Baugh 1 Matthew Baugh Professor Alicia Bolton ENG 101 5 November 2013 Annotated Bibliography: Steven Caseys Picture

Window. The responsibility of guaranteeing successful space missions, and assuring the safe return home of astronauts, is on the shoulders of all countries involved in the International Space Station. Safety and success in space exploration go hand-in-hand, since one cannot be achieved without the other. If those sent into space cannot return safely to earth, and a mission must be scrapped due to mechanical or structural failure, then billions of dollars and the hopes of all nations involved are lost, and the point of the mission is for naught. Therefore, safety should be the most important objective in planning a venture beyond the confines of earth. One would think this is especially true of the United States because it has led the world in some of most historic milestones of the space age. However, as Steven Caseys Picture Window reveals, mistakes that could lead to catastrophic failure aboard the International Space Station are a real possibility, can be the fault of the United States, and have already happened. In January of 2004, it was discovered by the two astronauts aboard the International Space Station that the careless use of a vacuum hose as a grab handle attached to a window on the United States Destiny Module caused an atmospheric pressure leak that threatened to shut the spacecraft down and harm the astronauts. If it were not for the diligence of the two astronauts in finding the leak, the results of losing air pressure for any amount of time longer would have been disastrous for both the international space community and for the crew. In determining who should take the blame for the leak in the Destiny Modules window, one must take into account several different factors that led to this mishap. Questions that arose during my reading of the story were: Was the optical perfection of the window so important that the mission

Baugh 2 engineers overlooked the importance in the potential danger of using the vacuum hose as a support handle? Why did astronauts use this vacuum hose as a support handle when it wasnt designed for such a purpose, and why was this use not reported to anyone as a major concern in time to stop a problem from happening? And finally, why didnt NASA advise and/ or train the astronauts to not use the vacuum hose as a support handle, when they were aware of the potential danger it could present. Casey states in his essay that NASA did indeed recognize, during some stage of the planning process, the possibility of astronauts hazardously using the vacuum hose as a handle, even though it was not designed for that purpose. A handhold rack unit was built specifically to mount over the window in the Destiny Module, which indicates NASA had considered the danger, yet it was never delivered to the space station due to grounding of the space shuttle. My research paper will attempt to answer these questions, and establish the reasons for the failures in communication and breakdowns that led to the critical 2004 incident aboard the International Space Station.

Duggins, Pat. Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. Print. In his book Final Countdown, Pat Duggins tells us about the ending of the space shuttle program and gives a glimpse of what will come in the aftermath of that ending. The space shuttle was vital to the birth, construction and resupplying of the International Space Station. It was Americas first and only method of travelling back and forth into space at the time assembly of the space station began in 1998. It was the grounding of the space shuttle fleet, due to the Columbia disaster in 2003, which prevented the substitute handhold unit from reaching the International Space Station. Duggins spells out the importance of the space shuttles role: Before the Columbia disaster, the space shuttle had become indispensable in the effort to build the International Space Station. Interest in the program revived, after years of

Baugh 3 unexciting launches on routine-seeming errands, as NASA struggled to find a specific mission to give the shuttle focus. Now its indispensability proved to have a double edge. All of the spacecraft were grounded following this second disaster, and that left the space station in a serious bind. The United States was without a way to fly to orbit, which meant construction on [the International Space Station] would come to a halt. (180) Although this reference makes a point about why the space station was not supplied with a substitute handle system, it does not explain why the engineers on the ground didnt inform the crews about the potential dangers of using the existing window appendages. It also doesnt explain why the astronauts used the vacuum hose as a support or why they didnt report any concerns about doing so to ground controllers. However, the other information about the shuttle program and its relation to the International Space Station that Duggins provides is comprehensive and informative. Duggins served as a senior news analyst with a National Public Radio station in Orlando Florida, and covered over ninety space shuttle missions. He has also received prestigious journalism awards from the Press Club of Atlantic City, and the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). These accomplishments, in addition to his detailed investigations presented in the book, make him a believable and credible source on the history of the space shuttle program and its effects on the development and progress of the International Space Station. Duggins particularly covers the involvement of the two countries that played integral roles in, and which were directly affected by, the events of 2004 described in the essay Picture Window: The United States and Russia. I plan to use information from the book about the involvement of these two countries in order to shed light on the fact that the two astronauts mentioned in the drama aboard the space station were American and Russian, and perhaps provide some background on both and why they were the only two countrymen present in space at the time of the accident. The book also helps to show

Baugh 4 that Russias expertise, success and consistency with the International Space Station has surpassed that of the United States in key areas.

De Groot, Gerard J. Dark Side of the Moon : The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest. New York University Press, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCO host). Web. 2 November 2013. University of St. Andrews, Scotland Modern History Professor Gerard J. De Groot wrote this book as a follow-up to his book The Bomb: A Life, which discussed the history of nuclear weapons. In his coverage of the American quest for space, he talks about the overbearing desire of the United States to achieve dominance in the space race with the Soviet Union. When he began writing about the American space (lunar) program, he discovered there were many heroic individuals. He also found a gang of cynics, manipulators, demagogues, tyrants, and even a few criminals. In encapsulating his study, he goes on to say: I discovered scheming politicians who amassed enormous power by playing on the public fascination for space and the fear of what the Russians might do there. Quite a few people got rich from the *earlier days of the space program+; some got very rich indeed (De Groot xi). This attitude of exploitation and greed might answer questions about how people involved in the planning of space missions could overlook issues involving safety by placing more importance on things like financial and political gain instead. It was most likely this kind of misuse of funding and violation of trust that played a major part in the bypassing or ignorance of safety measures that could have prevented the events in Picture Window from happening. Professor de Groot is a professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He received assistance from the history department of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as institutions such as the Johnson Space Center and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC in creating his book Dark Side of the Moon : The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest. The book was also funded by the Carnegie Trust. His position as a professor of history, in

Baugh 5 addition to the support from these institutions, gives the book credibility and makes it an authoritative source of information and historical data. I intend to use information from the book to help show how those behind decision making in NASA space missions considered it more important to proceed with preset mission timetables rather than delay or interrupt missions due to safety concerns.

Living in Space. The International Space Station. Films Media Group, 2006. Films On Demand. Web. 4 November 2013. <http://storm.hgtc.edu:2048/login?url= http://digital.films.com/ PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=3503&xtid=34747&loid=76136> The film Living in Space is an educational history about major milestones in space travel. The film examines the effects of going into space on the human body and mind. It also talks about the consequences of spending extended time periods outside of the protective environment in which humans and other life forms evolved, and what can be learned and gained from those that have experienced these voyages. Additionally, the film touches upon the International Space Station and its importance as a permanent multi-national docking station in low earth orbit, and as a unique laboratory for the development of new technologies for human kind. Professor of Physics Robert Pepin says in the film, thebenefit to thecomputer industry of being able to grow large defect-free crystals [in space] is really quite enormous (Living in Space, The International Space Station). In explaining the effects of weightlessness upon the body and mind, the film shows the difficulties that can be caused by these effects on people sent into space. Compromised human capabilities can easily lead to human error. Because the film is a part of the Films On Demand Digital Educational Video collection available through the college, it has clout as an academically accepted source of information. It is also published by Films Media Group under its Cambridge Core Sciences Series. This publishing company distributes media to colleges nationally through its many web portals.

Baugh 6 By using parts of this video I intend to explain how being in space, especially for extended periods, can negatively affect the human mind, body and spirit. This explanation is crucial to my research because it can account for how astronauts behave and react to everyday circumstances in their space environment. Altered mind states, and such things as mental stress and physical exhaustion, could have led to poor judgment calls by the astronauts who used the vacuum jumper hose as a handle for support and thereby causing the leak in the Destiny Module and the problems described in Picture Window.

"Use It Or Lose It." Aviation Week & Space Technology. EBSCOhost, 2013. Web. 4 November 2013. The article Use IT Or Lose It (author not named) talks about how the International Space Station has finally brought substantial returns on investment, and how it is making significant progress in new technologies. The article makes its most important point by stating how the space station has evolved into something different than its predecessors: space station utilization is largely directed toward improving life on Earth, unlike the scientific goals of Apollo and today's deep-space exploration work (Use It Or Lose It). The article covers the recent American Astronautical Society's second annual ISS Research and Development Conference, which was held in Denver in July of 2013. Several noteworthy scientists and physicians were in attendance and gave speeches about the amazing leaps forward in their respective fields research aboard the space station has given them. Nobel laureate Samuel Ting gave a presentation on how a space station particle physics survey could answer questions about the Big Bang. Another speaker, physician Garnette Sutherland, amazed the audience with his presentation about robotics developed from the space station performing brain surgeries better than the most skilled surgeon. Don Pettit, the International Space Station astronaut who previously fascinated school children with televised experiments performed in space, was also in attendance.

Baugh 7 This web article is a reliable and trustworthy source of information because it comes from a collegiate database and was recently released by a respected publisher. The accomplished individuals in attendance at the conference discussed in the article give it even more credibility. This article should serve to answer the questions about whether or not the International Space Station is important, and who should care? It makes several points about how and why the space station is invaluable to positive technological progress and the betterment of life on earth. What happens aboard the space station should concern anybody with a stake in the future, and hopes for better technologies in fields like computers and healthcare.

Nimon, Jessica. Time in Space, A Space in Time. NASA. International Space Station Program Science Office. NASA's Johnson Space Center, 2012. Web. 4 November 2013. In the NASA website article written by Jessica Nimon, the pressing time schedules imposed on the astronauts aboard the space station are discussed. Once again, introducing Flight Engineer Don Pettit and describing his activities, the article further sheds light on how being in space affects human beings and can make important tasks challenging. It particularly talks about how demanding schedules can help create these challenges. Quoting Pettit himself, the article says: "When humans venture into a harsh wilderness, the fraction of time on task shrinks You are lucky to log six hours of mission tasking and six hours of sleep. The rest of the time is spent simply trying to stay alive (Nimon). He states that workdays in space are normally 12 hours long, and that there is no such thing as free time, only off duty time. Next to National Geographic in Washington DC, NASA is the best source of information concerning the International Space Station, and the most authoritative. NASA, short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the agency formed by the United States for the purpose of

Baugh 8 planning, managing and overseeing the countrys space missions. It has been behind every American space exploration effort and directs all aspects of the space station, from planning to support. Using this article and website, I plan to show how it is possible the same kind of time constraints and reactions to the harsh environment of outer space that Pettit experienced affected the astronauts who used the Destiny Modules vacuum hose as a handle for support. Stress caused by the tough environment and time schedule could have clouded judgment to the point where the dangers of their actions were not realized or reported as a concern.