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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4280-4281: Last Call at Kings Canyon
This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4278 (2024-08-18 16:30:04 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Aug. 19, 2024
Curiosity successfully completed the drill sequence at the Kings Canyon site within the Gediz Vallis channel. Today was a smooth planning day as we decided to stay put for sols 4280 and 4281 to obtain APXS data of the drill tailings (the crushed rock removed from the drill hole) before we reposition the rover nearby for our next set of observations. The science team is eagerly plotting the rover’s next move and is looking forward to all the interesting targets along the route ahead!
ChemCam had a very busy day with multiple activities in the plan. ChemCam LIBS will examine the chemistry of rocks at nearby “Cathedral Lake” and “Royce Lakes” to analyze the fresh surfaces that were recently broken by the weight of the rover driving over them. Mastcam will provide their standard documentation images of these locations after the LIBS instrument zaps each target. ChemCam planned two long distance RMI images and one passive RMI image to get a closer view of the diversity of rocks at Milestone Peak and the upper channel and the yardang unit – a white, wind-sculped rock that caps the mound in Gale crater.
In our current workspace, we planned a MAHLI image and will use the dust removal tool (DRT) to characterize the grain size of the light-toned rock near our drill location at “Gabbot Pass.” Mastam has amassed a beautiful collection of mosaics at our current location and therefore included only one small Mastcam mosaic of the nearby Texoli butte that will provide context for a recently acquired ChemCam LD RMI image. The environmental theme group planned surveys to search for dust devils as well as measurements to observe the amount of dust in the atmosphere.
Looking ahead, we will reposition the rover slightly to access “Fourth Recess Lake” to quantify its chemistry for comparison to past and future observations within the Gediz Vallis channel. And after that, it’s McDonald Pass or bust!
Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
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Last Updated Aug 20, 2024 Related Terms
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Credits: NASA NASA and the Hudson Square Business Improvement District are launching an open call to New York-based artists and artist teams to design and install a large-scale, space-themed neighborhood mural. The NASA x Hudson Square partnership was developed to inspire the surrounding Manhattan Hudson Square community by showcasing NASA’s work and missions.
Artists are encouraged to submit proposals for the project and detail how their mural will illustrate the impact of NASA’s priorities, such as the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope, climate science and innovation, and the Artemis campaign exploring the Moon. Applications are due by Friday, June 28.
The selected project will receive a $20,000 award for design fees, materials, labor, and equipment, with a portion of funds provided by NASA and matched by Hudson Square Business Improvement District. The mural installation is expected to be complete by September.
NASA continues to seek opportunities to inspire the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – through collaborations with partners like the Hudson Square Business Improvement District. Details about submitting project proposals are available on the Hudson Square web page. For questions about applying to the NASA x Hudson Square mural project, contact PublicArt@HudsonSquareBID.org.
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NASA astronauts Suni Williams (pictured left) and Butch Wilmore (pictured right) launched at 10:52 a.m. EDT June 5 as the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Credits: NASA Following their safe arrival at the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will participate in a pair of Earth to space calls Monday, June 10, regarding their historic mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft:
Known as NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, the duo will speak first at 1 p.m. EDT with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Associate Administrator Jim Free, and Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche.
Coverage of the call will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
At 2:40 p.m., the astronauts will participate in a Q&A moderated by Chirag Parikh, deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and executive secretary for the White House’s National Space Council.
Coverage of the call will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website.
Wilmore and Williams launched at 10:52 a.m. June 5, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. They docked to the orbiting laboratory at 1:34 p.m., June 6, and will remain for a week-long stay, testing Starliner and its subsystems as the next step in the spacecraft’s certification for rotational missions as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is delivering on its goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States through a partnership with American private industry. This partnership is opening access to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station to more people, science, and commercial opportunities. The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis, and ultimately, to Mars.
For more information about the mission, visit:
www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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Faith McKie / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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NASA Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford (left), and Walter M. Schirra Jr., pose for the camera during suiting up exercises on Oct. 22, 1965. Stafford was selected among the second group of astronauts in September 1962 by NASA to participate in Projects Gemini and Apollo. In December 1965, he piloted Gemini VI, which made the first rendezvous in space with Gemini VII, and helped develop techniques to prove the basic theory and practicality of space rendezvous.
In June 1966, Stafford commanded the Gemini IX mission and performed a demonstration of an early rendezvous that would be used in the Apollo lunar missions, the first optical rendezvous, and a lunar orbit abort rendezvous. He was also commander of Apollo 10 in May 1969; he descended to nine miles above the Moon, performing the entire lunar landing mission except the actual landing. He logged his fourth spaceflight as Apollo commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in July 1975, which culminated in the historic first meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.
Learn more about Stafford and the missions he participated in.
Image Credit: NASA
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By NASA
(1966) — Portrait of astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, wearing his spacesuit.Credits: NASA The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday’s passing of Thomas Stafford, a lifelong space exploration advocate, former NASA astronaut, and U.S. Air Force general:
“Today, General Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens, which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as well as a peacemaker in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Those of us privileged to know him are very sad but grateful we knew a giant.
“Tom was critical to the earliest successes of our nation’s space program and was instrumental in developing space as a model for international cooperation. He also helped us learn from our tragedies and grow and reach for the next generation of achievement. He was intimately involved with the space program, sharing his thoughts and suggestions on NASA missions until the end of his life.
“Tom was a gentleman and a daredevil. He flew our first rendezvous in space on Gemini 6, and piloted Gemini 9’s path to Earth with pencil and paper when the spacecraft’s guidance computer failed in orbit. He commanded Apollo 10, the first flight of the lunar module to the Moon, a critical test flight that resulted in the successful landing on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Tom also flew more than 100 different types of aircraft throughout his career as he pushed the edge of the envelope of our achievement in air and space. He was an extraordinary peacemaker who commanded NASA’s first rendezvous of an international spacecraft on the Apollo-Soyuz mission. His counterpart, General Alexei Leonov, became a best friend over the years. Tom gave Alexei’s eulogy in 2019 at the Russian state funeral.
“Tom’s dedication to NASA never wavered. In later years, he chaired a team to independently advise NASA on how to carry out President H.W. Bush’s space policy and completed the study ‘America at the Threshold’ about the nation’s potential future with humans in space. He also was co-chairman of the Stafford-Covey Space Shuttle Return to Flight Task Group that assessed NASA’s implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Space Shuttle Return to Flight recommendations.
“Our nation will be forever grateful to an explorer who never lost his sense of wonder. About his time in space, he said, ‘It changes you, oh sure. Changes your outlook…As you look back, you see a little blue and white baseball, actually, it’s smaller than a baseball. But it’s hard to envision that is where all the people you’ve known all your life are, where you went to school, your friends, your family. It’s also hard to envision that there are three billion people on that blue and white baseball.’
“Godspeed, Tom Stafford.”
For more information about Stafford’s NASA career, and his agency biography, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/former-astronaut-thomas-stafford/
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Faith McKie / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 18, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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