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Mike and Denise have posted an in-depth report on their trip to the Cape to view the launch of the Ares 1-X on their blog. Check it out!
http://web.me.com/michaelokuda/michael_okuda/Blog/Blog.html
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Archive for the 'Okuda' Category
Denise and Mike at the Cape just last week.
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Greetings from the Okudas!
NASA launched the Ares I-X vehicle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. The successful Ares I-X Development Flight Test was designed to help NASA engineers gain valuable data to help with the design of the next generation of America’s human launch vehicles. The Ares launch vehicles, teamed with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicles, will replace the space shuttle and provide safer, more reliable space transport for our astronauts. Eventually, the Ares boosters may be a vital link in returning astronauts to the Moon, then on to Mars and beyond. I worked with the Ares team to develop emblems for Project Ares, as well as the Ares I-X Development Flight Test, and Project Constellation, which is the overall family of exploration systems projects. Normally, NASA doesn’t put project logos on the sides of their rockets, so I nearly fell out of my chair when I learned that the Ares I-X vehicle would carry three of my designs on its exterior.
The launch was pretty awesome, too!
Afterwards, NASA declared the test a success, calling it a “huge step forward for NASA’s exploration goals.”
- Mike
For more info on Ares I-X:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html
Visit Mike and Denise at their web site:
http://web.me.com/michaelokuda/michael_okuda/Mike.html
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(Below) Ares roars off the pad bearing Mike’s mission logos. NASA knows cool.
20
Jul
09
Where were you on July 20, 1969?
Where were you on July 20, 1969? Nearly everyone who was alive on that day can remember where they were when the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, landed on the waterless Sea of Tranquility, and what they were doing when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took those first, amazing steps on the surface of another world. Not just America, but the entire world, joined together to watch these two emissaries of humanity, exploring the Moon in peace for all mankind. - Mike Okuda
Continuing with our celebration of Apollo 11’s historic journey to the Moon, Mike picks up with part III of he and Denise’s trip to the Johnson Space Center. Michael Okuda has been selected to receive one of NASA’s highest honors; the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal.
Apollo Mission Control - “A cathedral to the human exploration of space…”
The last stop on our tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston was a visit to the historic Apollo Mission Control. This is the control center used during the Gemini, Apollo, and early Space Shuttle programs. It has been preserved as a national historic monument. The place immediately felt familiar, having seen it so many times on television and in film. We were fascinated at the 1960s technology used by these pioneers to reach the moon. Each console had rotary phone dials, and pneumatic tubes to deliver documents to other rooms.
Denise Okuda takes a moment to reflect on the monumental events guided from this historic control room.
Former Flight Director James “Milt” Heflin once told us that he regards this place as a cathedral to the human exploration of space. Stepping into this room, there’s no doubt that he’s right. When Neil Armstrong reported that “the Eagle has landed,” he was talking to the people in this room. It’s where quick, decisive thinking by Gene Kranz and the entire flight control team saved the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts.
Rotary phone dials and pneutmatic tubes recall another era of human space flight.
Hanging on the wall is a small mirror that was salvaged from Aquarius, the Apollo 13 lunar module. Below the mirror is a plaque indicating that it is a gift from the crew of Apollo 13, in thanks so that the Mission Control team could look into it and see who was responsible for their safe return to planet Earth. – Mike
For more on our Houston adventure:
http://web.me.com/michaelokuda/michael_okuda/Blog/Blog.html
Thanks to Mike for sending this on!
Fine looking starship, by the way.
18
Jun
09
Mike & Denise Update their Site!
Check it out! Fun stuff!
From the Earth to the Moon – Go Baby! Go!
At 2:32 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) today, an Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, carrying two robotic science spacecraft: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will create detailed maps of the lunar surface, helping to identify natural resources and to identify future landing sites for the human return to the Moon. The second probe, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will study the Moon for about four months before it is deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole. The Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter will study the impact plume, looking for evidence of subsurface water. – Mike Okuda reporting.
More info on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter:
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av020/090616lropreview.html
More info on LCROSS
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av020/090616lcrosspreview.html
Have robots, will travel – Zipped and hoisted!
Photos NASA
17
Jun
09
Altair Class – Space Trials
done
My art department generated test of the Altair class starship. This sequence was generated as one of several designs being considered for the Enterprise J. It’s a design concept which originated with Mike, and that I developed during the Voyager search.
Backstory – http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/
Special thanks to Matt Wright for nudging me to make the drex files video clip capable! Note – it may take a moment for the clip to show up, so give it a second!
NASA concept for a nuclear pulse spacecraft. A nuclear pellet is fired from the aft end of the craft and detonated, yielding far more thrust than conventional chemical rockets.
Last week I had mentioned the upcoming Ron Moore pilot “Virtuality”, set to air on June 26th, just a few short weeks away. That thread lead to a spirited discussion as to what might be the propulsion system of the show’s spacecraft, the Phaeton, a NASA style interstellar craft. In fact the Phaeton uses nuclear pulse propulsion, and I’ve asked my good friend Mike if he would explain how it works. Mr. Okuda has seen the Phaeton and witnessed the ship’s propulsion system in action, and he is delighted to elaborate on it for us. Take it away Mike…
Zefram Cochrane notwithstanding, most fans know that real scientists have very little idea how faster-than-light “warp drive” or “hyperdrive,” could actually work, or even if they’re possible. A lot of slower-than-light technologies seen in stories and films for reaching the stars are more grounded in scientific reality, like lightsails, ramscoops, and generation ships. Unfortunately, most of them involve extremely long travel times, miniscule payloads, or near-magical breakthroughs in engineering. (Sometimes all three!) Present-day rockets are amazing machines, but they have only a tiny fraction of the performance that would be needed to travel to the stars on anything approaching a human timescale.
But there was one incredibly audacious proposal for a propulsion system, using (relatively) off-the-shelf technology that would have been able to send massive payloads to the outer planets, and maybe even to nearby stars. Nuclear pulse propulsion.
Some of Mike’s outstanding Trek graphic work. As if you didn’t know!
Check out Wired Online’s recognition of Mike’s historic work for NASA. Gee, maybe Star Trek should think about hiring him?
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/star-trek-designer-to-receive-nasa-public-service-medal
Denise, and her award recipient husband Michael Okuda in Mission Control, during a 2004 visit to the Johnson Space Center.
Michael Okuda has been selected to receive one of NASA’s highest honors; the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal. “The award is granted only to individuals whose distinguished accomplishments contributed substantially to the NASA mission. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate.” Mike and Denise will be going to the Johnson Space Center next month to the NASA Honor Awards Ceremony. Go Hot dog! GO!
Congratulations Mike! I’m popping my vest buttons!
24
May
09
Welcome Home Atlantis!
This morning at 8:39 am PDT, Space Shuttle Atlantis and her crew returned safely home to Planet Earth from the STS-125 mission to repair and upgrade the incredible Hubble Space Telescope.
STS-125 was the riskiest shuttle flight since the Columbia accident because Atlantis had to match Hubble’s orbit. Had there been a serious problem with Atlantis, it would have been unable to take refuge at the International Space Station because the difference in the orbits is too great. In NASA’s judgement, Hubble’s scientific value justified the risk of sending seven astronauts on this mission. But spaceflight is always a difficult, dangerous business, and the risks were real.
Because of this, NASA kept Space Shuttle Endeavour on the launch pad, ready for launch during most of the STS-125 flight. The rescue mission was code-named STS-400. It was the shuttle mission that NASA hoped it would never have to fly. STS-400 planning flight director Paul Dye asked me to design an unofficial Space Rescue patch for his team. Like Paul and his team, I’m relieved that this one never had to be used.
Shuttle landing photo from nasa-tv and nasaspaceflight.com.
-Mike
(Below) The greatest gift ever, the Hubble Space Telescope.
And here is the image that went up moments ago on one of the big screens at Mission Control in Houston, courtesy of JSC Ground Control Officer Bill Foster.
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