NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.
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The Goldstone Solar System Radar, part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, made these observations of the recently discovered 500-foot-wide (150-meter-wide) asteroid 2024 MK, which made its closest approach — within about 184,000 miles (295,000 kilometers) of Earth — on June 29.NASA/JPL-Caltech The Deep Space Network’s Goldstone planetary radar had a busy few days observing asteroids 2024 MK and 2011 UL21 as they safely passed Earth. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently tracked two asteroids as they flew by our planet. One turned out to have a little moon orbiting it, while the other had been discovered only 13 days before its clo…
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It may seem remarkable that no American spent the Fourth of July holiday in space for the first 21 years of human spaceflight. Not until 1982 and the 35th U.S. human spaceflight did Americans awaken in space on Independence Day, and then bring their spacecraft back to Earth later in the day to a rousing welcome by the President of the United States. Another 10 years elapsed before more Americans found themselves in orbit on July 4. But as flight rates and crew sizes increased, and as Americans began living and working aboard space stations, spending the holiday in orbit turned into an annual event, celebrated with crew members from other nations. Through 2024, 73 American…
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The first CHAPEA mission crew members who have been living and working inside NASA’s first simulated yearlong Mars habitat mission are set to exit their ground-based home on Saturday, July 6. The four volunteers who have been living and working inside NASA’s first simulated yearlong Mars habitat mission are set to exit their ground-based home on Saturday, July 6. NASA will provide live coverage of the crew’s exit from the habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 5 p.m. EDT. NASA will stream the activity, which will include a short welcome ceremony, on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency’s website, and NASA Johnson’s X and Facebook accounts.…
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Credits: NASA NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) mission. The firm-fixed-price contract has a value of approximately $69 million, which includes launch services and other mission related costs. The COSI mission currently is targeted to launch August 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This wide-field gamma-ray telescope will study energetic phenomena in the Milky Way and beyond, including the creation and destruction of matter and antimatter and the final stages of the lives of stars. NASA’s …
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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s ECOSTRESS instrument on June 19 recorded scorching roads and sidewalks across Phoenix where contact with skin could cause serious burns in minutes to seconds, as indicated in the legend above. NASA/JPL-Caltech Roads and sidewalks in some areas get so hot that skin contact could result in second-degree burns. Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have mapped scorching pavement in Phoenix where contact with skin — from a fall, for example — can cause serious burns. The image shows land surface temperatures across a grid of roads and adjacent sidewal…
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NASA/Matthew Dominick NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this image of Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean on July 1, 2024, while aboard the International Space Station, and posted it to X. The Category 4 hurricane had winds of about 130 mph (215 kph). Hurricanes – tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific ocean – use warm, moist air as fuel. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface, causing an area of lower air pressure below. Air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes into the low pressure area. Then that “new” air becomes warm and moist and rises, too. As the warm air continues to ri…
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6 Min Read Lagniappe for July 2024 Explore the July 2024 issue, featuring NASA Stennis Achieves Primary Success for Historic In-Space Mission, NASA at the Mississippi Comic Convention, NASA Stennis Take Our Children to Work Day, and more! Explore Lagniappe for July 2024 featuring: NASA Stennis Achieves Primary Success for Historic In-Space Mission Mississippi Comic Convention Experiences NASA NASA Stennis Hosts Take Our Children to Work Day Gator Speaks Conversations filled the room with anticipation for the day ahead. NASA’s S…
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Chris Barnett-Woods is shown at the E-1 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where NASA Stennis accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space and innovates to benefit NASA and industry.NASA/Danny Nowlin Chris Barnett-Woods’ favorite movie growing up – Back to the Future – led him to dream of one day building a DeLorean automobile. Instead, the electrical engineer is doing something never imagined as he helps NASA support the commercialization of space for the benefit of all. “If there is any interest, always apply to work at a place like NASA because you never know where it will take you,” said Barnett-Woods, who is…
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Xinchuan Huang Let’s start with your childhood, where you were born, where you’re from, your young years, your family at the time, what your parents did, and how early it was in your life that you decided you’d like to pursue a career like the one you’re pursuing now? I was born in a small town in Sichuan, China. It is not far from the famous Emei Mountain, and the beautiful Qingyi river runs through it. At the beginning, I lived with my grandmother’s family in a small village on the riverbank, called “Pond in heaven”. After I left there at four years old, I lived with my parents in Sichuan and Xinjiang provinces, alternatively, as my parents had been working ap…
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NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and the Starliner spacecraft (Credits: NASA). Media are invited to hear from NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts discussing their mission during an Earth to space call at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, July 10. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will participate in the news conference from aboard the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. NASA will stream the event on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV…
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What to Look for in July The scorpion’s star clusters, and Mars reveals elusive Uranus Follow the tail of Scorpius to locate star clusters M6 and M7, let Mars guide you to observe planet Uranus, and see the Moon gather a group of planets in the morning. Highlights All month – Two easy-to-spot star clusters – M7, aka Ptolemy’s Cluster, and M6, the Butterfly Cluster – are both located about 5 degrees east of the the bright stars that mark the “stinger” end of the scorpion’s tail. They reach their highest point in the sky around 10 or 11 pm local time. July 2 & 3 – The crescent Moon will join Jupiter and Mars in the east before sunrise. Looking for them before the sk…
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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept depicts an asteroid drifting through space. Many such objects frequently pass Earth. To help prepare for the discovery of one with a chance of impacting our planet, NASA leads regular exercises to figure out how the international community could respond to such a threat.NASA/JPL-Caltech The fifth Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise focused on an asteroid impact scenario designed by NASA JPL’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies. A large asteroid impacting Earth is highly unlikely for the foreseeable future. But because the damage from such an event cou…
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4 Min Read NASA’s Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). The colors within this mid-infrared image reveal details about the central protostar’s behavior. The cosmos seems to come alive with a crackling explosion of pyrotechnics in this new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Taken with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), this fiery hourglass marks the scene of a very young object in the process of becoming a star. A central protostar grows in the neck of the hourglass, accumulating material from a thin protoplaneta…
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NASA astronaut Mike Barratt processes brain organoid samples inside the life science glovebox for a neurodegenerative disorder study. NASA plans to use future commercial low Earth orbit destinations for the continuation of scientific research.NASA NASA hosted a meeting to share knowledge with companies developing future commercial destinations at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The discussion could aid in developing safe, reliable, innovative, and cost-effective space stations. Industry representatives from more than 20 companies attended. The program focused on NASA’s planned use of commercial destinations, draft utilization requirements, and the payl…
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Bente Eegholm is an optical engineer working to ensure missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope have stellar vision. When it launches by May 2027, the Roman mission will shed light on many astrophysics topics, like dark energy, which are currently shrouded in mystery. Bente’s past work has included Earth-observing missions and the James Webb Space Telescope. Name: Bente Eegholm Title: Goddard Optics Lead for Roman Space Telescope OTA (Optical Telescope Assembly) Formal Job Classification: Optical Engineer Organization: Optics Branch (Code 551) Bente Eegholm stands by the NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s primary mirror at L3Harris in Rochester, …
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NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory Project Engineer Travis Martin monitors successful data delivery from the center’s ASTRA payload aboard the orbiting Sidus Space LizzieSat-1 satellite. The ASTRA autonomous systems hardware/software payload represents the first-ever in-space mission for NASA Stennis. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA’s Stennis Space Center and partner Sidus Space Inc. announced primary mission success July 2 for the center’s historic in-space mission – an autonomous systems payload aboard an orbiting satellite. “Our ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) payload is active and operational,” NASA Stennis Center Director John …
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Four dedicated explorers—Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi, and Piyumi Wijesekara—just returned from a 45-day simulated journey to Mars, testing the boundaries of human endurance and teamwork within NASA’s HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their groundbreaking work on HERA’s Campaign 7 Mission 2 contributes to NASA’s efforts to study how future astronauts may react to isolation and confinement during deep-space journeys. NASA’s HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) Campaign 7 Mission 2 crew members outside the analog environment on June 24, 2024. From left: Piyumi Wijesekara, Shareef Al Romaithi, Ja…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 5 min read Sols 4232-4233: Going For a Ride, Anyone? This image shows some of the sand ripples we spot all around the rover between the rocks. It was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mar…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read Sols 4229-4231: More Analyses of the Mammoth Lakes 2 Sample! The inlet into to the SAM instrument open and awaiting sample delivery. This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard…
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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Moving across a background of stars, the six red dots in this composite picture indicate the location of six sequential detections of the first near-Earth object discovered by NEOWISE after the spacecraft came out of hibernation in 2013: the asteroid 2013 YP139. The inset shows a zoomed-in view of one of the detections.NASA/JPL-Caltech Observed by NASA’s WISE mission, this image shows the entire sky seen in infrared light. Running through the center of the image and seen predominantly in cy…
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NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft captured this last “eyeful” of Saturn and its rings on March 27, 2004, as it continued its way to orbit insertion. This natural color image shows the color variations between atmospheric bands and features in the southern hemisphere of Saturn, subtle color differences across the planet’s middle B ring, as well as a bright blue sliver of light in the northern hemisphere – sunlight passing through the Cassini Division in Saturn’s rings and being scattered by the cloud-free upper atmosphere. Cassini-Huygens, at 12,593 pounds one of the heaviest planetary probes ever, was launched on Oct. 15, 1997, on a Tit…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NAS visualization & data sciences lead Chris Henze demonstrates the newly upgraded hyperwall visualization system to Ames center director Eugene Tu, deputy center director David Korsmeyer, and High-End Computing Capability manager William Thigpen.NASA/Brandon Torres Navarette In May, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, located at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, celebrated the newest generation of its hyperwall system, a wall of LCD screens that display supercomputer-scale visualizations of the very large datasets produced by NASA supercomputers a…
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A photo of MPLAN principal investigator awardees from various minority-serving institutions at the 2023 NASA Better Together conference in San Jose, California.Credits: NASA NASA has selected 23 minority-serving institutions to receive $1.2 million to grow their research and technology capabilities, collaborate on research projects, and contribute to the agency’s missions for the benefit of humanity. Through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) award, selected institutions will receive up to $50,000 each for a six-month period to work directly on STEM projects with subject matter experts i…
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9 Min Read Behind the Scenes of a NASA ‘Moonwalk’ in the Arizona Desert NASA astronauts Kate Rubins (left) and Andre Douglas. Credits: NASA/Josh Valcarcel NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas recently performed four moonwalk simulations to help NASA prepare for its Artemis III mission. Due to launch in September 2026, Artemis III will land two, yet-to-be-selected, astronauts at the Moon’s South Pole for the first time. Traveling to space requires immense preparation, not just for the astronauts, but for the hundreds of people who work in the background. That’s why Earth-based simulations are key. They allow s…
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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft approaches the International Space Station. Cygnus will deliver science experiments, crew supplies, and station hardware (Credits: NASA). Media accreditation is open for the next launch to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This launch is the 21st Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for the agency and will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting early August to launch the Cygnus spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following …
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