George Orwell said journalism is "printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations." Bully for you, Eric Arthur Blair, but you never had to book a flight from JFK to SFO for a family of four on a budget. Because I have run that gauntlet several times, I don?t feel ...
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Halfway around the world in India, Sivaprakash Ramalingam had heard of Johns Hopkins researchers using a promising new technique for gene therapy that he hoped to integrate with stem cells to cure diseases.
After getting a doctorate in biochemistry in his native country, he came to Baltimore four years ago to study under the technique's pioneer, Srinivasan Chandrasegaran, at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ramalingam's research has led him down the path of seeking a cure for sickle cell anemia, a painful, life-shortening blood disorder that afflicts many in his home region in southern India. In the United States, the disease affects 70,000-100,000 people, mostly African-Americans, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
"I couldn't have done this type of research in India," said Ramalingam. "I wanted to use this technique with stem cells to treat disease."
Ramalingam's research was given a lift last month by the state. He was one of 17 researchers who was funded by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission, a state entity that has doled out roughly $10 million to $12 million a year in taxpayer funds since its founding in 2006.
The program helps keep Maryland competitive in stem cell research when other states have instituted similar ones to lure scientists and biotechnology companies. More than 100 researchers applied for funding from the program, many from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.
"There's definitely a great demand for the awards," said Dan Gincel, the commission's director. "We're trying to figure out how to fund so many researchers."
Gincel said Ramalingam's work is interesting because his approach could have applications beyond sickle cell anemia. It could be used to treat other diseases and, for instance, modify plants and crops to make them resistant to pests.
Ramalingam received a $110,000 award two years ago from the commission to help fund his post-doctoral fellowship; the commission invested more money in his work this year because he was continuing to progress with it, Gincel said.
"The approach can be translated to many other diseases, which is what we want to see with stem cells," said Gincel.
Ramalingam is applying a relatively new technique called zinc finger nuclease, or ZFN, to try to cure sickle cell anemia. With ZFN, Ramalingam is able to target and replace specific, problem-causing sequences of the human genome with healthier genetic material.
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Researcher hunts for sickle cell anemia cure with gene targeting, stem cells
SAN DIEGO CA--(Marketwire -06/29/12)- Medistem Inc. (MEDS) announced today notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent covering the use of fat stem cells, and cells associated with fat stem cells for treatment of diseases related to a dysfunctional immune system. Such diseases include multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The allowed patent, entitled "Stem Cell Mediated Treg Activation/Expansion for Therapeutic Immune Modulation" has the earliest priority date of December 2006.
"We have previously published that giving multiple sclerosis patients cells extracted from their own fat tissue, which contains stem cells, appears to confer clinical benefit in a pilot study," said Thomas Ichim, CEO of Medistem. "The current patent that has been allowed, in the broadest interpretation of the claims, gives us exclusive rights to the use of specific types of fat stem cell therapy for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis."
Subsequent to the filing of the patent application, Medistem together with collaborators at the Lawson Health Sciences Research Institute, Canada, reported data that fat tissue contains high numbers of T regulatory cells, a type of immune cell that is capable of controlling autoimmunity.
This finding was independently confirmed by Dr. Diane Mathis' laboratory at Harvard University, who published a paper in the prestigious journal, Nature Medicine, in which detailed experimental evidence was provided supporting the initial finding that adipose tissue contains high numbers of T regulatory cells. A video describing the paper can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEJfGu29Rg8.
The current patent discloses the use of T regulatory cells from fat, combinations with stem cells, and use of fat-derived mononuclear cells. Given that there are currently several groups utilizing this technology in the USA in treating patients, Medistem believes revenue can be generated through enforcement of patent rights.
"Our corporate philosophy has been to remain highly focused on our ongoing clinical stage programs using Medistem's universal donor stem cell, the Endometrial Regenerative Cell (ERC), in the treatment of critical limb ischemia and congestive heart failure," said Dr. Vladimir Bogin, Chairman and President of Medistem. "However, due to the ease of implementation of our fat stem cell technology, combined with the major burden that autoimmune diseases have on our health care system, we are highly incentivized to explore partnering, co-development and licensing opportunities."
Autoimmune conditions occur as a result of the body's immune system "turning on itself" and attacking its own organs or cells. Current treatments for autoimmune conditions are based on "globally" suppressing the immune system by administration of immunosuppressive drugs. This is associated with an increased predisposition to infections and significant side effects. The utilization of stem cells and T regulatory cells offers the potential to selectively suppress pathological immunity while preserving the ability of the body to fight bacteria and viruses. According to the NIH there are approximately 23 million victims of autoimmune conditions.
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Link to peer-reviewed publication: http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-7-29.pdf
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Medistem Receives Notice of Patent Allowance Covering Fat Stem Cell Therapy of Autoimmune Diseases
MOBILE, Alabama -- The Baldwin County doctor that treated former Alabama football players with adult stem cells also has treated at least two people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease.
One of the ALS patients, former NFL football player and college coach Frank Orgel, recently underwent a new stem cell reprogramming technique performed by Dr. Jason R. Williams at Precision StemCell in Gulf Shores.
Before the injections, Orgels health had declined. He could not move his left arm or leg. He couldnt walk or stand on his own, he said.
Within a few days of having the stem cell treatment, Orgels constant muscle twitching diminished, said Bob Hubbard, director of stem cell therapy at the practice. Within weeks, he was able to walk in a pool of water and stand unassisted.
I think its helped me, said Orgel, who was a defensive coordinator at Auburn under former head coach Pat Dye. Im walking in the pool and I used to drag my feet. Now my left leg is picking up.
ALS is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to death, according to the ALS Association.
Stem cells, sometimes called the bodys master cells, are precursor cells that develop into blood, bones and organs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates their use. Their promise in medicine, according to many scientists and doctors, is that the cells have the potential to help and regenerate other cells.
While Williams treatments are considered investigational, he has said, they meet FDA guidelines because the stem cells are collected from a patients fat tissue and administered back to that patient during the same procedure.
Orgel, 74, said Williams told him it would take between eight months to a year for his nerves to regrow. He is traveling to Gulf Shores from his home in Albany, Ga., this weekend for another stem cell treatment, Orgel said: I need to get to where I can walk.
In recent years, Orgel has gone to Mexico at least three times for different types of treatments, not sanctioned in the U.S. At least once, he said, he had placenta cells injected into his body. That didnt work, Orgel said. I didnt feel any better.
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Former Auburn coach getting stem cell treatments for Lou Gehrig's disease
NEW YORK The recorded sounds of chanting Tibetan monks many worlds away might seem out of place in a Manhattan psychiatrists waiting room, but this is also the headquarters of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science.
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The main problem in our human condition has to do with the fact that our natures were adapted for life in the wild, and that because of civilization, we are living in very unnatural conditions, says Loizzo, who believes this is the primary source of stress for most people. "The stress instincts are what prepare us to fight or fly or freeze sometimes in dangerous situations. But since civilization began to sort of take over our whole lives, these stress reactions are a less and less useful part of our makeup.
However, its difficult to control our reactions to stressful situations, such as when your supervisor at work tells you to produce something on a deadline you feel unable to meet. The shortness of breath, the sweaty palms, the adrenaline surge, the sense of wariness and unease come unbidden.
According to Loizzo, thats because your nervous system instinctively bypasses your rational mind when your boss seems to be posing a threat to your well-being.
And because really what is challenging us is not a predator, but is another human being," he says, "whom we need to cooperate with and we need to negotiate with, essentially we become maladapted.
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The idea is that if youre mindful, you are able to assess things more clearly, and you are able to catch the misperceptions and over-reactions as they occur and opt out of them and choose the alternative [and] to see what is happening to you. Meditation becomes sort of a teachable simple pragmatic system for strengthening the parts of our mind and our brain that we need to be healthy and happy.
But Loizzo says that Buddhist-based psychotherapy is more than meditation. Like classic psychoanalysis, it involves a deep and committed search for the meaning of ones life through personal storytelling.
Thats the way our minds work. Our minds produce stories and images and things. And so some of the skills we teach have to do with learning to tell ourselves more constructive stories that empower us and help us to build the life that we really want to live - not the one we are trying to survive, or are afraid of being stuck in forever.
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Long before I was married, I kissed a girl whose practical German heritage gave her a keen sense of... - 5:36 pm
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The night winds were uncharacteristically powerful for this time of year. Standing on the beach on Maui earlier this month, I imagined the powerful canoe, the hokule'a, transporting Hawaiians across the Pacific Ocean from their ancestral lands in the Marquessa Islands to this paradise we now call Hawaii. They sailed without compass, instead using their knowledge of the wind currents and the stars to navigate.
This begins the story of the great migration of the Polynesian population. And even their journeys from islands such as Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti became the basis for their religion and the view of the universe they would develop and live by for well over a millennium.
Tourists to Hawaii can get a feeling for this spirituality. Yes, one can go to a luau and learn how the Hawaiians told their stories through the hula dance tradition. But opportunities to learn more about the actual religion they practiced are available as well.
Scholars of the Hawaiian religion tell us it showed a distinctly non-Western view of the world. One particular example is toward the view of nature itself. In the Bible, nature is a product of the creative will of God. This is not the same thing as believing that in each aspect of the natural world, such as a flower or plant, the presence of a God dwells and that object has its own will and spiritual consciousness -- which is referred to in Hawaiian as "akua." Hawaiians believe they participate in a larger spiritual network embracing all forms of life. This ethos built into their world views a strong respect for and consciousness of the interconnectedness among humans, God and nature.
Because Hawaiians did not have a scribal tradition at first, they found other ways of preserving their history. One of the most powerful means was the tradition of chants. The Haku Mele, the Hawaiian scholars of old, preserved their histories of chiefs and religious leaders -- much like the Israelites in the Bible preserved the genealogies beginning in Genesis and extending to tribal and priestly families throughout the Torah. Their stories of the Gods, such as Pele and Maui, as well as the histories of the great chieftains and kings, were passed down through chants, which told the stories that for many native Hawaiians are as real today as they were more than 1,500 years ago.
As a matter of fact, I spoke with quite a few Maui residents of non-native Hawaiian background who could balance their Christian beliefs along with their respect for the presence of the god, Pele, who carved the volcano crater at Haleakala on Maui.
These are not just old-fashioned myths but represent a real life force in the consciousness of those who live on Maui.
The religion itself sustained the people until the beginning of the 19th century when the king abolished the kapu system, which was responsible for the laws and rituals that governed Hawaiian institutional religious life. The king did this right before the American missionaries arrived so it provided a natural vacuum for the people to embrace Christianity.
Even though the old religious system was gone, Hawaiians continued to embrace the beauty of the religious narratives that depicted the history and spiritual values of their civilization. That heritage, including its language, history, spiritual values and belief in the Gods, has sustained Hawaiians and inspires all those who visit this land and who have taken up residence in the islands.
The visitor to Maui or to any of the Hawaiian islands can experience, if they stretch themselves spiritually, the very personal and religious feeling the Hawaiian people have for the land itself. The idea of aloha 'aina -- the love of the land -- underlies the Hawaiian philosophy of life. This is the reason the state motto says, "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina I ka pono," which means "the life of the land is perpetuated in justice."
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One the world's 100 most spiritually influential personalities and the pontiff of the world's oldest Hindu Organization, Paramahamsa Nithyananda revealed the sacred secrets of the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 verse 11, to his worldwide followers. His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda is also one of the most watched Guru on the internet with the faster growing spiritual community around a young ...
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29-06-2012 10:05 In his off duty time, NASA Astronaut Don Pettit cools down with some microgravity water balloon experiments aboard the International Space Station. Through a partnership between NASA and the American Physical Society you can participate in Pettit's physics challenge and view future experiments here:
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday, ending a mission that put the country's first woman in space and completed a manned docking test critical to its goal of building a space station by 2020. The spacecraft's gumdrop-shaped return capsule descended to Earth by parachute and touched down shortly after 10 a.m. EDT (0200 GMT) in China's northwestern Inner ...
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China hails space mission's success as crew returns to Earth
China's historic Shenzhou 9 mission may be over, but the nation's space program won't stay grounded for long.
The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and its three crewmembers returned to Earth Thursday at about 10 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. Friday Beijing time), wrapping up a mission that launched China's first female astronaut and featured its first-ever manned space docking.
China won't rest on its laurels for long, however. The nation plans to continue its steady march into space, beginning with another manned launch in just a few months' time.
Working toward a space station
Shenzhou 9's chief goal was to test out technologies and techniques needed to build a space station in Earth orbit. Chinese officials have said they hope to have a 60-ton station up and running by 2020. (For comparison, the International Space Station weighs 430 tons.) [Photos: Building the International Space Station]
By any measure, Shenzhou 9 the nation's fourth human spaceflight mission, after efforts in 2003, 2005 and 2008 appears to have been a big success. The spacecraft docked with the unmanned Tiangong 1 space module by remote control on June 18, and then again on June 24 while being piloted by the taikonauts (as Chinese astronauts are called).
China thus became just the third nation after the United States and Russia to achieve a manned linkup of spacecraft in Earth orbit.
"The manual docking was beautifully conducted. It was very accurate and swift, " said Liu Weibo, the official responsible for China's astronaut system, according to the nation's state-run Xinhua news service.
And more manned docking tests are on the horizon. The Shenzhou 10 mission will launch more taikonauts to Tiangong 1 soon, perhaps in early 2013; Chinese space officials have said they'll firm up a date after fully examining the results of Shenzhou 9's flight and the status of Tiangong 1.
China won't confine its human spaceflight activities to low-Earth orbit. The nation has said it plans to land a taikonaut on the moon in the near future, likely after its space station is up and running.
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A video recorded on the International Space Station shows the smoke-filled skies of the American West.
By Alan Boyle
A four-minute video from the International Space Station, released today by NASA, captures a beautiful and horrible sight: Ribbons of smoke drifting across Colorado and other Western states, due to a rash of wildfires.
You can also see sunlight glinting off lakes, as well as the snow-covered Rocky Mountains. But the haze covering the plains makes the biggest impression as you watch the landscape pass by, 230 miles (370 kilometers) beneath the station and a docked Russian spacecraft.
More than 30,000 residents in the Colorado Springs area had to evacuate their homes Tuesday night, due to what officials said was the most destructive fire in the state's history. Today, Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach passed along a preliminary report that the Waldo Canyon Fire destroyed 346 houses. President Barack Obama is due to visit the city on Friday to meet with firefighters and tour the fire-ravaged zones. (Our slideshow documents the devastation.)
The worst fire season in recent history is taking its toll with large fires burning thousands of acres in Colorado while others consume areas in Montana, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Other wildfires burned in Colorado as well as Utah and Montana, The Associated Press reported.
The space station can capture high-resolution video and stills of the scene from its Cupola observation deck, but that's not the only vantage point at NASA's disposal. Earth-watching satellites such as Terra and Aqua are also monitoring the wildfires, as are weather satellites such as GOES-15. Here's a picture of the western U.S. taken by GOES-15 at 8:45 a.m. ET today and processed by the NASA GOES Project at Goddard Space Flight Center:
NASA / NOAA GOES Project
The GOES-15 satellite keeps a stationary eye over the western United States. Smoke from the fires raging in several states has created a brownish-colored blanket over the entire region.
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DENVER It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said earlier this week.
"We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference.
Science experiments on the space station have been under way since the outpost's early days, of course. Construction of the orbiting laboratory began in 1998, and there has been a continuous human presence on the station since 2000. Now, however, there is little left to build and many opportunities to exploit, according to NASA speakers, who encouraged scientists to spread the word.
"We need to really reach out and push and use that same creativity and innovation that we used to build this wonderful facility to actually utilize it," Gerstenmaier said. [Infographic: The International Space Station Inside and Out]
More space news from msnbc.com
Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: There's a new contender for the title of fastest star in the universe: an apparent pulsar that's blazing away from the scene of a supernova at 6 million mph.
In May, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule successfully docked with the space station, becoming the first commercial spacecraft in history to do so. With SpaceX and other private companies providing transportation, private research companies will have the routine access they need to commit to space research, Gerstenmaier said. Meanwhile, upgrades like Earth-compatible power outlets and wireless internet connectivity will make it easier for terrestrially bound scientists to create experiments that will work in space, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program director.
Keeping humans in space The human component to space exploration was at the forefront in NASA officials' messages. Human experimenters can be part of experiments, making observations in a way that an automated system never could, said NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati. And human perseverance can also yield surprising results.
For example, now-retired astronaut Shannon Lucid was once conducting a fluid physics experiment on the Russian research satellite Mir, Gerstenmaier said. Her job was to shake a container of liquid in an attempt to form a bubble in a certain spot. Based on computer models, researchers were certain that the experiment was physically impossible but Lucid didn't know that. With communications temporarily interrupted between Mir and Earth, she kept at the experiment for over an hour. Finally, she got the bubble to form.
"It blew away their theory," Gerstenmaier said. "They believed their computer analysis. She didn't know that and really pushed that boundary."
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China's progress toward its own space station took a giant leap forward Friday when its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returned to Earth with three astronauts safely aboard, Reuters reports.
China's fourth manned space mission proved an important milestone--it was the longest and most demanding yet, and included the country's first female astronaut, 33-year-old Liu Yang.
During their 13 days in orbit, Yang and two other astronauts also completed the country's transfer of astronauts between orbiting spacecraft, an important step toward its goal of manning its own space station by 2020.
If successful, China will be the only country in low orbit at the start of the next decade--the International Space Station is scheduled to go out of service in 2020. Earlier this year, the United States ended its manned space flight program.
[Photos:Space Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Flight]
The Shenzhou 9 landed with a thud in the desert of northwestern China shortly after 10 a.m. Friday. The three astronauts, unable to walk, were carried to folding chairs nearby to address the state media.
"We are proud of the motherland," said Yang, the youngest of the three astronauts. "Tiangong 1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant."
The Tiangong 1 ("The Heavenly Palace" in Chinese) will be retired in a few years and replaced with a space station, which China alone will operate. The country was not allowed to participate in the 16-nation International Space Station, in part because the United States feared the country would acquire advanced technology, CBS News reported.
China is just the third nation to send an astronaut to space, after Russia and the United States. The U.S. will not begin testing for a manned space mission until a 2017, and Russia has announced manned missions are no longer a priority.
Seth Cline is a reporter with U.S. News and World Report. Contact him at scline@usnews.com or follow him on Twitter.
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China's Fourth Manned Mission Brings Own Space Station Closer
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station said this week they would welcome NASA's proposals to expand the lab's crew size from six to seven.
"It would certainly help," said Don Pettit, a flight engineer and one of three crew members working in the U.S. half of the station.
NASA senior leaders have begun talking about expanding the lab's crew size to seven when vehicles built by private contractors, such as SpaceX, come online as expected later this decade.
The space agency currently relies upon Russian Soyuz space capsules to get its astronauts to orbit, but the spacecraft can only carry three people at a time. Dragon is designed to carry up to seven astronauts.
"We would definitely increase the crew size on ISS to seven crew members," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, during a June 20 hearing before the Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee.
"We think that will increase the research capability onboard station and allow us to do more national lab research and be more effective in utilizing space station."
The expansion is contingent on Congress increasing funding for commercial spaceflight companies, Gerstenmaier said. NASA sought annual funding of $800 million in the years 2014 through 2017 to bring private spacecraft to the launch pad by 2017.
Instead Congress has only agreed to provide a little more than half of that.
Pettit and the five other astronauts presently aboard the station had a front row seat when SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft docked in late May, becoming the first private company to fly to the orbiting laboratory.
"We trained for all kinds of difficult situations, and in reality it went very smooth," said Andr Kuipers. "Everyone was tense the first time over how it would behave, and we realize it was a special moment. This will be the future of spaceflight, commercial companies taking over low-Earth orbit, and the agencies will continue to go further and explore. It was a great first step in a new era."
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29-06-2012 04:38 29 June 2012 | CCTV BEIJING—A Chinese space capsule with three astronauts aboard returned to Earth on Friday from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future permanent station. The Shenzhou 9 re-entry capsule parachuted to a landing on the grasslands of the country's sprawling Inner Mongolia region at about 9:53am local time. China declared the mission to the Tiangong 1 module—the country's longest and most challenging space mission yet—a major stride for its ambitious space program.
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June 29, 2012 - As agency-wide effort, NASA Science and Technology Institute for Minority Institutions (NSTI-MI) is 3-year competitive program aimed at enhancing STEM capabilities of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students. There are 10 students and 3 professors from 2 HBCU institutions at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which involves partnership with 2 private commercial companies: Mentor Graphics (Wilsonville, OR) and Triad Semiconductor (Winston-Salem, NC). NASA NASA Ames Reseach Center Moffett Field, CA, 94035 USA Press release date: June 15, 2012
GREENBELT, Md. -- While many college students have started applying what they are learning at school in summer internships, ten students and three professors from two Historically Black College and University (HBCU) institutions are now at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The final results of their efforts may one day be orbiting above the Earth or flying off into deep space.
An agency-wide effort, the NASA Science and Technology Institute for Minority Institutions, or NSTI-MI, is a three-year competitive program designed to enhance the science, technology, engineering and math capabilities of HBCU students. The unique nature of Goddard's arrangement is that it also involves a partnership with two private commercial companies.
NASA Goddard, Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Tuskegee University, Ala., along with Mentor Graphics in Wilsonville, Ore. and Triad Semiconductor of Winston-Salem, N.C., have entered into this innovative collaboration. The goal is to have these university professors knowledgeable in microelectronics and computer science work with their students to build a library of electronic designs that can be rapidly and affordably built and used to design electronics for future spacecraft and instrument control.
"One of the challenges in undergraduate education is to have relevant and real design-and-build projects for students," said Lucy McFadden, chief for higher education at Goddard. "With efforts such as this, we have a ready structure to motivate students and give them a real learning environment with an exciting outcome."
Microelectronics design for space missions is demanding. Being able to optimize the size, weight and power of electronics is a mission-critical activity for all projects. At the same time, outer space presents a harsh radiation environment requiring electronics to operate under extreme conditions.
The researchers will utilize a design environment provided by Triad known as ViaDesigner(TM). ViaDesigner is a new electronic design automation tool that enables system-level engineers, who have no previous integrated circuit design experience, to create their own application-specific integrated circuits. ViaDesigner is based on the Mentor Graphics SystemVision design environment. Prior to the students' arrival at Goddard, Mentor Graphics provided training with their SystemVision tool.
"Using a virtual prototype to try out a design instead of waiting for physical hardware to be built is so natural for the upcoming generation of engineers," said Darrell Teegarden, Director of System Modeling & Analysis Business Unit, Mentor Graphics. "Our SystemVision environment is perfect for NASA engineers to design and integrate Triad Semiconductor devices into a larger system -- including off-the-shelf components, sensors and actuators, and other real-world effects."
"Triad is excited about NASA's evaluating VCA technology and ViaDesigner as a potential way to develop mixed-signal integrated circuits," said Reid Wender, vice-president, marketing and technical sales at Triad Semiconductor. "As evaluation and development proceed, the goal will be to create a design flow that supports mission requirements across a number of NASA flight programs while reducing development time, cost and improving reliability."
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Space Exploration and Higher Education Will Both Benefit from New Partnership with NASA, ...
By Leroy Chiao, Special to CNN
updated 8:47 AM EDT, Fri June 29, 2012
A view from Shenzhou-9 spacecraft as it prepares to link with the Tiangong-1 module.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Leroy Chiao is a former NASA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station. He served as a member of the 2009 Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, and is the special adviser for human spaceflight to the Space Foundation.
(CNN) -- In May, SpaceX became the first of the new generation of commercial aerospace companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The cargo delivery was part of the first flight test of the integrated Falcon-9 launch vehicle and the Dragon capsule spacecraft with rendezvous and berthing mechanism systems.
By all accounts, the major test objectives were successfully achieved. Previously, such spacecraft and operations had only been achieved by governments. What made this a historic first was that a commercial company had done it. The news was widely covered in the international media, especially in the United States.
One month later, China launched its fourth crewed space mission, Shenzhou-9. This was also a history-making flight, in that China, which had in 2003 become only the third nation capable of launching astronauts into space (and is now only one of two, since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle in 2011), demonstrated crewed rendezvous and docking to their orbital module, Tiangong-1. The crew also featured China's first female astronaut. They spent several days docked to Tiangong-1 conducting various operations, before safely returning to Earth on Thursday night.
Leroy Chiao
China's mission was widely covered in the international media, but the coverage in the United States was notably quieter than that of SpaceX. This is somewhat understandable, as SpaceX is an American company. But the sentiment of many in the United States is that the Chinese mission was a big "So what?" After all, the United States and Soviet governments had demonstrated crewed docking missions back in the 1960s, and operationally, China is still far behind.
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SEATTLE
A gigantic piece of space history is set to splash down at Seattle's Museum of Flight on Saturday.
Although the Space Shuttle Trainer has never left the earth's atmosphere, museum officials say Seattle has won the biggest prize in the competition to show and explain this period in NASA history, since visitors won't just get to look at this space artifact, they'll be able to climb aboard.
Seattle came in fifth place in the contest among 21 museums and space centers hoping to land one of the nation's four space shuttles after the 30-year program ended last year.
Arriving this weekend at the museum in south Seattle is the nearly 29-foot-long, 19-foot-wide and 23-foot-tall crew cabin of the full-scale plywood mock-up that looks like a space shuttle without wings. The payload bay is scheduled to arrive in two pieces in July and August and a mock-up of the engine section is being assembled locally.
It will cost a total of $2 million to get the trainer to its new home in Seattle. Museum officials say that's another advantage of the trainer over the real space shuttles, which cost as much as ten times as much to move, partly because they can't be disassembled first.
By early October, visitors to the museum near Boeing Field should be able to walk aboard the shuttle trainer, which was used by every astronaut to ever fly aboard a space shuttle. They'll be able to touch and smell the giant vehicle, imagine flying it themselves and maybe even impress their friends by holding their wedding aboard.
"In retrospect, I think we did get something better," said museum president Doug King.
Visitors this weekend and through the months while the trainer is reassembled will be able to visit the gallery and see the work as it progresses.
"It's the first time we've built a gallery in front of the public," King said.
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