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By NASA
Oct. 1, 2024
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada holds a roll-out solar array as he rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk in support of the Expedition 68 mission aboard the International Space Station on Dec. 3, 2022. Credit: NASA Three-time Spacewalker Josh Cassada to Retire from NASA
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada retired Oct. 1, after 11 years of service to the agency across multiple programs, including 157 days in space and three spacewalks. Cassada also is a retired United States Navy captain and naval aviator with more than two decades of service.
Cassada served as pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission and Expedition 68 flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, executing myriad maintenance, contingency, and upgrade activities inside the station while also contributing to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations. His three spacewalks outside of the orbiting laboratory totaled more than 21 hours, successfully installing a pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSAs) to boost the station’s electrical capacity. Cassada, alongside crewmate NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, also assembled the infrastructure for a future IROSA installation and fully restored a malfunctioning legacy solar array.
“I want to extend my sincere gratitude to Josh for his dedication and service to human space exploration,” said NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche. “Josh’s contributions and achievements to the advancement of science and exploration will inspire the next generation of explorers, the Artemis generation, and benefit humanity for decades to come.”
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada poses for a portrait in his extravehicular mobility unit spacesuit on August 8, 2022. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz Throughout Expedition 68, Cassada and his crewmates completed extensive problem-solving with ground teams, including the modification of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to accommodate an additional crew member in the event of an emergency return, and leveraged the crew’s various skill sets and training to ensure continued safe and effective operations for current and future crews.
In Houston, Cassada served as a capsule communicator in NASA’s Mission Control Center and assistant to the chief of the Astronaut Office for space station operations. As a physicist and test pilot, Cassada also contributed to the development of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and Orion spacecraft and represented the Astronaut Office in technical and operational reviews of scientific experiments such as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and Cold Atom Lab.
“Josh has played a significant role in NASA’s deliverance of reliable and cost-effective human transportation to and from the space station,” said Norm Knight, director of flight operations at NASA Johnson. “Through his dedication and commitment to human spaceflight exploration, Josh’s work will continue to push us forward on our journey back to the Moon, and beyond. We will miss him and are excited to see what his next journey entails.”
As he transitions from government service, Cassada will return to the private sector, working on extremely low light detection technologies with broad and emerging applications in various areas, including quantum networks and computing, remote sensing, long-range communication, semiconductor manufacturing, and medical imaging.
“I am incredibly grateful for my many opportunities here at NASA,” Cassada said, “and especially to have served alongside some of the most amazing people both on and off our planet, accomplishing things that are only possible when we work and innovate together as a team. As humans, we explore . And each scientific adventure, whether in a lab on Earth or in space, requires courage to explore and advance society. I am incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by explorers during my entire career so far and going forward. An expedition may seem daunting, but it’s a lot less so when you’re prepared and with the right crewmates.”
Before his selection by NASA in 2013 as a member of NASA’s 21st Class, Cassada earned his doctorate in High Energy Particle Physics from the University of Rochester, New York and was a U.S. Navy pilot, instructor pilot, test pilot, and instructor test pilot. Throughout his career, Cassada has accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours in over 50 different aircraft and has been awarded various military and civilian awards.
Cassada graduated from White Bear Lake Area High School in Minnesota in 1991 and received his bachelor’s in Physics in 1995 from Albion College in Michigan.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
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Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov
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By NASA
On Sept. 9 and 10, scientists and engineers tested NASA’s LEMS (Lunar Environment Monitoring Station) instrument suite in a “sandbox” of simulated Moon regolith at the Florida Space Institute’s Exolith Lab at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Lunar regolith is a dusty, soil-like material that coats the Moon’s surface, and researchers wanted to observe how the material would interact with LEMS’s hardware, which is being developed to fly to the Moon with Artemis III astronauts in late 2026.
Designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, LEMS is one of three science payloads chosen for development for Artemis III, which will be the first mission to land astronauts on the lunar surface since 1972.
The LEMS instrument package can operate both day and night. It will carry two University of Arizona-built seismometers to the surface to perform long-term monitoring for moonquakes and meteorite impacts.
Image credits: NASA/UCF/University of Arizona
Behind the Scenes of a NASA ‘Moonwalk’ in the Arizona Desert
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training
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By NASA
Manufacturing equipment that will be used to build components for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for future Artemis missions is being installed at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. The tooling will be used to produce the SLS rocket’s advanced exploration upper stage, or EUS, in the factory’s new manufacturing area, picture here.NASA/Evan Deroche NASA Michoud Assembly facility technicians Cameron Shiro (foreground), Michael Roberts, and Tien Nguyen (background) install the strain gauge on the forward adapter barrel structural test article for the exploration upper stage of the SLS rocket. NASA/Eric Bordelon NASA Michoud Assembly facility quality inspectors Michael Conley (background) and Michael Kottemann perform Ultrasonic Test (UT) inspections on the mid-body V-Strut for a structural test article for the SLS rocket’s advanced exploration upper stage, or EUS, in the factory’s new manufacturing area. NASA/Evan Deroche Manufacturing equipment that will be used to build components for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for future Artemis missions is being installed at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The novel tooling will be used to produce the SLS rocket’s advanced exploration upper stage, or EUS, in the factory’s new manufacturing area. The EUS will serve as the upper, or in-space, stage for all Block 1B and Block 2 SLS flights in both crew and cargo configurations.
In tandem, NASA and Boeing, the SLS lead contractor for the core stage and exploration upper stage, are producing structural test articles and flight hardware structures for the upper stage at Michoud and the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Early manufacturing is already underway at Michoud while preparations for an engine-firing test series for the upper stage are in progress at nearby Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
“The newly modified manufacturing space for the exploration upper stage signifies the start of production for the next evolution of SLS Moon rockets at Michoud,” said Hansel Gill, director at Michoud. “With Orion spacecraft manufacturing and SLS core stage assembly in flow at Michoud for the past several years, standing up a new production line and enhanced capability at Michoud for EUS is a significant achievement and a reason for anticipation and enthusiasm for Michoud and the SLS Program.”
The advanced upper stage for SLS is planned to make its first flight with Artemis IV and replaces the single-engine Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) that serves as the in-space stage on the initial SLS Block 1 configuration of the rocket. With its larger liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks feeding four L3 Harris Technologies- built RL10C-3 engines, the EUS generates nearly four times the thrust of the ICPS, providing unrivaled lift capability to the SLS Block 1B and Block 2 rockets and making a new generation of crewed lunar missions possible.
This upgraded and more powerful rocket will increase the SLS rocket’s payload to the Moon by 40%, from 27 metric tons (59,525 lbs.) with Block 1 to 38 metric tons (83,776 lbs.) in the crew configuration. Launching crewed missions along with other large payloads enables multiple large-scale objectives to be accomplished in a single mission.
Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon. The rocket is part of NASA’s deep space exploration plans, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. NASA’s SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the SLS Program and Michoud.
For more on SLS, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/space-launch-system
News Media Contact
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
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By NASA
As RS-25’s operations integrator, Chris Pereira is responsible for ensuring that the many pieces of the program – from tracking on-time procurement of supplies and labor loads to coordinating priorities on various in-demand machine centers – come together to deliver a quality product. Chris Pereira can personally attest to the immense gravitational attraction of black holes. He’s been in love with space ever since he saw a video on the topic in a high school science class.
But it wasn’t just any science class. It was one specially designed for English learners.
“I was born and raised in Guatemala,” Pereira said. “I came here at 14 unable to speak any English.”
Pereira did not know how to navigate the U.S. educational system either, but after that class, he was certain he wanted a career in space.
Thus began a journey that ultimately landed him at L3Harris Technologies, where he works in the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment as an engineer and operations integrator on the RS-25 engine – used to power the core stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch astronauts to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Pereira’s first step was to stay after class and ask to borrow a copy of the video on black holes. His teacher not only obliged but took him across the street to the local library to get his first library card.
Pereira quickly recognized that the pathway to his desired career in space was through higher education. It was equally clear, however, that he was not yet on that pathway. English as a Second Language classes, including that science class, did not count toward college admissions. His guidance counselor, meanwhile, was nudging him toward the trades.
But with the help of teachers and a new guidance counselor, he got himself on the college-bound track.
“I came to understand there were multiple career pathways to explore my interest in space,” Pereira said “One was engineering.”
There was a lot of catching up to do, so Pereira took eight classes per day, including honors courses. He also worked every day after school cleaning a gymnasium from 6 to 11 p.m. to help his family make ends meet.
Pereira earned his mechanical engineering degree at California State University at Los Angeles while also working as a senior educator at the California Science Center to cover the cost of his college tuition and living expenses.
Pereira’s first career experience was as an intern in manufacturing engineering at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “I learned that making 100% mission-success engines requires a strong culture of attention to detail, teamwork and solid work ethics.” Pereira said. His first full-fledged engineering job was with Honeywell Aerospace working on aircraft programs.
Eventually, space came calling — literally. “My mentor at Aerojet Rocketdyne called me up and said, ‘Chris, I have a job for you,’” Pereira said.
He began his new job working on rocket engine programs including the AR1 and RS-68 but shifted to the RS-25 after NASA awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract for newly manufactured versions of the engine. Initial versions of the SLS are using refurbished engines from the Space Shuttle Program. Evolved versions of the RS-25 recently concluded a critical test series and will debut with the fifth Artemis flight.
As RS-25’s operations integrator, Pereira is responsible for ensuring that the many pieces of the program – from tracking on-time procurement of supplies and labor loads to coordinating priorities on various in-demand machine centers – come together to deliver a quality product.
Playing a key role in the nation’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon feels a bit like coming home again, Pereira said. “You develop your first love, work really hard, take different pathways and encounter new passions,” he said. “It’s almost funny how the world and life work out – it’s like I’ve taken a big circle back to my first love.”
NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
Read other I am Artemis features.
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training
Credits:
NASA/Trevor Graff/Robert Markowitz Black and gray sediment stretches as far as the eye can see. Boulders sit on top of ground devoid of vegetation. Humans appear almost miniature in scale against a swath of shadowy mountains. At first glance, it seems a perfect scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface … except the people are in hiking gear, not spacesuits.
Iceland has served as a lunar stand-in for training NASA astronauts since the days of the Apollo missions, and this summer the Artemis II crew took its place in that long history. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, along with their backups, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, joined geology experts for field training on the Nordic island.
NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch stands in the desolate landscape of Iceland during a geology field training course. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA/Robert Markowitz “Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training,” said Cindy Evans, Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “It has lunar-like planetary processes – in this case, volcanism. It has the landscape; it looks like the Moon. And it has the scale of features astronauts will both be observing and exploring on the Moon.”
Iceland’s geology, like the Moon’s, includes rocks called basalts and breccias. Basalts are dark, fine-grained, iron-rich rocks that form when volcanic magma cools and crystalizes quickly. In Iceland, basalt lavas form from volcanoes and deep fissures. On the Moon, basalts can form from both volcanoes and lava pooling in impact basins. Breccias are angular fragments of rock that are fused together to create new rocks. In Iceland, volcanic breccias are formed from explosive volcanic eruptions and on the Moon, impact breccias are formed from meteoroids impacting the lunar surface.
Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training.
Cindy Evans
Artemis Geology Training Lead
Along with exploring the geology of Iceland, the astronauts practiced navigation and expeditionary skills to prepare them for living and working together, and gave feedback to instructors, who used this as an opportunity to hone their instruction and identify sites for future Artemis crew training. They also put tools to the test, learning to use hammers, scoops, and chisels to collect rock samples.
Caption: The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and backup crew members NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons trek across the Icelandic landscape during their field geology training. NASA/Robert Markowitz “The tools we used during the Apollo missions haven’t changed that much for what we’re planning for the Artemis missions,” said Trevor Graff, exploration geologist and the hardware and testing lead on the Artemis science team at NASA Johnson. “Traditionally, a geologist goes out with just standard tool sets of things like rock hammers and scoops or shovels to sample the world around them, both on the surface and subsurface.”
The Artemis tools have a bit of a twist from traditional terrestrial geology tools, though. Engineers must take into consideration limited mass availability during launch, how easy it is to use a tool while wearing pressurized gloves, and how to ensure the pristine nature of the lunar samples is preserved for study back on Earth.
There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface.
Angela Garcia
Exploration Geologist and Artemis II Science Officer
Caption: Angela Garcia, Artemis II science officer and exploration geologist, demonstrates how to use a rock hammer and chisel to dislodge a rock sample from a large boulder during the Artemis II field geology training in Iceland. NASA/Robert Markowitz “There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface,” said Angela Garcia, exploration geologist and an Artemis II science officer at NASA Johnson.
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under Artemis and will pave the way to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon on future missions. The crew will travel approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. While the Artemis II astronauts will not land on the surface of the Moon, the geology fundamentals they develop during field training will be critical to meeting the science objectives of their mission.
These objectives include visually studying a list of surface features, such as craters, from orbit. Astronauts will snap photos of the features, and describe their color, reflectivity, and texture — details that can reveal their geologic history.
The Artemis II crew astronauts, their backups, and the geology training field team pose in a valley in Iceland’s Vatnajökull national park. From front left: Angela Garcia, Jacob Richardson, Cindy Evans, Jenni Gibbons, Jacki Mahaffey, back row from left: Jeremy Hansen, John Ramsey, Reid Wiseman, Ron Spencer, Scott Wray, Kelsey Young, Patrick Whelley, Christina Koch, Andre Douglas, Jacki Kagey, Victor Glover, Rick Rochelle (NOLS), Trevor Graff. “Having humans hold the camera during a lunar pass and describe what they’re seeing in language that scientists can understand is a boon for science,” said Kelsey Young, lunar science lead for Artemis II and Artemis II science officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “In large part, that’s what we’re training astronauts to do when we take them to these Moon-like environments on Earth.”
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Last Updated Sep 13, 2024 Related Terms
Analog Field Testing Andre Douglas Apollo Artemis Astronauts Christina H. Koch Earth’s Moon G. Reid Wiseman Humans in Space Missions The Solar System Victor J. Glover Explore More
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