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Are these pilots, or just spam in a can? On Sept 25th 2008, China launched a Shenzhou VII spacecraft starting their third manned space mission. The three man crew of "taikonauts" (that's Chinaspeak for astronauts) includes mission Commander Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng. All three men are 42 years old and all are pilots from the People's Liberation Army Air Force. Commander Zhigang will perform an EVA during the mission, becoming the first Chinese taikonaut to do a spacewalk. It's too bad they don't have Laika the Russian space dog with them. If they did, they could take...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The crews of the space shuttle and station said a teary farewell, then sealed the hatches between them Sunday after more than a week of working tirelessly together to build a bigger and better scientific outpost in orbit. Atlantis was scheduled to undock early Monday, its load considerably lighter than when it arrived Feb. 9 with Europe's premiere space laboratory, Columbus. Astronaut Daniel Tani was especially emotional as he left the international space station, his home for the past four months. Before floating into Atlantis for his long-overdue ride home, Tani paid tribute to his mother,...

Uncrewed Orion could find astronauts lost in space 17:26 19 December 2007 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga NASA wants its Orion spacecraft, seen here in an artist's conception, to be able to fly itself to the rescue of astronauts stranded in lunar orbit in a Moon lander vehicle (Illustration: NASA) NASA's Orion spacecraft could fly unpiloted to rescue astronauts stuck in orbit around the Moon, using sensors and smart navigation software the space agency is currently developing. The agency plans to carry astronauts to the Moon from 2020 aboard the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), also dubbed Orion. Once in lunar...

MOSCOW - Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory — a much bigger satellite carrying a mongrel dog called Laika. The mission, 50 years ago Saturday, ended sadly for Laika but helped pave the way for human flight. As with other episodes of the Soviet space program, Laika's mission was hidden under a veil of secrecy, and only after the collapse of the Soviet Union could the participants tell the real story behind it. The satellite that carried Laika into orbit was built in...

HOUSTON - Spacewalking astronauts bolted a solar power tower to the international space station on Tuesday, completing an ambitious three-day moving process that ended with elation when the beam's giant solar panels began to unfurl. Their joy turned to concern, however, when a rip was spotted in the second solar panel. NASA needs to get the tower up and running to prevent malfunctioning station equipment from delaying the addition of a much-anticipated European research lab. A massive rotary joint is supposed to make sure the solar panel wings on the right side of the space station are facing the sun....

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts added a new room to the international space station on Friday in the way of Harmony. That's the name of the school bus-size compartment that was attached by a team of spacewalkers working outside and robot arm operators working inside. "I don't know that anybody's ever told our crew that we bring harmony with us, but we sure bring fun," Discovery's commander, Pamela Melroy, said as the spacewalk ended and the congratulations began. The Italian-built Harmony — 24 feet long and 31,000 pounds — was unloaded from the shuttle's payload bay and hoisted into place...

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - A crew that includes Malaysia's first astronaut and an American who will become the first woman to command the international space station prepared Monday for blastoff later this week. The Soyuz-FG rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Central Asian steppe on Wednesday night to take Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko into orbit. During his 12-day space trip, Shukor is to study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiments with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine. The rocket —...

09/06/2007 By MARCIA DUNN / Associated Press An Air Force doctor who headed a controversial astronaut health study told Congress on Thursday that NASA is discouraging open communications by rebutting reports of drunken astronauts on launch day and deriding the claims as urban legends. The bigger issue, more than drinking, is NASA's apparent disregard of mental health and behavior issues among its astronauts, and the demoralizing reluctance among flight surgeons and astronauts to report improper conduct, said Col. Richard Bachmann Jr. Last week, NASA released the results of its own internal investigation, saying it had found no evidence or even...

The lack of privacy on launch day makes it nearly impossible to hide alcohol use or alcohol-induced impairment. Could a crewmember drink to the point of inebriation in his/her room the night before launch? Certainly, but, from the time the crew wakes on launch morning until they lift off, they are surrounded by other astronauts, managers, support crew, television (TV) cameramen, still photographers, crew quarters staff and others. Breakfast, the first scheduled event, usually starts 30 minutes after wakeup and is held in the same dining room shared by support crew and operational managers." "The result of my tours and...

Ex-astronaut Wants Ankle Bracelet Off By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer ORLANDO, Fla. - Interviewing former astronaut Lisa Nowak was "like a chess game," a detective testified Friday as Nowak's attorney urged a judge to throw out evidence and a police interview in which she talked about the alleged attack on a romantic rival. Nowak also took the stand and asked the court to let her remove her electronic monitoring bracelet, complaining that it cuts her ankle and gets in the way of her military boot lace. As Nowak testified, the rival she was accused of pepper spraying in an...

listen to the question and answer session between the astronauts and students........ Link is on the right side... http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html "Morgan, Crewmates Talk With Students STS-118 astronauts take questions from students in Boise, Idaho." One of the students asks... "can you see global warming from space?" Second to answer was Clay Anderson.... "I don't know, necessarily, if I agree with that whole concept". His Bio... http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/anderson-c.html

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A close-up laser inspection by Endeavour's astronauts Sunday revealed that a 3 1/2-inch-long gouge penetrates all the way through the thermal shielding on the shuttle's belly, and had NASA urgently calculating whether risky spacewalk repairs are needed. A chunk of insulating foam smacked the shuttle at liftoff last week in an unbelievably unlucky ricochet off the fuel tank and carved out the gouge. The unevenly shaped gouge — which straddles two side-by-side thermal tiles and the corner of a third — is 3 1/2 inches long and just over 2 inches wide. Sunday's inspection showed that...

In light of the bad news that NASA has been enduring over the past couple of weeks, I think that one man and one man alone can save the program. The man whose support for the space program garnered him an honorary place amongst the astronauts of the Mercury program: Jose Jimenez! We've heard that NASA allowed some astronauts to fly while intoxicated. What the media forgets is that, as Jose pointed out so many years ago, the blast-off is the most important thing in space travel! The astronauts always take a blast before they take off! Otherwise they wouldn't...

MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's Federal Space Agency dismissed the possibility that any drunk or hungover American astronauts flew into orbit from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. "This is completely out of the question. Practically two weeks before a flight from Baikonur, cosmonauts and astronauts are put under continual medical surveillance," Roscosmos spokesman Igor Panarin said. During the last 48 hours before the flight, "they are isolated from all external contacts," he said.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EuGpfT308zY I think NASA is becoming less relevant with every year anyway.

Report: Drunk astronauts were allowed to fly BY MARTIN MERZER NASA allowed at least two astronauts to fly into space even though they were so drunk that flight surgeons considered them a safety risk, according to a report published Thursday by Aviation Week and Space Technology.In a brief account reported on the publication's website, the trade journal said an independent health panel commissioned by NASA also found a pattern of ''heavy use of alcohol'' by astronauts before launch.The report did not include any details about which astronauts or space programs were involved or how recently the problems might have...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An independent health panel studying NASA astronauts found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch, according to a published report Thursday. Aviation Week & Space Technology, a weekly trade journal, reported the finding from the panel on its Web site. The weekly said that the committee found that on at least two occasions, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk. The alcohol use by astronauts was within the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members, Aviation Week reported. The...

Excerpt - A panel reviewing astronaut health issues has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk.Full story

Britain should not rule out the possibility of sending a real-life Dan Dare into space, MPs have said. A report from the Science and Technology Select Committee criticised the Government for refusing to consider the idea of future manned British space missions. Historically Britain has always rejected the notion of manned space flights because of the enormous costs involved. Although Britons have flown on the US space shuttle, the only astronauts to be launched on a British mission have been fictional, such as the comic book hero Dan Dare. But the MPs believe a blanket ban on manned missions is...

Atlantis Astronauts Inspect Shuttle Heat ShieldTariq Malik Staff Writer SPACE.com 37 minutes ago A torn insulation blanket (upper right) on the port side of the Shuttle Atlantis is shown in this video grab from the orbiter's end effector camera during a survey of the spacecraft's thermal protection system June 8, 2007. (NASA TV/Reuters) Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis scanned their spacecraft's heat shield for any signs of damage Saturday as they continue on course towards the International Space Station (ISS). Atlantis launched into orbit late Friday on a planned 11-day construction mission to the orbital laboratory. Commanded by veteran shuttle...

BALTIMORE - The astronauts who will service the Hubble Space Telescope were greeted enthusiastically Wednesday by astronomers who had faced the loss of the orbiting observatory when NASA canceled their mission. The seven astronauts will be "doing as much as we can cram in" to the September 2008 servicing mission that will keep the Hubble alive, mission commander Scott Altman told a crowded auditorium at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates the use of the telescope. "We will do our absolute best to leave the telescope in the most phenomenal condition that it can be when we let go...

When astronauts return from space, what they talk about isn't the brute force of the rocket launch or the exhilaration of zero gravity — it's the view. And it's mankind's rarest view of all, Earth from afar. Only two dozen men — those who journeyed to the moon — have seen the full Earth view. Most space travelers, in low orbit, see only a piece of the planet — a lesser but still impressive glimpse. They have seen the curvature of Earth, its magnificent beauty, its fragility, and its lack of borders. The first full view of Earth came from...

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) discarded an unmanned cargo ship packed full of trash Tuesday as they ready the orbital laboratory to welcome a new crew. ISS Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams successfully jettisoned the unmanned Russian supply ship Progress 23 at 2:11 p.m. EDT (1811 GMT) to help prime the station for the April arrival of two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. space tourist. "This was the longest increment we have had to date," Ginger Kerrick, NASA's lead Expedition 14 flight director, in a mission briefing. "I'm proud of...

Lunar dust 'may harm astronauts' By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News, Houston Lunar dust brought back to Earth from the Apollo 17 mission Scientists are investigating the possible threat posed to astronauts by inhaling lunar dust. A study suggests the smallest particles in lunar dust might be toxic, if comparisons with dust inhalation cases on Earth apply. Teams hope to carry out experiments on mice to determine whether this is the case or not. Nasa has set up a working group to look into the matter ahead of its planned return to the Moon by 2020. A team at...

ORLANDO, Fla. - The space shuttle pilot at the center of a bizarre love triangle that now has astronaut Lisa Nowak facing attempted kidnapping charges told detectives Nowak "seemed a little disappointed" but accepting when he told her he was dating another woman, court records released Tuesday show. That conversation was in January. On Feb. 5, Nowak drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando to confront the other woman. Police say Nowak, a mother of three, donned a wig and followed Colleen Shipman from an airport terminal to her car to confront her, then pepper sprayed her through a cracked...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- What would happen if an astronaut came unglued in space and, say, destroyed the ship's oxygen system or tried to open the hatch and kill everyone aboard? That was the question on some minds after the apparent breakdown of Lisa Nowak, arrested in Orlando this month on charges she tried to kidnap and kill a woman she regarded as her rival for another astronaut's affections. It turns out NASA has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic astronaut in space. The documents, obtained this week by The Associated Press, say...

SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 18) - An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday. Astronomers are monitoring an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13, 2036. Although the odds of an impact by this particular asteroid are low, a recent congressional mandate for NASA to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near...

Astronauts heading to the Moon should learn the art of cross-country skiing, a scientist who flew on the last lunar Apollo mission claims. Harrison Schmitt, part of the 1972 Apollo 17 crew, said it would allow them to explore faster and more easily. Addressing scientists in San Francisco, he said his knowledge of Nordic skiing had allowed him to glide effortlessly across the dusty lunar surface. The US space agency (Nasa) will send manned missions to the moon by 2020. "When you're cross-country skiing, once you get a rhythm going, you propel yourself with a toe push as you slide...

MIDI - MAJOR TOM (near the bottom of the midi site) Oefelein's the guy...hunky pilot Joystick's on her mind...all the time Now Lisa has been charged...the DA filed it It was Lust in Space The poor astronaut...poor astronaut On rival Colleen, she was preying She had tubing and...a big knife She practiced several times her pepper spraying It was Lust in Space Poor astronaut...poor astronaut 5 4 3 2 1....there's no time to be a wiper Lisa had to put some diapers on She drove on and on a thousand miles She must be on time for the plane...

...."Veteran NASA flight surgeon and professional psychiatrist Patricia Santy worked at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston from 1984 to 1991, eventually becoming flight surgeon, or flight doctor, at Mission Control Center. She also is a board-certified psychiatrist, and helped develop psychiatric standards used to assess astronaut applicants in that period. She literally wrote the book on the physiological analysis involved in choosing space flyers titled "Choosing the Right Stuff: The Psychological Selection of Astronauts and Cosmonauts." She is widely regarded as a leading authority on the psychology of human spaceflight."...

Even before she was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping and three other crimes, there were signs that not everything was right in her life UNTIL a few months ago, Lisa Nowak’s life seemed to be on a perfect trajectory. She became an astronaut after winning a series of Navy service awards. She had flown on the shuttle Discovery, and was a mother of three children. She said in a September interview with Ladies Home Journal that her husband, Richard, “works in Mission Control, so he’s part of the whole space business, too. And supportive also.� But even...

This cannot be a happy day at the NASA press office. Lisa Nowak, 43, drove hundreds of miles to confront a rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut, Bill Oefelein, according to police. (Photos: NASA)It is always awkward answering questions when one of your employees is arrested. It becomes still more awkward when the employee is an astronaut. And it gets really, really awkward when, as the Times’ Christine Hauser reports, the employee is accused by police of driving from Houston to Orlando in diapers, arming herself with a BB gun and pepper spray, donning a wig and trench...

Criticizing China's test of an anti-satellite weapon, the U.S. State Department said Friday "modern life as we know it" depends on the security of space-based technology. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the administration raised concerns about the test with Chinese officials in Washington and in Beijing, making clear its opposition to "any militarization of space." He said tests of the kind China carried out "produce extensive amounts of space debris, have the potential for disturbing or accidentally disrupting communication satellites or other kinds of space vehicles that are out there." A report released Friday by a U.S. congressional...

HOUSTON - The 2-ton, $11 million addition astronauts have delivered to the international space station may be one of the smaller pieces of the structure, but even supporting actors are vital. The addition will act both as a spacer between a pair of the station's power-generating solar arrays and as a channel through which lines of electricity, data and cooling liquid will run, NASA said. Two astronauts were scheduled to install the addition on Tuesday, in the first of three harrowing spacewalks during the 12-day mission that left Earth on Saturday. The space shuttle Discovery crew are continuing the assembly...

HOUSTON - The orbiting Discovery crew, en route Sunday to rewire the international space station, first had to make sure the shuttle's heat shield wasn't damaged during liftoff. The seven astronauts prepared to inspect the wings and nose cap Sunday afternoon for chips or other damage from foam, a procedure made mandatory after the Columbia accident in 2003. Mission specialist Nicholas Patrick will maneuver the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm and similarly long boom with cameras and sensors. The Columbia disintegrated while re-entering the atmosphere, killing the crew members. Preliminary radar reports from Discovery's launch showed nothing of concern, NASA spokesman...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Three Navy astronauts are part of the crew of NASA's space shuttle Discovery currently awaiting launch. The nighttime launch of Discovery had been set for Dec. 7, but was delayed becuase of weather. Capt. Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Cmdrs. William A. Oefelein and Sunita L. Williams will be on Discovery when it launches toward the International Space Station, where the astronauts will continue construction on the station, rewiring the orbiting laboratory and adding a segment to its integrated truss structure. The electrical repairs are the crew’s main mission, but they also will be rotating a crew...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2006 -- Three Navy astronauts are part of the crew for NASA’s latest Discovery shuttle mission, which is set to launch at 9:35 p.m. Eastern Time today. Navy Capt. Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Cmdrs. William A. Oefelein and Sunita L. Williams will be on the space shuttle Discovery when it launches tonight toward the International Space Station, where the astronauts will continue construction on the station, rewiring the orbiting laboratory and adding a segment to its integrated truss structure. NASA reported on its Web site a 60 percent chance of weather prohibiting the scheduled liftoff,...

A bubble of plasma could shield astronauts from radiation during long journeys through space, researchers are suggesting. If the idea proves viable, it means heavy metal protective panels could be replaced by a plasma shield of just a few grams. Astronauts travelling beyond the Earth's orbit would be at risk of cancer and other illnesses due to their long term exposure to cosmic rays. Some of these energetic particles are spewed forth during outbursts from the Sun. Others come from outside our solar system and are more mysterious in origin. The Earth's magnetic field protects spacecraft in low Earth orbits,...

Family, friends cheer on McAllen astronauthttp://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA071806.1A.valley.space.169b85e.html http://tinyurl.com/zs9yd Web Posted: 07/17/2006 11:02 PM CDT Jesse Bogan Rio Grande Valley Bureau McALLEN — The recent e-mail from outer space informed the small group the voyage had been safe and rewarding. Their supporting role was almost over. "Now the shuttle is just about packed and ready to come home," astronaut Mike Fossum, 48, who grew up in McAllen, wrote them from the space shuttle Discovery on Sunday. "We're all ready, too — our objectives have been met." Hours later, on Monday morning, they gathered before a large television screen in Fossum's boyhood home,...

Scouts played large part in Fossum's lifehttp://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=14170&Section=Local http://tinyurl.com/ru9qt July 12, 2006 Marc B. Geller Monitor Staff Writer McALLEN — One of the biggest influences in Mike Fossum’s life growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was his experience in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Beverly Alleyn, who like Fossum’s mother is a nurse, was his Cub Scout pack leader. And her husband, Mickey, led the Webelos program that Mike needed to complete with other Cub Scouts to transition into Boy Scouts. The Alleyns’ son, Rob, now a McAllen physician, was one of Mike’s classmates and rose with Mike through the...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers could decide Sunday whether a piece of fabric filler sticking out from thermal tiles on space shuttle Discovery's belly needs to be plucked out by astronauts during a spacewalk this week. The gap filler, which is cracked and about an inch long, remains one of the few concerns that needs resolving before mission managers give the green light for Discovery to return to Earth in over a week. The early consensus is that it probably won't pose problems during the shuttle's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, but engineers pulled an all-nighter to recommend what, if...

HOUSTON - Early inspections have revealed no damage to the space shuttle Discovery, NASA said Wednesday after a day of checking out the spacecraft with on-board cameras. That means that when the shuttle meets up with the international space station Thursday morning it likely won't need emergency repairs while hooked up with the orbital outpost — unlike last year's daring spacewalk fixes. Discovery's delicate heat shield and everything else appear at first glance to be in near perfect shape, NASA officials said, although it's still very early in the analysis. Engineers are nowhere near finished poring over 70 minutes of...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Discovery's astronauts strapped into their seats Tuesday and the hatch was sealed in preparation for NASA's first Independence Day shuttle liftoff. After two weather delays and a debate over safety when a crack appeared in the fuel tank's insulation, officials decided the launch was a go. "Steve, happy Fourth of July!" a launch controller told Steve Lindsey, Discovery's commander. The six U.S. astronauts waved small American flags, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter gripped a tiny German banner, as they walked toward the launch pad to enter the shuttle. Astronaut Mike Fossum gave a thumbs...

Someday, astronauts may grow food efficiently in space and use plants to clean spaceship air, thanks to a two-year experiment scheduled aboard the International Space Station. The next space shuttle mission, STS-121, will carry the Tropi experiment's apparatus into space when the shuttle hurtles into orbit after its July 1 scheduled launch. Scientists will study a weed in the cabbage and mustard family, to see if its roots grow more readily toward red or blue light, according to scientists.

Almost a year after its last flight, NASA has begun the countdown to attempt a flight of the space shuttle this coming weekend (weather permitting — a tropical disturbance currently in the Caribbean threatens Cape Canaveral and central Florida with rain, clouds, and lightning, which could potentially result in repeated daily postponements until the system moves on). If they do launch, it will be only the second flight in the almost three and a half years since the loss of Columbia over the skies of Texas on February 1, 2003, and the first since last summer’s return to flight, in...

(PRLEAP.COM) Mr. Jason Martell is a world-renowned researcher and lecturer specializing in the ancient Sumerian culture, Sumer’s advanced technology, and how it relates to the Ancient Astronaut theory. Backed by leading scientists from the mainstream scientific community, Mr. Martell has been a guest on numerous television shows, radio programs and has given lectures throughout the world. Mr. Martell has dedicated his studies to scientific research, factual data and supporting evidence. For over a decade, Mr. Martell has researched NASA data of possible artificial structures on Mars, Ancient Astronauts, and the Sumerian culture. Mr. Martell has based his findings in conjunction...

The British-born astronaut who will fly aboard the next US space agency shuttle mission says the UK Government should fund human spaceflight. Piers Sellers comes from Crowborough in East Sussex, but had to become a US citizen to achieve his goal. He told the BBC News website: "The UK is one of a few countries that does not participate. I think it would be great if sometime in future it would join."

KUALA LUMPUR: How do Muslim astronauts pray in space? Malaysia’s National Space Agency is holding a conference to consider such questions as the country prepares to send its first citizen into orbit. A nationwide competition has narrowed the field to four astronaut candidates, three of whom are Muslims. Malaysia’s space agency - Angkasa - said it had been scratching its head over how Muslim rituals could be carried out properly. Performing ablutions for Muslim prayers with water rationing in space and preparing food according to Islamic standards will be among the issues discussed. The astronauts will visit the International Space...

When Jason Sherwin told his parents he wanted to be an astronaut, they weren't thrilled. Jews, they reminded him, "don't have a good track record" in outer space. Notwithstanding the "Jews in Space" bit from Mel Brooks's "History of the World: Part I," they're right. Arguably, the first Jewish astronaut was Elijah. According to the Bible, "a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared... and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind." He didn't come back down. In modern times, the first Jew in space, Judith Resnick, died in the Challenger explosion of 1986. In 2003, Ilan Ramon of...

On Saturday, February 25 at 2:25 pm EASTERN Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane Description: Mike Mullane recounts his experience as a member of the first group of space shuttle astronauts in his memoir "Riding Rockets." On February 1, 1978, the author joined a crew that included the first American woman and the first African American in space. Four of the members would later die as a result of the Challenger disaster. Mr. Mullane details some of the challenges NASA faced with the space shuttle program including how to address the concerns of his...