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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
These maps of Prince George’s County, MD, show surface temperatures collected a few hours apart on July 30, 2023 from the Landsat 9 satellite and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument. The dark blue spots in the right hand image are likely clouds that formed in the afternoon.Credit: Stephanie Schollaert Uz, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Thousands of Americans are impacted each summer by excessive heat and humidity, some suffering from heat-related illnesses when the body can’t cool itself down. Data from NASA satellites could help local governments reduce the sweltering risks, thanks to a collaboration between NASA scientists and officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The effort demonstrates how local officials in other communities could turn to NASA data to inform decisions that provide residents with relief from summer heat.
NASA researchers and their Prince George’s County collaborators reported in Frontiers in Environmental Science that they used the Landsat 8 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey, and NASA’s Aqua satellite, to gain insight into surface temperature trends across the county over the past few decades. The data also show how temperatures have responded to changing land use and construction. It is information that county planners and environmental experts hope can aid them in their attempts to remediate and prevent heat dangers in the future. The collaboration may also help the county’s first responders anticipate and prepare for heat-related emergencies and injuries.
Cooperation with Prince George’s County expands on NASA’s historic role, said Stephanie Schollaert Uz, an applications scientist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and one of the study authors. “Applying government satellite data to county-level problems is new here. We’re trying to make it easier for people outside of NASA to use our data, in part by including how-to guides referenced at the end of our paper,” Schollaert Uz said.
In the long run, county officials hope to use NASA satellites to track the negative health impacts that arise from land use and modification. Removal of tree cover and the construction of non-permeable roads, parking lots, and structures that lead to water runoff are among the factors that create heat islands, where temperatures in localized areas soar relative to the surrounding landscape. In addition to the direct dangers of heat for county residents and workers, areas with higher-than-normal temperatures can drive intense local weather events.
“There’s potentially a greater incidence of microbursts,” said Mary Abe of Prince George’s County’s sustainability division. “The atmosphere can become supercharged over hot spots,” causing high winds and flood-inducing rains.
Prince George’s County planners anticipate relying on NASA satellites to determine where residents and county employees are at greater risk, predict how future construction could impact heat dangers, and develop strategies to moderate heat in areas currently experiencing elevated summer temperatures. Efforts might include protecting existing trees and planting new ones. It could include replacing impermeable surfaces (cement, pavement, etc.) with alternatives that let water soak into the ground rather than running off into storm drains. To verify and calibrate the satellite observations crucial for such planning, county experts are considering enlisting residents to act as citizen scientists to collect temperature and weather data on the ground, Abe said.
Eventually, the NASA satellite temperature data could also lead to strategies to curb insect-borne diseases, said Evelyn Hoban, associate director for the Prince George’s County division of environmental health and communicable disease. “Once we know where the higher temperatures are, we can check to see if they create mosquito or tick breeding grounds,” said Hoban, who coauthored the study. “We could then focus our outreach and education, and perhaps prevention efforts, on areas of greater heat and risk.”
A NASA guide is available to aid other communities who hope to duplicate the Prince George’s County study. The guide provides introductions on a variety of NASA satellite and ground-based weather station data. Instructions for downloading and analyzing the data are illustrated in an accompanying tutorial that uses the Prince George’s County study as an example for other communities to follow on their own.
One of the greatest benefits of the collaboration, Abe said, is the boost in credibility that comes from incorporating NASA resources and expertise in the county’s efforts to improve safety and health. “It’s partly the NASA brand. People recognize it and they’re really intrigued by it,” she said. “Working with NASA builds confidence that the decision-making process is based firmly in science.”
By James Riordon
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Media contact: Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters
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Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 EditorJames RiordonLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Earth General Landsat 8 / LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Explore More
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By NASA
Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in the first joint integrated launch countdown simulation for Artemis I inside Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center on July 8, 2021. Seen at the top of the room is Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (right), launch director.Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky As four astronauts venture around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II test flight in 2026, many people will support the journey from here on Earth. Teams directing operations from the ground include the mission management team, launch control team, flight control team, and the landing and recovery team, each with additional support personnel who are experts in every individual system and subsystem. The teams have managed every aspect of the test flight and ensure NASA is prepared to send humans beyond our atmosphere and into a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration.
Mission management team
Reviews of mission status and risk assessments are conducted by the mission management team, a group of 15 core members and additional advisors. Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program, will serve as the mission management team chair for the test flight.
Two days prior to launch, the mission management team will assemble to review mission risks and address any lingering preflight concerns. With more than 20 years of human spaceflight experience, Kshatriya will conduct polls at key decision points, providing direction for the relevant operations team. If circumstances during the flight go beyond established decision criteria or flight rules outlined ahead of the mission, the team will assess the situation based on the information available and decide how to respond.
Matt Ramsey, serving as the Artemis II mission manager, will oversee all elements of mission preparedness prior to the mission management team assembly two days before launch and serve as deputy mission management team chair throughout the mission. With more than two decades of experience at NASA, Ramsey managed the SLS (Space Launch System) Engineering Support Center for Artemis I.
Launch control team
The launch control team coordinates launch operations from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as the agency’s Artemis launch director, responsible for integrating and coordinating launch operations for the SLS, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems Programs, including developing and implementing plans for countdown, troubleshooting, and timing.
Two days before liftoff, when the countdown for launch begins, Blackwell-Thompson’s team will begin preparations for launch from their console positions in Firing Room 1 in Kennedy’s Launch Control Center. On the day of launch, Blackwell-Thompson and her team will manage countdown progress, propellent loading, and launch commit criteria. The criteria include standards for systems involved in launch, and the team will monitor the rocket until it lifts off from the launchpad.
Rick Henfling, flight director, monitors systems in the Flight Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Credit: NASA Flight control team
From solid rocket booster ignition until the crew is safety extracted from the Orion capsule following splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their mission, the flight control team oversees operations from the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Multiple flight directors will take turns leading the team throughout the 10-day mission to support operations around the clock. Jeff Radigan, bringing more than 20 years of International Space Station experience to Artemis II, will serve as lead flight director for the mission. The work for this role begins well in advance of the mission with building mission timelines; developing flight rules and procedures; leading the flight control team through simulations that prepare them for the flight test; and then helping them carry out the plan.
On launch day, the ascent flight control team will be led by Judd Frieling, an Artemis I flight director who also supported more than 20 shuttle missions as a flight controller. Frieling is responsible for overseeing the crew’s ascent to space, including performance of SLS core stage engines, solid rocket boosters, and propulsion systems from the moment of launch until the separation of Orion from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. As Orion is propelled toward the Moon, guidance of operations will pass to the next flight director.
At the opposite end of the mission, Rick Henfling will take the lead for Orion’s return to Earth and splashdown. Orion will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph to about 20 mph for a parachute-assisted splashdown. Drawing from a background supporting space shuttle ascent, entry, and abort operations and 10 years as a space station flight director, Henfling and the team will monitor weather forecasts for landing, watch over Orion’s systems through the dynamic entry phase, and to ensure the spacecraft is safely shutdown before handing over operations to the recovery team.
At any point during the mission, a single voice will speak to the crew in space on behalf of all members of the flight control team: the capsule communicator, or CapCom. The CapCom ensures the crew in space receives clear and concise communication from the teams supporting them on the ground. NASA astronaut Stan Love will serve as the lead CapCom for Artemis II. Love flew aboard STS-122 mission and has acted as CapCom for more than a dozen space station expeditions. He is also part of the astronaut office’s Rapid Prototyping Lab, which played a key role in development of Orion’s displays and controls.
Landing, recovery team
Retrieval of the crew and Orion crew module will be in the hands of the landing and recovery team, led by Lili Villarreal. The team will depart San Diego on a Department of Defense ship, and head to the vicinity of the landing site several days before splashdown for final preparations alongside the U.S. Navy and DOD.
The recovery team is made up of personnel operating from the ship, land, and air to recover both astronauts and the capsule. Decision-making authority during the recovery phase of mission operations belongs to Villarreal, who served as deputy flow director for Artemis I and worked in the operations division for the space station.
The success of Artemis II will pave the way for the next phase of the agency’s campaign, landing on the lunar South Pole region on Artemis III. These teams, along with the four crew members and countless NASA engineers, scientists, and personnel, are driving humanity’s exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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By NASA
2 Min Read NASA Seeks Volunteers to Track Artemis II Mission
On the 19th day of the Artemis I mission, Dec. 4, 2022, a camera mounted on the Orion spacecraft captured the Moon just in frame. Credits: NASA NASA seeks volunteers to passively track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft as the crewed mission travels to the Moon and back to Earth.
The Artemis II test flight, a launch of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon.
The mission, targeted for no later than April 2026, will rely on NASA’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network for primary communications and tracking support throughout its launch, orbit, and reentry. However, with a growing focus on commercialization, NASA wants to further understand industry’s tracking capabilities.
This collaboration opportunity builds upon a previous request released by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Program during the Artemis I mission, where ten volunteers successfully tracked the uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2022 on its journey thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back.
During the Artemis I mission, participants – ranging from international space agencies, academic institutions, commercial companies, nonprofits, and private citizens – attempted to receive Orion’s signal and use their respective ground antennas to track and measure changes in the radio waves transmitted by Orion.
This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support long-term Moon to Mars objectives.
Kevin Coggins
Deputy Associate Administrator for SCaN
“By offering this opportunity to the broader aerospace community, we can identify available tracking capabilities outside the government,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support Artemis missions and our long-term Moon to Mars objectives.”
Read the opportunity announcement here: Responses are due by 5 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 27.
NASA’s SCaN Program serves as the management office for the agency’s space communications and navigation systems. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor Earth’s weather, support lunar exploration, and uncover the solar system and beyond.
Artemis II will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration. This mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send American astronauts to Mars.
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Last Updated Aug 27, 2025 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactJoshua A. Finchjoshua.a.finch@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
3 Min Read Inside NASA’s New Orion Mission Evaluation Room for Artemis II
As NASA’s Orion spacecraft is carrying crew around the Moon on the Artemis II mission, a team of expert engineers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will be meticulously monitoring the spacecraft along its journey. They’ll be operating from a new space in the mission control complex built to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER). Through the success of Orion and the Artemis missions, NASA will return humanity to the Moon and prepare to land an American on the surface of Mars.
Inside the Mission Evaluation Room, dozens of engineers will be monitoring the spacecraft and collecting data, while the flight control team located in mission control’s White Flight Control Room is simultaneously operating and sending commands to Orion during the flight. The flight control team will rely on the engineering expertise of the evaluation room to help with unexpected spacecraft behaviors that may arise during the mission and help analyze Orion’s performance data.
The new Orion Mission Evaluation Room inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/Rad Sinyak The Mission Evaluation Room team is made up of engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA (European Space Agency), and Airbus who bring deep, expert knowledge of the spacecraft’s subsystems and functions to the mission. These functions are represented across 24 consoles, usually staffed by two engineers in their respective discipline, often hosting additional support personnel during planned dynamic phases of the mission or test objectives.
“The operations team is flying the spacecraft, but they are relying on the Mission Evaluation Room’s reachback engineering capability from the NASA, industry, and international Orion team that has designed, built, and tested this spacecraft.”
Trey PerrymAn
Lead for Orion Mission and Integration Systems at NASA Johnson
Perryman guides the Artemis II Orion mission evaluation room alongside Jen Madsen, deputy manager for Orion’s Avionics, Power, and Software.
With crew aboard, Orion will put more systems to the test, requiring more expertise to monitor new systems not previously flown. To support these needs, and safe, successful flights of Orion to the Moon, NASA officially opened the all-new facility in mission control to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room on Aug. 15.
The Orion Mission Evaluation Room team works during an Artemis II mission simulation on Aug. 19, 2025, from the new space inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/Rad Sinyak During Artemis II, the evaluation room will operate in three daily shifts, beginning about 48 hours prior to liftoff. The room is staffed around the clock throughout the nearly 10 day mission, up until the spacecraft has been safely secured inside the U.S. Navy ship that will recover it after splashdown.
Another key function of the evaluation room is collecting and analyzing the large amount of data Orion will produce during the flight, which will help inform the room’s team on the spacecraft’s performance.
“Data collection is hugely significant,” Perryman said. “We’ll do an analysis and assessment of all the data we’ve collected, and compare it against what we were expecting from the spacecraft. While a lot of that data comparison will take place during the mission, we’ll also do deeper analysis after the mission is over to see what we learned.”
The Orion Mission Evaluation Room team works during an Artemis II mission simulation on Aug. 19, 2025, from the new space inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/Rad Sinyak If unplanned situations arise during the mission, the Mission Evaluation Room has additional layers of ability to support any specific need that presents itself. This includes various engineering support from different NASA centers, Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Test Lab, ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Center, and more.
“It’s been amazing to have helped design and build Orion from the beginning – and now, we’ll be able to see the culmination of all those years of work in this new Mission Evaluation Room."
Jen Madsen
Deputy Manager for Orion’s Avionics, Power, and Software
“We’ll see our spacecraft carrying our crew to the Moon on these screens and still be continuously learning about all of its capabilities,” said Madsen.
The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen around the Moon and return them safely back home. This first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign will set the stage for NASA to return Americans to the lunar surface and help the agency and its commercial and international partners prepare for future human missions to Mars.
The Orion Mission Evaluation Room Team gathers for a group photo on Aug. 18, 2025.NASA/Josh Valcarcel Share
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Last Updated Aug 26, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 Min Read La NASA revela los finalistas del concurso de diseño de la mascota lunar de Artemis II
Read this story in English here.
La NASA ya tiene 25 finalistas para el diseño del indicador de gravedad cero de Artemis II que volará con la tripulación de esta misión alrededor de la Luna y de regreso a la Tierra el próximo año.
Los astronautas Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover y Christina Koch de la NASA, y el astronauta de la CSA (Agencia Espacial Canadiense) Jeremy Hansen pronto seleccionarán uno de los diseños finalistas para que les acompañe dentro de la nave espacial Orion como su mascota lunar.
“El indicador de gravedad cero de Artemis II será especial para la tripulación”, dijo Reid Wiseman, comandante de Artemis II. “En una nave espacial llena de equipos y herramientas complejas que mantienen viva a la tripulación en el espacio profundo, el indicador es una forma amigable y útil de resaltar el elemento humano que es tan crítico para nuestra exploración del universo. Nuestra tripulación está entusiasmada con estos diseños provenientes de muchos lugares del mundo y esperamos con interés llevar al ganador con nosotros en este viaje”.
Un indicador de gravedad cero es un pequeño peluche que típicamente viaja con la tripulación para indicar visualmente el momento en que llegan al espacio. Durante los primeros ocho minutos después del despegue, la tripulación y el indicador, que estará situado cerca de ellos, seguirán siendo presionados contra sus asientos por la gravedad y la fuerza de la subida al espacio. Cuando se apaguen los motores principales de la etapa central del cohete Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial (SLS, por sus siglas en inglés), se eliminarán las restricciones de la gravedad, pero la tripulación seguirá atada de manera segura a sus asientos: la capacidad de flotar de su indicador de gravedad cero será la evidencia de que han llegado al espacio.
Artemis II será la primera misión en la que el público haya participado en la creación de la mascota de la tripulación.
Estos diseños, con ideas que abarcan desde versiones lunares de criaturas terrestres hasta visiones creativas sobre la exploración y el descubrimiento, fueron seleccionados entre más de 2.600 propuestas procedentes de más de 50 países, e incluyen diseños de estudiantes desde primaria a secundaria. Los finalistas representan a 10 países, entre los que están Estados Unidos, Canadá, Colombia, Finlandia, Francia, Alemania, Japón, Perú, Singapur y Gales.
Mira aquí los diseños finalistas:
Lucas Ye | Mountain View, California“Rise” Kenan Ziyan | Canyon, Texas“Zappy Zebra” Royal School, SKIES Space Club | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada“Luna the Space Polar Bear” Garden County Schools | Oshkosh, Nebraska“Team GarCo” Richellea Quinn Wijaya | Singapore“Parsec – The Bird That Flew to the Moon” Anzhelika Iudakova | Finland“Big Steps of Little Octopus” Congressional School | Falls Church, Virginia“Astra-Jelly” Congressional School | Falls Church, Virginia“Harper, Chloe, and Mateo’s ZGI” Alexa Pacholyk | Madison, Connecticut“Artemis” Leila Fleury | Rancho Palos Verdes, California“Beeatrice” Oakville Trafalgar School | Oakville, Ontario, Canada“Lepus the Moon Rabbit” Avon High School | Avon, Connecticut“Sal the Salmon” Daniela Colina | Lima, Peru“Corey the Explorer” Caroline Goyer-Desrosiers | St. Eustache, Quebec, Canada“Flying Squirrel Ready for Its Take Off to Space!” Giulia Bona | Berlin, Germany“Art & the Giant” Tabitha Ramsey | Frederick, Maryland“Lunar Crust-acean” Gabriela Hadas | Plano, Texas“Celestial Griffin” Savon Blanchard | Pearland, Texas“Soluna Flier” Ayako Moriyama | Kyoto, Japan“MORU: A Cloud Aglow with Moonlight and Hope” Johanna Beck | McPherson, Kansas“Creation Mythos” Guillaume Truong | Toulouse, France“Space Mola-mola (aka Moon Fish) Plushie” Arianna Robins | Rockledge, Florida“Terra the Titanosaurus” Sandy Moya | Madrid, Colombia“MISI: Guardian of the Journey” Bekah Crowmer | Mooresville, Indiana“Mona the Moon Moth” Courtney John | Llanelli, Wales“Past, Present, Future” En marzo, la NASA anunció que buscaba propuestas de creadores de todo el mundo para el diseño de un indicador de gravedad cero que volaría a bordo de Artemis II, la primera misión tripulada de la campaña Artemis de la NASA. Se pidió a los creadores que presentaran ideas que representaran la importancia de Artemis, la misión, o la exploración y el descubrimiento, y que cumplieran con requisitos específicos de tamaño y materiales. La empresa de crowdsourcing (colaboración abierta) Freelancer sirvió como facilitadora del concurso en nombre de la NASA, a través del Laboratorio de Campeonatos de la NASA, el cual es gestionado por la Dirección de Misiones de Tecnología Espacial de la agencia.
Una vez que la tripulación haya seleccionado un diseño final, el Laboratorio de Mantas Térmicas de la NASA lo fabricará para el vuelo. El indicador estará amarrado dentro de Orion antes del lanzamiento.
La misión, que tendrá alrededor de 10 días de duración, es otro paso adelante hacia misiones en la superficie lunar y sirve como preparación para futuras misiones tripuladas a Marte de la agencia.
Mediante Artemis II, la NASA enviará astronautas a explorar la Luna para llevar a cabo descubrimientos científicos, obtener beneficios económicos y sentar las bases para las primeras misiones tripuladas a Marte.
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