NASA ADMINISTRATOR BOLDEN IS BRIEFED ON NEA SCOUT PROGRESS BY LES JOHNSON

LES JOHNSON INTRODUCES PROFESSOR VARIOS LAPP, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY, UK, PRIME INVESTIGATOR OF SOLAR SAIL TECHNOLOGY

JOHN CARR, CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR NASA'S LIGHTWEIGHT INTEGRATED SOLAR ARRAY AND TRANSCEIVER PROJECT, KNEELS TO SHOW HOW ONE OF THE THIN-FILM SIDES OR "PETALS" IN WHICH PHOTO-VOLTAIC CELLS ARE EMBEDDED, IS FOLDED AND STOWED BEFORE LAUNCH. LOOKING ON DURING A DEMONSTRATION AFTER TESTING AT NEXOLVE, ARE LES JOHNSON, LEFT, ALSO CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, AND DARREN BOYD, RIGHT, THE RADIO FREQUENCY LEAD FOR THE PROJECT.

Photographic documentation of the CEV Seat Layout Evaluation taken in the Orion mockup located in bldg 9NW, Johnson Space Center (JSC). Test subjects in orange Launch and Entry Suit (LES) is visible in the seat.

JSC2000-02219 (March 2000) --- Astronaut Richard A. Mastracchio, mission specialist, fastens his communications carrier assembly (CCA), part of the launch and entry suit (LES), during a training session at the Johnson Space Center's Systems Integration Facility.

JSC2000-02225 (March 2000) --- Astronaut Daniel C. Burbank, mission specialist, fastens the communications carrier assembly (CCA) on his launch and entry suit (LES). Burbank was about to join his six STS-106 crewmates for a simulation exercise in the Systems Integration Facility at the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

JSC2000-02217 (March 2000) --- United Space Alliance suit technician Mike Birkenseher helps cosmonaut Boris V. Morukov with the donning of his launch and entry suit (LES) prior to STS-106 training in the Systems Integration Facility at the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

NEA (Near Earth Asteroid) Scout Solar Sail, deployed, with team members: Alex Sobey, Andy Heaton, Olive Stohlmann, Leslie McNutt, Tiffany Russell Lockett, Roy Young, Les Johnson, Kevin Sykes, Tom Bryan

JOHN CARR, AT FAR LEFT, CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR NASA'S LIGHTWEIGHT INTEGRATED SOLAR ARRAY AND TRANSCEIVER PROJECT, POSES WITH THE LISA-T TEAM AFTER A DEMONSTRATION AND TESTING AT NEXOLVE

S93-48462 (5 Nov. 1993) --- Astronaut Charles D. (Sam) Gemar, wearing a partial pressure launch and entry suit (LES), takes a break during a training exercise at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The mission specialist and four crew mates rehearsed emergency egress procedures using the escape pole device in the trainer's hatchway (near right center frame).

S89-39471 (17 July 1989) --- STS-28 Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, Pilot Richard N. Richards, adjusts launch and entry suit (LES) neck ring after donning launch and entry helmet (LEH). Richards prepares for shuttle emergency egress (bailout) procedures in the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mockup and Integration Laboratory Bldg 9A.

S90-34964 (16 April 1990) --- Astronaut Vance D. Brand, STS-35 commander, is suspended via his parachute harness above the pool in the Johnson Space Center?s (JSC) Weightless Environment Training Facility (WETF) Bldg 29 during launch emergency egress exercises. Divers in the pool hold Brand's feet to steady him. In the background and on the poolside is pilot Guy S. Gardner. Both Brand and Gardner are wearing launch and entry suits (LES) and launch and entry helmets (LEH).

S94-40073 (23 June 1994) --- Wearing training versions of the launch and entry suits (LES), astronauts Ellen Ochoa, payload commander, and Joseph P. Tanner, mission specialist, await the beginning of a training session on emergency egress procedures. The STS-66 crew participated in the training, held in the Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Shuttle Mockup and Integration Laboratory. Ochoa and Tanner will join three other NASA astronauts and one international mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis in support of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3) flight scheduled for November of this year.

STS-65 Japanese Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai takes a break from training at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). Wearing a training version of the orange launch and entry suit (LES), Mukai stands at the crew compartment trainer (CCT) side hatch in the Mockup and Integration Laboratory (MAIL) Bldg 9NE. Note the crew escape system (CES) pole device extending out the side hatch which would accommodate crewmembers in bailout from a troubled spacecraft. Mukai represents the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan and will serve as a payload specialist aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, during the STS-65 International Microgravity Laboratory 2 (IML-2) mission.

S91-51995 (26 Nov 1991) --- Astronaut David C. Hilmers, STS-42 mission specialist, wearing launch and entry suit (LES) and launch and entry helmet (LEH), floats in the water with the aid of an underarm flotation device as SCUBA-equipped divers look on. Behind Hilmers is his yellow and orange single person life raft. Hilmers is rehearsing launch emergency egress (bailout) procedures in the Johnson Space Center?s (JSC) Weightless Environment Training Facility (WETF) Bldg 29. The crewmembers would use this equipment in the event of an emergency bailout over water. The WETF's 25 ft deep pool is used to simulate the ocean.

S90-28710 (12 Feb 1990) --- Astronaut Guy S. Gardner, STS-35 pilot, (standing) and Jeffrey A. Hoffman, mission specialist, prepare for egress training at the Johnson Space Center?s (JSC) Mockup and Integration Laboratory (MAIL) Bldg 9A. Gardner and Hoffman, wearing orange launch and entry suits (LES), adjust their parachute harnesses as they listen to instructions before training begins. The astronaut crewmembers and payload specialists for the scheduled May flight were specifically learning proper measures to take in the event of an emergency on the launch pad necessitating emergency evacuation of the orbiter.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, the nation's prototype space shuttle orbiter, before departing NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, at 11:00 a.m., 16 May 1983, on the first leg of its trek to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France. Seen here atop the huge 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the first stop for the Enterprise was Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Piloting the 747 on the Europe trip were Joe Algranti, Johnson Space Center Chief Pilot, Astronaut Dick Scobee, and NASA Dryden Chief Pilot Tom McMurtry. Flight engineers for that portion of the flight were Dryden's Ray Young and Johnson Space Center's Skip Guidry. The Enterprise, named after the spacecraft of Star Trek fame, was originally carried and launched by the 747 during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) at Dryden Flight Research Center.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, the nation's prototype space shuttle orbiter, departed NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, at 11:00 a.m., 16 May 1983, on the first leg of its trek to the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France. Carried by the huge 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the first stop for the Enterprise was Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Piloting the 747 on the Europe trip were Joe Algranti, Johnson Space Center Chief Pilot, Astronaut Dick Scobee, and NASA Dryden Chief Pilot Tom McMurtry. Flight engineers for that portion of the flight were Dryden's Ray Young and Johnson Space Center's Skip Guidry. The Enterprise, named after the spacecraft of Star Trek fame, was originally carried and launched by the 747 during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) at Dryden Flight Research Center.

Photographic documentation of the STS-97 preflight training which occurred in Building 9 Crew Compartment Trainer II (CCTII). Views include: Astronaut Brent W. Jett (center), STS-97 mission commander, shares a light moment with two of the mission specialists on his crew, astronauts Joseph R. Tanner (left) and Carlos I. Noriega. The three are about to don training versions of the orange Launch and entry suit (LES) prior to a dry run of countdown procedures (23524). Astronaut Joseph R. Tanner (left), mission specialist, helps astronaut Michael J. Bloomfield, pilot, with final touches on his suit-donning process as USA suit technicians Bill Todd (standing) and Brad Milling look on (23525). Astronaut Carlos I. Noriega, attired in a blue thermal undergarment, and USA suit technician Mike Birkenseher help astronaut Brent W. Jett, STS-97 mission commander, with final touches of suit donning (23526). Astronaut Marc Garneau, mission specialist representing the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), looks on as two crew mates assist him with final touches of suit-donning prior to a training session in the Johnson Space Center's Systems Integration Facility. Helping out are astronauts Carlos I. Noriega (left) and Joseph R. Tanner, mission specialists (23527). Astronaut Michael J. Bloomfield, left, discusses his launch and entry suit with USA technician Bill Todd prior to a training session (23528). Astronaut Joseph R. Tanner lends a helping hand to astronaut Carlos I. Noriega as the two STS-97 mission specialists prepare for a dry run going over launch procedures in a nearby simulator (23529). Astronaut Joseph R. Tanner receives a helping hand from astronaut Carlos I. Noriega as the two STS-97 mission specialists don training versions of their pressure ascent and entry garments (23530). Noriega adjusts his LES while in the CCTII middeck mock-up (23531).

S73-26046 (18 May 1973) --- Workmen in the GE Building across the street from the Johnson Space Center fold a sail-like sunshade being fabricated for possible use as a sunscreen for the Skylab Orbital Workshop (OWS). The three-layered sunshade will be composed of a top layer of aluminized mylar, a middle layer of laminated nylon rip-stop, and a bottom layer of thin nylon. The men are, left to right, Gerry E. Wood (wearing glasses), Glenn Hewitt, Pat Morrow, and Fred Le Donne. Wood is manager of crew provisions and engineering at GE. The work shown here is part of the crash program now underway to prepare a sunshield for Skylab to replace the original shield which was lost when Skylab I was launched on May 14, 1973. The improvised solar shield selected to be used will be carried to Earth orbit by the Skylab 2 crewmen who will deploy it to shade part of the OWS from the hot rays of the sun. Loss of the original shield has caused an overheating problem in the OWS. Photo credit: NASA

Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Interstellar Propulsion Research department are proposing different solutions to combustion propellants for future space travel. One alternative being tested is the solar sail. The idea is, once deployed, the sail will allow solar winds to propel a spacecraft away from Earth and towards its destination. This would allow a spacecraft to travel indefinitely without the need to refuel during its ong journey. Thin reflective sails could be propelled through space by sunlight, microwave beams, or laser beams, just as the wind pushes sailboats on Earth. The sail will be the largest spacecraft ever built, sparning 440 yards, twice the diameter of the Louisiana Super Dome. Construction materials are being tested in a simulated space environment, where they are exposed to harsh conditions to test their performance and durability in extremely hot and cold temperatures. A leading candidate for the construction material is a carbon fiber material whose density is less than 1/10 ounce per square yard, the equivalent of flattening one raisin to the point that it covers a square yard. In space, the material would unfurl like a fan when it is deployed from an expendable rocket. This photo shows Les Johnson, manager of MSFC's Interstellar Propulsion Research Center holding the rigid, lightweight carbon fiber. An artist's concept of the sail is on the right. Mankind's first venture outside of our solar system is proposed for launch in a 2010 timeframe. An interstellar probe, powered by the fastest spacecraft ever flown, will zoom toward the stars at 58 miles per second. It will cover the distance from New York to Los Angeles in less than a minute and will travel over 23 billion miles beyond the edge of the solar system.