Tag: Missions

‘Cosmic tornado’ swirls in breathtaking new James Webb Space Telescope image

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A cosmic coincidence has led to one of the most amazing images ever captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The dramatic outflow from a newborn star, known as Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50), just so happened to align perfectly with a distant spiral galaxy, creating this mesmerizing celestial scene. Herbig-Haro objects are glowing clouds of gas and dust shaped by newborn stars or protostars. They form when jets of charged particles, ejected from young stars at immense speeds, slam into surrounding material, creating brilliant, ever-changing patterns in the sky.…

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NASA says removal of ‘first woman, person of color’ language from Artemis websites ‘does not indicate’ moon mission crew change

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NASA websites no longer state that the Artemis 3 lunar mission will aim to land the first person of color and the first woman on the moon — a longstanding goal of the Artemis program that the agency has consistently called upon when discussing lunar plans. The change appeared this weekend as NASA continues to cancel programs dedicated to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) as well as purge its websites of any language related to these efforts. These decisions are guided by the Trump administration’s push to end programs…

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NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Found on Mars

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Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed. Scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) mini-lab and found the molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane. These compounds, which are made up of 10, 11, and 12 carbons, respectively, are thought to be the fragments of fatty acids that…

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Astronauts to Discuss Science Mission

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NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, second from left, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague, second from right, and Suni Williams, right, are seen inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after splashing down off the coast of Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission returned from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (Credit: NASA). NASA/Keegan Barber After completing a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts will discuss their science mission during a postflight news conference at…

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When space meets sea, Crew-9 Dragon meets dolphins: Space photo of the day

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A pod of bottlenose dolphins circled and surfaced nearby SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom after it splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber) As it turns out, more than humans were interested in the return of SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronauts after an extended mission on board the International Space Station. An unexpected welcome committee arrived soon after the Crew Dragon “Freedom” splashed down on Tuesday, March 18. What is it? SpaceX support team members work around and on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft…

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Never-‘stuck’ Starliner astronauts return to Earth at last with Crew-9 duo in SpaceX Dragon splashdown

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The first astronauts to fly on board two different commercial spacecraft during a single mission have returned to Earth, splashing down with two of their International Space Station crewmates. Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore did not set out to make history other than being the first crew to launch on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule. After their capsule encountered propulsion issues, though, and NASA, out of an abundance of caution, decided to land it without them on board, Williams and Wilmore were reassigned to SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon to complete…

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This butterfly-shaped nebula owes its structure to 2 chaotic young stars

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A huge bipolar outflow of gas and dust, grown from the tumultuous birth of a double-star system, has formed a cosmic hourglass — and the James Webb Space Telescope imaged the scene in splendiferous detail. Referred to as Lynds 483, or LBN 483,, this nebulous outflow is located about 650 light years away. It provides an ideal opportunity for the James Webb Space Telescope to learn more about the process of star formation. (Beverly Lynds was an astronomer who catalogued both bright nebulas – BN – and dark nebulas –…

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NASA’s EZIE Launches on Mission to Study Earth’s Electrojets

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, carrying NASA’s EZIE spacecraft into orbit. SpaceX Under the nighttime California sky, NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:43 p.m. PDT on March 14. Taking off from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara, the EZIE mission’s trio of small satellites will fly in a pearls-on-a-string configuration approximately 260 to 370 miles above Earth’s surface to map the auroral electrojets, powerful electric currents that flow through our upper atmosphere in the polar…

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SpaceX launches relief crew for NASA’s beleaguered Starliner astronauts on ISS (video)

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Liftoff! Four astronauts are flying toward the International Space Station (ISS) to relieve crew members who have been waiting for a ride home since last summer. SpaceX launched the Crew Dragon capsule Endurance on a Falcon 9 rocket this evening (March 14) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) here on Florida’s Space Coast. The mission, called Crew-10, lifted off from KSC’s Launch Complex-39A at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT), carrying mission commander Anne McClain and mission pilot Nichole Ayers, both of NASA, and mission specialists Takuya…

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Tom Hanks at ‘Moonwalkers’ film premiere predicts getting busy on moon

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Tom Hanks said he knows for certain there are two things that are going to happen in the future of space exploration. One, the day will come at some point when astronauts land on the moon and are greeted by other humans just like them, signaling that we have moved from the moon being a place we just visit to it being a home. The other — well, it is probably best to hear it straight from him. “Forgive my language, but someone’s going to get knocked up,” said Hanks,…

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