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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has selected Barrios Technology, LLC, in Houston to provide technical integration services for the agency’s human space flight programs.
The Mission Technical Integration Contract is a cost-plus-award-fee and cost-plus-incentive fee contract with core and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity requirements. It has a total estimated value of approximately $450 million, and a period of performance beginning Oct. 1, and ending on Sept. 30, 2027, along with four one-year option periods through 2031.
Under the contract, the contractor will provide technical integration and related services for multiple human space flight programs. These services include program, business, configuration and data management, information technology, systems engineering and integration, mission integration, safety and mission assurance, and operations.
For information about the agency and its programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 28, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
NASA to Launch SNIFS, Sun’s Next Trailblazing Spectator
July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or SNIFS. Delivered to space via a Black Brant IX sounding rocket, SNIFS will explore the energy and dynamics of the chromosphere, one of the most complex regions of the Sun’s atmosphere. The SNIFS mission’s launch window at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico opens on Friday, July 18.
The chromosphere is located between the Sun’s visible surface, or photosphere, and its outer layer, the corona. The different layers of the Sun’s atmosphere have been researched at length, but many questions persist about the chromosphere. “There’s still a lot of unknowns,” said Phillip Chamberlin, a research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and principal investigator for the SNIFS mission.
The reddish chromosphere is visible on the Sun’s right edge in this view of the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse from Madras, Oregon.Credit: NASA/Nat Gopalswamy The chromosphere lies just below the corona, where powerful solar flares and massive coronal mass ejections are observed. These solar eruptions are the main drivers of space weather, the hazardous conditions in near-Earth space that threaten satellites and endanger astronauts. The SNIFS mission aims to learn more about how energy is converted and moves through the chromosphere, where it can ultimately power these massive explosions.
“To make sure the Earth is safe from space weather, we really would like to be able to model things,” said Vicki Herde, a doctoral graduate of CU Boulder who worked with Chamberlin to develop SNIFS.
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This footage from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the Sun in the 304-angstrom band of extreme ultraviolet light, which primarily reveals light from the chromosphere. This video, captured on Feb. 22, 2024, shows a solar flare — as seen in the bright flash on the upper left.Credit: NASA/SDO The SNIFS mission is the first ever solar ultraviolet integral field spectrograph, an advanced technology combining an imager and a spectrograph. Imagers capture photos and videos, which are good for seeing the combined light from a large field of view all at once. Spectrographs dissect light into its various wavelengths, revealing which elements are present in the light source, their temperature, and how they’re moving — but only from a single location at a time.
The SNIFS mission combines these two technologies into one instrument.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Chamberlin. “You’re pushing the limit of what technology allows us to do.”
By focusing on specific wavelengths, known as spectral lines, the SNIFS mission will help scientists to learn about the chromosphere. These wavelengths include a spectral line of hydrogen that is the brightest line in the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) spectrum, and two spectral lines from the elements silicon and oxygen. Together, data from these spectral lines will help reveal how the chromosphere connects with upper atmosphere by tracing how solar material and energy move through it.
The SNIFS mission will be carried into space by a sounding rocket. These rockets are effective tools for launching and carrying space experiments and offer a valuable opportunity for hands-on experience, particularly for students and early-career researchers.
(From left to right) Vicki Herde, Joseph Wallace, and Gabi Gonzalez, who worked on the SNIFS mission, stand with the sounding rocket containing the rocket payload at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.Credit: courtesy of Phillip Chamberlin “You can really try some wild things,” Herde said. “It gives the opportunity to allow students to touch the hardware.”
Chamberlin emphasized how beneficial these types of missions can be for science and engineering students like Herde, or the next generation of space scientists, who “come with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of new ideas, new techniques,” he said.
The entirety of the SNIFS mission will likely last up to 15 minutes. After launch, the sounding rocket is expected to take 90 seconds to make it to space and point toward the Sun, seven to eight minutes to perform the experiment on the chromosphere, and three to five minutes to return to Earth’s surface.
A previous sounding rocket launch from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This mission carried a copy of the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE).
Credit: NASA/University of Colorado Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics/James Mason The rocket will drift around 70 to 80 miles (112 to 128 kilometers) from the launchpad before its return, so mission contributors must ensure it will have a safe place to land. White Sands, a largely empty desert, is ideal.
Herde, who spent four years working on the rocket, expressed her immense excitement for the launch. “This has been my baby.”
By Harper Lawson
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jul 17, 2025 Related Terms
Heliophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division Science & Research Sounding Rockets Sounding Rockets Program Wallops Flight Facility Explore More
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By NASA
The Axiom Mission 4 crew launched on June 25, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left to right: Tibor Kapu of Hungary, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland (Credit: Axiom Space). The NASA-supported fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4, completed its flight as part of the agency’s efforts to demonstrate demand and build operational knowledge for future commercial space stations.
The four-person crew safely returned to Earth, splashing down off the coast of California at 5:31 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and astronauts.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, and ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu of Hungary, completed about two and a half weeks in space.
The Axiom Mission 4 crew launched at 2:31 a.m. on June 25, on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Approximately 28 hours later, Dragon docked to the space-facing port of the space station’s Harmony module. The astronauts undocked at 7:15 a.m. on July 14, to begin the trip home.
The crew conducted microgravity research, educational outreach, and commercial activities. The spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX’s refurbishing facilities. Throughout their mission, the astronauts conducted about 60 science experiments, and returned science, including NASA cargo, back to Earth.
A collaboration between NASA and ISRO allowed Axiom Mission 4 to deliver on a commitment highlighted by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station. The space agencies participated in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit science, technology, engineering, and mathematics demonstrations. NASA and ISRO have a long-standing relationship built on a shared vision to advance scientific knowledge and expand space collaboration.
The private mission also carried the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station.
The International Space Station is a springboard for developing a low Earth orbit economy. NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy off the Earth where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity. NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit provides the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.
Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-space
News Media Contacts:
Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov
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By Space Force
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman traveled to Canada to attend the Royal Canadian Air Force Change of Command ceremony,
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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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