Last week, while working a per diem shift in my reprisal as a hospital chaplain, I was mistaken for someone I am not. It happened as I entered an unfamiliar nursing station and offered the busy staff a morning greeting.
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Paramahamsa Nithyananda Responds to Critics
Paramahamsa Nithyananda, who has recently taken the responsibilities of the spiritual head of Madurai Adheenam, interacts with media, takes questions from critics and explains his future plans as head of the world’s oldest living Hindu organization.Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) May 19, 2012 Talking to media-persons at Madurai Aadheenam, Paramahamsa Nithyananda shared his plans for the 1500 ...
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Artist creates Yokohama bodhisattvas
Eleven bodhisattvas stand in formation, their heads crowned and their almond-shaped eyes and faces dusted with gold.
The scene could be a reenactment of a painting, or a sculpture in a Buddhist temple or museum. But it's not. It's a scene beheld one recent Sunday afternoon at the shopping center in Yokohama's Noge district and the potential Buddhas are in reality just regular Earthlings.
For the last two years, a Japanese artist named Tetta has been working to re-create the 1,000 more than 800-year-old bodhisattva statues in the Sanjusangendo Hall at Rengeoin Temple in Kyoto using people made up and dressed appropriately and that sunny Sunday she'd brought her workshop to Noge, where 11 volunteers awaited her. "Bodhisattvas are those who are undergoing ascetic training to attain spiritual enlightenment," explained Tetta, of those frequent subjects of Buddhist art and sculpture. She said some people who have taken part in her workshops have described experiencing "instant enlightenment."
"Spending hours for the makeup and then walking around the streets with the embarrassing stuff on" is akin to ascetic training, Tetta mooted.
The 29-year-old artist based in Kanagawa Prefecture asked the 11 participants, including a university friend and that friend's friends at a Yokohama samba school, to meet in a municipal facility in Noge for a workshop on Buddha statues and how to make themselves look like bodhisattvas.
The mortal crew's transformation to near-Buddhahood began with Tetta giving a lecture on four kinds of Buddhist statues including ones of Tathagata (Nyorai in Japanese), who achieved enlightenment, and bodhisattvas (bosatsu), who are humans on the brink of attaining enlightenment. Tetta explained that each of the 1,000 bodhisattvas in Sanjusangendo Hall in Kyoto has a different face, so her plan is to help 1,000 people to transform themselves into bodhisattva lookalikes, then to photograph them and exhibit the pictures in Sanjusangendo-like lines in the future.
"Today, I want each of you to become one of the 1,000 bodhisattvas," Tetta declared, adding that so far she has taken pictures of 853 people made up to look the part.
After finishing her lecture illustrated with slides, Tetta showed the group how to start their transformations by painting base cream and powdery foundation on the face of one of their group, a man named Kenji Suzuki.
Suzuki said he joined in because he had seen "The March of Human Bodhisattvas," an installation-like event organized by Tetta and performed at the Yokohama Triennale last October. "I am interested in Buddhism, but I also thought this workshop would be a rare chance to 'become' Buddha," said the 48-year-old welder.
Next, still using Suzuki as a model, Tetta showed how to apply thick eyeliner around the eyes and then paint in the space between the lines and his eyes in black.
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SpaceX’s Commercial Launch to Space Station Aborted at Liftoff
By Brendan McGarry - 2012-05-20T04:00:07Z
Roger Gilbertson/SpaceX via Bloomberg
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photographer: Roger Gilbertson/SpaceX via Bloomberg
A U.S. mission to send the first unmanned commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station was aborted with a half second left in the countdown.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the companys Dragon capsule, attempted to lift off at 4:55 a.m. yesterday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A computer detected an engine pressure problem, grounding the rocket and delaying the flight for a new attempt May 22.
The closely held company, known as SpaceX and led by billionaire Elon Musk, was trying to make history by docking its vehicle with the station. The U.S. government retired its own shuttle fleet last year and relies on other countries for rides to space. The U.S. wants the private sector to take over the job of ferrying supplies to and from the lab.
This is not a failure, Gwynne Shotwell, president of Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, said during a National Aeronautics and Space Administration press conference after the scrubbed attempt. We aborted with purpose. It would be a failure if we were to have lifted off with an engine trending in this direction.
The engines ignited and rumbled momentarily before going silent. An on-board computer aborted the launch a half-second before liftoff after detecting high pressure in engine five, possibly caused by a fuel valve malfunction, Shotwell said. An inspection later yesterday found a faulty valve on the engine, and it was to be replaced last night.
The software did what it was supposed to do -- aborted engine five, and it went through the remaining engine shutdown, she said. The Falcon 9 rocket needs all nine engines for liftoff and at least seven to achieve orbit.
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SpaceX’s Commercial Launch to Space Station Aborted at Liftoff
Stakes High for 1st Private Rocket Launch to Space Station Saturday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Nerves are frayed here on Florida's space coast as commercial company SpaceX prepares to launch its Dragon capsule on the first-ever flight of a private vehicle to the International Space Station.
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Stakes High for 1st Private Rocket Launch to Space Station Saturday
Aborted Liftoff Delays Trip To Space Station
Enlarge Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images
SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral in Florida was scheduled to launch Saturday morning, but aborted just before liftoff.
SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral in Florida was scheduled to launch Saturday morning, but aborted just before liftoff.
Moments after ignition, a privately funded spacecraft aborted its liftoff, delaying its mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX's unmanned rocket had a one-second window to take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday morning, and the failed launch means the next opportunity won't be until early Tuesday morning.
The founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, had been tweeting from the company's California headquarters leading up to the scheduled launch time of 4:55 a.m. ET.
"Whatever happens today, we could not have done it without @NASA, but errors are ours alone and me most of all," he said.
The successful launch would have been just the beginning in a series of tests for the private spacecraft.
The Dragon capsule, perched atop the Falcon 9 rocket, would become the first commercial spacecraft to visit the International Space Station. Even after it eventually launches, though, it will be a few days filled with more trials before the Dragon can berth.
Update at 10:04 a.m. ET. Shutdown A Half-Second To Launch:
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SpaceX's historic launch to space station scrubbed at last second
SpaceX's historic launch to the International Space Station was aborted in the pre-dawn hours at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Saturday when computers detected a problem with one of the rocket's nine engines and automatically shut down.
Countdown to the launch, which was webcast on NASA TV, hit T-0 at 4:55 a.m. Eastern time when the rocket engines seemed to briefly light before the technical problem hit.
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and chief executive, tweeted shortly afterward: "Launch aborted: slightly high combustion chamber pressure on engine 5. Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days."
The next window for the Hawthorne company to launch is May 22 at 3:44 a.m. Eastern (12:44 a.m. Pacific).
SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is launching its Falcon 9 rocket in a demonstration flight for NASA. The unmanned docking mission to the space station is intended to prove to NASA that SpaceXs rocket and space capsule are ready to take on the task of hauling cargo for the space agency now that the space shuttle fleet has been retired.
NASA has already begun hiring privately funded start-up companies for spacecraft development and is moving toward eventually outsourcing NASA space missions.
When SpaceX does launch, the company is set to make history when its Dragon capsule docks with the space station three days later, marking the first time that a privately built craft has docked.
During the mission, SpaceX aims to do a flyby of the $100-billion space station, then approach it so the space station crew can snag it with a robotic arm and dock it.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: SpaceX's demonstration mission
SpaceX, profiled in The Times on Tuesday, already has a $1.6-billion contract to haul cargo in 12 flights to the space station for NASA. If the upcoming mission is successful, SpaceX would start to fulfill the contract in earnest. SpaceX also plans to carry astronauts to the space station one day.
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SpaceX's historic launch to space station scrubbed at last second
Private mission to space station scrubbed half a second before liftoff
From John Zarrella, CNN
updated 11:23 PM EDT, Sat May 19, 2012 |
SpaceX: Launch abort 'not a failure'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- SpaceX's launch of the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station has been rescheduled for next week after the mission was aborted Saturday a half a second before liftoff, the company said.
The historic launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, with its Dragon capsule filled with food, supplies and science experiments, was halted when a flight computer detected "high pressure in the engine 5 combustion chamber," the company said in a statement.
"We have discovered the root cause and repairs are underway," it said.
CNN explains: Commercial space flight
SpaceX now plans a pre-dawn launch as early as Tuesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:44 a.m. ET, according to the statement released late Saturday.
"During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine. We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve," the company said Saturday. "Those repairs should be complete tonight."
Originally posted here:
Private mission to space station scrubbed half a second before liftoff
Commercial rocket will fly to the space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- For the first time, a private company will launch a rocket to the International Space Station, sending it on a grocery run this weekend that could be the shape of things to come for America's space program.
If this unmanned flight and others like it succeed, commercial spacecraft could be ferrying astronauts to the orbiting outpost within five years.
It's a transition that has been in the works since the middle of the last decade, when President George W. Bush decided to retire the space shuttle and devote more of NASA's energies to venturing deeper into space.
Saturday's flight by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is "a thoroughly exciting moment in the history of spaceflight, but is just the beginning of a new way of doing business for NASA," said President Barack Obama's chief science adviser, John Holdren.
By handing off space station launches to private business, "NASA is freeing itself up to focus on exploring beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in 40 years."
California-based Space Exploration, or SpaceX, is the first of several companies hoping to take over the space station delivery business for the U.S. The company's billionaire mastermind, Elon Musk, puts the odds of success in his favor while acknowledging the chance for mishaps.
NASA likewise cautions: This is only a test.
"We need to be careful not to assume that the success or failure of commercial spaceflight is going to hang in the balance of this single flight," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. "Demo flights don't always go as planned."
Once it nears the space station after a two-day flight, the SpaceX capsule, called Dragon, will spend a day of practice maneuvers before NASA signals it to move in for a linkup. Then its cargo a half-ton of food and other pantry items, all nonessential, in case the flight goes awry will be unloaded.
Up to now, flights to the space station have always been a government-only affair.
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SpaceX mission to space station scrubbed for now
SpaceX's first attempt to send its Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station ended abruptly Saturday morning when computers aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket shut off the craft's engines just after ignition.
SpaceX's first attempt to send its Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station ended abruptly Saturday morning when computers aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket shut off the craft's engines just after ignition.
The control system for the rocket, which uses a cluster of nine of the company's Merlin engines in its first stage, checks to ensure all the engines are running properly before the craft is released to begin its climb to space.
After a flawless countdown, the engines ignited at 4:55 a.m. as scheduled. But the flight-control computer detected too much pressure in the combustion chamber of one of the engines and aborted the pre-dawn launch. The next launch opportunity comes at 3:44 a.m. Monday.
This mission combines into one attempt the objectives of two demonstration flights the company must perform for NASA before it begins regular cargo runs to and from the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion, 12-mission space-station resupply contract.
SpaceX must show that the automated Dragon spacecraft is capable of the precision flying needed to operate safely in the station's vicinity before docking including a rendezvous-abort maneuver as well as perform the maneuvers needed to bring it within reach of the space station's robotic arm.
Once station crew members have Dragon in their grasp, they use the arm to dock the craft with the station.
This mission represents only the third for the Falcon 9. The rocket's initial test launch in June 2010 was successful. SpaceX's hardware cleared another key milestone the following December, when the company lofted, orbited, and recovered its Dragon capsule becoming the first commercial venture to pull off such a feat.
Although the previous successes have fed high expectations for this mission, SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk cautioned during a press briefing in April previewing the mission that the rocket is still relatively new.
At a post-scrub briefing Saturday morning, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said all nine engines ignited normally, but the flight-control computer detected too much pressure in engine five's combustion chamber, triggering the abort a half second later.
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CNN Explains: Commercial space flight – Video
18-05-2012 15:56 Now that NASA's shuttle program is no longer running, how will the US get astronauts into space? CNN explains.
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SpaceX Launches New Era in Space Travel – Video
19-05-2012 00:05 For the first time, a private company will launch a rocket to the International Space Station, sending it on a grocery run this weekend that could be the shape of things to come for America's space program. If this unmanned flight and others like it succeed, commercial spacecraft could be ferrying astronauts to the orbiting outpost within five years. It's a transition that has been in the works since the middle of the last decade, when President George W. Bush decided to retire the space shuttle and devote more of NASA's energies to venturing deeper into space. Saturday's flight by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is "a thoroughly exciting moment in the history of spaceflight, but is just the beginning of a new way of doing business for NASA," said President Barack Obama's chief science adviser, John Holdren. By handing off space station launches to private business, "NASA is freeing itself up to focus on exploring beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in 40 years." California-based Space Exploration, or SpaceX, is the first of several companies hoping to take over the space station delivery business for the US The company's billionaire mastermind, Elon Musk, puts the odds of success in his favor while acknowledging the chance for mishaps. NASA likewise cautions: This is only a test.
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Private rocket set for first space mission – Video
19-05-2012 00:45 SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral ends NASA's decades-long dominance and marks debut for commercial space operators. For the first time in history, a private company plans to launch an unmanned rocket into orbit. People working near the Cape Canaveral on Florida's "Space Coast" are keenly awaiting Saturday's scheduled launch of the SpaceX mission. For some it holds a promise of employment in a region which has lost thousands of jobs since the shutdown of NASA's multi-billion dollar space shuttle programme last year. If all goes well, the Falcon 9 rocket's dragon capsule will become the first private spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station. Space X says they hope to send astronauts into low orbit by 2015. But some say space flight should remain a government-run endeavour. "There is one thing that everyone knows and that is that we are not launching manned flights at this moment and we can't," said former NASA employee Chris Milner. "And that's not good for our country and for the local area because that means there's still people out there looking for jobs." Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher reports from Cape Canaveral.
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Space Shuttle Columbia – 1997 – live crew interview – Video
19-05-2012 13:39 Live interview with the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia, 4th of july 1997 - CNN Q&A Mission name: STS-94 Space shuttle: Columbia Launch pad: 39-A Launch date: 1 July 1997, 2:02:02 pm EDT Landing: 17 July 1997, 6:47:29 am EDT, KSC, Runway 33 Mission duration: 15 days, 16 hours, 45 minutes, 29 seconds Orbital altitude: 184 statute miles Orbital inclination: 28.45 degrees Distance traveled: 6.2 million miles Commander: James D. Halsell Fourth spaceflight Pilot: Susan L. Still Second spaceflight Payload Commander: Janice E. Voss Fourth spaceflight Mission Specialist 2: Michael L. Gernhardt Third spaceflight Mission Specialist 3: Donald A. Thomas Fourth spaceflight Payload Specialist 1: Roger Crouch Second spaceflight Payload Specialist 2: Greg Linteris Second spaceflight STS-94 was flown by the same crew that flew STS-83 Mass: Orbiter Landing with payload: 117802 kilograms (259710 lb) MSL-1 Spacelab Module: 10169 kilograms (22420 lb) Perigee: 296 kilometres (184 mi) Apogee: 300 kilometres (190 mi) Inclination: 28.5° Period: 90.5 min
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Private Space Flight Lift-Off 'Aborted'
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12:33pm UK, Saturday May 19, 2012
Space Exploration Technologies Corp, also known as SpaceX, had been hoping to be the first private company to fly a spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
But the Cape Canaveral launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule was aborted in the final seconds before lift-off due to technical problems.
A Nasa spokesman said the engine ignition sequence started, but there was an automatic shutdown by on-board computers.
The announcer counted down to lift-off but his voice faultered at the crucial moment.
Sounding puzzled, he said: "Five, four, three, two, one and... lift... off... we've had a cut-off. Lift-off did not occur."
As the moment passed, the rocket remained on its launch pad amid a cloud of engine exhaust.
The next attempt will happen on Tuesday, if the problem can be resolved in time.
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Private space travel: A new era begins?
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at Cape Canaveral for a test flight in 2010. SpaceX is set to make a key launch on Saturday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Meg Urry is the Israel Munson professor of physics and astronomy and chairwoman of the department of physics at Yale University, where she is the director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. This article was written in association with The Op-Ed Project.
(CNN) -- On Saturday, a company called SpaceX was scheduled to launch the first private mission to the International Space Station, demonstrating a freight-carrying capability NASA gave up when it retired its fleet of space shuttles in July. (The flight was aborted at the last second after a faulty valve was discovered; SpaceX officials said the launch was postponed till Tuesday or Wednesday.)
Some NASA supporters are mourning what they see as the decline of U.S. leadership in space. But they should really be celebrating the dawn of a new era.
After all, we've been stuck in low Earth orbit for several decades now, at considerable cost. Visionary plans for genuine space exploration have gathered dust at NASA, the National Research Council and other space-savvy places. They advocate relearning how to land on the moon or figuring out how to travel to Mars, an asteroid or the special orbital location where the James Webb Space Telescope will eventually operate. But after more than two decades of talking that talk, the U.S. has yet to walk that walk.
Turning over routine space trucking to private industry has important benefits. It frees NASA to innovate and to develop a new heavy-lift capability commensurate with real space exploration. At the same time, it empowers private industry to play a significant role in the nation's space future.
Meg Urry
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, its Dragon capsule filled with food, supplies and science experiments, had been scheduled for 4:55 a.m. ET from the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. When it launches, three days later, astronauts will use a robotic arm to attach the Dragon capsule to the station. Cargo will be unloaded, return cargo loaded in, and the capsule will return to splash down in the Pacific.
Light Years: SpaceX Dragon to launch Saturday
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Not-So-Secret Souvenirs Riding Historic SpaceX Capsule Flight to Space Station
This story was updated on May 19 at 5:32 a.m. ET.
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Not-So-Secret Souvenirs Riding Historic SpaceX Capsule Flight to Space Station
Falcon 9: History to be made with first commercial space flight to International Space Station
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 01:15 EST, 18 May 2012 | UPDATED: 03:29 EST, 18 May 2012
On Saturday at 4.55 a.m (EST) a Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida and hopefully become the first private commercial flight to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).
Ferrying the Dragon capsule into space, the mission to the ISS will be to deliver 1,000 pounds of non-essential cargo after passing a series of test maneuvers over the course of three days.
If successful in its first-of-a kind mission, the company behind the venture SpaceX would collect the remaining payments on the $396 million contract it has with NASA and then enter into a $1.6 billion agreement for 11 more flights to the ISS.
Launch of Falcon 9 Flight 1 from the SpaceX launch pad at Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2010
The full flight-ready Falcon 9 (left and right) with Dragon capsule onboard stands on the launch pad at SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, Florida
The first step in the commercialisation of space to non-governmental firms, SpaceX are hoping one day to deliver up to seven passengers to the ISS and other destinations in low-Earth orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket suffers from an 'instantaneous launch window' which means that if they don't take off at the exact scheduled moment they will have to wait till 3.44 a.m on Tuesday for the pad and the ISS to line up again.
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Falcon 9: History to be made with first commercial space flight to International Space Station
SpaceX test flight to space station seen as milestone
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An Obama administration plan to cut the cost of space flights faces a key test on Saturday when a privately owned rocket lifts off for a practice run aimed at the first private docking at the International Space Station. Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule are scheduled for launch at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT) from Cape Canaveral ...
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Historic space flight turns into a fizzer
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket remains on the launch pad as engineers check the main engine section. Photo: AFP
A new private supply ship for the International Space Station (ISS) remains stuck on the ground after rocket engine trouble led to a last-second abort of the historic flight.
All nine engines for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life on Saturday morning. But with a mere half-second remaining before lift-off, the onboard computers automatically shut everything down. So instead of blasting off on a delivery mission to the space station, the rocket stayed on its launch-pad amid a plume of engine exhaust.
Even NASA's most seasoned launch commentator was taken offguard.
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The engines of the SpaceX Falcon 9 light but fail to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Titusville, Florida. Photo: Getty Images
"Three, two, one, zero and liftoff," announced commentator George Diller, his voice trailing as the rocket failed to budge. "We've had a cutoff. Liftoff did not occur."
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said that high-combustion chamber pressure in engine No 5 was to blame.
During an inspection later in the day, engineers discovered a faulty valve and worked into the evening to replace it.
Tuesday is the earliest that SpaceX can try again to send its cargo-laden Dragon capsule to the space station.
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