NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA and ATK Media Telecon after Ares I Solid Rocket Motor Test

Representatives from NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will hold a media teleconference Thursday, Aug. 27, at 2:30 p.m. CDT. They will discuss the test of a new first-stage development solid rocket motor for NASA's Ares I launch vehicle.

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Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. Named Director of NASA's Marshall Center

Marshall Center Director Robert Lightfoot. Image credit: NASA/MSFC

NASA has named Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr., as the director of the Marshall Center. Lightfoot, who began his NASA career at Marshall in 1989, had served since March as acting director of the center. "As NASA moves into an exciting new era of human and scientific exploration, Robert's skills and expertise will prove invaluable to leading Marshall into the future," NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden said.

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NASA Heads Out to Sea

The wetland environment of coastal Mobile Bay. Image credit: NASA

At this moment, a fleet of NASA Earth-observing satellites is silently passing overhead, gathering vital information about our planet. NASA scientists Maury Estes and Mohammad Al-Hamdan are combining that heavenly data with local water samples to help the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, or NEP, check the health of the coast.

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NASA Gives 'Go' for Space Shuttle Discovery Launch on Aug. 25

NASA has completed a two-day review of space shuttle Discovery's readiness for flight and selected Aug. 25 as the official launch date for the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:36 a.m. CDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

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Trigger-Happy Star Formation

Composite image of molecular cloud Cepheus B. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K. Getman et al.; IRL NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J. Wang et al.

A new study from two of NASA's Great Observatories provides fresh insight into how some stars are born, along with a beautiful new image of a stellar nursery in our Galaxy. The research shows that radiation from massive stars may trigger the formation of many more stars than previously thought. The Marshall Center manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

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NASA's Marshall Center Awards 2009 'Software of the Year,' 'Invention of the Year' Honors

Dr. Jen-Yi Jong of AI Signal Research Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., developer of the Marshall Center’s 2009 'Software of the Year.' Image credit: NASA/MSFC

The Marshall Center has presented a pair of technology achievement awards for work benefiting its spaceflight mission. AI Signal Research Inc. of Huntsville received the 2009 "Software of the Year" award for an innovative hardware analysis technique; and a Marshall Center Engineering Directorate team earned the "Invention of the Year" award for technology development supporting automated rendezvous of spacecraft in orbit.

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NASA Marshall Center Astrobiologist Richard Hoover Awarded SPIE Gold Medal

Astrobiologist Dr. Richard Hoover, seen in the Schirmacher Oasis ice cave in Antarctica. Image credit: NASA

Marshall Center astrobiologist Richard Hoover has been awarded the 2009 Gold Medal of SPIE, the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. Hoover, a NASA employee since 1966, received the honor Aug. 5 for his unprecedented optics work in extreme environments, both here on Earth and in space.

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Space Shuttle Discovery Arrives at Launch Pad

Space shuttle Discovery nears launch pad at the Kennedy Center, Fla., Aug. 4. Image credit: NASA

Space shuttle Discovery arrived at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Aug. 4. Discovery's 13-day flight will deliver the Marshall-managed Materials Science Research Rack, a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station. The launch of Discovery on its STS-128 mission is targeted for late August.

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NASA's Marshall Center Readies Webb Space Telescope Mirrors for Test

Three James Webb Space Telescope mirror segments are readied for testing at the Marshall Center. Image credit: NASA/MSFC

Three James Webb Space Telescope mirror segments have been mounted on a test stand at the Marshall Center’s X-ray & Cryogenic Facility. Once moved into the facility’s cryogenic vacuum chamber, they will be chilled to minus 414 degrees Fahrenheit -- testing their behavior in conditions similar to the extremes of the space environment.

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NASA Ares I First Stage Motor to be Tested August 27

The Ares first stage five-segment development motor is 154 feet in length, and generates a maximum of 3.6 million lbs of thrust, 7 percent more maximum thrust and 24 percent increase in total impulse than one twin Shuttle solid rocket booster. Image credit: ATK

NASA and ATK unveil the completed Ares I first stage five-segment solid rocket booster today in Promontory, Utah. The completed solid rocket booster is now installed horizontally in a test stand that was modified from the space shuttle's four-segment configuration to fit the new five-segment Ares I booster. Instrumentation will be installed over the next month in preparation for the first major ground test of the NASA Constellation program August 25.

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