This Week at NASA…
The next hardware package to fly to the International Space Station was unveiled to reporters at
the Kennedy Space Center. The permanent multi-purpose module, or PMM, will carry spare parts and
supplies to the ISS. Once delivered by space shuttle Discovery and installed on the station,
the PMM will be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology
and biotechnology.
Commander Steve Lindsey and his five STS-133 crewmates will also have some interesting
company aboard Discovery.
Robonaut 2, or R2, a dexterous, human-like robot capable of handling a wide range of
EVA tools and equipment, will also be shuttled to the complex. Discovery is targeted to launch
on November first.
A chunk of ice about 97 square miles in size has broken off the Petermann Glacier along
the northwestern coast of Greenland. The glacier lost about one-quarter of its 40-mile long
floating ice shelf, the largest in the Northern Hemisphere. It's not unusual for large icebergs
to calve off the Petermann Glacier, but this new one is the largest to form in the Arctic
in 38 years. This before-and-after visualization comes from imagery captured by instruments
on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites.
Segway inventor and TV host, Dean Kamen, was at the Langley Research Center to interview
engineer and inventor Mark Moore for his Discovery network series “Dean of Invention.” Moore
is the co-creator of the “Puffin” aircraft, a vehicle that flies one person with two electric
motors. Kamen and Moore strolled the Langley campus, displayed a one-third scale model
of “Puffin,” and spent time with its simulator. Scientists say that, at a height of 12 feet
with a wingspan of 13.5 feet, the “Puffin” and its rechargeable lithium phosphate batteries
has the potential to revolutionize commuter travel by providing an alternative to driving
on overcrowded streets.
Moore will appear in the eighth and final episode of Kamen’s show.
Kamen, who is also the founder of FIRST Robotics, a national competition for high school students,
holds 440 U.S. and foreign patents and in 2000 was awarded the National Medal of Technology.
“This flag is for the Citizens of Palmdale presented to the Mayor and to the citizens.”
A municipal flag flown on space shuttle Atlantis during STS-132 was presented to the City of
Palmdale, Calif., during its weekly Thursday Nights on the Square activity.
"The city of Palmdale flag was flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to the International
Space Station on STS 132. Travelling more than 4.8 million miles and 186 orbits of the
Earth."
"It’s a great partnership that we have with the city of Palmdale. I see it to continue,
it will continue to prosper over the years, and it’s just a great, great time to be
here… and I just see wonderful things happening in the future."
The flag, and a plaque depicting highlights of the STS-132 mission to the International
Space Station will be on permanent public display.
The Janice C. Meyer Award for exceptional merit is this float sponsored by the NASA
Glenn Research Center.”
Atop the Glenn Research Center float depicting space shuttle Discovery, astronaut Leland
Melvin waved to the crowds at the 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival Timken Grand
Parade in Canton, Ohio.
Before coming to NASA, Melvin was selected out of the University of Richmond by the Detroit
Lions in the National Football League’s 1986 college draft. He later participated
in the Toronto Argonauts and Dallas Cowboys football training camps. A veteran of two
space shuttle flights, Melvin is traveling around the country in support of NASA’s
Summer of Innovation program to excite young people about careers in science, technology,
engineering and math.
And that’s This Week @ NASA.
For more on these and other stories, log onto www.nasa.gov.
