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The
Curator and Responsible NASA Official are genuinely
interested in answering your questions and helping you
get the information you need. However, due to the large
amount of e-mail they receive daily from the public,
it is difficult to respond in a timely manner. In order
to reduce the amount of time it takes to answer your
questions, we ask you to browse the Frequently Asked
Questions listed below to see if there is an immediate
answer to your question. If your questions are not found
there, please:
1.
Check the Ask the Expert archives and the other NASA
Frequently Asked Questions links, listed to the right.
2. If you cannot find your answer there, please send
an e-mail to the Curator or Responsible NASA Official
using the links to the right.
Thank
you for your interest in human space flight!
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Frequently
Asked Questions:
International
Space Station
Space
Shuttle
Working
for NASA
Requesting
NASA Photos, Videos and Souvenirs
Educational
Materials
Astronauts
Other
NASA Programs and Information
How
do I apply to work for NASA?
Please visit
our Web site: http://www.nasajobs.nasa.gov/
How
do I request an astronaut to speak at my event?
Information
about requesting an astronaut appearance can be found online at
http://www.nasa.gov/about/speakers/AN_SB2_Landing.html.
Where
do I find astronaut biographies?
Astronaut
bios can be found on the Web at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/BIOS/
Can
I borrow an exhibit from NASA for my school or event?
Exhibits are
available on loan to educational facilities and other non-profit
functions from Johnson Space Center Exhibits. See the Exhibits Web
site at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/programs/exhibits/index.html
for a catalog.
How
can I obtain photography associated with the space
program?
Still photographs
may be downloaded from the Web at http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/
or be purchased from the Johnson Space Center's Media Resource Center
at 281-483-4231. Hubble Space Telescope photographs are available
at: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html.
To print your own photos, see the Did
You Know box.
I
am a teacher. How do I get material for my classroom?
The following
Web site has information on NASA Educator Resource Centers listed
by state:
Education
Resource Centers by State
How
do I get information on seeing a launch or stay updated on launch
activities?
All human
space launches occur at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
phone number for launch information is: 321-867-7819. The KSC Web
site is at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/.
To purchase
tickets to be bused to a launch viewing area, please contact the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center at http://www.store.yahoo.com/kennedyspacecenter/lttandmaxac.html.
I
have a question about a planetary probe. Whom do I contact?
NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is responsible for
planetary probes and maintains much of NASA's solar system information.
The phone number is 818-354-5011. The JPL Web site is at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov.
How
do I get information on NASA satellites?
Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the NASA Center responsible
for satellite programs. It has information on satellite images,
the Hubble Space Telescope, space tracking and space debris. The
phone number is 301-286-5566. The GSFC Web site is at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
How
does NASA receive and distribute my tax dollars?
Less than
1 percent of the federal budget goes to NASA. The budget for NASA
is administered at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Inquiries
on this subject should be directed to 202-358-1753. The main NASA
Web site is at http://www.nasa.gov/.
Where
do I find more technical information on NASA's
research?
Requests for
NASA technical publications and papers should be directed to NASA's
Center for Aerospace Information (CASI) at 301-621-0390. CASI's
Web site is at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/.
Where
can I get NASA souvenirs such as pens, caps, patches and stickers?
NASA souvenirs
may be purchased via the Web at http://www.thespaceshop.com/
Where
can I get an individual picture of a particular astronaut?
Online portraits
of individual astronauts are available at the following Web site:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/.
I
want to work at NASA. What college should I attend?
NASA does
not recommend specific institutions or courses of instruction. Please
contact accredited universities of your choice to determine if instruction
is offered in the aerospace field. The qualifications for becoming
an astronaut are covered in the Astronaut
Selection and Training Brochure on the Web.
Can
I see the shuttle and space station from the ground?
Yes, depending
on your location, the orbit of the shuttle and station and lighting
conditions, you might be able to see the shuttle and station from
the ground. A detailed list of sighting opportunities is posted
on the Web at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
I
have a computer software program for tracking the shuttle and station,
but it asks me for orbital elements or Keplerian elements. Where
can I find these?
The most up-to-date
orbital elements for the shuttle and the space station are available
on the Web at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/elements/index.html
What
does a space shuttle launch feel like?
It is a very
exciting, noisy, shaky ride for the first two minutes. Then the
solid rocket boosters drop off and it gets a lot smoother, but there
still is a strong push on the back of the astronauts' seats from
all the power in the three main engines. Those three main engines
burn fuel at an incredible rate -- approximately 3,785 liters (1,000
gallons) every second. The shuttle goes from standing still on the
launch pad to more than 27,359 kilometers per hour (17,000 mph)
in just over eight minutes. That means the astronauts go 3,219 kilometers
per hour (2,000 mph) faster every minute.
Can
NASA SkyWatch be used to determine if a satellite was visible in
the past?
Yes. All you
need to do to begin searching for a sighting in the past is to enter
the time you want to begin searching in the "Threshold (GMT)" field
on the Input Tab. This is true for past as well as future sightings.
Remember, the format for the time is year/day:hour:min:sec in Greenwich
Mean Time.
I
have a great proposal I'd like to send NASA that will ...
NASA does accept
unsolicited research proposals. For more information on how to submit
such a proposal, please go to the following Web site: http://ec.msfc.nasa.gov/hq/library/unSol-Prop.html.
For information on available NASA Research Grants, please go to
the following Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/about/research/.
What
causes the two sonic booms as the shuttle is approaching the landing
site?
As the space
shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, it creates
shock waves that produce sonic booms. There is a shock wave at the
orbiter's nose and one at the orbiter's tail as it re-enters These
shock waves are created when the pressure disturbances caused by
the shuttle flying through the air cannot escape the shuttle. These
pressure waves travel at the speed of sound, but the shuttle is
flying faster than the speed of sound, so a wave of pressure builds
up along the nose and tail. As the shuttle altitude decreases, these
pressure waves intersect the ground with a large pressure delta
that your ears detect as a boom.
In fact, you'll
hear not one, but two sonic booms! Because the space shuttle is
so large, 37 meters (122 feet) long, you will hear the sonic booms
created by both the nose and tail shock waves, which occur about
one-half second apart. All supersonic airplanes produce two sonic
booms, but because they happen so close to each other, you hear
them as one sound.
This Web site
has some good pictures and a discussion of this subject:
http://sonicbooms.org/boomprimer.html
Does
the Human Space Flight Web have e-mail updates available?
Yes, the Human Space Flight
Web now has e-mail updates available. See the subscription
page.
When
did assembly start and how long will it take to complete the station?
The construction
of the International Space Station began with the launch of the
first element, the Russian Zarya Control Module, on Nov. 20, 1998.
In accordance with our Vision for Space Exploration, completion
of ISS is scheduled for 2010.
Is
a launch schedule available?
A launch schedule is available
online.
How
big will the station be when it is complete?
When the International
Space Station is complete, it will have a mass of almost 453.6 metric
tons (1 million pounds),
be larger than a five-bedroom house and measure 110 meters (361
feet) end-to-end.
- When
did people start living on the station?
- �
- The
first crew -- Commander Bill Shepherd, a U.S. astronaut; Soyuz
Commander Yuri Gidzenko, a Russian cosmonaut, and Flight Engineer
Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut -- was launched on a Russian
Soyuz spacecraft to begin permanent human habitation of the station
in October 2000. From that point on, it has been permanently staffed.
For more information, please see the Flight
2R Information page.
- �
- Have
any future station crews been named yet?
- �
- Yes,
future expedition crews
have been named.
- �
- Which
countries are participating in this cooperative project?
- �
- The
International Space Station draws upon the resources and the scientific
and technological expertise of 16 cooperating nations, including
the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia and 11 participating
member nations of the European Space Agency -- Belgium, Denmark,
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In addition, Brazil and Italy
have signed on as payload participants.
- �
- What
is the orbit of the space station?
- �
- The
International Space Station orbits at an average altitude of 354
kilometers (220 miles) at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to the
equator.
- �
- How
much does the space station cost?
- �
- Information
about NASA's budget is available at the NASA
Headquarters Office of Legislative Affairs.
- �
- How
will the economy benefit from development and completion of the
International Space Station?
- �
- Money
spent on America's space program is a good investment. Every dollar
spent by NASA returns at least $2 in direct and indirect benefits.
- �
- How
is space station waste disposed?
- �
- Non-recyclable
items are put on either a Russian Progress return vehicle, which
will totally disintegrate re-entering Earth's atmosphere, or one
of our shuttles, which brings it all the way back to Earth for
disposal.
- �
- Why
has the name of the space station been changed?
- �
- In
1988, President Ronald Reagan gave the station its original name
-- Freedom. In the years that followed, Space Station Freedom's
design underwent modifications with each annual budget cycle as
Congress called for its cost to be reduced. In 1993, President
Bill Clinton called for the station to be redesigned once again
to reduce costs and include more international involvement. To
stimulate innovation, teams from different NASA centers competed
to develop three distinct station redesign options. The White
House selected the option dubbed Alpha. After the Russians
agreed to supply major hardware elements, many originally intended
for their Mir 2 space station program, the station became known
as the International Space Station.
- �
- How
can I obtain permission to use NASA images?
- �
- NASA
images generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery,
video and audio material for educational or informational purposes,
including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits and Internet
Web pages. This general permission does not include the NASA insignia
logo (the blue "meatball" insignia), the NASA logotype (the red
"worm" logo) and the NASA seal. These images may not be used by
persons who are not NASA employees or on products, including Web
pages, that are not NASA sponsored. See Reproduction
Guidelines for Use of NASA Images and Emblems for more information.
- �
- How
can I obtain copies of NASA images?
- �
- NASA's
archives, which start with historical images of aircraft and run
through the most recent images obtained from NASA spacecraft,
contain millions of images. This large number of images, combined
with the constant, worldwide interest in the collection, makes
it financially prohibitive for the agency to provide members of
the public with free copies of images on demand. NASA images may
be purchased from several sources. See Obtaining
Copies of NASA Images for a list of suppliers.
- �
- How
can I become an astronaut?
- �
- Any adult man or woman
in excellent physical condition who meets the basic qualifications
can be selected to enter astronaut training. For mission specialists
and pilot astronauts, the minimum requirements include a bachelor's
degree in engineering, science or mathematics from an accredited
institution. Three years of related experience must follow the
degree, and an advanced degree is desirable. Pilot astronauts
must have at least 1,000 hours of experience in jet aircraft,
and they need better vision than mission specialists. Competition
is extremely keen, with an average of more than 4,000 applicants
for about 20 openings every two years. Astronaut recruiting occurs
periodically. For more information, write to the Astronaut Selection
Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058. See the
Astronaut Selection
and Training Web site for more information.
May
I use NASA photographs on my Web site?
NASA photographs
may not be used to advertise or endorse any product, but may be
used for educational purposes. For more information, please see
Reproduction
Guidelines for Use of NASA Images and Emblems.
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