Bay Area Edition | May 2023

STELLAR VISION

In April, NASA unveiled the four as- tronauts that will be the rst to visit the moon since 1972. They will y around the moon during the Artemis 2 mission set to launch in late 2024. NEW EXPLORERS

Within the next two years, Space Center Houston plans to begin building two structures that will house moon- and Mars-like terrains astronauts will train in. Museum visitors will be able to observe them.

at NASA’s next-door Johnson Space Center. The museum’s mission to bring people and space closer together will advance with the museum’s planned next steps, said William Harris, presi- dent and CEO of the museum. The center plans to create the Lunar Mars Surface Integration Facility—two large enclosed structures that will simulate the terrains of the moon and Mars. Visitors will be able to watch from an elevated exhibit hall as astro- nauts donned in spacesuits train in the two structures. The structures will be designed to simulate the lunar and Mars environ- ments as close as possible to reality, so they will be heated or cooled to various temperatures to simulate, for instance, the dark and light parts of the moon. Additionally, astronauts and any equip- ment they use, such as lunar landers or rovers, will be fastened to a hydraulic pulley system to simulate the celestial bodies’ gravities, Harris said. Designing the facility, which may break ground within the next two years, has been a collaborative eort. “We did more than 40 workshops with scientists, engineers, commer- cial partners, government [and] edu- cators. What evolved was a facility that could meet the needs of many of them, which became the Lunar Mars Surface Integration Facility,” Harris said. “My vision for Space Center Houston is that we’re a convening place where we bring together the government, the commercial, … the academic and the community, and that this is a center of learning.” Commercial companies, like ones at the spaceport, will be able to use the facility to create and test new technologies in an environment they wouldn’t otherwise be able to create, Bullock said. “To be able to see astronauts in training, to see commercial companies developing their new technologies … right in front of your eyes … is some- thing that you really aren’t going to be able to see anywhere else,” she said. The new facility will add at least 60,000 square feet of exhibit space to the existing 120,000 square feet. That will increase capacity for guests, some of which are not able to participate in the museum’s oerings due to space constraints, Harris said. “That’s unacceptable to me,” he said. “I want to be sure every kid that wants to participate can.”

REID WISEMAN MISSION COMMANDER

Residents will be able to watch astronauts train at the incoming lunar/Mars facility.

Time in space: 165 days (May 29-Nov. 9, 2014) aboard the International Space Station Number of spacewalks: 2 totaling more than 12 hours

1 Lunar/Mars facility (incoming) 2 Rocket Park (existing) 3 Independence Plaza (existing)

SOURCE: SPACE CENTER HOUSTONCOMMUNITY IMPACT

September, Machuca said. There is room for smaller companies to squeeze into Phase 1 to work along- side the larger ones. Spaceport ocials are also considering nding an inves- tor to build a hub building that smaller companies could lease space from so they don’t have to build their own spaceport facilities, Machuca said. Paving the way Spaceport ocials are already con- sidering ways to expose the public to the spaceport. The Houston Airport System, Harris County Precinct 2 and the city of Hous- ton are working together on a project to build a road through the middle of the spaceport. This road would divert trac from Space Center Boulevard through the spaceport to connect to Hwy. 3, Machuca said. Today, Space Center Boulevard moves through residential areas, so this new road would not only divert ever-growing trac through the space- port but also expose commuters to it, he said. Additionally, ocials are consider- ing a public transit hub to help further connect the spaceport to San Jacinto College where EDGE Center students attend college, the adjacent neutral buoyancy lab where astronauts train, and the Johnson Space Center where NASA employees work, Machuca said. “We just don’t want to build a manufacturing site that doesn’t con- tribute positively to our community,”

Machuca said. Scott Spiegel, senior press sec- retary for Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, said Garcia recognizes the importance of the spaceport and surrounding area to the region’s future. “He looks forward to working with the city of Houston and other local partners to determine that appropri- ate infrastructure needs in the region are met,” Spiegel said in a statement to Community Impact . “Ellington Bypass Road could prove to be an important piece to the spaceport’s needs, and we look forward to seeing the city of Hous- ton preliminary engineering report.” Furthermore, work will soon begin on a new taxiway to the northwest of phases 1 and 2. This runway will allow aircraft to take o and land right next to aerospace companies, such as Axiom, which will use the taxiway to unload parts for the space station it is building, Machuca said. Spaceport ocials are on the verge of announcing the contractor for the taxiway project. The plan is to build the northern half of it to start at an estimated cost of $130 million, Machuca said. But the expansion of Clear Lake’s outer space identity doesn’t stop there. Museum expansion Space Center Houston, now 30 years old, aims to give residents an inside look at the past, present and future of space exploration and what happens

VICTOR GLOVER MISSION PILOT

Time in space: 167 days (Nov. 15, 2020-May 2, 2021) aboard the ISS Number of spacewalks: 4 totaling more than 26 hours

CHRISTINA KOCH MISSION SPECIALIST

Time in space: 328 days (March 14, 2019-Feb. 6, 2020) aboard the ISS Number of spacewalks: 6 totaling more than 42 hours

JEREMY HANSEN MISSION SPECIALIST

Artemis 2 will be Hansen’s rst time in space.

For more information, visit communityimpact.com .

SOURCE: NASACOMMUNITY IMPACT

BAY AREA EDITION • MAY 2023