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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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6 min read NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scours Mars for Science
Article 2 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Starts Unpacking Boxwork Formations
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By NASA
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted in October 2023.
As the International Space Station approaches 25 years of continuous human presence on Nov. 2, 2025, it is a meaningful moment to recognize those who have been there since the beginning—sharing the remarkable achievements of human spaceflight with the world.
If you have ever witnessed the live coverage of a NASA spacewalk or launch, then you know the captivating voice of celestial storyteller Rob Navias. Navias effortlessly blends expertise, enthusiasm, and profound insight into every mission.
Rob Navias on console in the Mission Control Center covering an Extravehicular Activity aboard the International Space Station. NASA/Bill Stafford I relay the facts and data with history in mind. You need to maintain a sense of history if you're going to be able to tell the contemporary story properly.
Rob Navias
Public Affairs Officer and Mission Commentator
Navias works within the Office of Public Affairs on mission operations and television in NASA Johnson Space Center’s Office of Communications, leading public affairs activities involving launches and landings of U.S. astronauts and international partner crew members. He is iconically known as the voice of NASA.
He has been a part of some of the most impactful moments in space exploration history, communicating the facts in real time with unmatched clarity. He covered every shuttle mission from the maiden launch of Columbia in April 1981 to Atlantis’ final voyage in July 2011. Navias is known for connecting others accurately and honestly to key moments in time.
Navias’ extraordinary contributions to space communications garnered him the 2017 Space Communicator Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation. This prestigious accolade is presented to individuals or teams who have made remarkable contributions to public understanding and appreciation of space exploration. Navias’ unwavering dedication to NASA was recognized with the 2023 Length of Federal Service Award, commemorating his 30-year commitment to the agency.
His legacy continued on screen in Cosmic Dawn, the NASA documentary exploring the James Webb Space Telescope’s incredible journey. Featured for his role as the launch commentator during Webb’s Christmas Day 2021 liftoff, Navias brought historical context and lived experience to one of NASA’s most ambitious missions.
As long as we can maintain a shared vision and curiosity, all nations can go a long way up to the universe.
Rob Navias
Public Affairs Officer and Mission Commentator
He began his broadcast career as a correspondent for networks covering the Space Shuttle Program. Before joining NASA in 1993, Navias had a 25-year career in broadcast journalism where he reported the voyage of Pioneer 11, a robotic space probe that studied the asteroid belt and the rings of Saturn, as well as the test flights for the Space Shuttle Enterprise at Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Voyager missions from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Navias also covered the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project as a broadcast journalist. That first international human spaceflight showed the world there was a way for nations to work together peacefully for a common goal, Navias stated.
“Once the commitment was made to fund the construction of an international space station, it broadened the agency’s scope to work multiple programs that could be a stepping stone beyond low Earth orbit,” Navias said.
Rob Navias (left), accompanied by Phil Engelauf and John Shannon, during an STS-114 Flight Director press briefing.NASA I think the greatest legacy of the International Space Station will ultimately be the diplomatic oasis it has provided in orbit for exploration and scientific research.
ROB Navias
Public Affairs Officer and Mission Commentator
Navias explained that during his time at NASA, he has learned a lot about himself. “The day you stop absorbing information, the day that you grow tired of learning new things is the day you need to walk away,” he said. “The challenge of spaceflight keeps me here at NASA.”
Navias underscored the importance of nurturing and retaining the agency’s brilliant workforce who have shaped the pioneering mindset of human space exploration. He believes blending talent, resources, and industry expertise is the key to returning to the Moon and going to Mars. This collaborative mindset has not only resulted in establishing a laboratory in low Earth orbit but also paved the way for future missions.
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
In addition to drilling rock core samples, the science team has been grinding its way into rocks to make sense of the scientific evidence hiding just below the surface.
NASA’s Perseverance rover uses an abrading bit to get below the surface of a rocky out-crop nicknamed “Kenmore” on June 10. The eight images that make up this video were taken approximately one minute apart by one of the rover’s front hazard-avoidance cameras. NASA/JPL-Caltech On June 3, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover ground down a portion of a rock surface, blew away the resulting debris, and then went to work studying its pristine interior with a suite of instruments designed to determine its mineralogic makeup and geologic origin. “Kenmore,” as nicknamed by the rover science team, is the 30th Martian rock that Perseverance has subjected to such in-depth scrutiny, beginning with drilling a two-inch-wide (5-centimeter-wide) abrasion patch.
“Kenmore was a weird, uncooperative rock,” said Perseverance’s deputy project scientist, Ken Farley from Caltech in Pasadena, California. “Visually, it looked fine — the sort of rock we could get a good abrasion on and perhaps, if the science was right, perform a sample collection. But during abrasion, it vibrated all over the place and small chunks broke off. Fortunately, we managed to get just far enough below the surface to move forward with an analysis.”
The science team wants to get below the weathered, dusty surface of Mars rocks to see important details about a rock’s composition and history. Grinding away an abrasion patch also creates a flat surface that enables Perseverance’s science instruments to get up close and personal with the rock.
This close-up view of an abrasion showing distinctive “tool marks” created by the Perseverance’s abrading bit was acquired on June 5. The image was taken from approximately 2.76 inches (7 centimeters) away by the rover’s WATSON imager. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Perseverance’s gold-colored abrading bit takes center stage in this image of the rover’s drill taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on Aug. 2, 2021, the 160th day of the mission to Mars.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Time to Grind
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, each carried a diamond-dust-tipped grinder called the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) that spun at 3,000 revolutions per minute as the rover’s robotic arm pushed it deeper into the rock. Two wire brushes then swept the resulting debris, or tailings, out of the way. The agency’s Curiosity rover carries a Dust Removal Tool, whose wire bristles sweep dust from the rock’s surface before the rover drills into the rock. Perseverance, meanwhile, relies on a purpose-built abrading bit, and it clears the tailings with a device that surpasses wire brushes: the gaseous Dust Removal Tool, or gDRT.
“We use Perseverance’s gDRT to fire a 12-pounds-per-square-inch (about 83 kilopascals) puff of nitrogen at the tailings and dust that cover a freshly abraded rock,” said Kyle Kaplan, a robotic engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Five puffs per abrasion — one to vent the tanks and four to clear the abrasion. And gDRT has a long way to go. Since landing at Jezero Crater over four years ago, we’ve puffed 169 times. There are roughly 800 puffs remaining in the tank.” The gDRT offers a key advantage over a brushing approach: It avoids any terrestrial contaminants that might be on a brush from getting on the Martian rock being studied.
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This video captures a test of Perseverance’s Gaseous Dust Removal Tool (gDRT) in a vacuum chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August 2020. The tool fires puffs of nitrogen gas at the tailings and dust that cover a rock after it has been abraded by the rover.NASA/JPL-Caltech Having collected data on abraded surfaces more than 30 times, the rover team has in-situ science (studying something in its original place or position) collection pretty much down. After gDRT blows the tailings away, the rover’s WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) imager (which, like gDRT, is at the end of the rover’s arm) swoops in for close-up photos. Then, from its vantage point high on the rover’s mast, SuperCam fires thousands of individual pulses from its laser, each time using a spectrometer to determine the makeup of the plume of microscopic material liberated after every zap. SuperCam also employs a different spectrometer to analyze the visible and infrared light that bounces off the materials in the abraded area.
“SuperCam made observations in the abrasion patch and of the powdered tailings next to the patch,” said SuperCam team member and “Crater Rim” campaign science lead, Cathy Quantin-Nataf of the University of Lyon in France. “The tailings showed us that this rock contains clay minerals, which contain water as hydroxide molecules bound with iron and magnesium — relatively typical of ancient Mars clay minerals. The abrasion spectra gave us the chemical composition of the rock, showing enhancements in iron and magnesium.”
Later, the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) and PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) instruments took a crack at Kenmore, too. Along with supporting SuperCam’s discoveries that the rock contained clay, they detected feldspar (the mineral that makes much of the Moon brilliantly bright in sunlight). The PIXL instrument also detected a manganese hydroxide mineral in the abrasion — the first time this type of material has been identified during the mission.
With Kenmore data collection complete, the rover headed off to new territories to explore rocks — both cooperative and uncooperative — along the rim of Jezero Crater.
“One thing you learn early working on Mars rover missions is that not all Mars rocks are created equal,” said Farley. “The data we obtain now from rocks like Kenmore will help future missions so they don’t have to think about weird, uncooperative rocks. Instead, they’ll have a much better idea whether you can easily drive over it, sample it, separate the hydrogen and oxygen contained inside for fuel, or if it would be suitable to use as construction material for a habitat.”
Long-Haul Roving
On June 19 (the 1,540th Martian day, or sol, of the mission), Perseverance bested its previous record for distance traveled in a single autonomous drive, trekking 1,348 feet (411 meters). That’s about 210 feet (64 meters) more than its previous record, set on April 3, 2023 (Sol 753). While planners map out the rover’s general routes, Perseverance can cut down driving time between areas of scientific interest by using its self-driving system, AutoNav.
“Perseverance drove 4½ football fields and could have gone even farther, but that was where the science team wanted us to stop,” said Camden Miller, a rover driver for Perseverance at JPL. “And we absolutely nailed our stop target location. Every day operating on Mars, we learn more on how to get the most out of our rover. And what we learn today future Mars missions won’t have to learn tomorrow.”
News Media Contact
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 25, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:03:10 These are the highlights of the launch on Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) of ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland to the International Space Station. The mission is called Ignis.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 25 June 2025.
Sławosz is mission specialist on the Dragon spacecraft. The other crew members are Shubhanshu Shukla from India and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. They fly under the command of Peggy Whitson from USA.
Sponsored by the Polish government and supported by ESA, the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT), and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the mission will include an ambitious technological and scientific programme with several experiments led by ESA and proposed by the Polish space industry.
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:03:50 The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew lifts off to the International Space Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 25 June at 02:31 EDT, local time (07:31 BST/08:31 CEST).
ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski travels to his new home in space in the Dragon spacecraft. Sławosz is part of Axiom Mission 4 alongside Peggy Whitson (USA), Shubhanshu Shukla (India) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary).
During their journey on the Dragon spacecraft to the orbital outpost Sławosz and Tibor will serve as mission specialists, Shubhanshu will be the crew’s pilot and Peggy will be commander.
The Polish project astronaut is the second of a new generation of European astronauts to fly on a commercial human spaceflight opportunity with Axiom Space. Sponsored by the Polish government and supported by ESA, the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT), and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the mission will include an ambitious technological and scientific programme with several experiments led by ESA and proposed by the Polish space industry. The mission, known as Ignis will officially begin once Sławosz enters the Station.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski was selected in November 2022 as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve and joined ESA as a project astronaut on 1 September 2023 for training familiarisation at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
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