The House Science and Technology Committee just updated the list of witnesses for the hearing tomorrow on Independent Audit of NASA. Paul Martin, who was confirmed as NASA’s new Inspector General just a week and a half ago, will join the panel of witnesses. Thomas Howard, who was acting Inspector General and earlier slated to testify will still be there in his role as Deputy IG. NASA CFO Beth Robinson and Daniel Murrin from Ernst & Young also will be on the panel. The hearing is at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, December 3, in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building.

The following presentations were made to the Mars Panel of the National Research Council’s Planetary Science Decadal Survey at its meeting on November 4-6, 2009 in Irvine, CA. Titles for the presentations are from the agenda. Some of these files are quite large and may take a moment to load; please be patient.

• Mars Strategic Program, Douglas Stetson, Planetary Society
• Mars Polar Science Orbiter, Timothy Titus, U.S. Geological Survey
• Rationale for Mars Sample Return, Bruce Jakosky, Univ. of Colorado
• Mars Sample-Return Studies, Fuk Li, JPL
• Mars’ Ancient Dynamo and Crustal Remanent Magetism, Robert Lillis, UC-Berkeley
• Electromagnetic Sounding, Robert Grimm, Southwest Research Institute
• Mars Geophysical Network Mission, Bruce Banerdt, JPL
• Atmospheric Science Network Mission, Scott Rafkin, Southwest Research Institute
• Dual-Satellite Climate and Chemistry Mission, Robert Kursinski, Univ. of Arizona
• In Situ Investigations as a Prerequisite for MSR, Jeffrey Bada, UC-San Diego
• In Situ Measurements of Martian Surface and Subsurface, Michael Hecht, JPL
• Geochronology, Pamela Conrad, JPL
• Max-C (Mars Astrobiology Explorer – Cacher) Technology, Chris Salvo, JPL

Soyuz TMA-15 with three crew members from the International Space Station (ISS) landed safely in Kazakhstan in the wee hours this morning. Frank De Winne (Belgium), who served as commander of Expedition 21 and was the first European ISS commander, Roman Romanenko (Russia), and Robert Thirsk (Canada) landed at 2:15 am EST (1:15 pm local time in Kazakhstan). ISS temporarily has a crew of only two — Jeff Williams (US) and Maxim Suraev (Russia) — for the next several weeks until the next Soyuz arrives with three new ISS crew members on December 23. A full ISS complement is 6 crew members.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her staff at the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee are keeping up a fast pace of hearings. After the two that are scheduled for this week, another has been scheduled for next week — Dec. 10 to be exact. The new hearing will be on “Decisions on the Future Direction and Funding for NASA: What Will They Mean for the U.S. Aerospace Workforce and Industrial Base?” Witnesses are:

• Dr. Richard Aubrecht, Vice President, Strategy and Technology, Moog Inc.
• Ms. Marion C. Blakey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace Industries Association
• Mr. David Thompson, President, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Mr. A. Thomas Young, Lockheed Martin Corporation (Ret.)

Three of the five remaining members of the International Space Station (ISS) crew will depart tonight aboard the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft. Frank De Winne (Belgium) who served as the first European ISS commander, Roman Romanenko (Russia) and Robert Thirsk (Canada) are returning after about 6 months in orbit. Undocking is scheduled for 10:56 pm EST, with landing in Kazakhstan at 2:16 am EST Tuesday (1:16 pm Tuesday local time).

With their departure and that of Nicole Stott who came home with the STS-129 crew last week, the ISS will temporarily be down to a two-person crew: Jeff Williams (US), Expedition 22 commander, and Maxim Suraev (Russia). Three new crew members are scheduled to arrive on a Soyuz on December 23, boosting the crew back to five. An April Soyuz mission will bring three more crew members, at which time Williams and Suraev will return home, reestablishing a six-person crew. A full ISS complement is six crew members, which provides sufficient crew time for conducting both ISS operations and scientific experiments.

To keep track of ISS crew comings and goings, visit NASA’s spaceflight website.

On Monday, President Obama was joined by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, former astronaut Sally Ride, and other science and engineering luminaries for the announcement of a new “Education to Innovate” initiative. In his remarks, the President joked about an upcoming demonstration by students from Oakton High School in Vienna, VA of the “Cougar Cannon” designed to “scoop up and toss moon rocks.”

“I am eager to see what they do – for two reasons. As President, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots, in case they try anything, (Laughter.)”

In a more serious vein, he stressed the importance of science and math education.

“The key to meeting these challenges — to improving our health and well-being, to harnessing clean energy, to protecting our security, and succeeding in the global economy — will be reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation. And that leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in those fields that hold the promise of producing future innovations and innovators. And that’s why education in math and science is so important.

[snip]

“This is a difficult time in our country, and it would be easy to grow cynical and wonder if America’s best days are behind us — especially at a time of economic uncertainty, especially when we’ve seen so many, from Wall Street to Washington, fail to take responsibility for so long. But I believe we have an opportunity now to move beyond the failures of the recent past and to recapture that spirit of American innovation and optimism.

“This nation wasn’t built on greed. It wasn’t built on reckless risk. It wasn’t built on short-term gains and short-sighted policies. It was forged on stronger stuff, by bold men and women who dared to invent something new or improve something old — who took big chances on big ideas, who believed that in America all things are possible. That’s our history. And, if we remain fixed on the work ahead, if we build on the progress we’ve made today, this is going to be our legacy as well.”

The following events may be of interest next week. For more information, see our calendar on the right menu or click on the links below. Congressional schedules are subject to change; check the websites of the House, Senate, or the relevant committee for up to date information.

During the Week

As Congress enters the last month of the year and the end of the 1^st session of the 111^th Congress, seven of the 12 appropriations bills still have not been sent to the President: Commerce-Justice-Science (which includes NASA, NOAA and NSF); Defense; Financial Services; Labor-HHS-Education; Military Construction-Veterans; State-Foreign Operations; and Transportation-HUD. Strategies are being discussed on how to bundle the bills into one or more “omnibus” or “consolidated” measures. For detailed information on the status of the appropriations bills, visit the Library of Congress’ Thomas website.

Wednesday-Thursday, December 2-3

• American Astronautical Society conference, Imagine’09, Houston, TX

Wednesday, December 2

• House Science and Technology Subcommittee Hearing on “Ensuring the Safety of Human Space Flight,” 10:00 am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
• House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Hearing on “Commercial Space Transportation,” 10:00 am, 2167 Rayburn House Office Building

Thursday, December 3

• House Science and Technology Subcommittee Hearing on “Independent Audit of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” 2:00 pm, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building
• NRC Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life, teleconference, 2:00-3:00 pm

Update

The shuttle Atlantis has landed successfully. Welcome home STS-129! Just five more scheduled shuttle missions to go:

• STS-130, Endeavour, Feb. 4, 2010, Tranquility Node 3 and Cupola
• STS-131, Discovery, Mar. 18, 2010, MPLM and LMC
• STS-132, Atlantis, May 14, 2010, ICC and MRM1
• STS-134, Endeavour, July 29, 2010, AMS and ELC 3
• STS-133, Discovery, Sept. 16, 2010, MPLM and ELC 4

Original Story

The STS-129 space shuttle mission is on its way home, with landing set for 9:44 am EST at Kennedy Space Space. The deorbit burn fired at 8:37 am EST.

STS-129 is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Friday at 9:44 am EST. A second landing opportunity is at 11:19 am EST.

The shuttle undocked from the International Space Station earlier today. NASA announced early this evening that a routine disposal of waste water and urine was terminated early because of a suspected clogged filter, but noted that it is not necessary to dump the liquid in the half-filled tank before landing.