NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free to Retire After 30 Years Service

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Official portrait of NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, taken on Nov. 22, 2024, at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free announced Wednesday his retirement, effective Saturday, Feb. 22. As associate administrator, Free has been the senior advisor to NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and leads NASA’s 10 center directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He is the agency’s chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees and oversaw an annual budget of more than $25…

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Leaving Pluto in the dust: New Horizons probe gearing up for epic crossing of ‘termination shock’

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NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft conducted the first and only flyby of the Pluto system, culminating at the closest approach of that distant world in July 2015. Sailing onward, the probe carried out a Jan. 1, 2019 flyby of Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt Object, or KBO, located in a region of space beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. There are scads of other icy worlds residing in the Kuiper Belt, celestial leftovers from the formation of our solar system. For New Horizons, the gathering of more exploration science is, pun intended,…

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In the Starlight: Portia Keyes Procures Mission-Critical Support

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One semester as a NASA Pathways intern was enough to inspire Portia Keyes to sign up for a Russian language class at college. After interning in the Johnson Space Center’s Office of Procurement, Keyes hoped to someday use her new language skills in support of the International Space Station Program. Now, 12 years later, Keyes is the deputy manager of the procurement office for the International Space Station and Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Programs. That means she is responsible for implementing and overseeing acquisition solutions that enable the purchasing…

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Black holes snacking on small stars create particle accelerators that bombard Earth with cosmic rays

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Using 16 years of data from NASA’s gamma-ray detecting Fermi spacecraft, astronomers have discovered that “microquasars,” systems in which a black hole is slowly devouring a star, may be small, but they pack one heck of a punch. Despite their diminutive nature, this research suggests even microquasars snacking on small stars can have an impressive cosmic influence, becoming powerful natural particle accelerators. This means black holes indulging in stellar meals of all sizes could be responsible for a higher-than-suspected amount of high-energy charged particles called “cosmic rays,” which are constantly…

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NASA Sends Experiment to Space to Study Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Astronaut Jeanette Epps extracts DNA samples from bacteria colonies for genomic analysis aboard the International Space Station’s Harmony module. NASA In an effort to learn more about astronaut health and the effects of space on the human body, NASA is conducting a new experiment aboard the International Space Station to speed up the detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, thus improving the health safety not only of astronauts but patients back on Earth. Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be difficult…

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Lego Marvel Logo & Minifigures set review

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Essential info: Price: $99.99/£89.99 Model number: 76313 Number of pieces: 931 Dimensions: 4 x 11 x 2.5 inches (11 x 28 x 7cm) Recommend age: 12+ I don’t think any other Lego set has been quite as ‘what you see is what you get’ as the Marvel Logo & Minifigures set. As the name suggests, this literally is a 3D box with the Marvel logo on the front. It’s not exactly inspiring. But it is a solid model, and with some interesting building techniques, it’s fairly fun to build too.…

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Boeing plans to lay off hundreds of employees working on NASA’s SLS moon rocket: reports

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Boeing is preparing to issue layoff notices to roughly 200 employees working on the Space Launch System (SLS) — the massive rocket central to NASA’s flagship Artemis program — as it braces for the possibility that its contracts with the space agency may not be renewed after they end in March. Of the approximately 400 positions Boeing initially considered cutting by April “to align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations,” the company managed to preserve half of the jobs after daily talks with NASA, Boeing’s Vice President…

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‘Captain America: Brave New World’ introduces adamantium into the MCU, but did it come from space in the comics?

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The fourth Captain America movie, Captain America: Brave New World, is finally out and has been met with middling critical reviews. Despite that, fans are already dissecting every new character and plot development that’s transpired as they eagerly await The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts. Most intriguing is the introduction of adamantium in this movie, which is fascinating because of how it differs from the comic book lore. Adamantium is part of the comic book-y, ‘fun first’ science found in the long-running universe. From vibranium to recurring alien threats,…

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Japan’s Resilience moon lander aces lunar flyby ahead of historic touchdown try (photo)

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The private Resilience lunar lander just got its first up-close look at the moon. Resilience, which was built by Japanese company ispace, aced a flyby of the moon on Friday evening (Feb. 14), coming within a mere 5,220 miles (8,400 kilometers) of Earth’s nearest neighbor. The lander memorialized the milestone with a photo, snapping a nice shot of the battered lunar surface from a distance of 8,972 miles (14,439 km). The close encounter was “a historic first of its type for a Japanese private, commercial lunar lander,” according to ispace.…

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Eclipses to Auroras: Eclipse Ambassadors Experience Winter Field School in Alaska

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Explore This Section Science Science Activation Eclipses to Auroras: Eclipse… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   3 min read Eclipses to Auroras: Eclipse Ambassadors Experience Winter Field School in Alaska In 2023 and 2024, two eclipses crossed the United States, and the NASA Science Activation program’s Eclipse Ambassadors Off the Path project invited undergraduate students and amateur astronomers to join them as “NASA Partner Eclipse Ambassadors”. This opportunity to partner with NASA, provide solar viewing glasses, and share eclipse knowledge…

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