Russian Rocket Failure Shouldn’t Force Space Station Evacuation, NASA Tells Lawmakers (SPACE.com)

The International Space Station likely won't have to be evacuated despite the recent failure of a Russian rocket launched toward the orbiting lab, a panel told U.S. lawmakers today (Oct. 12) on Capitol Hill.

On Aug. 24, Russia's Progress 44 cargo vessel crashed in Siberia after the third stage of its Soyuz rocket failed. That rocket is similar to the one NASA and other space agencies depend on to loft astronauts, raising doubts about whether the issue could be fixed in time for a new crew to get to the station before its three remaining residents depart for Earth on Nov. 22.

A Russian commission recently pinpointed the Soyuz problem as a quality-control issue, not a major design flaw. And an independent NASA team agrees with that assessment, officials announced today, meaning the next manned Soyuz launch should take place as planned on Nov. 14. [Photos: Russia's Lost Cargo Ship Progress 44]

That time frame would keep the orbiting outpost staffed, giving the new three-person crew about five days to learn the ropes from the departing space flyers.

"NASA's confident that our Russian partners identified the most likely failure cause and has a sound return-to-flight plan," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, told members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Fixing the problem

The Russian investigation determined that low fuel feed to the gas generator in the Soyuz's third-stage engine likely caused the Progress 44 crash. The fuel feed issue may have been caused by contamination in the fuel line or a valve.

After consulting in depth with the Russians, NASA formed its own team to look into the Soyuz problem, Gerstenmaier said.

"They did kind of a background check to make sure that the conclusions the Russians were drawing were reasonable," Gerstenmaier said. "We completed that review today within the agency, and we agree with the basic Russian findings."

Since the Progress 44 incident, the Russians have boosted their quality-control efforts, Gerstenmaier added. For example, they've increased the number of people inspecting Soyuz rockets and are videotaping some key assembly operations at the factory.

The engines for the next two Soyuz launches — the unmanned Progress 45 cargo mission on Oct. 30 and the Nov. 14 crewed mission — were built under the newer, stricter oversight, Gerstenmaier said. [Vote Now! The Best Spaceships of All Time]

So the problem that doomed Progress 44 shouldn't crop up again, the panelists said.

"We're confident that the two launches anticipated — one of Progress and the Soyuz launch, hopefully, in mid-November — will put the current issues to rest and return us to a steady-state operation," said Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

Station could operate without a crew

When it's fully crewed, the International Space Station (ISS) harbors six astronauts, who each stay aboard for five- or six-month stints. It currently hosts just three space flyers, and the next Soyuz launch would basically replenish this number rather than increase it.

If that launch gets delayed, the station would be completely de-staffed for the first time in more than a decade. But that wouldn't spell disaster for the orbiting lab, the panelists said.

"The station itself can be flown uncrewed from Mission Control," Gerstenmaier said.

Of course, NASA and its international partners would much prefer to keep the orbiting lab fully staffed. Crew members on board can fix maintenance or servicing issues that crop up, for example, which can't be done from the ground.

And with more crew members aboard the station, more scientific research can get done. On a fully de-staffed station, some experiments could go on as before, such as the recently installed $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is hunting dark matter, antimatter and cosmic rays.

But many other projects would have to be dropped, or at least postponed, without astronauts on board to conduct them. And NASA hopes it doesn't come to that, officials have said.

"If the ISS needed to be de-crewed, the largest impact would obviously be to crew-tended research," Gerstenmaier said.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Rocket lifts off with satellites to probe moon (Reuters)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – An unmanned U.S. rocket blasted off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to deliver twin robotic probes to the moon in the hope of learning what is inside.

The 124-foot (37.8-meter) booster soared off its seaside launch pad at 9:08 a.m. EDT, arcing over the Atlantic Ocean as it raced into orbit.

Less than two hours later, both probes were flying freely from the rocket's upper-stage motor and were communicating with NASA's Deep Space Network.

"I couldn't be more pleased," Jim Adams, deputy director of NASA's planetary division, told reporters after the launch.

Liftoff of the Delta 2 rocket occurred two days later than planned due to high winds at the launch site and because of time required to review data on the rocket after its tanks were drained of fuel following an earlier launch scrub on Thursday.

The twin satellites on board are headed to a point in space 932,0570 miles away where gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth balances out.

From there, the NASA Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, satellites will make a long, slow approach to the moon, arriving on December 31 and Jan 1.

The twin GRAIL probes are designed to precisely map the moon's gravity so scientists can learn what lies beneath the lunar crust and whether the moon's core is solid, liquid or some combination of the two.

Combined with high-resolution imagery, ongoing analysis of rock and soil samples returned by the 1969-1972 Apollo missions and computer models, the gravity maps are expected to fill in the biggest missing piece in the puzzle of how Earth's natural satellite formed and evolved.

MAPPING MOON GRAVITY

The small boxy probes are designed to fly single file over the lunar poles, mapping the dips and swells in lunar gravity.

Linked by radio waves, the spacecraft will be able to detect changes in the tug of lunar gravity as small as one micron -- about the width of a red blood cell.

Pockets of terrain with more mass will cause first one and then the second satellite to speed up slightly as they fly over, changing the distance between the two probes in minute, but measurable amounts. Less dense regions will cause the probes to slow slightly.

The measurements are so precise that scientists have to factor out a myriad of other forces, including the pressure of sunlight and the gravitational influences of all other planets in the solar system, even the dwarf planet Pluto, currently about 2.9 billion miles (4.7 billion km) away.

Scientists believe the moon's building blocks were large chunks of debris jettisoned from Earth after a collision with an object as big as Mars.

The moon's ancient face reveals a history of impacts over the eons and other events, such as flowing rivers of molten lava. The GRAIL researchers' job is to determine how all these processes impacted the moon internally.

"Large impacts deposit a great deal of energy into a planet. They heat the interior. They potentially could cause the convection pattern to change. They can contribute to the way a planet de-gasses," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology planetary scientist Maria Zuber, lead researcher and manager of the $496-million GRAIL mission.

Besides unraveling the moon's history, GRAIL scientists expect to extrapolate their findings to other rocky bodies, both in our solar system and eventually to those beyond.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, manufacture and provide launch services for the Delta 2 rocket. Lockheed Martin also is the prime contractor on the GRAIL satellites.

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Sandra Maler)

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Rocket lifts off with satellites to probe moon

1 of 4. These undated NASA images show the various stages of pre-launch preparations of NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft at Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, which were released September 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:20pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An unmanned U.S. rocket blasted off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to deliver twin robotic probes to the moon in the hope of learning what is inside.

The 124-foot (37.8-meter) booster soared off its seaside launch pad at 9:08 a.m. EDT, arcing over the Atlantic Ocean as it raced into orbit.

Less than two hours later, both probes were flying freely from the rocket's upper-stage motor and were communicating with NASA's Deep Space Network.

"I couldn't be more pleased," Jim Adams, deputy director of NASA's planetary division, told reporters after the launch.

Liftoff of the Delta 2 rocket occurred two days later than planned due to high winds at the launch site and because of time required to review data on the rocket after its tanks were drained of fuel following an earlier launch scrub on Thursday.

The twin satellites on board are headed to a point in space 932,0570 miles away where gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth balances out.

From there, the NASA Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, satellites will make a long, slow approach to the moon, arriving on December 31 and Jan 1.

The twin GRAIL probes are designed to precisely map the moon's gravity so scientists can learn what lies beneath the lunar crust and whether the moon's core is solid, liquid or some combination of the two.

Combined with high-resolution imagery, ongoing analysis of rock and soil samples returned by the 1969-1972 Apollo missions and computer models, the gravity maps are expected to fill in the biggest missing piece in the puzzle of how Earth's natural satellite formed and evolved.

MAPPING MOON GRAVITY

The small boxy probes are designed to fly single file over the lunar poles, mapping the dips and swells in lunar gravity.

Linked by radio waves, the spacecraft will be able to detect changes in the tug of lunar gravity as small as one micron -- about the width of a red blood cell.

Pockets of terrain with more mass will cause first one and then the second satellite to speed up slightly as they fly over, changing the distance between the two probes in minute, but measurable amounts. Less dense regions will cause the probes to slow slightly.

The measurements are so precise that scientists have to factor out a myriad of other forces, including the pressure of sunlight and the gravitational influences of all other planets in the solar system, even the dwarf planet Pluto, currently about 2.9 billion miles (4.7 billion km) away.

Scientists believe the moon's building blocks were large chunks of debris jettisoned from Earth after a collision with an object as big as Mars.

The moon's ancient face reveals a history of impacts over the eons and other events, such as flowing rivers of molten lava. The GRAIL researchers' job is to determine how all these processes impacted the moon internally.

"Large impacts deposit a great deal of energy into a planet. They heat the interior. They potentially could cause the convection pattern to change. They can contribute to the way a planet de-gasses," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology planetary scientist Maria Zuber, lead researcher and manager of the $496-million GRAIL mission.

Besides unraveling the moon's history, GRAIL scientists expect to extrapolate their findings to other rocky bodies, both in our solar system and eventually to those beyond.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, manufacture and provide launch services for the Delta 2 rocket. Lockheed Martin also is the prime contractor on the GRAIL satellites.

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Sandra Maler)

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Rocket failure exposes space station vulnerability

The International Space Station is seen through the docking port of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis as it departs the station in this still image taken from NASA TV on July 19, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/NASA/Handout

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Sep 8, 2011 12:44pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - When a Russian rocket failed on its way to orbit last month, it exposed a vulnerability in the International Space Station program that a former NASA astronaut thinks China could help address.

The August 24 failure of the Russian Progress rocket prompted NASA and its partners in the $100 billion space station project to delay launch of the next crew until the cause of the failure is found, fixed and tested.

The cause of the accident is under investigation after the unmanned rocket burned up in the atmosphere and debris fell onto parts of Siberia. The Progress rocket, which was carrying a cargo capsule of food and fuel, and the Soyuz booster that carries crew use nearly identical upper-stage motors.

Half of the station's six live-aboard crew members are due home next week and their colleagues will follow by November 19. The dates were determined by the design lifetimes of the Soyuz capsules already in orbit -- which do not use rockets to return to Earth -- and other technical factors.

If a new crew is not launched by mid-November, the station could be left untended for the first time in 11 years.

Former U.S. astronaut Leroy Chiao, a four-time flyer who served as commander of the space station from October 2004 to April 2005, says leaving the station unmanned raises the odds it could tumble from orbit.

"There are a number of relatively small mistakes or glitches that could cause you to loose attitude control," Chiao told Reuters, referring to how engineers maintain the space station's position in orbit.

UNLIKELY SCENARIO

Without good pointing, the station's antennas might not be able to lock on to satellites and ground stations needed to communicate with mission control centers.

NASA says that scenario is highly unlikely and the station would be safe even if it had to be left unmanned for a short time.

"You're talking about multiple, multiple failures," station program manager Mike Suffredini told Reuters. "You'd have to lose a lot of equipment and even then (the station) doesn't start spinning wildly. It drifts."

Eventually, ground control teams could regain control of the station by switching to omni-directional antennas or waiting until the outpost flies over Russian ground stations, Suffredini said.

With the retirement of the U.S. space shuttles this summer, crews can reach the station only aboard Russian rockets. China, the only other country able to fly people into orbit, is not a partner in the space station.

Chiao said it was time for that to change to ensure the integrity of the recently completed project of 16 nations that is designed to operate at least through 2020 as a unique gravity-free scientific research outpost.

"I think (China) is the fastest route to a backup vehicle for the space station," he said.

The current U.S. plan is to pay Russia to fly NASA astronauts, at a cost of more than $50 million per person, until U.S. companies are able to do so.

Several firms -- including Boeing Co, Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp and Blue Origin -- are designing commercial passenger spaceships, helped in part by NASA contracts worth a total of $92 million.

Suffredini said Chiao was underestimating the amount of time and complexity needed to bring China into the space station partnership, even if political winds shifted and the proposal gained momentum.

"Just because they built a system that's like the Soyuz doesn't mean you can dock it with the space station," he said.

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said he thinks Russia will be able to resume Soyuz flights before the last of the current crew departs in November.

"The possibility of de-manning station is always something you think about but it's not something that's high on my list of concerns right now," Bolden said.

(Editing by Tom Brown and John O'Callaghan)

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Sens. Nelson, Hutchison Accuse Administration of Sabotaging NASA Rocket Project (ContributorNetwork)

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, have issued a statement accusing the Obama administration of deliberately attempting to undermine the development of a rocket crucial for NASA's plans for future space exploration.

The accusation comes in the wake of a story in the Wall Street Journal speculating, possibly based on a White House leak, that NASA's plans for space exploration would cost as much as $62 billion and that the White House was experiencing "sticker shock." A NASA document was subsequently released with more information concerning various scenarios for space exploration through 2025 with cost estimates.

The two senators, the chairman and ranking member of the Science and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, are essentially accusing the White House and NASA of cooking the books and making up inflated budget numbers in an effort to kill a heavy lift rocket known as the Space Launch System. Development of the SLS was mandated by Congress in a 2010 NASA bill that was signed by President Barack Obama.

The accusation of bad faith and even legal malfeasance by Nelson and Hutchison represents an escalation of the toxic relations between the White House and NASA and Congress that have developed since Obama ordered the cancellation of the Constellation space exploration program. Nelson and Hutchison seem to have concluded that the White House and NASA are not interested in following the law or of seriously pursuing space exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

The accusation fits the known facts. For most of this year, NASA has been pursuing delaying tactics to stop the commencement of the SLS program. This has resulted in mass layoffs of NASA and contractor personnel due to the end of the space shuttle program who might have instead transitioned to the SLS development program. Hiring back these people may prove to be difficult after a long delay.

The suspicion is that the numbers quoted in the Wall Street Journal article and the NASA document will be used to cancel the SLS program outright as part of a deficit reduction deal, pushing off the commencement of space exploration beyond low Earth orbit indefinitely. With budget deficits in excess of a trillion dollars and President Obama demanding $450 billion for a jobs program, cancellation of the SLS would seem to be almost inevitable.

It is unclear what Nelson and Hutchison can do about their accusation. If the White House and NASA are not disposed to follow Congressional direction concerning space policy, enacting new directions would seem to be pointless. The commencement of a formal Senate investigation, including subpoenas, would now seem to be indicated. But that will take time and, in the meantime, hopes for the recommencement of space exploration by astronauts for the first time in decades are, once again, placed on hold.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly.

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SpaceX Sues Expert Who Questioned Safety of Private Falcon 9 Rocket (SPACE.com)

WASHINGTON — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is suing Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc. and its vice president, Joe Fragola, for making what SpaceX says were defamatory allegations about the safety and reliability of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

At the heart of the lawsuit is a June 8 email Fragola allegedly sent to NASA’s chief of safety and mission assurance, Bryan D. O’Connor, saying he was trying to verify a rumor that the Falcon 9’s first stage experienced a significant anomaly during its December launch of the Dragon space capsule. The suit was filed June 14 in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court.

"I have just heard a rumor, and I am trying now to check its veracity, that the Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated. I also heard that this information was being held from NASA until SpaceX can 'verify' it."

SpaceX denies there were any such problems on the flight, the second of the medium-lift Falcon 9 rocket. [Photos: SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket]

"First, there was no ‘double-engine’ failure (nor even a single engine failure)," SpaceX says in its complaint. “As planned, two of the nine first-stage engines shut down automatically ten seconds before the first stage shut down.

"Second, the first stage did not 'blow up' after separation from the second stage and spacecraft. The launch was broadcast by a camera on the Dragon spacecraft, which vividly showed the separation of the first stage — and no explosion occurred. Furthermore, the first stage was, at all times, tracked by ground telemetry including by NASA. No systems observed any "explosion" of the first stage. As an 'expert,' Fragola should have known the notion of the first stage 'blowing up' was abjectly untrue."

O'Connor did not respond to a request for comment. Fragola, reached June 16 at Valador's Rockville Centre, New York, office, declined to comment, saying he had been advised not to talk about the case.

SpaceX also declined to discuss the case. "It’s still in the hands of counsel and we have no comment," SpaceX spokesman Bobby Block said June 17.

Fragola is a safety expert and a core member of the NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study team that in 2005 picked the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rockets the agency then set out to build under the now-defunct Constellation program. In December 2009, Fragola testified before the House Science and Technology space and aeronautics subcommittee about ensuring safety in human spaceflight.

In its complaint, SpaceX says Fragola sought a consulting contract worth up to $1 million, claiming the company needed his independent analysis of the Falcon 9 "to bolster its reputation with NASA based on what he called an unfair ‘perception’ about SpaceX." [Video: Falcon Heavy - Most Lift Since Saturn 5]

"SpaceX subsequently learned that Fragola — within the scope of his employment at Valador, and using his email account at Valador — has been contacting officials in the United States Government to make disparaging remarks about SpaceX, which have created the very ‘perception’ that he claimed SpaceX needed his help to rectify," SpaceX’s claim states.

SpaceX also says that if anything went wrong during the flight, NASA would have known. "NASA officials were present with SpaceX controllers in the control center during the flight, and thus saw in real time all of the telemetry information SpaceX controllers saw," the complaint states. "SpaceX then provided extensive post-flight debriefings to NASA, including telemetry analysis. If any of the foregoing events claimed by Fragola had occurred, then NASA would have known as soon as SpaceX did."

Asked whether the Falcon 9 experienced any type of first-stage anomaly in its last outing, Block said: "Any observance noted had no impact on this or future mission success."

SpaceX, which holds a $1.6 billion contract to deliver supplies to the International Space Station using Falcon 9 and Dragon, is seeking at least $1 million in damages plus legal fees and is demanding that a jury hear the case.

SpaceX’s attorney in the suit, Douglas Lobel with the Cooley law firm of Reston, Va., did not respond to a request for comment.

This article was provided by Space News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

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NASA's New Heavy-Lift Launcher Would First Fly With Solid Rocket Boosters (SPACE.com)

Dan Leone, Space News Staff Writer
Space.com Dan Leone, Space News Staff Writer
space.com – Sat Jun 18, 3:14 pm ET

WASHINGTON — Facing mounting pressure to bring industrial competition to a congressionally mandated heavy-lift rocket development program, NASA has tentatively selected a vehicle design featuring solid-fueled, side-mounted boosters that eventually could be replaced with liquid-fueled engines, according to U.S. industry and congressional sources.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has approved a design for the Space Launch System (SLS) whose core and upper stages would utilize space shuttle- and Apollo-heritage propulsion systems, respectively, these sources said. For the side-mounted boosters, NASA would continue development of shuttle-derived solid-rocket motors while initiating work on a brand new engine likely fueled by liquid kerosene, sources said.

Under the plan, awaiting approval by the White House Office of Management and Budget, initial flights of the SLS would utilize the solid-rocket motors, developed by ATK Aerospace Systems of Magna, Utah. ATK is under contract to develop an advanced version of the space shuttle solid-rocket booster under NASA's now-defunct Constellation program. [Photos: NASA's New Spaceship for Deep Space]

Among the companies that have expressed interested in developing an advanced kerosene-fueled engine are Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. This engine might eventually replace the solid-fueled motors on SLS, sources said.

NASA’s plan would appear to address conflicting pressures the agency is facing on the SLS program. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama in October, directs the agency to utilize shuttle infrastructure and Constellation technology and contracts to the maximum practical extent in developing the SLS, which would be used for astronaut missions to deep-space destinations. But in recent weeks, some lawmakers have urged NASA to solicit competitive bids for the propulsion elements of SLS.

Most recently, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) called on the agency to hold a competition for the heavy-lifter’s side-mounted boosters. "I strongly encourage you to initiate a competition for the Space Launch System booster," Shelby wrote in a June 10 letter to Bolden.

In the letter, Shelby, a fierce advocate for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., which specializes in propulsion, questioned whether using the shuttle-derived boosters is the most cost-effective approach to SLS.  “Designing a Space Launch System for heavy lift that relies on existing Shuttle boosters ties NASA, once again, to the high fixed cost associated with segmented solids,” Shelby wrote.

Shelby’s missive follows a May 27 letter to Bolden from Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that also pressed for a competitive SLS propulsion procurement.

The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 directs the agency to field an SLS vehicle capable of placing 130 metric tons into low Earth orbit by 2016. In terms of capability the vehicle ordered up by Congress closely resembles the Ares 5 rocket designed by NASA as part of Constellation, a collection of hardware development efforts intended to replace the retiring space shuttle and eventually deliver astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Obama proposed canceling Constellation in his 2011 budget request, and NASA officially pulled the plug on the program June 10.

Since the law's enactment, NASA has provided Congress with SLS reference designs that also closely resemble the Ares 5, but at the same time warned that the vehicle could not be fielded on the designated schedule under current budget scenarios.

Industry sources privately questioned the affordability of NASA’s latest strategy, given that it adds a brand new engine development program to the mix. Some also have suggested that competition will slow the SLS development effort.

Shelby disagrees. He wrote that he has "seen no evidence that foregoing competition for the booster system will speed development of SLS or, conversely, that introducing competition will slow the program down."

Shelby also said the SLS language in the authorization act gives NASA sufficient leeway to hold a competition.

"It was never our intention to foreclose the possibility of utilizing competition, where appropriate," Shelby wrote. Utilization of Constellation contracts and technology, he said, quoting the law, was required "only 'to the extent practicable.'"

Aerojet, which has been perhaps the most outspoken proponent of open competition for SLS propulsion elements, was encouraged that NASA appears to be leaning in that direction.  Aerojet recently formed an alliance with Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Ala., to pursue NASA propulsion opportunities.

"Aerojet has encouraged competition since early on," said Glenn Mahone, a company spokesman. "We are ready to compete against any company that’s out there and are hopeful that the acquisition NASA puts forward will be objective and equitable."

Mahone specifically declined comment on the possibility of having to compete with a new engine design against a well-developed solid-rocket propulsion system with 30 years of flight heritage. He also declined to say whether Aerojet has developed engine designs applicable to the SLS side-mounted boosters.

Lawmakers appropriated $1.8 billion in 2011 for the SLS, and NASA, which has been accused of dragging its feet on the program, said June 14 it has released approximately $1.4 billion of that total.

"Of that [$1.4 billion] amount, $726 million has been obligated onto contracts, as of June 14, 2011, and $455 million has been costed," a figure that includes $165 million for civil servant labor, NASA spokesman Michael Braukus told Space News. The balance of the $455 million, he said, was spent to cover contractor costs for the Ares 1 rocket "and supporting elements such as program integration and ground operations." [Photos: NASA's Ares 1 Rocket Launch Test]

The reference SLS design approved by Bolden would have a core stage powered by the hydrogen-fueled main engines used today on the space shuttle, which is being retired after its next mission, now scheduled to begin July 8. Those engines were manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

The upper stage of the heavy-lifter would utilize the J-2X, a modified version of the Apollo-heritage J-2 engine also being developed by Pratt & Whitney. The J-2X and the modified space shuttle solid rocket motors being developed by ATK were key elements of the now-defunct Ares 1, which under Constellation was to launch a crew-carrying capsule into space.

Both the J-2X and the modified solid rocket booster — featuring five segments rather than four used on the shuttle boosters — were key building blocks for the much-more-powerful Ares 5.

One of NASA’s biggest concerns  as it seeks to comply with congressional direction to take advantage of existing contracts in developing the SLS is doing so in a way that does not draw a protest from companies that would be left out in the process.

This article was provided by Space News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

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Iran sends rocket with animal menagerie into space

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced Wednesday it has successfully launched a research rocket carrying a mouse, two turtles and worms into space — a feat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said showed Iran could defeat the West in the battle of technology.Ahmadinejad also unveiled the model of a light booster rocket that is being built and three new, Iranian-built satellites, touted as the latest in the country's ambitious space program.

A U.S. defense expert said the choice of animals served no purpose but that the launch meant to boost the nation's confidence and underlined the closeness of its space and military programs.

The Iranian space program has worried Western powers, which fear the same technology used to launch satellites and research capsules could also be used to build long-range intercontinental missiles and deliver warheads.

The launch of the rocket Kavoshgar-3, which means Explorer-3 in Farsi, was announced by Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi to mark the National Day of Space Technology. It comes a year after Iran sent its first domestically made telecommunications satellite, called Omid, or Hope, into orbit for 40 days.

Iran's state TV broadcast images Wednesday of officials putting a mouse, two turtles and about a dozen creatures that looked like worms inside a capsule in the rocket, which appeared to be about 10 feet long, before it blast off.

Vahidi gave no details on the research and there was no information on what experiment the animals would serve on board. The report also did not disclose when or where the launch took place.

Kavosghar-3 is the third in a series bearing the same name. Iran reported launching Kavoshgar-1, or Explorer-1, in Feb. 2008. The first section of the rocket detached after 90 seconds and returned to earth with the help of a parachute. A second segment entered space for about five minutes, while the final section was sent toward orbit to collect data.

Later in 2008, a rocket entitled Kavoshgar-2, made it to the lower reaches of space and returned to earth 40 minutes later on a parachute. No details about that launch were reported.

Ahmadinejad praised the latest launch and said greater events would come in the future.

"The scientific arena is where we should defeat the (West's) domination," Ahmadinejad said in remarks broadcast live on state TV. He said the launch is a "very big event. This is the first presence of animals in space launched by Iran. It's the start of bigger achievements" to come.

The model of the light booster rocket, named Simorgh, was displayed at a space show in Tehran, along with the three new Iranian-built satellites — Mesbah-2, Tolo and Navid-e-Elm-o-Sanat.

Officials said the Simorgh rocket can carry a satellite weighing 220 pounds up to 310 miles above the Earth. Ahmadienjad said the Simorgh would carry Mesbah-2 into space but gave no timeframe for that.

As it seeks to expand its influence in the Middle East, Iran showcases its technological successes as signs it can advance despite the threat of U.S. and U.N. sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

The West is concerned Iran is trying to build an atomic weapon but Tehran denies the charge and says it's nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, such as electricity production.

"The launch was clearly part of Iran's effort to advance military technology and assert political dominance in space," said James Lewis, senior fellow at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's also a show of confidence. Space rockets give you prestige and influence, and that is what Iran seeks."

Ahmadinejad said Iran built the Mesbah-2 with domestic technology after foreign partners refused to cooperate. He didn't name any country, but Iran said last year that it plans to launch a communications satellite by late 2011 with no outside help, after Italy and Russia declined to put it into orbit.

Its predecessor, the Mesbah-1 satellite, was first displayed in 2005. Iran planned to launch it the same year with Russian help but Moscow repeatedly delayed providing a satellite-carrier.

"Mesbah-1 had a sad fate ... they didn't have the courage to launch our satellite," Ahmadinejad said.

In 2005, Iran launched its first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket in a joint project with Moscow, which is a partner in transferring space technology to Iran. That same year, the government said it had allocated $500 million for space projects for the next five years.

Iran's lofty space plans also include putting a man in orbit within 10 years but Lewis said the country seems to be a long way from that.

"If they had wanted to test a life-support system, the obvious choice would be to send a monkey," said Lewis. "Worms in space serve no purpose."

The ceremony Wednesday was part of 10-day celebrations leading up to 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which falls on Feb 11.

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