The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, over western Canada on November 5, 2023.
Read MoreChina launches Tianzhou 7 cargo craft to Tiangong space station (video)
China has launched its first space station mission of the year to resupply the orbital outpost. A Long March 7 rocket topped with the robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island in the South China Sea on Wednesday (Jan. 17) at 9:27 a.m. EST (1427 GMT; 10:27 p.m. Beijing time). Tianzhou 7 is planned to rendezvous and dock with China’s three-module Tiangong space station around three hours after launch. The three crewmembers of the Shenzhou 17 mission onboard Tiangong will oversee the…
Read MoreWebb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards
5 Min Read Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards Researchers are analyzing distant galaxies when the universe was only 600 million to 6 billion years old. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin) Researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like surfboards and pool noodles – and are rarely round, like volleyballs or frisbees. “Roughly 50 to 80% of the galaxies we…
Read MoreAxiom Space Ax-3 private spaceflight with SpaceX: Mission updates
Refresh 2024-01-17T13:08:18.542Z SpaceX ready to launch private Ax-3 astronaut mission today Closeup of the Ax-3 Dragon capsule on the pad ahead of its planned Jan. 17, 2024 liftoff. (Image credit: SpaceX) SpaceX is poised for its next crewed liftoff. The company remains on target to launch the private Ax-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday (Jan. 17) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as planned. “We’re happy to say that we’re on track — we’re ready,” Benji Reed, senior director of human spaceflight programs at SpaceX, said during a call with reporters on…
Read MoreSpace is now ‘most essential’ domain for US military, Pentagon says
U.S. military leaders keep stressing that space is the battlefield of the future. The latest statements that continue this orbital saber-rattling came during a change-of-command ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs on Jan. 10. During the ceremony, leadership of U.S. Space Command changed from Gen. James Dickinson to Gen. Stephen Whiting, now the third commander to oversee Space Command, which is responsible for all U.S. military operations in outer space. During the ceremony, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks asserted that, while the People’s Republic of China…
Read MoreExpedition 69 Crew, Three NASA Astronauts to Share Mission Highlights
Expedition 69 Flight Engineers play chess with NASA mission controllers Credit NASA Jan. 16, 2024 RELEASE: 24-001 Four astronauts, including the current record holder for the longest single U.S. stay in space aboard the International Space Station, will make their first public appearance in Houston since returning to Earth. The crew also will be available for interviews before the event at 5 p.m. CST Thursday, Jan. 18, at Space Center Houston. Expedition 69 NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, along with United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan…
Read MoreNASA, DOD Seek Universities to Develop CubeSats for Launch
A set of NanoRacks CubeSats is photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member after the deployment by the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD). The CubeSats program contains a variety of experiments such as Earth observations and advanced electronics testing. NASA NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to offer a set of hands-on learning engagements that will help higher education institutions, faculty, and students learn more about what it takes to build small satellites and be selected for flight opportunities. Teams selected for the University…
Read MoreNASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft Unveiled
NASA and Lockheed Martin publicly unveil the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft at a ceremony in Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.
Read MoreScience Launches to Space Station on NASA’s 20th Northrop Grumman Mission
6 Min Read Science Launches to Space Station on NASA’s 20th Northrop Grumman Mission iss067e156135 (July 28, 2022) — Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter is positioned away from the International Space Station in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm prior to its release ending a four-month stay attached to the orbiting lab's Unity module. Credits: NASA Tests of a 3D metal printer, semiconductor manufacturing, and thermal protection systems for reentry to Earth’s atmosphere are among the scientific investigation that NASA and international partners are launching to the International Space…
Read MoreCareer Journey: Cooking Up a Job as a Space Food Scientist
As the Space Food Systems manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Xulei Wu works with a team to create tasty, shelf-stable meals for astronauts aboard the International Space Station and, soon, for crews flying to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. What does it take to become a space food scientist at NASA? We met up with Wu to learn more about her journey from creating meals for camping in the deep woods, to making foods for exploring deep space. Preparation Meets Opportunity “I don’t consider…
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