Center in Edwards, Illinois, May 1-4, 2019. The habitat print is the final level of the multi-phase competition, which began in in 2015. The challenge is managed by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, and partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois. Astronaut Don Thomas talks with Penn State team members Negar Ashrafi and Maryam Hojati.
NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor speaks about her time onboard the International Space Station during "What's New in Aerospace" Friday, June 14, 2019 the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Auñón-Chancellor spent 197 days living and working onboard the orbital laboratory as part of Expeditions 56 and 57, contributing to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science while there. She began her career at NASA as a flight surgeon before being selected as an astronaut in 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Orion Spacecraft Arrives in Ohio Aboard the Super Guppy at Mansfield Lahm Airport
Rescue team members are using a Boeing CST-100 Starliner training capsule to rehearse a search and rescue training exercise in the unlikely event of an emergency resulting in a splashdown. NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) Human Space Flight Support Office Rescue Division conducted the open-ocean exercise, after nearly two weeks of training, off the coast of Cape Canaveral near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 25, 2019. This exercise provides team members with the necessary training ahead of Boeing’s Crew Flight Test with astronauts targeted for later this year. During normal return scenarios, Boeing’s Starliner will land in a safe zone of about 15 square miles in the Western United States. Throughout the commercial crew development phases with NASA, Boeing has performed dozens of qualification tests on its parachute and airbag systems simulating conditions on land and in the water.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine gives keynote remarks at the Space Symposium, Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at Broadmoor Hall in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Representatives from the space industry, military, and news media were in attendance. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Matthew English is the Exploration Research and Technology facility manager for the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. English’s responsibilities include ensuring that the International Space Station teams inside the SSPF have the facilities, tools and capabilities they need to support their launch customers, thus providing the support necessary to enable further research and design discoveries within NASA.
SpaceX’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, sails in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of Florida March 8, 2019, in preparation to retrieve the company’s Crew Dragon upon its return to Earth on the Demo-1 mission. The uncrewed spacecraft docked to the orbiting laboratory on March 3, following a 2:49 a.m. EST liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 2. The spacecraft undocked at 2:32 a.m., March 8, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean at 8:45 a.m. SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is the first flight test of a space system designed for humans built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership. NASA and SpaceX will use data from Demo-1 to further prepare for Demo-2, the crewed flight test that will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station later this year.
A memorial wreath has been placed in the Heroes and Legends exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida following a ceremony honoring the memory of former astronaut Owen Garriott. The ceremony was held April 18, 2019. Garriott flew aboard the Skylab space station during the Skylab 3 mission and also on space shuttle Columbia for the STS-9/Spacelab-1 mission. He passed away April 15 at the age of 88.
Meredith Vieira closes out the program by reading Walter Cronkite's speech during the "National Symphony Orchestra Pops, Apollo 11: A 50th Anniversary, One Small Step, One Giant Leap" which included musical acts, speakers, and images and video related to space, on Saturday, July 20, 2019 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. NASA and the country are recognizing the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, in which astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin crewed the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, third from right, and Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard, fourth from right, speak with Professor Johann-Dietrich Worner, Director General of ESA (European Space Agency), fourth from left, during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana speaks to employees during an innovation showcase on Nov. 19, 2019, in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building’s Mission Briefing Room. Nearly 50 exhibitors gathered to participate in the center’s Innovation Days – one of several events throughout the year aimed at fostering and encouraging an innovative culture at Kennedy. Showcase participants included individuals from multiple directorates, programs and organizations throughout Kennedy. In addition to the showcase, employees had the opportunity to attend an overview presentation on NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS), hosted by HLS Program Manager Lisa Watson-Morgan.
iss059e021395 (Aprill 16, 2019) --- Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques takes a break for a portrait inside the cupola while practicing Canadarm2 robotics maneuvers and Cygnus spacecraft capture techniques.
Inside the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers are completing the integration of a test version of the Orion crew module with the Launch Abort System (LAS) on May 18, 2019. The test vehicle and the LAS will be used for the Orion Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) Flight Test. AA-2 is a full-stress test of the LAS, planned for July 2. AA-2 will launch from Space Launch Complex 46, carrying a fully functional LAS and a 22,000-pound Orion test vehicle to an altitude of 31,000 feet and traveling at more than 1,000 miles an hour. The test will verify the LAS can steer the crew module and astronauts aboard to safety if an emergency occurs during ascent on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. NASA's Orion and Exploration Ground Systems programs, contractors Jacob's, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, in conjunction with the Air Force Space and Missile Center's Launch Operations branch and the 45th Space Wing are performing flight operations for AA-2.
iss061e061461 (Nov. 29, 2019) --- Russia's Progress 73 (73P) cargo craft is pictured departing the International Space Station after undocking from the Pirs docking compartment. Loaded with trash, the 73P was deorbited a few hours later and burned up safely over the Pacific Ocean.
On June 27, 2019, Exploration Ground Systems’ mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, makes its last solo trek to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida, where it will remain for the summer, undergoing final testing and checkouts. The mobile launcher departed from the Vehicle Assembly Building at midnight on June 27 for the 10-hour journey to the pad. Its next roll to the pad will be with the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in preparation for the launch of Artemis 1.
Veteran space reporter John Zarrella, left, moderates a “Lessons of Columbia” discussion with former space shuttle launch directors Mike Leinbach, center, and Bob Sieck in Kennedy Space Center’s Training Auditorium on April 12, 2019. The discussion took place during “Columbia: The Mission Continues,” an event organized by the Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program (ACCLLP). The event is part of the Space Shuttle Columbia national tour and took place on the 38th anniversary of STS-1, the first orbital spaceflight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. The tour launched at Kennedy and will make its way to each of the 10 NASA centers.
Members of the NASA Advisory Council toured the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 29, 2019. In view is the interim cryogenic propulsion stage for the Space Launch System rocket. The NASA Advisory Council provides the NASA administrator with counsel and advice on programs and issues of importance to the agency. Committee members conduct fact-finding sessions throughout the year in an effort to gain a broad understanding of current NASA issues and future mission implementation plans.
Carla Rekucki, lead NASA test director in NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), center, and other launch team members participate in validation testing inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, 2019. The team includes personnel with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs Test and Operations Contract (TOSC). The simulation was designed to validate the firing room consoles and communications systems, as well as the new Spaceport Command and Control System (SCCS), which will operate, monitor and coordinate ground equipment in preparation for Artemis 1, the uncrewed first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.
William Vardaman, mechanical technician with the Jacobs contracting team, performs engine maintenance on NASA's crawler-transporter 2 on March 26, 2019, in the crawler yard located in Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 area. Recent engine work included rebuilding the vehicles’ fuel pump assemblies and installing new oil pumps that will help minimize future wear. This is one of two crawler-transporters that carried rockets and spacecraft, including the Apollo/Saturn V and space shuttle, from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems oversaw modifications and upgrades to crawler-transporter 2 so it can carry the mobile launcher and NASA's Space Launch System rocket, topped by the Orion spacecraft, to Launch Pad 39B for Exploration Mission-1.
Expedition 61 backup crewmembers Sergei Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, left, and Thomas Marshburn of NASA as seen during a press conference, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Expedition 61 cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and Jessica Meir of NASA, and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates will launch September 25th on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A transportation container carrying NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload is moved to a truck for its transport from the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
jsc2019e054895 (09-16-19) --- 2017 NASA astronaut candidates Raja Chari and Kayla Barron examines samples during geology training in Arizona. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Stafford)
Portrait, NASA astronaut Dr. Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
iss059e036722 (April 28, 2019) --- The International Space station was flying 258 miles above of China's eastern border with Russia when an Expedition 59 crewmember photographed the frozen Strait of Tartary. The strait separates the Russian island of Sakhalin from the Asian continent. The sun's glint beams off the Northern Pacific coast of Sakhalin.
Evening With The Stars - 2019
The inaugural Glenn Symposium focused on advancements in aerospace technology including power and propulsion, autonomy and communications, low boom supersonics, hypersonics, and more. Discussion also encompassed humans returning to the moon, including challenges associated with the 2024 mission.
Boeing Commercial Crew Flight Test (CFT) Emergency Vehicle Familiarization training with Chris Ferguson, Nicole Mann, Barry Wilmore and Mike Fincke.
NASA's X-57 Maxwell, the agency's first all-electric X-plane and first crewed X-planed in two decades, is delivered to NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California in its Mod II configuration. The first of three primary modifications for the project, Mod II involves testing of the aircraft's cruise electric propulsion system. Delivery to NASA from prime contractor Empirical Systems Aerospace of San Luis Obispo, California, marks a major milestone for the project, at which point the vehicle is reintegrated for ground tests, to be followed by taxi tests, and eventually, flight tests. X-57's goal is to further advance the design and airworthiness process for distributed electric propulsion technology for general aviation aircraft, which can provide multiple benefits to efficiency, emissions, and noise.
The Soyuz MS-13 rocket is launched with Expedition 60 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA, and flight engineer Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), Saturday, July 20, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Skvortsov, Morgan, and Parmitano will join fellow Expedition 60 crew members Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and NASA flight engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch, who have been aboard the International Space Station since March. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Commercial Lunar Payload Services Announcement was made at Goddard May 31, 2019. Tom Zurbuchen, AA Science Mission Directorate, congratulated three companies for providing lunar landers for Artermis: Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and OrbitBeyond
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon cargo module climbs upward after liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in the early morning May 4, 2019. Liftoff was at 2:48 a.m. EDT. This is SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-17) mission for NASA to the International Space Station. The Dragon cargo module will deliver about 5,500 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.
Plants utilized for ground experiments at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida that complement plant research on the International Space Station are photographed at an innovation showcase on Nov. 19, 2019. Nearly 50 exhibitors gathered in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building’s Mission Briefing Room to participate in the center’s Innovation Days – one of several events throughout the year aimed at fostering an encouraging an innovative culture at Kennedy. Showcase participants included individuals from multiple directorates, programs and organizations throughout Kennedy. In addition to the showcase, employees had the opportunity to attend an overview presentation on NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS), hosted by HLS Program Manager Lisa Watson-Morgan.
Fwd Sim into Cell D
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:01 p.m. EDT on July 25, 2019, carrying the Dragon spacecraft on the company’s 18th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-18) mission to the International Space Station. The uncrewed Dragon spacecraft will deliver about 5,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbiting laboratory.
jsc2019e035254 - At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 60 crewmembers Drew Morgan of NASA (left), Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos (center) and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (right) report for their final qualification exams June 26. They will launch July 20 on the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Beth Weissinger.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine gives an update on the agency’s Artemis program and the critical role international partnerships have in returning astronauts to the Moon and going on to Mars at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
LOX STA unload from Pegasus at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
The International Docking Adapter 3, a critical component for future crewed missions to the International Space Station, is carefully packed away in the unpressurized “trunk” section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at the SpaceX facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 19. It will launch to the orbiting laboratory in July on the company’s 18th commercial resupply mission. The adapter will support future U.S. crewed vehicles visiting the station.
Andres Bratt-Leal, Ph.D., of Aspen Neuroscience, talks to NASA Social participants during a What’s On Board science briefing at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 23, 2019. Bratt-Leal is a principal investigator for the Effects of Microgravity on Microglia 3-Dimensional Models of Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis (Space Tango-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) payload. The briefing was held for SpaceX’s 18th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-18) mission to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and uncrewed Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to launch July 24, 2019, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Elected officials and guests visit after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 16, 2019, in High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At far right is Florida State Senator Thad Altman. The VAB is getting its first commercial tenant. Northrop Grumman signed a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA for use of the facilities. The company will assemble and test its new OmegA rocket inside the massive facility’s High Bay 2. The company also will modify mobile launcher platform-3 to serve as the launch vehicle’s assembly and launch platform. Northrop Grumman is developing the OmegA rocket, an intermediate/heavy-class launch vehicle, as part of a launch services agreement with the U.S. Air Force.
jsc2019e039270 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 60 crewmembers Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (left), Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos (center) and Drew Morgan of NASA (right) review flight plan procedures with instructors July 12 as part of pre-launch activities. They will launch July 20 on the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a mission to the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/GCTC.
NASA International Space Station Deputy Director Robyn Gatens answers questions during a briefing where NASA announced the agency’s five-part plan to open the International Space Station to expanded commercial and marketing activities and private astronaut missions to the station and enable additional commercial destinations in low-Earth orbit, Friday, June 7, 2019 at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City. NASA will continue to maintain human presence and research in low-Earth orbit, and the long-term goal is to achieve a robust economy from which NASA can purchase services at a lower cost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, listens during a briefing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida following launch of Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test, Dec. 20, 2019. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:36 a.m. EST. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test is the Starliner’s first flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
jsc2019e022584_alt (Sept. 12, 2019) --- Expedition 62 crew portrait with NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.
United Arab Emirates Space Agency Director General Mohamed Al Ahbabi meets with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The south polar layered deposits are icy layers that have been deposited over millions of years, preserving a climate history of Mars. In this image the layers are well illuminated to accentuate the topography. A prior image of this location was acquired with the layered slope facing away from the sun, placing the layers in shadow. (The top of the cutout image is at a higher elevation.) https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23098
iss061e066699 (Dec. 3, 2019) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov trains on a computer inside the Zvezda service module for the unlikely scenario he would need to telerobotically maneuver a Russian cargo craft to a docking port on the International Space Station.
The 2019 First Robotics Competition was held in Huntsville, Alabama on March 15 and 16 in the Von Braun Center. 55 teams from 12 states and Brazil competed in “Destination Deep Space” games. The First Robotics Competition is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Team Penn State prepares their 3D-printer to begin printing a subscale habitat structure at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, held at the Caterpillar Edwards Demonstration & Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois, May 1-4, 2019. The habitat print is the final level of the multi-phase competition, which began in in 2015. The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is a competition to create sustainable shelters suitable for the Moon, Mars or beyond using resources available on-site in these locations. The challenge is managed by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, and partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois.
Aerial photograph of MSFC test stand 4697 with the Liquid Oxygen (LOX) test article in the stand
iss060e007341 (July 7, 2019) --- U.S. and Russian spaceships are pictured docked to the International Space Station as the orbiting laboratory flew 267 miles above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile. From left is the Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply ship attached to the Harmony module and the Soyuz MS-12 crew ship docked to the Rassvet module.
The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.
Goddard Space Flight Center employees are seen looking at the lunar landers from above, Friday, May 31, 2019, at Goddard Space Flight Center in Md. Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Orbit Beyond have been selected to provide the first lunar landers for the Artemis program's lunar surface exploration. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Today's false color image shows part of Firsoff Crater, located north of Meridiani Planum. Dark blue tones in the false color filter combination are basaltic sands. 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. Orbit Number: 63185 Latitude: 2.88676 Longitude: 351.048 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-03-12 10:38 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23222
NASA Associate Administrator, Office of Communications, Bettina Inclán, introduces the cast of the film “Ad Astra” before a screening at National Geographic Society, Monday, September 16, 2019 in Washington. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Pitt, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. Pitt stars as astronaut Roy McBride who travels deep into the solar system in hopes of solving a mystery that threatens life on Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Six cyclones can be seen at Jupiter's south pole in this infrared image taken on Feb. 2, 2017, during the 3rd science pass of NASA's Juno spacecraft. Juno's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument measures heat radiated from the planet at an infrared wavelength of around 5 microns. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23556
A banner signing event was held April 22, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to mark the accomplishments of the Kennedy engineering team that supported the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) Subsystem Software development. This team includes the software leads, local developers, remote developers, modelers, project engineers, software quality assurance, build team members, integrators, system engineers, a chief engineer and some software managers. There are 60 unique instances of GSE Subsystem Software code. As of today, 58 of those 60 instances have completed software Level 5 Verification (L5V) and are in the process of completing Subsystem Verification & Validation.
A fully functional Launch Abort System (LAS) with a test version of Orion attached, soars upward on NASA’s Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) flight test atop a Northrop Grumman provided booster on July 2, 2019, after launching at 7 a.m. EDT, from Launch Pad 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. During AA-2, the booster will send the LAS and Orion to an altitude of 31,000 feet, traveling at Mach 1.15 (more than 1,000 mph). The LAS’ three motors will work together to pull the crew module away from the booster and prepare it for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight test will prove that the abort system can pull crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency during ascent.
This VIS image shows part of Chryse Chaos near the terminal end of the huge outflow channels draining from Valles Marineris into the Chyrse Basin. Chaos terrain is typified by regions of blocky, often steep sided, mesas interspersed with deep valleys. With time and erosion the valleys widen and the mesas become smaller. It has been proposed that a catastrophic outflow of subsurface water creates the chaos and provides the surface flow creating the channel. Chaos terrain is also found along the course of most of channels in this region and may occur where the channel flow fluid warms the subsurface ice creating additional release points for melted subsurface ice. The chaos terrain in this image still retain the classic steep sided large mesas. Orbit Number: 78179 Latitude: 13.0698 Longitude: 319.552 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-07-30 13:47 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23419
Team Penn State prepares their 3D-printer to begin printing a subscale habitat structure at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, held at the Caterpillar Edwards Demonstration & Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois, May 1-4, 2019. The habitat print is the final level of the multi-phase competition, which began in in 2015. The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is a competition to create sustainable shelters suitable for the Moon, Mars or beyond using resources available on-site in these locations. The challenge is managed by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, and partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois.
This infrared image from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) shows the temperature of clouds or the surface in and around Tropical Cyclone Kenneth as it was about to make landfall in northern Mozambique on Thursday, April 25. The large purple area indicates very cold clouds carried high into the atmosphere by deep thunderstorms. These storm clouds are associated with heavy rainfall. The orange areas are mostly cloud-free areas, with the clear air caused by air motion outward from the cold clouds near the storm center then downward into the surrounding areas. The images were taken at 1:30 p.m. local time. Shortly after that, Kenneth made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph). It was the first known hurricane-strength landfall in the province and comes just weeks after Tropical Cyclone Idai hit farther south in central Mozambique with catastrophic consequences. Heavy rainfall and life-threatening flooding are expected over the next several days. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23144
Today's VIS image shows part of the ejecta blanket of Tooting Crater. Tooting Crater is located west of Olympus Mons. Orbit Number: 77272 Latitude: 23.1953 Longitude: 207.317 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-05-16 21:16 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23323
The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.
The Soyuz rocket is transported by train to the launch pad, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will launch March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
In this close-up view inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the base of the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage pathfinder can be seen as it is lowered into High Bay 3 on Oct. 16, 2019. The 212-foot-long core stage pathfinder arrived on NASA's Pegasus Barge at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Sept. 27, 2019. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The pathfinder is being used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy through at least the month of October before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.
NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor is seen during an interview, Friday, June 14, 2019 the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Auñón-Chancellor spent 197 days living and working onboard the orbital laboratory as part of Expeditions 56 and 57, contributing to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science while there. She began her career at NASA as a flight surgeon before being selected as an astronaut in 2009. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
The inaugural Glenn Symposium focused on advancements in aerospace technology including power and propulsion, autonomy and communications, low boom supersonics, hypersonics, and more. Discussion also encompassed humans returning to the moon, including challenges associated with the 2024 mission.
Members of the media are seen during a Expedition 59 post-docking press conference, Friday, March 15, 2019 at the Baikonur Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine climbs out of a mockup of the Demo-2 Crew Dragon during a tour of the SpaceX Headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 in Hawthorne, CA. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
STEM 2019 program including middle school girls and boys who participated in hands-on activities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math July 15- 19, 2019
The large crater in this image is called Gandzani Crater. The crater is not circular, but appears to have "corners". This crater is located in Mareotis Fossae, a huge complex of graben that make up part of Tempe Terra. The tectonic activity would include subsurface fracturing, which would have deflected impact pressures along fault faces. Meteor Crater in Arizona has "corners" due to the same tectonic forcing of impact pressures. Orbit Number: 79104 Latitude: 34.6565 Longitude: 268.965 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-10-14 17:58 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23567
Expedition 60 flight engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA is blessed by a Russian Orthodox Priest in the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to departing for launch on a Soyuz rocket with fellow crewmates Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), Saturday, July 20, 2019 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Skvortsov, Morgan, and Parmitano launched at 12:28 p.m. Eastern time (9:28 p.m. Baikonur time) to begin their mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Kennedy Space Center employees and guests cross the finish line during the Florida spaceport’s annual KSC Walk Run on March 26, 2019. Part of Kennedy’s Safety and Health Days, the event takes place at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway and offers participants the chance to partake in a two-mile walk or run, a 5K or a 10K.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testifies during a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2020 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Cerberus Fossae is a steep-sided set of troughs cutting volcanic plains to the east of Elysium Mons. Steep slopes on Mars have active landslides (also called "mass wasting"), and here we see evidence for two types of activity. First, the light bluish boulders on the slope appear to originate at a layer of bedrock (also light blue) near the top of the section. Second, the dark thin lines are recurring slope lineae, probably also due to mass wasting, but composed of finer-grained materials. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23182
Expedition 61 astronaut Jessica Meir of NASA is seen during a press conference, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Meir, Expedition 61 cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates will launch September 25th on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
In the early morning on July 1, 2019, the vertical integration facility surrounding the Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) test vehicle begins to rollback at Launch Pad 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A fully functional Launch Abort System (LAS) mated to a test version of the Orion spacecraft are on a Northrop Grumman provided booster on the pad for launch on NASA’s AA-2 flight test on July 2, 2019. During AA-2, the booster will send the LAS and Orion to an altitude of 31,000 feet, traveling at more than 1,000 mph. The LAS’ three motors will work together to pull the crew module away from the booster and prepare it for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight test will prove that the abort system can pull crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency during ascent.
The 2019 First Robotics Competition was held in Huntsville, Alabama on March 15 and 16 in the Von Braun Center. 55 teams from 12 states and Brazil competed in “Destination Deep Space” games. The First Robotics Competition is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Advanced Electric Propulsion Systems Contract, Technology Demonstration Unit, TDU-3 Checkout Test Hardware Installed in Vacuum Facility 5, VF-5
Orion Spacecraft Arrives in Ohio Aboard the Super Guppy at Mansfield Lahm Airport
The linear depressions at the top half of this VIS image are graben that are called Cerberus Fossae. Graben form where extensional tectonic forces allows blocks of material to subside between paired faults. Cerberus Fossae are located in Elysium Planitia, southeast of the Elysium Mons volcanic complex. This graben is also the source of significant liquid flows, which created Athabasca Valles. The actual formation liquid proposed include flood water, low viscosity lava, and even glaciers. It is possible that water and lava both played a role in creating the channel system. Orbit Number: 78821 Latitude: 10.1133 Longitude: 157.297 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-09-21 10:33 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23503
The inaugural Glenn Symposium focused on advancements in aerospace technology including power and propulsion, autonomy and communications, low boom supersonics, hypersonics, and more. Discussion also encompassed humans returning to the moon, including challenges associated with the 2024 mission.
iss061e013302 (Oct. 24, 2019) --- NASA astronaut Jessica Meir works to swap out a failed computer hard drive that supports experiments inside the Combustion Integrated Rack aboard the International Space Station's U.S. Destiny laboratory module.
An osprey soars above NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The center shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. More than 330 native and migratory bird species, 25 mammal, 117 fish and 65 amphibian and reptile species call Kennedy and the wildlife refuge home.
iss060e056580 (Sept. 9, 2019) --- Expedition 60 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan are inside the International Space Station's "window to the world," the seven-windowed cupola. The duo were practicing robotic capture techniques with the Canadarm2 robotic arm ahead of the arrival of the HTV-8 resupply ship from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Space Launch System Corestage-1 (Artemis-1) in production at the Michoud Assembly Faclility in New Orleans.
Virtual Intelligent Planetary Exploration Rover, VIPER Mobility Platform Testing
Vice President Mike Pence, center, speaks with Expedition 58 flight engineer Anne McClain of NASA, and flight engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) who are onboard the International Space Station, Wednesday, March 6, 2019 from the Space Operations Center at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Vice President Pence and Administrator Bridenstine spoke with the astronauts about the arrival of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft at the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Two teams - Penn State (left) and AI. SpaceFactory (right) competed to 3D-print subscale habitat structures at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, held at the Caterpillar Edwards Demonstration & Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois, May 1-4, 2019. The habitat print is the final level of the multi-phase competition, which began in in 2015. The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is a competition to create sustainable shelters suitable for the Moon, Mars or beyond using resources available on-site in these locations. The challenge is managed by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, and partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois.
Expedition 60 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos, left, flight engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA, center, and flight engineer Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), right, are seen after donning their Russian Sokol suits in preparation for launch aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft, Saturday, July 20, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Skvortsov, Morgan, and Parmitano launched aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft at 12:28 p.m. Eastern time (9:28 p.m. Baikonur time) on July 20 to begin their journey to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s liquid oxygen tank structural test article was manufactured and stacked in June 2019 at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. To construct the test article, Boeing technicians at Michoud moved the liquid oxygen tank to the Vertical Assemby Building stacking and integration area. Here, they added simulators to mimic the two structures that connect to the tank, the intertank and the forward skirt. This structural hardware for the SLS core stage for America’s new deep space rocket is structurally identical to the flight version of the tank. It will be shipped on the Pegasus barge to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstville, Alabama, where it will undergo a series of tests that simulate the stresses and loads of liftoff and flight. These tests will help ensure designs are adequate for successful SLS missions to the Moon and beyond. The flight liquid oxygen tank along with the liquid hydrogen tank supplies more than 500,000 gallons of propellant to the core stages four RS-25 engines, which produce 2 million pounds of thrust to help send the SLS rocket to space.
The Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will launch March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)
jsc2019e039831 (7/8/2019) --- A view of the Hourglass Apparatus schematic. The Hourglass investigation examines the relationship between gravity and the behavior of granular materials such as regolith that covers the surface of planets and planetary-like bodies. Researchers observe various granular materials inside an hourglass and a measuring cylinder under different gravity conditions. Better understanding of the behavior of these materials supports the design of spacecraft for future missions landing on the surfaces of planets and other celestial bodies. (Image courtesy of: JAXA)
Sandra Cauffman, acting Director of the Earth Sciences Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, speaks during the 2019 Annual Earth Science Applications Showcase, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Every summer students and young professionals from NASA’s Applied Sciences’ DEVELOP National Program come to NASA Headquarters and present their research projects. DEVELOP is a training and development program where students work on Earth science research projects, mentored by science advisers from NASA and partner agencies, and extend research results to local communities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, presides over a hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2020 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine testified, Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Visitors watch as the Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will launch March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
50% Hydrogen Peroxide – Ethanol Monopropellant Development
The Boeing Exploration Habitat Demonstrator at Marshall is one of five uniquely designed, deep space habitat prototypes in development through NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP. NASA and Boeing engineers and trainers pose with four astronauts training on the demonstrator.
iss061e005520 (Oct. 11, 2019) --- NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan waves to the camera while tethered on the Port 6 (P6) truss segment of the International Space Stations. He and fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame) worked to replace older hydrogen-nickel batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries on the P6 truss during the six-hour and 45-minute spacewalk.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen inside the Vertical Integration Facility before being rolled out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test will be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:26 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)