JPL is managed by the California Institute of Technology, the only NASA center operated by an outside agency.

JPL teamed up with Wernher von Braun’s rocketeers at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency’s Redstone Arsenal to launch America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, on February 1, 1958.

The JPL campus is actually located in the city of La Cañada Flintridge, California, but it maintains a Pasadena address.

NASA has sent JPL developed probes to explore every planet in the Solar System, including Earth!

JPL is responsible for operating NASA's Deep Space Network, an international network of large antennas and communication facilities that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe.

There is a tradition at JPL to eat "good luck peanuts" before critical mission events, such as orbital insertions or landings.

JPL has an open house once a year on a Saturday and Sunday in May, when the public is invited to tour the facilities and see live demonstrations of JPL science and technology.

WISE will see practically everything but the kitchen sink. It will map the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of everything from nearby asteroids to distant galaxies billions of light-years away. The space telescope will see hundreds of millions of objects -- enough to make astronomers dizzy (in a good way). Most of these objects will be making their grand debut to humans, since they've never been seen before.

WISE will tell us how big near-Earth objects and main belt asteroids are, and help us understand their composition. Knowing if asteroids are big, small, fluffy or hard will help inform future strategies for mitigating potential threats to Earth.

WISE's predecessor is the 1983 Infrared Astronomical Satellite mission, often referred to by its acronym IRAS. WISE's next-generation technology will allow it to see hundreds of millions of objects, whereas IRAS saw hundreds of thousands.

The spacecraft's coolant is expected to run out after 10 months.

Since objects around room temperature emit infrared radiation, the WISE telescope and detectors are kept very cold (below -430°F /15 Kelvins, which is only 15° Centigrade above absolute zero) by a cryostat -- like an ice chest but filled with solid hydrogen instead of ice.

After 6 months the spacecraft will have taken nearly 1,500,000 pictures covering the entire sky.

The WISE telescope will take an image every 11 seconds.

A hypersonic commercial jet could take passengers from New York to Tokyo in an hour and a half.

The X-43 hypersonic research craft was air-launched by a modified Pegasus booster dropped from a special L-1011 mothership.

In June 1961, Air Force Major Robert White flew the X-15 research airplane at speeds over Mach 5, and broke his own record in November, reaching Mach 6.7.

The V-2 rocket, first used in World War II by the Germans and later used by the United States in its early rocketry work, was the first manufactured object to achieve hypersonic flight in February 1949.

Hypersonic refers to speeds faster than Mach 5.

Guinness World Records recognized NASA's X-43A scramjet with a new world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. The X-43A set the new mark and broke its own world record on its third and final flight on Nov. 16, 2004.

The Hypersonics Project of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Fundamental Aeronautics Program is committed to mastering the science of hypersonic flight in support of NASA's mission: "To pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."

GRC manages the development of the Orion service module.

The Spacecraft Propulsion Facility at Plum Brook Station (PBS) is the world's only facility capable of testing full-scale upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated high-altitude conditions.

The Zero Gravity Research Facility at GRC is a vertical vacuum chamber used for microgravity experiments. The facility consists of a concrete-lined shaft, 28 feet in diameter, that extends 510 feet below ground level. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

As early as 1951, researchers at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory were studying the combustion processes in liquid rocket engines.

The Glenn Research Center was initially named the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory after funding approval was given in June 1940. It was renamed the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory in 1947, the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in 1948 and the NASA Lewis Research Center in 1958.

The Glenn Research Center (GRC) was established in 1942 as part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and was later incorporated into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a laboratory for aircraft engine research.

On March 1, 1999, the Lewis Research Center was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field after John Glenn (American fighter pilot, astronaut and politician) and George W. Lewis (head of NACA from 1919 to 1947). Within NASA, Glenn is often referred to by the acronym GRC.

The toughest moonwalk task? Planting the flag. NASA’s studies suggested that the lunar soil was soft, but Armstrong and Aldrin found the surface to be a thin wisp of dust over hard rock. They managed to drive the flagpole a few inches into the ground and film it for broadcast, and then took care not to accidentally knock it over.

The "one small step for man" wasn’t actually that small. Armstrong set the ship down so gently that its shock absorbers didn’t compress. He had to hop 3.5 feet from the Eagle’s ladder to the surface.

The Apollo’s Saturn rockets were packed with enough fuel to throw 100-pound shrapnel three miles, and NASA couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might explode on takeoff. NASA seated its VIP spectators three and a half miles from the launchpad.

The last assigned mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis is currently STS-132 in May of 2010.

Atlantis launched two interplanetary probes: Magellan to Venus and Galileo to Jupiter, both in 1989.

The launch window for STS-129 on its scheduled launch date of November 12th is only 10 minutes. This pretty much assured that any serious countdown hold would result in a launch postponement.

NASA originally planned to retire Atlantis in 2008, but a restructuring of the maintenance schedule allowed Atlantis to remain in service with Endeavour and Discovery until the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2010

STS-129 is also the 31st flight of the Shuttle Atlantis.

STS-129 is the 31st Shuttle flight to the ISS.

STS-129 is scheduled to return astronaut Nicole Stott to Earth from the International Space Station. This is the last scheduled shuttle flight to or from the ISS to transfer crew.

Ames is currently working on the Kepler discovery mission. Kepler is a space telescope designed and built to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. Found out more about Kepler at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html

Ames Research Center is leading the way in the development of very small satellites called nanosatellites that can be launched quickly and cheaply. Find out more about nanosatellites at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/index.html

Ames Research Center was the first to develop the swept wing concept that is used in all high-speed aircraft in the world today

Ames houses one of the world’s greatest collections of wind tunnels, including one of the only supersonic wind tunnels in the world.

The old Navy Airship hangers are still at Ames and have been featured on the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters.

Ames Research Center is located in Sunnyvale, California and is adjacent to Moffett Field. Moffett Fields was originally a Naval Air Station equipped to house the airship USS Macon. When the military base closed in 1994, it’s runways and hangars were given to NASA and folded into Ames.

NASA Ames Research Center was established in 1939 as the second laboratory for NACA and was named for the chairman of NACA, Joseph S. Ames. Ames is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

If all goes as planned, the Ares will put a crewed Orion vehicle in orbit to dock with the International Space Station no later than 2015.

The next test of the Ares Launch system is not scheduled to launch for another five years in 2014.

This is the first time in 25 years a new space vehicle has been stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

The initial Ares 1-X launch will be a test only of the first stage, with a mockup of the second stage and crew vehicle providing the weight and shape of the actual components.

The Ares booster uses evolution of technology and testing procedures developed for use on the Apollo program.

Companies in twelve states manufactured components for the Ares 1 booster, with support being supplied by 6 NASA facilities in six states.

The Ares 1-X is the first full-up test of the new Ares 1 booster that is intended to take Astronauts back to the moon and eventually beyond.

Want to get involved?  Then check out the NASA Aeronautics Student Competition!  This year’s competition is focused on increasing the effectiveness of rotorcraft in rescue ops. See http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/competitions.htm for more information.

The Subsonic Fixed-Wing group is currently working on research that could significantly lower the noise around large airports.  The current goal is to reduce commercial aircraft noise output by 40% in the next twenty years.  The overall goal is that by 2035, no one will hear aircraft taking off over the normal noise of a busy city.

The Hypersonic research group is looking at two vehicles, one as a prototype to replace the space shuttle and the other as a reliable reusable vehicle to land humans on Mars.  Though it’s named ‘Aeronautics’ they are going to space too.

This program was established because NASA expects air traffic to more than double in the next 10 years.

FAP (Fundamental Aeronautics Program) works principally with 4 NASA Centers: Langley, Glenn, Ames and Dryden.

This program includes four sections, focusing on supersonic, hypersonic and subsonic research, with subsonic including both fixed wing and rotary wing (read planes and helicopters).

Fundamental Aeronautics is a NASA program to invest and investigate the core competencies of aeronautics.  Their overall objective is to create a cleaner, quieter, and safer national air transportation network.

Speedo’s LZR Racer competition swimsuit was developed with help from the drag experts at Langley research center.

If the LCROSS mission is successful in finding water on the moon, it will greatly impact NASA’s future plans for long term exploration of the moon.  A successful lunar outpost is a crucial part of the exploration of the solar system.

LCROSS is part of the new generation of low-cost satellites and exploration missions that will sustain the space program into the 21^st century.

The LCROSS mission was developed and is under the oversight of Ames Research Center in California.

The Centaur booster on the Atlas V will be used as an impact probe and hit the moon sometime in early October.  The LCROSS satellite will analyze the ejecta from the impact for signs of water

LCROSS was launched with an Atlas V booster.  NASA has used this rocket for the last 45 years.  An early Atlas variant was used to launch the final four Mercury missions into orbit.

LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on June 18^th, 2009 at 2:32 pm PDT.

LCROSS stands for Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite.  It’s objective is to definitively answer the question of the presence of lunar water frozen in shadowed craters on the moon.

The Administrator of NASA is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the US Senate. Major General Charles Bolden, USMC (ret.) is the current and 12th NASA Administrator; he serves as the senior space science advisor to the President.

INSPIRE also includes the Summer Experience, a program designed for students entering the 9th through 12th grades. Last year 356 students were accepted for the Summer Experience. Be sure to apply early if you want to be a part of this exciting program.

INSPIRE stands for Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience and is a national program for students in 9th through 12th grade, but that’s nothing new. The INSPIRE program is. In its second year of the Online Community, the INSPIRE OLC currently has over 1300 students.

NASA stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; there are ten NASA centers nationwide, not including NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The planet Venus does not tilt as it goes around the Sun, so consequently, it has no seasons.

INSPIRE hosted 423 students representing 38 states at 33 Summer Stem Experiences last summer.

Over 9000 activities were completed by INSPIRE OLC students during the 2008-2009 school year.

Just a Test

Something to fill the space for now.

Join space enthusiasts around the world to celebrate World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2009. This international event commemorates the beginning of the Space Age with the launch of Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4, 1957. World Space Week is the largest public space event in the world, with celebrations in more than 50 nations. To learn more about World Space Week, search for events in your area and find educational materials related to the event, visithttp://www.worldspaceweek.org/index.html.


Amanda