Kennedy Space Center Briefs Community Leaders on Busy Year Ahead

NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, far left, moderates a panel discussion with senior leaders of NASA and center programs during a Community Leaders Update on Feb. 18, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, far left, moderates a panel discussion with senior leaders of NASA and center programs during a Community Leaders Update on Feb. 18, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. From second from left are Tom Engler, director, Center Planning and Development; Jenny Lyons, deputy manager, Gateway Logistics Element; Barbara Brown, chief technologist, Exploration Research and Technology Programs; Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager, Exploration Ground Systems; and Phil Meade, associate director, Spaceport Integration and Services. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Community leaders, business executives, partners, educators and government representatives gathered at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Feb. 18, 2020, for an update on Kennedy Space Center’s accomplishments and what’s ahead for this year. Center Director Robert Cabana greeted the group and served as moderator of a panel discussion with senior leaders of NASA programs based at the center.

Trent Smith, left, NASA Veggie project manager at Kennedy Space Center, talks to an attendee about the Veggie plant growth system that is currently in use on the International Space Station, during a Community Leaders Update on Feb. 18, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
Trent Smith, left, NASA Veggie project manager at Kennedy Space Center, talks to an attendee about the Veggie plant growth system that is currently in use on the International Space Station, during a Community Leaders Update on Feb. 18, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Panelists were Phil Meade, associate director, Spaceport Integration and Services; Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager, Exploration Ground Systems (EGS); Barbara Brown, chief technologist, Exploration Research and Technology (ER&T) Programs; Jenny Lyons, deputy manager, Gateway Logistics Element; and Tom Engler, director, Center Planning and Development (CPD).

The panelists gave an overview of the past year’s accomplishments, focused on what’s in store for this year and answered questions from the audience.

Artemis missions will pave the way for missions to Mars. EGS is preparing all of the ground support equipment and facilities for Artemis I. Verification and validations have been completed on the mobile launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Simulations of launch countdown are taking place in Launch Control Center Firing Room 1. Teams are practicing stacking of Space Launch System boosters using pathfinder replicas. “Work is continuing on the Spaceport Command and Control System,” Parsons said. “The Orion spacecraft for Artemis I will arrive later this year.”

Steve Payne, far left, with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, visits with a guest during a Community Leaders Update hosted by Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 18, 2020.
Steve Payne, far left, with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, visits with a guest during a Community Leaders Update hosted by Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 18, 2020. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflet

Gateway is NASA’s permanent lunar outpost that will be positioned in orbit around the Moon. Gateway will include a power and propulsion element and habitation modules, and eventually airlock capabilities. The center’s piece of the Gateway is logistics services, which will be used to deliver cargo, consumables and supplies for scientific research and technology demonstrations and commercial use.

“This center assignment leverages Kennedy’s extensive experience in enabling commercial services, as well as our spacecraft and payload integration and processing expertise,” Lyons said.

Teams from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and Space Launch System (SLS) practice SLS booster stacking with pathfinders inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on Nov. 19, 2019.
Teams from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and Space Launch System (SLS) practice SLS booster stacking with pathfinders inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on Nov. 19, 2019. SLS will launch the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024 through the Artemis program. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Spaceport Integration and Services is maintaining an integrated master schedule of all launches and processing activities. Kennedy and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are on track to manage more than 40 launches this year. The team continues to build relationships with commercial and government partners. The future includes keeping up with the launch demand and operating in non-traditional roles.

“We can only be successful when commercial and government space are integrated,” Cabana said.

CPD is working on attracting more businesses to the spaceport. The goal is to enable companies to be successful; but the companies need to work on achieving that success. They are supporting one of the center’s core missions: enable companies to fly what they have to space. Currently, Boeing, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin are doing just that.

Food production–plants and habitats–and dust mitigation are two of the technologies being developed by ER&T. “Plant production has to be compact,” Brown said. Two growth chambers developed here are currently on the International Space Station: Veggie and the Advanced Plant Habitat. The team also is looking at regolith operations and how to dampen the effect of dust that is kicked-up as landers touchdown on surfaces such as the Moon.

“We have an amazing year ahead of us,” Cabana said. “It’s our community working together that makes it so successful.”

Update from Everest: Hintze, Gateway Flag Reach Base Camp

Hintze wrote, “The NASA Gateway flag has made it to Everest Basecamp! That’s @OceanDebra, me, Bhalakaji our porter, and Dambar our guide!”
Hintze wrote, “The NASA Gateway flag has made it to Everest Basecamp! That’s @OceanDebra, me, Bhalakaji our porter, and Dambar our guide!”

Dr. Paul Hintze of NASA’s Exploration Research and Technology Programs is trekking Nepal and has reached his final destination: Everest base camp. With him is a NASA flag representing the Kennedy Space Center team supporting the Gateway.

Keep up with Dr. Hintze on Twitter @KSCPaul.

NASA Flag from Kennedy’s Gateway Team en Route to Mount Everest

On the way to Everest Base Camp, the NASA flag made a stop at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where shuttle Endeavour is displayed.
On the way to Everest Base Camp, the NASA flag made a stop at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where shuttle Endeavour is displayed. Photo credit: Paul Hintze

A NASA flag representing the Kennedy Space Center team supporting the Gateway—the agency’s “base camp” for the Moon—is on its way to the base camp for one of the most challenging exploration destinations on Earth: Mount Everest.

Hintze with Kanccha Sherpa and NASA flag
Hintze wrote, “This is me with Kanchha Sherpa. He is the last surviving member of the team that enabled Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary to reach the summit of Everest. He pointed to a picture Hillary and Norgay and said he carried the oxygen bottles they were using.”

Gateway is a lunar outpost that will enable the first woman and next man to set foot on the Moon in 2024. Mark Wiese, Gateway Logistics Element manager at Kennedy, is assembling the team that will provide logistics to the Gateway.

One of those team members, Dr. Paul Hintze of Exploration Research and Technology Programs, is in Kathmandu, Nepal. The flag, signed by Kennedy’s Gateway team members, is among the supplies he’s carrying on his journey. After leaving Florida, Hintze made a stop at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where he took out the flag for a photo op with shuttle Endeavour, on display at the museum. Next stop: Nepal.

Hintze with flag in Kathmandu
Hintze wrote, “In Kathmandu and our Gateway flag has its first Nepali signatures! Snow Leopard Trek is providing logistics for our two passes trek to EBC. That’s our guide, Dambar, on the right.”

According to Wiese, complex exploration campaigns require planning, professionals that know the route, and detailed staging of supplies in order to create a base camp from which the final leg of the trip can be carefully monitored and initiated… not unlike the logistical needs of an Everest adventure.

To keep up with Dr. Hintze, follow him on Twitter @KSCPaul.