SpaceX launch to space station set for May 19

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SpaceX

Sparks and clouds of exhaust and vapor issue forth from SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday.

By Alan Boyle

SpaceX has suggested May 19 as the new date for its potentially history-making Falcon 9 rocket launch to the International Space Station, with May 22 as a backup date.

The schedule shift provides more time for NASA to review changes in the California-based company's flight software, and also avoids a potential conflict with the planned May 14 launch of three new space station crew members from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

If SpaceX's demonstration mission is completely successful, it would represent the first commercial flight to the space station. The flight plan calls for the company's robotically controlled Dragon cargo capsule to conduct a series of maneuvers near the station, starting two days after the Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 in Florida. If all those maneuvers go as planned, astronauts on the orbiting outpost would latch onto the Dragon and pull it in for a berthing.

About a half-ton of supplies would be unloaded over the course of a couple of weeks, and then the Dragon would be detached and sent back down to a Pacific Ocean splashdown. That success scenario would open the way for SpaceX to start resupplying the space station in earnest, under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

If the Dragon couldn't hook up with the station this time around, another demonstration flight would be scheduled as a makeup test.

SpaceX has received hundreds of millions of dollars from NASA to develop the Falcon 9 and the Dragon as a partial replacement for the space shuttle fleet, which was retired last year. The Falcon 9 had a successful maiden orbital flight in June 2010, and the Dragon made a similarly successful debut in December 2010. The upcoming flight would provide the first opportunity for an actual rendezvous with the space station.

The launch has been repeatedly delayed, primarily due to flight software reviews. SpaceX conducted a successful launch-pad engine firing test on Monday in preparation for a planned May 7 liftoff, but the company and NASA decided to hold off in order to provide more time for the current review.

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SpaceX launch to space station set for May 19

"Made in space" coming soon to a product near you

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BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Space Agency is hatching plans for a branding campaign aimed at making people more aware of the benefits of spending their hard-earned taxes on the International Space Station (ISS). The list of products and technologies that have their roots in space research is long, from memory foam to the in-ear thermometer, but in a world struggling to pay the bill from the ...

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"Made in space" coming soon to a product near you

Marshall director to lawmakers: Space exploration part of Alabama's past and future

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MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Marshall Space Flight Center Acting Director Gene Goldman said the center that helped take people to the moon is working again to explore deeper space.

"Marshall is still making history and making an impact on Alabama and our world," Goldman said in an address to lawmakers

Lawmakers today honored Marshall for its role in space exploration and for its economic impact in Alabama. Legislators presented a resolution honoring Marshall. Goldman spoke to a joint session of the Senate and House saying that "our past accomplishments and our future successes are intertwined."

"With your support, Marshall Space Flight Center pledges to keep making history every day, exploring space, learning more about our planet, inspiring the youth who will take our place, improving the quality of life for all and making Alabama proud," Goldman said.

Goldman said Marshall has a $2.9 billion economic impact, according to a 2009 study. With 5,500 government and contract workers, it is the third largest employer in Huntsville with 90 percent of employees having a four-year college degree or higher.

The center that developed the Saturn V moon rocket in the 1960s, Goldman said, is now developing NASA's new Space Launch System designed to "take us exploring again beyond Earth's orbit with people and robots in ways that aren't possible today."

Marshall is leading the design and the development of the SLS, aheavy-lift launch vehicle that NASA says will eventually take humans to destinations such as Mars.

Goldman said Marshall is not just about rocket development. Marshall scientists used satellite data to track the path of destruction from last year's tornado outbreak. Marshall also helped track and study the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Goldman told lawmakers that Marshall is part of the state's heritage and one of its valuable resources, "no less valuable to the future of Alabama than our waterways and coastline -- our farms and auto industry - our educational institutions and our culture."

As part of the celebration, NASA exhibits dotted the hallways of the the State House. A space shuttle engine was parked in front of the State House.

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Marshall director to lawmakers: Space exploration part of Alabama's past and future

Legislature honors Marshall Space Flight Center

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Legislature paused briefly from the frantic activities of the final days of the 2012 session to honor NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Marshall acting director Gene Goldman told legislators Thursday the space flight center still has an important mission even though the space shuttle program has been discontinued.

He said Marshall, which developed the Saturn V moon rocket, is currently working on the new "Space Launch System," a long-range rocket to take "us exploring again beyond Earth's orbit."

Legislators presented Goldman with a resolution praising Marshall.

Goldman pointed out that Marshall does more than develop rockets. He said in recent years Marshall has helped Alabama deal with earthly issues such as the oil spill in the Gulf and tracking last April's deadly tornadoes.

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Legislature honors Marshall Space Flight Center

SpaceX sets May 19 launch for flight to space station

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The need for additional software assurance testing has again delayed the launch of SpaceX's commercial demonstration flight to the International Space Station, the company announced Friday, until at least May 19.

Photo of the Falcon 9 rocket's hotfire engine test on Monday. Credit: SpaceX "SpaceX and NASA are nearing completion of the software assurance process, and SpaceX is submitting a request to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a May 19 launch target with a backup on May 22," the company said in a statement released Friday.

"Thus far, no issues have been uncovered during this process, but with a mission of this complexity we want to be extremely diligent," the statement said.

Launch of the Falcon 9 rocket on May 19 would occur at approximately 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT).

The mission can only launch every few days to ensure the Dragon spacecraft has sufficient propellant margins for extra orbital maneuvers planned for the test flight.

The launch slip puts liftoff of the test flight from Cape Canaveral after the docking of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with three new space station residents - a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts - to restore the lab to a full six-person crew. NASA and station partners avoid having two visiting spacecraft fly to the space station at the same time.

The Soyuz is due to launch May 14, U.S. time, and dock with the space station May 17.

SpaceX has blamed delays from the beginning of this year on the need to verify flight software can safely accomplish the Dragon spacecraft's final approach to the space station, a sensitive phase of the mission in which the capsule must be capable of recognizing on-board problems and executing an abort out of the vicinity of the crewed outpost.

"After additional reviews and discussions between the SpaceX and NASA teams, we are in a position to proceed toward this important launch," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "The teamwork provided by these teams is phenomenal. There are a few remaining open items but we are ready to support SpaceX for its new launch date of May 19."

The last target launch date for the test flight was May 7.

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SpaceX sets May 19 launch for flight to space station

Q&A: Space Policy Analyst on Historic SpaceX Flight

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This is the third in a series of Wired Q&As with spaceflight experts leading up to SpaceXs launch. You can read the first part and then the second.

We may be at the dawn of a new, private era in space.

In the near future, SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket will liftoff the launchpad, bringing the Dragon spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Until now, only the U.S., Russia, Japan, and the European Union have accomplished such a goal. If SpaceX succeeds, it will become the first private company to do so.

This week, Wired interviews experts in the spaceflight community to discuss the ways this historic launch will impact NASA and mankinds presence in space. Is it a giant leap, or just a baby step?

Today we have Linda Billings, a space policy analyst at George Washington University in Washington D.C. She does communications research regarding NASAs astrobiology program and advises the agencys Mars Exploration and Planetary Protection programs.

Wired: Will this launch be a big game changer for how spaceflight is done?

Billings: Its certainly different from the past. We didnt have Internet billionaires in the 1980s. But I think some of the rhetoric from the new spaceflight companies masks whats going on.

They say this is all that free-spirited, free-market, American-style pioneering the future. But its not really some huge new never-been-done-before method. What irks me about the rhetoric is that these private companies trying to launch new things are receiving government subsidies. So lets call them what they are.

Wired: How do you think this will this impact NASA?

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Q&A: Space Policy Analyst on Historic SpaceX Flight

Ala. lawmakers honor Marshall Space Flight Center

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) The Alabama Legislature paused briefly from the frantic activities of the final days of the 2012 session to honor NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Marshall acting director Gene Goldman told legislators Thursday the space flight center still has an important mission even though the space shuttle program has been discontinued.

He said Marshall, which developed the Saturn V moon rocket, is currently working on the new "Space Launch System," a long-range rocket to take "us exploring again beyond Earth's orbit."

Legislators presented Goldman with a resolution praising Marshall.

Goldman pointed out that Marshall does more than develop rockets. He said in recent years Marshall has helped Alabama deal with earthly issues such as the oil spill in the Gulf and tracking last April's deadly tornadoes.

2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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‘Space flight faces political challenges'

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Claiming that challenges to space flight are political and not technical, the former National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Marsha S. Ivins pointed out here on Thursday that every year the United States spent more money on pizza than on the entire space programme.

Decisions in space programmes are political. The challenges of space flight are not technical; they are politicalWe don't spend a lot of money in the United States on the space programme, Ms. Ivins told journalists on the sidelines of a programme for schoolchildren organised by the American Centre in the city. We spend more money in the United States on pizza than we do on the entire space programme, she remarked adding that the U.S. spent 0.6 per cent of its fiscal budget on the space programme.

Asked if there was a decline in interest on outer space, the astronaut, who has clocked more than 1,318 hours in space, admitted that interest in the space programme had flatlined in the U.S. because NASA doesn't have a big goal.

I think if we had a plan that said in the next 15 years we would put crews on Mars, and we developed the capability, then people will get excited, she said adding that it would get children interested in travelling to outer space.

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‘Space flight faces political challenges'

Tech baseball heads to College Station for final time

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The end of a rivalry.

This is what will happen Sunday in College Station when the Texas Tech and Texas A&M baseball series comes to an end.

These last three games will mark the final time any Tech and A&M team will compete against each other in regular season play as Big 12 Conference foes.

Despite this being the end of this rivalry, Tech head coach Dan Spencer said, he doesnt think the team will take a different approach into the weekend and are just looking to win a series.

I dont think so, he said. I think its an opportunity for us to play again, obviously, against good people on the road and its a conference game. I think theres enough meaning in that without getting into history and tradition and those things.

Both teams are coming into this game with some momentum, as the Red Raiders (26-22, 5-13 in Big 12 play) has won its last three games while the No. 9 Aggies (32-13, 11-7) have picked up three out of their last four, including a series win against Texas.

Tech boasts a solid lineup, as it is tied for second with a team batting average of .301. However, the team the Red Raiders are in a tie with is the Aggies, which could pose a problem for Tech since the ace of its pitching staff, Duke von Schamann, will not make his usual start because of a strained bicep. There is a possibility he could be used out of the bullpen though.

But, the person taking his place had a strong showing in his last outing.

In his last start, Rusty Shellhorn who will take von Schamanns Saturday start stymied Missouri by giving up just two hits without giving up a run in seven innings pitched, to pick up his fifth win of the season.

Even with Shellhorns strong last outing, Spencer said, he will only alleviate the teams loss of its ace if he duplicates his previous performance.

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Tech baseball heads to College Station for final time

Camelot heads 2,000 Guineas field

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Qipco 2,000 Guineas Venue: Newmarket Date: Saturday 5 May Time: 1510 BST

Coverage: BBC Radio 5 live. Results/report: BBC Sport website

Camelot heads a field of 18 for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday as trainer Aidan O'Brien seeks a sixth win in the first Classic of the season.

The trainer's 18-year-old son Joseph will ride the Racing Post Trophy winner, who is the ante-post favourite.

Stablemate Power, runner-up to Parish Hall in October's Dewhurst Stakes, is the mount of Ryan Moore.

Other leading hopes include Top Offer and Trumpet Major, but Dewhurst winner Parish Hall was not declared.

Parish Hall's trainer Jim Bolger had warned his colt would miss the race if the ground was too soft.

The Irish challenge does include Born To Sea, a half-brother to 2009 Guineas winner Sea The Stars, who went through his three-year-old campaign unbeaten before retiring as one of the all-time greats of Flat racing.

A strong contingent from France sees Abtaal, French Fifteen and Hermival all making the cross-Channel journey.

British champion trainer Richard Hannon is seeking his fourth 2,000 Guineas winner, but his first since Tirol in 1990, and saddles four hopefuls - Craven Stakes winner Trumpet Major, Bronterre, Coupe De Ville and Redact.

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Camelot heads 2,000 Guineas field

Red Bluff Lady Spartans blast Lassen 13-0

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Red Bluff got the perfect tuneup, Wednesday, as it heads into this afternoon's showdown with rival Shasta.

The Lady Spartans blasted Lassen 13-0 on the road in a game stopped after five innings because of the mercy rule.

Samantha Jones went 3- for-3 with a triple, three RBIs and scored three runs herself to lead the Spartans.

Haley Harris also drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and scored twice.

Brittney Fletcher went 3- for-4 and drove in a pair of runs and scored one. Brooke Clatty, Morgan Weaver, Krista Rodriguez and Megan McColpin each had a pair of hits for Red Bluff.

McColpin drove in two runs and Clatty and Weaver drove in a run each.

Savanah Carrillo went 1- for-1 with a run scored.

McColpin pitched the first four innings, allowing just a pair of hits and Etzler took over in the fifth and struck out the side.

Red Bluff plays at Shasta at 4 p.m. today in an important game as far as home-field advantage in the Division-II playoffs goes.

--------- Rich Greene is the Daily News Sports Editor. He can be reached at sports@redbluffdailynews.com or 527-2151, extension 109. Follow him on Twitter: @TehamaSports

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Red Bluff Lady Spartans blast Lassen 13-0

Ask Nick: Is something wrong with Gonzalez?

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The Red Sox continue to be plagued with injuries as Kevin Youkilis heads to the disabled list. By my count, the Red Sox have $77, 224,000 worth of major league talent on the disabled list:

Here are some rounded-off individual figures: Carl Crawford - $19.5M John Lackey - $15.25M Kevin Youkilis - $12M Daisuke Matsuzaka ? $10M Jacoby Ellsbury - $8.05M Bobby Jenks - $6M Andrew Bailey - $3.90M Andrew Miller - $1.04M Jason Repko - $600,000 Ryan Kalish - $483,000 Chris Carpenter - $482,000

So not exactly the easiest start health-wise for the Red Sox, who changed their medical and training staff in the offseason.

A few other observations:

* Adrian Gonzalez is struggling and we all know he will hit. Just wish he would run hard on a ground ball now and then. Big Papi does.

* My apologies to a reader, Reed from Chico, Calif., He made an observation a couple of weeks back:

"Ownership and upper management do the hiring, firing and most importantly, the signing of players and hiring staff members. So I don't want to hear that it's all Bobby Valentine's fault or just the player's fault. Thoughts?"

And I responded: "Bobby Valentine was the right hire. This is his 16th season as a manager in the major leagues. You don't last that long being a bad manager. It's incredible to me how unfair people like yourself are toward him. It's 15 games in and you've made up your mind. Amazing."

Obviously, Reed was on my side of the issue. Sorry, Reed.

* It was great working with Don Orsillo on a few of the NESN broadcasts last week with Jerry Remy out sick. Don't tell him, but he's really good. We wish Jerry a speedy recovery. He is missed.

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Ask Nick: Is something wrong with Gonzalez?

Red Devils baseball team wins play-in game vs. North Sevier, heads to 2A tourney

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by Jeff Richards contributing writer Moab Times Independent

According to GCHS head coach Jared Meador, the Red Devils are the top-scoring high school baseball team in Utah.

In our last five games, we are 4-1, averaging nearly 11 runs per game over those games, while giving up under three runs a game, Meador said.

Playing April 28 at Richfield, the Red Devils fell behind 4-1 in the first inning. The Wolves rally came after the home-plate umpire called interference on Grand catcher Preston Walston, saying the batters bat had come into contact with Walstons glove during his swing. Instead of a strikeout, the batter was awarded first base. The bases were then loaded and North Sevier went on to score four runs that inning.

Undaunted, the Red Devils scored a run in the second inning to narrow the gap to 4-2, then exploded for eight runs in the third, with a bases-loaded grand slam home run by Walston capping off the dramatic rally.

It was on a 1-1 count, and it was a slider. I was ready for it, and made good contact with it, Walston said afterward. At first, I thought Id popped it up, but it went over the left-center fence.

It was Walstons second homer of the week and his third of the year. He drilled another home run during Grands convincing 22-0 victory over Monticello at Monticello on April 26.

Grand belted a total of 11 hits against North Sevier, including Walstons grand slam and one double each by Walston and Ryan Betts.

Looking ahead to Saturdays opening-round game against Millard, Meador said that while No. 1 seeded Millard has a tough left-handed pitcher in Dakota Bullock, he hopes Grands offensive prowess will come through.

Itll come down to their pitching versus our hitting, thats for sure, Meador said.

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Red Devils baseball team wins play-in game vs. North Sevier, heads to 2A tourney

Preparing for the big one

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In the early morning of Oct. 8, 2007, a small group of British Greenpeace activists slipped inside a hulking smokestack that towers more than 600 feet above a coal-fired power plant in Kent, England. While other activists cut electricity on the plants grounds, they prepared to climb the interior of the structure to its top, rappel down its outside, and paint in block letters a demand that Prime Minister Gordon Brown put an end to plants like the Kingsnorth facility, which releases nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each day.

The activists, most of them in their 30s and 40s, expected the climb to the top of the smokestack would take less than three hours. Instead, scaling a narrow metal ladder inside took nine. It was the most physically exhausting thing I have ever done, 35-year-old Ben Stewart said later. It was like climbing through a huge radiator the hottest, dirtiest place you could imagine.

In the end, the fatigued, soot-covered climbers were only able to paint the word Gordon on the chimney before, facing dizzying heights, police helicopters, and a high court injunction, they were compelled to abandon the attempt and submit to arrest. They could hardly have known then that their botched attempt at signage would help transform British debate about fossil-fuel power plants and that it would send tremors through an emerging global movement determined to use direct action to combat the depredations of climate change.

The case took on historic weight only after the Kingsnorth Six went to court, where they presented to a jury what is known in the United States as a necessity defense. This defense applies to situations in which a person violates a law to prevent a greater, imminent harm from occurring: for example, when someone breaks down a door to put out a fire in a burning building.

In the Kingsnorth case, world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, flew to England to testify. According to the Guardian, he presented evidence that the Kingsnorth plant alone could be expected to cause sufficient global warming to prompt the extinction of 400 species over its lifetime. Citing a British government study showing that each ton of released carbon dioxide incurs $85 in future climate-change costs, the activists contended that shutting the plant down for the day had prevented $1.6 million in damages a far greater harm to society than any rendered by their paint and that their transgressions should therefore be excused.

What surprised both Greenpeace and the prosecution was that 12 ordinary Britons agreed. The jury returned with an acquittal, and the freed defendants made the front pages of newspapers throughout the country. The tumult also produced political results. In April, British energy and climate change minister Ed Miliband announced a reversal in governmental policy on power stations, declaring, The era of new unabated coal has come to an end. Discussing Kingsnorth, Daniel Mittler, a longtime environmental activist in Germany, told me recently, it was probably one of the most impactful civil disobedience cases the world has ever seen, because it was the right action at the right time.

If not now

The idea that now is the right time for more resolute action to address the climate crisis is spreading fast enough to dot the global map with hot spots of disobedience. As it turns out, the Kingsnorth Six are part of a rapidly growing population. Joining them are the Dominion 11, arrested after forming a human blockade to stop the construction of a coal plant in Wise County, Va., in November 2008, and the Drax 29, who went on trial this summer for boarding and stopping a train delivering coal to a power plant in North Yorkshire, England, last year.

In fact, arrests are piling up quicker than journalists can coin name-and-number nicknames. The Coal Swarm Web site keeps track of an ever-lengthening list of protests. New headlines now appear weekly:

Activists scale 20-story dragline at mountaintop removal site in Twilight, WV

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Preparing for the big one

NASA, ESA confirm hacks; The Unknowns says systems patched

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Summary: NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed they were recently hacked. The hacking group The Unknowns says most of the 10 companies it attacked have patched their systems.

Two of the 10 organizations listed in a recent hack attack have confirmed the alleged security breaches. Furthermore, the new hacker group The Unknowns behind the attack says many of the systems have now been patched, which was supposedly their goal.

Earlier this week, The Unknowns claimed to have hacked 10 organizations around the world, gaining administrator access for all and leaking data for some. In addition to revealing how to access the computer systems of the organizations in question, The Unknowns also posted screenshots showing they gained accessed to each and every one.

The group even put together 250MB worth of military documents from their hacks and uploaded the collection to MediaFire. Some of the leaked documents were several years old, but there were also a few from earlier in 2012.

The Unknowns listed 10 victim websites for which it publicly posted administrator accounts and passwords:

For the NASA hack, the group also decided to leak one of the research centers databases. They released names, employers, home addresses, and e-mail addresses of 736 victims on Pastebin. ESA is the other organization for which they also leaked more data, also via Pastebin. Both NASA and ESA have now confirmed the attacks.

NASA security officials detected an intrusion into the site on April 20 and took it offline, a NASA spokesperson said in a statement. The agency takes the issue of IT security very seriously and at no point was sensitive or controlled information compromised. NASA has made significant progress to better protect the agencys IT systems and is in the process of mitigating any remaining vulnerabilities that could allow intrusions in the future.

The group used SQL injection The use of SQL injection is an admitted vulnerability, ESA security office manager Stefano Zatti told ZDNet UK. This needs to be addressed at a coding level.

In their original message, the group said the goal of their attacks is to improve the state of online security around the globe. Since my first article, The Unknowns Twitter account, which has gained some 200 followers since it was created this week, has sent out the following tweets:

For all the people out there who want me to support them with their Hacking knowledge, in any way, please stop doing that, I wont answer. Informing you that the link we used to penetrate threw the ESETs Database is no more Vulnerable. This really a great thing to know For all the people out there that are asking us to check if their website is well secured; we will get to you as fast as we can.. Were soon going to email our Victims informing them on how we penetrated threw their Databases, they will get all the info they need. The Unknowns - Message: http://pastebin.com/biNMb7gf @TheHackersNews @FoxNews @5_News @BreakTheSec

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NASA, ESA confirm hacks; The Unknowns says systems patched

NASA Langley deploys jet to Arctic to collect data on climate change

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HAMPTON A NASA Langley jet is flying above the icy deep-blue expanse of Greenland on a mission to research climate change.

Two pilots and a crew took off last month to join Operation IceBridge, which NASA launched in 2009 to document changes in the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice.

They're navigating an HU-25C donated by theU.S. Coast Guardthat was retrofitted with a glass pane in the bottom that allows a sensor to peer through and collect data on polar ice. The jet is small, speedy and capable of going high and far while carrying research equipment, two pilots and operators to monitor the devices.

The view from 28,000 feet high is of a vast, featureless white ice cap, says Langley pilot Richard Yasky. He is currently operating from Thule Air Base in northwestern Greenland.

As he swoops the plane along assigned research tracks, he sees what he describes as the stunning contrast of deep-blue water and snow-covered rocky coastlines.

The crew has gathered ice-elevation data along the length of the Saqqap and Narsup glaciers near Greenland's capital. The country is both beautiful and desolate, he says.

"We look forward to many more flight hours gathering ice-elevation data and looking at areas of Greenland we have not seen yet," he said in an email.

The researcher's work will yield an unprecedented 3-D view of rapidly-changing features of polar ice such as how quickly it's melting, according to NASA.

Elvis on board

A Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS, yes, pronounced Elvis) is on board Langley's jet. It shoots laser beams to yield quick, accurate results about the height of the terrain it flies over.

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NASA Langley deploys jet to Arctic to collect data on climate change

Hackers Group Hits NASA, USAF

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May 4, 2012 7:25pm

A previously unknown hackers group calling themselves The Unknowns has compromised websites and obtained documents from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the French Ministry of Defense, the European Space Agency, the Bahrain Ministry of Defense, the Thai Royal Navy and Harvard Universitys School of Public Health.

The group posted several screenshots and documents on Pastebin.com, showing the results of its intrusions: http://pastebin.com/uhWSRrSf

A website that was breached at NASAs Glenn Research Center shows a screen from the Interagency Advanced Power Group which conducts research on space and land-based energy programs with the Army, Air Force, Navy, Energy Department and NASA.

Victims, we have released some of your documents and data, the group wrote on a web posting. We probably harmed you a bit but thats not really our goal because if it was then all of your websites would be completely defaced but we know that within a week or two, the vulnerabilities [sic] we found will be patched and thats what were actually looking for. Were ready to give you full info on how we penetrated threw your databases and were ready to do this any time so just contact us, we will be looking forward for this.

A NASA spokesman, contacted by ABC News, said, NASA security officials detected an intrusion into the site on April 20 and took it offline. The agency takes the issue of IT security very seriously and at no point was sensitive or controlled information compromised. NASA has made significant progress to better protect the agencys IT systems and is in the process of mitigating any remaining vulnerabilities that could allow intrusions in the future.

A member of the group who uses the Twitter handle ZyklonB also claims to have penetrated computer systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A spokesman for the laboratory said, The laboratory network was never compromised.

The spokesman said that ZyklonB gained access to an external website where scientists make data publicly available for research purposes. It is unclear if the group was trying to gain access to the labs more sensitive networks.

We are a new hacker group, we have never been in any hacking team before, the group said in a message posted Friday. We are not Anonymous Version 2 and we are not against the US Government. We cant call ourselves White Hat Hackers but were not Black Hat Hackers either Now, we decided to hack these sites for a reasonThese Websites are important, we understand that we harmed the victims and were sorry for that were soon going to email them all the information they need to know about the penetrations we did.

And for all the other websites out there: Were coming, please, get ready, protect your website and stop us from hacking it, whoever you are. Contact us before we take action and we will help you.

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Hackers Group Hits NASA, USAF