Martian Gully Formation: "Dry Ice Moves on Mars" 2013 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/ "Is frozen carbon dioxide a key to features in some Martian gullies? To find out, scientists grabbed a bag of dry ice ...

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Martian Gully Formation: "Dry Ice Moves on Mars" 2013 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Video

UFOs – Holograms in the solar space in the official NASA pictures – Review for June 11, 2013 – Video

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UFOs - Holograms in the solar space in the official NASA pictures - Review for June 11, 2013
ALL Information at: http://www.thesunproject.net http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sun... Watch in HD and full screen! For full information about UFOs and pa...

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UFOs - Holograms in the solar space in the official NASA pictures - Review for June 11, 2013 - Video

4MIN News June 15, 2013: ISON NASA Request, Fireball US, Solar Uptick Expected – Video

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4MIN News June 15, 2013: ISON NASA Request, Fireball US, Solar Uptick Expected
How to Watch the Sun http://youtu.be/ld5ecZuHECA Donations Optional: http://tiny.cc/f195ww or https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick hosted_butt...

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4MIN News June 15, 2013: ISON NASA Request, Fireball US, Solar Uptick Expected - Video

NASA’s 2013 HS3 hurricane mission to delve into Saharan dust

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June 17, 2013 NASA's 2013 Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel or HS3 mission will investigate whether Saharan dust and its associated warm and dry air, known as the Saharan Air Layer or SAL, favors or suppresses the development of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. The effects of Saharan dust on tropical cyclones is a controversial area of science. During the 2012 campaign, NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft gathered valuable data on the dust layer that swirled around Tropical Storm Nadine for several days.

The Saharan dust layer is composed of sand and other mineral particles that are swept up in air currents and whisked westward over the Atlantic Ocean. The extreme daytime heating of the Sahara creates instability in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, warming and drying the air near the surface and cooling and moistening the air near the top of the dust layer near 5 kilometers (16,500 feet). Once it exits the African coast, the dust-laden air moves over air that is cooler, and moister, and it's the temperature inversion of warm air over cold that prevents deep cloud development. This suppression of deep cloud formation along with the dry air within the dust layer is reasons why this Saharan air layer is sometimes thought to suppress tropical cyclone development. On the other hand, the southern boundary of this hot desert air essentially acts like a front whose attendant wind patterns are a major source of the African waves that are precursors to storm formation.

Some Saharan dust has been known to make the journey across the Atlantic and to the U.S. east coast. But Saharan dust doesn't just cause sunrises to appear more reddish, the dust also impacts the development of clouds and precipitation. The dust particles can provide a surface for small cloud droplets and ice crystals to form within clouds. More dust particles means that a given amount of available water is spread onto more particles, creating large numbers of small drops and delaying the formation of larger raindrops. Those effects, coupled with the warm and dry air, have presented challenges to meteorologists who have been trying to understand the effect of Saharan dust on tropical cyclones.

HS3 addresses the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer, or SAL, in tropical storm formation and intensification by taking measurements from three instruments on board the Global Hawk. These instruments include a cloud physics lidar which uses a laser to measure vertical profiles of dust; a dropsonde system that releases small instrumented packages from the aircraft that fall to the surface while measuring profiles of temperature, humidity, and winds; and an infrared sounder that measures temperature and humidity in clear-sky regions.

On Sept. 11 and 12, during the 2012 HS3 mission, the NASA Global Hawk aircraft covered more than one million square kilometers (386,100 square miles) going back and forth over the storm in a gridded fashion in what's called a "lawnmower pattern."

The SAL was present primarily during that first flight, and again on the flight from Sept. 14 to 15. "The SAL did not act to suppress development on Sept. 11 and 12, at least not in the sense of a direct intrusion into the storm circulation, but it is too early to say what role it might have played in other ways and in other flights," said Scott Braun, HS3 Principal Investigator, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "There is some evidence that it (the SAL) was getting into the storm circulation on Sept. 14 and 15, but the extent to which it impacted development is unclear."

The dust data collected by the Global Hawk is important for scientific studies on the SAL. Other data was useful operationally to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the entity that issues forecasts for tropical cyclones. The forecasters at the NHC used data from dropsondes released from the Global Hawk in the discussion of Nadine at 11 a.m. EDT on Sept. 20, "The current intensity is kept at 45 knots (51.7 mph/83.3 kmh)is in good agreement with dropsonde data from the NASA global hawk aircraft and AMSU [satellite instrument] estimates."

Valuable data from the Global Hawk dropsondes on September 22-23 provided the National Hurricane Center with information that contributed to their reclassifying the storm as a tropical storm after one day of being called a post-tropical low. Shortly after HS3's last flight into Nadine on September 26-27, Nadine actually strengthened back into a hurricane and reached its maximum intensity.

Dropsonde data from HS3's flight on September 26-27 showed that temperature and humidity conditions in the storm were becoming more favorable for the occurrence of deep thunderstorms. Infrared data from NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 28, 2012, revealed that strong convection and thunderstorms did build up again and strengthened Nadine back into a hurricane.

HS3 is a five-year mission specifically targeted to investigate the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change in the Atlantic Ocean basin.

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NASA's 2013 HS3 hurricane mission to delve into Saharan dust

NASA Invites Media to View Space Launch System Progress

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WASHINGTON -- NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier and other agency officials will debut a new machine for manufacturing NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and check on development progress with the heavy-lift rocket at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Friday, June 21.

NASA is inviting media representatives to attend a 9:15 a.m. CDT ribbon-cutting ceremony for the vertical weld center, where friction-stir weld tooling will be used to assemble the SLS core stage, then join officials on a tour of the SLS assembly area and work in support of NASA's Orion spacecraft.

Michoud is critical to the construction and testing of SLS, which is managed and in development at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Officials of The Boeing Company of Huntsville, Ala., prime contractor for the SLS core stage and its avionics, will take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 200 foot-tall core stage will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to feed the rocket's RS-25 engines. The vertical weld center will stand about three stories tall and weigh 165 tons.

Journalists who want to attend the event should contact Chip Howat at carl.j.howat@nasa.gov or 504-214-6745 no later than 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20. Media must report to 13800 Old Gentilly Road and enter Gate 11, which is located east of Building 101, by 8:30 a.m. June 21 for access to the facility. Official media credentials with photo identification are required for access.

NASA is developing the SLS rocket and Orion to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. It will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in the solar system, including to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information on NASA's SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls

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NASA Invites Media to View Space Launch System Progress

NASA Selects Next Generation of Space Explorers, Hangout Today

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HOUSTON -- After an extensive year-and-a-half search, NASA has a new group of potential astronauts who will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system, including an asteroid and Mars. Eight candidates have been selected to be NASA's newest astronaut trainees, hoping to be among those who are the first to launch from U.S. soil on commercial American spacecraft since the retirement of the space shuttle.

The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA has received -- more than 6,000. Half of the selectees are women, making this the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected for a class. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers and remote locations around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here -- developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."

NASA will discuss the selections at 3 p.m. CDT Monday, June 17, via a Google+ Hangout.

The astronaut candidates are:

Josh A. Cassada, Ph.D., 39, is originally from White Bear Lake, Minn. Cassada is a former naval aviator who holds an undergraduate degree from Albion College, and advanced degrees from the University of Rochester, N.Y. Cassada is a physicist by training and currently is serving as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Opus.

Victor J. Glover, 37, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, hails from Pomona, Calif., and Prosper, Texas. He is an F/A-18 pilot and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Glover holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Air University and the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. He currently is serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress.

Tyler N. (Nick) Hague, 37, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force, calls Hoxie, Kan., home. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Hague currently is supporting the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

Christina M. Hammock, 34, calls Jacksonville, N.C., home. Hammock holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. She currently is serving as National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Station Chief in American Samoa.

Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, originally is from Penngrove, Calif. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. Mann is an F/A 18 pilot, currently serving as an Integrated Product Team Lead at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.

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NASA Selects Next Generation of Space Explorers, Hangout Today

NASA Selects Next Generation of Space Explorers; Google+ Hangout Today

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HOUSTON -- After an extensive year-and-a-half search, NASA has a new group of potential astronauts who will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system, including an asteroid and Mars. Eight candidates have been selected to be NASA's newest astronaut trainees, hoping to be among those who are the first to launch from U.S. soil on commercial American spacecraft since the retirement of the space shuttle.

The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA has received -- more than 6,000. Half of the selectees are women, making this the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected for a class. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers and remote locations around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here -- developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."

NASA will discuss the selections at 3 p.m. CDT Monday, June 17, via a Google+ Hangout.

The astronaut candidates are:

Josh A. Cassada, Ph.D., 39, is originally from White Bear Lake, Minn. Cassada is a former naval aviator who holds an undergraduate degree from Albion College, and advanced degrees from the University of Rochester, N.Y. Cassada is a physicist by training and currently is serving as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Opus.

Victor J. Glover, 37, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, hails from Pomona, Calif., and Prosper, Texas. He is an F/A-18 pilot and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Glover holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Air University and the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. He currently is serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress.

Tyler N. (Nick) Hague, 37, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force, calls Hoxie, Kan., home. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Hague currently is supporting the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

Christina M. Hammock, 34, calls Jacksonville, N.C., home. Hammock holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. She currently is serving as National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Station Chief in American Samoa.

Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, originally is from Penngrove, Calif. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. Mann is an F/A 18 pilot, currently serving as an Integrated Product Team Lead at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.

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NASA Selects Next Generation of Space Explorers; Google+ Hangout Today

NASA Advisory Council Science Committee; Astrophysics Subcommittee Meeting 16-17 July 2013

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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 116 (Monday, June 17, 2013)] [Notices] [Pages 36276-36277] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2013-14324]

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice: 13-065]

NASA Advisory Council; Science Committee; Astrophysics Subcommittee; Meeting

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-462, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Astrophysics Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). This Subcommittee reports to the Science Committee of the NAC. The meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting, from the scientific community and other persons, scientific and technical information relevant to program planning.

DATES: Tuesday, July 16, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Wednesday, July 17, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Local Time.

ADDRESSES: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Building 1, Rooms E100D and E100E, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Marian Norris, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, (202) 358-4452 or mnorris@nasa.gov.

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NASA Advisory Council Science Committee; Astrophysics Subcommittee Meeting 16-17 July 2013

NASA tests radio for unmanned aircraft operations

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June 17, 2013 NASA's communications experts have begun flight testing a prototype radio as part of the agency's contributions toward fully integrating civil and commercial Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS).

This particular radio is one of the first steps to provide the critical communications link for UAS pilots on the ground to safely and securely operate their remotely piloted vehicles in flight even though they are many miles -- if not continents or oceans -- apart.

"So far the tests are going well and we're learning a lot about how this prototype radio operates under various conditions, but we still have much more testing to do on this radio and others that will come," said Jim Griner, a project engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Currently there is not a great deal of freedom for civilian uses of UAS over our nation's skies. Police and firefighters, for example, must use off-the-shelf systems and fly under special Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approvals that restrict where and when remotely piloted vehicles can fly.

"There are some pretty good limitations on those operations, but the work we're doing to develop a new command and control radio for the UAS to use will help go beyond that," Griner said.

Built under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Rockwell Collins in Iowa, the current prototype radio is a platform to test operations at certain frequencies with specific radio waveforms that are unique to its particular task -- in this case command and control of a remotely piloted vehicle.

Once testing concludes on the initial prototype, lessons learned will be applied to a second generation test radio, which is now scheduled to be delivered to NASA in September. Additional testing will follow, after which a final prototype design is to be delivered and tested in the 2015-2016 timeframe.

Ultimately the FAA will define the final requirements that will lead to certification of a UAS command and control radio for use in the NAS, but by building and testing prototype units now NASA is helping move the process along.

"Usually the requirements are defined first and then we try to build equipment based on those requirements. This short-circuits a number of years off the traditional process," Griner said.

The prototype radio was delivered to NASA Glenn on Feb. 28 and successfully put through its paces on a laboratory test bench. Flight tests in a NASA S-3 Viking twin-engine jet began in May and are expected to continue in June.

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NASA tests radio for unmanned aircraft operations

NASA Selects Mars Mission Astronaut Hopefuls

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NASA has picked eight Americans, a mix of scientists and military pilots, to begin training for future space missions that may one day launch them all the way to Mars. The new class includes four men and four women who will join the 49 active astronauts at the agency's astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The new U.S. space travelers, which NASA unveiled today (June 17), could be part of the first crews to visit an asteroid or Mars, deep-space goals that NASA aims to explore. They could also be the first people to launch to space on a U.S.-built rocket since the era of the space shuttle, which ended in 2011.

PHOTOS: An Awe-Inspiring Space Station Odyssey

In the nearer term, the new recruits could launch on Russian rockets to serve long-duration missions on the International Space Station, which is expected to operate until at least 2020. [7 Notable Space Shuttle Astronauts]

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."

NASA will discuss its new astronaut recruits during a Google+ Hangout session today (June 17) at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). You can watch the hangout live here on SPACE.com, or directly at: http://go.nasa.gov/126mOLK.

GALLERY: NASA's Asteroid Capture Mission

The new spaceflyer hopefuls were selected from more than 6,000 applications the second largest applicant pool NASA's ever had. With the new class being evenly split between men and women, it represents the largest percentage of female astronaut candidates in any new class. [Women in Space: A Space History Gallery]

The last new cohort of NASA astronauts was selected in 2009, and included nine new candidates. They officially graduated in November 2011, but none have flown to space yet. Michael Hopkins will be the first of that group to fly when he launches in September to the International Space Station.

The new candidates, NASA's 21st astronaut class, will report to the Johnson Space Center for training in August.

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NASA Selects Mars Mission Astronaut Hopefuls

NASA Unveils New Astronaut Class for Deep-Space Exploration

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This article was updated at 12:03 p.m. EDT.

NASA has picked eight Americans, a mix of scientists and military pilots, to begin training for future space missions that may one day launch them all the way to Mars. The new class includes four men and four women who will join the 49 active astronauts at the agency's astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The new U.S. space travelers, which NASA unveiled today (June 17), could be part of thefirst crews to visit an asteroidor Mars, deep-space goals that NASA aims to explore. They could also be the first people to launch to space on a U.S.-built rocket since the era of the space shuttle, which ended in 2011.

In the nearer term, the new recruits could launch on Russian rockets to serve long-duration missions on the International Space Station, which is expected to operate until at least 2020. [7 Notable Space Shuttle Astronauts]

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."

NASA will discuss its new astronaut recruits during a Google+ Hangout session today (June 17) at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). You can watch the hangoutlive here on SPACE.com, or directly at:http://go.nasa.gov/126mOLK.

The new spaceflyer hopefuls were selected from more than 6,000 applications thesecond largest applicant pool NASA's ever had. With the new class being evenly split between men and women, it represents the largest percentage of female astronaut candidates in any new class. [Women in Space: A Space History Gallery]

Thelast new cohort of NASA astronautswas selected in 2009, and included nine new candidates. They officially graduated in November 2011, but none have flown to space yet. Michael Hopkins will be the first of that group to fly when he launches in September to the International Space Station.

The new candidates,NASA's 21st astronaut class, will report to the Johnson Space Center for training in August.

"This year we have selected eight highly qualified individuals who have demonstrated impressive strengths academically, operationally and physically," said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space Center. "They have diverse backgrounds and skill sets that will contribute greatly to the existing astronaut corps. Based on their incredible experiences to date, I have every confidence that they will apply their combined expertise and talents to achieve great things for NASA and this country in the pursuit of human exploration."

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NASA Unveils New Astronaut Class for Deep-Space Exploration

NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA has eight new astronauts its first new batch in four years.

Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected by NASA.

Monday's announcement came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first American woman in space, Sally Ride. She died last summer.

The eight all in their 30s were chosen from more than 6,000 applications received early last year, the second largest number ever received. They will report for duty in August at Johnson Space Center in Houston and join 49 astronauts currently at NASA. The number has dwindled ever since the space shuttles stopped flying in 2011. Many astronauts quit rather than get in a lengthy line for relatively few slots for long-term missions aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said these new candidates will help lead the first human mission to an asteroid in the 2020s, and then Mars, sometime in the following decade. They also may be among the first to fly to the space station aboard commercial spacecraft launched from the U.S., he noted. Russia ferries the astronauts now.

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," Bolden said in a statement.

The Class of 2013's Nicole Aunapu Mann, a major in the Marines, is an F/A 18 pilot serving at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Md. Army Maj. Anne McClain is a helicopter pilot. The two other women, Christina Hammock and Jessica Meir, are scientists.

All four men have military backgrounds, including one who is a former emergency room physician, Dr. Andrew Morgan. The others are Josh Cassada, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover and Air Force Lt. Col. Tyler (Nick) Hague.

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NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women

NASA gets 8 new astronauts, half women

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NASA has selected a new class of 8 astronauts, including the first female fighter pilot in nearly two decades.

NASA's 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class. Top left to right: Josh A. Cassada, Ph. D.; Victor J. Glover, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy; Tyler N. Hague (Nick), Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force; Christina M. Hammock, NOAA Station Chief. Bottom left to right: Nicole Aunapu Mann, Major, U.S. Marine Corps; Anne C. McClain, Major, U.S. Army; Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D.; Andrew R. Morgan, M.D., Major, U.S. Army. (Credit: NASA)

NASA's year-and-a-half search for its next class of astronauts has ended, as the space agency today announced eight candidates, its first new batch in four years.

These eight were chosen from among the second largest group of applications NASA has ever received, more than 6,100. Half of the 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class are women -- the highest proportion of female candidates NASA has ever selected.

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know were doing big, bold things here -- developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, is the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut candidate since 1994. Helicopter pilot Anne McClain, 34, is also in the group. Victor Glover, 37, was also selected as a pilot.

Physicist and former aviator Josh Cassada, who currently serves as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Opus was also selected.

Also selected were Christina Hammock, 34, currently a station chief for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and Jessica Meir, 35, currently Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School.

Andrew Morgan, 37 has experience in emergency medicine, as a flight surgeon, and in sports medicine. Tyler (Nick) Hague, 37, is a graduate of MIT and the Air Force Test Pilot School and currently serves the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

Bolden said these astronaut candidates were selected for the expertise and interest in NASA's mission to ultimately get to the Red Planet.

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NASA gets 8 new astronauts, half women

Research and Markets: Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US 2013 Report

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/m3p4vl/nanotechnology) has announced the addition of the "Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US 2012-2016" report to their offering.

Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market In The Us Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of 84.79 Percent Over The Period 2012-2016

TechNavio's report, the Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US 2012-2016, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. It also covers the Nanotechnology Drug Delivery market in the US landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

Commenting on the report, an analyst from TechNavio's Healthcare team said: 'Over the years, the research activities in healthcare have changed significantly. There has been a paradigm shift away from blockbusters drugs to a more personalized medicine approach. The focus is being placed increasingly on formulating drugs based on the individual's unique genome and immune response. Personalized medicines have gained significant popularity because they enable the medical profession to provide customized treatment to patients. A customized treatment is based on the genetic as well as medical profile of a patient. Increasing knowledge about the molecular causes of diseases is increasing the demand for more targeted and effective nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery therapies.'

According to the report, one of the most important applications of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Nanotechnology drug delivery helps in delivering drugs directly to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique helps to avoid damage to healthy cells within the human body. Hence, drug delivery technology helps to increase the overall market success of a particular drug.

Key Questions Answered

- What will the market size be in 2016 and at what will be the growth rate?

- What are key market trends?

- What is driving this market?

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Research and Markets: Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US 2013 Report