ASTRONAUTS ATTEND MAXWELL LEADERSHIP REACTION COURSE

FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Astronauts attend Maxwell Leadership Reaction Course
By Tech. Sgt. Sarah Loicano
Air University Public Affairs


5/31/2013 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) -- In a collaborative training effort, a group of six American and international astronauts participated in an abbreviated version of the Air University Leadership Reaction Course here May 22-23.

Designed to develop leadership skills, the LRC is a field exercise consisting of a series of obstacle course challenges that students navigate as teams during Officer Training School and Reserve Officer Training Corps courses. The astronauts visited the course to evaluate its potential usefulness for future leadership development.

"There are many different types of training and requirements for NASA astronauts, and we are looking at new ways to fulfill leadership obligations," said Peggy Whitson, the training lead for astronaut expeditionary skills at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. The department is responsible for finding leadership opportunities for astronauts.

Whitson joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996 and served as the chief of the Astronaut Office from 2009-2012. She was the first woman to lead the U.S. Astronaut Corps, as well as the first female commander of the International Space Station.

"This training provides us different scenarios and different ways of meeting core leadership training requirements. It allows us to practice teamwork, leadership, decision making," she said, adding that the test run of the training course might be something NASA would consider sending additional astronauts to attend.

During the course, students, or in this case, astronauts, were given a specific obstacle goal, rules and time limit, with a different team leader selected to take charge for each obstacle.

"This is an opportunity for mentors to see folks thrust into leadership situations and watch how they respond. The situations may change when you're out in the operational Air Force or even at the space station, but the issues don't change," said Maj. Rick Kallstrom, the director of operations for the Academy of Military Science at OTS. "You still need to lead, follow, problem-solve, communicate and build teamwork, and those are the same principles they are learning here."

Although there is a textbook solution for each obstacle, instructors don't necessarily care how students develop a solution. During their time on the course, the astronauts solved several obstacles in a different way than instructors had seen previously.

"It's more about how well did they lead, maintain control of their team and communicate," Kallstrom explained. "It's a good chance to take classroom lessons and apply to real-world scenarios."

Takuya Onishi, an astronaut from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, attended the course.

"I think this LRC is very good for our leadership and followership skills as well as team building. As we went through the first few tasks, I trusted my teammates very strongly, without any doubt," Onishi said.

That sense of trust and cooperation is essential, he said, for working in environments like the International Space Station, where different cultures and languages come together.

"This is more of a realistic situation that we may be in, and this training is really beneficial for us and for me, especially," he said. "When we have to work in a team in which crew members have different backgrounds, these obstacle courses help us build our relationship."

THE 275TH MARTIAN DAY

FROM: NASA
Curiosity at 'Cumberland'

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its front left Hazard-Avoidance Camera for this image of the rover's arm over the drilling target "Cumberland" during the 275th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (May 15, 2013).

The rover team plans to use Curiosity's drill to collect a powdered sample from the interior of the rock for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is the mission's second rock-drilling target. The rover drove from its position beside the first drilling target, "John Klein," to its position beside Cumberland with drives of 121 inches (308 centimeters) on Sol 273 (May 13) and 26.6 inches (67.5 centimeters) on Sol 275. Curiosity's total odometry on Mars is now 2,385 feet (727 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

TESTING THE SOLAR-ELECTRIC PROPULSION THRUSTER

FROM: NASA

The Engine Burns Blue

This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA's Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

NASA - Barbara (Eastern Pacific Ocean)

NASA - Barbara (Eastern Pacific Ocean)

TO THE SPACE STATION, EPEDITION 36 CREW LAUNCH

 

FROM:  NASA VIDEO

Expedition 36 Crew Launches on Fast Track to Station

The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft carrying Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin an expedited 6-hour journey to the International Space Station.

Launch replay

Launch replay

Vše o Alphasatu

Vše o Alphasatu

Seguite in diretta questa sera il lancio di Luca Parmitano verso la ISS

Seguite in diretta questa sera il lancio di Luca Parmitano verso la ISS

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

Immagine EO della settimana: Il Tesoro del Kazakistan

Immagine EO della settimana: Il Tesoro del Kazakistan

STATEMENT FROM NASA ON MEETINGS IN EUROPE

FROM: NASA
NASA Statement on Space Technology Meetings in Europe

WASHINGTON -- The following is a statement from NASA's associate administrator for space technology, Michael Gazarik, about his meetings this week in Europe to discuss potential cooperation on development of space technologies that will enable NASA's future missions. These include the asteroid initiative announced in the president's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal.

"During my meetings this week with the German Space Agency, DLR; the European Space Program, ESA; and the French Space Program, CNES, I had an opportunity to view and learn about our partner's areas of technology focus and expertise and begin the process of identifying areas of potential cooperation in space technology. Our working-level discussions proved to be informative and productive. Our meetings also allowed me to share NASA's plans for our new asteroid initiative. NASA recognizes cooperation and collaboration are critical to meet increasingly global challenges. I look forward to working with our partners as we create the new knowledge and capabilities needed to enable the space missions of the future."

Gazarik is head of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions

NASA - Magnetar SGR 0418

NASA - Magnetar SGR 0418

THE STUDY OF SPACE WEATHER: AN EXPERIMENT AT THE SOUTH POLE

FROM: NASA 

In Antarctica in January, 2013 – the summer at the South Pole – scientists released 20 balloons, each eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL, for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses. Each balloon launched by the BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere.BARREL works hand in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels directly through the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts wax and wane over time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes intensifying the radiation through which satellites orbiting Earth must travel. Scientists need to understand this process better, and even provide forecasts of such space weather, in order to protect our spacecraft.  Image Credit: NASA