NASA's Space Launch System Gains Momentum Toward Integration and Testing

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) (Fig. 1) entered a new phase in 2017, completing major structural manufacturing on the core stage and delivering for launch the first flight hardware of the worlds most capable launch vehicle. The program is now in a stage of hardware assembly, integration and testing in preparation for the first integrated flight of SLS and the Orion crew vehicle. SLS is critical to U.S. leadership in future human and robotic space exploration, including a presence on the Moon in preparation for missions deeper into space. This paper will elaborate on SLS accomplishments in 2017 and plans for progress in 2018

NASA's Space Launch System Gains Momentum Toward Integration and Testing

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) entered a new phase in 2017, completing major structural manufacturing on the core stage and delivering the first flight hardware to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The program is now transitioning to integration, assembly and testing in preparation for launch readiness in late 2019. Core stage prime contractor Boeing concluded welding of the major core stage components for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) with the liquid hydrogen flight tank, following completion of the engine section, liquid oxygen tank, and forward skirt. Technicians also completed assembly of the bolted intertank, and all sections are currently in hardware integration. The engine section structural test article was shipped to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and began testing in 2017. The core stage pathfinder shipped to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF). Booster prime contractor Orbital ATK made significant progress casting motor segments for SLS, with several segments finishing processing and in storage. Forward and aft sections of the boosters are being refurbished at KSC. RS-25 prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne completed SLS adaptation testing and qualification of four new EM-1 controllers. The four EM-1 engines are ready and waiting for shipment from NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) to Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) for core stage integration in preparation for green run testing at SSC. The EM-1 Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System (ICPS) became the first major piece of SLS to arrive at KSC. Welding is complete on the EM-1 Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) and the flight Orion Stage Adapter (OSA). SLS is critical to U.S. leadership in future human and robotic space exploration, including a presence on the moon in preparation for missions deeper into space. This paper will elaborate on 2017 SLS progress and progress envisioned for 2018

La preparación de los maestros en la Universidad de Virginia

The purpose of this article is to describe how teacher education candidates at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise (UVa-Wise) in the United States are prepared and become eligible for professional teaching licenses in grades 6-12 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The authors first offer a brief overview of the College and the collaborative efforts between the UVa-Wise Department of Education and other academic disciplines. The authors identify specific program endorsement areas and grades levels in which UVa-Wise TEP candidates pursue licensure. Respective curricula in endorsement areas that candidates are required to complete to become eligible for their professional licenses in their respective teaching endorsement areas are summarized. Topics of discussion include: 1.) Requirements that candidates must meet for admission into the UVa-Wise teacher education program; 2.) the professional dispositions expectations for admission into and continuation in the UVa-Wise teacher education program; and 3.) the admission requirements to the student teaching internship, which is required of all program completers. Additionally, the roles of the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Board of Education in the teaching endorsement approval process for all teacher education programs in Virginia are discussed. Finally, the process of how teacher education programs can become recognized by a national accrediting organization (more specifically, the Teacher Education Accreditation Council) is briefly examined.El objetivo de este artículo es describir la formación de los estudiantes de Formación del Profesorado en la Universidad de Virginia de Estados Unidos y cómo llegan a ser docentes para la Enseñanza Primaria (Grados 6-12) en el Estado de Virginia. Los autores presentan, en primer lugar, una breve visión general del College y los esfuerzos colaborativos entre el Departamento de Educación de UVA-Wise y otras disciplinas académicas. Los autores identifican las áreas específicas de apoyo a los programas y las etapas y grados de los candidatos a la Formación del Profesorado en UVA-Wise para licenciarse. Asimismo, se resumen los respectivos planes de estudio que deben completar los estudiantes para adquirir la licencia profesional en sus correspondientes áreas. Los temas de la presente exposición incluyen: 1. Requisitos que los candidatos necesitan para ser admitidos en el programa de Formación del Profesorado en UVA-Wise; 2. Las expectativas de los profesionales en cuanto a su admisión y continuación en el mencionado programa; y 3. Los requisitos de admisión al periodo de prácticas, el cual es requerido para completar el programa. Se expone además, el papel que tiene el Departamento de Educación de Virginia y el Consejo de Educación para la aprobación de los programas dirigidos a la Formación de Profesores en Virginia. Finalmente, ha sido brevemente examinado, el reconocimiento otorgado a los programas de formación de profesores por parte de una organización nacional de acreditación (en concreto, el Consejo de Acreditación de Educación de Profesores)

Ares I-X: First Flight of a New Era

Since 2005, NASA s Constellation Program has been designing, building, and testing the next generation of launch and space vehicles to carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). The Ares Projects at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) are developing the Ares I crew launch vehicle and Ares V cargo launch vehicle. On October 28, 2009, the first development flight test of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, Ares I-X, lifted off from a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on successful suborbital flight. Basing exploration launch vehicle designs on Ares I-X information puts NASA one step closer to full-up "test as you fly," a best practice in vehicle design. Although the final Constellation Program architecture is under review, the Ares I-X data and experience in vehicle design and operations can be applied to any launch vehicle. This paper presents the mission background as well as results and lessons learned from the flight

Ares I-X: First Flight of a New Generation

The Ares I-X suborbital development flight test demonstrated NASA s ability to design, develop, launch and control a new human-rated launch vehicle (Figure 14). This hands-on missions experience will provide the agency with necessary skills and insights regardless of the future direction of space exploration. The Ares I-X team, having executed a successful launch, will now focus on analyzing the flight data and extracting lessons learned that will be used to support the development of future vehicles

FORCES ON THE LUMBAR SPINE DURING THE PARALLEL SQUAT

INTRODUCTION The benefits of the parallel squat include enhanced lower body musculature, the development of explosive strength, and an increase in ligament and tendon strength. These benefits tend to overshadow the fact that squatting places excessive stress on the musculoskeletal system (Shirazi-Adl, 1994). The purpose of this study was to determine the compression, torsion, and shear forces on the lumbar spine during the patallel squat for experienced and recreational weight men. llventy male subjects were divided into two groups based on experience with the parallel squat. Each subject was f h e d lifting 5 repetitions of 4 weight loads (45 lbs, 225 lbs, body weight (BW), 1.25xBW). The last repetition for each weight load was digitized. A MANOVA was used to determine differences (

Feeling our way: academia, emotions and a politics of care

This paper aims to better understand the role of emotions in academia, and their part in producing, and challenging, an increasingly normalized neoliberal academy. It unfolds from two narratives that foreground emotions in and across academic spaces and practices, to critically explore how knowledges and positions are constructed and circulated. It then moves to consider these issues through the lens of care as a political stance towards being and becoming academics in neoliberal times. Our aim is to contribute to the burgeoning literature on emotional geographies, explicitly bringing this work into conversation with resurgent debates surrounding an ethic of care, as part of a politic of critiquing individualism and managerialism in (and beyond) the academy. We consider the ways in which neoliberal university structures circulate particular affects, prompting emotions such as desire and anxiety, and the internalisation of competition and audit as embodied scholars. Our narratives exemplify how attendant emotions and affect can reverberate and be further reproduced through university cultures, and diffuse across personal and professional lives. We argue that emotions in academia matter, mutually co-producing everyday social relations and practices at and across all levels. We are interested in their political implications, and how neoliberal norms can be shifted through practices of caring-with

NASA's Space Launch System Transitions From Design To Production

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) in 2015, a major milestone on the journey to an unprecedented era of exploration for humanity. CDR formally marked the program's transition from design to production phase just four years after the program's inception and the first such milestone for a human launch vehicle in 40 years. While challenges typical of a complex development program lie ahead, CDR evaluators concluded that the design is technically and programmatically sound and ready to press forward to Design Certification Review (DCR) and readiness for launch of Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) in the 2018 timeframe. SLS is prudently based on existing propulsion systems, infrastructure and knowledge with a clear, evolutionary path as required by mission needs. In its initial configuration, designated Block 1, SLS will a minimum of 70 metric tons (t) (154,324 pounds) of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO). It will evolve to a 130 t (286,601 pound) payload capacity by upgrading its engines, boosters, and upper stage, dramatically increasing the mass and volume of human and robotic exploration while decreasing mission risk, increasing safety, and simplifying ground and mission operations. CDR was the central programmatic accomplishment among many technical accomplishments that will be described in this paper. The government/industry SLS team successfully test-fired a flight-like five-segment solid rocket motor, as well as seven hotfire development tests of the RS-25 core stage engine. The majority of the major test article and flight barrels, rings, and domes for the core stage liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, engine section, intertank, and forward skirt were manufactured at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. Renovations to the B-2 test stand for stage green run testing were completed at NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC), near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Core stage test stands are reaching completion at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The modified Pegasus barge for core stage transportation from manufacturing to testing and launch sites was delivered to SSC. The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System test article was also completed. This paper will discuss these and other technical and programmatic successes and challenges over the past year and provide a preview of work ahead before the first flight of this new capability

Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing of Manned Spacecraft: Historical Precedent

For the first time in nearly 30 years, NASA is developing a new manned space flight launch system. The Ares I will carry crew and cargo to not only the International Space Station, but onward for the future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Ares I control system and structural designs use complex computer models for their development. An Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test (IVGVT) will validate the efficacy of these computer models. The IVGVT will reduce the technical risk of unexpected conditions that could place the vehicle or crew in jeopardy. The Ares Project Office's Flight and Integrated Test Office commissioned a study to determine how historical programs, such as Saturn and Space Shuttle, validated the structural dynamics of an integrated flight vehicle. The study methodology was to examine the historical record and seek out members of the engineering community who recall the development of historic manned launch vehicles. These records and interviews provided insight into the best practices and lessons learned from these historic development programs. The information that was gathered allowed the creation of timelines of the historic development programs. The timelines trace the programs from the development of test articles through test preparation, test operations, and test data reduction efforts. These timelines also demonstrate how the historical tests fit within their overall vehicle development programs. Finally, the study was able to quantify approximate staffing levels during historic development programs. Using this study, the Flight and Integrated Test Office was able to evaluate the Ares I Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test schedule and workforce budgets in light of the historical precedents to determine if the test had schedule or cost risks associated with it