Lift Off!

Last night, at 7:55 pm, NASA began the largest home makeover in space history. Space Shuttle Endeavor lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on time last night, and began its journey into orbit.
Seconds into the flight, the orbiter began its "Roll Program" which would roll the shuttle on its back, maximizing its engines power. Roughly a minute into the flight, FDO (Flight Dynamics Officer) said the words that to this day stir up sadness in every NASA flight controler. "Endeavor, go at throttle up." Those were the last words said to the Space Shuttle Challenger. Mission Commander Francis Scobee had just replied to Mission Command in Huston, Texas, with the words, "Roger, go at throttle up" when the orbiter Challenger exploded.
With this milestone out of the way, Endeavor continued to climb into space at a rate of two thousand miles per hour. Finally, ten minutes into the flight, the call was made. "Endeavor, press to MECO (Main Engine Cut-Off)." This call signified that even if all engines were lost at once, The orbiter would be able to acheive the altitude and speed to successfully rendeavous with the International Space Station.
In the first day after launch, the Endeavor crew will have the hull of the orbiter photographed, to find evidence if the shuttle is un-fit to return to earth in its current state. On day three, the shuttle will undergo a process known as the rendeavous pitch meneuver, which will give the ISS crew a photo opportunity, once again to photograph the orbiters hull with the purpose of finding weak spots in the shuttles heat tiles.

-NASA launch went as planned
-Only one problem with the launch process and that was declared "non-critical"
-"White Room" door not pinned in place, during retraction, it moved slightly, but not enough to endanger anyone or the mission.
-Door is not on the orbiter Endeavor
-7:55 Launch was a spectacular sight to see, with views from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and the external fuel tank on the shuttle/orbiter itself.
-Today the shuttle will undergo photography of its hull in attempt to forewarn of any problems that could arise on re-entry.
-Tomorrow the Shuttle will complete what is called the back flip, or rendezvous pitch maneuver. A nine minute process that allows the International Space Station crew to further photograph the hull of the orbiter, and again determine whether the shuttle is fit to return to earths orbit in its current state.

Friday marks a day in NASA history that cannot be forgotten by Astronaut or engineer alike, especially the ones who had to use the bathroom on board the international space station. Yes, that's right folks, STS-126 is set to take yet another bathroom to the International space station.
While that may be fun to talk about, the mission is also vital to both the safety of the astronauts on board the space station and us here on earth. Maintenance is being done on the starboard (right) joint that pivots the stations massive solar panels to absorb sunlight and power the station. Preventative maintenance is also being done on the port (left) joint, incase another problem arises and another shuttle cant make the trip up. Four space-walks and sixteen days later, the shuttle is scheduled to land at KSC (Kennedy Space Center).
Another interesting fact about this mission is what the toilets function is; to turn urine into pure water. Yes, once again folks you heard right! Urine being used to drink and for other uses up on the station. It will also carry a segment that is meant to expand the crews sleeping quarters.

Backround Article Notes

-Space shuttle Endeavour set for Friday launch time.
-Shuttle to take revolutionary Russian built toilet system into space for use at the Destiny Laboratory on board the International Space Station.
-This cutting edge technology turns urine into pure water, safe for drinking and use aboard the ISS.
-7:55 Launch time
-Ten minute launch window
Mission Details
-27th flight into space with space shuttles.
-Carrying Russian Cargo into space.
-Ten minute launch window.
Supposed to allow larger crews on board the ISS. Said to be taken there by the Ares V Vehicle.

Data Response

On October 24, NASA began the first steps toward assembling the Ares Rocket. The association, with the help of twelve tractor trailers, moved eleven steel segments from their housing in Cleveland at NASA's Glenn Research center, and began a twelve day journey down the Mississippi River, where the segments will reach the Gulf of Mexico and sail on to Port Canaveral.
The steel cylindrical segments weigh near twenty-four thousand pounds each. They are meant to be a "simulator" of the upper stages of the Ares Rocket, which will be test launched in April of next year. The exact date and time of the launch have yet to be revealed, but the flight profile can be downloaded from the NASA website. In short, the flight, if all goes well, will last less than a half hour.
The Ares Rocket is part of NASA's most recent programs, the Constellation program, that is the next step in flights to the moon and Mars. While there are ongoing projects that have objectives to identify water on mars, and map the lunar surface, NASA is the only agency in the world that is designing a craft that will take a human crew to Mars.
The less heard of portion of the constellation program is the Orion crew capsule, which will be tested next year as well, in the Arizona deserts. Many NASA experiments have taken place in Arizona, for the terrain in the desert there is much like the surface of the moon.
To summarize, the shipment of the steel segments is the first major step in assembling the Ares Rocket for her deadline of April 1.

Notes

-Ares rocket parts move down the Mississippi River
-No other means of transportation would work
-12 segments in rocket
-Rocket will be assembled in NASA's VAB (or Vehicle assembly building)
-Test flight tentatively scheduled for April 1st
-The parts will take a twelve day trip down the river
-Eleven steel cylinders, weighing between 24,00 lbs and 60,000 lbs
-NASA needed to be sure that the steel cylinders could withstand the rigors of launch.
-"The first ISS (International Space Station) mission is to take place no later than 2015, and the first lunar landing no later than 2020," says a NASA official.

Alex Response

I think that the NASA Ares and Orion was a good topic and i think that a good person to interview would be Mrs.McLain at G.S.B she knows a lot about NASA.

Dalton's Respones

I don't know allot on your topic so i cant help you. i think that you should try the NHL but that will be easy to research. Your essay was well written and you should do what you like and what you can find info on

My final choice of topic is the NASA Ares and Orion project. I chose this topic for many reasons, first, I like the space program and have an interest in researching it further. Secondly, when the I-Search project ends is almost a week after the Ares test flight, so a wealth of information would be present leading up to the test flight. The third reason was because this is the cutting edge of technology, if this project succeeds, then we will successfully have put an outpost on the moon by the year 2025. The longer term goal of the Ares project has been rumored to go to mars.



My choice was also based on the fact that information will be readily available for this topic. The Ares rocket is still in the building stages, but there is a test-flight for it tentatively scheduled for April, which is when this project will end. The entire project will lead up to the test-flight; its success, or its failure.



I have a personal interest in this subject because it is something that hasn't been done by any other country before. The Untied States won the space race, and they have a big lead in getting an outpost on the moon. NASA also plans to retire its space shuttle fleet in 2010, something that will leave us out of the international space station ongoing projects unless we can find other means to get there. Possible options include buying seats on Russian or Chinese space flights, or buying one of their spacecraft.



Information should be available on the Ares project, but Orion, the capsule that is supposed to go inside Ares, isn't being built yet, so the only information I may be able to get is the layout and possible dimensions of the capsule. On the NASA website there is plenty of information on where Ares is being built, by whom, and when it is expected to be completed and moved to NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).



The currency of the information should be fairly good. The NASA website since I've been checking has had information everyday whether it's about the modifications being made to Launch Pad 39B, or if a delay is expected with the Ares test launch.



I think this topic will make a great project and I know I can follow it straight to the end. Like I said I do have personal interest in this area of science and that would make the project an easy one to follow.

they all sound like they are very intersting topics. I would go with the hockey becasue like you said it is very easy to research and also very interesting as well. Interesting topic selections.

Corey

I think that the last one you had would help you the most. It looks that you are very interasted in this topic. It also look sthat you can get the most information about this one.

Mitchel's Response

I am not suprised that you did not find very much information on the databases as compared to the internet, which has hundreds of thousands of websites full of information. The NASA project was interesting, I did read somewhere that there was a "craft" that was sent to mars to gather more information about mars and what happened in regard to the surface.
With the super carrier idea, I was not suprised that you did not find much information on the web. Since it is in developement it would be hard for you to find any relavent information other than "It is under developement and we can not disclose any information at this time..."

Opening Paragraphs

The three topics I considered were NASA’s Ares and Orion project, the progression and development of the nuclear super-carrier, and a sports team of my choice to follow, which would be the Pittsburg Penguins of the NHL.
The research on the Penguins was easy and VERY un-challenging. The information was good and readily available, overall a very easy topic to cover, and probably a good choice considering the NHL season ends in mid April, which is when this project will end.
The next topic I was considering was the progression and development of the nuclear super-carrier. This is a very intriguing topic for me, especially with my interest in the navy and particularly flying. I found countless websites that could tell me the whereabouts of the nine super-carriers in existence, but not one could break down the anatomy of an aircraft carrier, which is what I was looking for.
The final topic on which I was interested in researching, was the Ares and Orion project that is run by NASA. The Ares part of the project is the propulsion system for an upcoming voyage to the moon and maybe Mars. Orion is the capsule in which is the name for the capsule which will house the crew during their (in the case of the mars journey) six year trip. I chose this topic because I have a profound interest in the space program and the timeline for the Ares test flight is at the end of this project in mid April. Though the actual mission won’t occur until 2014, the test flight is tentatively scheduled for April 1st. The information on this topic is not easily found on databases, so I was forced to move off the databases and go straight to another secondary source; the NASA website. Here I found an abundance of information on the Ares Project and test flight, contrary to what I found on the databases. There was an article in MARVEL that stated that the Ares rocket looked a lot like a space shuttle, and the only difference was the inside structure. Well, according to the NASA, the Ares rocket looks nothing like a space shuttle, in fact, it looks more like the Saturn V rocket that went to the moon. At this point I found the information in the databases to be lacking and decided to go to a more current source.