An area student prepares to ask a question of astronauts Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Satoshi Furukawa during a live video linkup with the International Space Station at Stennis Space Center on Aug. 18. Students from four Louisiana and Mississippi schools gathered at Stennis for the center's first-ever live video link from space.

Eric Swanson stands at the microphone as he asks Serena M. Auñón-Chancel, a NASA astronaut, a question during the downlink event with NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Congress and audience members applaud after a full-committee event held Thursday, July 24, 2014 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC to allow members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology an opportunity to ask astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman questions through a live downlink with the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 40 astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman have been living and working at the ISS for over two months and are scheduled to return to Earth toward the end of this year.

NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana delivers remarks during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee participated in a downlink from the International Space Station (ISS) with NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana delivers remarks during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee participated in a downlink from the International Space Station (ISS) with NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Congressman Derek Kilmer asks astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wisemen a question on behalf of a young audience member at the live downlink with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, July 24, 2014 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The event allowed members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to ask Expedition 40 astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman questions about their time living and working at the ISS. They are scheduled to return to Earth toward the end of this year.

NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana delivers remarks during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee participated in a downlink from the International Space Station (ISS) with NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Representative Steve Stockman (R-TX) asks astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wisemen a question at the live downlink with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, July 24, 2014 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The event provided members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology the opportunity to ask Expedition 40 astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman questions about their time living and working at the ISS. They are scheduled to return to Earth toward the end of this year.

Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) held a full-committee event Thursday, July 24, 2014 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC to allow members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology an opportunity to ask astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman questions through a live downlink with the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 40 astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman have been living and working at the ISS for over two months and are scheduled to return to Earth toward the end of this year.

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, Expedition 68 Flight Engineer, is seen from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during a briefing with members of the House of Representatives, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Mann answered questions from members of the committees during a live downlink from the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Audience members watch as astronauts Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson answer questions posed to them by members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology at a full-committee event held Thursday, July 24, 2014 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The event gave members the opportunity to ask the astronauts questions through a live downlink with the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 40 astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman have been living and working at the ISS for over two months and are scheduled to return to Earth toward the end of this year.

Shown here is a prototype of the Deep Space Optical Communications, or DSOC, ground receiver detector built by the Microdevices Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The prototype superconducting nanowire single-photon detector was used by JPL technologists to help develop the detector that – from a station on Earth – will receive near-infrared laser signals from the DSOC flight transceiver traveling with NASA's Psyche mission in deep space. DSOC will test key technologies that could enable high-bandwidth optical, or laser, communications from Mars distances. Bolted to the side of the spacecraft and operating for the first two years of Psyche's journey to the asteroid of the same name, the DSOC flight laser transceiver will transmit high-rate data to Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, which houses the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope. The downlink detector converts optical signals to electrical signals, which can be processed and decoded. The detector is designed to be both sensitive enough to detect single photons (quantum particles of light) and able to detect many photons arriving all at once. At its farthest point during the technology demonstration's operations period, the transceiver will be up to 240 million miles (390 million kilometers) away, meaning that by the time its weak laser pulses arrive at Earth, the detector will need to efficiently detect a trickle of single photons. But when the spacecraft is closer to Earth and the flight transceiver is delivering its highest bit rate to Palomar, the detector is capable of detecting very high numbers of photons without becoming overwhelmed. Because data is encoded in the timing of the laser pulses, the detector must also be able to determine the time of a photon's arrival with a precision of 100 picoseconds (one picosecond is one trillionth of a second). DSOC is the latest in a series of optical communication technology demonstrations funded by NASA's Technology Demonstrations Missions (TDM) program and the agency's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages DSOC for TDM within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate and SCaN within the agency's Space Operations Mission Directorate. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25840

Over 300 students watch as Serena M. Auñón-Chancel, a NASA astronaut, answers several questions from children attending Take your Kids to Work Day at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.

Rylee Ritter, student and first time visitor to NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, sits in a mockup of an F-15 cockpit, during the center's Take Your Kids To Work Day event.

Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California – part of the agency's Deep Space Network – is a 34-meter (112-foot) experimental antenna that has been retrofitted with an optical terminal (the boxy instrument below the center of the antenna's dish). Since November 2023, DSS-13 has been tracking the downlink laser of the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment that is aboard NASA's Psyche mission, which launched on Oct. 13, 2023. In a first, the antenna also synchronously received radio-frequency signals from the spacecraft as it travels through deep space on its way to investigate the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The laser signal collected by the camera is then transmitted through optical fiber that feeds into a cryogenically cooled semiconducting nanowire single photon detector. Designed and built by JPL's Microdevices Laboratory, the detector is identical to the one used at Caltech's Palomar Observatory, in San Diego County, California, that acts as DSOC's downlink ground station. Goldstone is one of three complexes that comprise NASA's Deep Space Network, which provides radio communications for all of the agency's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the DSN for the agency. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26148

Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson, right, commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, speaks with NASA astronaut and current International Space Station crew member Andrew Morgan, an Army colonel, during an Oct. 8 downlink to the Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA New Horizons spacecraft on April 9 and downlinked to Earth the following day.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: CA [California].

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was downlinked in folder: Denmark.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: London, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Maldives and Kamchatka.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Euro pass.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: south islands.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Lake Baikal.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Turkey.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Kamchatka.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Seattle to Florida. and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Bangkok [Thailand].

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Instagram and downlinked in folder: Bahamas and Cuba.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was downlinked in folder: aurora south of Africa.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Seattle to Florida, and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: South Pacific.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: China, Korea.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Grand Canyon.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Euro pass.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Houston.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Instagram and downlinked in folder: Himalayas.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: North Africa, and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: CT [Connecticut].

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Seattle to Florida, and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: sun glint.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Seattle, Galveston, etc., and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Night view of city lights. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: north lights.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Boston, New York, etc., and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Houston [Texas], etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Belgium area at night.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Aorounga Impact Crater, Chad.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Sofia, Bulgaria and Istanbul, Turkey. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: New York City [New York].

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Instagram and downlinked in folder: Turks and Caicos Islands.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. View of Cape Cod, Massachusetts downlinked in folder: CT [Connecticut]. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Instagram and downlinked in folder: Florida and up the East coast.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Sydney, Melbourne [at] night.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Montreal, Canada etc., and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Baikonur [Kazakhstan], Azerbaijan, Caspian Sea, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Baikonur [Kazakhstan], Azerbaijan, Caspian Sea, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Fukuoka and Hita Japan, etc.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: U.S. east coast pass.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: SW US [and] Mexico, and released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Punta Arenas, (Cape Horn area), Chile.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Punta Arenas, (Cape Horn area), Chile.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Sydney, Melbourne [at] night.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image downlinked in folder: Sofia, Bulgaria and Istanbul, Turkey. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.

Students from D.C.'s Stuart-Hobson Middle School participate in a live video downlink with astronauts aboard the International Space Station at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 in Washington. The downlink is an annual event held in honor of International Education Week, and was co-hosted with the Department of Education and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE). Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

S88-E-5021 (12-05-98) --- Central and southern Florida show scattered clouds in this electronic still camera's view downlinked from the Space Shuttle Endeavour on Dec. 5. Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) environs can be easily delineated near frame's center. The photo was taken at 16:31:07 GMT, Dec. 5, and later downlinked to flight controllers.

Students from D.C.'s Stuart-Hobson Middle School participate in a live video downlink with astronauts aboard the International Space Station at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 in Washington. The downlink is an annual event held in honor of International Education Week, and was co-hosted with the Department of Education and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE). Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Actor Brad Pitt speaks with NASA astronaut Nick Hague who is onboard the International Space Station, Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 from the Space Operations Center at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Pitt, who stars as an astronaut in his latest film “Ad Astra,” spoke with Hague about what it’s like to live and work aboard the orbiting laboratory. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)