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By NASA
Chile pepper plants growing in the Advanced Plant Habitat aboard the International Space Station bore fruit in the late summer and fall of 2021. Overcoming the challenges of growing fruit in microgravity is important to NASA for long-duration missions during which crew members will need good sources of Vitamin C to supplement their diets.NASA/Megan McArthur In July 2021, NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station started growing chile peppers in the Advanced Plant Habitat, as part of the Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment. The astronauts and a team of researchers at Kennedy worked together to monitor the peppers’ growth before harvesting them. In this image from Sept. 30, 2021, chile flowers and buds can be seen.
PH-04 was one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbital lab. The second harvest resulted in a bumper crop: the 26 chile peppers grown broke the record for feeding the most astronauts from a crop grown in space.
Image credit: NASA/Megan McArthur
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By NASA
For some people, working for NASA is a lifelong dream. For others, it is an interesting and perhaps unexpected opportunity that comes up at just the right time and place.
Everything from family ties and influential teachers to witnessing human spaceflight history and enjoying sci-fi entertainment has helped bring people of all backgrounds together at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Several of them recently shared their inspiration to join the NASA team.
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“As a kid, I always had my head up looking at the stars. I loved astronomy and seeing videos of humans walking on the Moon fascinated me! I wanted to be the first female to walk on the Moon. When Star Wars came out, I wanted to build my own R2-D2 that could explore the galaxies. I was curious how things worked (so I could build a robot) and a cousin told me about engineering. That was the name for what I wanted to do! So, I went to the High School for Engineering Professions in Houston. The guidance counselor there told me about an opportunity to apply for a summer internship with NASA as a junior. I got in and I’ve worked with NASA as much as I could since I was 16 years old – internships and full-time positions. I may not get the chance to be an astronaut and walk on the Moon, but I know I will play a role in helping achieve that dream for another female and a person of color!”
– Alicia Baker, engineering project manager for Portable Life Support System test support, JSC Engineering, Technology, and Science (JETS) Contract
Alicia Baker in a spacesuit test chamber at Johnson Space Center.NASA/David DeHoyos “My dad was an aerospace engineer with Lockheed Martin. I went to take your kid to work day and got to stand in front of a booster engine. I’ve wanted to work in the space industry ever since. I almost didn’t enter the field after getting my aerospace degree, but I was fortunate to take an Intro to Human Spaceflight class during my last quarter of college. Without that class and the professor (who had worked at Johnson) I wouldn’t be here today. I’m so glad my path led me here. Johnson is such a great place to be, and I can look back and tell little Margaret that we did it!”
– Margaret Kennedy, aerospace systems engineer, Engineering Directorate Crew and Thermal Systems Division
Margaret Kennedy and her dad visited Space Center Houston when she started her job at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in October 2019.Image courtesy of Margaret Kennedy “In first grade, my teacher organized a ‘Space Week’ in which we learned about outer space. Her sons – who were studying engineering in college – came and launched model rockets for us. I knew from that point on that I wanted to work at NASA when I grew up.”
– Krista Farrell, International Space Station attitude determination and control officer and motion control systems instructor; Boeing Starliner guidance, navigation, and control instructor
Krista Farrell (center) stands with members of the Expedition 71 crew. From left: NASA astronauts Jeannette Epps, Matt Dominick, and Mike Barratt; Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin; and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson. NASA/Josh Valcarcel “I didn’t think I would ever work for NASA. But multiple professors in college encouraged me to challenge myself and do some space research. I realized that it was something that I was very passionate about. Thanks to my research work for the Europa Clipper as an undergraduate student, I got my first internship at NASA and subsequently an offer to join the Pathways Program. Now I am part of a small group of engineers that solve entry, descent, and landing problems for multiple missions on Earth, the Moon, and Mars.”
– Sergio Sandoval, guidance engineer, Engineering Directorate Flight Mechanics and Trajectory Design Branch
Sergio Sandoval helps staff a NASA table during a Johnson Space Center community engagement event.Image courtesy of Sergio Sandoval
“Dad would take me to the viewing room of the original Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) during the Apollo era. He was one of the people supporting MOCR in the Staff Support Room. I have worked at Johnson for 27 years [as a contractor] for Lockheed Martin, Hamilton Sundstrand, and Jacobs Technology.”
– David Fanelli, software engineer, Energy Systems Test Area
“In early 1969, when I was a boy, my uncle visited the Johnson Space Center and brought back astronaut and mission photos of the recently completed Apollo 8 lunar orbiting mission. Those photos, coupled with a Saturn V rocket model I assembled, and the Time Life records and books about the Apollo space program my parents purchased for me, sparked my imagination. I knew I wanted to work for NASA one day. It wasn’t until many years later that that dream became a reality, when I joined NASA’s co-op program for college students during my second attempt to become an aeronautical engineer. After I graduated college, I began working full time as a civil servant engineer at Johnson.”
– David Fletcher, NASA lead, Gateway-Ready Avionics Integration Lab
David Fletcher (center) with his daughters Jessica (left) and Erica (right). Image courtesy of David Fletcher
“I remember watching Star Trek and Star Wars as a kid with my dad. I found some of his college notes in a box one day and thought the small, neat print on graph paper pads was really pretty. He went to the University of Texas at Austin to study astrophysics and engineering, but he never got to finish. Fast forward to 2022 and I find myself in Houston for an unknown amount of time, so I decided to go out and make some friends. I met a woman at a Geeky Game Night, and I learned that she was a food scientist at NASA! After talking some more, she told me to send her my resume. Later that week I received a call to set up an interview. I’m still in awe of how that one chance connection led me to my childhood dream of working at NASA.”
– Kristin Dillon, document/IT specialist, Space Food Systems Laboratory
“I grew up in a small agricultural village in India. My first introduction to spaceflight was reading Russian cosmonauts’ translated accounts of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project as a young girl. I am still not sure whether my father picked that book for me on a whim or with a grand dream for his daughter, but it certainly had me hooked. However, I found my true calling to make human spaceflight safer and more efficient after witnessing the Columbia mishap. India, at the time, did not have a human spaceflight program. Thus started a 20-year-long grand adventure of seeking opportunities, pursuing them, immigrating to the United States, and finding my path to NASA, which culminated in a Pathways internship at Johnson.”
– Poonampreet Kaur Josan, three-time Pathways intern, currently supporting the Human Health and Performance Directorate Habitability and Human Factors Branch
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By NASA
NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, announced Wednesday it will continue its historic in-space autonomous systems payload mission aboard an orbiting satellite through a follow-on agreement with Sidus Space, Inc.
“We are excited to report the historic ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) mission will continue,” said Chris Carmichael, chief, Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) branch at NASA Stennis. “We look forward to working with Sidus Space to demonstrate the capabilities of the NASA Stennis payload and our autonomous systems team.”
With this new agreement, the ASTRA payload will be used to collect onboard data on satellite systems and support management of the satellite’s Electrical Power System (EPS). The NASA Stennis ASTRA system will monitor and autonomously optimize the satellite’s battery system, ensuring the satellite continues to operate as needed for the course of its remaining mission lifetime. The ASTRA EPS management capability provides a new, innovative level of adaptability and efficiency for monitoring the satellite’s ongoing operations.
Developed by NASA Stennis to fly and demonstrate an autonomous systems hardware/software payload, ASTRA is the on-orbit mission. The NASA Stennis ASTRA technology demonstrator is a payload rider aboard the Sidus Space LizzieSat-1 (LS-1) small satellite. Partner Sidus Space is responsible for all LS-1 mission operations, including launch and satellite activation.
The LS-1 small satellite launched into space on the SpaceX Transporter 10 rideshare mission March 4 and deployed the same day. Following payload activation by Sidus Space, the NASA Stennis team worked with the company to establish a telemetry link to send and receive data in the ASTRA Payload Operation Command Center located at the NASA site. The ASL team continued to checkout and verify operation of ASTRA, confirming in early July that ASTRA primary mission objectives were successful.
The team is now focused on demonstrating autonomous system management as part of the LS-1 satellite’s planned four-year mission. “We are excited about the opportunity to continue this unprecedented mission,” Carmichael said. “Every step helps advance our autonomous systems work and lays a foundation for continued development and success.”
The NASA Stennis ASL team works to create safe-by-design autonomous systems. NASA’s ASTRA demonstrates technology that is required by NASA and industry for upcoming space missions. The ASTRA computer on the satellite runs a digital twin of key satellite systems, which identifies anomalies, and autonomously generates plans to resolve those issues.
The ongoing success of the ASTRA mission comes as NASA Stennis moves forward with strategic plans to design autonomous systems that will help accelerate development of intelligent aerospace systems and services for government and industry.
For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/stennis
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By NASA
NASA/Alberto Bertolin, Bradley Reynolds Immerse yourself in the future of deep space science exploration and download a 3D model of Gateway. Click, drag, and explore the exterior of the lunar space station from multiple angles.
Launch the 3D Model International teams of astronauts will use Gateway, humanity’s first space station to orbit the Moon, to explore the scientific mysteries of deep space. Gateway is part of the Artemis campaign to return humans to the lunar surface for scientific discovery and chart a path for the first human missions to Mars.
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By NASA
A 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system to the Moon for future crewed Artemis missions was recently tested at NASA’s Ames Research Center’s transonic wind tunnel, providing valuable information on vehicle stability when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.NASA Four grid fins on the Super Heavy rocket help stabilize and control the rocket as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere after launching Starship to a lunar trajectory. Engineers tested the effects of various aerodynamic conditions on several grid fin configurations during wind tunnel testing. NASA Wind tunnel testing at NASA’s Ames Research Center helped engineers better understand the aerodynamic forces the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket, with its 33 Raptor engines, experiences during various stages of flight. As a result of the testing, engineers updated flight control algorithms and modified the exterior design of the rocket. NASA NASA and its industry partners continue to make progress toward Artemis III and beyond, the first crewed lunar landing missions under the agency’s Artemis campaign. SpaceX, the commercial Human Landing System (HLS) provider for Artemis III and Artemis IV, recently tested a 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket, or booster, in the transonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Super Heavy rocket will launch the Starship human landing system to the Moon as part of Artemis.
During the tests, the wind tunnel forced an air stream at the Super Heavy scale model at high speeds, mimicking the air resistance and flow the booster experiences during flight. The wind tunnel subjected the Super Heavy model, affixed with pressure-measuring sensors, to wind speeds ranging from Mach .7, or about 537 miles per hour, to Mach 1.4, or about 1,074 miles per hour. Mach 1 is the speed that sound waves travel, or 761 miles per hour, at sea level.
Engineers then measured how Super Heavy model responded to the simulated flight conditions, observing its stability, aerodynamic performance, and more. Engineers used the data to update flight software for flight 3 of Super Heavy and Starship and to refine the exterior design of future versions of the booster. The testing lasted about two weeks and took place earlier in 2024.
After Super Heavy completes its ascent and separation from Starship HLS on its journey to the Moon, SpaceX plans to have the booster return to the launch site for catch and reuse. The Starship HLS will continue on a trajectory to the Moon.
To get to the Moon for the Artemis missions, astronauts will launch in NASA’s Orion spacecraft aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in lunar orbit, Orion will dock with the Starship HLS or with Gateway. Once the spacecraft are docked, the astronauts will move from Orion or Gateway to the HLS Starship, which will bring them to the surface of the Moon. After surface activities are complete, Starship will return the astronauts to Orion or Gateway waiting in lunar orbit. The astronauts will transfer to Orion for the return trip to Earth.
With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s SLS, exploration ground systems, and Orion spacecraft, along with the human landing system, next-generation spacesuits, Gateway lunar space station, and future rovers are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
For more information about Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
News Media Contact
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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