National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 2010

A CHRONOLOGY

www.nasa.gov SP-2013-4037
AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS: 

A CHRONOLOGY: 2010
 

NASA SP-2014-4037 

September 2013 

Author: Meaghan Flattery 
 
	

Project Manager: Alice R. Buchalter
 
 

Federal Research Division, Library of Congress 
 

NASA History Program Office 

Public Outreach Division 

Office of Communications 

NASA Headquarters 

Washington, DC 20546 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

PREFACE 
 

This report is a chronological compilation of narrative summaries of news reports and 

government documents highlighting significant events and developments in U.S. and foreign 

aeronautics and astronautics. It covers the year 2010. These summaries provide a day-to-day 

recounting of major activities, such as administrative developments, Congressional hearings, 

awards, launches, scientific discoveries, corporate and government research results, and other 

events in countries with aeronautics and astronautics programs. Researchers used the 

archives and files housed in the NASA History Program Office, as well as reports and 

databases on the NASA Web site and the Web sites of select non–U.S. space agencies. 

Researchers also accessed the Web sites of various federal government agencies and those of 

congressional committees with jurisdiction over science, aeronautics, and space programs. 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

PREFACE.................................................................................................................................. i 

JANUARY 2010....................................................................................................................... 1 

FEBRUARY 2010 .................................................................................................................... 7 

MARCH 2010......................................................................................................................... 14 

APRIL 2010............................................................................................................................ 20 

MAY 2010 .............................................................................................................................. 27 

JUNE 2010.............................................................................................................................. 34 

JULY 2010.............................................................................................................................. 39 

AUGUST 2010 ....................................................................................................................... 45 

SEPTEMBER 2010 ................................................................................................................ 52 

OCTOBER 2010..................................................................................................................... 58 

NOVEMBER 2010 ................................................................................................................. 64 

DECEMBER 2010.................................................................................................................. 69 

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ 76 

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................... 80 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

JANUARY 2010 

1 January 

NASA announced that astronaut John M. Grunsfeld would leave NASA to become Deputy 

Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Grunsfeld, a 

specialist in high-energy cosmic-ray studies and gamma-ray and x-ray astronomy, had 

entered the astronaut corps in 1992. As an astronaut, he had accrued more than 835 hours in 

space over the course of five Shuttle missions. Grunsfeld had repaired or upgraded the 

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during three of these flights: STS-103 in December 1999, 

STS-109 in March 2002, and STS-125 in May 2009. During these missions, Grunsfeld had 

logged more than 58 hours performing eight separate spacewalks. From 2003 to 2004, 

Grunsfeld had assisted in developing the Vision for Space Exploration while serving as Chief 

Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The science operations center for 

NASA’s HST and for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Space Telescope 

Science Institute, planned to launch JWST in 2014.1 

4 January 

Lew Allen Jr., former Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), died at his home 

in Potomac Falls, Virginia, of complications from rheumatoid arthritis. Allen had begun his 

career in public service in 1946, when he joined the U.S. Air Force. In 1973 he had accepted 

an appointment as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), and, from 1978 to 1982, 

he had served as Chief of Staff of the Air Force. After retiring from the Air Force in 1982 as 

a four-star general, Allen had become the first Director of NASA’s JPL hired from outside 

NASA. While serving as Director of JPL, Allen had invested in research and development 

(R&D) for planetary science programs and had ushered the uncrewed space program through 

the development of space-related defense programs. He had overseen the launches of the 

Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Magellan flight to Venus, as well as the completion of the 

Infrared Astronomical Satellite sky survey and the Voyager 2 flybys of Uranus and Neptune. 

He had retired from NASA’s JPL in 1990.2 

At the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, a team of scientists led by 

William J. Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) announced that NASA’s 

Kepler space telescope had discovered five new exoplanets in the region beyond Earth’s 

solar system. Scientists described the planets, named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, and 8b, as “hot 

Jupiters,” because of their high temperatures and masses. Ranging from approximately the 

size of Neptune to larger than Jupiter, the planets move in orbits lasting from 3.3 to 4.9 days 

and have estimated surface temperatures of 2,200F (1,204.44C) to 3,000F (1,648.89C). 

1

 NASA, “NASA Astronaut John Grunsfeld, Instrumental to Hubble Telescope Repair, Will Help Oversee Its 

Science Operations,” news release 10-001, 1 January 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_
 
 

01-001_Grunsfeld.html (accessed 11 October 2012); Frank D. Roylance, “Former Astronaut Joins Space 

Telescope Science Institute,” Baltimore Sun, 5 January 2010, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-01-05/
 
 

news/bal-md.briefs050jan05_1_space-telescope-science-institute-hubble-john-m-grunsfeld (accessed 9 

November 2012).

2

 Associated Press, “Lew Allen Jr., Ex-Spy Chief and JPL Director, Dies,” 6 January 2010, http://seattletimes. 

com/html/nationworld/2010717160_apusobitnasaofficial.html (accessed 9 November 2012); Emma Brown, 

“Air Force Gen. Lew Allen Jr., 84, Headed NASA, NASA Lab,” Washington Post, 7 January 2010, http://www. 

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/06/AR2010010604914.html (accessed 9 November 2012).
 
 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

Researchers were surprised by the unexpectedly low densities of four of the planets—they 

compared the density of Kepler 7b to that of styrofoam. These findings were the result of 

analysis of the first six weeks of data from the Kepler mission, which had launched on 6 

March 2009 to search for an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. 

Kepler’s photometer had continuously scanned a swath of the sky containing approximately 

156,000 stars, searching for a decline in starlight that would indicate the transit of an object 

around a star. Scientists had also used this data to estimate the size and temperature of 

planets. In addition to revealing the discovery, Kepler’s data indicated that 0.6 of the 

approximately 43,000 stars observed have a light output approximately as stable as the Sun. 

A relatively stable star is a prerequisite for an orbiting planet to harbor life forms.3 

5 January 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. appointed David D. McBride as Director of 

NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). As Director, McBride would be 

responsible for overseeing all aspects of facility management, operations, and strategy at 

NASA’s DFRC. McBride had begun his career with NASA in 1982, as a student in NASA’s 

cooperative education program. He had served as Manager of the Flight Research Program at 

NASA’s DFRC, conducting flight research to increase aerospace capabilities and knowledge. 

During his tenure, the Flight Research Program had conducted the Active Aeroelastic Wing 

flight project and the flight of the solar-powered Helios aircraft, as well as completing the 

Intelligent Flight Control System. McBride had also served as Associate Director of 

Programs at NASA’s DFRC, during which time he had managed all projects supporting 

aeronautics, exploration, and science. In June 2008, McBride had become Acting Deputy 

Director of NASA’s DFRC, accepting a permanent appointment to that position in January 

2009. Since the April 2009 retirement of former Director Kevin L. Petersen, McBride had 

served as Acting Director of NASA’s DFRC.4 

6 January 

The Palo Alto–based satellite provider Space Systems/Loral announced that NASA had 

awarded Loral a contract to manufacture the propulsion system for its Lunar Atmosphere 

Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite. LADEE was a 130-kilogram (286.60-pound) 

satellite designed to study the lunar atmosphere and atmospheric dust. For the LADEE 

mission, Loral would modify the propulsion-system hardware that it had designed for its 

contracted commercial telecommunications satellites and integrate the modified software into 

NASA’s low-cost, general-purpose Modular Common Spacecraft Bus. NASA officials had 

scheduled the launch of the LADEE mission for 2012.5 

3

 NASA, “NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Discovers Five Exoplanets,” news release 10-002, 4 January 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-002_Kepler_5_Exoplanets.html (accessed 11 October
 
 

2012); Peter N. Spotts, “NASA’s Kepler Finds Its First Five Planets—An Odd Assortment,” Christian Science 

Monitor, 4 January 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0104/NASA-s-Kepler-finds-its-first-fiveplanets-an-odd-assortment (accessed 9 November 2012). 4 NASA, “NASA Names New Dryden Flight Research Center Director,” news release 10-006, 5 January 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-006_McBride.html (accessed 11 October 2012).
 
 5

 Peter B. De Selding, “Loral To Supply Propulsion System for Lunar Probe,” Spacenews.com, 6 January 2010, 

http://www.spacenews.com/article/loral-supply-propulsion-system-lunar-probe (accessed 16 November 2012).
 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

12 January 

NASA announced that it had selected nine providers of informal education to receive a total 

of US$6.2 million in grants through NASA’s Competitive Program for Science Museums 

and Planetariums. The grant recipients included Challenger Centers, museums, science 

centers, and other institutions, located in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, 

North Carolina, Oregon, and South Dakota. The grants would fund informal and formal 

science education opportunities for both students and teachers, including projects inspired by 

NASA’s activities in the fields of engineering, mathematics, science, space, and technology. 

The grants would range from nearly US$120,000 to US$1.15 million, with a maximum fiveyear period of performance. NASA’s Office of Education had collaborated with mission 

directorates to select the proposals through a merit-based, external-peer-review process. The 

proposals focused on themes of NASA aeronautics, Earth science, microgravity, space 

exploration, and space science.6 

14 January 

Russian cosmonauts Oleg V. Kotov and Maxim V. Suraev left the International Space 

Station (ISS) for a spacewalk to activate the new Poisk docking port, also known as the MiniResearch Module 2. The Poisk module, which is 13 feet long (3.96 meters long) and 8 feet 

wide (2.44 meters wide), provides a scientific research space, as well as an airlock and 

docking port. Poisk had arrived at the ISS in November 2009. During the spacewalk, which 

lasted for 5 hours and 44 minutes, the cosmonauts connected cables between the Poisk and 

Zvezda modules, positioned docking targets and Kurs aerials, and installed handrails and exit 

hatches. They also retrieved the Russian science experiment Biorisk-MSN from the exterior 

of the ISS and dropped two bundles of trash to incinerate in Earth’s atmosphere. The 

spacewalk was Kotov’s third and Suraev’s first.7 

15 January 

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), a congressionally mandated committee of 

independent aerospace experts, submitted its 2009 annual report to Congress and to NASA 

Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. The report made recommendations on issues related to 

the safety of NASA’s astronauts, contractors, personnel, missions, and programs. The ASAP 

had studied issues affecting the future of NASA’s Human Space Flight Program, including 

the extension of the Space Shuttle Program beyond 2010; rating requirements for commercial 

and international spaceflight vehicles that transport humans into space; the necessity of 

public discourse regarding human spaceflight; the use of robots to explore space, in lieu of 

human exploration; and NASA workforce-transition issues. The ASAP concluded that 

NASA should not continue to use the aging Shuttle significantly beyond its current manifest. 

The panel recommended a continuation of the Constellation Program to meet human 

spaceflight goals, stating that abandoning that program would probably not be cost-effective. 

Furthermore, the panel pointed out that, unlike Ares I, none of the available Commercial 

6

 NASA, “NASA’s New Museum Grant Allies Will Make the Universe Accessible to Families from Alaska to
 
 

Florida,” news release 10-007, 12 January 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-

007_education_grants.html (11 October 2012).
 7

 Tariq Malik, “Russian Spacewalkers Start Up New Space Docking Port,” Space.com, 14 January 2010, 

http://www.space.com/7777-russian-spacewalkers-start-space-docking-port.html (accessed 9 November 2012); 

RIA Novosti, “Russian Cosmonauts Complete Year’s First Spacewalk,” 14 January 2010, http://en.rian.ru/
 

science/20100114/157548312.html (accessed 9 November 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) vehicles met rating requirements for safe human 

spaceflight.8 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a series of sounding rockets to 

study the effects of a solar eclipse on the atmosphere. The eclipse on 15 January 2010 was 

the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium. During an annular eclipse, the Moon’s 

shadow passes across the Earth, causing the Earth’s Sun to appear as a blindingly bright ring 

surrounding the Moon. On 14 January 2010, ISRO had launched from the Vikram Sarabhai 

Space Centre two Rohini RH-300 Mk-II rockets, which could reach an altitude of 116 

kilometers (72.08 miles) above Earth, and two RH-200 rockets, which could reach a peak 

altitude of 70 kilometers (43.50 miles). On 15 January 2010, ISRO launched three RH-300 

Mk-II rockets and two RH-200 rockets from Thumba Equatorial Rockets Launching Station. 

Also on 15 January, Satish Dhawan Space Centre launched an RH Mk-II rocket that could 

reach an altitude of 548 kilometers (340.51 miles) above Earth. ISRO officials stated that 

they planned to launch an 11th rocket on 16 January 2010, to study the after effects of the 

eclipse. The rockets were gathering data on the effects on Earth’s lower and middle 

atmosphere of the sudden cessation of solar radiation before, during, and after the eclipse.9 

19 January 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. named William A. Wrobel Director of NASA’s 

Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC’s) Wallops Flight Facility (WFF). Wrobel replaced 

former Director John H. Campbell, who had retired in December 2009. Bolden also named 

Wrobel Director of the Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate of NASA’s WFF, 

which manages NASA’s scientific-balloon and sounding-rocket programs. Wrobel had held 

positions in the private sector with McDonnell Douglas and Orbital Sciences before coming 

to NASA in 2006. When appointed Director of NASA’s WFF, Wrobel was serving as 

Assistant Associate Administrator for Launch Services at NASA Headquarters. In that 

position, he had overseen the acquisition and certification of expendable launch vehicles 

(ELVs), as well as the administration of the Rocket Propulsion Test Program. Wrobel 

planned to remain in his position at Launch Services until he had completed several nearterm activities and NASA had appointed an acting assistant associate administrator to replace 

him.10 

21 January 

NASA astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim V. Suraev successfully 

moved the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft from the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS to the new 

Poisk docking module. The Poisk module had arrived at the ISS in November 2009, and 

8

 NASA, “Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases Annual Report,” news release M10-006, 15 January 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_M10-006_ASAP_Report.html (accessed 11 October 2012); 

NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, “Annual Report for 2009” (report, Washington, DC, 15 January 

2010), http://oiir.hq.nasa.gov/asap/documents/2009_ASAP_Annual_Report.pdf (accessed 23 November 2012). 9

 P. Venugopal, “Ten Rockets Fired To Study Solar Eclipse,” Hindu, 16 January 2010, http://www.hindu.com/
 

2010/01/16/stories/2010011661502200.htm (accessed 16 November 2012); Harmeet Shah Singh, “India 

Launches Rockets To Study Eclipse,” CNN.com, 15 January 2010, http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/space/
 

01/14/india.rockets/ (accessed 16 November 2012). 10 NASA, “NASA Names New Wallops Flight Facility Director,” news release 10-010, 19 January 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-010_Wrobel.html (accessed 11 October 2012).
 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

cosmonauts Maxim V. Suraev and Oleg V. Kotov had activated it during a spacewalk on 14 

January 2010. To complete the Soyuz docking maneuver, Suraev and Williams backed the 

vehicle away from the ISS to a distance of 30 meters (98.43 feet), turned it in a 90° arc 

toward the space-facing port, and carefully guided it into the port at the rate of 0.1 meters 

(0.33 feet) per second. The maneuver, which lasted 21 minutes, cleared the port at the aft end 

of the Zvezda module for the arrival of an uncrewed Progress cargo ship, scheduled to dock 

at the ISS on 5 February 2010.11 

22 January 

NASA introduced software that would give astronauts aboard the ISS direct personal access 

to the Internet and the World Wide Web. NASA had not previously established a live 

Internet connection because of security and technical issues. The new Internet connection 

would enable private communication for astronauts, helping alleviate the feelings of isolation 

that crew members may experience while on long missions in a closed environment. The new 

Crew Support LAN would establish the Internet connection whenever the ISS’s high-speed 

Ku-band antenna was communicating with the ground. Using a laptop aboard the ISS, 

astronauts could remotely interact with a desktop computer on Earth via their keyboard 

touchpad. In addition to being able to browse the Web and update social media via the new 

connection, astronauts would continue to have access to official e-mail, Internet Protocol 

telephone, and limited videoconferencing capabilities. Flight Engineer Timothy J. Creamer, 

who had helped update the software to establish the new connection, was the first to use the 

Internet to send a tweet from the ISS. Previously, astronauts had only been able to send 

tweets from space by e-mailing messages to Mission Control, so that support personnel could 

post the messages to Twitter.12 

26 January 

NASA announced that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was no longer a fully mobile robot 

and would henceforth be designated a stationary science platform. Spirit, which had landed 

on Mars in January 2004, had become embedded in a sand trap after its wheels had broken 

through the surface crust of Mars’s soil in May 2009. Rover drivers at NASA’s JPL had tried 

to free Spirit from the sand trap, but their attempts had failed. One of the vehicle’s wheels 

had been nonfunctional since 2006 and another had stopped working in November 2009. 

NASA officials were opting to cease trying to move the rover and to focus on positioning 

Spirit so that its solar panels could absorb sufficient sunlight to survive the Martian winter, 

which would begin in May. During the winter, Spirit would remain in hibernation mode, 

ceasing all electronic functions except for a daily battery check to determine whether it had 

sufficient charge to attempt to communicate with Earth. NASA scientists expected that 

Mars’s winter temperatures would be within the range that the rover had been built to 

withstand. However, they were unsure whether the vehicle’s age would affect its ability to 

maintain the warmth of its critical electronics. If Spirit survived the winter, researchers 

11 James Dean, “Soyuz Settles at New Station Docking Port,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 21 January 2010, 

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2010/01/soyuz-settles-in-at-new-station-docking.shtml 

(accessed 16 November 2012). 

12 NASA, “NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out Into Space,” news release M10-012, 22 January 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_M10-012_ISS_Web.html (accessed 11 October 2012); Tariq 

Malik, “NASA Launches Astronaut Internet in Space,” Space.com, 22 January 2010, http://www.space.com/ 

7813-nasa-launches-astronaut-internet-space.html (accessed 22 January 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

planned to use it to conduct experiments that required a stationary vehicle, studying Mars’s 

core, soil, and wind.13 

27 January 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. and Israel Space Agency Director Zvi Kaplan 

signed a joint statement of cooperation at NASA’s ARC. The statement recognized the Israel 

Space Agency’s Israel Network for Lunar Science and Exploration (INLSE) as an affiliate 

partner with NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, making INLSE a member of the NASA Center 

for Moon Research. INLSE scientists would advance the goals of lunar-science research, 

using their expertise in advanced multilayer cameras, advanced sensors, automatic vehicle 

navigation, lasers, lightweight satellites, microsatellites, miniature radar technologies, and 

propulsion systems for satellites. The agreement established initial goals regarding laser 

communications, remote sensing, robotics, and other technologies for future lunar missions, 

as well as education and public outreach.14 

28 January 

Two independent teams of scientists reported in the journal Nature related findings, the result 

of their observations of seemingly normal supernovas that emitted mildly relativistic jets 

similar to those emitted by gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). A study team led by Alicia M. 

Soderberg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics had observed luminous radio 

emission, with an expansion velocity of 0.85 times the speed of light, from the type-Ibc 

supernova SN 2009bb. A team led by Zsolt Paragi of the Joint Institute for Very Long 

Baseline Interferometry had used radio observations to detect the type-Ic supernova SN 

2007gr emitting a small amount of ejecta at 0.6 times the speed of light or more. Previously, 

scientists had only observed GRBs emitting jets at speeds approximating the speed of light. 

Soderberg’s team concluded that a small number of type-Ibc supernovas possess a central 

engine—an accreting black hole or neutron star—that drives a relativistic outflow of ejecta. 

Paragi’s team concluded that the mildly relativistic outflow of a tiny amount of ejecta is 

typical of type-Ic supernovas, but that this outflow is difficult to detect with optical 

observations. The researchers had gathered the study data using a variety of space- and 

ground-based observational tools, including NASA’s Swift satellite.15 

13 NASA, “Now a Stationary Research Platform, NASA’s Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New Chapter in Red 

Planet Scientific Studies,” news release 10-024, 26 January 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/ 

jan/HQ_10-024_Spirit.html (accessed 11 October 2012); Peter N. Spotts, “NASA Mars Rover Spirit To Rove 

No More,” Christian Science Monitor, 26 January 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0126/NASAMars-rover-Spirit-to-rove-no-more (accessed 9 November 2012). 14 NASA, “NASA Adds Israeli Technical Expertise to Lunar Science Research at Ames,” news release 10-020, 

27 January 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-020_Israel_LSI.html (accessed 11 

October 2012); Judy Siegel, “Israeli Experts Work with NASA on Moon Research,” Jerusalem Post, 28 January 

2010, http://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/ScienceAndEnvironment/Article.aspx?id=167062 (accessed 16 

November 2012).

15 NASA, “Newborn Black Holes May Add Power to Many Exploding Stars,” news release 10-025, 27 January 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-025_SWIFT.html (accessed 11 October 2012); Z. 

Paragi et al., “A Mildly Relativistic Radio Jet from the Otherwise Normal Type Ic Supernova 2007gr,” Nature 

463, no. 7280 (28 January 2010): 516–518, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/ 

nature08713.html (accessed 16 November 2012); A. M. Soderberg et al., “A Relativistic Type Ibc Supernova 

Without a Detected -Ray Burst,” Nature 463, no. 7280 (28 January 2010): 513–515, http://www.nature.com/ 

nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/nature08714.html (accessed 16 November 2012). 

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FEBRUARY 2010 

1 February 

NASA announced that it had signed Space Act Agreements worth a total of US$50 million 

with five companies that had participated in an open competition for funds from the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Space Act Agreements provided funding 

for the advancement of capabilities, system concepts, and technologies that could be used in 

commercial crew human spaceflight. As its first action pursuant to President Barack H. 

Obama’s new directive to foster commercial human spaceflight capabilities, NASA intended 

these Space Act Agreements to stimulate commercial spaceflight development, create new 

markets for economic growth, and encourage the private sector to create new jobs involving 

analysis, design, engineering, and research. The selected aerospace teams would design crew 

concepts, technology demonstrations, and investigations for future commercial support of 

human transportation. The five companies receiving the contracts were Blue Origin, of Kent, 

Washington (US$37 million); Boeing Company of Houston, Texas (US$18 million); Paragon 

Space Development of Tucson, Arizona (US$1.4 million); Sierra Nevada Corporation of 

Louisville, Colorado (US$20 million); and United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado 

(US$6.7 million). These companies also proposed to match funds to offset taxpayer 

investment. The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program at NASA’s JSC would manage the 

Space Act Agreements, which would fund performance milestones beginning in February 

2010.16 

3 February 

The House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing, 

“Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency’s Watchdogs,” to prepare 

to consider legislation to reauthorize NASA. The hearing addressed challenges NASA faced 

in management, mission execution, and safety oversight, as well as ways that NASA might 

meet these challenges. Some members expressed particular concern over the future of 

NASA’s Human Space Flight Program, in light of President Barack H. Obama’s recent fiscal 

year (FY) 2011 budget proposal, which would cancel the Constellation Program. Three 

witnesses from NASA’s watchdog organizations provided testimony on their organizations’ 

recent analysis. Paul K. Martin of NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) testified on 

OIG’s annual memorandum, released in November 2009. In that memorandum, OIG had 

addressed what it viewed as NASA’s most serious management and performance issues, 

including NASA’s acquisition and contracting processes; financial management; information 

technology security; risk management for people, equipment, and missions; and NASA’s 

transition from the Space Shuttle Program to the next generation of space vehicles. Christina 

T. Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified regarding GAO’s 

February 2010 report, “Assessment of Selected Large-Scale Projects,” which had evaluated 

19 NASA projects, based on cost and schedule growth. According to Chaplain, GAO had 

found that 9 of the 10 NASA projects remaining in the implementation phase for several 

years had experienced cost growth of 8–68 percent and launch delays of 1–33 months during 

16 NASA, “NASA Selects Commercial Firms To Begin Development of Crew Transportation Concepts and 

Technology Demonstrations for Human Spaceflight Using Recovery Act Funds,” news release C10-004, 1 

February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_C10-004_Commercia_Crew_Dev.html 

(accessed 29 November 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

the previous three years. GAO also reported concerns about NASA’s contract management. 

Joseph W. Dyer of the ASAP testified that the panel’s 2009 annual report, released on 15 

January 2010, encouraged NASA to analyze possible effects of extending the Space Shuttle 

Program; to communicate to Congress and the public the risks of human spaceflight; to 

establish rating requirements for commercial and international vehicles that transport humans 

into space; to use robots for space exploration; and to assist workers in the transition from the 

Space Shuttle Program to its successor.17 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. appointed Woodrow Whitlow Jr. Associate 

Administrator for Mission Support at NASA Headquarters. In this position, Whitlow would 

oversee most of NASA’s management operations, including budget and systems support; 

cross-agency business; human capital; and contract and institutional support functions. 

Whitlow had begun his career with NASA as a research scientist at NASA’s Langley 

Research Center (LaRC) in 1979. In 1994 he had accepted the position of Director of the 

Critical Technologies Division in the Office of Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters. In 1998 

he had moved to NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC), where he had served as Director of 

Research and Technology. Whitlow had also served as Deputy Director of NASA’s Kennedy 

Space Center (KSC), assisting the Director in managing center policy and implementing 

agency program responsibilities and center missions. Whitlow had been responsible for 

acquiring launch services; processing, launching and recovering launch vehicles; and 

processing spacecraft. Since 2005, Whitlow had served as Director of NASA’s GRC, and he 

planned to remain in that position until NASA had named his successor.18 

Robert D. Braun accepted an appointment as NASA’s Chief Technologist, principal advisor 

and advocate for NASA’s technology policy and programs. As Chief Technologist, Braun 

would develop a technology program that would determine the types of technology that 

NASA would pursue; procedures NASA would follow when engaging with the aerospace 

community and other government agencies; and NASA’s investment strategies, particularly 

its strategies for investing its own technological capital. Braun’s professional experience had 

included 16 years designing and analyzing planetary exploration and robotic spaceflight 

systems at NASA’s LaRC. He had worked on the Mars Microprobe team, the Mars Sample 

Return team, and the Mars Surveyor 2001 team. From 1992 to 1997, he had served on the 

Mars Pathfinder design-and-landing operations team. Braun had also been an independent 

assessor and a member of the NASA review boards for the Mars Polar Lander, Mars Odyssey, 

Mars Exploration Rover, Phoenix Mars Scout, Genesis, and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) 

17 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Space 

and Aeronautics, Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency’s Watchdogs, 111th Cong., 2nd 

sess., 3 February 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg54616/pdf/CHRG-111hhrg54616.pdf 

(accessed 12 December 2012); U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and 

Technology, “Members Question NASA Watchdogs on Challenges Facing Agency,” news release, 4 February 

2010, http://archives.democrats.science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2738 (accessed 17 October 

2012); U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects” (report no. 

GAO-10-227SP, Washington, DC, February 2010), http://www.gao.gov/new. items/d10227sp.pdf (accessed 30 

January 2013). 

18 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names Woodrow Whitlow Associate Administrator for Mission Support,” 

news release 10-032, 3 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-032_Whitlow. 

html (accessed 29 November 2012). 

8
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

flight projects. Braun was teaching aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of 

Technology when NASA offered him the appointment of Chief Technologist. Over the 

course of his career, Braun had received two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, seven 

NASA Group Achievement Awards, two NASA Inventions and Contributions Team Awards, 

and the 1999 Lawrence Sperry Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics (AIAA).19 

Iranian state media reported the successful launch of a Kavoshgar-3 research rocket that was 

carrying an experimental capsule capable of transmitting live pictures, telemetric data, video 

transmissions, and other observations back to Earth. The 10-foot-long (3.05-meter-long) 

rocket, which contained a small environmental laboratory carrying a mouse, two turtles, and 

worms, was the first Iranian spacecraft to bring animals into space. Iranian officials did not 

report on the nature of the biological research nor the exact time and location of the launch. 

The Kavoshgar-3, which was capable of carrying satellites, was the successor to the 

Kavoshgar-1, which had launched in February 2008, and the Kavoshgar-2, which had 

launched in November 2008. As part of the National Day of Space Technology, Iranian 

officials also announced the completion of a new domestically built light booster rocket 

named Simorgh and three satellites called Mesbah-2, Navid-e-Elm-o-Sanat, and Tolo. 

Officials stated that the Simorgh rocket weighed 220 pounds (99.79 kilograms) and could 

reach an altitude of 310 miles (498.90 kilometers) above Earth.20 

The Russian uncrewed supply vessel Progress M-04M launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from 

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 03:45 (UT). The 24-foot-long (7.32-meter-long) 

spacecraft carried 2,683 pounds (1,216.99 kilograms) of clothing, food, and equipment to the 

Expedition 22 crew aboard the ISS. The cargo included 106 pounds (48.08 kilograms) of 

oxygen and air; 1,940 pounds (879.97 kilograms) of propellant; and 926 pounds (420.03 

kilograms) of water. Progress M-04M, flying the first of six resupply missions scheduled for 

2010, was the 36th Progress vehicle to dock at the ISS. The spacecraft was scheduled for 

automated docking at the aft port of the Zvezda module on 5 February 2010 at 04:25 (UT).21 

NASA announced that it would be extending until 2017 the international Cassini-Huygens 

Mission to explore Saturn and its moons. NASA’s FY 2011 budget included US$60 million 

per year for seven years to continue the mission. NASA had launched the Cassini project in 

October 1997, originally scheduling the mission to conclude in 2008, but had subsequently 

extended it until September 2010. Since reaching Saturn in 2004, Cassini had orbited the 

19 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names Braun NASA Chief Technologist,” news release 10-031, 3 February 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-031_Braun.html (accessed 29 November 2012); 

Jeremy Hsu, “Say Hello to NASA’s New Tech Guru,” Space.com, 19 February 2010, http://www.space.com/ 

7941-nasas-tech-guru.html (accessed 4 December 2012). 20 Ali Akbar Dareini, “Iran Launches New Research Rocket into Space,” Washington Post, 3 February 2010, 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020300251.html (accessed 5 

December 2012); Alan Cowell, “Iran Says It Sent Animals into Space,” New York Times, 3 February 2010, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?_r=0 (accessed 5 December 2012). 21 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 676, 1 March 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx676.html (accessed 28 

November 2012); Justin Ray, “Space Station Receives Latest Russian Resupply Ship,” Space.com, 5 February 

2010, http://www.space.com/7876-space-station-receives-latest-russian-resupply-ship.html (accessed 6 

December 2012). 

9
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

planet more than 125 times, had flown by Saturn’s moon Titan 67 times, and had made eight 

close flybys of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Equipped with 12 instruments, Cassini had 

supplied researchers with more than 210,000 images, providing new scientific data about 

Saturn’s rings and Enceladus’s water-vapor geysers. The planned mission extension, called 

the Cassini Solstice Mission, would include an additional 155 rotations around Saturn, 54 

flybys of Titan, and 11 flybys of Enceladus. Researchers intended to continue to observe the 

planet’s magnetosphere and rings and to track Saturn’s changing seasonal weather patterns as 

it moved through the northern summer solstice. Because the planet’s orbit of the Sun takes 

almost 30 years, scientists had never observed a complete season on Saturn in detail. 

Researchers hoped to explore further many questions that Cassini’s data had raised, including 

the causes of Saturn’s inconsistent rotation rate and the features of the ocean that scientists 

believed to be below Enceladus’s surface. The Cassini-Huygens project was a cooperative 

effort between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency.22 

4 February 

A team of scientists led by Mark R. Swain of NASA’s JPL announced in the journal Nature 

that they had made the first observations of an organic molecule, methane, in the atmosphere 

of an exoplanet. Using the spectrometer on NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, Swain’s 

team had measured the dayside emission spectrum for HD 189733b, a Jupiter-sized planet 

orbiting close to its star in the constellation Vulpecula. Because methane sometimes exists as 

a by-product of living organisms, scientists were using this research method to observe the 

atmospheres of Earth-like planets in search of one that might be hospitable to organic or 

prebiotic molecules. However, whereas scientists had previously used space-based telescopes 

to detect molecules in the atmospheres of “hot Jupiters,” Swain’s team had used a groundbased telescope. The team had adopted a method of correcting for the effects of Earth’s 

atmosphere on the telescope’s measurements, an innovation that allowed them to use a 

ground-based instrument. Because the ground-based telescopes were more numerous than 

space-based telescopes, and many of them were larger, the team’s new method would 

increase the opportunities for this type of research.23 

8 February 

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 09:14 (UT), embarking 

on the STS-130 mission to the ISS, scheduled to last for 13 days. Aboard were Flight 

Commander George D. Zamka, Pilot Terry W. Virts, and Mission Specialists Robert L. 

Behnken, Kathryn P. Hire, Nicholas J. M. Patrick, and Stephen K. Robinson. The astronauts 

22 NASA, “NASA Extends Cassini’s Tour of Saturn, Continuing International Cooperation for World Class 

Science,” news release 10-030, 3 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-030_ 

Cassini_Extended.html (accessed 29 November 2012); Clara Moskowitz, “Cassini Saturn Probe Gets 7-Year 

Life Extension,” Space.com, 3 February 2010, http://www.space.com/7865-cassini-saturn-probe-7-year-lifeextension.html (accessed 7 December 2012). 23 Mark R. Swain et al., “A Ground-Based Near-Infrared Emission Spectrum of the Exoplanet HD 189733b,” 

Nature 463, no. 7281 (4 February 2010): 637–639, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7281/full/ 

nature08775.html (accessed 11 December 2012); Peter N. Spotts, “In Distant Planet’s Fluorescent Glow, A 

New Way To Look for Life,” Christian Science Monitor, 3 February 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/ 

2010/0203/In-distant-planet-s-fluorescent-glow-a-new-way-to-look-for-life (accessed 11 December 2012); 

Jason Palmer, “Exoplanet Gas Spotted from Earth, BBC News, 3 February 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 

2/hi/science/nature/8493674.stm (accessed 11 December 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

planned to deliver to the ISS the Tranquility node that ESA had built for NASA, with its 

attached cupola, as well as experiments, hardware, and supplies. Tranquility, a US$382 

million module that would house the ISS’s environmental-control systems, exercise 

equipment, life-support systems, and robotic-arm-control systems, was 24 feet long (7.32 

meters long), 15 feet wide (4.57 meters wide), and weighed approximately 40,000 pounds 

(18,143.69 kilograms). Furnished with a seven-window observation deck, or cupola, 

Tranquility would allow ISS crew members unprecedented views of Earth and space. During 

the STS-130 mission, astronauts planned to perform robotic-arm maneuvers, as well as three 

spacewalks, to attach Tranquility to the Unity module of the ISS. After Tranquility’s 

installation, the ISS would be 98 percent complete, with all of the major U.S. portions 

delivered. NASA had scheduled Endeavour and its crew to land at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 

at 03:20 (UT) on 22 February 2010.24 

11 February 

NASA successfully launched its Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite aboard an 

Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 15:23 (UT). As the centerpiece of NASA’s 

Living With a Star (LWS) heliophysics program, SDO would use a suite of three instruments 

to observe the Sun from a geosynchronous orbit with a 28.50° inclination. The instrument 

suite included the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), which would use rapid-cadence 

magnetic-field measurements to observe the structure and dynamics of the Sun’s interior and 

to measure the direction of its magnetic fields. Every 10 seconds, the Atmospheric Imaging 

Assembly (AIA), a set of four telescopes, would snap high-resolution solar images across 

eight wavelength bands. The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) would 

observe vacillations in the Sun’s brightness and radiation output. The US$848 million 

satellite, on a mission intended to last a minimum of five years, would monitor the Sun 

continuously, sending approximately 1.5 terabytes of data per day to SDO’s ground station at 

White Sands, New Mexico. Scientists expected this data to help them develop better forecast 

models for solar weather events, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). 

These solar events could impair satellites and disrupt power grids and global positioning 

system (GPS) communications on Earth.25 

18 February

Two scientists, Marat R. Gilfanov and Ákos Bogdán of the Max Planck Institute for 

Astrophysics in Germany, announced in the journal Nature that they had used data from 

NASA’s Chandra Observatory to discover evidence about the formation of type-1a 

supernovas. Most astronomers had agreed that a type-1a supernova occurs when a white 

dwarf star accumulates too much weight to remain stable, and it explodes. However, they had 

24 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 676; NASA, “Launch of NASA’s Shuttle Endeavour Sparks Early Monday Sunrise,” 

news release 10-037, 8 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-037_Endeavour_
 
 

launch.html (accessed 29 November 2012); Tariq Malik, “Space Shuttle Endeavour Soars in Predawn Launch,” 

Space.com, 8 February 2010, http://www.space.com/7886-space-shuttle-endeavour-soars-predawn-launch.html
 
 

(accessed 6 December 2012).

25 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 676; NASA, “NASA Successfully Launches New Eye on the Sun,” news release 10­

040, 11 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-040_SDO_launch.html (accessed 

29 November 2012); Stephen Clark, “Atlas Launches Solar Probe with Down-To-Earth Purpose,” Spaceflight
 

Now, 11 February 2010, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av021/100211launch/ index.html (accessed 4 

December 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

not known whether this weight gain resulted from a white dwarf gradually pulling— 

“accreting”—matter from a nearby star, or from the merging of two white dwarves in a 

binary system. Gilfanov and Bogdán knew that a white dwarf accreting material produces 

considerably more x-ray emissions than two merging white dwarves. Therefore, to determine 

which scenario causes type-1a supernovas, they studied the quantity of x-ray emissions from 

five elliptical galaxies, as well as from the central region of the Andromeda galaxy. They 

discovered 30–50 times fewer x-ray emissions than they had expected would occur in an 

accretion scenario, leading them to conclude that the majority of type-1a supernovas form 

from merging white dwarves. This research had significant implications for astronomers, 

who used supernovas as “standard candles”—objects of known brightness—to track cosmic 

distances. Scientists had generally believed that type-1a supernovas were objects of known 

brightness and had used them as “standard candles.” However, the merging of two white 

dwarves of variable brightness could result in type-1a supernovas of inconsistent brightness. 

In addition to data from NASA’s Chandra Observatory, the researchers had used 

observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) and NASA’s Two Micron All 

Sky Survey.26 

21 February 

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at NASA’s KSC at 10:20 p.m. (EST), ending its 14-day 

STS-130 mission to the ISS. Endeavour’s six-member crew included Flight Commander 

George D. Zamka, Pilot Terry W. Virts, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken, Kathryn 

P. Hire, Nicholas J. M. Patrick, and Stephen K. Robinson. During the mission, the crew had 

delivered to the ISS the Tranquility module, with its panoramic seven-window cupola, and 

had repaired the ISS’s water- and urine-recycling system. The Tranquility module would 

house the ISS’s gym, environmental-control systems, and life-support equipment. NASA had 

added an extra day to the astronauts’ busy schedule, which included three spacewalks. 

During these spacewalks, astronauts Behnken and Patrick had connected Tranquility and its 

cupola to the ISS and successfully relocated a docking adapter to Tranquility. During the 

mission, the crew had also transferred equipment racks into the new module and attempted to 

install on the ISS a workstation to control the robotic arm. STS-130 was the 32nd Space 

Shuttle mission to the ISS.27 

25 February 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. testified before the House Committee on Science 

and Technology regarding policy changes proposed in President Barack H. Obama’s FY 

2011 budget request, as well as key issues that those changes raised. The proposed FY 2011 

budget, which requested a US$19 billion budget for NASA, would cancel the Constellation 

26 Marat Gilfanov and Ákos Bogdán, “An Upper Limit on the Contribution of Accreting White Dwarfs to the 

Type Ia Supernova Rate,” Nature 463, no. 7283 (18 February 2010): 924–925, http://www.nature.com/ 

nature/journal/v463/n7283/full/nature08685.html (accessed 7 December 2012); NASA, “NASA’s Chandra 

Reveals Origin of Key Cosmic Explosions,” news release 10-042, 17 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/ 

home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-042_Chandra_cosmic_explosions.html (accessed 29 November 2012). 27 NASA, “Space Shuttle Endeavour Crew Returns to Earth after Delivering the Last Major U.S. Portion of the 

International Space Station,” news release 10-043, 21 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/ 

feb/HQ_10-043_STS-130_Landing.html (accessed 29 November 2012); Robert Z. Pearlman, “Space Shuttle 

Endeavour Lands Safely in Florida,” Space.com, 21 February 2010, http://www.space.com/ 7952-space-shuttleendeavour-lands-safely-florida.html (accessed 7 December 2012). 

12
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

Program to send humans to the Moon. Instead, the budget would allocate to NASA US$6 

billion, which NASA would spend over five years to promote the development and use of 

commercial human spaceflight vehicles. Ranking Member Ralph M. Hall (R-TX) and other 

members of the committee expressed deep concern about the implications of cancelling the 

Constellation Program. Their particular concerns were maintaining NASA’s critical 

workforce; crew safety on commercial vehicles; the uncertain capabilities of the commercial 

spaceflight industry; the loss of funds already invested in the program; the United States’ 

ceding its role as an international leader in space exploration; and other national security 

issues. On the previous day, 24 February 2010, Bolden had testified before the Senate 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science and Space, outlining 

NASA’s goals under the proposed FY 2011 budget. These goals included aeronautics R&D; 

climate-change research and observations; development of robotic precursor missions to 

multiple destinations in the solar system; development and demonstration of transformative 

technologies enabling NASA to pursue new approaches to human spaceflight, with more 

advanced and sustainable capabilities; extension of the ISS’s lifetime to 2020 or beyond; 

heavy-lift-propulsion R&D; investment in development of commercial crew and further 

cargo capabilities; investment in education initiatives; and the pursuit of cross-cutting space 

technology capabilities.28 

Aaron Cohen, former Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), died of prostate 

cancer at his home in College Station, Texas. Cohen had begun his 33-year career with 

NASA in 1962, working on the Apollo Program. He had served as Manager of the Apollo 

Command and Service Modules from 1969 to 1972. From 1972 to 1982, Cohen had worked 

as Manager of NASA’s Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Office, overseeing the design, 

development, production, and test flights of the Space Shuttles. He had gone on to become 

Director of Engineering at NASA’s JSC, and NASA had appointed him Director of JSC in 

1986. In that role, Cohen had guided NASA’s JSC in the wake of the Challenger disaster, 

returned the Space Shuttle to flight, and helped initiate the International Space Station 

Program. He had served briefly as Acting Deputy Administrator at NASA Headquarters 

before leaving public service in 1993. Cohen had twice received both the Presidential Rank 

of Distinguished Executive award and NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal. He had also 

been a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the AIAA.29 

NASA’s Space Shuttle Program conducted the final test firing of a reusable solid rocket 

motor in Promontory, Utah. ATK Launch Systems, a division of Alliant Techsystems, had 

28 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, NASA’s 2011 Budget 

Request and Issues, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 25 February 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ CHRG111hhrg55837/html/CHRG-111hhrg55837.htm (accessed 12 December 2012); U.S. Congress, Senate, 

Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science and Space, Challenges and 

Opportunities in the NASA Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 24 February 2010, 

http://www.gpo.gov/ fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg64486/pdf/CHRG-111shrg64486.pdf (accessed 12 December 

2012); U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, “Members Question 

Obama Plan for Human Space Flight,” news release, 25 February 2010, http://gop.science.house.gov/ 

Pressroom/Item.aspx?ID=226# (accessed 17 October 2012). 

29 NASA, “NASA Pioneer Aaron Cohen Dies,” news release 10-053, 26 February 2010, http://www.nasa. 

gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-053_Cohen_dies.html (accessed 29 November 2012); A. G. Sulzberger, 

“Aaron Cohen, Official and Engineer with NASA, Dies at 79,” New York Times, 8 March 2010, http://www. 

nytimes.com/2010/03/08/us/08cohen.html (accessed 4 December 2012). 

13
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

manufactured and tested the flight-support motor, called FSM-17. FSM-17 was the largest 

solid rocket motor ever flown, the only motor rated for human spaceflight, and the first 

rocket motor built for reuse. NASA had used ATK-built motors in Shuttle launches 129 

times. Engine tests had served as an engineering basis for the development of reusable solid 

rocket motors and successful launch systems. Providing an average thrust of 2.6 million 

pounds (1,179,340 kilograms), the two motors used on a Shuttle launch generated 80 percent 

of the thrust necessary for the first 2 minutes of flight. During the test firing, 258 instrument 

channels measured the motor, which was 126 feet long (38.40 meters long) and 12 feet wide 

(3.66 meters wide). Preliminary results from the 123-second static firing showed that the 

motor had met all 43 design objectives. Ending a program that had begun in July 1977, the 

test firing was the 52nd and last test of a flight motor that ATK would conduct for NASA, 

performed in preparation for the final four Shuttle missions. NASA’s Space Shuttle 

Propulsion Office had overseen the project, managing the Shuttle motor’s design, 

development, manufacturing, assembly, testing, and flight performance.30 

MARCH 2010 

1 March 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced several changes in field center 

leadership, to take effect immediately. Bolden announced that Patrick E. Scheuermann would 

replace Arthur E. “Gene” Goldman as Director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC), and 

that Goldman had accepted an appointment as Deputy Director of NASA’s Marshall Space 

Flight Center (MSFC). Scheuermann had joined NASA in 1988 and had served as Deputy 

Director of Center Operations at NASA’s SSC, Chief Operating Officer of NASA’s Michoud 

Assembly Facility, Associate Director of NASA’s SSC, and Deputy Director of NASA’s 

SSC. The recipient of NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and NASA’s Exceptional 

Service Medal, Scheuermann had also been a 1998 finalist in NASA’s astronaut candidate 

program. Goldman had served as Deputy Director of SSC from 2006 to 2008 and as Director 

of SSC since 2008. He had also served for five years as Deputy Manager, and for two years 

as Manager, of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project at NASA’s MSFC. Bolden also 

announced the appointment of Ramon “Ray” Lugo III as Acting Director of NASA’s GRC, 

replacing Woodrow Whitlow Jr., who had accepted an appointment in February as Associate 

Administrator for Mission Support at NASA Headquarters. Lugo had joined NASA in 1975. 

He had served as Deputy Program Manager of the Launch Services Program at NASA’s KSC 

and, from 2007 to 2010, as Deputy Director of NASA’s GRC. Lugo had received two NASA 

Exceptional Achievement Medals and three NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals.31 

30 NASA, “NASA’s Space Shuttle Program Successfully Conducts Final Motor Test in Utah,” news release 10­

057, 25 February 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-057_Shuttle_Engine_ Test.html
 

(accessed 29 November 2012). 

31 NASA, “NASA Announces Agency Center Management Changes,” news release 10-054, 1 March 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_10-054_Centers.html (access 18 December 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

3 March 

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) announced that it had awarded the 2009 Robert 

J. Collier Trophy to NASA’s International Space Station Program. Originally commissioned 

by publisher Robert J. Collier in 1910, the NAA awarded the trophy for the most notable 

accomplishments in American aeronautics or astronautics. The NAA stated that it had 

selected the International Space Station Program “for the design, development, and assembly 

of the world’s largest spacecraft, an orbiting laboratory that promises new discoveries for 

mankind and sets new standards for international cooperation in space.” The joint effort of 

NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), ESA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 

(JAXA), and the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, the ISS research laboratory 

operated in microgravity conditions 220 miles (354.06 kilometers) above the surface of Earth. 

In the nine years that scientists had conducted on-board research, the ISS had hosted more 

than 400 experiments in fields such as biological science, Earth and space sciences, human 

life sciences, human physiology, and physical and materials sciences. NAA planned to 

present the Collier Trophy to the ISS team formally on 13 May 2010. The ISS team included 

NASA, the Boeing Company, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Honeywell, Lockheed 

Martin, United Space Alliance, and United Technologies.32 

4 March 

The third and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), known as 

GOES-P, launched aboard a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 23:57 (UT). 

GOES-P would be renamed GOES-15 after reaching its planned final orbit at 22,300 miles 

(35,888.37 kilometers) above Earth’s equator. As part of the GOES-N Series of geostationary 

weather satellites, GOES-P would remain available for activation in the event that one of the 

other two GOES satellites had degraded or exhausted its fuel. The GOES-P satellite carried 

an imager, a sounder, a search-and-rescue transponder, and the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI), as 

well as a Space Environment Monitor System (SEM), consisting of Extreme Ultraviolet 

(EUV) sensors, an Energetic X-ray Sensor (XRS), two magnetometers, and an Energetic 

Particle Sensor (EPS). The EPS was composed of an Energetic Proton Electron and Alpha 

Detector (EPEAD), a High-Energy Proton and Alpha Detector (HEPAD), a Magnetosphere 

Electron Detector (MAGED), and a Magnetosphere Proton Detector (MAGPD). Boeing 

Space and Intelligence Systems had built and launched GOES-P and would transfer 

engineering control of the satellite to NASA approximately 20 days after launch. NASA 

would operate the satellite for five months before transferring operational control to the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA’s GRC had procured 

and managed the design, development, and launch of the GOES satellites for NOAA on a 

cost-reimbursable basis, and NASA’s Launch Services Program had advised on the satellite’s 

launch.33 

32 NASA, “NASA’s International Space Station Program Wins Collier Trophy,” news release 10-058, 3 March 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_10-058_ISS_Collier.html (accessed 18 December 

2012); Tom Chao, “Space Station Wins Prestigious Collier Trophy,” Space.com, 8 March 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8004-space-station-wins-prestigious-collier-trophy.html (accessed 27 December 2012). 33 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 677, 1 April 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx677.html (accessed 18 

December 2012); NASA, “NASA and NOAA’s GOES-P Satellite Successfully Launched,” news release 10­

059, 4 March 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_10-056_GOES-P_launch.html (accessed 

18 December 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

11 March 

At their meeting in Tokyo, the heads of the ISS partner agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, 

the Russian Federation, and the United States issued a joint statement of cooperation. The 

statement emphasized the importance of maximizing the ISS’s potential for educational, 

engineering, and scientific research through the greatest possible use of its facilities. The 

heads of ISS partner agencies observed that, with the ISS nearing completion, scientists 

would soon be able to use the facility fully for on-orbit research in science and technology. 

They acknowledged that the United States’ FY 2011 budget proposal would support 

continuation of ISS activities until 2020, noting that no technical obstacles prevented 

continued ISS operations until then. They pledged their intent to urge their respective 

governments to reach an agreement on the future of the ISS after 2020, so that the ISS could 

continue to function for as long as it had proven research benefits. Additionally, the joint 

statement noted that the heads of the agencies were in the process of certifying on-orbit 

elements of the ISS through 2028. The partners emphasized their goal of increasing the ISS’s 

operational efficiency and use by all possible means, including finding potential methods of 

promoting efficiency throughout the International Space Station Program, coordinating 

efforts to improve efficiency, and effectively using essential capabilities, such as space 

transportation for cargos and crews.34 

13 March 

The company SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, successfully test-fired the first-stage 

engines of its Falcon-9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The 3.5­

second-long “hot-fire” test, which engineers considered crucial for confirming flight 

readiness, assessed ground- and flight-control software, as well as ground-support systems. 

SpaceX officials stated that the nine Merlin-1C engines, fueled by liquid oxygen and the 

highly refined kerosene RP-1, appeared to have operated normally throughout the test. 

SpaceX had attempted to perform the test earlier in the week but had aborted the test before 

ignition on 9 March because of a malfunctioning helium-line valve. SpaceX had also 

postponed testing on 11 and 12 March because of inclement weather. NASA had awarded 

contracts to SpaceX to launch three demonstration flights of the Falcon 9, as well as 12 cargo 

missions to the ISS. The contracts were worth a total of US$1.9 billion, with options that 

could increase the total value to US$3.1 billion.35 

18 March 

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Science and Space held 

a hearing to assess the commercial space industry’s ability to meet America’s human 

spaceflight needs, in light of President Barack H. Obama’s proposal to cancel the 

Constellation Program. In lieu of funding the Constellation Program, the FY 2011 budget 

proposal would provide US$6 billion over a period of five years to fund private development 

of spacecraft to replace the Space Shuttle. The hearing’s purpose was to consider whether 

private industry could provide faster and more cost-effective transportation of crews and 

34 NASA, “Heads of Agency International Space Station Joint Statement,” news release 10-063, 11 March 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_10-063_HOA_statement.html (accessed 18 December 2012). 35 Todd Halvorson, “SpaceX Executes Test of Falcon 9’s Engines,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 14 March 

2010, http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100314/NEWS02/3140322/SpaceX-executes-test-Falcon-9-sengines (accessed 27 December 2012). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

cargo to the ISS; to obtain details on precisely how funding would be allocated; and to 

understand how commercial spaceflight might fit into NASA’s vision and promote its 

broader goals. The subcommittee considered safety and regulation of commercial spaceflight 

of key importance, particularly NASA’s rating requirement for commercial vehicles that 

transport humans into space. Chief of NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance 

Bryan D. O’Connor testified that NASA was working to meet safety goals by developing 

performance requirements, including safety-risk metrics and a generic set of NASA technical 

rating requirements applicable to any ISS-bound crew-transport system. Although each of the 

companies had different projections for the costs, strategies, and time frames for their 

projects, representatives from SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, and United Launch Alliance all 

assured the subcommittee that they were developing vehicles that could safely launch to the 

ISS.36 

 

A team of scientists led by Linhua Jiang of the University of Arizona announced in the 

journal Nature that they had observed a pair of quasars so distant that they must have formed 

when the universe was less than 1 billion years old. Working with NASA’s SST, which uses 

infrared light to survey the universe, the researchers had studied a total of 21 quasars, 

including the quasars J0005-0006 and J0303-0019, which appeared to be located 13 billion 

light-years away, at the edge of the universe. Unlike all previously observed quasars, J0005­

0006 and J0303-0019 do not emit hot dust, suggesting that they formed when the universe 

was so young that dust had not yet begun to coagulate. The researchers also demonstrated 

that the amount of hot dust in these distant quasars was increasing in tandem with the 

increase in mass of the quasars’ central black holes. J0005-0006 and J0303-0019 had low 

masses, equivalent to approximately 200 million to 300 million suns. The researchers 

concluded that the quasars were at an early evolutionary stage and were still accumulating 

mass and forming dust.37 

The Russian Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan at 7:24 a.m. (EDT), returning 

Expedition 22 Commander Jeffrey N. Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim V. Suraev to 

Earth after 167 days aboard the ISS. Soyuz Commander Suraev had undocked the vehicle 

from the Poisk module at 4:03 a.m. (EDT), after Williams had transferred command of the 

ISS to Expedition 23 Commander Oleg V. Kotov. Williams and Suraev had launched aboard 

the Soyuz TMA-16 on 30 September 2009. As part of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews, they 

had been on board the ISS when two Space Shuttle flights docked at the station, and they had 

helped support the ISS’s continuing scientific research. Additionally, they had helped install 

a Russian docking module and the Tranquility module, with its viewing cupola. During their 

36 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science and 

Space, Assessing Commercial Space Capabilities, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 18 March 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/ 

fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg66983/pdf/CHRG-111shrg66983.pdf (accessed 7 January 2013); Andy Pasztor, “FAA, 

NASA Vie for Authority over Commercial Space Safety,” Wall Street Journal, 19 March 2010, http://online. 

wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575130 552501802866.html.html (accessed 7 January 2013). 37 Linhua Jiang et al., “Dust-Free Quasars in the Early Universe,” Nature 464, no. 7287 (18 March 2010): 380– 

383, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7287/full/nature08877.html (accessed 7 January 2013); Clara 

Moskowitz, “Primordial Black Holes Formed Just After Big Bang,” Space.com, 17 March 2010, http://www. 

space.com/8057-primordial-black-holes-formed-big-bang.html (accessed 7 January 2013); Nancy Atkinson, 

“Spitzer Spies Earliest Black Holes,” Universe Today, 17 March 2010, http://www.universetoday.com/ 

59922/spitzer-spies-earliest-black-holes/ (accessed 7 January 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

time aboard the ISS, the crew had completed the American portion of the station. Williams 

returned from this mission having accumulated 362 days in space. Only three U.S. astronauts 

had spent more days in space than he had. After the departure of Williams and Suraev, 

Commander Kotov and Flight Engineers Timothy J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi occupied 

the ISS. The ISS partners planned to send three more crew members to the ISS in a Soyuz 

flight scheduled for 4 April 2010.38 

22 March 

The commercial spaceflight company Virgin Galactic successfully completed the first 

“captive carry” test flight of its rocket plane Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise. VSS 

Enterprise had been lofted under the wing of its mother ship, known as Virgin Mothership 

(VMS) Eve or WhiteKnightTwo. The test flight, launched at 7:05 a.m. (PDT) from the 

Mojave Air and Space Port, lasted for 2 hours and 54 minutes, the first in a series of test 

flights planned by Virgin Galactic. The company had scheduled additional captive-carry tests, 

and it would follow these with free-flying glide tests and powered flights. Virgin Galactic 

planned to use VSS Enterprise to offer space tourists short trips into suborbital altitudes at 62 

miles (99.78 kilometers) above Earth. Scaled Composites had designed and built the first 

model of the SpaceShip Two design—VSS Enterprise—and its mother ship, VMS Eve. 

Scaled Composites had won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, using smaller 

prototypes of the vehicle designs.39 

23 March 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. testified before the House Appropriations 

Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies regarding President 

Barack H. Obama’s FY 2011 budget request for NASA. In summarizing the budget proposal, 

Bolden stated, “Beginning in FY 2011, the United States will pursue a more sustainable and 

affordable approach to human space exploration through the development of transformative 

technologies and systems. As the Constellation Program is ended in an orderly manner, 

NASA will encourage the development of commercial human spaceflight vehicles to safely 

access low-Earth orbit and will develop new technologies that will lay the foundation for a 

more exciting, efficient, and robust U.S. human exploration of the solar system than we are 

currently capable of, while further strengthening the skills of our workforce and our Nation 

in challenging technology areas. NASA will also invest increased resources in climate 

change research and observations; aeronautics R&D, including green aviation; space 

technology development of benefit across the entire space sector; and education with an 

emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning.” Several 

members of the subcommittee expressed their opposition to the president’s proposal to 

38 NASA, “Soyuz Landing Caps Milestone Space Station Mission,” news release 10-066, 18 March 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_10-066_Soyuz_landing.html (accessed 18 December 2012); 

Tariq Malik, “Space Station Astronauts make Frigid Landing in Soyuz Spacecraft,” Space.com, 18 March 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8060-space-station-astronauts-frigid-landing-soyuz-spacecraft.html (accessed 27 

December 2012). 

39 W. J. Hennigan, “Virgin Galactic’s First Commercial Spaceship Makes Maiden Flight,” Los Angeles Times, 

22 March 2010, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/03/virgin-galactics-first-commercialspaceship-makes-maiden-flight.html (accessed 27 December 2012); Stephen Clark, “Private Spaceliner Takes
 
 

Off for Inaugural Test Flight,” Spaceflight Now, 22 March 2010, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1003/
 
 

22virgingalactic/ (accessed 27 December 2012). 

18
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

replace the Constellation Program with funding for commercial space transport. In response 

to this criticism, Bolden stated that NASA believed that the costs and schedule of the 

Constellation Program were following an unsustainable trajectory, and that commercial 

vehicles would provide the quickest, most affordable option for transporting astronauts.40 

24 March 

NASA announced that it had awarded a space technology R&D contract with a maximum 

value of US$45 million to ERC Incorporated of Huntsville, Alabama. The cost-plus, fixedfee, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract had a base of two years, with three oneyear options. In fulfilling the contract, ERC would support the Space Technology Division in 

the Office of the Director of Exploration Technology at NASA’s ARC. The Space 

Technology Division’s mission was to develop technologies used to design and fabricate 

prototype hypervelocity vehicles that could travel in the atmospheres of Earth and other 

planets. The contract specified several services that ERC would provide at NASA’s ARC. 

ERC would analyze the aerothermodynamics of entry systems, aeronautics, and spacevehicle trajectories; assist in understanding the chemistry and physics of hypersonic, reacting, 

and radiating flows; develop, modify, and apply computational fluid-dynamics tools and 

quantum-computing capabilities; conduct materials-science research and engineer ablative, 

reusable, and multifunctional thermal protection materials; plan, execute, and analyze 

experiments and test the thermodynamics of materials; provide educational outreach and 

internship employment opportunities; and study the mechanisms of prebiotic geochemistry. 

The contract included a subcontract with Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies of Greenbelt, 

Maryland.41 

The House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing 

on the changes to NASA’s exploration programs proposed in President Barack H. Obama’s 

FY 2011 budget request. The subcommittee considered several key aspects of the proposed 

changes, including cancellation of the Constellation Program; investment in the development 

of the commercial space transport industry; provision of additional funding to COTS 

providers; new research and technology programs supporting human space exploration; and 

plans to conduct precursor robotic missions. The hearing also focused on the current status of 

the Constellation Program, including the results of the recently conducted Preliminary 

Design Review; how changes to the Constellation Program would affect NASA’s workforce, 

contractors, and industrial base; and whether work NASA had already completed could be 

used in the proposed alternative space exploration programs. Associate Administrator of 

NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Douglas R. Cooke provided testimony on 

these issues. Cooke explained the new elements related to space exploration in the FY 2011 

40 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, 

Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 

2011, Part 7, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 23 March 2010, 195, http://democrats. appropriations.house.gov/images/
 

stories/pdf/cjs/Hearing_Volumes/CJS_FY11_7.pdf (accessed 7 January 2013); Andy Pasztor, “NASA To
 
 

Devise New Spending Plan To Placate Congress,” Wall Street Journal, 23 March 2010, http://online.wsj.com/ 

article/SB10001424052748704896104575139891578682472.html#article Tabs%3Darticle (accessed 7 January 

2013).

41 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Technology Research and Development Contract,” news release C10-014, 24
 
 

March 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_C10-014-STRaD.html (accessed 18 December 

2012). 

19
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

budget request, the status of the Constellation Program, and the responsibilities and reporting 

schedules of the “Tiger Teams.” NASA had established the Tiger Teams to identify the 

necessary budget planning and transition efforts for new programs, following the proposed 

cancellation of the Constellation Program.42 

30 March 

NASA announced that it had awarded eight contracts to provide spacecraft and services 

under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition III program. The eight contracts had a combined 

maximum value of US$4 billion. The Rapid III contracts allowed the government to support 

its space and technology needs through quick and flexible acquisition of spacecraft and 

related services. The contracts provided core spacecraft systems, modified to meet specific 

mission needs. Each fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract was for one 

or more core spacecraft. Contract recipients became eligible to compete for future contracts 

for spacecraft systems. The contractors would be responsible for the design and development 

of core spacecraft; testing of spacecraft systems; payload integration and testing; launchoperations support; and on-orbit checkout. The contractor would perform most of the work at 

its own facility. The eight contracts were awarded to Ball Aerospace and Technologies of 

Boulder, Colorado; General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems of Gilbert, Arizona; 

Lockheed Martin of Denver, Colorado; Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems of 

Redondo Beach, California; Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia; Surrey Satellite 

Technology US of Englewood, Colorado; Thales Alenia Space of France; and Thales Alenia 

Space Italia of Rome.43 

APRIL 2010 

2 April 

A Soyuz-FG rocket launched at 04:04 (UT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 

carrying a Russian Soyuz TMA-18 passenger spacecraft bound for the ISS. The craft carried 

veteran American astronaut Tracy E. Caldwell Dyson, making her first long-term voyage to 

the ISS, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander A. Skvortsov and Mikhail B. Komienko, both 

making their first trips into space. Skvortsov was Flight Commander of the Soyuz, scheduled 

to dock at the ISS on 4 April 2010. Its crew members would join the crew already aboard the 

ISS—Oleg V. Kotov, Timothy J. Creamer, and Soichi Noguchi—to round out the sixmember Expedition 23 crew. The crew planned to engage in scientific research and station 

upkeep, in addition to welcoming two Space Shuttle missions and the first arrival of a 

commercially built uncrewed cargo vehicle, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Officials had also 

42 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Space 

and Aeronautics, Proposed Changes to NASA’s Exploration Program: What’s Known, What’s Not, and What 

Are the Issues for Congress? 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 22 March 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ pkg/CHRG111hhrg55848/pdf/CHRG-111hhrg55848.pdf (accessed 7 January 2013); U.S. Congress, House of 

Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, “Members Question Changes to NASA’s Exploration 

Program,” press release, 24 March 2010, http://archives.democrats.science.house.gov/press/ PRArticle.aspx? 

NewsID=2787 (accessed 18 December 2012). 43 NASA, “NASA Selects Rapid III Contractors for Space Systems and Services,” news release C10-018, 30 

March 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_C10-018_RAPID_III.html (accessed 18 

December 2012). 

20
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

scheduled several spacewalks, which the ISS’s long-term crew and the astronauts visiting the 

station would perform during Expedition 23.44 

5 April 

Space Shuttle Discovery launched from NASA’s KSC at 10:21 (UT) on the STS-131 mission 

to the ISS, scheduled to last for 13 days. Although NASA engineers saw several pieces of 

foam fall off Discovery during launch, they stated that the falling foam posed little or no risk. 

The Shuttle, scheduled to dock at the ISS on 7 April 2010, carried seven crew members: 

Commander Alan G. Poindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr., and Mission Specialists Clayton 

C. Anderson, Richard A. Mastracchio, Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie D. 

Wilson, and Naoko Yamazaki. STS-131 was the first flight for crew members Dutton, 

Metcalf-Lindenburger, and Yamazaki. The astronauts would deliver 7,700 kilograms 

(16,975.59 pounds) of equipment and scientific experiments to the ISS, including the new 

sleeping quarters for the crew, a laboratory freezer, and science racks, all packed inside the 

Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Leonardo would remain temporarily attached to 

the ISS from 7 April 2010 to 15 April 2010, while the crew unloaded the supplies. Once the 

crew had unpacked the module, the ISS’s laboratory research facilities would be complete. In 

addition, the astronauts planned to make three spacewalks to install an extra storage tank for 

ammonia. They also planned to change a gyroscope on the ISS’s truss and retrieve a Japanese 

science experiment from the ISS’s exterior during the spacewalks.45 

6 April 

NASA announced that it had signed a contract modification worth US$335 million with the 

Russian federal space agency Roscosmos for the transportation of six NASA astronauts 

aboard Soyuz flights to the ISS. The firm-fixed-price modification, an increase over the 

US$306 million contract signed in 2009, would cover Soyuz support, including launch 

preparation and training, crew rescue, and landing. The six NASA crew members would 

launch on four Soyuz flights to the ISS in 2013, returning to Earth on two flights in 2013 and 

two flights in 2014. The contract stipulated that each crew member would be allowed to carry 

110 pounds (49.90 kilograms) of cargo associated with crew transportation on the trip to the 

ISS, and to carry approximately 37 pounds (16.78 kilograms) of cargo on the return trip to 

Earth. Additionally, the contract permitted 66 pounds (29.94 kilograms) of trash disposal. 

The modification, an extension of a previous contract, would allow NASA to maintain 

astronauts aboard the ISS after the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, scheduled to 

occur later in 2010.46 

44 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 678, 1 May 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx678.html (accessed 14 

January 2013); NASA, “Crew Lifts Off from Kazakhstan To Join Crewmates Aboard the International Space 

Station,” news release 10-073, 2 April 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-071_ 

Expedition_23_Launch.html (accessed 14 January 20143); Clara Moskowitz, “New Crew Launches to Space 

Station on Russian Rocket,” Space.com, 2 April 2010, http://www.space.com/8126-crew-launches-spacestation-russian-rocket.html (accessed 18 January 2013). 45 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 678; NASA, “NASA’s Shuttle Discovery Heads to Station After Predawn Launch,” 

news release 10-176, 5 April 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-076_sts131_launch. 

html (accessed 14 January 2013); Robert Block, “Discovery Roars into Orbit,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 5 April 

2010, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-04-05/news/os-shuttle-discovery-launches-20100405_1_postlaunch-news-conference-shuttle-and-station-crews-shuttle-flight (accessed 16 January 2013). 46 NASA, “NASA Extends Contract with Russian Federal Space Agency,” news release C10-023, 6 April 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_C10-023_Soyuz_Extension.html (accessed 14 January 2013); 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

7 April 

NASA’s unpiloted aircraft Global Hawk successfully completed its first scientific mission, 

flying on a 14-hour journey of approximately 4,500 miles (7,242.05 kilometers), at altitudes 

as high as 60,900 feet (18.562.32 meters). A joint mission between NASA and NOAA, 

Global Hawk was a robotic plane that could be preprogrammed to fly for as long as 30 hours 

and as far as 11,000 nautical miles (5,178.51 miles, or 8,334 kilometers). Operators at 

NASA’s DFRC maintained contact with Global Hawk through satellite and line-of-sight 

communications links and could adjust the plane’s course or altitude during flight. The flight 

was the first of five planned Global Hawk Pacific (GloPac) missions to study the atmosphere 

over the Pacific and Arctic oceans. While covering more distance and time than any previous 

science aircraft, Global Hawk would use its 11 instruments to measure and to take samples of 

aerosols, greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting substances, and components of air quality in the 

upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Researchers anticipated that the GloPac flights 

would allow them to observe the breakup of the polar vortex, a large-scale cyclone in the 

troposphere and stratosphere. Scientists study the polar vortex, which influences Arctic 

weather patterns, to understand ozone depletion in the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, 

researchers would use the GloPac flights to measure the dust, pollution, and smoke crossing 

from Asia to North America. As part of a cooperative effort with NASA’s Aura Validation 

Experiment, the GloPac missions would include several flights directly underneath NASA’s 

Aura satellite and other Earth-observing satellites, to calibrate and confirm satellite data.47 

8 April 

Scientists led by Suzanna E. Smrekar of NASA’s JPL announced in the online edition of the 

journal Science that their team had found evidence that volcanic activity had occurred on 

Venus less than 2.5 million years ago, suggesting that the planet may be one of the few in the 

solar system that is still geologically active. In conducting the study, the researchers had 

sought to explain why Venus’s smooth surface has so few craters. Some scientists had 

theorized that a single, major, volcanic event had resurfaced the planet, but Smrekar’s team 

found evidence suggesting that numerous smaller eruptions had filled in Venus’s craters, and 

that the planet is still actively resurfacing. Using data from ESA’s Venus Express mission, 

the researchers had collected observations of the compositional differences of lava flows 

from nine hotspots. NASA’s Magellan spacecraft, which had radar-mapped the planet from 

1990 to 1994, had originally detected these hotspots. Three of the nine hotspots the 

researchers observed had high thermal-emissivity patterns, indicating that they were too 

young to have experienced significant surface weathering. Researchers hoped that the study 

data would help scientists better understand the interior of Venus, as well as ways in which 

volcanic gases affect climate change, both on Venus and on Earth.48 

Mark Matthews, “NASA Extends Deal with Russians for 2013 Astronaut Launches,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 6 

April 2010, http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2010/04/nasa-extends-deal-withrussians-for-2013-astronaut-launches.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign= 

Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuff%29 (accessed 16 January 

2013). 

47 NASA, “NASA’s Unpiloted Global Hawk Completes First Science Flight,” news release 10-080, 8 April 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-080_GloPac.html (accessed 14 January 2013). 48 Suzanne E. Smrekar et al., “Recent Hotspot Volcanism on Venus from VIRTIS Emissivity Data,” Science 

328, no. 5978 (30 April 2010): 605–608, published online 8 April 2010, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/ 

328/5978/605.full (accessed 23 July 2013); NASA, “NASA-Funded Research Suggest Venus Is Geologically 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

In support of President Barack H. Obama’s FY 2011 budget request, NASA Administrator 

Charles F. Bolden Jr. and Deputy Administrator Lori B. Garver announced new work 

assignments for NASA field centers. These assignments would facilitate NASA’s long-term 

plans for space exploration and for renewed emphasis on cutting-edge technology and 

scientific research. The new organizational structure would allow NASA to complete the 

Space Shuttle manifest; extend use of the ISS to 2020 or beyond; offset many of the job 

losses that would result from ending the Shuttle and Constellation programs; and develop 

new approaches to spaceflight that would enable robust near-Earth flight capabilities, as well 

as spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit. NASA would expand the number of program offices 

covering the following areas: commercial spaceflight, exploration technology and 

development, heavy-lift rockets, research on human health and safety, robotic missions to 

scout for future human explorations, and rocket-propulsion technology. Under the new plan, 

NASA would increase funding for the Science and Aeronautics directorates in order to create 

a Next Generation air-transportation system and to improve Earth-observation capabilities. 

NASA’s JSC would manage the commercial cargo program to resupply the ISS, as well as a 

new program to develop technologies necessary for trips to Mars or the Moon. NASA’s KSC 

would refurbish the launch complex and establish a program for commercial development of 

crew-carrying spacecraft. NASA’s MSFC and SSC would oversee operations to develop 

heavy-lift-rocket-propulsion technologies.49 

13 April 

In a ceremony in Honolulu, Simon P. “Pete” Worden, Director of NASA’s ARC, and 

Hawaii’s Governor Linda Lingle signed a three-year, nonreimbursable Space Act Agreement 

to create a partnership for scientific research, space exploration, and education initiatives in 

the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The agreement 

acknowledged that NASA and the state of Hawaii would work together in fields such as 

advanced aviation, education, science, development of small satellites, and space exploration. 

The partnership would develop a Hawaii-based program for small spacecraft missions and a 

student-run satellite project. The first annex of the agreement would initiate a new program 

called HawaiiSat. Under this program, the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Space Flight 

Laboratory would train students to design and build small satellites. HawaiiSat would allow 

NASA to apply insights from the students and their professors to future NASA missions, 

while also encouraging the next generation of space explorers, engineers, and scientists. The 

agreement also allowed for NASA and Hawaii to engage in additional collaborations in the 

future.50 

Alive,” news release M10-081, 8 April 2010, http://www.nasa.gov /home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-081_
 
 

Venus_Volcanoes.html (accessed 14 January 2010); Andrea Thompson, “Volcanoes on Venus May Be Young 

and Active,” Space.com, 8 April 2010, http://www.space.com/8177-volcanoes-venus-young-active.html
 
 

(accessed 18 January 2013). 

49 NASA, “NASA Announces Future Work Assignments for Field Centers,” news release 10-078, 8 April 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-078_Work_assignments.html (accessed 14 January 2013);
 
 

Tariq Malik, “NASA Chief Maps Out Space Agency’s Future Beyond Shuttle,” Space.com, 9 April 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8176-nasa-chief-maps-space-agency-future-shuttle.html (accessed 16 January 2013). 50 NASA, “NASA Partners with Hawaii on Space Exploration, Science,” news release 10-084, 13 April 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-084_ARC_Hawaii_SAA.html (accessed 14 January 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

NASA announced that, through its Innovative Partnerships Program, it had entered into a 

three-year, nonreimbursable Space Act Agreement with Chrysler Group to coordinate 

technologies such as advanced materials, mobility systems, and wireless technologies. The 

Innovative Partnerships Program allowed NASA to transfer technologies that it had 

developed for space exploration to real-world applications. NASA and Chrysler would share 

with one another the skills and expertise that each organization had gained in areas of their 

common interest, such as materials engineering and development of battery systems, radar, 

and robotics. Chrysler had previously collaborated with NASA in building the Redstone 

rockets for the Mercury Project and the boosters for Apollo 7 and Apollo 8.

51 

15 April 

President Barack H. Obama spoke about his proposals for NASA’s human spaceflight 

program before a White House–convened conference of 200 lawmakers, scientists, and top 

NASA officials at NASA’s KSC. Discussing his FY 2011 budget proposal to cut NASA’s 

Constellation Program, Obama emphasized his commitment to human spaceflight but 

restated his belief that NASA should focus on deep space missions rather than returning to 

the Moon or transporting astronauts to and from the ISS. In response to criticisms from 

Congress, Obama announced some changes to his original budget proposal. He planned to 

request that NASA continue work on a simplified version of the Orion crew capsule that 

could function as a rescue vehicle for the ISS. He would allocate US$40 million to help 

retrain workers at NASA’s KSC who would lose their jobs at the end of the Space Shuttle 

Program. He would fund a US$1.9 billion upgrade of NASA’s KSC and make the center 

home to NASA’s commercial rocket operation. He would grant NASA US$3 billion to 

design a heavy-lift rocket that could carry astronauts to asteroids, Mars, or other distant 

destinations, and he pledged that NASA would complete the design by 2015. He also 

promised that NASA would have crewed spacecraft orbiting Mars by the mid-2030s and 

would land on Mars soon after that. Obama stated that his proposals would add US$6 billion 

to NASA’s budget over five years, to include funding for deep-space robotic probes, an 

extension of operations aboard the ISS beyond 2020, new climate satellites, and a new space 

telescope.52 

20 April 

Space Shuttle Discovery landed at NASA’s KSC at 13:08 (UT), returning astronauts Alan G. 

Poindexter, James P. Dutton Jr., Clayton C. Anderson, Richard A. Mastracchio, Dorothy M. 

Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie D. Wilson, and Naoko Yamazaki from the 15-day STS-131 

51 NASA, “NASA and Chrysler Establish Partnership To Explore Advanced Technologies,” news release 10­

083, 13 April 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-083_Chrysler_Partnership.html 

(accessed 14 January 2013); W. J. Hennigan, “Chrysler Strikes Technology Deal with NASA,” Los Angeles 

Times, 13 April 2010, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/nasa-chrysler-technology-robots. 

html (accessed 17 January 2013). 52 Kenneth Chang, “Obama Vows Renewed Space Program,” New York Times, 15 April 2010, http://www. 

nytimes.com/2010/04/16/science/space/16nasa.html?ref=science&_r=0 (accessed 23 January 2013); Mark K. 

Matthews, “Obama Unveils NASA ‘Vision’ in Kennedy Space Center Speech,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 16 

April 2010, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-04-16/business/os-obama-speech-kennedy-space-center20100415_1_orion-capsule-nasa-s-constellation-human-spaceflight (accessed 23 January 2013); Ralph 

Vartbedian, “Obama Looks To Deeper Space as NASA’s Mission,” Los Angeles Times, 16 April 2010, 

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/16/nation/la-na-obama-space16-2010apr16 (accessed 23 January 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

mission to the ISS. The returning Discovery carried the payload rack from the exterior of the 

Columbus module and the Japanese Experiment Module SEED (Space Environment 

Exposure Device) payload. In addition, Discovery returned to Earth the Leonardo MultiPurpose Logistics Module, which had carried almost 8 tons (16,000 pounds, or 7,257.48 

kilograms) of supplies to the ISS, and was carrying back to Earth nearly 3 tons (6,000 pounds, 

or 2,721.56 kilograms) of payload, including the results of scientific experiments, as well as 

trash. STS-131 was the seventh and final round-trip flight for Leonardo. On its next trip, the 

crew would attach Leonardo to the ISS to serve as a permanent storage space. During the 

mission, the astronauts had successfully completed three spacewalks to replace an ammonia 

coolant tank. Shuttle managers had considered adding an unplanned fourth spacewalk 

because of a malfunctioning valve on a nitrogen tank, but ultimately had decided against it. 

Other issues had arisen during the mission, including the failure of Discovery’s Ku-Band 

communications antenna, which transmitted high-bandwidth data. Although the crew 

members had compensated for the loss of the antenna, ISS officials had responded by adding 

an extra day to the flight. Furthermore, because of rain, Discovery had to wait an additional 

day before landing.53 

21 April 

Barcelona Moon Team, a group comprising 10 companies and individuals, announced that it 

would be the 21st team to enter the competition for the Google Lunar X Prize. Google’s 

US$30 million competition would award a US$20 million grand prize to the first privately 

funded team to build a spacecraft that landed on Earth’s Moon, traveled at least 500 meters 

(1,640.42 feet) on the Moon’s surface, and transmitted data, images, and video to Earth. The 

Google Lunar X Prize also offered a US$5 million second prize, as well as US$5 million in 

bonus prizes. Galactic Suite Moonrace led the Barcelona Moon Team, self-described as “a 

multidisciplinary joint venture bringing together Spanish entrepreneurial, industrial, and 

academic capabilities.” The team also included the Centre for Aerospace Technology from 

Barcelona and scientists from the Technical University of Catalonia. Google Lunar X Prize 

officials had set the deadline for claiming the main prize at 31 December 2012, although they 

were considering extending the deadline.54 

22 April 

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related 

Agencies held a hearing on NASA’s FY 2011 budget proposal, focusing on issues of human 

spaceflight and astronaut safety. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. provided a 

statement for the subcommittee outlining the budget request and NASA’s proposed 

undertakings in the fields of aeronautics research, construction and environmental 

compliance and restoration, cross-agency support, education, science, space operations, and 

space technology. Bolden also testified on the most recent proposals for NASA’s human 

spaceflight program, which President Barack H. Obama had introduced at a conference on 15 

April 2010. Bolden stated that, under the proposed budget, NASA would transport astronauts 

53 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 678; Robert Z. Pearlman, “Space Shuttle Discovery Lands Safely in Florida,” 

Space.com, 20 April 2010, http://www.space.com/8254-space-shuttle-discovery-lands-safely-florida.html
 
 

(accessed 18 January 2013). 

54 Space.com, “First Spanish Team Joins $30M Lunar X Prize Contest,” 25 April 2010, http://www.spacenews. 

com/article/first-spanish-team-joins-30m-lunar-x-prize-contest (accessed 17 January 2013). 

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into deep space sooner than under the Constellation Program, with a human mission to an 

asteroid by 2025 and a human mission to orbit Mars by the 2030s. Several members of the 

subcommittee, including chair Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), remained skeptical about the 

budget proposal. Mikulski and others were primarily concerned about safety issues relating 

to the replacement of NASA-built spacecraft with commercial vehicles. Bolden testified that 

NASA would require that commercial spacecraft meet the same rating standards for human 

safety that NASA requires for its own crew-transport spacecraft. Bolden stated that, by the 

end of 2010, NASA would have prepared guidelines establishing rating requirements for all 

vehicles that transport humans into space. While Bolden acknowledged under questioning 

that he believed that the Ares rocket would be the safest spacecraft, he also stated that the 

Constellation Program was unsustainable.55 

28 April 

The Russian uncrewed supply vehicle Progress M-05M, or Progress 37, launched aboard a 

Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 17:15 (UT). The vessel was 

transporting 2.6 tons (5,200 pounds, or 2,358.68 kilograms) of food and other supplies for the 

crew of the ISS. This included 110 pounds (59.90 kilograms) of oxygen and air; 1,918 

pounds (870 kilograms) of propellant; 3,301 pounds (1,497.31 kilograms) of hardware and 

spare parts for science experiments; and 220 pounds (99.79 kilograms) of water. Progress M05M also carried care packages for the ISS crew, containing items such as books, candy, and 

movies. On 22 April 2010, the Progress M-03M supply vehicle that had launched on 15 

October 2009 had undocked from the Pirs module. Loaded with trash from the ISS, the 

Progress M-03M had orbited for several days to conduct science experiments before 

descending to Earth to burn up in the atmosphere. ISS officials had scheduled Progress M05M to dock at the Pirs module of the ISS on 1 May 2010.56 

29 April 

A NASA balloon that was attempting to launch a gamma-ray space telescope crashed shortly 

after lifting off from the Alice Springs Balloon Launching Centre outside Alice Springs, 

Australia. No one was injured when the gondola carrying the US$2 million Nuclear Compton 

Telescope (NCT) unexpectedly came loose from its carriage. However, the balloon dragged 

the payload approximately 450 feet (137.16 meters), damaging a nearby fence and car. 

Astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, had built the gamma-ray telescope, 

and NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas, had built the 

400-foot (121.92-meter) uncrewed balloon. NASA had planned for the balloon to carry the 

55 U.S. Congress, Senate, Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and 

Related Agencies, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011, 

111th Cong., 2nd sess., 22 April 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg99104420/ pdf/CHRG111shrg99104420.pdf (accessed 18 January 2013); Kenneth Chang, “Obama’s NASA Blueprint Is Challenged 

in Congress,” New York Times, 22 April 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/science/ 

23nasa.html?scp=1&sq=%2b%22space+exploration%22&st=nyt&_r=0 (accessed 23 January 2013); Marc 

Kaufman, “Obama Plan To End Much of Constellation Program Angers Republican Senators,” Washington 

Post, 23 April 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/ 

AR2010042205372.html (accessed 23 January 2013). 56 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 678; Tariq Malik, “Robotic Russian Cargo Ship Launches Toward Space Station,” 

Space.com, 29 April 2010, http://www.space.com/8309-robotic-russian-cargo-ship-launches-space-station.html 

(accessed 18 January 2013); Xinhua News Agency, “Russian Space Freighter Undocks from ISS,” 23 April 

2010, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-04/23/c_13263469.htm (accessed 18 January 2013). 

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NCT 120,000 feet (36,476 meters) into the air. NASA officials stated that NASA intended to 

convene a mishap investigation board. NASA had successfully launched a balloon containing 

a science project from the Alice Springs Balloon Launching Centre on 15 April 2010, when 

the Tracking and Imaging Gamma Ray Experiment (TIGRE), a gamma-ray telescope, had 

launched to an altitude of 127,000 feet (38,709.60 meters) to study emissions from 

radioactive materials at the center of the galaxy.57 

Two independent teams of scientists, one led by Humberto Campins of University of Central 

Florida and one led by Andrew S. Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University, announced in the 

journal Nature that they had made the first direct observations of water ice on the surface of 

an asteroid. The researchers had used NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii to 

detect ice and organic compounds on the surface of the asteroid 24 Themis, located in the 

asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists had previously inferred that water existed 

on asteroids but had never before directly measured it. The amount of ice cover on 24 

Themis’s 123-mile-wide (197.95-kilometer-wide) surface surprised the researchers. 

Scientists had expected that, at a distance of ~3.2 au from the Sun, surface ice on the asteroid 

would sublimate quickly. After observing the ice cover on 24 Themis, the researchers 

concluded that the asteroid’s surface ice is replenishing, possibly because of a subsurface 

reservoir. The findings were consistent with the theory that asteroids impacting Earth’s 

surface may have brought the water that currently exists on Earth.58 

MAY 2010 

3 May 

President Barack H. Obama appointed NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. and 

Secretary of Commerce Gary F. Locke as co-chairs of the Task Force on Space Industry 

Workforce and Economic Development. The task force’s purpose was to formulate an 

economic development plan to help NASA prepare its aerospace workers for staffing 

changes, to encourage economic growth along Florida’s Space Coast, and to distribute the 

US$40 million that Obama had allocated for economic development. The allocation included 

funds for training workers affected by the end of the Shuttle Program and by the proposed 

end of the Constellation Program. NASA had requested a US$2.5 billion budget to fund the 

end of the Constellation Program and intended to draw on this budget for the US$40 million. 

Senior officials and budget experts serving on the task force would include representatives 

from the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Transportation. 

57 Tariq Malik, “Huge NASA Science Balloon Crashes in Australian Outback,” Space.com, 29 April 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8311-huge-nasa-science-balloon-crashes-australian-outback.html (accessed 18 January 

2013). 

58 Humberto Campins et al., “Water Ice and Organics on the Surface of the Asteroid 24 Themis,” Nature 464, 

no. 7293 (29 April 2010): 1320–1321, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7293/full/ nature09029
 

(accessed 22 January 2013); Andrew S. Rivkin and Joshua P. Emery, “Detection of Ice and Organics on 

Asteroidal Surface,” Nature 464, no. 7293 (29 April 2010): 1322–1323, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/ 

v464/n7293/full/nature09028.html (accessed 22 January 2013); Clara Moskowitz, “Water Ice Discovered on 

Asteroid for First Time,” Space.com, 28 April 2010 http://www.space.com/, 8305-water-ice-discoveredasteroid-time.html (accessed 22 January 2013). 

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The task force would prepare its recommendations by 15 August 2010, and the White House 

would disband the group by 4 May 2013.59 

6 May 

NASA’s Orion crew vehicle successfully completed the Pad Abort 1 flight test, the first fully 

integrated test of Orion’s launch-abort system. The flight test was NASA’s first test of a 

U.S.-designed abort system since the Apollo Program. Conducted at the U.S. Army’s White 

Sands Missile Range (WSMR), the test began at 7:00 a.m. (MDT) and lasted for 135 seconds. 

The abort system, consisting of a fairing assembly and three motors, would allow crew to 

escape the vehicle in a rocket-launch emergency. The abort motor, the primary motor that 

would pull the crew module away from the launchpad, produced a momentary 500,000 

pounds (226,796.20 kilograms) of thrust during its 6-second burn. The altitude-control motor 

steered the vehicle on a controlled flight path using eight thrusters that produced 7,000 

pounds (3,175.15 kilograms) of thrust. The jettison motor propelled the abort system away 

from the crew module, creating space for the parachute to deploy and the vehicle to land. 

After all the motors had successfully fired, the vehicle cruised at 16.20 miles per hour (26.07 

kilometers per hour) to land approximately 1 mile (1.61 kilometers) from the launchpad. 

Although NASA’s FY 2011 budget proposal would end the Constellation Program and 

repurpose the Orion vehicle, engineers expected that the launch-abort test results would help 

them design and analyze safe launch systems for future vehicles used for human 

spaceflight.60 

10 May 

A team of scientists led by Taotao Fang of the University of California, Irvine announced in 

the Astrophysical Journal that they had discovered evidence that a diffuse, hot web of gases, 

called the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), may contain the so-called missing 

matter in the nearby universe. The “nearby universe,” in the vicinity of Earth’s solar system, 

encompasses a region measuring approximately 1 billion light-years in radius. The “missing 

matter” is composed of baryons—particles such as neutrons and protons that exist in galaxies, 

gas clouds, planets, and stars. Scientists had calculated the total amount of baryons that they 

expected to find, but astronomers had observed only approximately half of that amount of 

baryons, causing some researchers to theorize that the remaining “missing” matter might be 

in the WHIM. To locate the WHIM, Taotao Fang’s team had looked at x-ray observations 

from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and from ESA’s x-ray space observatory, XMMNewton. They had studied a supermassive black hole, known as an active galactic nucleus 

(AGN), which is approximately 2 billion light-years from Earth. The researchers found that 

59 U.S. Office of the President, Memorandum of May 3, 2010, “Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and 

Economic Development,” Federal Register 75, no. 87 (May 6, 2010): 24781–24782; Amy Klamper, “Obama 

Establishes Florida Space Industry Task Force,” Space News, 4 May 2010, http://www.spacenews.com/article/ 

obama-establishes-florida-space-industry-task-force (accessed 7 February 2013); Tony Romm, “New White 

House Task Force on NASA To Focus on Job Loss,” The Hill, 4 May 2010, http://thehill.com/blogs/hilliconvalley/technology/95809-new-white-house-task-force-on-nasa-to-focus-on-job-loss (accessed 7 February 2013). 60 NASA, “NASA Successfully Tests Orion Launch Abort System,” news release 10-109, 6 May 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_10-109_Orion_Test.html (accessed 30 January 2013); 

Leonard David, “NASA Test Launches Rocket Escape System for Astronauts,” Space.com, 6 May 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8350-nasa-test-launches-rocket-escape-system-astronauts.html (accessed 4 February 

2013). 

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x-ray emissions from the AGN were absorbed as they passed through the Sculptor Wall, a 

huge diffuse structure that spans tens of millions of light-years and contains thousands of 

galaxies. The researchers concluded that oxygen atoms in the WHIM within the Sculptor 

Wall had absorbed the x-ray emissions. Using two telescopes, instead of one, and searching 

the Sculptor Wall, instead of conducting a blind search, enabled Fang’s team to uncover the 

strongest evidence to date of the existence of “missing matter” in the WHIM.61 

NASA announced that it had awarded a sole-source contract to Ball Aerospace and 

Technology for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) 

instrument known as Flight Unit 2. NASA’s GPM mission would study climate, 

hydrometeorological processes, and weather, using international satellites to observe global 

ice, rain, and snow. The GMI instrument, a multichannel, conical-scanning, microwave 

radiometer, would provide near-global measurements of atmospheric moisture. The GMI 

would enhance GPM monitoring of hurricanes and midlatitude storms and improve 

estimations of rainfall accumulation. The performance period of the US$48.5 million, costplus-award fee, incentive-fee contract would last from 9 October 2009 through 31 March 

2016. Ball Aerospace and Technology would manufacture, test, and deliver the instrument, 

support the instrument’s integration onto the spacecraft, and provide launch and postlaunch 

support. Ball Aerospace and Technology would manufacture GMI instrument Flight Unit 2 

in series with its identical counterpart, GMI 1. NASA had scheduled GMI Flight Unit 2 to 

launch as part of the GPM satellite constellation in 2014, on a spacecraft provided by a GPM 

partner.62 

12 May 

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on the 

future of U.S. human spaceflight. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., former 

astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Eugene A. Cernan, and others testified on President 

Barack H. Obama’s proposal to cancel the Constellation Program and to rely on commercial 

spacecraft to transport astronauts to the ISS. In support of the president’s proposal, Bolden 

outlined its highlights, including refashioning the Orion crew capsule into an emergency 

escape vehicle, developing new heavy-lift technologies, assisting displaced workers on 

Florida’s Space Coast, and extending NASA’s operations of the ISS. Armstrong and Cernan 

expressed concern that the United States would lose its leadership position in human 

spaceflight if NASA did not continue to develop spaceflight technologies. Some members of 

the committee also expressed doubts, fearing that the president’s proposal would lead to job 

losses. However, committee chair John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) stated his support for the 

priorities that the proposal set: seeking greater international collaboration, supporting 

61 Taotao Fang et al., “Confirmation of X-Ray Absorption by Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium in the Sculptor 

Wall,” Astrophysical Journal 714, no. 1715 (10 May 2010): 1715–1724, http://iopscience.iop.org/ 0004-

637X/714/2/1715/pdf/0004-637X_714_2_1715.pdf (accessed 7 February 2013); Space.com, “Huge Chunk of 

Universe’s Missing Matter Found,” 11 May 2010, http://www.space.com/8386-huge-chunk-universe-missingmatter.html (accessed 7 February 2013). 62 NASA, “NASA Awards Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager,” news release C10-029, 10 

May 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_C10-029_GPM_Imager_Contract.html (accessed 

30 January 2013). 

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commercial spaceflight, and developing new technologies for exploration beyond low-Earth 

orbit. He added, “NASA cannot continue down the same path in my judgment.”63 

14 May 

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from NASA’s KSC at 18:20 (UT) on the STS-132 mission to 

the ISS. Atlantis transported six astronauts: Commander Kenneth T. Ham, Pilot Dominic A. 

Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Stephen G. Bowen, Michael T. Good, Garrett E. Reisman, 

and Piers J. Sellers. The astronauts would deliver to the ISS the Russian-built Mini Research 

Module-1, or Rassvet, which crew members would use as a laboratory to conduct research in 

biological science, biotechnology, educational research, and fluid physics. It would also 

serve as a storage space and a docking port for the Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles. 

Rassvet contained a pressurized compartment with eight workstations, featuring facilities 

such as a box to separate experiments from the in-cabin environment, incubators for highand low-temperature experiments, and a vibration-isolation platform. It had four additional 

workstations outfitted with mechanical adapters to install payloads into racks and shelves. In 

addition to Rassvet, STS-132 would deliver cargo, critical spare parts, and 10 experiments to 

the ISS. The experiments included Cube Lab, a low-cost platform for commercial and 

educational projects; Genara-A, a European experiment on plant growth without gravity; 

Ferulate, a Japanese experiment on cell walls in microgravity; and the Smoke and Aerosol 

Measurement experiment, to follow up on previous tests of smoke-detection technology. 

NASA had scheduled Atlantis to dock with the ISS on 16 May 2010.64 

20 May 

JAXA launched its Akatsuki satellite and five smaller piggyback satellites aboard an H-2A 

rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 21:58 (UT). Akatsuki, also called Planet-C or 

Venus Climate Orbiter, was the first interplanetary weather satellite. Using two shortwavelength infrared cameras, Akatsuki would study Venus’s low-altitude clouds and its 

distribution of carbon monoxide and water vapor, in addition to charting the planet’s surface 

in search of active volcanoes. Akatsuki would observe Venus’s super-rotating, upperatmosphere clouds and monitor sulfur-dioxide levels with a long-wavelength-infrared imager, 

and would use a wide-field-of-view camera to search for evidence of lightning. In addition to 

Akatsuki, the H-2A’s payload included an experimental satellite known as the Interplanetary 

Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun (IKAROS), the first propellant-free craft to 

enter deep space. IKAROS’s super-thin solar sail could propel the satellite either by using 

pressure created by the solar particles or by using electricity generated by its solar cells. 

Additionally, JAXA launched the Unitec-1 satellite, which would test several engineering 

63 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, The Future of Human Space 

Flight, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 12 May 2010, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg66487 /pdf/CHRG111shrg66487.pdf (accessed 4 February 2013); Bart Jansen, “Space Pioneers Criticize Budget,” Florida Today 

(Brevard, FL), 13 May 2010, http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100513/NEWS02/5130313/1006/NEWS01/ 

Space+pioneers+criticize+budget (accessed 4 February 2013). 64Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 679, 1 June 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx679.html (accessed 30 

January 2013); NASA, “NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis Lifts Off To Put Finishing Touches on the International 

Space Station,” news release 10-113, 14 May 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/ may/10-113_STS132_Launched.html (accessed 30 January 2013); NASA, “NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis Bringing a New ‘Dawn’ for 

Space Station Science,” news release 10-114, 18 May 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_ 

10-114_STS-132_Science_Info.html (accessed 30 January 2013). 

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technologies; the Waseda-Sat2 satellite, built by students at Waseda University to observe 

Earth; the Negai satellite, which would verify an advanced information-processing system in 

space; and the K-Sat satellite, which would observe Earth, perform high-speed 

communications, and conduct a communications experiment for super-small positioning 

satellites.65 

21 May 

GAO responded to a 12 March 2010 request from 17 members of Congress, who had asked 

GAO to investigate whether NASA staff had broken the law by planning for the aftermath of 

the Constellation Program. The members of Congress questioned whether NASA had 

complied with the Congressional Budget Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Pub. L. No. 93­

344, 88 Stat 297) and with restrictions in the FY 2010 appropriation for exploration, which 

prohibited NASA from using funds appropriated for exploration to end any of the 

Constellation Program’s activities, programs, or projects or to create any new activities, 

programs, or projects. In February 2010, after the release of the president’s FY 2011 budget 

proposal, NASA had established nine study teams to evaluate implementation strategies for 

the proposed space-exploration policies. The teams had worked for 4 to 6 weeks preparing 

planning documents for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of 

Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). GAO found that the study teams had not violated 

the law because they had not awarded any contracts, created any new programs, hired or 

permanently reassigned any staff, or set up any new program offices and, therefore, they had 

not created any new programs, projects, or activities (PPAs). The report also noted that 

NASA had established the planning teams at the request of OMB and OSTP and that, “as 

part of the appropriations process, agencies must engage in various types of planning 

activities.”66 

24 May 

NASA announced that it was officially ending operations for its Phoenix Mars Lander after 

failing to reestablish contact with the spacecraft following the Martian winter. NASA’s Mars 

Odyssey had flown over the Phoenix landing site 61 times in a final listening campaign, 

preceded by 150 flights in three previous campaigns, all of which had failed to detect a 

transmission from the lander. Images of Phoenix taken with Odyssey’s High Resolution 

Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera showed that Phoenix’s shadow had changed, 

indicating that during the winter its solar arrays had broken off under the weight of carbondioxide-ice accumulation. Anticipating such damage, NASA officials had not expected 

Phoenix to survive the winter. Phoenix had landed on Mars on 25 May 2008, completing its 

initial three-month mission and remaining active for an additional two months. Phoenix had 

made important scientific discoveries, which included studying the Martian soil chemistry, 

observing falling snow, confirming that Mars has deposits of underground water ice, and 

65 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 679; Jonathan Amos, “Japan Launches Akatsuki Probe to Venus,” BBC News, 20 

May 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10135158 (accessed 4 February 2013). 66 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Constellation
 
 

Program and Appropriations Restrictions” (report no. B-319488, part I, Washington, DC, 21 May 2010), 

http://www.gao.gov/assets/390/388911.pdf (accessed 4 February 2013); Robert Block, “Watchdog: NASA 

Plans for Constellation Alternative Not Illegal,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 25 May 2010, http://blogs. 

orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2010/05/watchdog-nasa-plans-for-constellation -alternativenot-illegal.html (accessed 4 February 2010).
 
 

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identifying the presence of calcium carbonite, which suggests that thawed water is 

occasionally present on Mars. Phoenix’s most notable achievement was the discovery of 

perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical that some microbes on Earth eat and some find toxic. This 

finding had influenced new astrobiological research. NASA officials stated that researchers’ 

analysis of Phoenix’s scientific discoveries would continue for some time after the end of the 

mission.67 

26 May 

The House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing to review NASA’s Human 

Spaceflight Program and its budget, cost, schedule, and potential impacts. During the hearing, 

the committee members examined the proposed goals and changing strategies of NASA’s 

human spaceflight programs included within the FY 2011 budget. The committee also 

reviewed the challenges and risks that NASA would have to address in implementing the 

proposed changes. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. testified before the committee 

on NASA’s progress developing plans to implement the proposed initiatives. He also 

provided details regarding the most recent updates to President Barack H. Obama’s budget 

proposal, which included restructuring the Orion crew capsule as an emergency escape 

vehicle for the ISS, developing new heavy-lift technologies to reach beyond low-Earth orbit, 

and assisting NASA workers through the program transitions. Several members of the 

committee, including its chair Barton J. Gordon (D-TN), expressed concern about the 

proposed changes, particularly the costs of the new programs. Gordon worried that budget 

projections were too low and that the FY 2011 proposal had not allocated funds adequate to 

finance its ambitious goals. Former NASA astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Eugene A. 

Cernan also testified in favor of maintaining NASA’s current human spaceflight program.68 

Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at NASA’s KSC at 8:48 a.m. (EDT), returning six astronauts 

from a 12-day, 4.8 million-mile (7,724,851-kilometer) mission to the ISS. Atlantis’s crew for 

mission STS-132 was Commander Kenneth T. Ham, Pilot Dominic A. Antonelli, and 

Mission Specialists Stephen G. Bowen, Michael T. Good, Garrett E. Reisman, and Piers J. 

Sellers. While aboard the ISS, the astronauts had delivered and installed the Russian Mini 

Research Module-1, known as Rassvet, which would serve as a research module, storage 

space, and docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The astronauts also had 

conducted three spacewalks to install a backup Ku-band antenna, replace six solar-array 

batteries, and install parts on the Canada’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (Dextre) 

robotic arm. In keeping with its plans to end the Space Shuttle Program, NASA had 

scheduled STS-132 as Atlantis’s final flight. However, NASA would still process Atlantis to 

serve as a possible rescue vehicle during Endeavour’s final launch. NASA officials were also 

67 NASA, “Phoenix Mars Lander Does Not Phone Home, New Image Shows Damage,” news release 10-120, 24 

May 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/10-120_Phoenix_Finished.html (accessed 30 January 

2013). 

68 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Review of the Proposed
 
 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Human Spaceflight Plan, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 26 May 2010, 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg57174/pdf/CHRG-111hhrg57174.pdf (accessed 4 February 2013); 

Kenneth Chang, “NASA Finds New Criticism and Skepticism Before Congress,” New York Times, 26 May 

2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/science/space/ 27nasa.html?scp=1&sq=%2b%22low+earth+orbit%
 
 

22&st=nyt&_r=0 (accessed 4 February 2013). 

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seeking permission from the Obama administration to conduct one additional resupply 

mission to the ISS using Atlantis.

69 

NASA announced that Dominic L. Pudwell Gorie and John D. “Danny” Olivas were leaving 

the astronaut corps. Gorie’s last day at NASA would be 25 May 2010, and Olivas’s last day 

would be 4 June 2010. Gorie had flown on four Shuttle missions, traveling more than 18 

million miles (28,968,190 kilometers) in space. He had served as Pilot on STS-91 in 1998 

and STS-99 in 2000, and Commander of STS-108 in 2001 and STS-123 in 2008. Olivas was 

a veteran of two Shuttle flights and had spent 668 hours in space. He had served as Mission 

Specialist on STS-117 in 2007 and STS-128 in 2009. Over the course of five spacewalks, 

Olivas had accrued 34 hours of extravehicular time in space.70 

27 May 

NASA announced that it had selected five proposals for airborne-science missions for the 

Earth System Science Pathfinder Program’s new Earth Venture project series. The selected 

proposals would be the first investigations in the new series of Venture-class missions— 

small, low-to-moderate-cost, targeted-research investigations supporting NASA’s larger 

mission goals. NASA would award each competitively selected recipient no more than 

US$30 million over five years, to include all costs from initial development and deployment 

through data analysis. NASA officials stated that the venture-class missions would 

complement the missions of NASA’s Earth-observing satellites, providing data that 

researchers could use to characterize important phenomena, identify changes in Earth’s 

system, and improve computer modeling. The elected missions were “Airborne Microwave 

Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface,” with Mahta Moghaddam of the University of 

Michigan as Principal Investigator; “Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment,” with Eric J. 

Jensen of NASA’s ARC as Principal Investigator; “Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs 

Vulnerability Experiment,” with Charles E. Miller of NASA’s JPL as Principal Investigator; 

“Deriving Information of Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved 

Observations Relevant to Air Quality,” with James H. Crawford of NASA’s LRC as 

Principal Investigator; and “Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel,” with Scott A. Braun of 

NASA’s GSFC as Principal Investigator.71 

Two teams of scientists, one team led by John W. Holt of the University of Texas at Austin’s 

Institute for Geophysics and the other led by Isaac B. Smith of the University of Texas, 

Austin, announced in the journal Nature that they had used data from NASA’s Mars 

Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to determine that depositional forces, rather than catastrophic 

forces, had formed two notable features of Mars’s polar ice cap—the Chasma Boreale 

canyon and the spiraling troughs that are cut in the ice. Using data from the Shallow Radar 

69 NASA, “Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns Home After Its Final Mission,” news release 10-124, 26 May 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_10-124_Atlantis_Landing.html (accessed 30 January 2013); 

William Harwood, “For Atlantis, A Flight Path to Retirement,” New York Times, 26 May 2010, http://www. 

nytimes.com/2010/05/27/science/space/27shuttle.html?src=mv&_r=0 (accessed 4 February 2013).
 70 NASA, “Veteran Astronauts Gorie and Olivas Leave NASA,” news release 10-123, 26 May 2010, http://www.
 

nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_10-123_Astronauts_Retire.html (accessed 30 January 2013).
 
 71 NASA, “NASA Takes to the Air with New ‘Earth Venture’ Research Projects,” news release 10-127, 27 May 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/Hq_10-127_Venture_Program.html (accessed 30 January 

2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

(SHARAD) aboard NASA’s MRO, Holt’s team had performed stratigraphic analysis of the 

exposed portions of Chasma Boreale, a basin 500 kilometers (310.69 miles) long, as much as 

100 kilometers (62.14 miles) wide, and almost two kilometers (1.24 miles) deep. By 

analyzing the radar data, the researchers had determined that Chasma Boreale is an old 

feature, and that the topography that existed before the beginning of the accumulation of the 

northern polar layered deposits (NPLD) influenced the successive episodes of deposit and 

erosion that shaped the modern canyon. Using data from NASA’s MRO to analyze the 

troughs that spiral out from the center of the Martian polar ice cap, Smith’s team found that 

the troughs had formed after 75 percent of the NPLD had accumulated, and that their 

morphology had quickly stabilized. Over the last 2 million years, approximately, they had 

migrated about 65 kilometers (40.39 miles) northward and 600 meters (1,968.50 feet) in 

altitude. The researchers’ analysis of the radar images showed that atmospheric depositions 

and wind transport had caused the troughs’ migration. The teams’ research answered 

scientists’ decades-old questions about the Martian polar ice cap and provided new insights 

about climate change on Mars.72 

28 May 

NASA announced the appointment of Kenneth R. Human as Associate Director of NASA’s 

SSC. As Associate Director, Human would assist Director Patrick E. Scheuermann and 

Deputy Center Director Richard J. Gilbrech in managing NASA’s SSC. Human had joined 

NASA in 1978 as an attorney advisor. NASA had named him Acting Chief Counsel in 1984 

and, two years later, had appointed him Chief Counsel. In 2007 Human had become Deputy 

Manager of the External Integration Office at NASA’s JSC. In that role, he had developed 

international collaborations and partnerships with the Canadian, European, Japanese, and 

Russian space agencies, in support of the International Space Station Program. Human had 

received many awards, including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.73 

JUNE 2010 

1 June 

A Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft landed outside Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 11:25 p.m. (EDT), 

returning three ISS crew members to Earth. Commander Oleg V. Kotov of Russia and Flight 

Engineers Timothy J. Creamer of the United States and Soichi Noguchi of Japan had spent 

163 days in space during their mission. They had launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 

on 21 December 2009 to take part in the Expedition 22 and Expedition 23 missions aboard 

the ISS. During their time on the ISS, they had completed the U.S. portion of the ISS 

laboratory facilities, hosted three Space Shuttle missions, and received and installed the 

American Tranquility module and the Russian Rassvet module. Creamer had a career total of 

72 J. W. Holt et al., “The Construction of Chasma Boreale on Mars,” Nature 465, no. 7297 (27 May 2010): 446–
 
 

449, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7297/full/nature09050.html (accessed 7 February 2013); 

Isaac B. Smith et al., “Onset and Migration of Spiral Troughs on Mars Revealed by Orbital Radar,” Nature 465, 

no. 7297 (27 May 2010): 450–453, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7297/full/ nature09049.html
 

(accessed 7 February 2013); NASA, “NASA Spacecraft Penetrates Mysteries of Martian Ice Cap,” news release 

10-122, 26 May 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/ HQ_10-122_MRO_On_Ice_Cap.html
 
 

(accessed 30 January 2013). 

73 NASA, “NASA Names New Associate Director of Stennis Space Center,” news release RS-10-126, 28 May 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/newsreleases/2010/RS-10-126.html (accessed 7 February 2013).
 
 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

163 days in space, Kotov had a career total of 330 days, and Noguchi had a career total of 

177 days.74 

3 June 

The Moscow-based Institute of Medical and Biological Problems began its Mars-500 project, 

a 520-day simulation of a spaceflight to Mars. During the study, six participants from China, 

Europe, and Russia would be confined to a simulated spaceship for 250 days, would “land” 

on an imitation Mars for 30 days, and then would spend 240 days “returning” to Earth. The 

participants, who would have no contact with the outside world except for limited e-mail use, 

would have the same restricted diet and schedule as an actual interplanetary traveler. The 

study, the longest of its kind, would assess the effects of confinement, fatigue, and stress on 

astronauts traveling to Mars. Researchers would monitor the participants’ hormone levels, 

mood, sleep quality, and stress levels, as well as the effects of various dietary supplements. 

The Institute of Medical and Biological Problems performed the study in Moscow in 

cooperation with China and ESA. A U.S. research team, funded by the NASA-supported 

National Space Biomedical Research Institute, was also working on the project.75 

4 June 

SpaceX successfully test-launched a Falcon-9 rocket carrying a mock-up spacecraft from 

Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 18:45 (UT). The test marked the first flight of a commercially 

developed rocket capable of carrying humans into space. The 735,000-pound (333,390.40­

kilogram), 154-foot (46.94-meter) rocket had nine first-stage engines. During the test, the 

first-stage engines burned for 3 minutes before dropping off, and the second-stage Merlin 

engine put the payload into its orbital altitude 155 miles (249.45 kilometers) above Earth. 

Although the second stage spun slightly when the rocket reached orbit, and the first stage 

broke up when it fell to the ocean, SpaceX officials considered the test highly successful. 

NASA officials were also pleased with the launch. NASA planned to use commercially 

developed vehicles to transport cargo and crew to the ISS. In 2006 NASA had awarded 

SpaceX a US$278 million contract for demonstration flights. If the tests were successful, 

NASA would award SpaceX a US$1.6 billion contract for 12 cargo flights to the ISS. 

SpaceX planned to execute a second test launch of the Falcon 9 during the summer of 2010.76 

74 NASA, “International Space Station Expedition 23 Crew Lands Safely,” news release 10-129, 1 June 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_10-129_Soyuz_Lands.html (accessed 19 February 2013). 75 Jonathan Amos, “Volunteers To Begin Mars500 Isolation,” BBC News, 3 June 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ 

news/10197470 (accessed 26 March 2013); Eric Berger, “Six Men Begin 520-Day Mars Mission Without 

Leaving Earth,” Houston Chronicle, 2 June 2010, http://www.chron.com/news/ houston-texas/article/Six-menbegin-520-day-Mars-mission-without-1704452.php (accessed 26 March 2013); Vladimir Isachenkov, “Six 

Researchers To Put Coping Skills To Test in 520-Day Simulation of Flight to Mars,” Washington Post, 4 June 

2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304286.html (accessed 26 

March 2013). 

76 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 680, 1 July 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx680.html (accessed 19 

February 2013); Kenneth Chang, “Private Rocket Has Successful First Flight,” New York Times, 4 June 2010, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/science/space/05rocket.html?ref=science&_r=0 (accessed 26 March 2013); 

Robert Block, “SpaceX Falcon 9 Makes It To Orbit in Historic First Launch,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 4 June 

2010, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-06-04/news/os-spacex-rocket-launch-20100604_1_spacexfalcon-international-space-station-rocket (accessed 26 March 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

10 June 

South Korea attempted to launch a weather satellite, Science Technology Satellite No. 2, 

aboard the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1, or Naro-1) from the Naro Space Center; 

however, the launch failed 137 seconds after liftoff. Before its first-stage rockets combusted, 

the 100-kilogram (220.46-pound) rocket reached an altitude of 70 kilometers (43.50 miles) 

and broke the sound barrier. Russia’s Khrunichev Space Center had built the liquid-fueled 

first-stage engine as part of a joint project with the Korea Aerospace Institute, which had 

built the solid-fuel second-stage engine. South Korea’s previous attempt to launch the Naro 

rocket in August 2009 had failed when two fairings did not separate at the right time. The 

South Korean government had spent nearly US$1 billion on its satellite program and had 

hoped to launch a satellite from its own territory. Only nine nations had launched rockets 

from their homelands.77 

14 June 

NASA announced that it had appointed two new program managers for its Constellation 

Program. Based at NASA’s JSC, the Constellation Program was responsible for 

administering programs to launch humans beyond low-Earth orbit and developing new 

launch vehicles and spacecraft. NASA appointed Lawrence D. Thomas as Manager and 

Charles M. Stegemoeller as Deputy Program Manager. Thomas had begun his career with 

NASA in 1983 as an Aerospace Systems Engineer at NASA’s MSFC. While at NASA’s 

MSFC, he had served as Manager of the Systems Engineering and Analysis Office for the 

Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program Office, as well as Chief of the 

Systems Engineering Division, Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department. Thomas also 

had served as Manager of the Vehicle Analysis and Integration Office in the International 

Space Station Program at NASA’s JSC. At the time of his appointment, he was serving as the 

Deputy Program Manager of the Constellation Program. Stegemoeller had joined NASA in 

1985 and had served in the Space Station Freedom Program and the NASA/Mir Program at 

NASA’s JSC. He had also served as Associate Director of the Office of Bioastronautics 

within the Space Life Sciences Directorate. At the time of his appointment, he was serving as 

Director of the Program Planning and Control Office for the Constellation Program.78 

15 June 

The Russian Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, bound for the ISS, launched from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome on a Soyuz-FG rocket at 21:35 (UT). Russian Commander Fyodor N. 

Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Douglas H. Wheelock and Shannon Walker were aboard 

the Soyuz. They planned to dock at the ISS on 17 June 2010, joining the Expedition 24 crew, 

which included NASA astronaut Tracy E. Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail 

B. Kornienko and Alexander A. Skvortsov. Walker, Wheelock, and Yurchikhin would 

remain aboard the ISS for five-and-a-half months, performing station maintenance and 

working on the ISS’s scientific research projects. They planned to move their Soyuz to the 

77 Donald Kirk, “Why Did South Korea’s Rocket Launch Fail?” Christian Science Monitor, 11 June 2010, 

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0611/Why-did-South-Korea-s-rocket-launch-fail (accessed 28 March 

2013); Korea Herald, “South Korean Space Rocket Crashes,” 10 June 2010, http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.
 
 

php?ud=20100610000805 (accessed 28 March 2013). 78 NASA, “NASA Appoints Constellation Program Managers,” news release 10-145, 14 June 2010, http://www. 

nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_10-145_NASA_Constellation_Management.html (accessed 26 March
 

2013). 

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new Mini-Research Module’s docking port and to perform three spacewalks. They would 

also host two Space Shuttle missions and witness a change of station command at the start of 

Expedition 25, which officials had scheduled for 24 September 2010.79 

NASA announced that it had awarded the Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment 

Project contract to General Dynamics C4 Systems. The Space Network Ground Segment is 

part of NASA’s Space Network, which provides spacecraft in low-Earth or near-Earth orbit 

with global space-to-ground telecommunications and tracking coverage. Its facilities are 

located at the White Sands Complex in New Mexico, the Guam Remote Ground Terminal in 

Guam, and the Space Network Expansion East in Maryland. The cost-plus-award fee, 

indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract had a performance period from 21 June 2010 

through 20 June 2017. Its total value, including options, was approximately US$642.2 

million. Under the terms of the contract, General Dynamics would modernize the ground 

segment of NASA’s Space Network. This would include creating more flexible architecture, 

implementing new ways to support spacecraft with satellites, integrating NASA’s Space 

Communications and Navigation networks, replacing obsolete systems, and responding to 

customer requirements and technological advances. Additionally, General Dynamics would 

expand and improve communication methods between the Space Network Ground System 

and the Space Network user control centers.80 

22 June 

A team of scientists led by Francis M. McCubbin of the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical 

Laboratory announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United 

States of America that the team had discovered that the interior of Earth’s Moon has more 

indigenous water than scientists had previously believed. For 40 years, scientists had thought 

that the Moon had almost no water; however, since 2008, researchers had used calculations 

and probe observations to determine that the Moon’s surface has water and ice. McCubbin’s 

team had studied samples of a lunar meteorite and of rocks brought back from the Apollo 

mission. Using secondary ion mass spectrometry, they had analyzed sections of the waterbearing mineral apatite in the samples. The researchers concluded that the water content of 

the samples was greater than previous scientific estimates of lunar water by at least two 

orders of magnitude. They also determined that, while water is still relatively scarce on the 

Moon, it is ubiquitous throughout the lunar interior. Furthermore, the researchers’ findings 

indicated that the water had been preserved from magmatic processes that had occurred while 

the Moon was forming, indicating that water is a native substance on the Moon. The NASA 

Astrobiology Program, Mars Fundamental Research Program, and the Lunar Advanced 

79 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 680; NASA, “New Space Station Crew Members Launch from Kazakhstan,” news 

release 10-143, 15 June 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/10-143_Soyuz_Exp24.html 

(accessed 19 February 2013); Tariq Malik, “New Space Station Crew Blasts Off on Soyuz Spaceship,” 

Space.com, 15 June 2010, http://www.space.com/8607-space-station-crew-blasts-soyuz-spaceship.html 

(accessed 27 March 2013). 

80 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment Contract,” news release C10-034, 15 

June 2013, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_C10-034_SGSS_Announcement.html (accessed 19 

February 2013). 

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Science and Exploration Research Program in NASA’s Planetary Division in Washington, 

DC, had funded the research.81 

25 June 

NASA announced that it had awarded a contract for support of ISS mission integration 

services to Barrios Technology of Houston, Texas. Under the contract, Barrios Technology 

would provide engineering and technical services for the International Space Station Program, 

including the products and services that NASA would need to carry out international 

program integration, ISS mission integration and operations, mission planning, and Russian 

language and logistics services. The fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity 

contract covered a base period from 1 October 2010 through 31 December 2015, as well as 

offering two one-year options: Option 1 covered 1 January 2016 through 31 January 2016, 

and Option 2 covered 1 January 2017 through 31 December 2017. The value of the contract’s 

base period was US$185.5 million, with Option 1 valued at US$42.7 million and Option 2 

valued at US$45 million. Barrios Technology would perform the majority of the contract 

work at NASA’s JSC and KSC, with additional work in Kazakhstan and Russia. TechTrans 

International was a major subcontractor for Barrios Technology.82 

27 June 

NASA ended operations for its first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1. The satellite 

had launched in April 1983, during Challenger’s maiden voyage, STS-6. From 1983 to 1998, 

NASA had used TDRS-1 as part of a nine-satellite communication system for navigating, 

receiving data and sending commands, and talking with crews in orbit. TDRS-1’s range had 

extended over a former dead zone above the Indian Ocean, providing global-communications 

coverage for the ISS and for low-Earth orbiting satellites. TDRS-1 had been the first satellite 

to support launches from NASA’s KSC. In 1998 NASA had reassigned TDRS-1 to support 

the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) U.S. Antarctic Program and other scientific 

operations. Because its orbit allowed communication with the North Pole and South Pole, 

TDRS-1 had facilitated innovations in communications such as the first pole-to-pole phone 

call, the first Internet connection and the first live Webcast from the North Pole, and the first 

global television event from the South Pole Station. TDRS-1 had also provided a 

communications link during a medical emergency at NSF’s Antarctic Amundsen-Scott South 

Pole Station and had supported astronomy and astrophysics research from the South Pole. 

TRW, which later had become Northrop Grumman, had built TDRS-1 for NASA.83 

81 Francis M. McCubbin, “Nominally Hydrous Magmatism on the Moon,” Proceedings of the National 

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107, no. 25 (22 June 2010): 11223–11228, http://www. 

pnas.org/content/107/25/11223.full (accessed 27 March 2013); NASA, “Research Suggests Water Content of 

Moon Interior Underestimated,” news release 10-144, 14 June 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/ 

jun/HQ_10-144_Water_In_Moon.html (accessed 19 February 2013); Denise Chow, “Moon Has 100 Time More 

Water, New Study Suggests,” Space.com, 14 June 2010, http://www.space.com /8593-moon-100-times-waterstudy-suggests.html (accessed 27 March 2013). 82 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Station Mission Integration Contract,” news release C10-038, 25 June 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_C10-038_ISS_Integration.html (accessed 19 February 2013). 83 NASA, “NASA Retires First Data Relay Satellite After Stellar Career,” news release 10-154, 25 June 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/10-154_TDRS_Retirement.html (accessed 19 February 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

28 June 

The White House released the National Space Policy of the United States of America, a set 

of principles, goals, and guidelines governing the United States’ space programs. Every 

presidential administration since President Dwight D. Eisenhower had updated the National 

Space Policy. The Obama administration’s update revised some of the policies of the Bush 

administration, placing greater emphasis on expanding international collaboration in space, 

and including consideration of an arms-control treaty to curtail the development of space 

weapons. Obama’s revised space policy also encouraged expansion of the United States’ 

commercial spaceflight industry, instructing federal agencies to purchase from the 

spaceflight industry and to develop governmental space systems only when such 

development was in the national interest and no suitable commercial alternative was 

available. The new policy also outlined goals for expanding the use of weather satellites and 

robotic spacecraft, extending the use of the ISS, and reducing orbital debris.84 

30 June 

The Russian uncrewed cargo-delivery vehicle Progress M-06M, or Progress 38, launched 

aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 15:35 (UT). The spacecraft would 

deliver 2.5 tons (5,000 pounds, or 2,267.96 kilograms) of supplies to the crew of the ISS. It 

carried 2,667 pounds (1,209.73 kilograms) of dry cargo, including scientific equipment, spare 

parts, and other supplies; 110 pounds (49.90 kilograms) of oxygen; 220 pounds (99.79 

kilograms) of water; and 213 pounds (96.62 kilograms) of personal items for the six-person 

crew. The vehicle was also transporting 1,918 pounds (869.99 kilograms) of propellant to 

fuel the ISS’s maneuvering thrusters. Progress M-06M was scheduled to dock at the ISS on 2 

July 2010 and to remain at the station for two months.85 

JULY 2010 

1 July 

NASA Space Shuttle Program managers announced that they would be delaying the final 

launches to the ISS and extending the Space Shuttle Program into 2011. Officials postponed 

Discovery’s STS-133 mission, originally scheduled to launch on 16 September 2010, so that 

NASA would have more time to prepare equipment. The STS-133 mission would deliver to 

the ISS a refitted cargo pod and a robot named Robonaut 2. NASA rescheduled the launch 

for 1 November 2010, pushing back the STS-134 launch of Endeavour. NASA had 

previously scheduled STS-134, intended as the final Space Shuttle flight, for late November 

2010. STS-134 would deliver NASA’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) astrophysics 

experiment to the ISS. Officials rescheduled STS-134 for the next available launch date, 26 

84 U.S. Office of the President, “National Space Policy of the United States of America” (report, Washington 

DC, June 2010), http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf (accessed 27 

March 2013); Bart Jansen, “Cooperation at Heart of New Space Policy,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 29 June
 

2010, http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100629/NEWS02/6290323/1006/NEWS01/Cooperation+at+ 

heart+of+new+space+policy?nclick_check=1 (accessed 26 March 2013); William J. Broad and Kenneth 

Chang, “Obama Reverses Bush’s Space Policy,” New York Times, 28 June 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
 
 

06/29/science/space/29orbit.html?ref=science&_r=0 (accessed 26 March 2013). 85 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 680; Tariq Malik, “New Robotic Cargo Ship Launches to Space Station,” Space.com, 

30 June 2010, http://www.space.com/8685-robotic-cargo-ship-launches-space-station.html (accessed 29 March 

2013).
 
 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

February 2011. NASA had also requested approval to add a final mission for Atlantis to 

deliver cargo and supplies to the ISS. However, to launch that mission in June 2011, NASA 

would need to receive permission from the White House by August 2010. Although NASA 

had originally scheduled the ending of the Space Shuttle Program for September 2010, many 

officials had anticipated launch slips. President Barack H. Obama’s FY 2011 budget proposal 

had included US$600 million to cover the costs of extending the Shuttle launch schedule.86 

7 July 

NASA announced that it had awarded four contracts to develop, provide, and maintain crew 

robotics and vehicle equipment. After a full and open competition, NASA granted three of 

the contracts to ATK Space Systems of Brigham City, Utah; Oceaneering International of 

Houston, Texas; and Wyle Integrated Science, also of Houston, Texas. Officials limited the 

fourth contract competition to educational and nonprofit institutions and awarded that 

contract to the University of Alabama. The contract recipients would provide equipment for 

the ISS, the Space Shuttle, and other advanced development programs. The equipment would 

include crew health and conditioning systems, materials for the spacecraft flight crew, and 

materials for spacewalk activities. The cost-plus-fixed-fee, performance-based contracts had 

a combined total value that would not exceed US$70 million. The contracts would run 

through June 2015, with the work conducted at the contractors’ and subcontractors’ 

facilities.87 

8 July 

A team of scientists led by Manfred W. Pakull of the University of Strasbourg in France 

announced in the journal Nature that they had discovered the most powerful jets ever 

observed coming from a type of black hole called a microquasar. The strong jets of fastmoving particles are heating the interstellar gas around the black hole and forming a hot-gas 

bubble, 1,000 light-years wide and growing at the rate of almost 1 million kilometers per 

hour (621,371.20 miles per hour), making it the largest such bubble that scientists had ever 

seen. Black holes release a large amount of energy as they pull in matter, but scientists had 

believed that the black holes release that energy predominantly in the form of radiation. 

However, the newly discovered microquasar is releasing energy as collimated jets of superfast particles. These unusually long jets, which measure approximately 300 parsecs, indicate 

the power of the microquasar. Named S26, the microquasar is located 12 million light-years 

away from Earth, in the spiral galaxy NGC 7793. Although it weighs only a few solar masses, 

S26 is emitting an amount of energy equivalent to the output of black holes with over a 

million solar masses. Researchers believe that S26’s jets have been active for at least 200,000 

years. Pakull’s team had conducted their research using optical, radio, and x-ray data from 

NASA Chandra X-ray Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large 

Telescope (VLT). The team believed that their observations would help astronomers 

86 NASA, “NASA Updates Shuttle Target Launch Dates for Final Two Flights,” news release 10-157, 1 July 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-157_STS_Launch_Dates.html (accessed 22 April 

2013); Tariq Malik, “NASA Delays Space Shuttle Program’s End to 2011,” Space.com, 1 July 2010, http://www. 

space.com/8694-nasa-delays-space-shuttle-program-2011.html (accessed 12 April 2013). 87 NASA, “NASA Awards Crew Robotics and Vehicle Equipment Contracts,” news release C10-039, 7 July 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_C10-039_CRAVE_Contract.html (accessed 4 April 

2013). 

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understand the similarities among the small black holes that formed from exploding stars and 

the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies.88 

9 July 

NASA announced that Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. had appointed Ramon “Ray” 

Lugo III to a permanent position as Director of NASA’s GRC. Lugo had served as Acting 

Director of NASA’s GRC since March 2010. As Director, he would be responsible for 

planning, organizing, and leading the missions at NASA’s GRC, including research, 

technology, and systems-development programs in aeronautical propulsion, microgravity 

sciences, space communications, space power, and space propulsion. Lugo had begun his 

career at NASA in 1975. He had served NASA as Executive Director of the Cape Canaveral 

Spaceport Management Office, Director of Expendable Launch Vehicle Services, Manager 

of the Facilities and Support Equipment Division in the Space Station Project Office, Chief 

of the Business Office in the Joint Performance Management Office, and Deputy Manager of 

the Launch Services Program at NASA’s KSC. In 2007 NASA had appointed Lugo Deputy 

Director of GRC. Lugo had received two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals for his 

contributions to the Galileo mission and the ISS redesign, as well as three NASA 

Outstanding Leadership Medals for his work in the Expendable Launch Vehicle Program.89 

10 July 

A team of scientists led by Jeffrey L. Linsky of the University of Colorado, Boulder, 

announced in the Astrophysical Journal that the team had found evidence that a gas giant 

exoplanet named HD 209458b is orbiting so close to its star that its atmosphere is 

evaporating into space and being swept behind the planet like a comet’s tail. The planet is 

located so close to its star that its atmosphere is 2,000F, and its orbit is only 3.5 days. In 

2003 scientists using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard NASA’s 

HST had observed that the heat from the star is evaporating HD 209458b’s atmosphere. 

Researchers had speculated that the dissipating atmosphere might be blowing out behind the 

planet in a tail, but STIS lacked the spectrographic detail to observe this. Linsky’s team had 

used the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard NASA’s HST to observe the 

planet during transit, when it passes in front of its star, and to study the dip in starlight that 

occurs at that time. When the researchers excluded the planet’s atmosphere from the data, the 

starlight dipped only about 1.5 percent, but when they included the atmosphere, the dip was 8 

percent. This indicated that the atmosphere was bloated. COS data showed that solar winds 

from the star were driving the evaporated atmospheric material into a tail at varying 

88 Manfred W. Pakull et al., “A 300-Parsec-Long Jet-Inflated Bubble around a Powerful Microquasar in the 

Galaxy NGC 7793,” Nature 466, no. 7303 (8 July 2010): 209–212, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/
 
 

v466/n7303/full/nature09168.html (accessed 16 April 2013); Denise Chow, “Black Hole Blows Massive Gas 

Bubble,” Space.com, 7 July 2010, http://www.space.com/8719-black-hole-blows-massive-gas-bubble.html
 

(accessed 16 April 2013); Nancy Atkinson, “Powerhouse Black Hole Blows a Huge Bubble,” Universe Today, 

7 July 2010, http://www.universetoday.com/67926/powerhouse-black-hole-blows-a-huge-bubble/ (accessed 16 

April 2013).

89 NASA, “NASA Names Lugo as Director of Glenn Research Center,” news release 10-162, 9 July 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-162_NASA_Glenn_Director_Named.html (accessed 4 April 

2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

velocities up to 22,000 miles per hour (35,405.57 kilometers per hour), and that even the 

planet’s heavier elements, like carbon and silicon, were being heated enough to evaporate.90 

13 July 

NASA announced plans to create three new Centennial Challenges—prize competitions for 

companies, groups, and individuals working outside the aerospace industry without 

government funding. The purpose of NASA’s Centennial Challenges was to inspire creative 

problem solving among citizens and to encourage competitiveness, innovation, and the 

growth of new industries. NASA had offered 19 Centennial Challenges since 2005, awarding 

US$4.5 million in prizes to 13 different teams. NASA had previously announced plans to 

hold two Centennial Challenges in 2010 and one in 2011. The newly announced Challenges 

would have a total prize value of US$5 million. The first would be the Nano-Satellite Launch 

Challenge, in which a team could win US$2 million for placing a small satellite in Earthorbit twice in one week. This challenge would motivate participants to create commercial 

nanosatellite-delivery systems and low-cost launch technologies. In Night Rover Challenge, 

the team that demonstrated a solar-powered vehicle that could operate in darkness using its 

own stored energy would win a US$1.5 million purse. This challenge’s objective would be to 

encourage the development of innovative energy-storage techniques for electric vehicles and 

renewable-energy systems that NASA could use either in extreme space environments or on 

Earth. The Sample Return Robot Challenge would award a US$1.5 million purse to the team 

that developed a robot that could locate and retrieve geologic samples from various terrains 

without human control. This challenge would stimulate the development of automaticnavigation and robotic-manipulator technologies.91 

15 July 

Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceship VSS Enterprise, one of the fleet of SpaceShipTwo 

commercial spacecraft, successfully completed its first crewed test flight. During the 6-hour, 

12-minute flight, the spacecraft did not attempt to enter space but remained attached to its 

mothership, VMS Eve. Two crew members rode aboard VSS Enterprise, and three crew 

members flew in VMS Eve. Virgin Galactic reported that automated sensors had evaluated 

the spacecraft’s systems, as had onboard crews and ground crews, and had determined that 

the spacecraft had achieved all flight objectives. The test flight was the third captive-carry 

test of VSS Enterprise and the 33rd flight of VMS Eve. Virgin Galactic was developing the 

spacecraft to carry space tourists on flights that would reach suborbital altitudes for a few 

minutes, providing an experience of weightlessness and views of Earth and space.92 

90 Jeffrey L. Linsky et al., “Observations of Mass Loss from the Transiting Exoplanet HD 209458b,” 

Astrophysical Journal 717, no. 2 (10 July 2010): 1291–1299, http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/717/2/
 
 

1291/pdf/0004-637X_717_2_1291.pdf (accessed 12 April 2013); NASA, “ NASA Finds Super Hot planet with 

Unique Comet-Like Tail,” news release 10-167, 15 July 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/ 

HQ_10-167_Hubble_Finds_Planet.html (accessed 4 April 2013); Clara Moscowitz, “Scorched Alien Planet has 

a Comet Tail,” Space.com, 15 July 2010, http://www.space.com/8765-scorched-alien-planet-comet-tail.html
 
 

(accesed 12 April 2013). 

91 NASA, “NASA Announces Three New Centennial Challenges,” news release 10-162, 13 July 2013, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-162_New_Centennial_Challenges.html (accessed 4 April 

2013). 

92 Clara Moskowitz, “Virgin Galactic’s Private Spaceship Makes First Crewed Flight,” Space.com, 16 July 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8777-virgin-galactic-private-spaceship-crewed-flight.html (accessed 10 April 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

19 July 

NASA announced that OpenStack, a recently introduced open-source cloud-computing 

initiative, had selected NASA’s Nebula cloud-computing technology to contribute to the 

initiative. OpenStack, the first large-scale, open-source cloud-computing project of its kind, 

would unite more than 25 companies to encourage the development of cloud-computing 

standards for interoperability and portability. Cloud computing is a method of delivering 

resources such as software, storage, and virtual computing power over the Internet. NASA 

had developed the Nebula platform as an agency-wide program to accommodate researchers’ 

large-scale data sets using a technology with powerful bandwidth, computing capability, and 

storage. OpenStack had selected Nebula because of its high-quality code and massively 

scalable architecture. NASA officials expected that participation in OpenStack would allow 

them to ensure that the products and services powered by the initiative met federal 

interoperability, portability, and security requirements.93 

The Haughton-Mars Project, HMP-2010, began a three-week study of future planetaryexploration concepts. NASA scientists joined the team of international researchers at 

Haughton Crater on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. Devon Island has the geological 

features, microbiology, and polar-desert environment suitable for analog studies of Mars and 

the Moon. During HMP-2010, NASA would conduct studies of remotely operated robots, in 

support of the Exploration Technology Development Program in the Exploration Systems 

Mission Directorate and of the Moon and Mars Analog Mission Activities Program in the 

Science Mission Directorate. The Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA’s ARC had developed 

the robots, called K10s, to map the above-ground and below-ground structures of Haughton 

Crater and to characterize its landscape, rocks, and soil. The robots’ instrument suite included 

3-D-scanning lidar, color imagers, ground-penetrating radar, and spectrometers. Researchers 

would experiment with using robots to perform on-site follow-up work between crewed 

space missions and to move surface systems, such as crew rovers, from one location to 

another. In addition, the researchers would investigate possible uses of ground robots to 

explore unknown terrain and to identify unseen obstacles and alternative safe routes for 

astronauts. NASA’s Lunar Surface Systems (LSS) Project would conduct a study using a 

robot programmed to follow a fixed route and a specific schedule for conducting scientific 

tasks, such as gathering samples or capturing images. The LSS project aimed to discover 

ways that robots could alleviate astronauts’ repetitive, tedious, or time-consuming tasks, as 

well as gathering data to supplement that collected by humans.94 

22 July 

The journal Science published online the work of a team of scientists led by Jan Cami, of the 

University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) 

Institute. The team announced that it had made the first observations of C60 and C70 

molecules in space. C60 molecules, known as “buckminsterfullerenes,” or “buckyballs,” are 

composed of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a spherical pattern of hexagons and pentagons. C70, 

93 NASA, “NASA’s Cloud Computing Technology To Play Key Role in New Open Source Initiative,” news 

release 10-172, 19 July 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-172_Nebula_ Initiative.html 

(accessed 5 April 2013).

94 NASA, “NASA Simulates Space Exploration at Remote Arctic Crater Site,” news release 10-179, 26 July 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-179_Arctic_Crater.html (accessed 5 April 2013). 

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also a fullerene, is a similar, slightly elongated molecule. The largest observed molecules in 

space, fullerenes are approximately 1 nanometer in diameter, three times the size of a water 

molecule. Scientists had first predicted the existence of buckyballs in 1970 and had first 

produced them in the laboratory in 1985. Since then, researchers had observed them on Earth 

in candle soot, meteorites, and rock. Scientists had theorized that buckyballs exist in space, 

but they had not previously succeeded in observing them. Cami’s team had found the spectral 

signature of buckyballs serendipitously, while they were using the spectroscopy instrument 

on NASA’s SST to observe the planetary nebula Tc 1. A planetary nebula is the cloud of 

jettisoned dust and gas that surrounds a white dwarf star. The planetary nebula Tc 1 is 6,500 

light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Ara. The researchers believed that the 

buckyballs in Tc 1 had formed less than 100 years ago, when the dying star emitted a burst of 

carbon-rich material. They predicted that the buckyballs would be undetectable 100 years 

from now. The team’s research proved that, under the right conditions, buckyballs form 

naturally in space.95 

23 July 

GAO responded to a 12 March 2010 request from 17 members of Congress asking GAO to 

investigate whether NASA staff had broken the law while planning for the aftermath of the 

Constellation Program. The members of Congress questioned whether NASA’s obligation of 

appropriations for exploration was consistent with the Congressional Budget Impoundment 

Control Act of 1974 (Pub. L. No. 93-344, 88 Stat 297) and with restrictions in the FY 2010 

appropriation for exploration. The FY 2010 appropriation restrictions prohibited NASA from 

using exploration funds either to end or to create new PPAs under the Constellation Program. 

The provisions of the Impoundment Control Act required government agencies, including 

NASA, to make funds available for obligation and expenditure. GAO reported that, after 

analyzing NASA’s financial data, it had found that NASA had not withheld exploration 

funds from obligation. GAO found that NASA’s spending of exploration funds during FY 

2010 had been consistent with its spending in FY 2008 and FY 2009. Furthermore, GAO 

found that NASA had continued to obligate funds to the Constellation Program’s PPAs and 

had not taken action to end the Constellation Program, its PPAs, or any of its major contracts. 

GAO’s response was the second part of a two-part report. GAO had issued the first part of 

the report on 21 May 2010.96 

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity successfully completed its first test-drive in a clean room at 

NASA’s JPL. The US$2.3 billion rover, which was approximately 80–90 percent complete, 

drove approximately 3 feet (0.91 meters) back and forth. NASA had previously tested 

Curiosity’s wheels on a riser, but this was the first fully integrated test of the rover on solid 

95 Jan Cami et al., “Detection of C60 and C70 in a Young Planetary Nebula,” Science 329, no. 5996 (3
 

September 2010): 1180–1182; published online 22 July 2010, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/
 

5996/1180.full (accessed 3 July 2013); NASA, “NASA Telescope Finds Elusive Buckyballs in Space for the
 

First Time,” news release 10-174, 22 July 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-174_
 
 

Buckyballs.html (accessed 5 April 2013); J. R. Minkel, “Astronomers Find Largest Molecules Ever Known in 

Space,” Space.com, 22 July 2010, http://www.space.com/8804-astronomers-find-largest-molecules-space.html
 

(accessed 17 May 2010). 

96 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Constellation
 

Program and Appropriations Restrictions” (report no. B-320091, Part II, Washington, DC, 23 July 2010), 

http://www.gao.gov/assets/390/389548.pdf (accessed 10 April 2013). 

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ground. Technicians had not yet installed Curiosity’s sophisticated software, so they gave 

basic movement commands to the rover through electrical wiring. NASA planned to conduct 

more advanced movement tests, including turns and inclines, once engineers had installed 

Curiosity’s electronics. NASA had scheduled Curiosity’s launch for 25 November 2011, as 

part of a mission for NASA’s MSL. Curiosity would land on Mars in August 2012 and would 

conduct tests of the Martian rock and soil, assisting in the ongoing study of the planet’s 

geological history and habitability.97 

27 July 

Two Russian cosmonauts, Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Mikhail B. Kornienko, left the ISS at 

12:11 a.m. (EDT) for a 6-hour-and-42-minute spacewalk. The cosmonauts removed a broken 

camera that the crew had used to help dock the uncrewed cargo ships called Automated 

Transfer Vehicles (ATVs). They also routed cables to connect the command-and-datahandling computers to the Rassvet module and to set up Rassvet’s Kurs automatic docking 

system. Yurchikhin and Kornienko successfully completed the spacewalk’s entire planned 

itinerary, although they did lose two objects, which floated away into space. The cosmonauts 

believed that the lost items were a washer and a tool used to install cables.98 

AUGUST 2010 

2 August 

NASA and ESA announced that they had selected five scientific instruments for the ExoMars 

Trace Gas Orbiter (EMTGO), the first step in their joint program for the exploration of Mars. 

Scheduled for launch in 2016, the orbiter would be the first in a series of cooperative Mars 

missions, culminating in a mission scheduled to take place in the 2020s. The final mission 

would return collected samples to Earth. Using instruments 1,000 times more sensitive than 

any previous Martian orbiter, EMTGO would study chemicals in the Martian atmosphere, 

particularly methane, and serve as a communications relay for future missions on Mars’s 

surface. NASA and ESA had selected the five instruments for the orbiter from 19 proposals 

submitted from around the globe. The five instruments, chosen because they offered the best 

science value at the lowest risk, were the ExoMars Climate Sounder (EMCS), an infrared 

radiometer; the High Resolution Solar Occultation and Nadir Spectrometer (NOMAD), 

which detected and mapped atmospheric elements; the High Resolution Stereo Color Imager 

(HiSCI), a four-color, stereo-imaging camera; the Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule 

Occultation Spectrometer (MATMOS), which detected atmospheric components in low 

concentrations; and the Mars Atmospheric Global Imaging Experiment (MAGIE), a wideangle, multispectral camera.99 

97 Denise Chow, “New Mars Rover Takes First Drive . . . on Earth,” Space.com, 23 July 2010, http://www. 

space.com/8817-mars-rover-takes-drive-earth.html (accessed 12 April 2013); Stephen Clark, “Curiosity Goes 

for a Spin,” Spaceflight Now, 23 July 2010, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1007/ 23curiosity/ (accessed 

12 April 2013). 

98 Clara Moskowitz, “Despite Losing Tools, Cosmonauts Complete Spacewalk,” Space.com, 27 July 2010, 

http://www.space.com/8831-losing-tools-cosmonauts-complete-spacewalk.html (accessed 12 April 2013). 99 NASA, “NASA and ESA’s First Joint Mission to Mars Selects Instruments,” news release 10-181, 2 August
 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-181_Joint_Mars_Mission.html (accessed 17 April 

2013). 

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6 August 

Three teams of scientists, one led by James A. Slavin of NASA’s GSFC, one by Louise M. 

Prockter of NASA’s GFC, and one by Ronald J. Vervack Jr. of the Johns Hopkins University 

Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), published papers in the journal Science detailing their 

research on the planet Mercury. The researchers used data that NASA’s Mercury Surface, 

Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft had gathered on 

its third and final flyby of Mercury in September 2009. Slavin’s team reported new data on 

the timescale of substorms in Mercury’s magnetic field. They had observed that Mercury’s 

magnetic substorms were similar to Earth’s substorms but approximately 10 times stronger 

and 50 times shorter. Studying volcanism on Mercury, Prockter’s team had found evidence 

of the most recent volcanic activity observed on the planet. MESSENGER had captured 

images of a young impact basin with a smooth inner floor. The researchers believed that lava 

flows had formed the basin. MESSENGER’s images also showed a large volcanic vent 

located to the northeast of the basin. Vervack’s team had used MESSENGER’s Mercury 

Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) to study Mercury’s 

exosphere, or thin atmosphere, recording the first observations of emissions from ionized 

calcium in the planet’s exosphere. In the first study ever done of the exosphere over 

Mercury’s north and south poles, the team had found distinct distributions of calcium, 

magnesium, and sodium, indicating that multiple processes in Mercury’s exosphere control 

the distribution of single elements.100 

10 August 

Scientists led by Warren R. Brown of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 

announced in the Astrophysical Journal Letters that their team had determined that an 

encounter with the Milky Way galaxy’s central black hole is propelling the star HE 0437­

5439 out of the galaxy. Scientists had previously determined that HE 0437-5439 is 200,000 

light-years from the Milky Way’s center and moving at 1.6 million miles per hour (2.57 

million kilometers per hour), but they had not known the age of the star or where it originated. 

If it had travelled from the Milky Way’s core to its present location, HE 0437-5439 must 

have survived 100 million years. However, HE 0437-5439’s mass and blue color indicated a 

star that had burnt out at the age of 20 million years. This contradiction had led some 

scientists to speculate that the star had originated in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Brown’s 

team had made their determination using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on NASA’s HST. 

From 2006 to 2009, the researchers had measured changes in the star’s position, and they 

found that the star’s velocity vector pointed straight from the center of the Milky Way. The 

researchers concluded that HE 0437-5439 had likely been part of a triple-star system 100 

million years ago. As the system travelled past the galaxy’s black hole, the outer star had 

fallen into the black hole, transferring its momentum to the other two stars and giving them 

100 Louise M. Prockter et al., “Evidence for Young Volcanism on Mercury from the Third MESSENGER 

Flyby,” Science 329, no. 5992 (6 August 2010): 668–671, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5992/ 

668.full (accessed 4 April 2013); James A. Slavin et al., “MESSENGER Observations of Extreme Loading and 

Unloading of Mercury’s Magnetic Tail,” Science 329, no. 5992 (6 August 2010): 665–668, http://www. 

sciencemag.org/content/329/5992/665.full (accessed 4 April 2013); Ronald J. Vervack Jr. et al., “Mercury’s 

Complex Exosphere: Results from MESSENGER’s Third Flyby,” Science 329, no. 5992 (6 August 2010): 672– 

675, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5992/672.full (accessed 4 April 2013); NASA, “MESSENGER 

Spacecraft Reveals New Information about Mercury,” news release 10-170, 15 July 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/ 

home/hqnews/2010/jul/10-170_Messenger_New_Info.html (accessed 4 April 2013). 

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enough velocity to escape the galaxy’s gravitational field. As they shot toward the galaxy’s 

edge, the stars had merged to form the superstar HE 0437-5439.101 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. and Israel Space Agency Director General Zvi 

Kaplan met at NASA Headquarters to sign a joint statement of intent to increase their 

agencies’ collaboration on civil space activities that would facilitate scientific cooperation 

and inspire the future generation of engineers and scientists. NASA and the Israel Space 

Agency agreed to select new joint projects in the fields of Earth and space sciences, life 

sciences, space exploration, and other areas of mutual interest. The agencies identified 

several potential topics for cooperative activity, including hydrological research, launch and 

range safety, planetary science research through NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, and space 

geodesy—the science of making space-based observations of Earth’s crust, gravitational field, 

polar movement, and tides. Additionally, the agencies agreed to expand the Israel Space 

Agency’s participation in the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment 

(GLOBE) educational program, and to increase Israel’s research and educational experiments 

aboard the ISS.102 

12 August 

The company SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, successfully completed the first highaltitude drop test of its Dragon spacecraft. The test, which occurred over the Pacific Ocean 

near Morro Bay, California, assessed the craft’s parachute deployment systems and recovery 

operations. After a helicopter dropped Dragon from an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,267.20 

meters), the spacecraft’s three main parachutes deployed, slowing the craft to a descent of 

16–18 feet per second (4.88–5.49 meters per second). SpaceX technicians successfully 

recovered the Dragon capsule by boat after it landed. In 2008 NASA had awarded SpaceX a 

US$1.6 billion contract to conduct 12 resupply missions to the ISS. Dragon would function 

as an uncrewed cargo vessel on these missions, but SpaceX had designed the craft to be able 

to transport crews, as well. SpaceX planned eventually to compete for NASA contracts to 

carry astronauts to the ISS.103 

15 August 

NASA began its Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) mission, a six-week 

study of how tropical storms develop, form into hurricanes, rapidly intensify, weaken, and 

die out. The first major U.S.-based hurricane field study that NASA had conducted in nine 

years, GRIP would study hurricanes for 20 hours at a time, providing sustained, continuous 

101 Warren R. Brown et al., “A Galactic Origin for HE 0437-5439, the Hypervelocity Star Near the Large
 

Magellanic Cloud,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 719, no. 1 (10 August 2010): L23, https://www.cfa.harvard. 

edu/~wbrown/Files/pm_hvs3.pdf (accessed 2 May 2013); NASA, “NASA’s Hubble Shows Hyperfast Star was 

Booted from Milky Way,” news release 10-175, 22 July 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/ 

HQ_10-175_Hubble_Milky_Way.html (accessed 5 April 2013); Denise Chow, “Superfast Star Shot Out of
 
 

Milky Way,” Space.com, 22 July 2010, http://www.space.com/8801-superfast-star-shot-milky.html (accessed 2 

May 2013).

102 NASA, “NASA and Israel Space Agency Sign Statement of Intent for Future Cooperation,” news release 10­

189, 11 August 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-189_Israel_ Signing.html (accessed 

17 April 2013). 

103 W. J. Hennigan, “SpaceX Successfully Drop-Tests Dragon Capsule,” Los Angeles Times, 20 August 2010; 

Stephen Clark, “SpaceX: Dragon Testing Will Determine Launch Schedule,” Spaceflight Now, 20 August 2010, 

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/002/100820update/ (accessed 26 April 2013). 

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data on a hurricane’s formation and evolution. The National Hurricane Center would use the 

data to make earlier weather forecasting predictions, to improve forecasting of rapid changes 

in storm strength, and to determine the amount of coastline requiring storm watches and 

warnings. NASA would use three satellites to collect data for GRIP. The Aqua satellite 

would provide infrared, microwave, and visible data on air pressure, air temperature, cloudice content, convection, precipitation, and sea-surface temperature. The SeaCloud satellite 

would collect information on clouds, including their altitude, rainfall intensity, and 

temperature. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint project between 

NASA and JAXA, would collect data on rainfall and on the location of powerful 

thunderstorms called “hot towers.” NASA would also use three aircraft for the mission: a 

DC-8, a Global Hawk, and a WB-57. These aircraft would carry a suite of 15 instruments to 

make observations of aerosols, air pressure, air temperature, cloud droplet and aerosol 

concentrations, humidity, lightning, water vapor, wind direction, and wind speed.104 

The President’s Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development, 

established in May 2010 to create an economic development strategy for Florida’s Space 

Coast region, released its report to President Barack H. Obama. Cochaired by NASA 

Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. and Commerce Secretary Gary F. Locke, the task force 

had created a plan to use US$40 million in federal funds to help Florida’s Space Coast adjust 

to the end of the Space Shuttle Program. After examining the Space Coast’s development 

priorities, economic assets, and employment requirements, and considering suggestions 

submitted by the public, the task force recommended awarding US$35 million in grants to 

aviation, solar power, and life sciences companies that would create jobs and foster economic 

development. It also recommended using the remaining US$5 million to fund a new 

Commercial Spaceflight Technical Center to facilitate commercial rocket launches out of 

NASA’s KSC. Overall, the task force recommended that the Obama administration sustain 

regional investments that are already underway, such as job retraining programs; encourage 

business growth and hold job fairs for workers, to develop awareness of opportunities for 

immediate employment; invest in economic growth initiatives, offering grants through a new 

competitive fund; and build lasting business infrastructure through public-private 

partnerships.105 

104 NASA, “NASA To Fly Into Hurricane Research This Summer,” news release 10-160, 7 July 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-160_GRIP_Research.html (accessed 3 May 2013); Pete 

Spotts, “At Height Hurricane Season, Research Teams Take on Storms,” Christian Science Monitor, 5 August 

2010. 

105 Presidential Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development, “Report to the President” 

(Washington, DC, August 2010), http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/475699main_Space_ Industry_ Report_to_the_ 

President.pdf (accessed 16 May 2010); NASA, “Space Coast Task Force Delivers Economic Strategies Report,” 

news release 10-194, 17 August 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-194_Space_Task_ 

Force.html (accessed 17 April 2013); Bart Jansen, “Space Industry Jobs Panel Gives Push to $35M in Grants,” 

Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 16 August 2010; Mark K. Matthews, “$5 Million Center To Support Commercial 

Rockets Urged for Space Coast,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 16 August 2010. 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

16 August 

Astronauts Tracy E. Caldwell Dyson and Douglas H. Wheelock successfully completed their 

third spacewalk in 10 days to repair a failed cooling-system pump on the ISS. The pump, part 

of a system that uses liquid ammonia to cool the ISS’s onboard systems, had failed on 31 

July 2010 when an electrical short had tripped a circuit breaker, leaving the American 

segment of the ISS with one cooling pump instead of two. To prevent the cooling system 

from overheating, the crew had turned off some of the ISS’s experiments and systems and 

had operated other systems without backup. ISS managers noted that repairing a failed 

ammonia pump was one of most troublesome repairs for astronauts. The cumbersome pumps 

weigh 780 pounds (353.80 kilograms) and measure 5.5 feet long (1.68 meters long), 4 feet 

wide (1.22 meter wide), and 3 feet tall (0.94 meters tall), making them difficult to replace. 

Caldwell Dyson and Wheelock had made their first spacewalk to repair the pump on 1 

August 2010. At 8 hours and 3 minutes, this event set the record for the longest spacewalk in 

the history of the ISS. However, the repair was unsuccessful. The astronauts had been unable 

to remove a stuck hose, which leaked a flurry of potentially toxic ammonia. During the 

second spacewalk, on 11 August 2010, which lasted 7 hours and 26 minutes, the astronauts 

successfully removed the failed pump after Wheelock used force to pry the stuck hose loose. 

During the third spacewalk, lasting 7 hours and 20 minutes, the astronauts installed a new 

pump without experiencing any ammonia leakage. ISS managers planned to have the cooling 

system operating fully by 19 August 2010.106 

20 August 

A team of researchers led by Eric Jullo of NASA’s JPL announced in the journal Science that 

they had refined the estimate of dark energy’s equation-of-state parameter by approximately 

30 percent, using a new geometric testing technique based on strong gravitational lensing in 

galaxy clusters. The term “dark energy” refers to the force that scientists believe is 

accelerating the expansion of the universe, and “the equation-of-state parameter” refers to the 

parameter for the rate of that expansion. The researchers had examined 34 images taken by 

NASA’s HST and by ground-based telescopes, observing the distortion of light from distant 

galaxies as it passed by the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689. This distortion, known as 

“gravitation lensing,” is dependent on the mass of the galaxy cluster, the distance the light 

has travelled, and the distribution of dark energy. Because the researchers were able to 

measure the first two factors, they could calculate the third factor. The work of Jullo’s team 

supported previous research indicating that the universe is flat and will continuously expand 

forever. By combining their new method of characterizing dark energy with other models, 

the team produced a more precise estimate of the equation-of-state parameter and devised a 

new way to extract information about dark energy.107 

106 Tariq Malik, “Space Station Astronauts Remove Faulty Pump in Urgent Repairs,” Space.com, 11 August 

2010, http://www.space.com/8929-space-station-astronauts-remove-faulty-pump-urgent-repairs.html (accessed 

15 May 2013); Mark K. Matthews, “Astronauts Fix Cooling Pump in Third Spacewalk,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 

16 August 2010; Marcia Dunn, “Spacewalking Astronauts Plug in New Cooling Pump,” Associated Press, 17 

August 2010. 

107 Eric Jullo et al., “Cosmological Constraints from Strong Gravitational Lensing in Clusters of Galaxies,” 

Science 329, no. 5994 (20 August 2010): 924–927, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5994/924.abstract? 

sid=c00158a1-efa9-43e7-a9eb-72cb87e910d0 (accessed 3 May 2013); Howard Falcon-Iang, “Fate of Universe 

Revealed by Galactic Lens,” BBC News, 19 August 2010; Clara Moskowitz, “Dark Energy Mystery Illuminated 

by Cosmic Lens,” Space.com, 19 August 2010, http://www.space.com/8983-dark-energy-mystery-illuminated49
 
 

 


 

Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

26 August 

The journal Science published the work of a team of scientists led by Matthew J. Holman of 

the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, confirming for the first time that NASA’s 

Kepler Space Telescope had discovered a previously unknown planetary system. The Kepler 

mission had observed more than 156,000 stars, searching for the periodic dimming of 

starlight that indicates that a planet is transiting in front of the star. By June 2010, the 

research team had collected Kepler’s first 43 days of data; from that data, they had compiled 

a list of more than 700 planetary candidates. The first confirmed planetary system consisted 

of two planets orbiting the star Kepler-9. Named Kepler-9b and Kepler-9c, the two planets 

are slightly smaller than Saturn. The researchers had determined the planets’ size by 

measuring the amount of light that the planets blocked as they transited the star. They had 

determined the planets’ mass by measuring the planets’ gravitational interaction with each 

other. Both planets are too close to their star to be habitable. Kepler-9b has an orbit of 19.2 

days and is about 740 K (872.30oF or 466.85oC), and Kepler-9c has a 38.9-day orbit and is 

540 K (512.30oF or 266.85oC). In addition to the confirmed planets, the researchers also 

identified a smaller candidate planet, with a radius approximately 1.5 times that of Earth, 

which appeared to be orbiting the star in only 1.6 days.108 

30 August 

NASA announced that its Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) had 

awarded contracts for experimental vehicle-test flights to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwell, 

Texas, and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California. The total value of the contracts was 

approximately US$475,000. CRuSR encouraged commercial entities to develop reusable 

systems for transportation to near-space altitudes between 65,000 and 350,000 feet (19,812 

and 106,680 meters). The program’s mission was to achieve frequent, low-cost, and regular 

entry into near-space, with easily recoverable intact payloads. Armadillo would conduct three 

test flights of its Super-Mod vehicle from Spaceport America in New Mexico. During the 

first two flights, Super-Mod would fly to an altitude of approximately 9 miles (14.48 

kilometers), and during the third flight, it would reach an altitude of approximately 25 miles 

(40.23 kilometers). Masten would conduct four tests of its Xaero vehicle at the Mojave 

Spaceport in California. During the first two flights, Xaero would reach approximately 3 

miles (4.83 kilometers) above Earth. During the second two flights, it would reach an 

approximate altitude of 18 miles (28.97 kilometers), with the engines shut down during flight. 

Armadillo and Masten would also modify their vehicles to mount three antennas for the 

cosmic-lens.html (accessed 3 May 2010); Universe Today, “Astronomers Now Closer to Understanding Dark
 
 

Energy,” 19 August 2010, http://www.universetoday.com/71565/astronomers-now-closer-to-understandingdark-energy/ (accessed 3 May 2013). 108 Matthew J. Holman et al., “Kepler-9: A System of Multiple Planets Transiting a Sun-Like Star, Confirmed
 

by Timing Variations,” Science 300, no. 6000 (1 October 2010): 51–54, published online 26 August 2010, 

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6000/51.full (accessed 5 June 2013); NASA, “NASA’s Kepler Mission 

Discovers Two Planets Transiting Same Star,” news release 10-197, 26 August 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/ 

home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-197_Kepler_Results.html (accessed 17 April 2013); Denise Chow, “Newfound 

Alien Planets May Include Smallest One Yet,” Space.com, 26 August 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/ 

27/science/space/27planet.html?_r=3&ref=science& (accessed 5 June 2013). 

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Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) payload, which uses globalnavigation satellite systems to chart a vehicle’s position.109 

31 August 

Astronauts Linda M. Godwin and Scott D. Altman announced that they would be leaving 

NASA. Godwin had begun working at NASA in the Payload Operations Division in 1980. In 

1985 NASA had selected her as an astronaut. Over the course of her career, Godwin had 

spent 38 days in space and 10 hours spacewalking. She had flown aboard STS-37 in 1991, 

STS-59 in 1994, STS-76 in 1996, and STS-108 in 2001. During STS-59, she had served as 

Payload Commander. Godwin had also served in technical positions in NASA’s Astronaut 

Office. At the time of her retirement, she was serving as Assistant to the Director of 

Exploration in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Altman had joined NASA in 1995 

and had spent 51 days in space. He had served as Pilot on both STS-90 in 1998 and STS-106 

in 2000, and as Commander on STS-109 and STS-125, the final missions to NASA’s HST. 

Altman had served temporarily as Deputy Director of the Requirements Division of the 

Explorations Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. His final appointment at 

NASA had been as Chief of the Exploration Branch of the Astronaut Office. Altman would 

join the private sector after leaving NASA.110 

NASA and ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a full-scale test of DM-2, a fivesegment, first-stage solid rocket motor, in Promontory, Utah. The test was the most heavily 

instrumented rocket-motor test that NASA had ever conducted, with over 760 instruments 

measuring 53 performance objectives. Engineers chilled the motor to 40oF for the 2-minute 

test to assess the performance of the motor and materials under cold-weather conditions. The 

largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight, DM-2 could produce 

approximately 22 million horsepower (16,405,400 kilowatts) and 3.6 million pounds (1.6 

million kilograms) of thrust. The 154-foot (46.94-meter) motor, which NASA had originally 

built for the Ares-1 rocket, was similar to the Space Shuttle’s rocket motor. NASA had 

upgraded it with the additions of a fifth segment, a bigger nozzle throat, and improved 

insulation and liner.111 

NASA announced that it had extended its Space Program Operations Contract with United 

Space Alliance of Houston, Texas. The cost-reimbursement contract extension, which 

included award and performance fees, was valued at US$909,593,590. United Space Alliance 

would support flight operations for the International Space Station Program and the Space 

Shuttle Program, providing astronaut and flight-controller training, flight-crew-equipment 

processing, flight operations, launch and recovery, mission design and planning, system 

integration, vehicle processing, and vehicle-sustaining engineering. The contractor would 

109 NASA, “NASA Selects Two Firms for Experimental Space Vehicle Test Flights,” new release 10-203, 30 

August 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-203_CRuSR_Awards.html (accessed 17 

April 2013). 

110 NASA, “Astronauts Linda Godwin and Scott Altman Leave NASA,” news release 10-204, 31 August 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-204_Astronauts_Retire.html (accessed 17 April 2013). 111 NASA, “NASA and ATK Successfully Test Five-Segment Solid Rocket Motor,” news release 10-202, 31 

August 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-202_DM-2_Test.html (accessed 17 April 

2013); Clara Moskowitz, “NASA Tests New Rocket Motor Despite Uncertain Future,” Space.com, 31 August 

2010, http://www.space.com/9041-nasa-tests-rocket-motor-uncertain-future.html (accessed 1 May 2013). 

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perform the work at its facilities in Houston, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama, as well as at 

NASA’s KSC. Subcontractors would perform additional work in Huntington Beach, 

California; Houston, Texas; and Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA had awarded subcontracts 

to Barrios Technology of Houston, Texas; Bastion Technologies of Houston, Texas; Boeing 

Company of Houston Texas; Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems of Newton, 

Pennsylvania; and Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, California.112 

SEPTEMBER 2010 

2 September 

NASA announced that it had selected the five scientific experiments that its new spacecraft 

Solar Probe Plus would perform while flying directly into the Sun’s atmosphere. Part of 

NASA’s Living with a Star (LWS) Program, Solar Probe Plus would study the solar 

atmosphere more directly than any previous probe, helping scientists characterize, understand, 

and forecast the Sun’s radiation environment. A panel of scientists from NASA and other 

institutions had chosen the five experiments, which would gather data that would help answer 

two major questions in the field of solar physics: why is the outer atmosphere of the Sun 

hotter than its visible surface, and what force drives solar winds—the stream of charged 

particles flowing outward from the Sun? The five investigations selected were the Fields 

Experiment, which would detect space dust and measure the atmospheric plasma’s electric 

and magnetic fields, radio emissions, and shock waves; the Integrated Science Investigation 

of the Sun (ISIS), which would use two instruments to monitor the Sun’s highly accelerated 

electrons, ions, and protons; the Solar Winds Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation 

(SWEAP), which would catch and count the electrons, helium ions, and protons in solar wind; 

and the Wide-Field Imager (WFI) telescope, which would create three-dimensional images of 

the Sun’s corona and of the solar wind and shocks. In addition, the Heliospheric Origins with 

Solar Probe Plus (HeliOSPP) investigation would independently assess the mission’s 

scientific performance and act as the mission’s advocate in the community. NASA would 

award the selected investigators a combined total of approximately US$180 million.113 

7 September 

The Rocket City Space Pioneers, a team of business, educational, and nonprofit organizations 

from Huntsville, Alabama, announced that they had entered the competition for the Google 

Lunar X Prize. To win the competition’s grand prize, a contestant team would have to design 

a spacecraft capable of landing on the surface of the Moon, moving 500 meters (1,640.42 feet) 

on the Moon’s surface, and transmitting a signal back to Earth. The Google Lunar X Prize 

offered a US$20 million grand prize to the first team to demonstrate their vehicle before the 

end of 2015, in addition to smaller prizes for other achievements. To date, more than 20 

teams had entered the competition. The company Dynetics led the Rocket City Space 

Pioneers, in partnership with Andrews Space, Draper Laboratory, Spaceflight Services, 

Teledyne Brown Engineering, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the Von Braun 

112 NASA, “NASA Extends Contract with United Space Alliance,” news release C10-050, 31 August 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_C10-050_SPOC_Extension.html (accessed 17 August 2010). 113 NASA, “NASA Selects Investigations for First Mission To Encounter the Sun,” news release 10-208, 2 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10_208_Solar_Probe_Plus.html (accessed 8 

May 2013). 

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Center for Science & Innovation. The team planned to build a low-cost lander-rover system 

that could make a soft landing on the Moon, or other bodies, and conduct commercial and 

scientific missions. The rover would measure approximately 30 centimeters (11.81 inches) 

by 30 centimeters by 15 centimeters (5.91 inches) and weigh less than 10 kilograms (22.05 

pounds).114 

10 September 

The journal Science published recent research findings on the Martian atmosphere’s carbon 

and oxygen, reported by a team of scientists led by Paul B. Niles of NASA’s JSC. Using data 

gathered by the Evolved Gas Analyzer on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, the team had 

measured Mars’s atmospheric isotopes and had found signs that, in the recent geological past, 

Mars had experienced volcanic activity and had possessed liquid surface water. The 

researchers had studied the isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-13, as well as oxygen-16 and 

oxygen-18. Although Mars’s atmosphere is 95 percent carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide 

that builds up in its atmosphere dissipates into space because the planet has low gravity and 

no magnetic shield. Because carbon-12 is one of the lighter isotopes, it dissipates more 

quickly than the heavier carbon-13. Therefore, scientists would expect to find a high ratio of 

carbon-13 to carbon-12, unless some activity on the planet had replenished the amount of 

carbon-12 in the atmosphere. However, according to Phoenix’s measurements, the ratio of 

carbon-13 to carbon-12 indicated that volcanic activity on Mars had renewed the supply of 

carbon-12 in the planet’s atmosphere. The researchers had not found similar evidence of 

volcanism in the proportions of oxygen isotopes, indicating that oxygen-18 had enriched the 

oxygen in the carbon dioxide when the carbon dioxide had interacted with liquid surface 

water.115 

The Russian uncrewed freighter Progress M-07, or Progress 39, launched aboard a Soyuz 

rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:22 (UT), after a two-day delay 

resulting from high winds. The spacecraft carried a total of 2.5 tons (2,267.96 kilograms, or 

5,000 pounds) of supplies for the six-person crew of the ISS. The supplies included 110 

pounds (49.90 kilograms) of oxygen and air, 1,918 pounds (869.99 kilograms) of propellant, 

375 pounds (170.10 kilograms) of water, and 2,645 pounds (1,199.75 kilograms) of lifesupport gear, spare parts, equipment for experiments, and other hardware. Progress 39 was 

scheduled to dock at the ISS on 12 September 2010 in the Zvezda module’s port, which the 

former supply ship Progress 38 had vacated on 31 August 2010. Progress 38 had burned up 

in Earth’s atmosphere, as planned, on 6 September 2010. Progress 39 would remain docked 

at the ISS until 20 December 2010.116 

114 Google Lunar X Prize Foundation, “Rocket City Space Pioneers Enter $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE 

Competition,” news release, 7 September 2010, http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/media/press-releases/rocketcity-space-pioneers-enter-30-million-google-lunar-x-prize-competition (accessed 16 May 2013). 115 Paul B. Niles et al., “Stable Isotope Measurements of Martian Atmospheric CO2 at the Phoenix Landing
 
 

Site,” Science 329, no. 5997 (10 September 2010): 1334–1337, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/
 
 

5997/1334.full (accessed 8 May 2013); NASA, “NASA Data Shed New Light About Water and Volcanoes on 

Mars,” news release 10-216, 9 September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-216_
 
 

Mars_Water.html (accessed 8 May 2013).
 116 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 683, 1 October 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx683.html (accessed 3 

April 2013); Tariq Malik, “Russian Cargo Ship Blasts Off for Space Station,” Space.com, 10 September 2010, 

http://www.space.com/9102-russian-cargo-ship-blasts-space-station.html (accessed 24 May 2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

13 September 

Clarence A. “Sy” Syverston, who had served as Director of NASA’s ARC from 1977 to 1984, 

died at the age of 84. Syverston had begun working at NASA’s ARC in 1948. He had served 

as Director of Astronautics and, from 1969 to 1977, as ARC’s Deputy Director. During his 

career at NASA’s ARC, Syverston had led the 3.5-Foot Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Branch; 

developed advanced aircraft, such as the M2 and XB-70 Valkyrie; and performed work on 

reentry vehicles, laying the foundation for the design of the Space Shuttle. While Syverston 

was Director, NASA’s ARC had pioneered research on vertical-lift aircraft, constructed the 

world’s largest wind tunnel, launched the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, consolidated a 

partnership with NASA’s DFRC, and prepared Galileo for launch. In addition to winning 

many awards during his career, Syverston had been elected to the NASA Ames Hall of Fame, 

inducted as a Fellow of the AIAA, and inducted as a member of the National Academy of 

Engineering.117 

14 September 

NASA announced that it had extended the Vehicle Sustaining Engineering Contract with the 

Boeing Company for engineering support of the ISS. Lasting five more years and costing an 

additional US$1.25 billion, the contract would have a total value of US$16.2 billion through 

the end of FY 2015. NASA had originally awarded the contract to Boeing in January 1995. 

Although the contract extension would end on 30 September 2015, it stipulated that the 

contractor assess the feasibility of continuing to use the ISS’s primary structural hardware 

through the end of 2028. The contractor would sustain the engineering of the ISS’s hardware 

and software, as well as supporting the hardware and software that NASA had provided to 

other ISS partner agencies. Additionally, the contractor would provide end-to-end 

subsystems management for most of the ISS’s systems, including the electrical, electronic, 

and electromechanical parts; environmental and electromagnetic effects; and materials and 

processes. Boeing would perform the work at NASA’s JSC, KSC, and MSFC, as well as at 

other sites.118 

15 September 

The Boeing Company announced that it had entered into an agreement with the company 

Space Adventures to carry commercial passengers to the ISS. Boeing had received a US$18 

million NASA contract in February 2010 to research the development of a rocket to transport 

astronauts and had begun building a spacecraft capable of transporting seven crew members. 

The spacecraft, named Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100), could launch aboard a 

variety of different types of rockets. Boeing stated that the company hoped to begin 

launching its vehicle in 2015 from NASA’s KSC. The terms of the agreement that Boeing 

and Space Adventures had reached depended on NASA awarding Boeing a contract to 

transport astronauts to the ISS after the end of the Space Shuttle Program. If Boeing won the 

contract to transport crew to the ISS on CST-100, then Space Adventures would sell to space 

tourists any seats on the spacecraft not needed for crew members. Space Adventures had 

117 NASA, “NASA statement from Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden on the passing of Clarence
 

“Sy” Syvertson,” news release, 15 September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2010/
 
 

syverston.html (accessed 15 May 2013). 118 NASA, “NASA Extends International Space Station Contract,” news release C10-051, 14 September 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-051_Boeing_ISS_Contract.html (accessed 8 May 2013). 

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previously sold seven flights aboard the Russian Soyuz vehicles to space tourists. Officials 

for Space Adventures estimated that the price of seats aboard CST-100 would be comparable 

to the price of seats on the Soyuz—the most recent price for a seat on Soyuz was US$40 

million. By accepting commercial passengers aboard flights to the ISS, NASA would lower 

its operational costs for transporting astronauts.119 

16 September 

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) completed the one-year exploration phase of 

its mission. During this phase, LRO had flown in a polar orbit, at an altitude of 31 miles 

(49.89 kilometers), collecting data on the Moon’s surface, radiation levels, and temperatures. 

LRO had launched from NASA’s KSC on 18 June 2009, equipped with a suite of seven 

scientific instruments, as well as its companion probe, the Lunar Crater Observation and 

Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). In October 2009, LCROSS had plunged to the lunar surface, 

creating an impact plume that permitted LRO to detect water ice on the Moon’s surface. 

Since beginning to collect data in September 2009, LRO had made new observations of the 

Apollo landing site and the lunar terrain. It had gathered evidence that the Moon’s 

permanently shadowed regions are colder than Pluto, and that they may possess hydrogen 

and water. LRO had also found evidence that the lunar surface has many thrust faults, 

indicating that the Moon may have contracted recently. In addition, LRO had located 

Lunokhod 1, a Soviet rover that had been lost for 40 years. Once they had located the rover, 

researchers began using Lunokhod 1 to gather data on the motion and position of the Moon. 

During the exploration phase of its mission, NASA’s Exploration System Mission 

Directorate had managed LRO. Once LRO entered the science phase of its mission, the 

Science Mission Directorate at NASA’s Headquarters would begin to manage it. During the 

science phase, LRO would spend up to four years continuing to map the lunar surface and to 

gather data to answer specific research queries.120 

NASA announced that it would award NASA Launch Services II (NLS II) contracts to four 

companies: Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver, Colorado; Orbital Sciences of Dulles, 

Virginia; Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorn, California; and United Launch 

Services of Littleton, Colorado. The NLS II contracts would cover an array of services for 

NASA’s Earth-observing, exploration, planetary, and scientific satellites. Administered by 

the Launch Services Program Office at NASA’s KSC, the contracts would meet the needs of 

NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Science Mission Directorate, and Space 

Operations Mission Directorate, as well as fulfilling NASA’s responsibilities to provide 

launch services for other government agencies. The multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, 

indefinite-quantity contracts would enable NASA to order launch services for as many as 70 

missions, over a period of 10 years, for a maximum cumulative value of US$15 billion. The 

119 W. J. Hennigan, “Boeing Enters Space Tourism Partnership,” Los Angeles Times, 15 September 2010,
 

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/15/business/la-fi-boeing-space-20100916 (accessed 17 May 2013); Marc 

Kaufman, “Boeing, Partner Plan To Carry Travelers to Space Station with New Spaceship,” Washington Post, 

15 September 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/15/AR2010091504961. 

html (accessed 17 May 2013). 120 NASA, “NASA’s Lunar Spacecraft Completes Exploration Mission Phase,” news release 10-223, 15 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-223_LRO_Success.html (accessed 8 May 

2013); Space.com, “NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Gets New Moon Mission,” 16 September 2010,
 

http://www.space.com/9129-nasa-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-moon-mission.html (accessed 15 May 2013). 

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selected contractors would deliver NASA payloads weighing a minimum of 550 pounds 

(249.48 kilograms) into a circular orbit at least 124 miles high (199.56 kilometers), at an 

inclination of 28.5 degrees. The contractors would also have the opportunity to offer NASA 

vehicles that could carry larger payloads or reach higher orbits. Additionally, contractors 

would have an annual opportunity to offer new launch services that had not been available at 

the time of the original contract award.121 

21 September 

The Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB), composed of representatives from the ISS 

partner agencies, met by videoconference to discuss the future of the ISS and its scientific 

experiments. The representatives from CSA, ESA, NASA, Roscosmos, and the Japanese 

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (MEXT) held periodic meetings to 

coordinate activities and operations on the ISS. During this meeting, MEXT affirmed its 

commitment to continue ISS operations until after 2016, and Roscosmos assured the partners 

of its commitment until 2020. CSA, ESA, and NASA confirmed that they were working with 

their respective governments to ensure their continued participation in ISS operations. The 

MCB also discussed increasing the ISS’s operational efficiency and using the ISS’s enhanced 

research, technology development, and other capabilities to advance future exploration 

beyond low-Earth orbit. Each partner agency discussed its current ISS research and the 

potential societal impacts of that research: CSA was conducting health and life science 

research; ESA was engaged in a fluid physics experiment; MEXT was gathering x-ray data; 

NASA was conducting biomedical research; and Roscosmos was studying how humans 

adapt to long-term space travel.122 

25 September 

The ISS Expedition 24 crew, consisting of Russian Commander Alexander A. Skvortsov, 

American Flight Engineer Tracy E. Caldwell Dyson, and Russian Flight Engineer Mikhail B. 

Kornienko, landed near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 1:23 a.m. (EDT). The crew had departed the 

ISS aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft at 10:02 p.m. (EDT) on 24 September 2010. They 

had delayed their departure for one day because of a problem with the hatch sensor, which 

had prevented the hooks on the Poisk docking port from opening. To circumvent the faulty 

sensor, the crew members had used jumper cables to retract the hooks. Caldwell Dyson, 

Kornienki, and Skvortsov had launched for the ISS from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 

Kazakhstan in April 2010. During their 174 days aboard the ISS, Kornienko had conducted a 

spacewalk to work on the new Russian Rassvet module, and Caldwell Dyson and fellow 

astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock had conducted three unplanned spacewalks to fix a broken 

cooling pump. Before his return to Earth, Skvortsov had transferred command of the ISS to 

Wheelock, who had remained aboard the ISS with American Flight Engineer Shannon 

Walker and Russian Flight Engineer Fyodor N. Yurchikhin.123 

121 NASA, “NASA Awards Launch Services Contracts,” news release C10-053, 16 September 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/C10-053_Launch_Services_Contract.html (accessed 24 May 

2013). 

122 NASA, “International Partners Discuss Space Station Extension and Use,” news release 10-228, 22 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-226_MCB_Meeting.html

 (accessed 8 May 2013). 

123 NASA, “International Space Station Expedition 24 Crew Lands Safely,” news release 10-231, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/10-231_Soyuz_Lands.html (accessed 8 May 2013); Clara 

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27 September 

NASA announced that it had awarded a six-month contract extension to Lockheed Martin 

Integrated Systems of Houston, Texas, for cargo mission services to the ISS. The US$13 

million extension brought the total value of the cost-plus-award-fee, fixed-price contract to 

US$405 million. NASA had originally awarded the contract on 5 November 2003. The 

extension would fund Lockheed Martin’s work through 31 March 2001, including services 

related to launch integration, ground processing, in-orbit operation analysis, and cargo return. 

The contractor would implement the management, planning, support, processing, and 

analysis of the delivery of NASA’s cargo, in addition to performing tasks such as labeling 

cargo and sustaining engineering. NASA would transport the cargo aboard the Space Shuttle, 

ESA’s ATVs, JAXA’s H-II Transfer Vehicles, and Roscosmos’s Soyuz and Progress 

spacecraft. The contractor would perform work at NASA’s JSC and KSC, as well as other 

locations. The major subcontractors were Bastion Technologies of Houston, Texas; Teledyne 

Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama; and United Space Alliance of Houston, 

Texas.124 

29 September 

NASA announced that it had modified its contract with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of 

Canoga Park, California, for support of the Space Shuttle’s main engine. The Shuttle’s three 

main liquid-propellant rocket engines, which were each 14 feet long (4.27 meters long) and 

7.5 feet wide (2.29 meters wide) at the nozzle exit, produced a combined total thrust of 1.2 

million pounds (544,311 kilograms). The US$60.3 million modification would continue Pratt 

& Whitney Rocketdyne’s prelaunch, launch, and landing support from 1 October 2010 

through 31 March 2011, reflecting NASA’s extension of the Shuttle’s flight manifest into FY 

2011. With the modification, the total value of the contract became US$2.25 billion.125 

A team of astronomers led by Steven S. Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and 

R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, announced that the LickCarnegie Exoplanet Survey had observed two new planets orbiting the star Gliese 581. The 

Astrophysical Journal would publish the team’s research. Funded by NASA and the NSF, the 

team had used 11 years of observations from the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer 

(HIRES) on the Kleck I telescope in Hawaii. Measuring the star’s radial velocity, in search of 

changes that would indicate an orbiting planet’s gravitational pull, the researchers had 

determined that six planets orbit Gliese 581, which is located 20 light-years away, in the 

constellation Libra. Gliese 581’s planetary system was the largest that astronomers had 

observed, besides our own. One of the newly discovered planets, Gliese 581g, is in the socalled habitable zone of the star, an area where conditions could support the requirements for 

life, particularly liquid surface water. With a 37-day orbit around its dim red dwarf star, 

Gliese 581g has an estimated surface temperature between -24oF and 10oF. The planet is 

Moskowitz, “Soyuz Capsule Lands Safely with Russian-U.S. Crew,” Space.com, 25 September 2010, 

http://www.space.com/9187-soyuz-capsule-lands-safely-russian-crew.html (accessed 24 May 2013). 124 NASA, “NASA Extends Space Station Cargo Mission Services Contract,” news release C10-061, 27 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-061_ISS_Extension.html

 (accessed 8 May 2013). 

125 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Shuttle Main Engine Contract Modification,” news release C10-062, 29 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-062_SSME_Mod.html

 (accessed 8 May 2013). 

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tidally locked to its star, meaning that one side is always facing the star. The researchers 

noted that this feature would be conducive to fostering life because it creates stable climates. 

The planet’s mass, three times that of Earth, indicates that it is a rocky planet with sufficient 

gravity to retain an atmosphere. Gliese 581g is the most Earth-like planet yet discovered. Its 

existence indicates that many other potentially habitable planets may be present in the Milky 

Way.126 

30 September 

NASA announced that it had extended the Extravehicular Space Operations Contract with 

Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International of Houston, Texas, which provides 

technical support for the spacesuits used on the ISS and Space Shuttle flights. The contractor 

and its subcontractors would manage engineering for the hardware systems used on 

spacewalks and for supporting enhancements. NASA would also use the contractor’s 

engineering management for flight and spacewalk readiness, safety and mission assurance, 

and the achievement of flight milestones and mission goals. The cost-plus-award-fee contract, 

with a maximum value of US$728.9 million, consisted of a base contract worth US$315.5 

million, for work performed from 1 October 2010 through 30 September 2015; a one-year 

option worth US$8.6 million, for Shuttle mission support beginning 1 October 2010; two 

one-year options for Space Shuttle extravehicular activity support from 1 October 2010 

through 30 September 2012; and five one-year options for ISS work from 1 October 2015 

through 30 September 2020. The contract also included an indefinite-delivery, indefinitequantity option with a maximum value of US$90 million and a fixed price of US$140,000 for 

a 30-day phase-in period.127 

OCTOBER 2010 

1 October 

Chang’e 2, an uncrewed Chinese lunar probe, launched aboard a Long March-3C rocket from 

Xichang Space Center in Sichuan Province at 10:59 (UT). Chang’e 2 would study the Bay of 

Rainbows, or Sinus Iridium, a region of the Moon measuring 147 miles wide (236.57 

kilometers wide). Dipping down to its closest lunar approach, 9 miles (14.48 kilometers) 

from the Moon’s surface, Chang’e 2 would take high-resolution photographs of possible 

landing sites for the Chang’e 3 probe, which China planned to launch in 2013. Afterwards, 

Chang’e 2 would maneuver into orbit at an altitude of 62 miles (99.78 kilometers), where it 

would collect data on the Moon’s soil and surface. China had originally built Chang’e 2 as a 

ground spare for Chang’e 1, the country’s first lunar probe, which had launched in October 

126 Steven S. Vogt et al., “The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1 M⊕ Planet in the Habitable Zone of the 

Nearby M3V Star Gliese 581,” Astrophysical Journal 723, no. 1 (15 October 2010): 954–965, http://iopscience. 

iop.org/0004-637X/723/1/954/pdf/0004-637X_723_1_954.pdf (accessed 8 May 2013); NASA, “NASA and 

NSF-Funded Research Finds First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet,” news release 10-237, 29 September 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_10-237_Exoplanet_ Findings.html (accessed 8 May 2013); 

Jeanna Bryner, “Odds of Life on Newfound Earth-Size Planet ‘100 Percent’, Astronomer Says,” Space.com, 29 

September 2010, http://www.space.com/9225-odds-life-newfound-earth-size-planet-100-percent-astronomer. 

html (accessed 23 May 2013). 127 NASA, “NASA Awards Shuttle and Space Station Spacesuit Contract,” news release C10-064, 30 

September 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-064_Spacesuits.html (accessed 8 May 

2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

2007. For this flight, engineers had refitted the probe with updated and improved instruments, 

including cameras with a peak resolution of 10 meters (32.81 feet). News media reported that 

the probe had cost US$134 million. China had scheduled Chang’e 2’s mission to last for six 

months; however, the probe had enough fuel to operate for longer.128 

At a meeting of the International Astronautical Conference in Prague, representatives from 

NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos agreed to update the launch manifest for vehicles traveling to 

the ISS. NASA’s target launch date for STS-134, the last planned Space Shuttle flight, was 

27 February 2011. STS-134 would deliver to the ISS the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 

(AMS), an instrument that detected cosmic-ray particles. Scientists would use the AMS to 

conduct research on matter and on the origin and structure of the universe. Arianespace’s 

target date for launching ESA’s ATV-2 was 15 February 2011. Also known as Johannes 

Kepler, ATV-2 would deliver cargo to the ISS, as well as periodically boosting the ISS’s 

orbit while docking at the space station. Roscosmos agreed to continue investigating options 

for launching and landing Soyuz vehicles traveling to and from the ISS.129 

6 October 

NASA announced that the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe (WMAP) had 

concluded its nine-year mission to measure slight temperature variations in the cosmic 

microwave background (CMB)—the remnant of the first light to exist independently in the 

universe, 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Using measurements of the CMB, the WMAP 

mission had calculated that the universe is 13.75 billion years old, allowing for an error 

margin of 1 percent. The Guinness Book of World Records had declared WMAP’s 

calculation the most accurate measure of the universe’s age. WMAP also had confirmed the 

existence of dark energy, a form of energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe. 

WMAP had calculated that dark energy accounts for 72 percent of the cosmos, while dark 

matter accounts for 23 percent and normal matter comprises only 4.6 percent of the cosmos. 

Additionally, WMAP’s observations had supported the theory of inflation, which proposed 

that the universe had expanded rapidly during the first trillionth of a second that it existed. 

Launched on 30 June 2001, WMAP had traveled approximately 930,000 miles (1,496,690 

kilometers) from Earth to the Earth–Sun L2, or Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable 

location where spacecraft follow Earth’s orbit around the Sun. WMAP, the first spacecraft to 

use the L2 point, had made its last observations on 20 August 2010. On 8 September 2010, it 

had left its working orbit to enter a parking orbit around the Sun. NASA scientists planned to 

continue analyzing the WMAP data for two more years.130 

128 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 684, 1 November 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx684.html (accessed 

3 April 2013); Space.com, “China Launches Second Robotic Moon Probe,” 1 October 2010, http://www.space. 

com/9242-china-launches-robotic-moon-probe.html (accessed 7 June 2010); Space.com, “China’s New Lunar 

Probe To Scout the Moon’s ‘Bay of Rainbows’,” 1 October 2010, http://www.space.com/9243-china-lunarprobe-scout-moon-bay-rainbows.html (accessed 7 June 2010). 

129 NASA, “International Partners Update Space Station Launch Manifest,” news release 10-242, 1 October 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-242_Updated_Station_Manifest.html (accessed 20 

May 2010).

130 NASA, “NASA’s WMAP Project Completes Satellite Operations Mission Observed Universe’s Oldest
 
 

Lightest,” news release 10-244, 6 October 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-244_
 
 

WMAP.html (accessed 20 May 2010); Stephen Clark, “WMAP Finishes Nine-Year Probe of Infant Universe,”
 
 

Spaceflight Now, http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/06wmap/ (accessed 5 June 2010).
 
 

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7 October 

The Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-1M launched at 23:10 (UT) from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket. The vehicle carried NASA astronaut 

Scott J. Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Y. Kaleri and Oleg I. Skripochka to the 

ISS to join the Expedition 25 crew. Station Commander Douglas H. Wheelock, astronaut 

Shannon Walker, and cosmonaut Fyodor N. Yurchikhin were already aboard the ISS. This 

spaceflight was the first for Skripochka, the third for Kelly, and the fifth for Kaleri. During 

their time aboard the ISS, the crew would host two Space Shuttle visits and the dockings of 

two uncrewed cargo ships. Skripochka and Yurchikhin would perform a spacewalk to 

maintain the hardware and science experiments on the Russian segment of the ISS. Soyuz 

TMA-1M, scheduled to dock at the ISS on 9 October 2010, featured some upgrades over 

previous Soyuz spacecraft: it had a new electronic cooling device, as well as updated control, 

data-processing, guidance, and navigation systems. The avionics and computer 

improvements allowed the vehicle to operate with less input from the crew.131 

10 October 

Virgin Galactic successfully conducted the first solo test flight of its commercial spacecraft, 

SpaceShipTwo, or VSS Enterprise, from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The 

mothership WhiteKnightTwo, or VMS Eve, carried SpaceShipTwo, piloted by two crew 

members, to an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters). After WhiteKnightTwo released it, 

SpaceShipTwo glided for 11 minutes down to a safe runway landing. The test proved that 

Virgin Galactic had met the goals for the successful release and gliding of its spacecraft, as 

well as confirming that all of the systems had worked, both before and after the release of the 

craft. The test evaluated the vehicle’s handling and stall characteristics, its stability and 

control characteristics, and its lift-to-drag ratio, as well as permitting the vehicle to practice 

its landing approach. Scaled Composites of California had developed the six-seated craft, 

which was based on the SpaceShipOne model that had won the 2004 Ansari X Prize. Virgin 

Galactic planned to use SpaceShipTwo to transport customers on rides into suborbital 

space. 132

131 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 684; NASA, “New Space Station Crew Members Launch from Kazakhstan,” news 

release 10-252, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-252_Soyuz_Launch.html (accessed 20 May 

2010); Denise Chow, “Soyuz Rocket Launches New Crew Toward Space Station,” Space.com, 7 October 2010, 

http://www.space.com/9286-soyuz-rocket-launches-crew-space-station.html (accessed 12 June 2010). 132 Leonard David, “Virgin Galactic’s Private Spaceship Makes First Solo Glide Flight,” Space.com, 10 October 

2010, http://www.space.com/9301-virgin-galactic-private-spaceship-solo-glide-flight.html (accessed 14 June 

2013); Mark Sappenfield, “Virgin Galactic Glides Closer to $200,000-A-Seat Space Shot, Christian Science 

Monitor, 11 October 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1011/Virgin-Galactic-glides-closer-to200-000-a-seat-space-shots?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4cb39557d5b19947,0 (accessed 14 June 2013). 

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11 October 

President Barack H. Obama signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Authorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-267, 124 Stat. 2805), which reauthorized the 

agency for three fiscal years. The law authorized US$19 billion for FY 2011, US$19.45 

billion for FY 2012, and US$19.96 for FY 2013, to fund aeronautics, education, exploration, 

science, and space operations. The law also added one additional Space Shuttle flight to the 

manifest of flights that would take place before the 2011 ending of the Space Shuttle 

Program. It extended NASA’s use of the ISS through at least 2020. It authorized NASA to 

update launch facilities, as well as to continue to develop new technologies and robotic 

exploration missions. The bill would end the Constellation Program, the mission to send 

astronauts to the Moon, which an independent review panel had determined was underfunded 

and unsustainable. In its place, the bill authorized NASA to develop a new heavy-lift rocket 

for deep space missions, with the ultimate goal of sending a crewed flight to an asteroid by 

2025 and a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s. To free NASA’s resources for development 

of the heavy-lift rocket, the bill authorized NASA to foster the development of commercial 

spacecraft to transport cargo and crews to the ISS.133 

15 October 

NASA announced that it had awarded Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) 

contracts to the six American companies competing for the Google Lunar X Prize, a 

competition to land a vehicle on the Moon. These six companies were Astrobiotic 

Technology of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, 

Massachusetts; Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama; Earthrise Space of Orlando, Florida; Moon 

Express of San Francisco, California; and Team FREDNET, The Open Space Society of 

Huntsville, Alabama. Under the multiple-award, firm-fixed price, indefinitedelivery/indefinite-quantity contracts, NASA would purchase data that the contractors had 

produced during the development of robotic lander vehicles. NASA would issue delivery 

orders for data associated with system integration and testing, launches, in-space maneuvers, 

braking burns, lunar landing, and other capabilities. NASA would use this data to develop 

affordable and sustainable lander systems for use in both human and robotic missions to 

asteroids, the Moon, and other destinations. The maximum total value of the contracts was 

US$30.1 million over a maximum period of five years. For each contract, NASA agreed to 

purchase a minimum value of US$10,000 and a maximum value of US$10.01 million. The 

Lunar Lander Project Office at NASA’s JSC managed the contracts.134 

20 October 

The journal Nature published the work of a group of astronomers led by Matthew D. Lehnert 

of the Paris Observatory in France, a team that had observed the oldest and most distant 

galaxy yet found. Researchers had first identified galaxy UDFy-38135539 as a candidate 

133 William Harwood, “President Obama Signs Space Program Agenda into Law,” Spaceflight Now, 11 October 

2010, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/11sign/ (accessed 21 June 2013); Tariq Malik, “President 

Obama Signs New Vision for U.S. Space Exploration into Law,” Space.com, 11 October 2010, http://www. 

space.com/9305-president-obama-signs-vision-space-exploration-law.html (accessed 21 June 2013). 134 NASA, “NASA Awards Contract for Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data,” news release 10-259, 15 

October 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-259_ILDD_Award.html (accessed 21 June 

2013); Space.com, “NASA To Spend Up to $30 Million on Private Moon Data,” 16 October 2010, http://www. 

space.com/9343-nasa-spend-30-million-private-moon-data.html (accessed 6 June 2013). 

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galaxy when examining images that the Wide Field Camera 3 on NASA’s HST had taken of 

the Fornax Constellation. To refine their calculations of UDFy-38135539, Lehnert’s team 

had used the ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT), which could detect near-infrared 

light. They had determined that the galaxy is more than 13 billion light-years from Earth. 

Formed just 600 million years after the Big Bang, the galaxy had emerged during the 

universe’s so-called epoch of reionization, the period when ultraviolet light emerging from 

forming galaxies had ionized the early universe’s atomic fog of hydrogen and helium. During 

this period, the universe had become more transparent, and light had become visible. The 

researchers noted that UDFy-38135539 was the first galaxy astronomers had discovered that 

was old enough to have been part of this process. The researchers had also detected evidence 

that the UDFy-38135539 galaxy alone could not have ionized the intergalactic medium 

surrounding it, indicating that it was probably next to other galaxies that researchers had not 

yet detected or characterized.135 

NASA announced that it had selected United Launch Services of Littleton, Colorado, to 

launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft on an Atlas V-401 

rocket. The total cost of the launch, which NASA had scheduled for November 2013, was 

US$187 million. The MAVEN mission would study Mars’s atmosphere to understand how 

climate change had caused the planet’s atmosphere to thin and its surface water to dry up. 

The mission had passed a confirmation review, formally designated “Key Decision Point C,” 

on 4 October 2010. The review panel had set the mission’s cost and schedule and had 

authorized it to continue into its development phase, approving its budget, detailed plans, 

instrument suite, and risk-factor analysis. NASA’s GSFC would manage the MAVEN 

mission. The mission’s principal investigator would be at the University of Colorado at 

Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Excluding the launch-services 

contract and a telecommunications-relay package, MAVEN would cost US$438 million.136 

26 October 

Moon Express, a privately funded company headquartered in San Francisco, California, and 

providing lunar transportation and data services, announced that it had entered the Google 

Lunar X Prize. Moon Express became the twenty-fourth team worldwide, and the sixth 

American team, to enter the US$30 million global competition. The Google Lunar X Prize 

would award a grand prize of US$20 million to the first team to place a robot on the Moon’s 

surface, move it 500 meters (1,640.42 feet), and transmit video and images from the robot to 

Earth. The X Prize Foundation offered an additional US$10 million in other prizes. On 15 

135 M. D. Lehnert et al., “Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Galaxy at Redshift z = 8.6,” Nature 467, no. 7318 (21 

October 2010): 940–942, published online 20 October 2010, http://www.nature.com/nature/ journal/v467/ 

n7318//full/nature09462.html (accessed 14 June 2010); Pete Spotts, “ Astronomers Build on a Hubble Find, 

Report Light from Oldest Galaxy,” Christian Science Monitor, 20 October 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/ 

Science/2010/1020/Astronomers-build-on-a-Hubble-find-report-light-from-oldest-galaxy (accessed 14 June 

2013); Jonathan Amos, “Galaxy Is Most Distant Object Yet,” BBC News, 20 October 2010, http://www.bbc.co. 

uk/news/science-environment-11580789 (accessed 14 June 2010). 136 NASA, “NASA’s Mars Atmosphere Mission Given the Green Light To Proceed to Development,” Goddard 

Release No. 10-087, 5 October 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-087.html 

(accessed 7 June 2013); NASA, “NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Maven Mission,” news release 

C10-065, 21 October 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_C10-065_Maven_Services.html 

(accessed 21 May 2013). 

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October 2010, NASA had awarded the American Google Lunar X Prize contestant teams, 

including Moon Express, ILDD contracts to purchase the technical data acquired through the 

development of robotic lunar-landing technology. NASA would use the data from the ILDD 

contracts to develop future lander vehicles and robot systems.137 

27 October 

NASA announced that two satellites that had launched in 2007, and had completed their 

original missions, were beginning new missions to study solar wind. NASA had launched the 

satellites as part of the five-satellite Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions 

during Substorms (THERMIS) mission, which had studied the effects of geomagnetic 

substorms on Earth’s magnetosphere. NASA had named the new mission Acceleration, 

Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with Sun (ARTEMIS). 

The two satellites would study the ways that solar wind—the stream of charged particles that 

flow outward from the Sun—affects the surface of the Moon. Unlike Earth, which has a 

magnetic field that shields it from solar wind, the Moon lacks global magnetism. Therefore, 

solar wind can alter, electrify, or erode the lunar surface. The ARTEMIS satellites were 

beginning their new mission from the L1 and L2 Lagrange points, areas in space where 

Earth’s gravity and the Moon’s gravity balance each other. After conducting the first 

exploration of the Earth–Moon Lagrange points, the satellites would move closer to the 

Moon to observe its surface. The ARTEMIS mission was conducted jointly by NASA’s 

GSFC, NASA’s JPL, the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, 

and the University of California, Los Angeles.138 

The Russian uncrewed freighter Progress M-08M, or Progress 40P, launched aboard a 

Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 15:11 (UT). Progress M-08M 

was scheduled to arrive at the ISS on 23 October 2010 with 2.5 tons (5,000 pounds, or 

2,267.96 kilograms) of supplies for the crew. The payload included 499 kilograms (1,100.11 

pounds) of oxygen, 870 kilograms (1,918.02 pounds) of propellant, 226 kilograms (498.24 

pounds) of water, and 1,272 kilograms (2,804.28 pounds) of food, spare parts, and supplies. 

The Progress’s cargo also included data-transmission equipment and hardware for the ISS’s 

Coulomb Crystal experiment and Molniya-Gamma experiment. Progress M-08M would 

remain docked at the ISS until January 2011. The ISS had jettisoned Progress M-05M on 25 

October 2010 to clear docking space for Progress M-08M.139 

137 Google Lunar X Prize Foundation, “Moon Express Enters $30 Million Google Lunar X Prize Competition,” 

press release, 26 October 2010, http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/media/press-releases/moon-express-enters30-million-google-lunar-x-prize-competition (accessed 5 June 2013). 138 NASA, “Two NASA Spacecraft Begin New Exploration Assignments,” news release 10-282, 27 October 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-282_ARTEMIS.html (accessed 30 May 2013). 

139 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 684; Justin Ray, “Cargo Craft Begins Pursuit of International Space Station,” 

Spaceflight Now, 27 October 2010, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/exp25/101027prog40p/ (accessed 7 

June 2013).
 
 

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NOVEMBER 2010 

2 November 

NASA and its international partners commemorated 10 years of continuous human 

occupation aboard the ISS on the anniversary of the 2 November 2000 arrival of the 

Expedition 1 crew. Construction on the US$100 billion laboratory had begun in 1998, but the 

ISS did not have a permanent crew for the first two years. Since the arrival of Expedition 1, 

more than 196 people had visited the ISS. Orbiting at an altitude of 220 miles (354.06 

kilometers) above Earth, the ISS had travelled a total of 1.5 billion miles (2,414,016,000 

kilometers) in 10 years and had completed 57,361 rotations around Earth. With the ISS 

nearing completion, and fewer building projects to work on, recent ISS crews were devoting 

more time to scientific research. Crew members had conducted more than 600 scientific 

experiments aboard the ISS’s laboratory, including projects in such fields as biology, Earth 

and space sciences, human physiology, and physical and materials sciences. On 25 October 

2010, the ISS had set the record for the longest continuously occupied spacecraft in 

history.140 

10 November 

Orbital Sciences, in conjunction with its engine supplier Aerojet and engineers from NASA’s 

SSC, test-fired the liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that would power the first stage of Orbital’s 

Taurus II launch vehicle. The test, conducted on the E-1 test stand at NASA’s SSC, 

supported NASA’s efforts to encourage commercial spaceflight capable of traveling to the 

ISS. NASA had granted Orbital a contract to provide eight cargo missions to the ISS through 

2015. Operators at NASA’s SSC had spent two years modifying the E-1 test stand to 

accommodate the AJ26. The 10-second, short-duration readiness test verified the engine’s 

start and shutdown sequences, test-stand operations, and ground-test engine controls. After 

the joint operations team had reviewed all the testing data, Orbital planned to conduct two 

further tests, a 50-second, hot-fire acceptance test and a hot-fire test to evaluate the tuning of 

the engine’s control valve.141 

A team of researchers, led by Douglas P. Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 

Astrophysics, announced in the Astrophysical Journal that they had discovered a previously 

undetected structure at the center of the galaxy. The structure, which may be millions of 

years old, consists of two clearly defined gamma-ray bubbles, each spreading 25,000 lightyears north and south of the galactic center and covering half of the visible Milky Way, from 

the constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus. Gamma rays are the most energetic form of 

light, and the gamma-ray bubbles’ energy output is equivalent to 100,000 supernovas. The 

researchers had detected the bubbles using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s 

Large Area Telescope (LAT), the most sensitive and highest-resolution gamma-ray detector 

140 NASA, “NASA Administrator Statement on 10th Anniversary of Crews Aboard the International Space 

Station,” news release 10-287, 2 November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-287_ 

ISS_Milestone.html (accessed 11 June 2013); Clara Moskowitz, “Looking Back: A Decade of Astronauts on the 

International Space Station,” Space.com, 2 November 2010, http://www.space.com/9444-decade-astronautsinternational-space-station.html (accessed 14 June 2013). 141 NASA, “NASA Test Fires New Rocket Engine for Commercial Space Vehicle,” news release 10-296, 10 

November 2010, http://www.space.com/9444-decade-astronauts-international-space-station.html (accessed 11 

June 2013). 

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in use. Previous scientific data had indicated the possible existence of the gamma-ray bubbles. 

However, scientists had never actually observed the bubbles because the fog of gamma-ray 

energy diffused throughout the universe obscures them. Using various estimates of the 

gamma-ray fog to refine their models continually, the LAT team had succeeded in isolating 

the emission of the bubbles. Although the researchers had not determined the bubbles’ origin, 

they had ruled out the possibility that dark matter had caused them. The research team had 

concluded that only a large and relatively fast surge of energy could have created bubbles 

with such clearly defined edges. The team suggested that the Milky Way’s central black hole 

might have previously had jets, which had formed the bubbles when they shot out energy. 

Alternatively, the team proposed that a burst of star formation might have produced them.142 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced that he had implemented 

administrative changes in response to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Independent 

Comprehensive Review Panel’s (ICRP’s) report on the status of NASA’s next-generation 

space telescope. The ICRP had issued its final report on 29 October 2010. Bolden had 

commissioned the panel in response to a request from Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), 

Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and 

Related Agencies. Mikulski had expressed her concern at the escalating costs of NASA’s 

JWST. In a 29 June 2010 letter to Bolden, Mikulski had requested that he form a panel to 

examine the root causes of JWST’s cost growth and schedule delays, to review plans to 

complete its development, to assess changes that could reduce costs, and to calculate the 

minimum cost to launch the telescope. The ICRP had found that the JWST project’s 

technical performance was above average, with no technical delays. The panel attributed the 

project’s growth and schedule delays to inadequate budgeting and poor management 

performance. The ICRP considered 2015 the earliest possible date for the launch of the 

telescope. However, to launch JWST in 2015, NASA would need to add approximately 

US$250 million to the mission’s FY 2011 budget and another US$250 million to JWST’s 

projected FY 2012 budget. Although the ICRP had not suggested how NASA might meet 

these funding needs, the panel had recommended management changes that would prevent 

further cost increases. Bolden had responded by reorganizing the project’s management at 

NASA Headquarters and at NASA’s GSFC. He had assigned a new senior manager at NASA 

Headquarters, who would report directly to the NASA Associate Administrator, and he had 

reorganized the project office at NASA’s GSFC, so that the office reported directly to the 

Director of NASA’s GSFC.143 

142 Meng Su et al., “Giant Gamma-Ray Bubbles from Fermi-LAT: Active Galactic Nucleus Activity or Bipolar 

Galactic Wind?” Astrophysical Journal 724, no. 2 (10 November 2010): 1044–1082, http://iopscience.iop.org/ 

0004-637X/724/2/1044/pdf/0004-637X_724_2_1044.pdf (accessed 20 June 2013); NASA, “NASA’s Fermi 

Telescope Discovers Giant Structure in Our Galaxy,” news release 10-295, 9 November 2010, http://www.nasa. 

gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-295_FERMI.html (accessed 11 June 2013); Dennis Overbye, “Bubbles of 

Energy Are Found in Galaxy,” New York Times, 9 November 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/ 

science/space/10galaxy.html?_r=2& (accessed 20 June 2013). 143 James Webb Space Telescope Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (JWST ICRP), “Final Report” 

(Washington, DC, 29 October 2010), http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/499224main_JWST-ICRP_Report-FINAL.pdf 

(accessed 14 June 2013); NASA, “NASA Administrator Bolden Statement on the Webb Telescope,” news 

release 10-297, 10 November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/ HQ_10-297_JWST.html 

(accessed 11 June 2013); Pete Spotts, “NASA’s Next Big Space Telescope in Financial Trouble,” Christian 

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12 November 

The NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report titled “NASA’s Top 

Management and Performance Challenges.” While noting that NASA had recently made 

significant improvement in its management practices, OIG still found six management 

challenges that NASA needed to address. The first challenge concerned the future of human 

spaceflight and the difficult transition facing NASA’s management with the end of the Space 

Shuttle Program. The second challenge involved acquisition and project management and 

ensuring that NASA paid all its contracts. The third challenge related to the effective 

management of NASA’s infrastructure and facilities, including NASA’s 5,400 buildings and 

structures. The fourth challenge involved NASA’s human capital—in particular, the 

challenge of balancing the workforce structure during the changes to the Space Shuttle 

Program and Constellation Program. The fifth challenge pertained to the security of NASA’s 

information technology, especially the protection of sensitive information. The sixth 

challenge related to NASA’s financial management. When considering each management 

challenge, OIG had looked at several factors: the significance of the issue in relation to 

NASA’s mission; whether the management issue was systemic; whether the issue might 

involve the risk of abuse, fraud, or waste; and NASA’s previous attempts to address the issue. 

Because NASA’s financial managers had made efforts to address known weaknesses, 

NASA’s financial auditors issued a “qualified opinion” regarding NASA’s FY 2010 financial 

statement. Although NASA would ultimately aim to achieve from its auditors an 

“unqualified opinion,” the auditors’ determination represented progress. For the previous 

seven years, the auditors had given NASA “disclaimers of opinion.”144 

15 November 

Russian cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Oleg I. Skripochka left the ISS at 9:53 a.m. 

(EDT) to conduct orbital maintenance work. The spacewalk was Skripochka’s first. The 

cosmonauts spent approximately 6.5 hours completing several tasks, including installing a 

new maintenance workstation for spacewalking crews and a new science experiment that 

would test the effects of the space environment on various materials. In addition, the two 

collected insulation samples from the oxygen-generation machine. Researchers would 

examine the samples for evidence of microorganisms. The cosmonauts also removed a 

science experiment that had tested the Internet-based control system for the ISS’s robotic arm. 

Yurchikhin and Skripochka attempted to move a television camera located on a docking 

module, but a piece of insulation prevented the cosmonauts’ installing it in its new location. 

Russian mission control postponed completion of the task until a future spacewalk.145 

18 November 

NASA released its initial analysis of the data from the Deep Impact spacecraft’s 4 November 

2010 flyby of Hartley 2, a comet with a 6.5-year orbit. Deep Impact had flown within 435 

Science Monitor, 11 November 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/ 2010/1111/NASA-s-next-big-spacetelescope-in-financial-trouble (accessed 14 June 2013). 144 NASA Office of Inspector General, “NASA’s Top Management and Performance Challenges” (report,
 

Washington, DC, 12 November 2010), http://oig.nasa.gov/NASA2010ManagementChallenges.pdf (accessed 14 

June 2013).

145 Clara Moskowitz, “Spacewalking Cosmonauts Upgrade International Space Station,” Space.com, 15
 
 

November 2010, http://www.space.com/9532-spacewalking-cosmonauts-upgrade-international-spacestation.html (accessed 14 June 2013). 

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miles (700.06 kilometers) of the comet Hartley 2, as part of the US$45 million mission 

extension known as EPOXI—a combination of the acronyms for the mission’s two parts, the 

Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) and the Deep Impact Extended 

Investigation (DIXI). The mission extension had repurposed Deep Impact after the probe had 

completed its initial mission of observing the comet Tempel 1 in 2005. Hartley 2 differs from 

Tempel 1, having 100 times less volume, as well as more variation in its carbon-dioxidepowered jets. Hartley 2 has a 1.25-mile-long (2.01-kilometer-long) nucleus shaped like a 

peanut, which has a smooth, narrow middle and wider, rougher ends. On the smooth-surfaced 

midsection of Hartley 2, as on Tempel 1, water evaporates below the surface and then rises 

up through the dust, creating water vapor. However, on the rough-surfaced ends of Hartley 2, 

carbon dioxide erupts through the surface and forcefully belches out soft, fluffy snowballs of 

water ice. EPOXI’s data provided the first observations of jets driven by carbon dioxide, 

rather than by water, the first evidence linking jets to particular topographical features, and 

the first observation of individual chunks of ice around a comet. An additional peculiarity of 

the comet is that its jets erupt from all sides, even the sides that Earth’s Sun does not heat. 

Scientists hoped that studying comets’ ancient component parts would teach them more 

about the formation of Earth’s solar system and of the planets that revolve around Earth’s 

Sun.146 

20 November 

A Minotaur-4 rocket successfully launched from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak 

Launch Complex at 01:25 (UT) as part of mission STP-S26 of the U.S. Air Force’s Space 

Test Program. The rocket delivered its payload of seven satellites into an orbit 404 miles 

(650.18 kilometers) above Earth. The seven satellites carried a total of 16 different 

experiments. Aboard the US$170 million mission were two small NASA satellites designed 

to provide reliable and cost-effective research. NASA’s Organism/Organic Exposure to 

Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS) nanosatellite weighed 5.5 kilograms (12.13 pounds) and carried 

two biological experiments. One of these would test microbial growth and reproduction in 

space, and the other would test the effect of space conditions on inanimate organic matter. 

NASA was also launching the Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT), 

a 140-kilogram (308.65-pound) microsatellite that carried six experiments. Developed for 

less than US$12 million, FASTSAT would operate for 180 days, testing a Miniature Star 

Tracker and a Threat Detection System for the Air Force Research Laboratory. FASTSAT 

also carried three atmospheric experiments: the Miniature Imager for Neutral Ionosphere 

Atoms and Magnetospheric Electrons (MINI-ME), the Plasma and Impedance Spectrum 

Analyzer (PISA), and the Thermosphere Temperature Imager (TTI). Additionally, FASTSAT 

would release NanoSail-D2, a replacement for the failed NanoSail-D. The 8.5-pound (3.86­

kilogram) satellite would deploy itself using its 10-square-meter (32.81-square-foot) solar 

146 NASA, “NASA EPOXI Flyby Reveals New Insights into Comet Features,” news release 10-291, 4 

November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-293_Bolden_Statement_on_ EPOXI.html 

(accessed 11 June 2013); NASA, “NASA Spacecraft Sees Cosmic Snow Storm During Comet Encounter,” new 

release 10-304, 18 November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-304_EXPOXI_ 

Results.html (accessed 11 June 2013); Mike Wall, “Rare Close Encounter with Comet Hartley 2 Surprises and 

Thrills Scientists,” Space.com, 4 November 2010, http://www.space.com/9470-rare-close-encounter-comethartley-2-surprises-thrills-scientists.html (accessed 19 June 2013). 

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sail, which “sails” on photons from Earth’s Sun, demonstrating a technology that might 

possibly bring future satellites back to Earth.147 

22 November 

NASA announced that it had awarded a one-year contract extension to United Space Alliance 

of Houston, Texas, for mission and flight-crew-operations support, both for the ISS and for 

future human space exploration activities that would occur after the retirement of the Space 

Shuttle. The contractor would develop and execute the ground-based capabilities for human 

spaceflight operations, including training of crews and flight controllers, mission planning 

and preparation, and real-time mission execution. The US$165 million extension, covering 

the period from 1 October 2011 through 30 September 2012, represented the exercise of an 

option under the terms of the Integrated Mission Operations Contract, which had initially 

spanned the period of 1 November 2008 through 30 September 2008. Including the extension, 

the value of the contract totaled US$373 million.148 

GAO released a report, commissioned at the request of Congressman Barton J. “Bart” 

Gordon (D-TN), assessing NASA’s plans for its transition, from reliance on United Launch 

Alliance’s medium-class launch vehicle Delta II, to new launch technologies. Since 1998, 

NASA had launched nearly 60 percent of its science satellites aboard the Delta II; however, 

the rocket had only three more NASA missions on its manifest before it ended production. 

Because no other vehicle currently certified for science missions compared to Delta II, either 

in cost or in performance, NASA was facing a potential gap in its launch capabilities, 

including the possibility of attendant design challenges, delays, and funding issues. This gap 

would affect the 12 to 14 science missions that NASA had scheduled to launch through 2020. 

To acquire new medium-class launch capability, NASA planned to certify the ISS resupply 

vehicles that SpaceX and Orbital Science were currently developing for NASA—SpaceX’s 

Falcon 9 and Orbital Science’s Taurus 2. However, NASA would need at least three years 

and approximately US$25 million to certify these rockets. GAO concluded that NASA had 

taken adequate steps to address potential risks and to ensure the success of the last Delta II 

missions, and that NASA had a reasonable plan for addressing the medium-class capability 

gap. However, GAO cautioned that NASA had not developed detailed estimates of the time 

and money required to resolve potential technical issues that could arise during the 

certification process. GAO recommended that NASA perform a detailed cost estimate based 

on experiences with previous launch-vehicle certifications, and that NASA budget for 

potential additional costs.149 

147 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 685, 1 December 2010, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx685.html (accessed 

3 April 2013); Mike Wall, “Rocket Loaded with Solar Sail and Satellites Blasts Off from Alaska,” Space.com, 

19 November 2010, http://www.space.com/9570-rocket-loaded-solar-sail-satellites-blasts-alaska.html
 

(accessed 14 June 2013). 

148 NASA, “NASA Extends Contract for Mission, Crew Operations Support,” news release C10-071, 22
 
 

November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_C10-071_ISS_Support.html (accessed 11 

June 2013).

149 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Medium Launch Transition Strategy Leverages Ongoing
 
 

Investments But Is Not Without Risk” (report no. GAO-11-107, Washington, DC, November 2010), http://gao. 

gov/assets/320/312657.pdf (accessed 21 June 2013); Stephen Clark, “GAO: Medium-Class Missions Face Cost, 

Schedule Concerns,” Spaceflight Now, 23 November 2010, http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1011/
 
 

23mediumgao/ (accessed 21 June 2013).
 
 

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25 November 

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Douglas H. Wheelock and 

Shannon Walker returned from their mission to the ISS, landing their Soyuz spacecraft 

outside of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 11:46 p.m. (EST). They had launched for the ISS aboard 

Soyuz TMA-19 on 15 June 2010 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. During their 

161 days aboard the ISS serving as members of Expeditions 24 and 25, the crew members 

had contributed to more than 120 microgravity experiments in such fields as biology and 

biotechnology, Earth and space sciences, physical and materials sciences, and technology 

development. Additionally, the crew had experienced an unplanned shutdown of 50 percent 

of the ISS’s external cooling system. In response to this event, NASA astronauts Douglas H. 

Wheelock and Tracy E. Caldwell Dyson had conducted three emergency spacewalks, 

successfully replacing a broken pump module. Wheelock, Walker, and Yurchikhin had 

undocked from the ISS at 8:23 p.m. (EST), leaving NASA astronaut Scott J. Kelly and 

Russian cosmonauts Alexander Y. Kaleri and Oleg I. Skripochka as the remaining crew 

aboard the ISS. Yurchikhin had logged a total of 371 days in space during his career, and 

Walker had logged 163 days. Wheelock had spent 178 days in space during his career.150 

30 November 

NASA announced that it had extended a contract modification to ATK Launch Systems for 

support of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket motor during prelaunch through postlaunch. The 

Space Shuttle’s solid rocket motors operated in conjunction with the main engines during the 

first 2 minutes of flight, to thrust the spacecraft against Earth’s gravitational pull. These were 

the only solid rocket motors approved for human spaceflight. The US$42.1 million 

modification was for services effective 1 October 2010 through 31 December 2011, 

reflecting NASA’s extension of the Space Shuttle launch schedule into FY 2011. The 

contractor would complete the processing of the flight hardware after the last Space Shuttle 

flight, in addition to performing postflight activities, such as cleaning and preserving the 

reusable motors. ATK Launch Systems would perform the majority of this work at its facility 

in Brigham City, Utah. The modification brought the total potential value of the cost-plusaward fee, incentive-fee contract to US$4.13 billion.151 

DECEMBER 2010 

1 December 

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the 

implementation of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-267, 124 Stat 2805, 

October 11, 2010). The committee expressed concerns over delays in NASA’s 

implementation of programs mandated by the Act, particularly delays related to human 

spaceflight. As part of a compromise worked out between Congress and the Obama 

administration, the Authorization Act had terminated NASA’s Constellation Program and 

150 NASA, “Soyuz Landing Caps Space Station’s First Decade of Expeditions,” new release 10-312, 25 

November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-312_Expedition_25_Lands.html 

(accessed 11 June 2013). 

151 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Contact Modification,” news release 

C10-075, 30 November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_C10-075_RSRM.html 

(accessed 11 June 2013). 

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redirected NASA’s efforts to developing a heavy-lift rocket and a crew capsule based on the 

Orion spacecraft. The committee members were worried that NASA was reluctant to carry 

out its new missions and may have been impeding the development of new technology or 

attempting to use preexisting commercial rockets, instead. NASA Chief Financial Officer 

Elizabeth M. Robinson addressed these concerns in her testimony before the committee. She 

stated that NASA’s efforts to implement the provisions of the Authorization Act were 

constrained because Congress had not yet passed a FY 2011 budget to fund NASA programs. 

Until Congress enacted a FY 2011 law, NASA was operating under a continuing resolution 

at FY 2010 funding levels. Robinson testified that, although the Authorization Act of 2010 

called for the cancellation of the Constellation Program, language in the continuing 

resolution had specifically prohibited NASA from cancelling the program.152 

8 December 

SpaceX successfully conducted a test launch and splashdown landing of its Dragon 

spacecraft, the first time that a private company had sent a rocket and capsule into space and 

returned them to Earth. The 147-foot (44.81-kilometer) Falcon 9 lifted off for a 3-hour-and19-minute flight from NASA’s KSC at 10:43 a.m. (EST). The Dragon capsule separated 

from its rocket and orbited Earth twice at an altitude of 186 miles (299.33 kilometers), 

performing a series of maneuvers that mimicked a rendezvous with the ISS. During the flight, 

Dragon’s electrical-power system, flight software, and navigation-and-control equipment 

were also tested. Dragon landed in the Pacific Ocean 500 miles (804.67 kilometers) off the 

coast of California, less than 0.5 miles (0.80 kilometers) from its targeted landing spot. The 

test was Falcon 9’s second test launch, but the first time it had launched a fully functional 

spacecraft capsule. The event was the first of three demonstrations that NASA had contracted 

SpaceX to perform. SpaceX held a US$1.6 billion NASA contract for 12 cargo-resupply 

missions to the ISS. Company officials stated that they eventually planned to convert the 

Dragon capsule to carry crewed missions to the ISS and to other destinations in space.153 

9 December 

NASA announced that, in addition to two contracts it had awarded on 22 November 2010 to 

companies that would conduct 12-month-long studies identifying advanced aircraft concepts, 

it had awarded a third similar US$5.29 million contract to a team led by the Boeing 

Company of Huntington Beach, California. In November, NASA had awarded a contract 

152 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Transition and 

Implementation: The NASA Authorization Act of 2010, 111th Cong., 2nd sess., 1 December 2010, 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111shrg71257/pdf/CHRG-111shrg71257.pdf (accessed 8 July 2013); 

Kenneth Chang, “Senators Push NASA To Carry Out Revamping,” New York Times, 1 December 2010, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/science/space/02nasa.html?_r=0 (accessed 28 June 2013); Amy Svitak, 

“Senators Vow To Enforce NASA Authorization Act,” Space.com, 3 December 2010, http://www.space.com/ 

9628-senators-vow-enforce-nasa-authorization-act.html (accessed 28 June 2013). 153 Kenneth Chang, “Private Spacecraft Returns Safely From Orbit,” New York Times, 8 December 2010, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/science/space/09rocket.html?_r=3&ref=science& (accessed 28 June 2013); 

Todd Halvorson, “Dragon Spacecraft Debut ‘Mind Blowing’,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 9 December 2010, 

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101209/NEWS02/12090312/1006/NEWS01/Dragon+spacecraft+ 

debut+proves+to+be++mind+blowing+ (accessed 28 June 2013); Pete Spotts, “‘Too Good to be True’: 

SpaceX Mission Appears Nearly Flawless,” Christian Science Monitor, 8 December 2010, http://www. 

csmonitor.com/USA/2010/1208/Too-good-to-be-true-SpaceX-mission-appears-nearly-flawless (accessed 28 

June 2013). 

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worth US$2.99 million to a team led by Lockheed Martin of Palmdale, California, and a 

contract worth US$2.65 million to a team led by Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, 

California. In awarding these contracts, NASA was seeking a concept for an aircraft capable 

of integrating NASA’s emissions, noise, and fuel-burn reduction goals, while operating 

safely within a modernized air-traffic-management system. The airliner, which must be ready 

to enter service in 2025, would be capable of carrying 50,000 to 100,000 pounds (22,679.62 

to 45,359.24 kilograms) of cargo, payload, or passengers. It would have a range of 

approximately 7,000 miles (11,265.41 kilometers) and the ability to fly at 85 percent of the 

speed of sound. NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, part of the 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s Integrated Research Program, was sponsoring 

the contracts. The project’s mission was to develop technology to reduce fuel consumption 

by 50 percent, reduce harmful emissions by 50 percent, and reduce the area affected by 

airport noise by 83 percent.154 

10 December 

NASA announced that it had awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin of Gaithersburg, 

Maryland, for services that would support cargo missions to the ISS. The cost-plus-award-fee 

contract had a total potential value of US$171 million. The three-month phase-in period, 

which would begin on 1 January 2011, and the three-year basic period, which would begin 

on 1 April 2011, had a total estimated value of US$85 million. The contract also included 

four one-year extension options with a total value of US$86 million, as well as provisions for 

the contractor to provide similar services for future spacecraft traveling to the ISS. Lockheed 

Martin would perform the work at NASA’s JSC, including support for the planning, 

coordination, preparation, and packing of standardized containers that NASA, its partner 

agencies, and commercial companies would use to transport cargo to the ISS. The contractor 

would also process flight-crew equipment, including audio and video equipment, batteries, 

clothing and personal hygiene items, crew survival equipment, housekeeping items, and 

laptop computers.155 

NASA announced that astronaut Alan G. Poindexter had resigned to take a position as the 

Dean of Students and Executive Director of Programs at the Naval Postgraduate School in 

Monterey, California. NASA had selected Poindexter as an astronaut candidate in 1998. He 

had served as Lead Support Astronaut in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch at 

NASA’s KSC and as a spacecraft communicator, as well as flying on two spaceflights. 

Poindexter had served as Pilot on STS-122, a 2008 mission to deliver ESA’s Columbus 

laboratory to the ISS. In 2010 he had served as Commander of STS-131, which had delivered 

154 NASA, “NASA Selects Companies for Advanced Aircraft Concepts Study,” news release C10-072, 22 

November 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_C10_072_ARMD_Advanced_ 

Concepts.html (accessed 11 June 2013); NASA, “NASA Selects Boeing for Advanced Aircraft Vehicle 

Concepts,” news release C10-076, 9 December 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/ HQ_C10-

076_Advcd_Aircraft.html (accessed 24 June 2010). 155 NASA, “NASA Awards Space Station Cargo Mission Services Contract,” news release C10-079, 10 

December 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_C10-079_ISS_Cargo_Services.html 

(accessed 24 June 2013). 

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more than 13,000 pounds (5,896.70 kilograms) of hardware and other supplies to the ISS. 

Altogether, Poindexter had logged over 669 hours in space.156 

13 December 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced that he had named Waleed Abdalati 

as NASA’s Chief Scientist. Effective 3 January 2011, Abdalati would serve as the 

Administrator’s principal advisor on NASA’s science programs, strategic planning, and 

related investments. As the representative of all of NASA’s scientific endeavors, he would 

ensure that science missions complied with and fulfilled the White House’s science 

objectives. He would work closely with the White House’s Office of Science and 

Technology Policy (OSTP) and with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 

advocating for NASA’s science missions within the scope of larger government science 

agendas. Abdalati had previously served NASA from 1998 to 2008, holding positions related 

to program management, scientific management, and science research. He had led the 

Cryospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s GSFC and had managed the Cryospheric Sciences 

Program at NASA Headquarters. Before returning to NASA, he had served as Director of the 

Earth Science and Observation Center and as Associate Professor in the Geography 

Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.157 

NASA announced that Voyager 1, the spacecraft that was 10.80 billion miles (17.38 billion 

kilometers) from Earth’s Sun and traveling toward interstellar space, had reached a region at 

the solar system’s edge where the outward velocity of the Sun’s solar wind is zero. Solar 

wind is hot, ionized gas that streams out from the Sun, forming a bubble of charged particles 

known as the heliosphere. It flows at supersonic speed until it crosses a shockwave known as 

the termination shock. It then enters a region known as the heliosheath, the outer skin of the 

heliosphere, where the solar wind slows down and heats up. Voyager 1, which had launched 

on 5 September 1977, had crossed the termination shock in December 2004. In June 2010, 

scientists monitoring Voyager 1’s Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument (LECP) had 

detected that the solar wind’s net outward velocity was zero. They had monitored the data for 

four months to ensure that the measurements were consistent. The data showed that the solar 

wind, which Voyager 1 had observed moving at 130,000 miles per hour (209,214.70 

kilometers per hour) in August 2007, had slowed by approximately 45,000 miles per hour 

(72,420.48 kilometers per hour) each year until reaching zero. Scientists believed that solar 

wind does not have outward velocity in this region because it is colliding with the cold gas 

and dust of interstellar space, causing it to turn sideways and coil back around the 

heliosphere, eventually forming a comet-like tail. The researchers estimated that Voyager 1 

would reach interstellar space in approximately four years.158 

156 NASA, “Astronaut Alan Poindexter Leaves NASA,” news release 10-331, 10 December 2010, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-331_Poindexter_Departs.html (accessed 24 June 2013). 157 NASA, “NASA Names Waleed Abdalati as Agency’s New Chief Scientist,” news release 10-332, 13 

December 2013, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-332_Chief_Scientist.html (accessed 24 

June 2013).

158 NASA, “NASA Probe Sees Solar Wind Decline En Route to Interstellar Space,” news release 10-334, 13 

December 2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-334_Voyager_Voyages.html (accessed 27 

June 2013); Thomas H. Maugh II, “From Voyager 1 Comes Cutting-Edge Science on Solar Wind,” Los Angeles 

Times, 14 December 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/14/science/la-sci-voyager-20101215 (accessed 

27 June 2013). 

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15 December 

Soyuz TMA-20 launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 

at 19:09 (UT), carrying NASA astronaut Catherine Grace “Cady” Coleman, Russian 

cosmonaut Dmitry Y. Kondratyev, and ESA astronaut Paolo A. Nespoli to the ISS. The 

spaceflight was the first for Kondratyev, the second for Nespoli, and the third for Coleman. 

The Soyuz, commanded by Kondratyev, was scheduled to dock at the ISS on 17 December 

2010. The crew would join fellow Expedition 26 members Commander Scott J. Kelly and 

Flight Engineers Alexander Y. Kaleri and Oleg I. Skripochka. The Expedition 26 crew would 

perform scientific research, station maintenance, and educational outreach. They would host 

a Space Shuttle mission, scheduled for February 2011, as well as three resupply vehicles. The 

JAXA H-II Transfer Vehicle, or Kounotori, and the Russian Progress 41 were scheduled to 

arrive at the ISS in January 2011, and ESA’s ATV would arrive in February 2011. 

Additionally, Kondratyev and Skripochka would conduct two spacewalks to install an 

antenna and to work on the outside of the Russian modules of the ISS. Coleman, Kondratyev, 

and Nespoli would stay aboard the ISS for approximately 5.5 months before returning to 

Earth.159 

16 December 

NASA announced that Associate Deputy Administrator Charles H. Scales would be retiring, 

and that NASA had appointed Richard J. Keegan Jr. to replace him. Scales had begun his 

career with NASA as a student in the Cooperative Education Program. He had served as a 

Communications Specialist at NASA’s MSFC, Deputy Director in the Office of Center 

Operations at NASA’s MSFC, Director of the Center Operations Directorate at NASA’s 

GRC, and as NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Office of Institutions and Management. 

Scales had served as Associate Deputy Administrator since April 2007. Keegan had served at 

NASA’s GSFC and at NASA Headquarters, where he had held various senior business 

management positions. He had served as Director of NASA’s Office of Program and 

Institutional Integration and as the first Associate Administrator of the Mission Support 

Directorate. In his role as Associate Deputy Administrator, Keegan would assist the 

Administrator and Deputy Administrator in carrying out NASA’s day-to-day operations 

across a range of institutional and workforce issues.160 

20 December 

NASA announced that it had issued delivery orders to three of the six companies that had 

received ILDD contracts in October 2010. The ILDD contracts were firm-fixed price, 

indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity awards for data on vehicle and robotic lunar-landing 

technology. The total potential value of all of the maximum five-year period contracts was 

US$30.1 million. NASA had asked each ILDD contractor to identify their top risks in a 

System Definition Review (SDR) package, and then to propose plans for delivering data that 

159 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 686, 1 January 2011, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx674.html (accessed 1 

July 2013); NASA, “Newest Space Station Crew Members Launch from Kazakhstan,” news release 10-330, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-330_New_ISS_Crew.html (accessed 24 June 2013); 

Denise Chow, “Russia’s Soyuz Blasts Off with New Crew for Space Station,” Space.com, 15 December 2010, 

http://www.space.com/10491-russia-soyuz-blasts-crew-space-station.html (accessed 27 June 2013).
 
 160 NASA, “Keegan Named NASA’s Associate Deputy Administrator,” news release 10-283, 16 December 

2010, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10283_New_Deputy_Associate_ Administrator.html
 
 

(accessed 24 June 2013).
 
 

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would address at least one of their SDR risk items. The delivery orders that NASA had 

issued, each valued at US$500,000, were for data that captured the results of these proposals. 

NASA would use the data to develop affordable and sustainable lander systems for space 

exploration. Under the ILDD contracts, NASA could issue future delivery orders for data 

associated with system testing and integration, launching, in-space maneuvers, braking burns, 

lunar landing, and other enhanced capabilities. The three companies selected were 

Astrobiotic Technology of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama; and 

Moon Express of San Francisco, California.161 

Felisa Wolfe-Simon, leader of a team of researchers funded by NASA’s Astrobiology 

Program, responded to criticisms of her research in an interview published online by the 

journal Science. In its online edition of 2 December 2010, Science had published the team’s 

paper announcing the discovery of microbes that could build cellular components out of 

arsenic. The paper had detailed the discovery of a strain of bacteria known as GFAJ-1 that 

appeared to be able to substitute arsenic for phosphorus in the production of biomolecules. 

Phosphorus, along with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, is one of the six elements that 

form the building blocks of all known life on Earth. Phosphorus forms the chemical 

backbone of DNA and RNA and comprises the phospholipids in cell membranes and the 

energy-carrying molecules in cells. However, the researchers had reported that when they 

isolated GFAJ-1 in a phosphorus-poor, but arsenic-rich, environment, the microbes had 

constructed biomolecules out of arsenic, rather than from the chemically similar phosphorus. 

The research, which had the potential to expand the definition of life, affected the scientific 

study of Earth’s evolution, biogeochemical cycles, disease migration, Earth-system research, 

microbiology, and organic chemistry, as well as astrobiology. After the paper’s publication, 

however, some members of the scientific community had pointed out potential flaws in the 

study. Among other questions, they asked whether the researchers had thoroughly washed the 

DNA of the tested cells to remove arsenic contamination. Wolfe-Simon defended her 

research techniques and encouraged other scientists to conduct further research on GFAJ-1 

and its properties.162 

30 December 

NASA announced that it had awarded a US$31.2 million contract to Lockheed Martin Space 

Systems Company (LMSSC) of Greenbelt, Maryland, to provide Systems Engineering InSpace Servicing (SEISS) using CSA’s Dextre. Dextre, a robotic system aboard the ISS, 

carried out maintenance and servicing tasks that otherwise would require astronauts to 

perform spacewalks. Under the 18-month, sole-source, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, LMSSC 

would provide engineering support for two demonstrations that would use Dextre to test new 

161 NASA, “NASA Selects Companies for Further Lunar Demonstrations Data,” news release 10-344, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-344_ILDD_Selections.html (accessed 24 June 2013). 162 Felisa Wolfe-Simon et al., “A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic instead of Phosphorus,” Science 

332, no. 6034 (3 June 2011): 1163–1166, published online 2 December 2010, http://www.sciencemag.org/ 

content/332/6034/1163.full (accessed 28 June 2013); Elizabeth Pennisi, “Discoverer Asks for Time, Patience 

Over Arsenic Bacteria Controversy,” Science 330, no. 6012 (24 December 2010): 1734–1735, published online 

20 December 2010, http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/12/arsenic-researcher-asks-for-time.html 

(accessed 1 July 2013); NASA, “NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built with Toxic Chemical,” news 

release 10-320, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_10-320_Toxic_Life.html (accessed 24 June 

2013). 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

robotic service capabilities. The first demonstration would test in-orbit refueling and repair 

tasks, such as locating, accessing, and uncapping valves and transferring simulated liquid 

fuel. The second demonstration would use Dextre to test and evaluate various instruments, 

sensors, and tools, supporting capabilities for in-orbit autonomous rendezvous and capture 

capabilities. LMSSC would define and verify requirements, design hardware, support 

development of both flight and ground hardware and software, and support mission planning. 

NASA’s GSFC would develop both of the demonstrations’ payloads.163 

163 NASA, “NASA Awards Systems Engineering Contract for In-Space Servicing,” news release C10-081, 30 

December 2013, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_C10-081_Systems_Engineering.html 

(accessed 24 June 2013). 

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TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 
 

AAS American Astronautical Society 

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast 

AGN active galactic nucleus 

AIA Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 

AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 

AMS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 

APL Applied Physics Laboratory (at Johns Hopkins University) 

ARC Ames Research Center 

ARTEMIS Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of 

Moon’s Interaction with Sun 

ASAP Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 

ATV Automated Transfer Vehicle 

CMB cosmic microwave background 

CME coronal mass ejection 

COS Cosmic Origins Spectrograph 

COTS Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

CR continuing resolution 

CRuSR Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program 

CSA Canadian Space Agency 

CSBF Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility 

CST Crew Space Transportation 

DFRC Dryden Flight Research Center 

DIXI Deep Impact Extended Investigation 

EDT Eastern Daylight Time 

ELV expendable launch vehicle 

EMCS ExoMars Climate Sounder 

EMTGO ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter 

EPEAD Energetic Proton Electron and Alpha Detector 

EPOCh Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization 

EPOXI	 	 Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization and the Deep 

Impact Extended Investigation 

EPS Energetic Particle Sensor 

ESA European Space Agency 

EST Eastern Standard Time 

EUV Extreme Ultraviolet 

EVE Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment 

FASTSAT Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite 

FY fiscal year 

GAO Government Accountability Office 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

GLOBE Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment 

GloPac Global Hawk Pacific 

GMI Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager 

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement 

GPS global positioning system or global positioning satellite 

GRB gamma-ray burst 

GRC Glenn Research Center 

GRIP Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes 

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center 

HeliOSPP Heliospheric Origins with Solar Probe Plus 

HEPAD High-Energy Proton and Alpha Detector 

HIRES High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer 

HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment 

HiSCI High Resolution Stereo Color Imager 

HMI Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager 

HMP Haughton-Mars Project 

HST Hubble Space Telescope 

ICRP Independent Comprehensive Review Panel 

IKAROS Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun 

ILDD Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data 

INLSE Israel Network for Lunar Science and Exploration 

ISA Israel Space Agency 

ISA Italian Space Agency 

ISIS Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun 

ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation 

ISS International Space Station 

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

JSC Johnson Space Center 

JWST James Webb Space Telescope 

KSC Kennedy Space Center 

KSLV Korea Space Launch Vehicle 

L1 and L2 Lagrange points 

LADEE Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer 

LaRC Langley Research Center 

LAT Large Area Telescope 

LCROSS Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite 

LECP Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument 

LMSSC Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company 

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

LSS Lunar Surface Systems 

LWS Living With a Star 

MAGED Magnetosphere Electron Detector 

MAGIE Mars Atmospheric Global Imaging Experiment 

MAGPD Magnetosphere Proton Detector 

MASCS Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer 

MATMOS Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer 

MAVEN Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution 

MCB Multilateral Coordination Board 

MDT Mountain Daylight Time 

MESSENGER Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging 

MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (Japan) 

MINI-ME Miniature Imager for Neutral Ionosphere Atoms and Magnetospheric 

Electrons 

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center 

MSL Mars Science Laboratory 

NAA National Aeronautic Association 

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

NCT Nuclear Compton Telescope 

NLS NASA Launch Services 

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

NOMAD High Resolution Solar Occultation and Nadir Spectrometer 

NPLD northern polar layered deposits 

NSA National Security Agency 

NSBRI National Space Biomedical Research Institute 

NSF National Science Foundation 

O/OREOS Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses 

OIG Office of the Inspector General 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy 

PDT Pacific Daylight Time 

PISA Plasma and Impedance Spectrum Analyzer 

PPAs programs, projects, or activities 

R&D research and development 

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory 

SDR System Definition Review 

SEED Space Environment Exposure Device 

SEISS Systems Engineering In-Space Servicing 

SETI Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 

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Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2010 

SEM Space Environment Monitor System 

SHARAD Shallow Radar 

SSC Stennis Space Center 

SST Spitzer Space Telescope 

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

STIS Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph 

SWEAP Solar Winds Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation 

SXI Solar X-ray Imager 

THERMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms 

TIGRE Tracking and Imaging Gamma Ray Experiment 

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 

TTI Thermosphere Temperature Imager 

UT Universal Time 

VLT Very Large Telescope 

VMS Virgin Mothership 

VSS Virgin Space Ship 

WFF Wallops Flight Facility 

WFI Wide-Field Imager 

WHIM Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium 

WMAP Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe 

WSMR White Sands Missile Range 

XRS Energetic X-ray Sensor 

79
 
 

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In addition, the writers consulted news releases, newsletters, and bulletins of NASA, 

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organizations, such as the Google Lunar X Prize Foundation; online bulletins, newsletters, 

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85