NASA

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Technicians at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, lower Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) onto a stand in the cleanroom.Thales Alenia Space When NASA’s Artemis IV astronauts journey to the Moon, they will make the inaugural visit to Gateway, humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit. Shown here, technicians carefully guide HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost)—a foundational element of Gateway—onto a stand in the cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The element’s intricate structure, designed to support astronauts and science in lunar orbit, has entered the cleanroom after successfully completing a series of rigorous environmental stress tests. In the cleanroom, technicians will make final installations before preparing the module for transport to the United States, a key milestone on its path to launch. This process includes installing and testing valves and hatches, performing leak checks, and integrating external secondary structures. Once these steps are finished, the module will be packaged for shipment to Gilbert, Arizona, where Northrop Grumman will complete its outfitting. Technicians at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, oversee the HALO module’s transfer to the cleanroom.Thales Alenia Space As one of Gateway’s four pressurized modules, HALO will provide Artemis astronauts with space to live, work, conduct scientific research, and prepare for missions to the lunar surface. The module will also support internal and external science payloads, including a space weather instrument suite attached via a Canadian Space Agency Small Orbital Replacement Unit Robotic Interface, host the Lunar Link communications system developed by European Space Agency, and offer docking ports for visiting vehicles, including lunar landers and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Developed in collaboration with industry and international partners, Gateway is a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis campaign to advance science and exploration on and around the Moon in preparation for the next giant leap: the first human missions to Mars. Learn More About Gateway Facebook logo @NASAGateway @NASA_Gateway Instagram logo @nasaartemis Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 ContactLaura RochonLocationJohnson Space Center Related TermsArtemisArtemis 4Earth's MoonExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateGateway ProgramGateway Space StationHumans in SpaceJohnson Space Center Explore More 2 min read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust during Artemis missions, NASA is developing… Article 3 weeks ago 2 min read Gateway Tops Off Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element is now equipped with its xenon and liquid fuel tanks. Article 3 months ago 2 min read Gateway: Life in a Lunar Module Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Humans In Space Orion Spacecraft Human Landing System Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility View the full article

On Feb. 11, 2000, space shuttle Endeavour took to the skies on its 14th trip into space on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The international STS-99 crew included Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele of Germany representing the European Space Agency, Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, who served as payload commander on the mission, and Mamoru Mohri of the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan, now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. During their 11-day mission, the astronauts used the radar instruments in Endeavour’s payload bay to obtain elevation data on a near global scale. The data produced the most complete, high-resolution digital elevation model of the Earth. The SRTM comprised a cooperative effort among NASA with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, managing the project, the Department of Defense’s National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the German space agency, and the Italian space agency. Prior to SRTM, scientists had a more detailed topographic map of Venus than of the Earth, thanks to the Magellan radar mapping mission. The STS-99 crew patch. Official photo of the STS-99 crew of Janice Voss, left, Mamoru Mohri of the National Space Development Agency of Japan, now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kevin Kregel, Dominic Gorie, Gerhard Thiele of Germany representing the European Space Agency, and Janet Kavandi. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission patch. Schematic of the Space Radar Topography Mission payloads including the deployed mast. The mast antenna during preflight processing. NASA assigned the STS-99 crew in October 1998. For Kregel, selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1992, STS-99 marked his fourth trip to space, having served as pilot on STS-70 and STS-78 and commanded STS-87. Gorie and Kavandi, both selected in 1994, previously flew together as pilot and mission specialist, respectively, on STS-91, the final Shuttle Mir docking mission. Voss, selected in 1990, served as a mission specialist on STS-57 and STS-63, and as payload commander on STS-83 and STS-94. NASDA selected Mohri as an astronaut in 1985 and he previously flew as a payload specialist on STS-47, the Spacelab-J mission. Selected as an astronaut by the German space agency in 1987, Thiele joined the European Astronaut Corps in 1998, completing his first spaceflight on STS-99. The SRTM used an innovative technique called radar interferometry to image the Earth’s landmasses at resolutions up to 30 times greater than previously achieved. Two of the synthetic aperture radar instruments comprising the SRTM payload had flown previously, on the STS-59 Shuttle Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1) and the STS-68 SRL-2 missions in April and October 1994, respectively. A second receiver antenna, placed at the end of a 200-foot deployable mast, enabled the interferometry during SRTM. The SRTM payload in Endeavour’s cargo bay in the orbiter processing facility. Endeavour rolls out to Launch Pad 39A. The STS-99 crew walks out of crew quarters for the van ride to the launch pad. Workers rolled Endeavour to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Dec. 2 for mating with its external tank and solid rocket boosters, and then out to Launch Pad 39A on Dec. 13. The astronauts traveled to Kennedy to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test Jan. 11-14, returning afterwards to Houston for final training. They traveled back to Kennedy on Jan. 27 for the first launch attempt four days later. After two launch attempts, the STS-99 mission prepared to liftoff on Feb. 11, 2000. Liftoff! Space shuttle Endeavour takes to the skies to begin the STS-99 mission. At 12:43 p.m. EST, Endeavour thundered into the sky from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A to begin the STS-99 mission. Thirty-seven minutes later, a brief firing of the orbiter’s two engines placed Endeavour in the proper 145-mile orbit for the radar scanning. The SRTM instruments in Endeavour’s payload bay with the mast holding the second antenna receiver deployed at right. The antenna at the end of the deployed mast. STS-99 astronauts Janet Kavandi, left, Dominic Gorie, and Mamoru Mohri in Endeavour’s middeck. Astronaut Janice Voss in the commander’s seat on Endeavour’s flight deck. Astronauts Kevin Kregel, left, and Gerhard Thiele on Endeavour’s flight deck. Shortly after reaching orbit, the crew opened the payload bay doors and deployed the shuttle’s radiators. Kavandi and Thiele turned on the instruments, deployed the 200-foot mast, and conducted initial checkouts of the radars. The crew split into two shifts to enable data collection around the clock during the mission. After overseeing the initial activation of the radars, the red shift of Kregel, Kavandi, and Thiele began their first sleep period as the blue shift of Gorie, Voss, and Mohri picked up with activation and began the first data takes. The major crew activity for SRTM involved changing tapes every 30 minutes. The SRTM generated 332 high density tapes during more than 222 hours of data collection and these recordings covered 99.96 percent of the planned observations. Data collection finished on the mission’s 10th flight day, after which the astronauts reeled the mast back into its container in the payload bay. EarthKAM image of the greater Boston area. The EarthKAM camera mounted in a space shuttle window. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of the Galapagos Islands. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of the greater New York area. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of Erg Chech, or sand sea, in the Algerian Sahara. NASA’s EarthKAM program enabled middle school students to remotely take photographs of the Earth using an electronic still camera mounted in one of the shuttle’s windows. The University of California at San Diego houses the control center for EarthKAM, linked with middle schools via the Internet. Students choose Earth targets of interest, and the camera takes photos of that region as the shuttle passes overhead. A then-record 75 schools from around the world participated in the EarthKAM project on STS-99, the camera returning 2,715 images of the Earth. The STS-99 astronauts also spent time taking photographs of the Earth using handheld cameras and the high inclination orbit enabled views of some parts of the Earth rarely seen by shuttle astronauts. The six-person STS-99 crew pose for their inflight photo. Kevin Kregel guides Endeavour to a smooth touchdown on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-99 crew poses with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin under Endeavour at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Kevin Kregel addresses the crowd at Houston’s Ellington Field during the welcome home ceremony for the STS-99 crew. On Feb. 22, the crew closed Endeavour’s payload bay doors, donned their launch and entry suits, and strapped themselves into their seats for entry and landing. Kregel piloted Endeavour to a smooth landing on Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility. The crew had flown 181 orbits around the Earth in 11 days, 5 hours, and 39 minutes. Enjoy the crew narrate a video about the STS-99 mission. Postscript Final coverage map for the SIR-C radar, indicating 99.96 percent coverage of planned land mass targets, with many areas imaged more than once. False-color image generated from SRTM data of the island of Oahu. False-color image generated from SRTM data of Mt. Cotopaxi in Ecuador, the tallest active volcano in the world. During the 11-day mission, SRTM collected more than one trillion data points, generating 12.3 terabytes of 3-D data of the Earth. Earnest Paylor, SRTM program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., called the mission “a magnificent accomplishment.” He cited that SRTM imaged by radar equatorial regions of the Earth previously unmapped due to constant cloud cover. Explore More 12 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-68 The Second Space Radar Lab Mission Article 5 months ago 22 min read 35 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 13th Group of Astronauts Article 4 weeks ago 17 min read 30 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 15th Group of Astronauts Article 2 months ago View the full article

Artistic rendering of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander on the surface of the Moon.Credit: Intuitive Machines NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is preparing to explore the Moon’s subsurface and analyze where lunar resources may reside. The experiment’s two key instruments will demonstrate our ability to extract and analyze lunar soil to better understand the lunar environment and subsurface resources, paving the way for sustainable human exploration under the agency’s Artemis campaign for the benefit of all. Its two instruments will work in tandem: The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains (TRIDENT) will drill into the Moon’s surface to collect samples, while the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) will analyze these samples to determine the gas composition released across the sampling depth. The PRIME-1 technology will provide valuable data to help us better understand the Moon’s surface and how to work with and on it. “The ability to drill and analyze samples at the same time allows us to gather insights that will shape the future of lunar resource utilization,” said Jackie Quinn, PRIME-1 project manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Human exploration of the Moon and deep space will depend on making good use of local resources to produce life-sustaining supplies necessary to live and work on another planetary body.” The PRIME-1 experiment is one of the NASA payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26, on Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander and explore the lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. Developed by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin Company, TRIDENT is a rotary percussive drill designed to excavate lunar regolith and subsurface material up to 3.3 feet (1 meter) deep. The drill will extract samples, each about 4 inches (10 cm) in length, allowing scientists to analyze how trapped and frozen gases are distributed at different depths below the surface. The TRIDENT drill is equipped with carbide cutting teeth to penetrate even the toughest lunar materials. Unlike previous lunar drills used by astronauts during the Apollo missions, TRIDENT will be controlled from Earth. The drill may provide key information about subsurface soil temperatures as well as gain key insight into the mechanical properties of the lunar South Pole soil. Learning more about regolith temperatures and properties will greatly improve our understanding of the environments where lunar resources may be stable, revealing what resources may be available for future Moon missions. A commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer, MSOLO, developed by INFICON and made suitable for spaceflight at Kennedy, will analyze any gas released from the TRIDENT drilled samples, looking for the potential presence of water ice and other gases trapped beneath the surface. These measurements will help scientists understand the Moon’s potential for resource utilization. Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA is one of many customers on future flights. PRIME-1 was funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Game Changing Development program. Learn more about CLPS and Artemis at: https://www.nasa.gov/clps View the full article

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a seasonal imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds. A new campaign in January 2025 led to Curiosity capturing this video of red- and green-tinged clouds drifting through the Martian sky. Learn more about iridescent twilight clouds on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS View the full article

The cover of Spinoff 2025, NASA’s annual publication that chronicles commercial products born from space technology, is a detailed view of the lunar surface captured by cameras on the Orion spacecraft on a close approach of the Moon during the Artemis I mission.Credit: NASA The latest edition of NASA’s Spinoff publication, which highlights the successful transfer of agency technology to the commercial sector, is now available online. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported crew working in low Earth orbit to learn about the space environment and perform research to advance deep space exploration. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have learned a wealth of lessons and tried out a host of new technologies. This work leads to ongoing innovations benefiting people on Earth that are featured in NASA’s annual publication. “The work we do in space has resulted in navigational technologies, lifesaving medical advancements, and enhanced software systems that continue to benefit our lives on Earth,” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Technologies developed today don’t just make life on our home planet easier – they pave the way to a sustained presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.” The Spinoff 2025 publication features more than 40 commercial infusions of NASA technologies including: A platform enabling commercial industry to perform science on the space station, including the growth of higher-quality human heart tissue, knee cartilage, and pharmaceutical crystals that can be grown on Earth to develop new medical treatments. An electrostatic sprayer technology to water plants without the help of gravity and now used in sanitation, agriculture, and food safety. “Antigravity” treadmills helping people with a variety of conditions run or walk for exercise, stemming from efforts to improve astronauts’ fitness in the weightlessness of space. Nutritional supplements originally intended to keep astronauts fit and mitigate the health hazards of a long stay in space. As NASA continues advancing technology and research in low Earth orbit to establish a sustained presence at the Moon, upcoming lunar missions are already spinning off technologies on Earth. For example, Spinoff 2025 features a company that invented technology for 3D printing buildings on the Moon that is now using it to print large structures on Earth. Another group of researchers studying how to grow lunar buildings from fungus is now selling specially grown mushrooms and plans to build homes on Earth using the same concept. Spinoffs produce innovative technologies with commercial applications for the benefit of all. Other highlights of Spinoff 2025 include quality control on assembly lines inspired by artificial intelligence developed to help rovers navigate Mars, innovations in origami based on math for lasers and optical computing, and companies that will help lead the way to hydrogen-based energy building on NASA’s foundation of using liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel. “I’ve learned it’s almost impossible to predict where space technology will find an application in the commercial market,” said Dan Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “One thing I can say for sure, though, is NASA’s technology will continue to spin off, because it’s our goal to advance our missions and bolster the American economy.” This publication also features 20 technologies available for licensing with the potential for commercialization. Check out the “Spinoffs of Tomorrow” section to learn more. Spinoff is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program. Tech Transfer is charged with finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technology through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring agency investments benefit the nation and the world. To read the latest issue of Spinoff, visit: https://spinoff.nasa.gov -end- Jasmine Hopkins Headquarters, Washington 321-431-4624 jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 12, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA Centers & FacilitiesAmes Research CenterArmstrong Flight Research CenterGlenn Research CenterGoddard Institute for Space StudiesGoddard Space Flight CenterJet Propulsion LaboratoryJohnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterLangley Research CenterMarshall Space Flight CenterNASA HeadquartersSpace Technology Mission DirectorateSpinoffsStennis Space CenterTechnology TransferTechnology Transfer & Spinoffs View the full article

On Feb. 8, 2010, space shuttle Endeavour began its 24th trip into space, on the 20A assembly mission to the International Space Station, the 32nd shuttle flight to the orbiting lab. The STS-130 crew included Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick, and Robert Behnken. During the nearly 14-day mission, they worked jointly with the five-person Expedition 22 crew during nearly 10 days of docked operations. The mission’s primary objectives included delivering the Tranquility module and the cupola to the space station, adding 21 tons of hardware to the facility. Behnken and Patrick conducted three spacewalks to aid in the installation of Tranquility. The STS-130 crew patch. Official photograph of the STS-130 crew of Nicholas Patrick, left, Terry Virts, Robert Behnken, Kathryn Hire, George Zamka, and Stephen Robinson. The International Space Station 20A assembly mission payload patch. In the Vertical Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers prepare to lift Endeavour to mate it with its external tank and solid rocket boosters. Space shuttle Endeavour rolls out of the assembly building for its journey to Launch Pad 39A. The STS-130 astronauts leave crew quarters for the ride to Launch Pad 39A. Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-130. Endeavour rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on Jan. 6, 2010, targeting a Feb. 7 launch. The crew arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 3 to prepare for launch. Inclement weather delayed the initial launch attempt by 24 hours. On Feb. 8, at 4:14 a.m. EST, space shuttle Endeavour lifted off, carrying its six-person crew. The flight marked Robinson’s fourth trip into space, previously serving as a mission specialist on STS-85, STS-95, and STS-114, Zamka’s, Hire’s, Patrick’s, and Behnken’s second time in space, having flown on STS-120, STS-90, STS-116, and STS-123, respectively, while Virts enjoyed his first taste of weightlessness. STS-130 Commander George Zamka, left, Mission Specialist Stephen Robinson, and Pilot Terry Virts on Endeavour’s flight deck on the mission’s first day in space. The shuttle robotic arm grasps the Orbiter Boom Sensor System for the wing leading edge inspection. Endeavour as seen from the space station during the rendezvous. View of the space station from Endeavour during the rendezvous. After reaching orbit, the astronauts opened the payload bay doors, deployed the shuttle’s radiators, and removed their bulky launch and entry suits, stowing them for the remainder of the flight. They spent six hours on their second day in space conducting a detailed inspection of Endeavour’s nose cap and wing leading edges, taking turns operating the shuttle remote manipulator system, or robotic arm, and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. On the mission’s third day, Zamka assisted by his crewmates brought Endeavour in for a docking with the space station. During the rendezvous, Zamka stopped the approach at 600 feet and completed a pitch maneuver so astronauts aboard the station could photograph Endeavour’s underside to look for any damage to the tiles. Zamka then manually guided Endeavour to a docking at the Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 attached to the Harmony module. After docking, the crews opened the hatches and the five-person station crew welcomed the six-member shuttle crew. Patrick and Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Timothy “T.J.” Creamer used the space station robotic arm to remove the inspection boom and hand it off to the shuttle arm operated by Hire and Virts. At the end of the day, Behnken and Partick entered the station’s airlock, reduced its pressure and breathed pure oxygen for an hour before and an hour after sleep to rid their bodies of nitrogen to prevent the bends. Transfer of the Tranquility and cupola modules from the space shuttle to the space station. Robert Behnken, left, and Nicholas Patrick during the mission’s first spacewalk. STS-130 astronauts Stephen Robinson, top left, and Terry Virts and Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in the newly installed Tranquility module. Nicholas Patrick, left, and Robert Behnken during the mission’s second spacewalk. The astronauts completed the major transfer activity of the mission on flight day five, a highly choreographed spacewalk and robotics effort to move the Tranquility and cupola modules from the shuttle to the station. Behnken and Patrick exited the airlock to begin the mission’s first excursion, first venturing to the shuttle payload bay to remove launch locks from Tranquility. Virts and Hire used the station arm to remove the joined modules from the payload bay and attach it to the Unity module’s port side. Behnken and Partick connected temporary heater and data cables to the new module. This first spacewalk lasted six hours 32 minutes. The next day, the joint crews began outfitting Tranquility and preparing to relocate the cupola from the end of the module to its Earth-facing port. On the mission’s seventh day, some of the astronauts continued outfitting and configuring the new modules. In the meantime, Behnken and Patrick stepped outside for a five-hour 54-minute excursion, to install ammonia coolant loops and thermal blankets to protect the ammonia hoses, and outfitted Tranquility’s Earth-facing port to accept the cupola. Relocation of the cupola to Tranquility’s Earth-facing port. Kathryn Hire, left, Terry Virts, and Expedition 22 Commander Jeffery Williams operate the space station’s robotic arm to relocate the cupola. During the mission’s third spacewalk, Nicholas Patrick, left, and Robert Behnken remove thermal blankets from the cupola. Terry Virts, left, and Jeffery Williams in the cupola after opening the windows for the first time. The next day, Hire and Virts, assisted by Expedition 22 Commander Jeffery Williams, used the station’s robotic arm to relocate the cupola. On flight day 9, Behnken and Patrick operated the station arm to relocate the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 from Harmony to Tranquility. The crews continued internal cargo transfers and began outfitting the cupola. On the mission’s 10th day, Patrick and Behnken completed their third and final spacewalk. During the five-hour 48-minute excursion, they removed thermal blankets and launch locks from the cupola, installed handrails, connected the second cooling loop on Tranquility, and connected heater and data cables. Inside the cupola, Hire and Virts installed the robotics workstation. Across their three spacewalks, Behnken and Patrick spent 18 hours 14 minutes outside. Stephen Robinson, left, Soichi Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Nicholas Patrick transfer an environmental control system rack into Tranquility. George Zamka cuts the ribbon to officially open Tranquility for business, as Jeffery Williams looks on. The 11 members of STS-130 and Expedition 22 pose for a final photograph before saying farewell. The STS-130 crew poses in the cupola. Fisheye lens view of the two crews enjoying a meal together. The crews spent flight day 11 outfitting Tranquility with systems racks and other equipment moved from the Destiny U.S. Laboratory module. Virts finished installing robotic workstation equipment in the Cupola. Behnken and Partick transferred their spacesuits back to the shuttle for return to Earth. The crew received a phone call from President Barack Obama and several schoolchildren. Zamka and Virts used the shuttle’s thrusters to reboost the space station. The next day, after holding a news conference with reporters on the ground, shuttle commander Zamka and station commander Williams held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally declare Tranquility and the cupola open for business. After a final meal together, the two crews held a farewell ceremony, returned to their respective spacecraft, and closed the hatches. The space station seen from Endeavour during the fly-around with the Tranquility and cupola modules. Endeavour as seen from the space station during the fly-around, with a now empty payload bay. Endeavour touches down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Workers ensure that Endeavour is safe after landing. The STS-130 astronauts pose on the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The welcome home ceremony for the STS-130 crew at Ellington Field in Houston. On flight day 13, with Virts at the controls, Endeavour undocked from the space station, having spent nearly 10 days as a single spacecraft. The astronauts used the shuttle’s arm and boom sensors to perform a late inspection of Endeavour’s thermal protection system. On flight day 14, Zamka and Virts tested the orbiter’s reaction control system thrusters and flight control surfaces in preparation for the next day’s entry and landing. On Feb. 22, Hire and Robinson closed Endeavour’s payload bay doors. The six astronauts donned their launch and entry suits and strapped themselves into their seats. Zamka and Virts fired Endeavour’s two Orbital Maneuvering System engines to bring them out of orbit and Zamka guided Endeavour to a smooth touchdown at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility. The landing capped off a successful mission of 13 days, 18 hours, six minutes and 217 orbits of the Earth. Workers at Kennedy towed Endeavour to the processing facility to prepare it for its next and final flight, STS-134 in May 2011, and the astronauts returned to Houston for a welcoming ceremony at Ellington Field. Watch the crew narrate a video about the STS-130 mission. Read More Explore More 10 min read 15 Years Ago: STS-129 Delivers Cargo on the Third Utilization and Logistics Flight Article 3 months ago 11 min read 15 Years Ago: STS-128 Delivers Cargo to Enable Six-Person Space Station Crew Article 6 months ago 13 min read 15 Years Ago: STS-127 Delivers Japanese External Platform to Space Station Article 7 months ago View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) We’ve been talking about this for 2,000 years. Aristotle mentions it. And in our own time, scientists are designing experiments to figure out exactly what’s going on. But there’s no consensus yet. Here’s what we do know. The atmosphere isn’t magnifying the Moon. If anything, atmospheric refraction squashes it a little bit. And the Moon’s not closer to us at the horizon. It’s about 1.5 percent farther away. Also, it isn’t just the Moon. Constellations look huge on the horizon, too. One popular idea is that this is a variation on the Ponzo illusion. Everything in our experience seems to shrink as it recedes toward the horizon — I mean clouds and planes and cars and ships. But the Moon doesn’t do that. So our minds make up a story to reconcile this inconsistency. Somehow the Moon gets bigger when it’s at the horizon. That’s one popular hypothesis, but there are others. And we’re still waiting for the experiment that will convince everyone that we understand this. So why does the Moon look larger on the horizon? We don’t really know, but scientists are still trying to figure it out. [END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT] Full Episode List Full YouTube Playlist Share Details Last Updated Feb 12, 2025 Related TermsGeneralEarth's MoonLunar SciencePlanetary ScienceScience & ResearchSkywatchingThe Solar System Explore More 4 min read NASA’s Mini Rover Team Is Packed for Lunar Journey Article 19 hours ago 1 min read Building Blocks for Enhanced Mission Execution Article 20 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures Colorful Clouds Drifting Over Mars Article 20 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand A bouquet of thousands of stars in bloom has arrived. This composite image contains the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus. By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and green) with optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow) and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (orange), this stellar arrangement comes alive. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand Otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Dor is located about 160,000 light-years away in a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Because it one of the brightest and populated star-forming regions to Earth, 30 Dor is a frequent target for scientists trying to learn more about how stars are born. With enough fuel to have powered the manufacturing of stars for at least 25 million years, 30 Dor is the most powerful stellar nursery in the local group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, the LMC, and the Andromeda galaxy. The massive young stars in 30 Dor send cosmically strong winds out into space. Along with the matter and energy ejected by stars that have previously exploded, these winds have carved out an eye-catching display of arcs, pillars, and bubbles. A dense cluster in the center of 30 Dor contains the most massive stars astronomers have ever found, each only about one to two million years old. (Our Sun is over a thousand times older with an age of about 5 billion years.) This new image includes the data from a large Chandra program that involved about 23 days of observing time, greatly exceeding the 1.3 days of observing that Chandra previously conducted on 30 Dor. The 3,615 X-ray sources detected by Chandra include a mixture of massive stars, double-star systems, bright stars that are still in the process of forming, and much smaller clusters of young stars. There is a large quantity of diffuse, hot gas seen in X-rays, arising from different sources including the winds of massive stars and from the gas expelled by supernova explosions. This data set will be the best available for the foreseeable future for studying diffuse X-ray emission in star-forming regions. The long observing time devoted to this cluster allows astronomers the ability to search for changes in the 30 Dor’s massive stars. Several of these stars are members of double star systems and their movements can be traced by the changes in X-ray brightness. A paper describing these results appears in the July 2024 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: https://www.nasa.gov/chandra https://chandra.si.edu Visual Description This release features a highly detailed composite image of a star-forming region of space known as 30 Doradus, shaped like a bouquet, or a maple leaf. 30 Doradus is a powerful stellar nursery. In 23 days of observation, the Chandra X-ray telescope revealed thousands of distinct star systems. Chandra data also revealed a diffuse X-ray glow from winds blowing off giant stars, and X-ray gas expelled by exploding stars, or supernovas. In this image, the X-ray wind and gas takes the shape of a massive purple and pink bouquet with an extended central flower, or perhaps a leaf from a maple tree. The hazy, mottled shape occupies much of the image, positioned just to our left of center, tilted slightly to our left. Inside the purple and pink gas and wind cloud are red and orange veins, and pockets of bright white light. The pockets of white light represent clusters of young stars. One cluster at the heart of 30 Doradus houses the most massive stars astronomers have ever found. The hazy purple and pink bouquet is surrounded by glowing dots of green, white, orange, and red. A second mottled purple cloud shape, which resembles a ring of smoke, sits in our lower righthand corner. News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu Lane Figueroa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov Explore More 4 min read NASA Successfully Joins Sunshade to Roman Observatory’s ‘Exoskeleton’ Article 20 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists Spot Candidate for Speediest Exoplanet System Article 2 days ago 5 min read Euclid Discovers Einstein Ring in Our Cosmic Backyard Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Why Does the Moon Look Larger at the Horizon? We Asked a NASA Expert

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission’s deployable aperture cover — a visor-like sunshade that will help prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope — to the outer barrel assembly, another structure designed to shield the telescope from stray light in addition to keeping it at a stable temperature. Technicians at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., recently integrated the deployable aperture cover to the outer barrel assembly for the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.NASA/Chris Gunn “It’s been incredible to see these major components go from computer models to building and now integrating them,” said Sheri Thorn, an aerospace engineer working on Roman’s sunshade at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Since it’s all coming together at Goddard, we get a front row seat to the process. We’ve seen it mature, kind of like watching a child grow up, and it’s a really gratifying experience.” The sunshade functions like a heavy-duty version of blackout curtains you might use to keep your room extra dark. It will make Roman more sensitive to faint light from across the universe, helping astronomers see dimmer and farther objects. Made of two layers of reinforced thermal blankets, the sunshade is designed to remain folded during launch and deploy after Roman is in space. Three booms will spring upward when triggered electronically, raising the sunshade like a page in a pop-up book. In this photo, technician Brenda Estavia is installing the innermost layer of the sunshade onto the deployable aperture cover structure of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. NASA/Jolearra Tshiteya The sunshade blanket has an inner and outer layer separated by about an inch, much like a double-paned window. “We’re prepared for micrometeoroid impacts that could occur in space, so the blanket is heavily fortified,” said Brian Simpson, Roman’s deployable aperture cover lead at NASA Goddard. “One layer is even reinforced with Kevlar, the same thing that lines bulletproof vests. By placing some space in between the layers we reduce the risk that light would leak in, because it’s unlikely that the light would pass through both layers at the exact same points where the holes were.” Over the course of a few hours, technicians meticulously joined the sunshade to the outer barrel assembly — both Goddard-designed components — in the largest clean room at NASA Goddard. The outer barrel assembly will help keep the telescope at a stable temperature and, like the sunshade, help shield the telescope from stray light and micrometeoroid impacts. It’s fitted with heaters to help ensure the telescope’s mirrors won’t experience wide temperature swings, which make materials expand and contract. “Roman is made up of a lot of separate components that come together after years of design and fabrication,” said Laurence Madison, a mechanical engineer at NASA Goddard. “The deployable aperture cover and outer barrel assembly were built at the same time, and up until the integration the two teams mainly used reference drawings to make sure everything would fit together as they should. So the successful integration was both a proud moment and a relief!” This photo shows the deployable aperture cover for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as seen through the outer barrel assembly. Both components will help shield the telescope from stray light, improving Roman’s sensitivity to faint light from across the universe.NASA/Chris Gunn Both the sunshade and outer barrel assembly have been extensively tested individually, but now that they’re connected engineers are assessing them again. Following the integration, the team tested the sunshade deployment. “Since the sunshade was designed to deploy in space, the system isn’t actually strong enough to deploy itself in Earth’s gravity,” said Matthew Neuman, a mechanical engineer working on Roman’s sunshade at NASA Goddard. “So we used a gravity negation system to offset its weight and verified that everything works as expected.” Next, the components will undergo thermal vacuum testing together to ensure they will function as planned in the temperature and pressure environment of space. Then they’ll move to a shake test to assess their performance during the extreme vibrations they’ll experience during launch. Technicians will join Roman’s solar panels to the outer barrel assembly and sunshade this spring, and then integrate them with the rest of the observatory by the end of the year. The mission has now passed a milestone called Key Decision Point-D, marking the official transition from the fabrication stage that culminated in the delivery of major components to the phase involving assembly, integration, testing, and launch. The Roman observatory remains on track for completion by fall 2026 and launch no later than May 2027. To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit: https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive/ By Ashley Balzer NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Media contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 Share Details Last Updated Feb 12, 2025 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopeGoddard Space Flight CenterThe Universe Explore More 2 min read NASA Joins Telescope, Instruments to Roman Spacecraft Article 1 month ago 6 min read New Simulated Universe Previews Panoramas From NASA’s Roman Telescope Article 4 weeks ago 6 min read How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Illuminate Cosmic Dawn Article 7 months ago View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Glenn Employees Earn Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers Two NASA Glenn Research Center employees were among 19 agency researchers recognized as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Dr. Lyndsey McMillon-Brown Credit: NASA Lyndsey McMillon-Brown was recognized for leadership in photovoltaic research, development, and demonstrations. She was the principal investigator for a Science Technology Mission Directorate-funded Early Career Initiative where she led the development of perovskite photovoltaics, which can be manufactured in space. The team achieved sun-to-electricity power conversion efficiencies of 18%. They tested the durability of the solar cells by flying them in low Earth orbit for 10 months on the Materials International Space Station Experiment platform. Timothy M. SmithCredit: NASA Timothy M. Smith was recognized for achievements in materials science research, specifically in high-temperature alloy innovation. Building upon his dissertation work, he designed a new high-temperature superalloy with radically improved high-temperature durability. Additionally, he helped develop a new manufacturing process that could produce new metal alloys strengthened by nano oxide particles. This led to the development of a revolutionary high- temperature alloy (GRX-810) designed specifically for additive manufacturing. The PECASE Award is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers who are beginning their research careers. NASA Glenn Employee Named AIAA Fellow Brett A. Bednarcyk Credit: NASA Brett A. Bednarcyk, a materials research engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, has been named an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow. His work is focused on multiscale modeling and integrated computational materials engineering of composite materials and structures. He has co-authored two textbooks on these subjects. AIAA Fellows are recognized for their notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics and astronautics. Glenn’s Dr. Heather Oravec Named Outstanding Civil Engineer Dr. Heather OravecCredit: The University of Akron The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Cleveland Chapter has named Dr. Heather Oravec, a mechanical engineering research associate professor supporting NASA Glenn Research Center’s Engineering and Research Support (GEARS) contract team, the 2024 Outstanding Civil Engineer of the Year. Oravec is a research leader in the areas of terramechanics and off-road tire development for planetary rovers and works in NASA Glenn’s Simulated Lunar Operations (SLOPE) Lab. This award honors a civil engineer who has made significant contributions to the field and to the community, furthering the recognition of civil engineers through work and influence. Return to Newsletter Explore More 1 min read NASA Fire Safety Test Took on Reduced Gravity Article 15 mins ago 2 min read NASA Glenn Holds Day of Remembrance Article 15 mins ago 3 min read NASA’s X-59 Turns Up Power, Throttles Through Engine Tests Article 17 hours ago View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A still image of a video that shows a plastic rod and cotton-fiberglass fabric being burned during a ground test of the Lunar-g Combustion Investigation (LUCI) experiment.Credit: Voyager Technologies An experiment studying how solid materials catch fire and burn in the Moon’s gravity was launched on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital flight this month. Developed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland together with Voyager Technologies, the Lunar-g Combustion Investigation (LUCI) will help researchers determine if conditions on the Moon – with reduced gravity – might be a more hazardous environment for fire safety. The video shows a plastic rod and cotton-fiberglass fabric being burned during a ground test of the Lunar-g Combustion Investigation (LUCI) experiment. Scientists will compare the ground test video to the video recorded on the Blue Origin flight. Credit: Voyager Technologies On this flight, LUCI tested flammability of cotton-fiberglass fabric and plastic rods, and once launched, the payload capsule rotated at a speed to simulate lunar gravity. NASA Glenn researchers will analyze data post-flight. A plastic rod and cotton-fiberglass fabric that were burned during testing for the Lunar-g Combustion Investigation. New, unburned samples were lit on fire during the flight. Credit: Voyager Technologies LUCI’s findings will help NASA and its partners design safe spacecraft and spacesuits for future Moon and Mars missions. For more information on LUCI and the mission, visit. Return to Newsletter View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, left, and NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro place a wreath at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial as part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA observed its annual Day of Remembrance on Jan. 23, honoring the members of the NASA family who lost their lives in the pursuit of exploration and discovery for the benefit of humanity. The annual event acknowledges the crews of Apollo 1 and the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and astronaut Kayla Barron participated in an observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Wreaths were laid in memory of the men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Acting Director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Kelvin Manning shares insights during Glenn’s NASA Day of Remembrance Observance. He talks about the lessons learned that resulted in increased measures for astronaut safety. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Several agency centers also held observances for NASA Day of Remembrance. NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland hosted an observance on Jan. 28 with remarks from Center Director Dr. Jimmy Kenyon and a keynote address from the acting director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Kelvin Manning. Kenyon reflected on the loss of the astronauts and the impact on their families. A large part of honoring their legacy, he said, is committing to a culture of safety awareness and practices. Learning what went wrong is vital to safely moving forward into the future. He then introduced a video recognizing the fallen heroes. NASA Glenn Research Center’s Amanda Shalkhauser plays Taps prior to a moment of silence during Glenn’s NASA Day of Remembrance Observance. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Manning, who worked with the families of the Apollo I astronauts to learn their stories and honor their legacy through an exhibit at NASA Kennedy, shared insights into the causes of the tragedy. He talked about the lessons learned through the investigation that resulted in increased measures for astronaut safety. Kenyon then carried a memorial wreath to the front of the stage. NASA Glenn’s Amanda Shalkhauser played Taps, which was followed by a moment of silence. Back to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read Recognizing Employee Excellence Article 14 mins ago 1 min read NASA Fire Safety Test Took on Reduced Gravity Article 15 mins ago 3 min read NASA’s X-59 Turns Up Power, Throttles Through Engine Tests Article 17 hours ago View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions 2 min read Sols 4450-4451: Making the Most of a Monday NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its brightly lit workspace and its right-front wheel in the shadows, perched on some tall rocks. The rover used its Right Front Hazcam (Front Hazard Avoidance Camera) to capture the image on sol 4449 — or Martian day 4,449 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — Feb. 10, 2025, at 10:44:45 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 Last Saturday around 20:00 Pacific Standard Time I saw a 22-degree halo encircling our mostly-full Moon and Mars; an entire planet hanging in the sky between our Moon and the atmospheric phenomenon. As I took in the view I wondered what our rover was doing at that moment… turns out the Sun had just risen over Gale crater and Curiosity was still asleep, waiting for her alarm to go off in about 2.5 hours for another full day of science. She wouldn’t start the weekend’s drive until Monday morning about 1:30, while I was still asleep waiting for my alarm to sound at 5:15. The drive’s data arrived on Earth about 5:30, and told us we drove until our time-of-day limit for driving — stopping about 36 meters (about 118 feet) away from Friday’s location. Unfortunately, our right-front wheel was shown to be perched on some tall rocks and we couldn’t quantify the drop risk if we unstowed the arm. We decided to play it safe and keep the arm stowed instead. Today’s two-sol plan would normally be in “nominal” sols — meaning we’d get a full day of science and a drive on the second sol — but due to some DSN downtime on Earth we moved our drive to the first sol, therefore switching to “restricted” sols a bit earlier than usual after our last soliday. Even though we couldn’t plan contact science, we’re making the most of our plan with almost 90 minutes of remote sensing. Mastcam will take an approximately 24-frame stereo mosaic of Wilkerson butte to the north, and ChemCam will shoot their laser at a rock in our workspace named “Carbon Canyon,” as well as three separate RMI mosaics! We’ll then attempt to drive until our time-of-day limit of about 15:00 local Gale time, hopefully getting us to a more stable spot on Wednesday for contact science. The second sol contains our usual dust-devil surveys with Navcam, atmospheric opacity measurements with Mastcam, and a blind LIBS on a piece of bedrock the rover chooses autonomously. Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Sols 4447–4449: Looking Back at the Marker Band Valley Article 1 day ago 4 min read Sols 4445–4446: Cloudy Days are Here Article 5 days ago 2 min read Sols 4443-4444: Four Fours for February Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

A massive crane lifts NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell and moves it to the altitude chamber to complete further testing on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The altitude chamber simulates deep space vacuum conditions, and the testing will provide additional data to augment data gained during testing earlier this summer. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Media are invited to visit NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to capture imagery of the agency’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft and twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters for the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon. The event is targeted for Friday, March 7. Subject matter experts from NASA and industry partners will be available for interviews. Space is limited for this event. The deadline for foreign national media to apply is 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 13. The deadline for U.S. citizens is 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 20. All accreditation requests must be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, or to request logistical support, email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact NASA’s Kennedy Space Center newsroom at: 321-867-2468. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitor entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Learn more about NASA’s Artemis campaign: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis -end- Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov Tiffany Fairley/Allison Tankersley Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-747-8306/ 321-412-7237 tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov / allison.p.tankersley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsArtemis 2Common Exploration Systems Development DivisionExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateKennedy Space CenterSpace Launch System (SLS) View the full article

NASA Blue mach diamonds from the main engine nozzles and bright exhaust from the solid rocket boosters mark the successful launch of space shuttle Endeavour 25 years ago on Feb. 11, 2000. The STS-99 mission crew – including astronauts from NASA, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), and the European Space Agency (ESA) – were aboard the shuttle. This mission saw the deployment of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mast and the antenna turned to its operation position. After a successful checkout of the radar systems, mapping began less than 12 hours after launch. Crewmembers split into two shifts so they could work around the clock. Also aboard Endeavour was a student experiment called EarthKAM, which took 2,715 digital photos during the mission through an overhead flight-deck window. The NASA-sponsored program lets middle school students select photo targets and receive the images via the Internet. Image credit: NASA View the full article

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members (from left to right) Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi pictured training at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California.Credit: SpaceX Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s 10th rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. The agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is targeting launch on Wednesday, March 12, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain as commander and Nichole Ayers as pilot, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as mission specialists. This is the first spaceflight for Ayers and Peskov, and the second mission to the orbiting laboratory for McClain and Onishi. Media accreditation deadlines for the Crew-10 launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program are as follows: International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13. U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 23. All accreditation requests must be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. For questions about accreditation or special logistical requests, email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Requests for space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections are due by Friday, Feb. 21. For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371. For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew -end- Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Steve Siceloff / Stephanie Plucinsky Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-867-2468 steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov Kenna Pell Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 kenna.m.pell@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceCommercial CrewCommercial SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)Johnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterSpace Operations Mission Directorate View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A team at JPL packed up three small Moon rovers, delivering them in February to the facility where they’ll be attached to a commercial lunar lander in preparation for launch. The rovers are part of a project called CADRE that could pave the way for potential future multirobot missions.. NASA/JPL-Caltech A trio of suitcase-size rovers and their base station have been carefully wrapped up and shipped off to join the lander that will deliver them to the Moon’s surface. Three small NASA rovers that will explore the lunar surface as a team have been packed up and shipped from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, marking completion of the first leg of the robots’ journey to the Moon. The rovers are part of a technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration), which aims to show that a group of robots can collaborate to gather data without receiving direct commands from mission controllers on Earth. They’ll use their cameras and ground-penetrating radars to send back imagery of the lunar surface and subsurface while testing out the novel software that enables them to work together autonomously. The CADRE rovers will launch to the Moon aboard IM-3, Intuitive Machines’ third lunar delivery, which has a mission window that extends into early 2026, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Once installed on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, they’ll head to the Reiner Gamma region on the western edge of the Moon’s near side, where the solar-powered, suitcase-size rovers will spend the daylight hours of a lunar day (the equivalent of about 14 days on Earth) carrying out experiments. The success of CADRE could pave the way for potential future missions with teams of autonomous robots supporting astronauts and spreading out to take simultaneous, distributed scientific measurements. Members of a JPL team working on NASA’s CADRE technology demonstration use temporary red handles to move one of the project’s small Moon rovers to prepare it for transport to Intuitive Machines’ Houston facility, where it will be attached to the company’s third lunar lander. Construction of the CADRE hardware — along with a battery of rigorous tests to prove readiness for the journey through space — was completed in February 2024. To get prepared for shipment to Intuitive Machines’ Houston facility, each rover was attached to its deployer system, which will lower it via tether from the lander onto the dusty lunar surface. Engineers flipped each rover-deployer pair over and attached it to an aluminum plate for safe transit. The rovers were then sealed in protective metal-frame enclosures that were fitted snuggly into metal shipping containers and loaded onto a truck. The hardware arrived safely on Sunday, Feb. 9. “Our small team worked incredibly hard constructing these robots and putting them to the test, and we have been eagerly waiting for the moment where we finally see them on their way,” said Coleman Richdale, the team’s assembly, test, and launch operations lead at JPL. “We are all genuinely thrilled to be taking this next step in our journey to the Moon, and we can’t wait to see the lunar surface through CADRE’s eyes.” The rovers, the base station, and a camera system that will monitor CADRE experiments on the Moon will be integrated with the lander — as will several other NASA payloads — in preparation for the launch of the IM-3 mission. More About CADRE A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages CADRE for the Game Changing Development program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The technology demonstration was selected under the agency’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, which was established to expedite the development of technologies for sustained presence on the lunar surface. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate manages the CLPS initiative. The agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and its Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, both supported the project. Motiv Space Systems designed and built key hardware elements at the company’s Pasadena facility. Clemson University in South Carolina contributed research in support of the project. For more about CADRE, go to: https://go.nasa.gov/cadre News Media Contact Melissa Pamer Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-314-4928 melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov 2025-018 Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 Related TermsCADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration)Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)Earth's MoonGame Changing Development ProgramJet Propulsion LaboratorySpace Technology Mission DirectorateTechnologyTechnology Demonstration Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures Colorful Clouds Drifting Over Mars Article 2 hours ago 5 min read NASA-Led Study Pinpoints Areas Sinking, Rising Along California Coast Article 1 day ago 5 min read Euclid Discovers Einstein Ring in Our Cosmic Backyard Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s X-59 lights up the night sky with its unique Mach diamonds, also known as shock diamonds, during maximum afterburner testing at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The test demonstrated the engine’s ability to generate the thrust required for supersonic flight, advancing NASA’s Quesst mission.Credit: Lockheed Martin/Gary Tice NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took another successful step toward flight with the conclusion of a series of engine performance tests. In preparation for the X-59’s planned first flight this year, NASA and Lockheed Martin successfully completed the aircraft’s engine run tests in January. The engine, a modified F414-GE-100 that powers the aircraft’s flight and integrated subsystems, performed to expectations during three increasingly complicated tests that ran from October through January at contractor Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. “We have successfully progressed through our engine ground tests as we planned,” said Raymond Castner, X-59 propulsion lead at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “We had no major showstoppers. We were getting smooth and steady airflow as predicted from wind tunnel testing. We didn’t have any structural or excessive vibration issues. And parts of the engine and aircraft that needed cooling were getting it.” The tests began with seeing how the aircraft’s hydraulics, electrical, and environmental control systems performed when the engine was powered up but idling. The team then performed throttle checks, bringing the aircraft up to full power and firing its afterburner – an engine component that generates additional thrust – to maximum. In preparation for the X-59’s planned first flight this year, NASA and Lockheed Martin successfully completed the aircraft’s engine run tests in January. Testing included electrical, hydraulics, and environmental control systems. Credit: NASA/Lillianne Hammel A third test, throttle snaps, involved moving the throttle swiftly back and forth to validate that the engine responds instantly. The engine produces as much as 22,000 pounds of thrust to achieve a desired cruising speed of Mach 1.4 (925 miles per hour) at an altitude of approximately 55,000 feet. The X-59’s engine, similar to those aboard the U.S. Navy’s F-18 Super Hornet, is mounted on top of the aircraft to reduce the level of noise reaching the ground. Many features of the X-59, including its 38-foot-long nose, are designed to lower the noise of a sonic boom to that of a mere “thump,” similar to the sound of a car door slamming nearby. Next steps before first flight will include evaluating the X-59 for potential electromagnetic interference effects, as well as “aluminum bird” testing, during which data will be fed to the aircraft under both normal and failure conditions. A series of taxi tests and other preparations will also take place before the first flight. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to commercial supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter. Explore More 3 min read NASA Supports GoAERO University Awardees for Emergency Aircraft Prototyping Article 6 hours ago 2 min read Wind Over Its Wing: NASA’s X-66 Model Tests Airflow Article 6 days ago 9 min read Combustor Facilities Article 1 week ago View the full article

BBEME Course Description: An interactive learning series designed to highlight critical interactions and various engagements across all GSFC locations, Facilities, and Institutes that lead to mission success. Themes include: strategic goals, current developments, mission success critical topics Instructional Strategy: •Facilitated panel discussions •Leadership engagements •One-on-one interactions •Facilitated case studies BBEME Workshops have been previously offered at GISS, Katherine Johnson IV&V, and Goddard’s Earth Science Division. The workshop targets groups of around 30 participants for a 1-2 day session. If your group is interested in hosting a workshop, contact alysha.bayens@nasa.gov View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these drifting noctilucent, or twilight, clouds in a 16-minute recording on Jan. 17. (This looping clip has been speeded up about 480 times.) The white plumes falling out of the clouds are carbon dioxide ice that would evaporate closer to the Martian surface.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SSI While the Martian clouds may look like the kind seen in Earth’s skies, they include frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Red-and-green-tinted clouds drift through the Martian sky in a new set of images captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover using its Mastcam — its main set of “eyes.” Taken over 16 minutes on Jan. 17 (the 4,426th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s mission), the images show the latest observations of what are called noctilucent (Latin for “night shining”), or twilight clouds, tinged with color by scattering light from the setting Sun. Sometimes these clouds even create a rainbow of colors, producing iridescent, or “mother-of-pearl” clouds. Too faint to be seen in daylight, they’re only visible when the clouds are especially high and evening has fallen. Martian clouds are made of either water ice or, at higher altitudes and lower temperatures, carbon dioxide ice. (Mars’ atmosphere is more than 95% carbon dioxide.) The latter are the only kind of clouds observed at Mars producing iridescence, and they can be seen near the top of the new images at an altitude of around 37 to 50 miles (60 to 80 kilometers). They’re also visible as white plumes falling through the atmosphere, traveling as low as 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface before evaporating because of rising temperatures. Appearing briefly at the bottom of the images are water-ice clouds traveling in the opposite direction roughly 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the rover. Dawn of Twilight Clouds Twilight clouds were first seen on Mars by NASA’s Pathfinder mission in 1997; Curiosity didn’t spot them until 2019, when it acquired its first-ever images of iridescence in the clouds. This is the fourth Mars year the rover has observed the phenomenon, which occurs during early fall in the southern hemisphere. Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, led a paper summarizing Curiosity’s first two seasons of twilight cloud observations, which published late last year in Geophysical Research Letters. “I’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent clouds and was sure at first it was some color artifact,” he said. “Now it’s become so predictable that we can plan our shots in advance; the clouds show up at exactly the same time of year.” Each sighting is an opportunity to learn more about the particle size and growth rate in Martian clouds. That, in turn, provides more information about the planet’s atmosphere. Cloud Mystery One big mystery is why twilight clouds made of carbon dioxide ice haven’t been spotted in other locations on Mars. Curiosity, which landed in 2012, is on Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, just south of the Martian equator. Pathfinder landed in Ares Vallis, north of the equator. NASA’s Perseverance rover, located in the northern hemisphere’s Jezero Crater, hasn’t seen any carbon dioxide ice twilight clouds since its 2021 landing. Lemmon and others suspect that certain regions of Mars may be predisposed to forming them. A possible source of the clouds could be gravity waves, he said, which can cool the atmosphere: “Carbon dioxide was not expected to be condensing into ice here, so something is cooling it to the point that it could happen. But Martian gravity waves are not fully understood and we’re not entirely sure what is causing twilight clouds to form in one place but not another.” Mastcam’s Partial View The new twilight clouds appear framed in a partially open circle. That’s because they were taken using one of Mastcam’s two color cameras: the left 34 mm focal length Mastcam, which has a filter wheel that is stuck between positions. Curiosity’s team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California remains able to use both this camera and the higher-resolution right 100 mm focal length camera for color imaging. The rover recently wrapped an investigation of a place called Gediz Vallis channel and is on its way to a new location that includes boxwork — fractures formed by groundwater that look like giant spiderwebs when viewed from space. More recently, Curiosity visited an impact crater nicknamed “Rustic Canyon,” capturing it in images and studying the composition of rocks around it. The crater, 67 feet (20 meters) in diameter, is shallow and has lost much of its rim to erosion, indicating that it likely formed many millions of years ago. One reason Curiosity’s science team studies craters is because the cratering process can unearth long-buried materials that may have better preserved organic molecules than rocks exposed to radiation at the surface. These molecules provide a window into the ancient Martian environment and how it could have supported microbial life billions of years ago, if any ever formed on the Red Planet. More About Curiosity Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. For more about Curiosity, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity News Media Contacts Andrew Good Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-2433 andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Molly Wasser NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov 2025-017 Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 Related TermsCuriosity (Rover)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryMarsMars Science Laboratory (MSL)Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Explore More 5 min read NASA-Led Study Pinpoints Areas Sinking, Rising Along California Coast Article 1 day ago 5 min read Euclid Discovers Einstein Ring in Our Cosmic Backyard Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA Explores Earth Science with New Navigational System Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

The portfolio of current NESC technical activities reaches across mission directorates and programs encompassing design, test, and flight phases. ISS PrK Independent Assessment Orion Crew Module Heatshield Avcoat Char Investigation CFT Flight Anomaly Support Total Ionizing Dose Tolerance of Power Electronics on Europa Clipper Psyche Cold-Gas Thruster Technical Advisory Team Support X-59 Fuel Tank Assessment ISS PrK Independent Assessment The NESC is assessing the ongoing leak in the ISS Russian segment, PrK, the segment’s remaining life, and how to manage the risk of potential failure. ISS pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. Orion Crew Module Heatshield Avcoat Char Investigation The NESC provided thermal experts to the Artemis I Char Loss Team investigation of heatshield performance on the Artemis I return. The NESC is working with the team to ensure the observed material loss is understood so that decisions may be made regarding use for upcoming Artemis missions. An artist’s illustration of Orion crew module entering the Earth’s atmosphere. View from Artemis I crew cabin window showing material loss during entry (foreground). CFT Flight Anomaly Support NESC discipline experts provided real-time support to CCP to aid in determining the CFT flight anomaly causes and risks associated with a crewed return. The NESC performed propulsion system testing for predicted mission profiles at WSTF. Boeing CST-100 Starliner docked to ISS during CFT mission. Total Ionizing Dose Tolerance of Power Electronics on Europa Clipper The NESC provided power electronics and avionics expertise to JPL’s Europa Clipper tiger team to help evaluate the radiation tolerance of key spacecraft electronics, assisting in a risk-based launch decision. Illustration depicting the Europa Clipper. Psyche Cold-Gas Thruster Technical Advisory Team Support In support of a successful launch, NESC augmented the Psyche team’s investigation into increased understanding of the spacecraft’s cold-gas thrusters and aided the project’s risk-informed decisions regarding mitigations and readiness for launch. Illustration of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft headed to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. X-59 Fuel Tank Assessment The NESC is assisting in the evaluation of risks associated with the installation and operation of strain gages in the fuel storage system on X-59 hardware. The work includes analysis, modeling, and the development of mitigation strategies. NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. View the full article

You would not expect to see NASA at a car show—but that’s exactly where Johnson Space Center employees were from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, 2025, driving the future of space exploration forward. At the Houston AutoBoative Show, a fusion of the auto and boat show, NASA rolled out its Artemis exhibit at NRG Center for the first time, introducing motor enthusiasts to the technologies NASA and commercial partners will use to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Johnson Space Center employees present the Artemis exhibit at the 2025 Houston AutoBoative Show at NRG Center.NASA/Robert Markowitz The Artemis exhibit stood alongside some of the world’s most advanced cars and boats, offering visitors an up-close look at lunar terrain vehicle mockups from Astrolab, Intuitive Machines, and Lunar Outpost. Later this year, NASA will select the rover that will fly to the Moon as humanity prepares for the next giant leap. In addition to the rovers, the exhibit featured a mockup of JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) pressurized rover, designed as a mobile habitat for astronauts, and Axiom Space’s lunar spacesuit, developed for Artemis III astronauts. These capabilities will allow astronauts to explore, conduct science research, and live and work on the lunar surface. Strategic Communications Manager for NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program Tim Hall (right) shows Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche and Johnson External Relations Office Director Arturo Sanchez the Artemis booth. NASA/Robert Markowitz Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche visited the Artemis exhibit to highlight the importance of these technologies in advancing lunar exploration. Every lesson learned on the Moon will help scientists and engineers develop the strategies, technologies, and experience needed to send astronauts to Mars. “By bringing the excitement of lunar exploration to the AutoBoative Show, NASA aims to inspire the next generation of explorers to dream bigger, push farther, and help shape humanity’s future in space,” Wyche said. NASA’s Artemis campaign is setting the stage for long-term human exploration, working with commercial and international partners to establish a sustained presence on the Moon before progressing to Mars. To make this vision a reality, NASA is developing rockets, spacecraft, landing systems, spacesuits, rovers, habitats, and more. Vanessa Wyche views Axiom Space’s lunar spacesuit at the exhibit. NASA/Robert Markowitz Some of the key elements on display at the show included: The Orion spacecraft – Designed to take astronauts farther into deep space. Orion will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, carrying the crew to the Moon on Artemis missions and safely returning them to Earth. Lunar terrain vehicles – Developed to transport astronauts across the rugged lunar surface or be remotely operated. NASA recently put these rover mockups to the test at Johnson, where astronauts and engineers, wearing spacesuits, ran through critical maneuvers, tasks, and emergency drills—including a simulated crew rescue. Next-gen spacesuits and tools – Through Johnson’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, astronauts’ gear and equipment are designed to ensure safety and efficiency while working on the Moon’s surface. NASA’s Orion Program Strategic Communications Manager Radislav Sinyak (left) and Orion Communications Strategist Erika Peters guide Vanessa Wyche through navigating the Orion spacecraft to dock with the lunar space station Gateway.NASA/Robert Markowitz Guests had the chance to step into the role of an astronaut with interactive experiences like: Driving a lunar rover simulator – Testing their skills at the wheel of a virtual Moon rover. Practicing a simulated Orion docking – Experiencing the precision needed to connect to Gateway in lunar orbit. Exploring Artemis II and III mission roadmaps – Learning about NASA’s upcoming missions and goals. Attendees also discovered how American companies are delivering science and technology to the Moon through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Johnson employees from the Orion program showcase the Orion simulator at the exhibit. From left: Orion Crew and Service Module Office Crew Systems Manager Paul Boehm, Lead Admin Dee Maher, and Orion Crew and Service Module Integration Lead Mark Cavanaugh. From right: Vanessa Wyche, Erika Peters, and Radislav Sinyak.NASA/Robert Markowitz “Everyone can relate to exploration, so it was great to teach people the importance lunar rovers will have on astronauts’ abilities to explore more of the lunar surface while conducting science,” said Victoria Ugalde, communications strategist for the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, who coordinated the lunar rovers’ appearance at the show. Check out the rovers contracted to develop lunar terrain vehicle capabilities below. Vanessa Wyche explores Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER rover mockup. NASA/Robert Markowitz Vanessa Wyche explores Lunar Outpost’s Eagle rover mockup. NASA/Robert Markowitz Vanessa Wyche explores Astrolab’s FLEX rover mockup. NASA/Robert Markowitz View the full article

NASA astronauts Don Pettit and Nick Hague are at the controls of the robotics workstation. Credit: NASA Students from Rocky Hill, Connecticut, will have the chance to connect with NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Don Pettit as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related questions from aboard the International Space Station. Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 11:40 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 18, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media. The event for kindergarten through 12th grade students will be hosted at Rocky Hill Library in Rocky Hill, near Hartford, Connecticut. The goal is to engage area students by introducing them to the wide variety of STEM career opportunities available in space exploration and related fields. Media interested in covering the event must contact by 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 14, to Gina Marie Davies at: gdavies@rockyhillct.gov or 860-258-2530. For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network. Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lay the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery. See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation -end- Abbey Donaldson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceAstronautsInternational Space Station (ISS)Space Communications & Navigation Program View the full article

NASA asked artists to imagine the future of deep space exploration in artwork meant to inspire the Artemis Generation. The NASA Moon to Mars Architecture art challenge sought creative images that represent the agency’s bold vision for crewed exploration of the lunar surface and the Red Planet. The agency has selected the recipients of the art challenge competition. This collage features all the winners of the NASA Moon to Mars Architecture Art Challenge.Jimmy Catanzaro, Jean-Luc Sabourin, Irene Magi, Pavlo Kandyba, Antonella Di Cristofaro, Francesco Simone, Mia Nickell, Lux Bodell, Olivia De Grande, Sophie Duan The challenge, hosted by contractor yet2 through NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program, was open to artists from around the globe. Guidelines asked artists to consider NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture development effort, which uses engineering processes to distil NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives into the systems needed to accomplish them. NASA received 313 submissions from 22 U.S. states and 47 countries. The architecture includes four segments of increasing complexity. For this competition, NASA sought artistic representations of the two furthest on the timeline: the Sustained Lunar Evolution segment and the Humans to Mars segment. The Sustained Lunar Evolution segment is an open canvas for exploration of the Moon, embracing new ideas, systems, and partners to grow to a long-term presence on the lunar surface. Sustained lunar evolution means more astronauts on the Moon for longer periods of time, increased opportunities for science, and even the large-scale production of goods and services derived from lunar resources. It also means increased cooperation and collaboration with international partners and the aerospace industry to build a robust lunar economy. The Humans to Mars segment will see the first human missions to Mars, building on the lessons we learn from exploring the Moon. These early missions will focus on Martian exploration and establishing the foundation for a sustained Mars presence. NASA architects are examining a wide variety of options for transportation, habitation, power generation, utilization of Martian resources, scientific investigations, and more. Final judging for the competition took place at NASA’s annual Architecture Concept Review meeting. That review brought together agency leadership from NASA mission directorates, centers, and technical authorities to review the 2024 updates to the Moon to Mars Architecture. NASA selected the winning images below during that review: Sustained Lunar Evolution Segment Winners First Place: Jimmy Catanzaro – Henderson, Nevada Second Place: Jean-Luc Sabourin – Ottawa, Canada Third Place (Tie): Irene Magi – Prato, Italy Pavlo Kandyba – Kyiv, Ukraine Humans to Mars Segment Winners First Place (Tie): Antonella Di Cristofaro – Chieti, Italy Francesco Simone – Gatteo, Italy Third Place: Mia Nickell – Suwanee, Georgia Under 18 Submission Winners First Place: Lux Bodell – Minnetonka, Minnesota Second Place: Olivia De Grande – Milan, Italy Third Place: Sophie Duan – Ponte Vedra, Florida The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, managed the challenge. The program supports global public competitions and crowdsourcing as tools to advance NASA research and development and other mission needs. View the full article