Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Watch It Live: Presidential Panel & Astronaut Arrival

LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds.

The presidential panel reviewing NASA's future human spaceflight plans is reconvening in Washington, D.C., today and the crew of the agency's next shuttle mission will jet to Kennedy Space Center for a practice countdown.

You can watch both live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer. Be sure to refresh the page for periodic updates.

The Augustine Committee, named for its chair, former Lockheed CEO Norman Augustine, is meeting at the Carnegie Institute from 8 a.m. to noon.

Here's the agenda:

++8 a.m.: John Marsburger, the head of the White House Office of Science & Technology under President George W. Bush, will explain the rationale for the Vision of Space Exploration, the course NASA has been on since January 14, 2004.

++8:30 a.m.: Robert Zubrin, head of the Mars Society, will speak on its Mars Direct plan to send astronauts straight to the red planet, bypassing the moon.

++9 a.m.: Several science-related briefings are planned. Elizabeth Cantwell will speak about biological and physical sciences; Anthony Janetos will speak about Earth Sciences; Marcia Rieke will speak about Astronomy and Astrophysics; Steve Squyres will talk about Planetary Sciences.

++10:30 a.m.: Jean-Yves Le Gall will speak about Arianespace, the commercial space launch services arm of the European Space Agency.

++10:45 a.m.: Mark Kinnersley will talk about EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company, which is the largest European aerospace corporation.

++11:00 a.m.: Public comment period.

++11:15 a.m.: Committee public deliberations.

++Noon: Committee adjourns.

NASA TV is expected to break away from the panel hearing for the scheduled 11:30 a.m. arrival at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility of the crew for the STS-128 shuttle mission. Led by veteran astronaut Rick Sturckow, the astronauts are scheduled to launch Aug. 25 on a mission to the International Space Station.

The crew will take part in emergency training at launch pad 39A as well as a two-day practice countdown. They'll have an informal chat with the media at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. You can watch here in The Flame Trench. And they'll climb aboard Discovery on Friday for the last few hours of a launch-day dress rehearsal.

1 comment:

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