Month: January 2024

NASA’s Artemis I Spacecraft Prepped to Depart to Ohio Facility

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Technicians inside NASA’s Kennedy Space Centers Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) in Florida use a crane to load the Artemis I spacecraft – now called an environmental test article – into the crew module transportation fixture in preparation for its departure to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. NASA/Kim Shiflett From Florida to the Moon and back, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is still making moves. The crew module that flew more than 1.4 million miles during the agency’s historic Artemis I mission is getting ready for its next destination –…

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NASA Adjusts Agreements to Benefit Commercial Station Development

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Expedition 63 crew captured the sun’s first rays bursting over the Earth’s horizon during an orbital sunrise aboard the International Space Station. NASA NASA has modified agreements for two funded commercial space station partners that are on track to develop low Earth orbit destinations for NASA and other customers as the International Space Station retires in 2030. The changes add new technical milestones and reallocate existing funding to allow the agency to accelerate efforts as part of NASA’s…

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Interview with Victoria Hartwick

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April 11,2023 You probably know from reading these that we like to start with your early years, where you were born, something about your family, if you have siblings, your parents and what they did, and mixed in with that, how early was it in your life that you developed an interest in what you’ve pursued academically and now in your career? Let’s see. I was born in Chicago, Illinois, but I grew up in Wisconsin. I left Chicago at, I think, six months old. My parents: my dad is…

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NASA Astronauts to Speak with North Carolina, Virginia Students

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(Nov. 3, 2023) NASA astronauts and Expedition 70 Flight Engineers Loral O’Hara, left, and Jasmin Moghbeli, right, work on a spacesuit aboard the International Space Station’s Quest airlock. NASA Students from North Carolina and Virginia will have separate opportunities next week to each hear from a NASA astronaut living and working aboard the International Space Station. The two Earth-to-space calls will air live Tuesday, Jan. 9, on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Follow events online at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.…

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NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Crew-8 Mission Launch to Space Station

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, (from left) Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos; Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, all NASA astronauts, are pictured training inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s eighth rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Endeavour spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Launch of…

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NASA Features New Discoveries at American Astronomical Society Meeting

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5 min read NASA Features New Discoveries at American Astronomical Society Meeting A cluster of young stars – about one to two million years old – located about 20,000 light years from Earth. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Sejong Univ./Hur et al; Optical: NASA/STScI Experts will discuss new research from NASA missions at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), on topics ranging from planets outside our solar system to fleeting, high-energy explosions in the universe. The meeting will take place Jan. 7-11 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center…

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NASA to unveil new X-59 ‘quiet’ supersonic jet on Jan. 12

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NASA and Lockheed Martin are finally ready to unveil the new X-59 Quesst, a supersonic jet designed to break the sound barrier without creating a thunderous sonic boom. The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (Quesst) jet has been under construction at Lockheed Martin’s “Skunk Works” facility in Palmdale, California since 2019. The experimental X-59 Quesst is designed to fly at supersonic speeds and reduce the typical sound of sonic booms, lowering the volume down to a “thump” similar to the sound of a car door slamming. NASA says the aircraft could…

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NASA’s Perseverance rover captures 360-degree view of Mars’ Jezero Crater (video)

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On Dec. 12, 2023, NASA’s Perseverance rover reached a milestone — 1,000 Martian days, or sols, on Mars. To celebrate, NASA released a 360-degree mosaic of the rover’s current location, as well as a video walkthrough of the scene narrated by Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley. The composite image comprises 993 individual images taken with Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument last year on Nov. 3, Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, and includes a whopping 2.38 billion pixels.  You might notice there’s a big difference in color between the team’s image included in this…

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Uranus and Neptune are actually similar blues, ‘true’ color images reveal

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In the summer of 1989, from a remote expanse of our solar system where sunlight is merely a tepid glow, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft radioed to Earth humankind’s very first images of Neptune. The pictures revealed the sun’s outermost planet was a stunning, deep blue orb. In contrast, Uranus, Neptune’s planetary neighbor and the first to be discovered with a telescope, appeared noticeably paler. Both seemingly twin worlds have a lot in common. They’re roughly the same size, almost equally massive and are both enveloped with deep atmospheres made of…

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