2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the beginning of Ares Vallis at the edge of Iani Chaos.
The surface in this scene captured by NASA MESSENGER spacecraft has been pummeled by secondary craters, possibly from the impact that formed the nearby Mickiewicz crater. MESSENGER has acquired nearly 25,000 images below 10 meters/pixel (~33 feet/pixel), allowing us to examine the innermost planet at an unprecedented scale. Date acquired: April 21, 2015 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 71933951 Image ID: 8369698 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 24.12° Center Longitude: 260.65° E Resolution: 5.0 meters/pixel Scale: This scene is approximately 500 meters (0.3 mi.) across http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19426
Firefighters place the American flag at half-staff during dedication services for a memorial to the 343 first responder victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at Fire Station 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 11, 2015. A section of steel I-beam from the World Trade Center in New York forms the centerpiece of the monument.
New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) obtained these three images of Pluto between July 1-3 ,2015, as the spacecraft closed in on its July 14 encounter with the dwarf planet and its moons. The left image shows, on the right side of the disk, a large bright area on the hemisphere opposite Charon; this is the side of Pluto that will be seen in close-up by New Horizons on July 14. The three images together show the full extent of a continuous swath of dark terrain that wraps around Pluto's equatorial region between longitudes 40° and 160°. The western end of the swath, west of longitude 40°, breaks up into a series of striking dark regularly-spaced spots on the anti-Charon hemisphere (right image) that were first noted in New Horizons images taken on Pluto's previous rotation. Intriguing details are beginning to emerge in the bright material north of the dark region, in particular a series of bright and dark patches that are conspicuous just below the center of the disk in the right-hand image. In all three black-and-white views, the apparent jagged bottom edge of Pluto is the result of image processing. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19698
This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA Dawn spacecraft on April 29, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles 13,600 kilometers. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19550
Expedition 43 Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) listens to a reporter’s question as he and, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos, and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly participate in a crew press conference, Thursday, March 26, 2015, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Kornienko, and Padalka launched to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Measurements from NASA MESSENGER MLA instrument during the spacecraft greater than four-year orbital mission have mapped the topography of Mercury northern hemisphere in great detail. The view shown here is an interpolated shaded relief map of these data. The lowest regions are shown in purple, and the highest regions are shown in red. The difference in elevation between the lowest and highest regions shown here is roughly 10 kilometers! Among the prominent features visible here are the smooth northern volcanic plains and the enigmatic northern rise. The low-lying craters near the north pole host radar-bright materials, thought to be water ice. Linear artifacts can be seen in some areas of this map. These are due to individual MLA tracks that need minor adjustments in order to fit the rest of the data. Crossover analysis and better knowledge of the spacecraft position can be used to adjust these tracks and improve the map. Instrument: Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) Center Latitude: 90° Center Longitude: 0° E Latitude Range: 45° to 90° N http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19420
Much as its name implies, tiny Epimetheus (Greek for hindsight) was discovered in hindsight. Astronomers originally thought that Janus and Epithemeus were the same object. Only later did astronomers realize that there are in fact two bodies sharing the same orbit. Janus (111 miles or 179 kilometers across) and Epimetheus (70 miles or 113 kilometers) have the same average distance from Saturn, but they take turns being a little closer or a little farther from Saturn, swapping positions approximately every 4 years. See PIA08348 for more. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 29 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 1, 2015. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers) from Epimetheus and at a Sun-Epimetheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 89 degrees. Image scale is 11 miles (17 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia18305
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows the plains between Hale Crater and Argyre Planitia. Orbit Number: 8815 Latitude: -37.2509 Longitude: 323.023 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-12-10 04:12 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19737
ISS043E044527 (03/23/2015) --- This Earth observation of the Patagonia Ice Fields in South America was taken during a day pass of the International Space Station by the crew of Expedition 43. The Commander of 43, NASA astronaut Terry Virts tweeted this comment on the Earth image: "Awe-inspiring Earth"!
This series of images taken by NASA's New Horizons' Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) shows how Pluto and Charon change in brightness as they rotate over 6.4 Earth days.The central panel shows the true color of Pluto (left) and Charon (right) during nine epochs between May 29 May and June 3 2015, as the spacecraft approached the Pluto system from a range of 55 to 48 million km.The grids beneath the images show the orientations of Pluto and Charon, with 0° E longitude and the equator highlighted by the yellow and pink lines respectively.Sub-spacecraft locations on Pluto and Charon are listed at the bottom.The spatial resolution, at around 1000 km/pixel, is not yet sufficient in these images to reveal distinct surface features on either body. The top panel shows in graphical form how the brightness in MVIC's red channel (540-700 nm) varies with the sub-spacecraft longitude, including data from more distant images dating back to May 1.The moving white vertical lines indicate the observed central longitudes on Pluto and Charon as the images below rotate.These results are consistent with earlier Hubble Space Telescope observations of the lightcurves of Pluto and Charon.Pluto appears dimmest when the dark region on its trailing hemisphere (around 90° E) is oriented toward the observer and brighter when the dark area has rotated off the visible hemisphere and a bright region on the anti-Charon hemisphere is seen.A different, lower amplitude lightcurve variation is seen on Charon, where the Pluto-facing hemisphere (around 0° E) appears brighter than the anti-Pluto hemisphere. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19692
Orion EM1 plug welds in PV2 and PV3
The steep sided depressions in this image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are fault bounded tectonic features called graben. These depressions are part of a large region of graben called Sacra Fossae. Sacra Fossae is located on the western margin of Lunae Planum. Orbit Number: 60829 Latitude: 18.2961 Longitude: 287.711 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-08-31 10:01 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20094
This image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover reveals details of a bedrock discoloration pattern at a site between "Marias Pass" and "Bridger Basin." The discoloration is not associated with individual layers. It crosses layers and shows clear horizontal boundaries to the darker toned bedrock. This suggests it is related to alteration by fluids that flowed through fractures and permeated into the bedrock. The image was taken by the right-eye (telephoto) camera of the rover's Mast Camera instrument on Sept. 2, 2015, during the mission's 1,092nd Martian day, or sol. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20269
Saturn's rings are so expansive that they often sneak into Cassini's pictures of other bodies. Here, they appear with the planet in a picture taken during a close flyby of Dione. The flyby of Dione (698 miles or 1123 kilometers across) during which this image was taken was the last close encounter with this moon during Cassini's mission. The main goal of the flyby was to use the spacecraft as a probe to measure Dione's gravity field. However, scientists also managed to take some very close images of the surface. All of the data will be helpful to understand the interior structure and geological history of this distant, icy world. This view is centered on terrain at 7 degrees south latitude, 122 degrees west longitude. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 17, 2015. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase angle of 35 degrees. Image scale is 1,520 feet (464 meters) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18344
This image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the northern margin of Tanaica Montes. These hills are cut by fractures, which are in alignment with the regional trend of tectonic faulting found east of Alba Mons. Orbit Number: 61129 Latitude: 40.1468 Longitude: 269.641 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-09-25 03:03
Technicians unload the LEAPTech experimental wing upon its arrival at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. Ground testing will begin after the wing is mounted on a specially modified truck.
MITSUBISHI K13D2U PITCH-BASED CARBON FIBERS COMMERCIALLY WOVEN BY T.E.A.M., INC. (TEXTILE ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING
Although Enceladus and Saturn's rings are largely made up of water ice, they show very different characteristics. The small ring particles are too tiny to retain internal heat and have no way to get warm, so they are frozen and geologically dead. Enceladus, on the other hand, is subject to forces that heat its interior to this very day. This results in its famous south polar water jets, which are just visible above the moon's dark, southern limb, along with a sub-surface ocean. Recent work by Cassini scientists suggests that Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) has a global ocean of liquid water under its surface. This discovery increases scientists' interest in Enceladus and the quest to understand the role of water in the development of life in the solar system. (For more on the sub-surface ocean, see this story.) This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 0.3 degrees below the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 29, 2015. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 630,000 miles (1.0 million kilometers) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase angle of 155 degrees. Image scale is 4 miles (6 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18343
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
NASA MESSENGER is again sending images back to Earth after the spacecraft emerged from superior solar conjunction, when communication is largely blocked by the Sun. These will be some of our last views of Mercury from MESSENGER. Featured here is the ejecta blanket of a fresh impact crater located just outside the scene. Ejecta scoured the surface leaving behind beautiful patterns of secondary craters. Date acquired: April 16, 2015 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 71544702 Image ID: 8343072 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 55.67° Center Longitude: 97.37° E Resolution: 19.9 meters/pixel Scale: This scene is approximately 20 km (12 miles) across http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19424
Media photograph the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard Saturday, March 28, 2015, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
ISS043093710 (04/08/2015) --- Another beautiful Earth sunrise to greet our astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Apr. 8, 2015.
Pieces for the Orion spacecraft that will fly on Artemis I are prepared for welding at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Aug. 7, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the central pit of an unnamed crater south of Coprates Catena.
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore exchanges jacket and hard hat with one of the construction workers building SLS test stand 4693 in the West test area of the Marshall Space Flight Center
2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
This Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image is presented as a perspective view and shows a landscape near the eastern shoreline of Kraken Mare, a hydrocarbon sea in Titan's north polar region. This image was processed using a technique for handling noise that results in clearer views that can be easier for researchers to interpret. The technique, called despeckling, also is useful for producing altimetry data and 3-D views called digital elevation maps. Scientists have used a technique called radargrammetry to determine the altitude of surface features in this view at a resolution of approximately half a mile, or 1 kilometer. The altimetry reveals that the area is smooth overall, with a maximum amplitude of 0.75 mile (1.2 kilometers) in height. The topography also shows that all observed channels flow downhill. The presence of what scientists call "knickpoints" -- locations on a river where a sharp change in slope occurs -- might indicate stratification in the bedrock, erosion mechanisms at work or a particular way the surface responds to runoff events, such as floods following large storms. One such knickpoint is visible just above the lower left corner, where an area of bright slopes is seen. The image was obtained during a flyby of Titan on April 10, 2007. A more traditional radar image of this area on Titan is seen in PIA19046. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19051
SHELL BUCKLE KNOCKDOWN FACTOR (SBKF) COMPOSITE BARREL EPOXY POUR
Young Terraces
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
ISS044E007995 (07/05/2015) ---NASA astronaut Scott Kelly in the Unity (Node 1) module enjoying some fresh fruit and vegetables brought up to the International Space Station by the recent Russian Progress 60 spacecraft.
Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter Aft Cone Weld #1
This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA Dawn spacecraft on April 29, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles 13,600 kilometers.
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio Tombaugh Region, situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain. This image was acquired by NASA's New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) and sent back to Earth on July 20. Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. These frozen peaks are estimated to be one-half mile to one mile (1-1.5 kilometers) high, about the same height as the United States' Appalachian Mountains. The Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) discovered by New Horizons on July 15 more closely approximate the height of the taller Rocky Mountains The names of features on Pluto have all been given on an informal basis by the New Horizons team. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19842
The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Acidalia Planitia. Orbit Number: 5455 Latitude: 45.8255 Longitude: 6.03611 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-03-08 15:46 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19225
NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observes the southeast rim of Hale Crater, about 150 kilometers 90 miles in diameter and located in the mid-southern latitudes just north of the massive Argyre basin. RSL are often found on northwest-facing slopes, and they occur in the central peak of Hale. During the season when we know RSL appear, this observation at high resolution might help us see if they occur elsewhere. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19176
MSFC DIRECTOR, PATRICK SCHEUERMANN, ADDRESSES THE SUMMER INTERNS DURING ORIENTATION AT THE USSRC. JUNE 1, 2015
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:47 a.m. EST. The commercial resupply mission will deliver 3,700 pounds of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations and supplies, including critical materials to support 256 science and research investigations that will take place on the space station. Photo credit: NASA/George Roberts
Dr. Tom Moore discusses the MMS mission objectives, Engage series,
The Orion Crew Module Adapter simulator arrives at NASA Glenn's Plum Brook Station Space Power Facility in Sandusky, Ohio on June 24, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
This dramatic view of the Pluto system is as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft saw it in July 2015. The animation, made with real images taken by New Horizons, begins with Pluto flying in for its close-up on July 14; we then pass behind Pluto and see the atmosphere glow in sunlight before the sun passes behind Pluto's largest moon, Charon. The movie ends with New Horizons' departure, looking back on each body as thin crescents. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19873
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
First weld of Orion Exploration Mission 1 crew module
Expedition 43 backup crew members: Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, left, and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams, right, talk during their final check of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft, Monday, March 23, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The Soyuz rocket and Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft are assembled at Building 112 on the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The sun sets over the West Cost prior to the launch gantry being rolled back to reveal the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, satellite aboard, at the Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SMAP is a remote sensing mission designed to measure and map the Earth's soil moisture distribution and freeze/thaw stat with unprecedented accuracy, resolution and coverage. SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data also will be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2015. To learn more about SMAP, visit http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
Expedition 43 backup crew member Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is seen inside the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft during a final check, Monday, March 23, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
This false color image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the complex region at the west end of Candor Chasma.
Expedition 43 Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), waves out a window to fellow crew mates, NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and, Russian Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos, as they prepare to depart the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia for Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Saturday, March 14, 2015, Star City, Russia. The trio is preparing for launch to the International Space Station in their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NEAR EARTH ASTEROID (NEA) SAIL TEAM PERFORMING A DEPLOYMENT OF THE FLIGHT-LIKE ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT UNIT SOLAR SAIL. THE SAIL WAS MANUFACTURED AT NEXOLVE (HSV, AL) AND DEPLOYED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT MSFC ON AUGUST 4TH, 2016
Deposits of impact glass have been preserved in Martian craters, including Alga Crater, shown here. Detection of the impact glass by researchers at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, is based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In color coding based on analysis of CRISM spectra, green indicates the presence of glass. (Blues are pyroxene; reds are olivine.) Impact glass forms in the heat of a violent impact that excavates a crater. Impact glass found on Earth can preserve evidence about ancient life. A deposit of impact glass on Mars could be a good place to look for signs of past life on that planet. This view shows Alga Crater's central peak, which is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) wide within the 12-mile (19-kilometer) diameter of this southern-hemisphere crater. The information from CRISM is shown over a terrain model and image, based on observations by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The vertical dimension is exaggerated by a factor of two. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19673
ISS042E119635 (01/11/2015) --- US Astronaut Barry Wilmore, Expedition 42 Commander sits in the International Space Stations CUPOLA after successfully controling the robotic Canadarm to grapple the SPACEX Dragon spacecraft, bringing it into the port where it can be unloaded. It carried 2 and a half tons of supplies and science equipment.
Former MSFC directors Patrick Scheuermann and Robert Lightfoot pose with their official photographic portraits hanging in Morris Auditorium
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
ISS043E056045 (03/28/2015) --- Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is first through the hatch of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft into the International Space Station after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He is welcomed aboard by Expedition 43 Commander and NASA astronaut Terry Virts. Padalka will serve a normal length tour of duty on the station but his two crewmembers arriving with him, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, will spend a year in space and return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.
A view looking up reveals the buildup of the first of 10 new work platforms at Sauer Co. in Oak Hill, Florida. When completed, the first platform will be delivered for installation in high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A contract to modify high bay 3 was awarded by NASA to the Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando, Florida in March 2014. Sauer is a subcontractor to Hensel Phelps. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to the high bay to support processing of NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and other exploration vehicles. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
At Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive SMAP mission satellite is lifted up the side of a mobile service tower for mating to its Delta II rocket.
This view of a sandstone target called "Big Arm" covers an area about 1.3 inches (33 millimeters) wide in detail that shows differing shapes and colors of sand grains in the stone. Three separate images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, at different focus settings, were combined into this focus-merge view. The Big Arm target on lower Mount Sharp is at a location near "Marias Pass" where a mudstone bedrock is in contact with overlying sandstone bedrock. MAHLI recorded the component images on May 29, 2015, during the 999th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The rounded shape of some grains visible here suggests they traveled long distances before becoming part of the sediment that later hardened into sandstone. Other grains are more angular and may have originated closer to the rock's current location. Lighter and darker grains may have different compositions. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19677
Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, seated left, Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, center, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), work on Soyuz training, Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Padalka, and Kornienko are preparing for launch to the International Space Station in their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
This view, made using images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, features a tall conical mountain on Ceres. Elevations span a range of about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the lowest places in this region to the highest terrains. Blue represents the lowest elevation, and brown is the highest. The white streaks seen running down the side of the mountain are especially bright parts of the surface. The image was generated using two components: images of the surface taken during Dawn's High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) phase, where it viewed the surface at a resolution of about 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, and a shape model generated using images taken at varying sun and viewing angles during Dawn's lower-resolution Survey phase. The image of the region is color-coded according to elevation, and then draped over the shape model to give this view. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19976
CORE STAGE SIMULATOR, BLDG. 4755, SOUTH HIGHBAY, JANUARY 13, 2015
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this sequence of views of the sun setting at the close of the mission's 956th Martian day, or sol (April 15, 2015), from the rover's location in Gale Crater. The four images shown in sequence here were taken over a span of 6 minutes, 51 seconds. This was the first sunset observed in color by Curiosity. The images come from the left-eye camera of the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. Mastcam sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are. Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. The effect is most pronounced near sunset, when light from the sun passes through a longer path in the atmosphere than it does at mid-day. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19401
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
CORE STAGE SIMULATOR, BLDG. 4755, SOUTH HIGHBAY, JANUARY 13, 2015
Russian support personnel wait outside the medical tent and all terrain vehicles (ATVs) after the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft landed with Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA, Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Elena Serova of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 12, 2015. NASA Astronaut Wilmore, Russian Cosmonauts Samokutyaev and Serova are returning after almost six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 41 and 42 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
The Orion leadership visited Ames Research Center in California on March 2, 2015 to recognize the great work performed at the center in support of Orion's first flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1). Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.
With St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square in Moscow serving as a backdrop, Expedition 46-47 crewmembers Tim Kopra of NASA (left), Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (right) pose for pictures Nov. 23 after laying flowers at the Kremlin Wall where Russian space icons are interred. Peake, Malenchenko and Kopra will launch on Dec. 15 on the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Seth Marcantel
Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, center, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) take in the view from a overlook during media day, Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Padalka, and Kornienko are preparing for launch to the International Space Station in their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, and Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) talk to family, friends, and officials from behind glass before departing for their launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft to the International Space Station Friday, March 27, 2015 in Baikonor, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Padalka, and Kornienko launched to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)
Dark streaks are visible on the slopes of hills and crater rims in Amazonis Planitia. It is thought that the removal of dust by downslope movement reveals the darker rocks beneath. Orbit Number: 60745 Latitude: 13.62 Longitude: 191.678 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-08-24 11:59 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20072
Al Bowers attaches a bungee cord to the Prandtl-d, as Kassidy McLaughlin prepares to release and launch the aircraft.
Expedition 43 Russian Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) waves farewell to family and friends as he and fellow crew members NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko depart building 254 for their launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft to the International Space Station Friday, March 27, 2015 in Baikonor, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Padalka, and Kornienko launched to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)
SLS ENGINE SECTION PEDESTALS AND THE ENGINE SECTION SPIDER QUADRANTS ARRIVAL AND UNLOADING AT NASA DOCK ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER.
Expedition 43 Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, seated left, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), center, and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly work on Soyuz training, Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Padalka, and Kornienko are preparing for launch to the International Space Station in their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 46-47 prime crewmember Tim Kopra of NASA signs in for the start of two days of qualification exams Nov. 19. Kopra, Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency will launch Dec. 15 in the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Seth Marcantel
The flat-faced rock near the center of this image is a target for contact investigation by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early March 2015. The view is from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera on March 3, 2015, during the 3,948th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. This camera is mounted low on the rover and has a wide-angle lens. The scene includes a shadow of the tool turret at the end of Opportunity's robotic arm. The rock includes a target called "Sergeant Charles Floyd," for the quartermaster of the Lewis and Clark expedition. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19146
High-resolution global soil moisture map from NASA SMAP combined radar and radiometer instruments, acquired between May 4 and May 11, 2015 during SMAP commissioning phase. The map has a resolution of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers). The data gap is due to turning the instruments on and off during testing. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19337
PLASMA TORCH TEST FACILITY
This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a lava channel, which lies just to the east of the largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons. The channel appears to be discontinuous, meaning it disappears several times throughout its length, but in fact, it is likely that the channel continues underground as a lava tube. These are relatively common features at terrestrial volcanic centers, such as the Big Island of Hawai'i. The channel appears to have been infilled with dust and sand, so that the entrance to a lava tube cave is no longer visible at this particular location; fortunately this has been observed elsewhere on Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19299
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians remove a side thermal window from one of Orion's tile panels on May 15, 2015. The tile panels with thermal windows intact were removed from Orion in the Launch Abort System Facility after the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) spacecraft returned to Kennedy in late December. All of the windows are being removed and disassembled for post-flight inspection for any signs of micrometeoroid or orbital debris impacts or other potential glass damage. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
This image from the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows detailed texture of a rock target called "Elk" on Mars' Mount Sharp, revealing laminations that are present in much of the Murray Formation geological unit of lower Mount Sharp. Researchers also used ChemCam's laser and spectrometers to assess Elk's composition and found it to be rich in silica. The image covers a patch of rock surface about 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) across. It was taken on May 22, 2015, during the mission's 992nd Martian day, or sol. ChemCam's Remote Micro-Imager camera, on top of Curiosity's mast, captured the image from a distance of about 9 feet (2.75 meters). Annotations in red identify five points on Elk that were hit with ChemCam's laser. Each of the highlighted points is a location where ChemCam fired its laser 30 times to ablate a tiny amount of target material. By analyzing the light emitted from this laser-ablation, researchers can deduce the composition of that point. For some purposes, composition is presented as a combination of the information from multiple points on the same rock. However, using the points individually can track fine-scale variations in targets. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20267
Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the station’s Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.
GMT013_21_40_Terry Virts_patagonia sequence nice soyuz_130B
This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system. Kepler-186 is a miniature solar system that would fit entirely inside the orbit of Mercury. The habitable zone of Kepler-186 is very small compared to that of Kepler-452 or the sun because it is a much smaller, cooler star. The size and extent of the habitable zone of Kepler-452 is nearly the same as that of the sun, but is slightly bigger because Kepler-452 is somewhat older, bigger and brighter. The size of the orbit of Kepler-452b is nearly the same as that of Earth at 1.05 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun). Kepler-452b orbits its star once every 385 days. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19826
Nighttime Earth observation taken by the Expedition 45 crew. Image was released by astronaut on social media.
2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.
Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, center, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are seen during a crew press conference, Thursday, March 26, 2015, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Kornienko, and Padalka launched to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Expedition 43 Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) answers reporter’s questions as he and, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos, and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly participate in a crew press conference, Thursday, March 26, 2015, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly, Kornienko, and Padalka launched to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA ASSOC. ADMIN. ROBERT LIGHTFOOT SPEAKS AT DOWNTOWN HUNTSVILLE, INC. ANNUAL MEETING