June 27, 2024 – NeRDs Moonbase

NASA, Boeing to Provide Commercial Crew, Space Station Update

June 27, 2024 NeRD

This picture of the International Space Station was photographed from the space shuttle Atlantis in 2011. NASA Leadership from NASA’s International Space Station and Commercial Crew Programs, as well as Boeing, will participate in a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, June 28. NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate Starliner’s propulsion system performance before returning from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Crew Flight Test. The agency also will discuss recent station operations. Audio of the call will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv Participants…

NASA Awards Contract for Cargo Mission Support

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Credit: NASA NASA has awarded a contract to Leidos, Inc. of Reston, Virginia, to provide mission support for the agency’s International Space Station Program, Artemis campaign, and more. The Cargo Mission Contract 4 has a total potential value of $476.5 million, with a base period from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2026, followed by three option periods. The contract includes a cost-plus-fixed-fee core with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality component and the capability to issue cost-plus-fixed-fee or firm-fixed-price task orders. The place of performance will be at a Leidos facility in Webster,…

Station Nation: Meet Katie Burlingame, ETHOS Flight Controller and Instructor in the Flight Operations Directorate

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Katie Burlingame is an ETHOS (Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems) flight controller and instructor in the Flight Operations Directorate supporting the International Space Station. Burlingame trains astronauts and flight controllers on the International Space Station’s environmental control systems, internal thermal control systems, and emergency response. Burlingame shares about their path to NASA, what Pride Month means to them, and more. Read on to learn more! Where are you from? My dad was in the Coast Guard, so I lived in a few different places growing up, mostly along the East…

Hubble Captures Infant Stars Transforming a Nebula

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Named RCW 7, the nebula is located just over 5300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Puppis. Nebulae are areas of space that are rich in the raw material needed to form new stars. Under the influence of gravity, parts of these molecular clouds collapse until they coalesce into protostars, surrounded by spinning discs of leftover gas and dust. In the case of RCW 7, the protostars forming here are particularly massive, giving off strongly ionising radiation and fierce stellar winds that have transformed it into what is known as…

The moon on Earth: Astrobotic unveils ‘proving ground’ for future lunar missions

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Astrobotic has unveiled a lunar testing ground to help prepare for a range of coming moon missions. The roughly 330-by-330-foot (100 by 100 meters) Lunar Surface Proving Ground (LSPG) in Mojave, California, is a high-fidelity 3D test field that replicates conditions on the moon. The LSPG, modeled using Astrobotic’s LunaRay tools, simulates lunar topography and the extreme lighting conditions at the lunar south pole. It will be used for testing precision lunar landing technologies, such as LiDAR scanners, as well as driving rovers and other robotic systems. “Our Lunar Surface…

NASA Celebrates 10 Years of Human Spaceflight’s NExT Pioneers

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Experienced spacewalkers, university students, flight controllers, and NASA team members at all stages of their career recently came together at Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) for an anniversary celebration that looked to the future as much as the past. The Office of STEM Engagement’s Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams (Micro-g NExT) marked a decade of inspiring the next generation of space explorers with four days of exciting hands-on experiences and events commemorating those who have shaped the annual challenge. Students pose at NASA Johnson’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory…

Liftoff! Redesigned NASA Ames Visitor Center Engages Kids, Families

June 27, 2024 NeRD

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Chabot Space & Science Center director Adam Tobin, right, welcomes NASA Ames center director Eugene Tu, left, and deputy center director David Korsmeyer, center, to the updated NASA Ames Visitor Center. NASA/Donald Richey The San Francisco Bay Area has a new and interactive way to learn more about the innovative work of NASA’s Ames Research Center. A newly redesigned NASA Ames Visitor Center at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California, reopened to the public June 22 at…

NASA’s Mars Odyssey Captures Huge Volcano, Nears 100,000 Orbits

June 27, 2024 NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter captured this single image of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system, on March 11, 2024. Besides providing an unprecedented view of the volcano, the image helps scientists study different layers of material in the atmosphere, including clouds and dust. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU The 23-year-old orbiter is taking images that offer horizon-wide views of the Red Planet similar to what astronauts aboard the International Space Station see over Earth. NASA’s longest-lived Mars robot is…

NASA astronaut gives tips to Baseball Hall of Fame from ISS (video)

June 27, 2024 NeRD

Curveballs could be even tougher to hit in space than they are here on Earth. International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Jeanette Epps says baseballs could have more spin in space, based on her NASA experience. She shared gameplay tips live with the Baseball Hall of Fame, during a live conversation on Tuesday (June 25). “The biggest difference is that we just don’t have gravity, so everything floats, but you can swing a bat as hard as you can swing it,” Epps said during the conversation, which was broadcast on NASA…

NASA eClips Engages Families at 2024 STEM Community Day

June 27, 2024 NeRD

2 min read NASA eClips Engages Families at 2024 STEM Community Day On Saturday, June 1, 2024, thousands of community members attended the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Community Day hosted by Christopher Newport University in partnership with Newport News Public Schools in Virginia. The event showcased many different facets of STEM fields and careers and offered hands-on experiences by nearly 100 exhibitors. Educators from the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center for Integrated STEM Education (NIA-CISE) engaged learners of all ages at this annual event with a 13-foot tree.…