NASA astronaut Don Pettit poses for a crew portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. NASA During his fourth mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will serve as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 71/72 crew. After blasting off to space, Pettit will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare crew for future space missions. Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft in September 2024, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend approximately six…
Read MoreTag: International Space Station (ISS)
Optical Fiber Production
Science in Space: March 2024 Optical fibers are used on Earth and in space for applications in medicine, defense, cybersecurity, and telecommunications. Parabolic research showed that optical fibers produced in microgravity can be higher quality than those made in normal gravity, and the International Space Station provides a potential platform for commercial production of these fibers. The Production of Flawless Space Fiber (Flawless Space Fibers-1) investigation is using the space station to demonstrate new manufacturing technology developed by Flawless Photonics to improve the quality and length of optical fiber produced…
Read MoreNASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson, Crewmates Safely En Route to Space Station
The Soyuz rocket launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 71 NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, onboard, Saturday, March 23, 2024, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA/Bill Ingalls Three crew members including NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson successfully launched at 8:36 a.m. EDT Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Dyson, along with her crewmates Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, will dock to the space station’s Prichal module…
Read MoreInternational Space Station welcomes biological and physical science experiments
3 min read International Space Station welcomes biological and physical science experiments NASA is sending several biological and physical sciences experiments and equipment aboard SpaceX’s 30th commercial resupply services mission. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth. Not only can these experiments provide pioneering scientific discovery – they enable sustainable deep space exploration and support transformative engineering. The commercial resupply launch took place Thursday, March 21,…
Read MoreNASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts
4 min read NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts BurstCube, shown in this artist’s concept, will orbit Earth as it hunts for short gamma-ray bursts. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA’s BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions, is on its way to the International Space Station. The spacecraft travels aboard SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission, which lifted off at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in…
Read MoreNASA Science, Hardware Aboard SpaceX’s 30th Resupply Launch to Station
NASA’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission launched at 4:55 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 21 , from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: NASA/Madison Tuttle Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the agency are on the way to the International Space Station, including studies of technologies to measure sea ice and plant growth in space. SpaceX’s Dragon resupply spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, launched on…
Read MoreFollowing Safe Return, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 to Recount Space Mission
The four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission are seated inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after landing in the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 2024. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky After spending 199 days in space, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 crew members will discuss their science mission aboard the International Space Station during a news conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT Monday, March 25, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and…
Read MoreNASA Administrator, Health Secretary to Host Cancer Moonshot Event
NASA logo Editor’s note: This advisory was updated March 19, 2024, with a new start time for the Moonshot event. Media are invited to join NASA and Department of Health and Human Services leadership at 9:40 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, to highlight how the agencies are making progress toward President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. During the event, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will give remarks and are available for interviews…
Read MoreNASA Sets Coverage for Crew Launch; Trio to Join Expedition 70
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus pose for a portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on Nov. 2, 2023 Credits: GCTC/Andrey Shelepin Three crew members will blast off on Thursday, March 21, to support Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station. NASA will provide full coverage of launch and crew arrival at the microgravity laboratory. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos…
Read MoreNASA Selects New Round of Candidates for CubeSat Missions to Station
Students from the University of Michigan work on their Measurement of Actuator Response and In Orbit (MARIO) CubeSat which launched to the International Space Station in November 2022. Photo credit: University of Michigan NASA selected 10 small research satellites across eight states to fly to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s efforts to expand education and science opportunities, support technology advancement, and provide for workforce development. These small satellites, or CubeSats, use a standard size and form measured in units. One unit (1U) is 10x10x11 centimeters and…
Read More