Proteus in flight over mountains near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Proteus aircraft low-level flyby at Las Cruces Airport.

Proteus aircraft over Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico.

NASA Astronauts Scott Tingle, left, and Mike Fincke, speak with Boeing and NASA landing teams before the landing of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA Astronauts Scott Tingle, left, and Mike Fincke, speak with Boeing and NASA landing teams before the landing of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing Astronaut Liaison & Space Flight Awareness Program Manager Megan Donaldson points out NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station during a call with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams before it’s uncrewed landing, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The Proteus aircraft and NASA Dryden's T-34 in flight over Las Cruces, New Mexico.

NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, speak with Boeing and NASA landing teams by phone from the International Space Station, before the landing of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, speak with Boeing and NASA landing teams by phone from the International Space Station, before the landing of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, speak with Boeing and NASA landing teams by phone from the International Space Station, before the landing of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor later today, Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time). This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Proteus and an F/A-18 Hornet from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center are seen here in flight over Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Scaled Composites' Proteus aircraft and an F/A-18 Hornet from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during a low-level flyby at Las Cruces Airport in New Mexico.

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson observe a moment of silence with teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. The joint teams gathered in the desert to rehearse landing and crew extrication from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station. Mann, Fincke and Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

ISS011-E-08410 (9 June 2005) --- Las Cruces, New Mexico is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the International Space Station. The city of Las Cruces is located within the Rio Grande Rift, a large geological feature that extends from Colorado southward into Mexico. According to NASA geologists, rifting usually heralds the breakup of continental landmasses, such as the separation of South America and Africa to form the southern Atlantic Ocean during the Mesozoic Era. The Rift is marked by a series of depressions (known as graben) caused by the subsidence of crustal blocks between parallel faults as the continental crust is pulled apart by tectonic forces. These graben are frequently marked by uplifted rocks along bounding faults — the striking Organ Mountains to the east of Las Cruces are one such uplifted fault block. While separation of the continental crust is no longer occurring, the Rio Grande Rift is still considered active as evidenced by frequent low-intensity earthquakes and hot springs to the north of Las Cruces. The modern city of Las Cruces — the seat of Doña Ana County and home to New Mexico State University — is undergoing rapid urban expansion due to influx of new residents attracted to the climate and landscape. The current urban area (gray to white region at image center) contrasts sharply with agricultural lands (dark green and grey brown) located along the Rio Grande River and the surrounding desert valley floor to the northeast and southwest (brown, blue gray and tan areas).

Louis Atchison chief of launch and recovery operations for Boeing Commercial Crew Program addresses teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range during rehearsals for landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, left, Mike Fincke, and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, right, pose for photograph as they and teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. Fincke, Mann and Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, pose for a group photograph during rehearsals for landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, left, and NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann, along with teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. Using a convoy of vehicles Boeing uses to recover their spacecraft after landing and a boiler plate test article of the Starliner capsule, the teams worked through the steps necessary to safe the vehicle and get future crew members out of the Starliner to return home. Fincke, Mann and Ferguson will fly to the space station aboard the Starliner for the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

ISS031-E-83747 (2 June 2012) --- Downlinked from the International Space Station this still image -– part of a series from a mounted, automated, twilight session -- when viewed in sequence shows the flame ring associated with wild fires in the Southwest move from bottom to top-center framed at a distance by the bright urban areas of Tucson, Phoenix, El Paso-Las Cruces, and finally Albuquerque (mostly under cloud).

Workers sign the banner marking the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank, called Tardis, in the Prototype Development Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it at the lab to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

Inside the Prototype Development Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers in the lab hold a banner marking the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank called Tardis. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank to build it at the lab to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

A liquid oxygen test tank was completed in the Prototype Development Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A banner signing event marked the successful delivery of the tank called Tardis. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it at the lab to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

ISS031-E-83789 (2 June 2012) --- Downlinked from the International Space Station this still image – part of a series from a mounted, automated, twilight session -- when viewed in sequence shows the flame ring associated with wild fires in the Southwest move from bottom to top-center framed at a distance by the bright urban areas of Tucson, Phoenix, El Paso-Las Cruces, and finally Albuquerque (mostly under cloud).

Engineers Ayrton Jordan (left) and Anthony Milana (right) at the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Las Cruces, N.M. install a metallic liner into the multipurpose pressure vessel scanner that could one day become part of a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. A slotted ball joint at the base of the rotary stage allows the tank to pivot resulting in helical scans that are more reliable when measuring interior and exterior 3D surface profiles. Photo Credit: (NASA/Reed P. Elliott)

ISS031-E-84006 (2 June 2012) --- This digital image from the Expedition 31 crew aboard the International Space Station is one of a series from a mounted, automated, and nighttime session of a still camera when viewed in sequence shows the flame-ring associated with wild fires in the Southwest slip by in the upper right while the lights of the El Paso-Las Cruces rise from bottom center. A Russian spacecraft is docked to the station

NASA Kennedy Space Center's Engineering Director Pat Simpkins signs the banner marking the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank, called Tardis, in the Prototype Development Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Stands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

NASA Kennedy Space Center's Engineering Directorate held a banner signing event in the Prototype Development Laboratory to mark the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank, called Tardis. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Stands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A thruster glows red during a hot-fire test for Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft orbital maneuvering and attitude control OMAC system. During the tests at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., Boeing and partner Aerojet Rocketdyne tested two thrusters to demonstrate stable combustion and performance in a vacuum, simulating a space environment. Two additional thrusters were tested in a vacuum to demonstrate long-duration mission survivability. The 24 thrusters that compose the CST-100’s OMAC system will be jettisoned with the service module after the deorbit burn, prior to re-entry. The tests completed Milestone 9 of the company's funded Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, or CCP, during the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability, or CCiCap, initiative. CCP is intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers to low-Earth orbit. Future development and certification initiatives eventually will lead to the availability of human spaceflight services for NASA to send its astronauts to the International Space Station, where critical research is taking place daily. For more information about CCP, go to http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew. Photo credit: Boeing

NASA Kennedy Space Center's Engineering Director Pat Simpkins, at left, talks with Michael E. Johnson, a project engineer; and Emilio Cruz, deputy division chief in the Laboratories, Development and Testing Division, inside the Prototype Development Laboratory. A banner signing event was held to mark the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank, called Tardis. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it at the lab to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

Engineers (from left) Ayrton Jordan, Anthony Milana and Edgar Reyes from the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Las Cruces, N.M. qualify an interior surface pressure vessel crack inspection using the eddy current nondestructive testing technique to find flaws smaller than more common and less capable penetrant testing methods. Detecting cracks smaller than the eye can detect is an important feature as manufacturers push performance limits to achieve lighter, more efficient spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Reed P. Elliott)

Edgar Reyes, a materials engineer and recent graduate of The University of Texas at El Paso, visually inspects a crack identified on the outer surface of a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) following an internal eddy-current through-wall nondestructive inspection conducted at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M. Eddy-current testing is one of many electromagnetic testing methods used in nondestructive testing to identify cracks in COPVS that can potentially threaten spacecraft crew and mission success. Photo Credit: (NASA/Reed P. Elliott)

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Pictured from Left to Right: James Demers, Adam Wroblewski, Shaun McKeehan, Kurt Blankenship. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

Pilatus PC-12 Aircraft Being Prepped for Takeoff on June 12, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

Inside the Prototype Development Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians hold a banner marking the successful delivery of a liquid oxygen test tank called Tardis. From left, are Todd Steinrock, chief, Fabrication and Development Branch, Prototype Development Lab; David McLaughlin, electrical engineering technician; Phil Stroda, mechanical engineering technician; Perry Dickey, lead electrical engineering technician; and Harold McAmis, lead mechanical engineering technician. Engineers and technicians worked together to develop the tank and build it at the lab to support cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 12-foot-tall, 3,810-pound aluminum tank will be shipped to White Sands for testing.

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.

Adam Wroblewski p A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. Adam Wroblewski in the PC-12 over Lake Erie on June 13, 2024 sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne tests a thruster destined for Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft. The thruster was fired in a vacuum chamber that simulated a space-like environment of 100,000 feet at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., to verify its durability in extreme heat, evaluate the opening and closing of its valves and confirm continuous combustion and performance. Twenty-four thrusters will be part of the spacecraft's orbital maneuvering and attitude control system OMAC, giving the CST-100 the ability to maneuver in space and during re-entry. The thrusters also will allow the spacecraft to separate from its launch vehicle if an abort becomes necessary during launch or ascent. In 2011, NASA selected Boeing of Houston during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 CCDev2) activities to mature the design and development of a crew transportation system with the overall goal of accelerating a United States-led capability to the International Space Station. The goal of CCP is to drive down the cost of space travel as well as open up space to more people than ever before by balancing industry’s own innovative capabilities with NASA's 50 years of human spaceflight experience. Six other aerospace companies also are maturing launch vehicle and spacecraft designs under CCDev2, including Alliant Techsystems Inc. ATK, Blue Origin, Excalibur Almaz Inc., Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance ULA. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew. Image credit: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

The Fall 2011 eclipse season started on September 11. Here is an AIA 171 image from 0657 UT with the first eclipse! SDO has eclipse seasons twice a year near each equinox. For three weeks near midnight Las Cruces time (about 0700 UT) our orbit has the Earth pass between SDO and the Sun. These eclipses can last up to 72 minutes in the middle of an eclipse season. The current eclipse season started on September 11 and lasts until October 4. To read more about SDO go to: <a href="http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow">sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/</a> Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Aerial Photograph of Glenn Research Center With Downtown Cleveland in the Distance taken from the PC-12 on June 13, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

Adam Wroblewski and Shaun McKeehan Working In PC-12 Aircraft during in flight testing on June 13, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Pictured here on June 13, 2024 from Left to Right: Kurt Blakenship, Adam Wroblewski, Shaun McKeehan. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

Kurt Blankenship and James Demers Fly PC-12 Aircraft During Testing on June 13, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

STS060-83-016 (3-11 Feb 1994) --- White Sands National Monument (Park) is easily recognized in the center of this near-vertical color photograph. White Sands is the world's largest gypsum dune field. It represents an alabaster sea that covers nearly 300 square miles. The National Park Service has the responsibility to preserve this unique feature, allowing the dune world to unfold in its natural environment, but without interference from humans. White Sands lies within a spectacular, oblong geological depression called the Tularosa Basin bounded by the Sacramento Mountains on the east and the San Andres Mountains on the west. Climatically the basin is a true desert, averaging less than 10 inches of rainfall per year. In terms of topographic relief the Sacramento Mountains attain elevations greater than 9,000 feet above sea level, while the San Andres Mountains on the west exceed altitudes of 8,000 feet. At the southwest corner of the White Sands is dry lake, Lucero. This lake is the lowest point in the Tularosa Basin at 3,900 feet. In terms of cultural features the city of Alamogordo (over 20,000 population) and Holloman Air Force Base can be seen with great clarity on this photograph. The area is accessible by highways U.S.70 & 82 from Las Cruces, New Mexico, and U.S.54 from El Paso, Texas.

View of the Glenn Research Center Hangar from the Cleveland Hopkins Airport Runway during a testing flight on June 13, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

At Glenn Research Center, the PC-12 is Prepped for a flight and ready to takeoff on June 12, 2024. A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

The Fall 2011 eclipse season started on September 11, 2011. Here is an AIA 304 image from 0658 UT. SDO has eclipse seasons twice a year near each equinox. For three weeks near midnight Las Cruces time (about 0700 UT) our orbit has the Earth pass between SDO and the Sun. These eclipses can last up to 72 minutes in the middle of an eclipse season. The current eclipse season started on September 11 and lasts until October 4. To read more about SDO go to: <a href="http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow">sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/</a> Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing, NASA, and U.S. Army personnel work around the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft shortly after it landed in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019. The landing completes an abbreviated Orbital Flight Test for the company that still meets several mission objectives for NASA’s Commercial Crew program. The Starliner spacecraft launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 6:36 a.m. Friday, Dec. 20 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA and Boeing teams prepare for the landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA and Boeing teams prepare for the landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

In this 30-second exposure, NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft lands uncrewed, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Mountain Time, at White Sands, New Mexico. This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on the spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing and NASA teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A member of the range safety team labels her convoy vehicle as they prepare for the landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

In this 30-second exposure, NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft lands uncrewed, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at White Sands, New Mexico. This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on the spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams work around NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time), at White Sands, New Mexico. This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on the spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing team members don hazmat suits as they prepare for the landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, June 16, 2024. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are Starliner’s first human crew and travelled to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. The mission serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system as a provider for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams work around NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time), at White Sands, New Mexico. This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on the spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft parachute is seen after the spacecraft landed uncrewed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Mountain Time (Sept. 7 Eastern Time), in New Mexico. This approach allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on the spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, June 16, 2024. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are Starliner’s first human crew and travelled to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. The mission serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system as a provider for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, June 16, 2024. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are Starliner’s first human crew and travelled to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. The mission serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system as a provider for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is seen after it landed in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019. The landing completes an abbreviated Orbital Flight Test for the company that still meets several mission objectives for NASA’s Commercial Crew program. The Starliner spacecraft launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 6:36 a.m. Friday, Dec. 20 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, June 16, 2024. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are Starliner’s first human crew and travelled to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. The mission serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system as a provider for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)