Offnominal

Cosmic Log : Google funds $30 million moon prize
The Google Lunar X Prize, announced today by the search-engine giant and the X Prize Foundation at the Wired NextFest in Los Angeles, ranks among the richest contests ever offered for technological innovation. It follows up on the $10 million Ansari X Prize for manned spaceflight, which was won nearly three years ago by the SpaceShipOne rocket plane.

While watching the today’s (Flight Day 3) highlights from STS-115, I saw astronauts Tanner and Piper closing the hatch to the ISS’s Quest Airlock where they will be “camping out”, purging the nitrogen from their bloodstreams. As Piper pulled the airlock hatch down, the following image struck me as poignant…

While most would know the STS-107 (Columbia) crew, fewer would know the memorial next to theirs, a photo and a pair of wings beneath - those of Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson, who died in a private plane accident in 2001. She was a member of the 1998 astronaut class, and never made it into the black. Don’t know who was responsible, but I personally found it very appropriate to put these memorials on the gateway allowing humans to get closest to the heavens…

From NasaSpaceFlight.com:

The NASASpaceflight.com article published on Monday, April 10, 2006, titled: “VSE: Less Steroids or Less Apollo”, has been retracted from site. This is because the content of the article was based around NASA “internal use only” data, from a yet to be finished study.

We also understand that the data was altered to support the position of the person who provided the information that was used in the article - thus, through due diligence, we have no other option but to withdraw the article and surrounding information.

Elon Musk had some new information quoted over at his brother’s blog regarding yesterday’s failure

However, at T 25s, a fuel leak of currently unknown origin caused a fire around the top of the main engine that cut into the first stage helium pneumatic system. On high resolution imagery, the fire is clearly visible within seconds after liftoff. Once the pneumatic pressure decayed below a critical value, the spring return safety function of the pre-valves forced them closed, shutting down the main engine at T 29s.

It does not appear as though the first stage insulation played a negative role, nor are any other vehicle anomalies apparent from either the telemetry or imaging. Falcon was executing perfectly on all fronts until fire impaired the first stage pneumatic system.

Yesterday, KSC center director James Kennedy ordered a 2 hour safety stand down, halting work on Shuttle and ISS processing. From his videotaped message to center employees:

However, our past does not guarantee future success. In the last few weeks alone, KSC has experienced a rash of close calls and mishaps leading me to call for a two-hour Center-wide Safety Stand-down.
Let me give you some specific examples that led to this decision.
First, during an orbiter jack transfer, an unexpected movement of Endeavour’s nose landing gear occurred. This incident could have resulted in major damage to the Orbiter. Next, we inadvertently overpressurized Atlantis’ Water Coolant Loop, resulting in damage to the water accumulators.
Then, in less than a seven-day period, we had three more incidents. We damaged Discovery’s robotic arm while moving the bridge bucket, which will require removal and replacement of the arm.
Next, an X-ray film container was dropped onto a body flap tile on Endeavour, which will require repair. Finally, workers started a small fire during roof repairs to the VAB, the consequences of which could have been catastrophic.
These incidents were experienced by several different organizations on Center and there is no apparent common cause. However, I considered all a threat to successfully accomplishing our mission – the launching of astronauts and payloads into space.

Update: An anonymous KSC worker comments on this stand down over at Nasawatch:

All these happened before the launch date was moved to July. We have been pushed pretty hard by management to make the May date. A lot of people here have been working long hours for a long time. But the good news (according to our managers) has been that there is no schedule pressure.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Update 2 - From Chris in the comments:

The only real pressure I’ve ever seen at work is in the orbiter’s tires.

Priceless!