Month: April 2024

NASA, Japan Advance Space Cooperation, Sign Agreement for Lunar Rover

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, and Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, hold signed copies of an historic agreement between the United States and Japan to advance sustainable human exploration of the Moon, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Under the agreement, Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon. NASA will provide the launch and delivery of the rover to the Moon as well as two Japanese…

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More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science

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2 Min Read More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science SunSketcher volunteers captured sequences of eclipse images, revealing the precise size and shape of the Sun and testing theories of gravity! Credits: Clinton Lewis from New Harmony, IN/Western Kentucky University Thank you for helping us out! Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse. Together, these volunteers submitted more than 60,000 vital pieces of eclipse data to NASA science projects. More than 30,000 volunteers with the SunSketcher project pointed their smartphones toward the Sun and recorded…

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Media Invited to NASA’s Student Launch Challenge in Alabama

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Hundreds of students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched amateur rockets near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, during the Agency’s 2023 Student Launch competition. Credit: NASA/Charles Beason NASA’s 2024 Student Launch challenge will bring students from colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and informal education groups to launch amateur rockets and payloads Saturday, April 13, starting at 8:30 a.m. CDT at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Live streaming will begin at 8:20 a.m. CDT on NASA Marshall…

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Satellite views of solar eclipse 2024: See the moon’s shadow race across North America (video, photos)

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Satellites saw the moon’s shadow from space on Monday (April 8). The 2024 total solar eclipse was visible in parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico on that day, thrilling millions of spectators across North America  — and from space, satellites could see the shadow of the moon falling across those regions in real-time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showcased the resulting photos, taken with the organization’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series. For example, the imager on the GOES-16 satellite tracked the moon’s shadow using its…

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NASA’s DC-8 Completes Final Mission, Set to Retire

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The DC-8 aircraft returned to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1, 2024, after completing its final mission supporting Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ). The aircraft and crew were welcomed back with a celebratory water salute by the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 Fire Department. NASA/Steve Freeman  After 37 years of successful airborne science missions, NASA’s DC-8 aircraft completed its final mission and returned to the agency’s Armstrong Flight…

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NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara to Discuss Space Station Mission

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NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is pictured inside the cupola aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA After spending six-and-a-half-months aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will participate in a news conference at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, April 15, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Media interested in participating in person must contact the…

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These solar eclipse 2024 photos from our readers are absolutely amazing (images, video)

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On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse swept through the skies over North America, delighting and astounding millions of onlookers who had traveled from across the globe to take in this incredible event. And our own space readers got in on the act, too. The sun was completely obscured by the moon across what is known as the “path of totality,” which was approximately 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide and 10,000 miles long (16,000 kilometers).  This 2024 total solar eclipse path crossed the four Mexican states of Sinaloa, Nayarit,…

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I proposed to my fiancée under the diamond ring of the 2024 total solar eclipse. (She said ‘Yes!’)

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — I worked out the perfect plan to propose to my partner during the April 8 solar eclipse, and the clouds somehow stayed away. I won’t bury the lede. She said yes.  I spent the last year planning my proposal to coincide with the 2024 total solar eclipse, lining up the perfect photo, figuring out what I would say, and getting the timing just right. I couldn’t be happier with how the day went. I’m not sure when it dawned on me, but with totality passing directly over my…

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New NASA Strategy Envisions Sustainable Future for Space Operations

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Low Earth orbit, the focus of volume one of NASA’s Space Sustainability Strategy, is the most concentrated area for orbital debris. This computer-generated image showcases objects that are currently being tracked.  Credits: NASA ODPO To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA released the first part of its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy, on Tuesday advancing the agency’s role as a global leader on this crucial issue. “The release of this strategy marks true progress for NASA on space sustainability,” said NASA…

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Seeing Totality

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A total solar eclipse is seen in Dallas, Texas on Monday, April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

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