 space as a member of the STS-122 crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis.
Image to right: Astronaut Leland Melvin in training gear. Credit: NASA
> STS-122 Mission Page
Melvin operated the 58-foot robotic arm on Atlantis that delivered the 22-foot-long, 13-ton Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station.
The procedure took about 2 1/2 hours and will include carrying as astronaut on the arm during a spacewalk. The manuever's timing and distance are exact, and the movements are calibrated in minutes and centimeters.
While at Langley, Melvin was part of the Non-Destructive Evaluation Sciences Branch.
Langley Takes Invention of Year Honors
A Langley device that can act like muscle and nerves for a wide range of aerospace and down-to-earth applications was recently named the 2006 NASA Government Invention of the Year.
Macro-Fiber Composite can be attached to a structure to bend it, reduce vibrations and monitor force with the application of electrical voltage. The device is primarily used in industrial and research applications for vibration monitoring and dampening.
In addition to improved helicopter rotor blades performance, NASA uses include vibration monitoring of support structures near the space shuttle pads during launches.
Non-aerospace applications being evaluated include suppressing vibration in performance sporting equipment such as skis, force and pressure sensing for industrial equipment, and sound generation and noise cancellation in commercial grade appliances.
Record Number of Patents Awarded Langley
Langley researchers received 10 patents in 2007 covering such areas as aircraft wing design, various sensors, and spacecraft materials.
Leading the Agency with the most number of patents awarded over the past decade, Langley has received more than 200 patents between 1997 - 2007 for various inventions and technology breakthroughs.
As a result, people are benefiting daily from NASA inventions and technologies from monitors that alert persons of an unattended object or person, sensors that report atmospheric conditions to airplane pilots, tools that detect damage to airplane structures to lightweight polymers used in plastic food containers.
Engineering and Safety
The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) is chartered to serve as an Agency wide technical resource focused on engineering excellence.
The NESC's objective is to improve safety by performing independent engineering assessments, testing and analysis to uncover technical vulnerabilities and to determine appropriate preventive and corrective actions for problems, trends, or issues within NASA's programs, projects, and institutions.
Using NASA's best engineering expertise and its government, university, national laboratory, and industry partners, the NESC accepts requests for involvement from all across the Agency, as well as from numerous external sources.
National Institute of Aerospace
Langley helped to establish the National Institute of Aerospace, a non-profit research and graduate education institute, to compliment its mission to conduct cutting-edge aerospace and atmospheric research.
Founded by a consortium of leading research universities and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation, the institute integrates research and graduate education while creating new partnerships among academia, government, and industry to solve tomorrow's problems today.
Langley Leading the Way
Since its inception, NASA Langley has made significant contributions to the Nation's space program.
From training the original seven Mercury Project astronauts, conducting wind tunnel tests of the Saturn-Apollo vehicle, to developing the entry, descent, and landing flight dynamics simulation for the Mars Exploration Rover mission, Langley researchers have used their expertise to further mankind's understanding of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Today, Langley experts are readily preparing to chart a new course in space exploration, and achieve the goals outlined in the NASA Vision for Space Exploration. Likewise, they are also diligently working to devel