Tag: Kennedy Space Center

Signing Our Names

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The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA’s (European Space Agency) insignia are painted on the Orion spacecraft’s crew module adapter in this image from Feb. 1, 2024. The adapter houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes…

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NASA Experiment Sheds Light on Highly Charged Moon Dust

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The New Shepard crew capsule descends under parachutes during its launch Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. Photo Credit: Blue Origin Researchers are studying data from a recent suborbital flight test to better understand lunar regolith, or Moon dust, and its potentially damaging effects as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the lunar surface under the Artemis campaign. The experiment, developed jointly by NASA and the University of Central Florida, sheds light on how these abrasive dust grains interact with astronauts, their spacesuits, and other equipment on the Moon.  The Electrostatic…

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A Floridian Sunset

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NASA/Ben Smegelsky A NASA photographer captured the sunset on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, near the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The iconic building, completed in 1966 and currently used for assembly of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Artemis missions, is still the only building in which rockets were assembled that carried humans to the surface of another world. The VAB stands 525 feet tall and contains 130 million cubic feet of interior space. It sports a large American flag – a 209-foot-tall,…

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NASA Invites Public to Share in Excitement of PACE Mission Launch

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NASA and SpaceX technicians safely encapsulate NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: NASA Goddard/Denny Henry NASA is hosting virtual activities ahead of the launch of the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission and invites you to share in the fun. The PACE mission will help us better understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, measure key atmospheric variables…

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Statement from NASA’s Jennifer Kunz at SpaceCom, 50th Space Congress

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Jennifer Kunz, associate director, technical, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, participates in a virtual Town Hall meeting on Jan. 13, 2022, for Kennedy employees. NASA/Kim Shiflett Jennifer Kunz, associate director technical of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, released the following statement after speaking Thursday at the SpaceCom / 50th Space Congress in Orlando, Florida. “NASA’s Moon to Mars strategy rests on three pillars: pursuing science to better understand the universe and our origins; inspiring the next generation to achieve the seemingly impossible; and building on American preeminence…

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NASA Offers Virtual Activities for Northrop Grumman’s Next Resupply Mission

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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft is pictured moments away from being captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm controlled by NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg from inside the International Space Station. NASA NASA invites the public to participate in virtual activities ahead of the launch of Northrop Grumman’s 20th commercial resupply services mission for the agency. Mission teams are targeting 12:29 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 29, for launch of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape…

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Artemis Teams Install Emergency Escape Baskets at NASA Kennedy

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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program began installing the four emergency egress baskets at Launch Pad 39B in preparation for NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the event of an emergency at the pad during the launch countdown, these baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, will take the astronauts and pad personnel safely from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad where emergency transport vehicles will drive them away.  Following installation, teams will thoroughly test the baskets by…

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NASA Sets Coverage for Northrop Grumman Cargo Space Station Mission

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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft is pictured from the International Space Station as it approaches while orbiting 261 miles above the coast of the Garabogazköl Basin in Turkmenistan. NASA NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting 12:29 p.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 29, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station for the agency and its partners. This launch is the 20th Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for the agency. Live launch coverage will begin at 12:15…

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NASA, DOD Seek Universities to Develop CubeSats for Launch 

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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…

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Experience the Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission  

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, (from left) Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos; Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, all NASA astronauts, are pictured training inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of the eighth SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will carry crew to the International Space Station for a science expedition mission. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The targeted launch date for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is no earlier than…

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