STS-134 Mission Specialists Visit Michoud Assembly Facility

STS-134 Mission Specialists Greg Chamitoff and Mike Fincke visited Michoud Assembly Facility July 19 to thank workers for a great external tank, ET-122.  The astronauts also took time to sit down with two 11-year-old Zachary students from Copper Mill Elementary. Fifth graders Alexis Albert and Leanne Sorrel were part of teacher Circe Bridges’ team whose science experiment was chosen last year by a national space education group for a place on the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s final flight. The students’ experiment asked, “How does microgravity affect the development of murine myoblasts?” The other fifth-grade team members, who were not able to attend the event, were Grace Dry, Madison Russell, Tyler Jackson and Jake O’Brien.


Picturedleft to right:  Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, students Leanne Sorrel andAlexis Albert, and Astronaut Mike Fincke. (Jacobs)

X Marks the Spot

Scientists from the Louisiana State University (LSU) Louisiana Spatial Reference Center recently installed one of two GPS stations at the Michoud Assembly Facility.  The stations represent how LSU, NASA, the  National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the private sector, have come together to harness space technology to make New Orleans a safer and more prosperous place to live and work. One of the stations, called “Moon,” uses signals from over 35 American and Russian satellites to determine its position so accurately it is being used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build hurricane protection levees that protect the city. Homeowners will benefit because surveyors can use the publicly available data from “Moon” to prepare FEMA flood certificates that are both accurate and inexpensive. In fact, the stations at Michoud will benefit all people living throughout the state because these stations strengthen  the backbone of the official positioning system of the state, the LSU GULFNET system.


Roy Dokka, left, and Randy Osborne, right, from the Louisiana Spatial Reference Center install the first of two GPS Survey Bench Marks at the Michoud Deep Well. Image credit: Jacobs Technology