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Ed Stone, Former Director of JPL and Voyager Project Scientist, Dies
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
An image of Betelgeuse, the yellow-red star, and the signature of its close companion, the faint blue object.Data: NASA/JPL/NOIRlab. Visualization: NOIRLAB. A century-old hypothesis that Betelgeuse, the 10th brightest star in our night sky, is orbited by a very close companion star was proved true by a team of astrophysicists led by a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
The research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in the paper “Probable Direct Imaging Discovery of the Stellar Companion to Betelgeuse.”
Fluctuations in the brightness and measured velocity of Betelgeuse, the closest red supergiant star to Earth, had long presented clues that it may have a partner, but the bigger star’s intense glow made direct observations of any fainter neighbors nearly impossible.
Two recent studies by other teams of astronomers reignited the companion star hypothesis by using more than 100 years of Betelgeuse observations to provide predictions of the companion’s location and brightness.
If the smaller star did exist, the location predictions suggested that scientists had a window of just a few months to observe the companion star at its widest separation from Betelgeuse, as it orbited near the visible edge of the supergiant. After that, they would have to wait another three years for it to orbit to the other side and again leave the overpowering glow of its larger companion.
Searches for the companion were initially made using space-based telescopes, because observing through Earth’s atmosphere can blur images of astronomical objects. But these efforts did not detect the companion.
Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at Ames, recognized the ground-based Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i, one of the largest in the world, paired with a special, high-resolution camera built by NASA, had the potential to directly observe the close companion to Betelgeuse, despite the atmospheric blurring.
Officially called the ‘Alopeke speckle instrument, the advanced imaging camera let them obtain many thousands of short exposures to measure the atmospheric interference in their data and remove it with detailed image processing, providing an image of Betelgeuse and its companion.
Howell’s team detected the very faint companion star right where it was predicted to be, orbiting very close to the outer edge of Betelgeuse.
“I hope our discovery excites other astrophysicists about the robust power of ground-based telescopes and speckle imagers – a key to opening new observational windows,” said Howell. “This can help unlock the great mysteries in our universe.”
To start, this discovery of a close companion to Betelgeuse may explain why other similar red supergiant stars undergo periodic changes in their brightness on the scale of many years.
Howell plans to continue observations of Betelgeuse’s stellar companion to better understand its nature. The companion star will again return to its greatest separation from Betelgeuse in November 2027, a time when it will be easiest to detect.
Having found the long-anticipated companion star, Howell turned to giving it a name. The traditional star name “Betelgeuse” derives from Arabic, meaning “the hand of al-Jawza’,” a female figure in old Arabian legend. Fittingly, Howell’s team named the orbiting companion “Siwarha,” meaning “her bracelet.”
Photo of the constellation Orion, showing the location of Betelgeuse – and its newfound companion star.NOIRLab/Eckhard Slawik The NASA–National Science Foundation Exoplanet Observational Research Program (NN-EXPLORE) is a joint initiative to advance U.S. exoplanet science by providing the community with access to cutting-edge, ground-based observational facilities. Managed by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, NN-EXPLORE supports and enhances the scientific return of space missions such as Kepler, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), Hubble Space Telescope, and James Webb Space Telescope by enabling essential follow-up observations from the ground—creating strong synergies between space-based discoveries and ground-based characterization. NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program is located at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
To learn more about NN-EXPLORE, visit:
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/NNExplore/overview
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2025 Related Terms
Astrophysics Ames Research Center Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Astrophysics Division Exoplanet Exploration Program General Science & Research Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
Portrait of Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Credit: NASA On Monday, NASA announced Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is set to leave the agency on Friday, Aug. 1.
As center director of Goddard, a role she has held since April 2023, Lystrup also was responsible for guiding the direction and management of multiple other NASA field installations including Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation Facility in West Virginia, the White Sands Complex in New Mexico, and the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas.
“Having served in a variety of science and aerospace civilian and government roles in her career, Makenzie has led development of, and/or contributed to a variety of NASA’s priority science missions including successful operations of our James Webb Space Telescope and Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, as well as development of the agency’s Roman Space Telescope, and more,” said Vanessa Wyche, acting NASA associate administrator. “We’re grateful to Makenzie for her leadership at NASA Goddard for more than two years, including her work to inspire a Golden Age of explorers, scientists, and engineers.”
Throughout her time at NASA, Lystrup led Goddard’s workforce, which consists of more than 8,000 civil servants and contractors. Before joining the agency, Lystrup served as senior director for Ball’s Civil Space Advanced Systems and Business Development, where she managed new business activities for NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other civilian U.S. government agencies as well as for academia and other science organizations. In addition, she served in the company’s Strategic Operations organization, based in Washington where she led Ball’s space sciences portfolio.
Prior to joining Ball, Lystrup worked as an American Institute of Physics – Acoustical Society of American Congressional Fellow from 2011 to 2012 where she managed a portfolio including technology, national defense, nuclear energy, and nuclear nonproliferation.
Lystrup also has served on boards and committees for several organizations to include the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, International Society for Optics and Photonic, the University of Colorado, and the American Astronomical Society. She was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow in 2019 for her distinguished record in the fields of planetary science and infrared astronomy, science policy and advocacy, and aerospace leadership. Lystrup also served as an AmeriCorps volunteer focusing on STEM education.
Lystrup holds a bachelor’s in physics from Portland State University and attended graduate school at University College London earning her doctorate in astrophysics. She was a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Research Fellow spending time at the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado, and University of Liege in Belgium. As a planetary scientist and astronomer, Lystrup’s scientific work has been in using ground- and space-based astronomical observatories to understand the interactions and dynamics of planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres – the relationships between planets and their surrounding space environments.
Following Lystrup’s departure, NASA’s Cynthia Simmons will serve as acting center director. Simmons is the current deputy center director.
For more information about NASA’s work, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Cheryl Warner / Kathryn Hambleton
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov / kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov
Katy Mersmann
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-377-1724
katy.mersmann@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 21, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Leadership View the full article
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By NASA
Former Johnson Director Jefferson Howell July 3, 2025
Jefferson Davis Howell, Jr., former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, died July 2, in Bee Cave, Texas. He was 85 years old.
Howell was a champion of the construction of the International Space Station, working on a deadline to complete the orbiting lab by 2004. He oversaw four space shuttle crews delivering equipment and hardware to reach that goal. He also served as director during a pivotal moment for the agency: the loss of STS-107 and the crew of space shuttle Columbia. He made it his personal responsibility to meet with the families, look after them, and attend memorial services, all while keeping the families informed of the accident investigation as it unfolded.
“Gen. Howell led NASA Johnson through one of the most difficult chapters in our history, following the loss of Columbia and her crew,” said acting associate administrator Vanessa Wyche. “He brought strength and steady direction, guiding the workforce with clarity and compassion. He cared deeply for the people behind the mission and shared his leadership skills generously with the team. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and all who knew and loved him.”
At the time of his selection as director, he was serving as senior vice president with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as the program manager for the safety, reliability, and quality assurance contract at Johnson. Following the accident, he made it his mission to improve the relationship between the civil servant and contractor workforce. He left his position and the agency, in October 2005, shortly after the Return-to-Flight mission of STS-114.
“General Howell stepped into leadership at Johnson during a pivotal time, as the International Space Station was just beginning to take shape. He led and supported NASA’s successes not only in space but here on the ground — helping to strengthen the center’s culture and offering guidance through both triumph and tragedy,” said Steve Koerner, Johnson Space Center’s acting director. “On behalf of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we offer our deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and all those who had the privilege of working alongside him. The impact of his legacy will continue to shape Johnson for decades to come.”
The Victoria, Texas, native was a retired lieutenant general in the U.S. Marine Corps with a decorated military career prior to his service at NASA. He flew more than 300 combat missions in Vietnam and Thailand.
Howell is survived by his wife Janel and two children. A tree dedication will be held at NASA Johnson’s memorial grove in the coming year.
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Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
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By USH
In 1992, Dr. Gregory Rogers a NASA flight surgeon and former Chief of Aerospace Medicine witnessed an event that would stay with him for more than three decades. Now, after years of silence, he’s finally revealing the details of a 15-minute encounter that shattered everything he thought he knew about aerospace technology.
With a distinguished career that includes support for 31 space shuttle launches, training as an F-16 pilot, and deep involvement in classified aerospace programs, Dr. Rogers brings unmatched credibility to the conversation. His firsthand account of observing what appeared to be a reverse-engineered craft, emblazoned with "U.S. Air Force" markings, raises profound questions about the true timeline of UAP development and disclosure.
The full interview spans nearly two hours. To help navigate the discussion, here’s a timeline so you can jump to the segments that interest you most.
00:00 Introduction and Dr. Rogers' Unprecedented Credentials 07:25 The 1992 Cape Canaveral Encounter Begins 18:45 Inside the Hangar: First Glimpse of the Craft 26:30 "We Got It From Them" - The Shocking Revelation 35:15 Technical Analysis: Impossible Flight Characteristics 43:40 Electromagnetic Discharges and Advanced Propulsion 52:20 The Cover Story and 33 Years of Silence 1:01:10 Why He's Speaking Out Now: Grush and Fravor's Influence 1:08:45 Bob Lazar Connections and Reverse Engineering Timeline 1:17:20 Flight Surgeon Stories: The Human Side of Classified Work 1:25:50 G-Force Brain Injuries: An Unreported Military Crisis 1:34:30 Columbia Disaster: When Safety Warnings Are Ignored 1:43:15 The Bureaucratic Resistance to Truth 1:50:40 Congressional Testimony and The Path Forward 1:58:25 Final Thoughts: Legacy vs. Truth
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
With Voyager 2 in the background, John Casani holds a small U.S. flag that was sewn into the spacecraft’s thermal blankets before its 1977 launch. Then Voyager’s project manager, Casani was first to envision the mission’s Golden Record, which lies before him with its cover at right. NASA/JPL-Caltech During his work on several historic missions, Casani rose through a series of technical and management positions, making an indelible mark on the nation’s space program.
John R. Casani, a visionary engineer who served a central role in many of NASA’s historic deep space missions, died on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at the age of 92. He was preceded in death by his wife of 39 years, Lynn Casani, in 2008 and is survived by five sons and their families.
Casani started at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in 1956 and went on to work as an electronics engineer on some of the nation’s earliest spacecraft after NASA’s formation in 1958. Along with leading the design teams for both the Ranger and Mariner series of spacecraft, he held senior project positions on many of the Mariner missions to Mars and Venus, and was project manager for three trailblazing space missions: Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini.
His work helped advance NASA spacecraft in areas including mechanical technology, system design and integration, software, and deep space communications. No less demanding were the management challenges of these multifaceted missions, which led to innovations still in use today.
JPL’s John Casani receives the National Air & Space Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award.Carolyn Russo/NASM, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution “John had a major influence on the development of spacecraft that visited almost every planet in our solar system, as well as the people who helped build them,” said JPL director Dave Gallagher. “He played an essential role in America’s first attempts to reach space and then the Moon, and he was just as crucial to the Voyager spacecraft that marked humanity’s first foray into interplanetary — and later, interstellar — space. That Voyager is still exploring after nearly 50 years is a testament to John’s remarkable engineering talent and his leadership that enabled others to push the boundaries of possibility.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1932, Casani studied electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. After a short stint at an Air Force research lab, he moved to California in 1956 and was hired to work at JPL, a division of Caltech, on the guidance system for the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency’s Jupiter-C and Sergeant missile programs.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first human-made Earth satellite, alarming America and changing the trajectory of both JPL and Casani’s career. With the 1958 launch of Explorer 1, America’s first satellite, the lab transitioned to concentrating on robotic space explorers, and Casani segued from missiles to spacecraft.
One of his jobs as payload engineer on Pioneer 3 and 4, NASA’s first missions to the Moon, was to carry each of the 20-inch-long (51-cm-long) probes in a suitcase from JPL to the launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where he installed them in the rocket’s nose cone.
At the dawn of the 1960s, Casani served as spacecraft systems engineer for the agency’s first two Ranger missions to the Moon, then joined the Mariner project in 1965, earning a reputation for being meticulous. Four years later, he was Mariner project manager.
Asked to share some of his wisdom in a 2009 NASA presentation, Casani said, “The thing that makes any of this work … is toughness. Toughness because this is a tough business, and it’s a very unforgiving business. You can do 1,000 things right, but if you don’t do everything right, it’ll come back and bite you.”
Casani’s next role: project manager for NASA’s high-profile flagship mission to the outer planets and beyond — Voyager. He not only led the mission from clean room to space, he was first to envision attaching a message representing humanity to any alien civilization that might encounter humanity’s first interstellar emissaries.
“I approached Carl Sagan,” he said in a 2007 radio interview, “and asked him if he could come up with something that would be appropriate that we could put on our spacecraft in a way of sending a message to whoever might receive it.” Sagan took up the challenge, and what resulted was the Golden Record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
Once Voyager 1 and 2 and their Golden Records launched in 1977, JPL wasted no time in pointing their “engineer’s engineer” toward Galileo, which would become the first mission to orbit a gas giant planet. As the mission’s initial project manager, Casani led the effort from inception to assembly. Along the way, he had to navigate several congressional attempts to end the project, necessitating multiple visits to Washington. The 1986 loss of Space Shuttle Challenger, from which Galileo was to launch atop a Centaur upper-stage booster, led to mission redesign efforts before its 1989 launch.
After 11 years leading Galileo, Casani became deputy assistant laboratory director for flight projects in 1988, received a promotion just over a year later and then, from 1990 to 1991, served as project manager of Cassini, NASA’s first flagship mission to orbit Saturn.
Casani became JPL’s first chief engineer in 1994, retiring in 1999 and serving on several nationally prominent committees, including leading the investigation boards of both the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander failures, and also leading the James Webb Space Telescope Independent Comprehensive Review Panel.
In early 2003, Casani returned to JPL to serve as project manager for NASA’s Project Prometheus, which would have been the nation’s first nuclear-powered, electric-propulsion spacecraft. In 2005, he became manager of the Institutional Special Projects Office at JPL, a position he held until retiring again in 2012.
“Throughout his career, John reflected the true spirit of JPL: bold, innovative, visionary, and welcoming,” said Charles Elachi, JPL’s director from 2001 to 2016. “He was an undisputed leader with an upbeat, fun attitude and left an indelible mark on the laboratory and NASA. I am proud to have called him a friend.”
Casani received many awards over his lifetime, including NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, the Management Improvement Award from the President of the United States for the Mariner Venus Mercury mission, and the Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement.
News Media Contacts
Matthew Segal / Veronica McGregor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307 / 818-354-9452
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov / veronica.c.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 25, 2025 Related Terms
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