August 30

The Mostly True Story of Pigs in Space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A story published this week by Florida Today details the efforts by local wildlife officials and area trappers to control the wild hog population on Merritt Island -- home of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Kennedy Space Center.

With estimates of the pig population ranging from 1,200 to 7,000 -- and the fact that trappers catch some 2,000 hogs in the area each year -- we can assure you that driving through the space center at night with 100- to 150-pound animals threatening to run out into the road and smash your car is never a boaring experience. Five such accidents have already happened this year.

What the story doesn't mention are the well-spun legends often told around the Cape about why there are so many pigs roaming around in the first place.

Before the federal government swooped into Merritt Island during the 1960s to turn the mosquito-infested wetlands and waterways into a communism-smashing moonport, there were plenty of farmers dotting the landscape -- many raising ordinary domesticated pigs to complement their citrus crops.

But in the haste to beat the Soviets to the Moon, as the land for KSC was bought up, the well-compensated farmers literally had no time to do anything but turn loose their pigs into the wild and high tail it out of there before any exploding rockets might fall on them. Those farm animals soon were "befriended" by wild hogs -- many reported from Georgia, although how the Georgia pigs knew to make the trip to Merritt Island for fresh dates usually goes unexplained.

As the decades passed the number of pigs has increased and the combination of the domesticated and wild pigs has given way to an interesting breed of animal, which reportedly tastes best roasted on a grill and served with a honey-based BBQ sauce during long holiday weekends.

August 29

Doin' the NASA NExT Step

A top-level joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) has been quietly signed between three major enterprises at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Edward Weiler, head of space science; Frederick Gregory, lead of the Office of Spaceflight; and Mary Kicza, chief of Biology and Physical Research - all three have signed a special MOA, along with a formal Charter. The paperwork enables the NASA Exploration Team (NExT) to carry out studies, evaluations, prioritization and other duties for the future of human and robotic spaceflight.

NASA insiders see the agreement and charter as history-making. To their knowledge, it's the first such agreement among the major space agency enterprises to enable the long-term future for NASA.

Launch Platform for Small Unpiloted Supersonic Aircraft

Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) has been awarded a contract by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan for use of Orbital's L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft. The $21 million contract allows the Japanese firm to use the high-flying Stargazer to carry a small-scale, unmanned supersonic airplane on automated tests to take place in 2005. Orbital's mother ship will release the Japanese jet-powered experimental craft high above the ground. The test flights will originate from Woomera Airfield in Australia.

Didgeridoo Reaches New Heights

First time up in space, NASA astronaut Piers J. Sellers is toting an Australian-made musical instrument on his October STS-112 mission. Specially made in three pieces for easy storage on the shuttle, didgeridoo orchestration is a Sellers family tradition. He has played the instrument for his sons every day since they were born. The plan is to include a bit of a blast from the vibrating drone of the didgeridoo during family video linkups during his flight. Tynon Bradford of Bellingen, Australia, maker of the instrument at Heartland Didgeridoo, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he is delighted to see his didgeridoo handiwork take to the heavens.

August 28

MirCorp and Space Adventures at Odds Over Lance Bass 

The "We Are the World" rosy camaraderie of the fledgling space tourism industry took a turn for the worse Wednesday when MirCorp released a press statement chiding competitor Space Adventures  for the "irresponsible" use of video and pictures of potential space tourist Lance Bass.

At issue is the story on the Space Adventures website that says Bass " joined" the company on one of its scheduled zero-g flights in Star City, Russia last week.

According to MirCorp release, "the pictures of Lance were released by Space Adventures without his knowledge, his image and name were used commercially by Space Adventures without his permission. In addition, this unauthorized release of photos violated strict rules established by Star City, rules that MirCorp and others have carefully followed." Ouch!

The video and photographs show Bass enjoying what he called his first zero-g experience last Thursday. The 23-year-old pop singer is still waiting to see if he will be the third crewmember on the planned Soyuz mission in October to the International Space Station.

Space Adventures President and CEO Eric Anderson stood by his company's press release: "Every statement Space Adventures makes is 100 percent backed by facts and we are preparing a response to MirCorp's statement today," Anderson told SPACE.com.

Stay tuned ...

Delta 4 First Flight Preparations Kick into High Gear

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Fresh on the heels of Lockheed Martin's successful debut last week of the Atlas 5 rocket, rival Boeing is working hard to prove its new Delta 4 rocket will fly just as straight and true on its inaugural mission from the Cape in October.

Already stacked for launch at the refurbished complex 37, the Delta 4 -- sans its Eutelsat spacecraft customer -- was put through its first so-called wet countdown dress rehearsal this week. Beginning Monday night the giant rocket was fully loaded with propellant as the Beoing team simulated what it would be like on launch day.

Officials say the test went well despite a glitch with the ground-based computer system that prevented controllers from reading any of the telemetry data streaming from the two-stage booster as it sat on the pad. As a result, officials stopped the countdown before they could run the critical final five minutes leading to a simulated ignition.

Boeing managers have schedule another dress rehearsal for this Friday, and another for early September. During that third test, the Delta 4's main engine will be ignited in a very brief hot fire test that will last just a few seconds.

August 26, 2002

Let Me Take You Higher

A massive NASA balloon set adrift August 25 established a world record by reaching the upper fringes of space. The huge scientific balloon had a volume of 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) and has claimed the record of being the largest balloon ever launched successfully.

The balloon toted skyward a solar and heliosphere experiment called Low Energy Electrons (LEE). This flight was the sixth in a series of balloon observations of cosmic electrons that have used the LEE and the Anti-Electron Sub Orbital Payload (AESOP) instrument.

Taking off from Northwest region of Manitoba, Canada, the scientific balloon flight should help establish a new platform for science such as ultra-violet and x-ray astronomy, according to scientists engaged in the balloon research.

Although originally funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF) currently funds research activities using the AESOP experiment. The LEE instrument was originally developed and flown by NSF and later flown by NASA.

Bass Arrives in Houston; Begins Training at JSC

WASHINGTON -- Lance Bass arrived at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday morning in the company of his two-would be Soyuz crewmates to begin five days of training the pop singer would need should he visit the international space station this fall.

"Mr. Bass is on site and is in the process of beginning his training activities," said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.

Humphries said the training is scheduled to continue through Friday and is geared toward familiarizing Bass, Sergei Zalyotin and Frank De Winne with the systems they would encounter on the U.S. side of the space station.

Whether Bass will be on board the Soyuz capsule when it leaves for the space station Oct. 28 is still anything but clear. His financial backers have missed several deadlines in recent weeks for making a substantial down payment on his flight.

August 24, 2002

CONTOUR Monitoring Scaled Back

Continual monitoring for signals from the CONTOUR spacecraft has been scaled back. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland -- builder and operator of the ill-fated comet probe -- made the announcement late Friday.

When communications from the spacecraft ceased on August 15, the $159 million mission entered "emergency" status, making it eligible for round-the-clock coverage from NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna stations.

Now, nine days after their last contact with the solar-powered probe, the CONTOUR mission team said its time to move on.

"Given the disappointing circumstances, it was time to scale back our monitoring," said APL CONTOUR Mission Director, Robert Farquhar. "We don't want to take DSN time that could be used more effectively by other missions."

Mission operators are now listening for a signal just once a week, for approximately 8 hours each time.

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