Matthew Peddie

Shovel Ready: Congressman John Mica talks to reporters at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new intermodal rail terminal in Winter Haven, Florida (Photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Orlando, Fla. -- WMFE) John Mica, the chair of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, joined with Florida Governor Rick Scott and other business leaders and elected officials near Winter Haven Thursday, for the symbolic groundbreaking of a new intermodal rail terminal.

Before grabbing one of the gold painted shovels, Mica, a republican from Winter Park, Fla. praised the governor for his business savvy and leadership in supporting the project, which will serve as a distribution hub for trains and trucks delivering cargo throughout Florida. The project came about after rail company CSX reroute freight traffic from 62 miles of track to accommodate the SunRail commuter train.

"We are very fortunate to have Governor Scott with his business background at this time and his vision for transportation and infrastructure," said Mica.

"You cannot build this state or this community or projects like this without people like Governor Scott."

Florida Governor Rick Scott, CSX Chief Executive Michael Ward and US House Transportation Comittee Chair John Mica (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Mica and Scott have not always seen eye to eye on big transportation projects in Florida, notably on the failed high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, which the Governor nixed early in 2011 by rejecting $2.4 billion dollars in Federal stimulus money. At the time Mica panned the Governor's decision, labeling it a setback for the state's transportation, economic development and tourism.

While the high-speed rail plans collapsed, there's evidence to suggest Mica may have -indirectly- helped Central Florida's SunRail Commuter train avoid a similar fate during his tenure as chair of the house transportation and infrastructure committee.

Mica lists the two year Highway Transportation bill and the FAA bill as  accomplishments during his chairmanship, but he says those came about in spite of the Obama administration.

Looking ahead to a second Obama administration, Mica said he hopes the president will work better with Congress on transportation issues this time around. "They've been absent without leave," said Mica. "I’m hoping that their second time around they’ll be more cooperative."

Advocates for increased transportation and infrastructure spending have lauded President Obama's stimulus plan and his advocacy of a national rail network.

Mica, who comfortably staved off a Democratic challenger to retain his seat in Florida's U.S. House District 7 Tuesday, is due to be termed out of his role as chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. However he says he'd like to hang onto the position if possible.

“Oh we’ll see," he said. "It depends on whether they grant waivers or not, and that’s yet to be decided.”

"I’ve been honored to chair for the last 2 years, ranking for four years, chaired a sub committee for six years, and I intend to be a leader in whatever capacity my colleagues choose,” said Mica, who's also in line for other potential committee chairmanships.

"But I’m not moving from transportation even if I took another slot,” said Mica, who added he intends to be in a key position to make decisions on transportation policy.

Republican Congressman Bill Shuster of Penn. has already expressed an interest in the committee chair position.

Florida Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad was also pondering the implications of the second Obama term. Prasad said it's important that there's leadership at the Federal level and that members of congress can work together to craft a long term highway transportation bill.

"I just hope we can get to a deal," said Prasad.

"The last deal was only two years, and partly because I think folks in congress wanted to get past this election... Now that the election's over, let’s not wait another two years to get another two year bill, let’s work next year and have a long term bill that creates a transportation vision for the country.”

Historically transportation funding bills were non-partisan bills approved for six years at a time to facilitate planning of longer term projects. For more on how that changed this Congress, read our previous coverage.

 

 

Atlantis leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center (photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Orlando, Fla. -- WMFE) NASA has officially signed the last remaining space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center into retirement.

Riding on a flat bed transporter, Atlantis rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at dawn Friday, bound for its new home at a purpose-built display hall nearly 10 miles away at the privately operated Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

A few hours later a crowd of shuttle workers and their families gathered for a retirement ceremony. NASA administrator Charles Bolden, who flew on Atlantis in 1992, said while the shuttle program has ended, its spirit lives on.

“It’s now NASA’s honor to permanently house this magnificent spacecraft right here, where she rose to the skies 33 times carrying 156 men and women," said Bolden.

"She’s truly a testament to American ingenuity.”

The commanders of both Atlantis’ first mission and the last ever shuttle flight last year also talked about the significance of the program.

Contractors watch as Atlantis moves away from the VAB (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The shuttle travels on a diesel powered 76 wheel transporter (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The cab of the orbiter transporter (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Photographers watch as Atlantis rolls out (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Shuttle Atlantis traveled nearly 10 miles by road to its new home, mostly on NASA property. Engineers removed some traffic lights and street signs to allow the shuttle through (Photo by Matthew Peddie)

Atlantis paused at an intersection as a NASA helicopter circles overhead (photo by Matthew Peddie)

A marching band leads Atlantis into its retirement ceremony (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Shuttle program employees and their families watched the final rollout of Atlantis (photo by Matthew Peddie)

“Atlantis’s final mission may have closed out the space shuttle program, but the spirit that created that program and built her is very much alive as we develop the technologies and systems not only for private companies to serve our needs in low earth orbit, but to keep us on the road to an asteroid, to mars and places beyond." NASA administrator Charles Bolden (photo by Matthew Peddie)

 

Atlantis will be taken into the new building through the back (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is getting ready for its new Atlantis shuttle display with a $100 million building.  Construction began in January, and the exhibit is slated to open in July 2013.  On November 2nd, Atlantis will make the journey by road from the Kennedy Space Center on a special 76 wheel transporter. The 9.8 mile trip will take all day, with stops along the way for ceremonies with shuttle program employees and the public.

Tim Macy points out his favorite building features (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The building that will house the space shuttle is about 116 feet tall and will have a floor area of 90,000 square feet -- big enough to accommodate the 78-foot wingspan and 57-foot height of the orbiter.

Getting Atlantis over to the Visitor Complex is a delicate operation, but not quite as tricky as Endeavour's recent trek through Los Angeles.

"We are at the space center, there's 144,000 acres that we've got to work with here," says Tim Macy, the director of project development at the visitor center. "There's some big wide open spaces."

Still, some modifications have been made to accommodate the shuttle's move.

"We'll take down a ton of light poles, stop signs and traffic signals to get here, but that's just logistics," says Macy. A short section of roadway has also been built to bring the shuttle into the building.

Macy says the trickiest part of the move will likely be maneuvering the shuttle into the new display hall.

Working on the ceiling 100 feet off the ground (photo by Matthew Peddie)

After the the orbiter is safely inside, it will be wrapped in protective "bubble wrap" to shield it while construction continues.

The new section of road leading up to the building will be torn up and eventually replaced with landscaping.

Workers will start filling in the final wall of the building withing days of Atlantis being moved inside. Up to 150 people a day are working on the project, and Macy says crews could be increased if necessary.

“I’m really confident in the schedule," says Macy.

"I mean, we’ve built in some weather days that we haven’t had to take advantage of in terms of the exterior of the building, and as anyone will tell you, once you get in and you get sealed up, you can control your own destiny.”

The entrance  to Atlantis' new home (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The completed display hall will include a replica of the external tank and solid rocket boosters that visitors will walk under as they enter the building. One of the outside walls incorporates a "swoop" that will be covered by orange cladding to symbolize the shuttle flight.

Working on the "swoop" wall (photo by Matthew Peddie)

"You know when it comes down and gets into  its de-orbit burn, that orange color, the glow that comes around the base of it, that's the look we're going for there," says Macy.

Artist's impression of Atlantis display [image credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center

Inside the hall, the shuttle will be displayed as in orbit, at an angle, so visitors can see both above and below the orbiter. The building features state-of-the-art air conditioning to protect the shuttle from humidity, and it includes a rail along the ceiling with a platform that can be raised and lowered so cleaners can access the shuttle.

Tim Macy is confident visitors will be impressed when the display opens next summer.

"We think we're telling the right story here, and we understand the responsibility that's been given to us," says Macy.

"We didn't just get [the orbiter], we feel we've earned the opportunity to present this to the public."

The back wall of the display hall will be closed up after Atlantis moves in on November 2nd (photo by Matthew Peddie)

 

 

 

 

 

The space shuttle Atlantis inside the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Shuttle technicians at the Kennedy Space Center are finishing their work to prepare the last of NASA's retired orbiters for display.

Atlantis flew the last shuttle mission in July 2011, and it's due to roll out to the visitor complex on November 2nd.

"This is been my life," says David Bakehorn. "It's not the ending of a program, it's not the laying off of a workforce, it's the breakup of a big family. These people you see around here have worked together for 25 to 30 years." (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Inside the Orbiter Processing Facility Hi-Bay 2 at the space center, workers are making sure the shuttle is free of toxic fuel residue and other hazardous parts.  The main engines have been removed and will be used for future space programs

Many of the staff still at the shuttle processing facility have spent decades working on the orbiters.

Lead shuttle systems technician specialist David Bakehorn says after 27 years working on the shuttles, he’s sad to see it go.

“But it’s really nice that it’s staying at home," he says.

"We were worried we weren’t going to get a real live orbiter here in Florida, (because) there’s only so many to go around, and I’m glad to be a part of it."

The replica shuttle  (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Shuttle Discovery was flown to the National Air and Space Museum near Washington DC in April, and last month Endeavour piggybacked on the 747 transporter to California. Enterprise, which never flew in orbit, is now in New York, and a replica shuttle which had been on display at Kennedy for 18 years was sent by barge to Houston.

Next week the landing gear will be retracted and the shuttle will be put on a special transporter (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Atlantis only has to go 9 miles. Next week is landing gear will be retracted, and in mid-October it will be put on a special transporter and rolled over to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

On November 2nd, Atlantis will be moved by road to the Visitor Center, where a new building's been constructed to house the shuttle.

Sightseers won't actually be able to go inside the shuttle, though, so this is the last chance to walk inside the cabin and the living quarters before it becomes a museum piece.

Inside the somewhat cramped crew quarters (photo by Matthew Peddie)

 

Nose of the shuttle (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Orbiter Quality Assurance Inspector Rob Lewis checks out some of the autographs in the "white room" (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Atlantis flight deck (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The doorway into the crew module (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The actual shuttle engines have been removed. They'll be reused by NASA in its next space program (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Electric cars lined up near Lake Eola, downtown Orlando (Photo by Matthew Peddie)

Electric vehicle charging stations are springing up all over Florida -- and a lot of them are concentrated around Orlando, which has more than 150 stations within a 70-mile radius. But uptake in central Florida has been ... slow.

The Orlando Utilities Commission, which has installed 78 charging stations around the city, estimates there are about 700 electric vehicles currently on the road in Orlando. That's a tiny percentage of the 915,960 cars and pickup trucks registered in Orange County, which encompasses most of the Orlando metropolitan area.

But alternative fuel advocates are hopeful the vehicles will eventually catch on in the Sunshine State. Florida's electric vehicle infrastructure is growing quickly, and the U.S. Department of Energy lists 319 public charging stations across the state, provided with funding from federal stimulus money.

Map of EV charging stations (Image: US Department of Energy)

Orlando resident Mark Thomasen has been an advocate for electric vehicles in the city since 2008.  He worked for a company that installed many of the charging stations and now writes an EV blog. He says it's been a challenge to build up acceptance of electric vehicles in the area. "There's not as much of a green movement in central Florida, and in Florida versus say Washington, or Oregon or Colorado."

Motorists might also balk at the upfront price.  Chevrolet's plug-in electric-gasoline hybrid Volt sedan has a list price of $39,145, while Nissan's all-electric Leaf, has a base price of $35,000.  Even with the $7,500 federal tax rebate, the cars are comparatively expensive.

But Thomasen is confident EVs will catch on in Florida. He says they don't face some of  the challenges of hydrogen, such as how to generate and store the gas, as well as the need to dvelop a high capacity, durable and inexpensive fuel cell. And he says even if drivers aren't worried about the environmental cost of gasoline, EVs should appeal to people who don't want to rely on foreign oil.

Mark Thomasen (photo by Matthew Peddie)

"Over here, what matters to people is energy independence," he says. "People don't realize how much fuel we use and how little we have within our border. So by moving to an electric car and getting off of that, we go to a different fuel source."

And Thomasen says electric vehicles at least have the infrastructure to support them, unlike hydrogen fuel cars.

Seven years ago there was a big push to build a hydrogen fuel infrastructure in California and in Florida. In 2005,  Florida Governor Jeb Bush broke ground on the state's first hydrogen fueling station in Orlando.  “Florida is spurring investment in the development and use of pollution-free hydrogen technology,” said Gov. Bush.  The new station was to be part of a "hydrogen hub" in central Florida, and the first of a series of stations fueling a fleet of clean energy vehicles.

Gov. Bush breaks ground on Florida's 'Hydrogen Highway' (photo courtesty of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

After Jeb Bush left office, Florida's new governor Charlie Crist grabbed the renewable fuel baton. He cut the ribbon on the station in May 2007, and touted it as a way to wean the nation off foreign oil. A fleet of minibuses operated by the Orange County convention center was adapted to run on hydrogen supplied by the station. Progress Energy, one of the partners in the project, opened a second refueling station near Oviedo as part of a nationwide demonstration project on fuel cell vehicles, led by the US Department of Energy. Eventually though, Florida's hydrogen highway evaporated. After two years and 3,200 fill-ups, the two hydrogen refueling stations shut down and the pilot program finished.

California's hydrogen efforts met similar results: the state now has a handful of  hydrogen fueling stations, but nowhere near the number former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger envisioned back in 2004.

James Fenton, who directs the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research facility at the University of Central Florida, says hydrogen still has a place in the future of alternative fuels in Florida. But he says it's more likely to be used in fuel cells in electric vehicles rather than powering internal combustion engines. "Eventually we'll get to the point when all the battery-powered electric cars will have fuel cell range extenders," says Fenton. "You'll have electric cars with batteries for short trips because the electron out of the wall is dirt cheap, then you'll electrolyze water somewhere else, fill your car with hydrogen and extend the range."

And while electric vehicles aren't yet a common sight on central Florida roads, Fenton says he's upbeat about their future because mile for mile, electricity out of the wall is cheaper than gasoline. But he says there are still some obstacles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

"We don't have a hydrogen infrastructure," says Fenton. "That's the kicker."

Electric Charging Station, Orlando City Hall (photo by Matthew Peddie)

 

 

 

 

 

More bikes in Central Florida's future? (photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Orlando, Fla. -- WMFE) The train could bring in the bikes. The regional transportation planning agency MetroPlan Orlando is considering starting a bike share program to roll out alongside the SunRail train service under construction. The commuter train line is seen as a catalyst for cycling, with the potential to locate bike share kiosks around the stations along the 61 mile rail line. Other locations in consideration for bike share programs include the University of Central Florida and International Drive in Orlando.

Some cities like Orlando and Winter Park, are already researching bike sharing. But Mighk (pronounced Mike) Wilson, who leads the MetroPlan bike share working group, says it makes more sense to have a region wide system.

“You don’t want to have the user sign up for a program, let’s say in the city of Orlando, and then go sign up for another program maybe in Altamonte, and then have all that redundancy,” he says.

"Instead they should be able to hop on a bike anywhere in the Central Florida area, all under the same membership and fee structure."

The working group held its first meeting Wednesday.

Wilson says he doesn't know if bike share will be up and running in Central Florida by the time SunRail starts in 2014. "What we haven't really determined yet is, are we going to move forward with a bike share program," he says. "We still need to answer a number of questions before we make that commitment." Wilson says one of the first steps will be to put out a Request For Information from bike share companies.

Orlando already put out its own RFI, and three companies responded: Wisconsin based B-Cycle; Deco Bike, which has programs in South Florida and New York; and the Southern California based Bike Nation.

Winter Park Sustainability coordinator Tim Maslow says setting up a region-wide bike share program could take longer than it would for an individual city- but he's willing to wait.

Work is underway on tracks next to Winter Park train station in preparation for SunRail (photo by Matthew Peddie)

"I think the investment in time will pay off in the end," he says. "Maybe we could roll it out in three to six months, but I think it would be worse if we tried to expedite it on our own and then people who were traveling to and from Winter Park, Orlando and surrounding areas were using different systems and they had to get different memberships."

The other benefit of setting up a bigger system is a bigger funding pool. "If it was just city-wide, we would have to foot the bill not only just for bicycles and the stations, which could be a pretty hefty investment, but the city would have to assume the risk and liability and operation of that system," Maslow says. "I'm not sure we have the resources or the staff time."

Maslow says he's still hopeful bike sharing can roll out at the same time as SunRail. He says Winter Park is also making plans to accommodate private bike owners, and the city is in talks with the architects designing the new train station about a potential covered bike storage facility near the station.

A hundred miles west of Orlando, in St. Petersburg, plans are also underway for bike sharing. MyBike founder Andrew Blikken aims to use a system developed by the New York based company  SoBi., which does away with the need for kiosks.  The bikes include an on-board computer and can be locked up anywhere: riders can use their smartphones to locate a bike, unlock it and pay for its use.

MyBike founder Andrew Blikken (photo courtesy of Andrew Blikken)

MyBike was slated to launch in July with 500 bicycles, but Blikken says he's still trying to raise money for the program.

"There is not a bank on the planet that considers bikes collateral," he says.

"So that means debt financing is basically not possible for something like this. However, equity financing is. We have found a number of people who are very interested in putting down smaller amounts. We have a quarter million dollars towards our million dollar goal in our subscription agreement so far."

Blikken says he's looking for a major sponsor to get myBike off the ground. He says once he gets the capital it will be six months at least before his program will be operational.

Meanwhile in Orlando, another start up company is trying to generate interest in a bike share program using the same technology.

SunCycles founder Peter Martinez says he's in talks with SoBi, and he's also looking for people to invest in his company.

 

 

NASA's crawler 2 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center (photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Listen to an audio version of the story here)

(Orlando -- WMFE) Retired space shuttles are being readied for museums, but there's one piece of equipment at the Kennedy Space Center that dates back to before the moon landing and it's not going anywhere. NASA's giant crawler transporter is the only machine with enough muscle to move Apollo rockets and space shuttles out to the launch pad, and after nearly 50 years on the job the agency's decided there's still no better way to transport heavy loads.

The Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket on the crawler (photo courtesy of NASA)

It’s about as wide as a six lane highway, higher than a two story building, with huge caterpillar treads at each of its four corners. With the mobile launch platform and a rocket or space shuttle on its back, the crawler en route for the launch pad was like a skyscraper rolling slowly down a highway.

Regular roads can’t handle the five and a half million pound weight of the crawler.

“If you drive on some of the roads out here where we’ve traversed it’s like riding a roller coaster, because we’ve done some damage to the roads with our weight, especially in the heat of the summer," says lead system engineer Russell Stoewe.

"We can tear up some asphalt" says lead engineer Russell Stoewe (photo by Matthew Peddie)

NASA has two crawler transporters.

Crawler two is being upgraded from its current lifting capacity of 12 million pounds -- the combined weight of the shuttle and mobile launcher -- to 18 million pounds, for NASA's new heavy lift rocket.

Mechanic Wilson Williams, who's worked at the space center since 1968 -- nearly as long as the crawler itself --  says it's the biggest project he's ever worked on. "It’s a challenge. A lot of new things, new engines, new exhausts, new brakes, new hydraulics, new computers."

Getting inside the crawler is like boarding a battleship -- up a ladder, along a walkway and through a low doorway. There are four big diesel engines inside, similar to what you might find on an old Naval ship.

The two engines supplying onboard power are being replaced, but the engines powering the generators which drive the caterpillar tracks are staying put. "We baby them," says Russell Stoewe. He says the manufacturers have looked inside the engines and say they're in pristine condition.

One of the original locomotive power engines (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The crawler re-fit is part of a $2 billion plan to modernize the Kennedy Space Center, and as NASA moves to partner with commercial rocket companies it aims to make the center as versatile as possible.

The crawlers are listed on a national historic register, but Frank DiBello, the CEO of the economic development agency Space Florida, says it makes sense to keep them going. “We build bridges for far longer than that," says DiBello.

"There is nothing inherent in the basic crawler transporter system that can’t be revitalized over time,” he says.

In fact, about seven years ago, NASA was considering whether to trade the crawler in for something new. Russell Stoewe says the agency looked at rubber-tired vehicles but rejected the idea, partly because of storms that hit the cape.

Image courtesy of NASA

“If lightning hits the vehicle would we have to inspect, I don’t know how many tires they had, some of them had 80 tires, some of them had 500 tires," says Stoewe.

"There’s a significant amount of labor that goes into that. All of these things were unknowns that added an unknown cost to an already high cost.”

In 1965 NASA spent $14 million to build the transporters. That’s more than $100 million in today’s dollars. Stoewe says it would cost even more now because the U.S. is no longer the industrial powerhouse it was in the 1960s.

While the crawlers are indispensible to NASA, they’ve also made their mark on popular culture, appearing in movies like Apollo 13 and Transformers 3.

Stoewe says the current transformation project won’t improve its speed or gas mileage at all: one mile an hour and 32 feet to the gallon.

But after the work’s complete in 2014, the upgrade will allow this crawler to roll out a new generation of space craft.

(Listen to an audio version of the story at WMFE)

We've got lots more NASA coverage here, and of course Mars rover pics and videos.

John Mica on primary night (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Veteran Florida congressman John Mica, the chairman of the House transportation committee, successfully fought off challenger Sandy Adams in Tuesday's Republican primary.

Mica says Adams put him through the most negative campaign ever. Reapportionment left Mica and Adams -- who currently represents Space Coast-based District 24 --  battling for the same seat.

“We tried to stay positive and respond where we could," said Mica, "but it was probably the most negative campaign I’ve ever had to experience and made it very unpleasant for me and my family.”

In the weeks leading to the election, Tea Party favorite Sandy Adams piled on the pressure, labeling Mica a big spending, establishment Republican -- as well as a cheerleader for President Obama.

(photo by Matthew Peddie)

But Mica won by a wide margin in the end, capturing 61% of the vote.

“I don’t think we’ve every mobilized anything like this in our lives," he told supporters at a sports bar just north of Orlando on Tuesday night. "It was a very difficult race. I could tell you that everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at us but I’d have to include the cabinets and all the appliances too.”

He said his victory showed "the heart and soul of the Republican Party is doing fine in Central Florida."

University of Central Florida Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett said he wasn’t surprised at the vitriol in the race.

“Certainly it’s been negative, certainly it’s been personal, but that often happens in primaries where the candidates are very much alike on policy," said Jewett. "These two people are very conservative Republicans when it comes to policy.”

Jewett said what was unusual about the race was the fact that redistricting put two incumbent Republicans in the same district.

“It’s just virtually unheard of in the country that in a state where you gained two seats -- Florida now has two more congressional seats than it did before -- that you end up with two fairly high profile, popular Republicans in the same district. I mean it just doesn’t happen."

Jewett said the nature of the race forced Mica to downplay his record of helping to bring big projects to the district -- like the SunRail commuter train -- which are usually selling points for an incumbent.

(photo by Matthew Peddie)

Speaking at her campaign headquarters in Maitland, Sandy Adams said she was pleased the race brought the focus back to conservative values. She told Central Florida News 13 she's unsure of her political future.

"I’m a firm believer that when one door closes another one opens and I follow the path I’m led. So we’ll see.”

Mica, who heads the influential House Transportation Committee, says he wants to continue in that role -- but that’s up to House leadership.

He says he also plans to continue with a campaign to cut unnecessary spending in government.

John Mica and supporters  (photo by Matthew Peddie)

The chair of the House Transportation Committee finds himself in a scrappy fight for re-election, but he's standing his ground and turning to mobility metaphors to express his confidence: "I think I have some life left on the odometer," he said, touting the benefits of his seniority in the house. Meanwhile, his opponent, Sandy Adams, is pointedly using his Washington experience against him.

Mica's U.S. Congressional District 7 used to stretch from his home in Winter Park, metro Orlando to Ponte Vedra, a seaside town 130 miles north, not far from Jacksonville.  Redistricting shifted the boundaries closer to Orlando, and District 7 now centers on Seminole County, just north of Orlando's exurbs.  Neighboring District 24 -- currently represented by Sandy Adams -- moved South, leaving Adams to scrap with Mica in the Republican primary.

As the influential chair of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, Mica has been in Congress nearly 20 years, long enough for people to know who he is. Under siege from his opponent Sandy Adams, he’s flying his conservative colors and highlighting his record as a whistle blower on wasteful spending.

“You get to election year, and people want to know what you’ve done, and what you stand for, and I think I’ve got a very strong record of cutting waste, government bureaucracy and also of providing leadership,” says Mica.

But Adams says he's exactly the kind of insider politician voters don't want.

Her campaign is running an ad that labels Mica "Obama's best cheerleader", citing his support for SunRail, Central Florida's 62 mile long commuter rail line, which the ad brands a "boondoggle".

Adams also criticized Mica over a highway tolling provision in the recently passed highway funding  bill.

"Lexus lanes" are a talking point in the District 7 primary (photo by Matthew Peddie)

"It was his bill, he put the tolls on I-4 after telling people he would not," says Adams. "That’s a career politician.

"That's total political malarkey," says Mica. He says the bill preserves free lanes and stipulates if new toll lanes are built, “then you have to use the money for the construction or to reduce indebtedness, which would reduce or eliminate the tolls."

And Mica says he's no cheerleader for the Obama administration.

"It's totally absurd, taken out of context," says Mica. "I am the best cheerleader in Congress for transportation and getting people working."

"I was able to defeat Harry Reid and get a transportation bill done that the Democrats couldn't do, an FAA bill that cut Harry Reid's $3,720 airline ticket subsidies,  so I'm not the best friend of either Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama."

After nearly a decade in Tallahassee as a Florida state representative, Adams is no political newcomer, but she’s staking her claim as a cost cutting outsider.

“I am not a career politician," says  Adams. " I am, and remain, a citizen legislator.”

She says the choice is clear for voters on August 14th in the Republican primary. "They have a choice between a 20-year career Washington politician, or someone that they sent less than two years ago to fix the mess he helped create."

"I am not a career politician" says Sandy Adams

Adams defeated a Democrat in 2010, but this time she’s up against a formidable Republican. "I'm sort of the rock of Gibraltar," says Mica, who says District 7 needs a representative with his staying power and leadership.

And in the highly competitive 435 member U.S. Congress, Mica says his seniority is a good thing. "It will easily be another decade-and-a-half before another full committee chair comes from Central Florida, just because of seniority."

Mica's clout has allowed him to out-raise his opponent nearly two to one. At the end of July, his campaign had nearly a million dollars cash in hand while Adams had half that.

After a Rotary lunch meeting in Orlando Thursday where both Mica and Adams spoke, Mica was quick to quash any suggestion he'd paid for a high profile endorsement from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. "Oh absolutely not. You don't know what a stingy bastard I am. I wouldn't pay anybody for an endorsement."

Meanwhile Adams' campaign has picked up steam in recent days, with an online fundraising site raking in nearly $30,000 in just over 24 hours.

"We're doing just fine," says Adams.

There's also a Democratic primary in District 7, with new-deal Democrat Nicholas Ruiz up against blue-dog Jason Kendall for a chance to take on the winner of the Mica-Adams contest.

Jason Kendall says if he makes it through his primary, there are enough moderates to give him votes in November.

"Sandy’s something of an extremist," says Kendall. " Getting endorsed by Allan West or Sarah Palin might work in some places but I know a lot of people were really turned off by that endorsement.”

Both Republican candidates have a strong base of supporters, but there are some who still haven't made up their minds, like Steve Grier, who was at a recent Mitt Romney campaign event in Orlando. Grier said he wants to learn more about Adams and Mica.

"I like a lot of things about John Mica," he said. "I know that he was for SunRail, which I’m not real crazy about that aspect. But that remains to be seen. Honestly, I’ve had my eyes more on the presidential aspect of the race.”

 

Orlando International Airport people mover (photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Orlando -- WMFE) Central Florida faces a transit planning challenge in the next few years with the arrival of publicly funded SunRail commuter rail in 2014, and private companies also  lining up rail plans.

Recently Orlando city officials toured the new Miami Intermodal Center, a ground transportation hub linking rail, buses and rental cars to Miami international airport.

Orlando Transportation Policy Advisor Christine Kefauver says after looking at MIC, she thinks Central Florida is heading in the right direction.

“Our intermodal center is further down the road, but I don’t see that there’s anything above and beyond to say that we’ve not planned appropriately," says Kefauver, adding "it’s nice to see this kind of stuff in use.”

Orlando International Airport is making plans for an intermodal station at the site of its yet-to-be-built South terminal. Potential rail connections include SunRail and All Aboard Florida, a privately run central Florida to Miami service which Florida East Coast Industries wants to have operational by 2014.

Kefauver says All Aboard Florida has a good chance of success, based on what was learned from the failed attempt to bring high-speed rail to Central Florida.

“As we went through the conversation of Orlando to Tampa for high-speed rail, what we heard from a lot of folks was ‘I really want to get to Miami,’" she says.

Kefauver says rail will benefit Orlando residents and the 55 million tourists a year who visit the area."Tying all this in at the airport increases their ability to be able to use those other modes.”

The SunRail line does not include an airport stop, but MetroPlan Orlando, the  transportation planning agency for Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties, has begun talks on how to link the commuter rail with the airport.

Metroplan Orlando executive director Harry Barley says one option is to use a rail spur that now brings coal to OUC’s Stanton power plant. “That’s clearly the easiest and fastest to do, because of that spur being in place, and perhaps reframing this as an extension of the existing SunRail project.”

The rail spur branches off the SunRail line between the Sand Lake Road station and Meadow Woods station, and runs past the south of the airport.

Barley says some new rail would have to be laid to connect the freight line with the airport  and to double the track in some places.  He says a "back of the envelope" estimate put the cost of adapting the rail spur for a passenger train at around $104 million.

Meanwhile, Christine Kefauver says she's hopeful demand for SunRail will allow it to increase its frequency from every 30 minutes as currently planned, to every 15 minutes. When that happens she says there will be added impetus to connect the rail line to the airport.

 

SunRail will run right through the center of Florida Hospital's Health Village campus (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Listen to an audio version of this story here

Developers are building apartments along Florida’s new commuter rail line -- but if SunRail isn't reliable, both the idea of transit-oriented development -- not to mention SunRail -- could flop.

The SunRail tracks run straight through Florida Hospital’s campus on North Orange Ave. When the commuter train starts in 2014 it will be an important part of the hospital’s plans for a health village, which will include a mix of apartments, shops and businesses clustered around the yet-to-be built rail station.

Developer Craig Ustler says the project will transform the surrounding neighborhood.

“It would look like a lot of people walking, a pedestrian friendly environment, and maybe an evolution to a place where the car doesn’t win all the time.”

"It’s not a perfect set up yet," says Craig Ustler, standing at the site of the future Florida Hospital SunRail platform "they’ve got to build an administrative building and some retail to tie it all together, but a lot of pieces in place already to make a quality environment built around the transit.”

Ustler is counting on residents for a 250 apartment, $38 million complex he’s building a few blocks from the hospital.

The idea behind transit-oriented development (TOD) is to create pedestrian- friendly environments with access to transportation alternatives to the car. Local officials, like Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, are excited about its potential.

“Transit-oriented development is popping up all around these stations, giving us new places to work, live and play," said Dyer when SunRail got the final go-ahead a year ago.

"New companies moving in, new jobs being created. People saving money because they don’t have to use their car. People saving time because they’re not stuck on I-4.”

With ten thousand hospital employees and about three thousand  students at the College of Health Sciences, all of them potential rail passengers, shoppers or tenants, Florida Hospital is ripe for TOD.

To make it work, though, the rail has to run often and on time. And right now SunRail won’t run on weekends.

Gregg Logan, managing director of the Orlando real estate advisory services firm RCLCO, says that could be a problem.

“If it’s not convenient, then people won’t use it and that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘see, we shouldn’t have funded it because people aren’t using it,'" says Logan.

"Well, people will use it if it’s convenient.”

SunRail says it will extend the service if there’s demand.

TOD is still untested in Central Florida, and that’s made it challenging for developers to get financing for big projects around rail. Compared to cities with well-established mass transit system like New York, Central Florida’s urban environment is relatively young, with most of the big growth springing up in the last 50 years. But Gregg Logan says that could be an advantage.

“I guess the good news is we can go to some of these other places and look at what worked," he says, "and borrow some of their best ideas.”

RCLCO's Gregg Logan points to a map of the SunRail commuter train route (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Logan says Central Florida should take inspiration from Portland’s street car and the Washington DC Metro, where TOD has driven up the value of land around rail stations. While Florida Hospital has big plans for development, some of the other stops along the rail line aren’t as far advanced.

One landowner trying to attract business for a potential development is Tupperware. Spokesperson Thomas Roehlk says the company has 100 acres for mixed use set aside at its headquarters near the Osceola Parkway station.

“We haven’t had the interest yet from businesses, partially as a consequence of the fact that we are in phase two, so we’re four years out from having a station, and secondly just because of the slow uptick to the economy," He says.

However, Roehlk believes Tupperware’s plan will succeed in the long run because of the location’s proximity to another major transport hub -- Orlando International Airport.

Meanwhile, developer Craig Ustler says once the train starts running past his building at Florida Hospital, Orlando residents will begin to see the potential for a well-planned urban environment.

“I think the vast majority of people have woken up to the fact that living 30 miles away from where they work, and driving, and the price of gas and all that is probably not the most efficient thing in the world," says Ustler.

"We still need some time to work through exactly how to fix that and how to give people the tools to make a move.”

Ustler's apartment complex breaks ground next month.

 

 

 

Orlando International Airport (photo by Matthew Peddie)

Orlando International Airport officials are working out a deal over a private rail company's proposed commercial rail service to Miami.

The arrival of the intercity rail service -- called "All Aboard Florida" -- could mean the airport has to speed up plans to build a new train station.

A rail connection has been part of the airport's master plan for three decades, but with high-speed rail scrapped last year and no firm plans for a direct link to the SunRail commuter train, a private company may be the first to roll to the airport.

Florida East Coast Industries plans to create a passenger rail service from Miami to Orlando (a distance of about 240 miles) and it wants to link up with the airport by 2015.

Orlando International Airport executive director Phil Brown says they hope to have details worked out over the next two months.

“We have to come to a pretty rapid agreement on what it’s going to look like," he says, "where it’s going to come in, and who is going to be responsible for what parts of it."

Brown says the train station would be built at the site of the airport’s proposed South Terminal, and accommodate up to four rail systems -- including SunRail as well as All Aboard Florida.

"It's the same place where we envisioned a station for high speed rail," he said. "What's a little bit different is high-speed rail was coming from Tampa, this is coming from Miami, so there's a different access point."

The cost of the intermodal station and a new parking garage for rental cars has been pegged at $470 million.

To accommodate All Aboard Florida service, the airport would also have to fast-track construction of a people mover between the station and the North Terminal.

Whether the new South Terminal gets built or not depends on passenger numbers. Currently about 35 million people fly through the Orlando airport a year, and with some modifications the North terminal could take up to 45 million. International passengers numbers are growing, with an 8 per cent increase in April, but they only account for 10 per cent of the airport's customers.

Brown says an agreement would also have to be reached between the airport and airlines about who would shoulder which part of the cost of the proposed new passenger terminal.

DeLand, Florida (Photo by Matthew Peddie)

In central Florida the car rules. A network of wide highways link sprawling cities.

But now two machines which saw their heyday in Florida more than a century ago  are making a comeback: the train and the bike.

With the arrival of the SunRail commuter train in 2014 some cities are looking to bicycles as a way to get passengers to their final destination.

In Winter Park -- built in the late 1800s -- the city's sustainability coordinator Tim Maslow is thinking about how to incorporate cycling into the transportation mix. Maslow says the new SunRail and Amtrak train station could be a starting point for bike sharing.

Winter Park's train station will be demolished and rebuilt (photo by Matthew Peddie)

“We see having a station here with maybe ten bikes at first to see how it goes," says Maslow. "You could go up to 20 bikes per station with some of the companies we’ve been looking at.”

One company talking with Winter Park is the Wisconsin based B-cycle, which is backed by the bike manufacturer Trek. In Denver, the company has some 50 bike share stations where users can rent their bikes, and B-cycle says the system works well with the city's light rail line. Train passengers use the bikes to go the last leg of their journey after getting off the train.

Bike sharing already has a foothold in South Florida, where Broward County has started a system. Sales manager Lee Jones went for a ride around Orlando on a recent visit. He says bike share stations around SunRail may have to be positioned to avoid the busiest roads.

“I did find some of the very wide streets, basically three lanes across, it was almost like being on the interstate," he says.

Early map of Winter Park

Some cities along the rail line are ideally situated for this back to the future approach to getting around.

Tim Maslow, from Winter Park, points out his city was designed so passengers could easily walk to and from the train station.

“That was before the automobile was so prevalent in everyone’s lives, so when they came down to the train station they actually had to go to different locations that were no longer than a 15-20 minute walk, because in Florida no one would walk that far,” says Maslow.

A return to cycling as a primary means of transportation may seem a bit old fashioned. But when the bicycle first appeared in America, it was high tech. In the 1969 Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman's Cassidy shows off a bicycle with the words: "meet the future."

The movie was set in the late 1800s, when the real-life Cassidy and the Kid were robbing trains in the American West.

In Florida at that time, rail barons were laying a network of tracks across the state, and the whole country was gripped by a cycling craze.

"It was huge in this country, huge," says Tim Bustos, the executive director of the Florida Bicycle Association.

"Next to the railroad, bicycling was like the most powerful transportation lobby out there. [Bicycles] were expensive, so it was mostly well to do and influential people that could afford them.”

And in the late 1800s, well-to-do people were taking the train to cities like Winter Park to spend their winter vacations.

Winter Park’s not the only place where rail and cycling could make a comeback.

Tim Bustos, Florida Bicycle Association

The Florida Bicycle association’s headquartered in Deland, and Tim Bustos dreams of making the city a hub for cycling in the state.

He says SunRail’s completion in 2016 could help, by giving riders better access to a network of cycling trails. Bike share could also be part of the mix.

“People that would have rented a car five years ago, are now using bike shares," he says.

"It’s cheaper, it’s easier, it’s more enjoyable.”

Some DeLand cyclists have reservations- they say a safe route first has to be found from the train station to the city’s downtown, five miles away.

“We’re researching routes that could be bike friendly," says Ted Beyler, who owns the Deland Cyclery, one of two bicycle shops in Deland.  Beyler’s on a chamber of commerce committee looking into the problem, and he says if that can be worked out, bike sharing could take off.

"That’s the major hindrance that I see is the proximity of the station to downtown Deland," says Beyler.

However, central Florida bicycle advocates agree that SunRail’s arrival brings with it a chance to begin a new chapter in the shared history of cycling and rail.

DeLand Cyclery (photo by Matthew Peddie)

 

Metro Orlando tops the national list of dangerous cities for pedestrians, according to Transportation for America. On average one pedestrian is killed every week and two are injured every day.

Local civic leaders believe a new initiative can reduce the number of crashes and fatalities. They’ve set an ambitious goal of cutting the pedestrian crash rate by 10 per cent a year over the next five years, which they say can be done through a combination of education, enforcement and road improvements.

Launched last week, Best Foot Forward is a joint initiative of Bike Walk Central Florida, local governments, law enforcement and health groups including the Winter Park Health Foundation and Orlando Health.

Coalition chair, former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin, says pedestrian safety should be a priority in Central Florida.

“It’s about safety, of course, because people are dying. They’re dying every week,” says Chapin.

She says drivers and pedestrians both have to change their behavior to bring down the accident rate. She says residents have to make a choice about the kind of city they want to live in.

“Will it be the kind of friendly community we’ve all visited and recognized, where drivers acknowledge pedestrians with a smile and wave as they slow and then stop for a crosswalk?”

With about 730 pedestrian injuries and 45 deaths a year, Orlando has some way to go.

But Mighk Wilson, MetroPlan Orlando’s Smart Growth Planner, says bringing the rate down by 10 per cent a year can be done.

“It certainly is ambitious, but it is doable. Fatalities are really tough to deal with,” says Wilson Reducing crashes as a whole has to be more of the strategy.”

Wilson says one design fix will be to increase street lighting, although that can be expensive.

Another improvement is retrofitting roads with medians.

“Having a refuge in the middle of a roadway greatly improves safety for pedestrians,” says Wilson.

Ultimately, he says, a lot of the responsibility for preventing crashes falls on drivers.

“What we’ve forgotten as a culture is that there are crosswalks at every intersection, whether they’re marked or not,” he says.

“While it’s true that many crashes involve a pedestrian who’s crossing mid block and doesn’t yield to traffic in the roadway, they could walk fifty feet over to the nearest intersection and cross in an unmarked crosswalk, but no one’s going to recognize that crosswalk.”

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (third from left) wants to curb Metro Orlando's pedestrian death toll

So the coalition will also focus on educating pedestrians to use crosswalks, and letting drivers know Florida’s law requires them to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians can expect to get tickets.

“There will be individuals who initially when we begin will be given warnings, then they’ll be cited,” says Demings.

“The best way we probably can change the behavior of pedestrians and drivers is to ensure that we have appropriate enforcement.”

Bike Walk Central Florida says it will cost about 350 thousand dollars a year to roll out its program across Orange County; it’s applying for a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to help with funding. The money will be used for education programs for pedestrians, drivers and law enforcement officers, and low cost road improvements.

Meanwhile the city of Orlando is also trying to make the environment safer for pedestrians. Currently it’s halfway through a 4 million dollar, federally funded program to add 18 miles of sidewalks to city streets.

 

 

Dragon on a barge after splashdown in the Pacific (Photo Courtesy of SpaceX)

(Orlando, FL -- WMFE) With the splashdown of a privately owned unmanned space capsule Thursday and a successful weeklong demonstration visit to the International Space Station, the company that built the craft is hoping the mission leads to regular resupply flights for NASA.

SpaceX hopes to get the green light from NASA to launch its first supply mission to the ISS  later this summer.

Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, nine  days after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. CEO Elon Musk said he was relieved to see the Dragon’s parachutes pop open, guiding the scorched capsule to its target a few hundred miles off the California coast, knowing the mission had been a success.

Musk described the test flight as like a “grand slam.”

“I almost feel like it’s more success than we had a reasonable right to expect, so I hope we’re able to repeat it,” said Musk.

“That’s going to be our focus is making sure that we repeat it well in future flights.”

Musk acknowledged his company would not have gotten this far without NASA’s help.

NASA’s commercial crew and cargo program manager Alan Lindenmoyer said after a final mission report comes back in a few weeks, SpaceX should be well on the way to starting services.

Falcon 9 Rocket test firing engines on April 30, 2012. (Photo courtesy of SpaceX)

(Orlando, Fla. -- WMFE) A launch abort has delayed the first attempt by a private company to fly a spacecraft to the International Space Station. A potential engine problem was detected moments before lift off.

With good weather and the International Space Station in position over Florida, the launch was in its final countdown.

But after a rumble and a brief flash of fire, the Dragon capsule atop its Falcon 9 rocket remained on the pad at Cape Canaveral.

Half a second before lift-off, a computer detected high chamber pressure in one of the rocket’s nine engines, forcing a shut down.

Technicians will examine the engine to try and find out what went wrong.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell says they'll try to fix the engine, but another option could be to replace the faulty engine with another one.

The next opportunity for launch is early Tuesday morning.

Late Saturday SpaceX said engineers had discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine.

Company spokesperson Kirstin Brost Grantham said they hoped to have the valve replaced by Saturday night.

Amtrak's Orlando station (photo by Matthew Peddie)

(Orlando, FLA -- WMFE) The company that wants to begin a privately funded passenger rail service from Orlando to Miami says it expects to get millions of drivers out of their cars and riding the rails once it starts rolling.

Florida East Coast Industries executives are meeting with local authorities as they decide on the exact route of the service.

If the rail service starts as planned in 2014, it's expected to improve connections to regional transportation hubs in Central Florida.

FECI traces its roots back to Henry Flagler, one of the wealthy industrialists who created a network of railways and hotels throughout the state from the late 1800s.

The company already owns 200 miles of track needed for the route- it says it will cost a billion dollars to build the final 40 miles between Cocoa and Orlando, and modify the existing freight track to accommodate the new service, called All Aboard Florida.

Proposed route for a new intercity passenger rail service (Image courtesy of All Aboard Florida)

Spokesperson Christine Barney says there’s an appetite for intercity rail in Florida, but the failed high-speed rail project between Tampa and Orlando shows tax payers don't want to bear the risk.

This service isn't billed as high speed rail, but it would hit speeds of 100 miles per hour and more, allowing it to make the trip from Orlando to Miami in about 3 hours.

Barney says the company is confident it will get the funding it needs to start in 2 years time.

“We’re already looking at selecting the operators, picking the actual trains, you know, we’re moving very quickly," she says.

"We understand that if the project is going to move forward things have to happen quickly, but we think that’s a reasonable expectation.”

Barney says for the service to be a success, it has to run frequently.

"If you think about the successful rail corridors like in the North East, you can go from New York to Washington, and if you get to the station at 10.15, you've missed your 10, but there's another train at 11," says Barney.

She says the aim is to have between 12 and 14 trains running every day.

That could mean up to 3 million fewer cars on the road, but Barney admits it may be a challenge getting drivers to change their habits.

“It is going to be a learned behavior because people haven’t had this option before. But our initial studies indicate that there are enough people that don’t like the delays that occur, the traffic that occurs, the cost, wear and tear on cars, gas, and the difficulties of driving.”

The train will stop in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and Barney says there could also be the potential to link up to airports and seaports, including Port Canaveral and Orlando International Airport.

Stan Thornton, project Liaison Manager for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, says the airport is ready to connect to rail- whether it's the SunRail commuter train set to start rolling in 2014, light rail, or an intercity service.

"We've always had rail in our master planning," says Thornton.

"When high speed rail was getting serious we went ahead and laid out how some of the different types of rail would get into here."

Thornton says the airport is talking to Florida East Coast Industries about their plans.

He says the proposed rail service could increase passenger traffic by giving people better connections to the airport.

“People have a tendency of how far they’ll drive before they’ll fly. We have people who come down from Jacksonville, we know that from our garage traffic, so it’s what we call a catchment area and we think that could increase by up to 50 per cent.”

A private company could soon be competing with Amtrak for these passengers (photo by Matthew Peddie)

All Aboard Florida is not the only passenger rail service that could be rolling on the east coast. Amtrak, which already has an inland service running from Jacksonville to Miami twice a day in both directions,  is also exploring another service along on the same stretch of track. Amtrak has a ridership study underway, but no date on when that will be finished.

Florida East Coast Industries says Amtrak and All Aboard could both use the track without any conflict.

The company says it will have a better idea of the final route of the train and the timeline for completion once ridership, engineering and environmental studies are finished in the next few months.

Bigelow's Genesis II Space Habitat, launched in 2007 (Photo Courtesy of Bigelow Aerospace)

The private space companies Space Exploration Technologies and Bigelow Aerospace are planning to offer rides to international customers to private space stations.

The California based SpaceX is developing a reusable space craft and rocket, while Bigelow, which has offices and manufacturing plants in Nevada and Maryland, is working on an expandable space station which it says will be lighter and cheaper than rigid metallic structures traditionally used in space station design.  Bigelow's  BA330 habitat will be able to support a crew of six, and the company says it could be used by national space agencies, private companies and universities.

Mike Gold, Bigelow's Director of DC operations and business growth, says the plan is to lease space on the station much like a lease on a terrestrial building.

"Too often we treat space as something absolutely unique or different," says Gold.

"The business principles we've used here on earth for centuries apply just as well to space, and we're looking forward to bringing traditional business practices to space."

Gold says it's too early to tell what it would cost to lease one of the company's private space stations. "Until we know exactly what the cost of the rockets and the capsules we use for transportation are, I wouldn't want to say what the pricing will be."

Bigelow and SpaceX plan to begin a marketing campaign in Asia. Company representatives will travel to Japan to meet with officials after the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, which is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station on May 19th.

The Dragon capsule packed with cargo for the mission is designed to eventually carry astronauts into orbit. As part of its commercial crew program, NASA is providing funding and technical expertise to help  SpaceX develop its rocket and capsule.

The launch has been delayed several times while technicians work to refine computer software for the mission.

During the mission, the  space capsule will complete a series of maneuvers including docking with the ISS before returning to earth.

Bigelow's Mike Gold says he'll be watching the mission closely.

"There will certainly be a lot politically that occurs from this launch in terms of how much funding the commercial crew program receives, and therefore how quickly we can move forward with our own business plan."

Gold says he believes there could soon be a commercial station in orbit along with the International Space Station.

 

 

Dragon Space Capsule (Photo CC by Flickr user nsub1)

The first commercial spacecraft to perform a mission to the International Space Station is set to launch on May 19th. Commercial space company SpaceX announced on Friday the new launch date for its Dragon space capsule.

The capsule atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket was due to lift off from Cape Canaveral next Monday, but the launch was delayed to allow more work to be done on computer software for the mission.

The aim of the mission is to blast the Dragon capsule loaded with cargo into low-earth orbit before docking it with the International Space Station.

SpaceX spokesperson Kirstin Brost Grantham said Friday the company and NASA have nearly finished the software assurance process. “So far no issues have been uncovered during this process, but with a mission of this complexity, we want to be extremely diligent,” she said.

The backup date for the launch is May 22nd.

ITN driver John McCallister helps a client (photo courtesty of the Independent Transportation Network, Orlando)

(Orlando, FL -- WMFE) With more than three million residents over the age of 65, Florida's population has the highest proportion of senior citizens of any state in the US. One challenge facing many of Florida's seniors is how to get out and about once they can no longer drive.

In Orlando, some 300 seniors subscribe to the Independent Transportation Network private non-profit car service. Bea Chernok uses ITN a couple of times a week, for everything from doctors visits to social excursions.

"Last week, on a Sunday, they took me down to the Carr Auditorium, I saw an opera, they picked me up, and I wasn’t afraid," she says.

Chernok says ordinarily she wouldn't go out at night, but she feels safe with the ITN drivers, like John McCallister.

McCallister started volunteering after he retired about three years ago.

"Since then I’ve driven about 30 thousand miles," he says. "After three and a half years of picking up the same people every week, boy, you become family.”

Hospitals are a major destination for ITN drivers according to executive director Kimber Threet.

"Obviously when you’re offering this type of service and our target market is seniors, they typically have a need for medical services," Threet says.

"We’ve included all of the medical buildings especially down on Orange Avenue here in Orlando. That’s where all of your main hotspots are.”

Starting in 2014, seniors will have more transportation options in the medical corridor. They’ll be able to take advantage of the SunRail commuter train stop at Florida Hospital on North Orange. Taxis are also part of the transportation mix for seniors, but Threet says the shorter trips that many ITN clients take aren't always financially attractive to cab drivers.

ITN's average trip length is three and a half miles, which costs the rider about nine dollars. There’s also a 60 dollar annual membership fee.

That’s too expensive for some, but public mass transit does provide an alternative. Central Florida’s Lynx bus service operates a fleet of minivans and cars for its Access Lynx door to door service. More than 11 thousand people- not just seniors- use it, but director Bill Hearndon admits Access Lynx isn’t perfect.

“We’re out there traveling in the same congestion as everyone else is. If there’s an accident on I-4, our day’s shot," he says.

"If it rains, traffic tie ups happen through out the service area and our on-time performance is down the drain."

Still, Hearndon says for some customers, Access Lynx provides the only social interaction they get.

"We have customers who if it weren’t for our service, would be stuck at home, would be shut in."

Hearndon says there isn’t enough money to meet demand for the door to door service. Access Lynx already turns down 2,000 applicants each year.

"Lynx doesn’t have a dedicated funding source. So every year we literally have to go begging for funding,” he says.

That leaves churches, synagogues, mosques and other community organizations working to help fill a growing transportation need. Pegge Stickel organizes a car service with close to a hundred volunteer drivers at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Winter Park.

Stickel's volunteer model doesn’t require regular commitment from drivers. She says it’s so successful 13 other faith communities in Orlando have adopted it. But she worries people can rely too much on the work of volunteers.

“When the city can’t, when the county can’t, when the federal government can’t, when the private, non-profits can’t, they turn to the faith communities, and then unfortunately we become overwhelmed with the burden of responsibility,” says Stickel.

Voluntary organizations are under pressure, and public mass transit and private non-profit car services also face a funding squeeze. However, advocates for the elderly agree more time and money needs to be invested to help seniors stay mobile.