Human Resources

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6 Min Read Human Resources The NSSC provides Human Resources (HR) services including: Benefits, Classification Appeals and Services, Development of Information Materials, Drug Testing, Electronic Official Personnel Folders (eOPF), Employee Notices, Employee Recognition and Awards, Financial Disclosure, General Employment Inquiries (GEI), HR Surveys, In-Processing, Leave Programs, Payroll, Personnel Action Processing (PAP), Retirement, Senior Executive Services (SES), Staffing, Suitability Adjudication, Survivor Benefits, Training Administration, Unemployment Compensation, and Workers’ Compensation.  Benefits NASA offers a broad array of benefits programs, including health, dental, vision and life insurance, flexible spending accounts, and long-term care…

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Rosy red nebula glows in gorgeous new European Southern Observatory photo

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A rosy red nebula takes center stage in a new photo from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).  The expansive cloud of dust and gas, known as IC1284, is an emission nebula, a bright, diffuse cloud of ionized gas that emits its own light. This particular emission nebula, found at the center of the image, glows red from active star formation and the fusion of hydrogen in the region.  “Its rosy glow comes from electrons within the hydrogen atoms: they’re excited by the radiation from young stars, but then they lose…

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Procurement

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4 Min Read Procurement The NSSC provides a variety of Procurement services across NASA to satisfy the evolving acquisition needs of the Agency. 1102 Training Program/The Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer’s Representatives (FAC-COR) The NSSC supports the General Schedule (GS) 1102 Training Program by procuring and scheduling training courses required for Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting (FAC-C). The NSSC serves as the point of contact for contract specialists in the Agency 1102 training program. The FAC-COR program is for a program a FAC-COR program is for acquisituion professionals in the Federal…

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NASA Invites Public to Share in Excitement of Psyche Mission

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Psyche mission team members prepare the spacecraft at a facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late July, just after the solar arrays were folded and stowed. NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities ahead of the launch of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. The Psyche spacecraft will travel about 2.2 billion miles to study a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. The asteroid, which lies in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, may be part of a…

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‘Ahsoka’ season 1 episode 8 review: A finale that sticks the landing without flourish

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The back half of Ahsoka’s first season (we’re expecting a season 2 announcement any time now) has been one of the boldest explorations of Star Wars’ stranger side, elevated by the fact many of its elements hadn’t been featured in live-action works before. For long-time followers of not only Star Wars animation, but also Legends, this show often feels like a dream coming true, and its season finale commits to finishing the story arc presented in the first two episodes while also setting up whatever comes next for these characters.…

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New ‘Star Trek: Holo-Ween’ comic miniseries ushers in the spooky season (images)

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“Star Trek” might not be the first pop culture franchise you think about once the autumn leaves start turning and Halloween approaches. That might change, however, after you see the spectacularly eerie new covers for IDW Publishing‘s bold new holiday comics offering, “Star Trek: Holo-Ween.” Written by seasoned writer Chris Sequeira (“Justice League Adventures,” “Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective”) and featuring haunting interior artwork from Eisner-nominated illustrator Joe Eisma (“Morning Glories,” “Engineward”), the intrepid crew of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” encounters a frightening force emanating from the holodeck in this…

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Expedition 69 Soyuz Landing

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Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is carried to a medical tent shortly after he, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev landed in their Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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‘We need to get to Mars before I die.’ Read exclusive excerpt from ‘Elon Musk’ by biographer Walter Isaacson

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Love him or hate him, it can’t be denied Elon Musk is one of the most influential figures of our time. The founder and CEO of SpaceX not only leads the most revolutionary and active spaceflight company on the planet, but also heads the electric car company Tesla and social media giant X (formerly known as Twitter), to name just a few of Musk‘s many endeavors. Biographer and journalist Walter Isaacson spent two years with Musk in order to write “Elon Musk,” a new, best-selling biography that explores what makes…

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NASA and Bastion: A Collaborative Teamwork Advancing Deep Space Exploration and Ensuring Safety in Missions  

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As we continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the NASA Office of Small Business Programs is pleased to share the contributions of Bastion Technologies Inc. (Bastion), a Hispanic-owned company that supports NASA’s missions. Their primary role is in Safety & Mission Assurance at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This includes systems engineering, where they have worked on design and analysis activities for the International Space Station, space shuttle, and Artemis programs.  Bastion engages in critical assessments to ensure the highest standards of safety and reliability in NASA…

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‘Modest, humble, and uncommonly smart’: How a Soviet mathematician quietly solved the mystery of planet formation

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We’ve only got to grips with how the planets in our solar system formed in the last 100 years. In the extract below from “What’s Gotten Into You” (HarperCollins, 2023), Dan Levitt looks at the Soviet mathematician who spent a decade working on a problem that most astronomers had given up on, and — when he finally solved it — was met with disinterest and skepticism.  Over 4.8 billion years ago, the atoms that would create us sailed in great clouds of gas and dust, toward… well, nothing. There was…

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