A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A during a brief static fire test ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission, Saturday, April 17, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are scheduled to launch at 6:11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Junichi Sakai, manager of the International Space Station Program for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), speaks to members of the media after NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center ahead of SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, Friday, April 16, 2021, in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Kimbrough, McArthur, Pesquet, and Hoshide are scheduled to launch at 6:11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Dr. Pete Doucette, acting director, USGS Earth Resources, participates in the launch broadcast for the Landsat 9 mission on Sept. 27, 2021, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 3 at 2:12 p.m. EDT (11:12 a.m. PDT). The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Landsat 9 will join its sister satellite, Landsat 8, in orbit in collecting images from across the planet every eight days. This calibrated data will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring the health of Earth and helping people manage essential resources, including crops, irrigation water, and forests. NASA Goddard manages the Landsat 9 mission. Goddard teams also built and tested one of the two instruments on Landsat 9, the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instrument. TIRS-2 will use thermal imaging to make measurements that can be used to estimate soil moisture and detect the health of plants.

iss065e094087 (6/9/2021) --- European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet is photographed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during transfers of BRIC-24 Canisters to BRIC-LED Facility to stow.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 soars into the sky from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 23, 2021, carrying the company’s Crew Dragon Endeavour. Onboard the capsule are NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, spacecraft commander; NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, pilot; ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, mission specialist; and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, mission specialist. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission crew will dock to the Harmony module’s forward-facing international docking adapter of the International Space Station on Saturday, April 24, at 5:10 a.m.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids. Like the mission's namesake – the fossilized human ancestor, "Lucy," whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity's evolution – Lucy will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Former Senator Bill Nelson, is ceremonially sworn-in as the 14th NASA Administrator by Vice President Kamala Harris, as his wife, Grace Nelson, holds their family Bible, and son, Bill Nelson Jr., left, and Nan Ellen Nelson, second from left, look on, Monday, May 3, 2021, at the Ceremonial Office in the Old Executive Office Building in Washington. A moon rock collected by astronaut John Young during the Apollo 16 mission was on display and former NASA Administrators Jim Bridenstine (virtually on laptop) and Charles Bolden were also present. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The Landsat 9 instrument cover is removed from the spacecraft inside the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The crew module adapter, which connects Orion's crew module with the European Service module is lifted in preparation for mate with the Artemis II service module on Oct. 19, 2021, which recently arrived from Airbus in Bremen.

jsc2021e031153 (7/22/2021) --- A preflight view of Slime molds Physarum polycephalum (nicknamed "blob") exploring an agar gel. The goal of the Blob investigation is to observe the influence of microgravity on the Blob’s (a unicellular organism whose scientific name is Physarum polycephalum) behaviour when it explores its environment or when it eats. Photo courtesy of © DUSSUTOUR CNRS.

Jonas Jonsson, pilot in command for STEReO, the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations project, at NASA's Ames Research Center, performs pre-flight checks on a FreeFly Systems Alta X drone, Wednesday, May 5, 2021 as Cal Fire conducts aerial fire fighting training exercises near Redding, California. STEReO, the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations project, led by NASA’s Ames Research Center, builds on NASA’s expertise in air traffic management, human factors research, and autonomous technology development to apply the agency’s work in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management, or UTM, to public safety uses. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA’s Day of Remembrance is marked by a memorial wreath placed before the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Jan. 28, 2021. The mirror was dedicated in 1991 to honor all astronauts who lost their lives on missions or during training. During the Day of Remembrance, NASA centers across the country honor those astronauts who have fallen in the pursuit of space exploration.

iss064e044526 (March 19, 2021) --- Two Russian spaceships (from left), the Soyuz MS-17 crew ship and the ISS Progress 77 cargo craft, are pictured docked to the International Space Station as it orbited into a sunrise 264 miles above the South Pacific.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide reacts to a comment after being helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he and NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Tammy Long, NASA Communications, addresses the audience during a prelaunch news conference for the Lucy mission held inside the TV Auditorium at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 13, 2021. The mission is targeted to launch at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 16, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Lucy is the first space mission to study the Trojan asteroids, which hold vital clues to the formation of our solar system.

Expedition 65 prime crew members NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, left, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy, center, and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos pose for a photo outside the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft during the final fit check to prepare for launch Sunday, April 4, 2021 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on a Soyuz rocket April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

David Beaman, SLS Systems Engineering and Integration Manager, addresses audience at Chamber Media Briefing at USSRC.

Today's VIS image shows the western side of the summit caldera on the volcano called Uranius Mons. Uranius Mons is 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) high with shallow slopes. The surrounding volcanic plains are younger than the volcano itself and originated at other volcanic centers in the Tharsis region. Orbit Number: 85356 Latitude: 25.5498 Longitude: 266.521 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-03-12 12:40 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24777

NASA 2021 Astronaut Candidate Announcement at Ellington Field. Photo Date: December 6, 2021. Location: Ellington Field - Hangar 135. Photographer: Robert Markowitz.

SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft is lifted aboard a recovery vessel after splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. The capsule, carrying cargo that flew aboard NASA’s SpaceX 23rd commercial resupply services mission, undocked from the International Space Station Thursday at approximately 9 a.m. The event marked the first time a Cargo Dragon splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Cargo from the capsule was delivered to the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.

Associate Administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate Kathryn Lueders chaired the Flight Readiness Review for Boeing's upcoming Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) in Operations Support Building 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, July 22, 2021. At the conclusion of the meeting, all board members sign the Certificate of Flight Readiness certifying their readiness to proceed to the next milestones and launch of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch time remains 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30 for the uncrewed OFT-2 mission – Starliner's second flight to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, front, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, back left, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-2 mission launch, Sunday, April 18, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Kimbrough, McArthur, Pesquet, and Hoshide are scheduled to launch at 6:11 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The SpaceX Crew-3 flag is raised near the News Center countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 26, 2021. The SpaceX Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon atop is scheduled to launch no earlier than Nov. 6, at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Crew Dragon will carry four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Crew-3 is the third crew rotation flight to the space station, and the first flight of a new Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Expedition 65 prime crew member NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, gives a thumbs up as he heads inside the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft during a fit check to prepare for launch with fellow Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, Saturday, March 27, 2021 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They are scheduled to launch on a Soyuz rocket April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

jsc2021e064215_alt (Dec. 8, 2021) --- This mosaic depicts the International Space Station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021.

Expedition 65 prime crew members NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, second from left, and backup crew members NASA astronaut Anne McClain, third from left, and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, second from right watch as prime crew member Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, right, lays flowers at the site where Russian space icons are interred as part of traditional pre-launch ceremonies, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at Red Square in Moscow. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

At Kennedy Space Center, the Artemis I Orion is transported from the Launch Abort System Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 19, 2021, ahead of stacking on the Space Launch System rocket.

SpaceX Crew-1 NASA astronaut Shannon Walker speaks with visitors at the Destination Station mobile exhibition on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, in Washington. Walker, and NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, and Victor Glover, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi launched on the first crew rotation mission to the International Space Station for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program and spent 168 days in space across Expeditions 64 and 65. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is moved to the vertical position on a rotation stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, on Sept. 1, 2021. In view, the high gain antenna and solar arrays have been installed on the Lucy spacecraft. Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday, Oct. 16, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Launch Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center is managing the launch. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Additionally, Lucy’s path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft ever to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system.

iss065e074473 (May 26, 2021) --- O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above western Michigan.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs integrate the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) atop the massive SLS core stage in the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 5, 2021. The ICPS is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen-based system that will fire its RL 10 engine to give the Orion spacecraft the big in-space push needed to fly tens of thousands of miles beyond the Moon. The next component to be stacked on top of ICPS will be the Orion stage adapter, which will connect the ICPS with the spacecraft. Through Artemis, NASA will send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface, as well as establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon. As the first in an increasingly complex set of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.

Russian Search and Rescue teams arrive at the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft shortly after it landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, Saturday, April 17, 2021. Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov returned after 185 days in space having served as Expedition 63-64 crew members onboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Tylar Greene, NASA Communications, moderates a mission and science briefing for NASA’s Landsat 9 mission at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 24, 2021. Virtual participants (not shown) are Jeff Masek, Landsat 9 project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Chris Crawford, Landsat 9 project scientist at USGS; Inbal Becker-Reshef, director of NASA’s Harvest food security and agriculture program; Del Jenstrom, Landsat 9 project manager at Goddard; Brian Sauer, Landsat 9 project manager at USGS; Sabrina Chapman, manager, system engineering, Northrop Grumman Space Systems; and Sarah Lipscy, OLI-2 senior engineer, Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Landsat 9 is scheduled to launch at 2:11 p.m. EDT (11:11 a.m. PDT) on Monday, Sept. 27, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Landsat 9 will join its sister satellite, Landsat 8, in orbit in collecting images from across the planet every eight days. This calibrated data will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring the health of Earth and helping people manage essential resources, including crops, irrigation water, and forests.

jsc2022e006714 (3/12/2021) --- A preflight image of the KITSUNE flight unit. KITSUNE is an 8 kg Wide-6 Unit (W6U) CubeSat, developed by the HSK Consortium, with experimental deployable radio antennas and camera. The KITSUNE mission is an Earth observation, 2U size bus system and LORA demonstration. Image Credit: Kyushu Institute of Technology.

X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, LBFD Probe Calibration Test

X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, LBFD Probe Calibration Test

iss065e130510 (June 16, 2021) --- Spacewalkers (from left) Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet work to install new roll out solar arrays on the International Space Station's P-6 truss structure.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs lift the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage – the largest part of the rocket – and prepare to move it over to High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be placed atop the mobile launcher in between the twin solid rocket boosters, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 11, 2021. The 188,000-pound core stage, with its four RS-25 engines, will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent, and coupled with the boosters, will provide more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send the Artemis I mission to space. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, as well as establish a sustainable presence on the lunar surface in preparation for human missions to Mars.

iss065e154962 (July 6, 2021) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Megan McArthur sets up a microscope to view protein crystal samples for the Real-time Protein Crystal Growth-2 experiment. The biotechnology study looks at new ways to produce high-quality protein crystals which could lead to new disease therapies on Earth.

iss064e053173 (April 4, 2021) --- The Nile River, The Red Sea, The Gulf of Oman, The Gulf of Aqaba, and The Mediterranean Sea are pictured in the Middle East from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above Egypt.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon spacecraft rolls out to Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 19, 2021, in preparation for launch. The agency's 24th Commercial Resupply Services mission, targeted for liftoff on Dec. 21, 2021 at 5:06 a.m. EST, will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the crew on board the International Space Station.

Kevin Smith, software team and science team liaison for NASA’s Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo), takes part in a joint simulation of the Peregrine One Mission on March 26, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where MSolo connected from inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to Astrobotic’s mission control facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and it will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. This was the first mission round of simulations for Peregrine Mission One to develop and refine procedures between Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander and MSolo. Later, there will be other simulations with multiple instruments. Peregrine Mission One will be one of NASA’s first Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service (CLPS) missions where under the Artemis program, commercial deliveries beginning in 2021 will perform science experiments, test technologies and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human missions.

Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meter) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Expedition 65 prime crew member Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, holds up a toy cat that will be used in the Soyuz capsule to help indicate the start of weightlessness after leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

jsc2021e033549 (8/4/2021) --- A prefliight view of Ice Cubes #9 - Project Maleth. The Maltese Biocube, based on ICE Cubes platform by Space Applications Services, that will take samples to the International Space Station in a historic first for the country. The investigation studies Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 and Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) using genetics and space biosciences is new and innovative research. Image credit: DOI: Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, Malta

This annotated image of Mars' Jezero Crater depicts the ground track and waypoints of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's planned 11th flight, scheduled to take place no earlier than Aug. 4, 2021. It was generated using terrain imaged by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The goal of Flight 11 is to move Ingenuity to a new location where it can support the Perseverance rover by obtaining imagery of geologic features in the "South Seí­tah" area. This graphic indicates the helicopter's location at takeoff with a pale blue dot on the lower right; upper-left dots indicate its new landing site. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24690

A flatbed truck delivers the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center at Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 21, 2021. Starliner's first flight with astronauts aboard, CFT will launch from SLC-41. The flight test will demonstrate the ability of the Atlas V and Starliner to safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station for the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur is helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after she and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk watches the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide onboard, Friday, April 23, 2021, from the balcony of Operations Support Building II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the first crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Kimbrough, McArthur, Pesquet, and Hoshide launched at 5:49 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

iss064e039528 (3/4/2021) --- A view of the High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) Tape Dispenser (HUNCH Tape Dispenser) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The dispenser enables one-handed operation for crew members. Crew members regularly use tape for mundane and critical tasks, but the tape must be cut with scissors, requiring two hands. The HUNCH Tape Dispenser is expected to improve efficiency of operations and scientific research on the space station.

A pelican soars above a waterway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 11, 2021. The center shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. More than 330 native and migratory bird species, along with 25 mammal, 117 fish, and 65 amphibian and reptile species call Kennedy and the wildlife refuge home.

Inside the Integrated Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA’s Landsat 9 observatory is lowered onto a fixture structure on July 12, 2021. Landsat 9 will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg in September 2021. The launch is being managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center, America’s multiuser spaceport. The Landsat 9 satellite will continue the nearly 50-year legacy of previous Landsat missions. It will monitor key natural and economic resources from orbit. Landsat 9 is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The satellite will carry two instruments: the Operational Land Imager 2, which collects images of Earth’s landscapes in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared light, and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, which measures the temperature of land surfaces. Like its predecessors, Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

iss064e049824 (March 31, 2021) --- Astronaut Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency poses with his SpaceX Crew Dragon spacesuit inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module.

Technicians and engineers move the boat-tail structure for the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System’s (SLS) rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. The boat-tail, a fairing-like cover that attaches to the engine section on the bottom of the core stage, protects and covers most of the four RS-25 engines’ critical systems. Together with its four RS-25 engines, the rocket’s massive 212-foot-tall core stage — the largest stage NASA has ever built — and its twin solid rocket boosters will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit, the Human Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration and the Artemis lunar program. No other rocket is capable of carrying astronauts in Orion around the Moon in a single mission. Photographed on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (Viper)

iss065e099700 (June 11, 2021) --- Expedition 65 Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is pictured displaying hardware he used to service medical imaging gear aboard the International Space Station.

The Orion pressure vessel for NASA’s Artemis III mission is lowered onto a work stand in the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 20, 2021. Lockheed Matin technicians will begin the work to prepare the spacecraft for its launch atop a Space Launch System rocket. Artemis III will send astronauts, including the first woman and first person of color, on a mission to the surface of the Moon by 2024.

iss066e099391 (Dec. 30, 2021) --- The sun shines above the Earth's horizon as the International Space Station orbited 264 miles above the Canadian province of Quebec.

iss066e093675 (Dec. 19, 2021) --- From left are, Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and Alexander Misurkin with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer aboard the International Space Station's Russian segment.

Expedition 65 backup crew members NASA astronaut Anne McClain, left, and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, center, and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, pose for a photo during a final fit check, Sunday, April 4, 2021 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The prime crew is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on a Soyuz rocket April 9. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Irina Spector)

The SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts wave to family and friends after walking out through the double doors below the Neil A. Armstrong Building’s Astronaut Crew Quarters at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on launch day, Nov. 10, 2021. They will make their way to the customized Tesla Model X cars that will take them to their spacecraft at Launch Complex 39A. From left are Matthias Maurer, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and mission specialist, and NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn; pilot; Raja Chari, commander; and Kayla Barron, mission specialist. The Falcon 9 rocket with Crew Dragon Endurance will launch the four-person crew to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Crew-3 is scheduled to launch at 9:03 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket that will launch NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on its 12-year mission to study the Trojan asteroids is shown inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Oct. 8, 2021. Three dedication laminates were added to the rocket. The first is in memory of Craig M. Whittaker, a colleague and friend of NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) and ULA teams. The second is in memory of two colleagues: William “Billy” Joiner II – a former Lockheed Martin and ULA technician – and Mark “Kaz” Kaszubowski – an accomplished engineer and mentor. The third plaque is dedicated to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Lucy Mission Team for its dedication shown throughout the pandemic. Lucy is targeted to lift off from SLC-41 at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 16. LSP, based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, is managing the launch.

Day 2 of Underway Recovery Test 9 (URT-9) begins with preparing the tending lines to release the mock Orion capsule out of the back of the USS John P. Murtha. During the weeklong test, NASA’s Landing and Recovery team is performing their final mission certification ahead of Artemis I.

iss065e136980 (June 16, 2021) --- Spacewalkers (from left) Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet exit the U.S. Quest airlock to begin installing new roll out solar arrays on the International Space Station's Port-6 truss structure.

The Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrives at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Abort System facility on July 10, 2021, after being transported from the Florida spaceport’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility earlier in the day. Teams with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs will integrate components of the launch abort system onto the spacecraft. Launching later this year, Artemis I will be a test of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.

The Mars Helicopter Base Station, seen here as the upper, gold-colored box near the back of NASA's Perseverance rover, stores and routes communications between NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and mission controllers on Earth. (An annotated version of the image circles the base station in blue.) Ingenuity will attempt the first powered, controlled flight at Mars. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23968

At NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Orion's newly completed pressure vessel for the Artemis III mission is lifted out of the welding tool on Aug. 27, 2021. The pressure vessel is the primary structure for Orion's crew module, joined together using state-of-the-art welding by technicians from lead contractor Lockheed Martin.

These four nebulae (star-forming clouds of gas and dust) are known for their breathtaking beauty: the Eagle Nebula (which contains the Pillars of Creation), the Omega Nebula, the Trifid Nebula, and the Lagoon Nebula. In the 1950s, a team of astronomers made rough distance measurements to some of the stars in these nebulae and were able to infer the existence of the Sagittarius Arm. Their work provided some of the first evidence of our galaxy's spiral structure. In a new study, astronomers have shown that these nebulae are part of a substructure within the arm that is angled differently from the rest of the arm. A key property of spiral arms is how tightly they wind around a galaxy. This characteristic is measured by the arm's pitch angle. A circle has a pitch angle of 0 degrees, and as the spiral becomes more open, the pitch angle increases. Most models of the Milky Way suggest that the Sagittarius Arm forms a spiral that has a pitch angle of about 12 degrees, but the protruding structure has a pitch angle of nearly 60 degrees. Similar structures – sometimes called spurs or feathers – are commonly found jutting out of the arms of other spiral galaxies. For decades scientists have wondered whether our Milky Way's spiral arms are also dotted with these structures or if they are relatively smooth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24577

The image on the left, taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, has been annotated to depict the clockwise rotation of a vortex at Jupiter. The graphic on the right highlights the large-scale structure of the feature as seen by the spacecraft's microwave radiometer (MWR) instrument. Data for the image and the microwave radiometer results were collected during a low flyby of Jupiter that took place on July 21, 2019. The radiometer data was acquired from the six channels of MWR. Each MWR channel peers progressively deeper below the visible cloud tops. In fact, the MWR instrument enables Juno to see deeper into Jupiter than any previous spacecraft or Earth-based observations. Unlike Earth, which as a solid surface, Jupiter is a gas giant with no discernable solid surface. So the planetary science community has defined the "base" of Jupiter's atmosphere as the location where its pressure is equivalent to 1 bar. A bar is a metric unit of pressure that, at 14.5 pounds per square inch, is slightly less than the average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. The numbers to the left of each layer of MWR data above indicate the pressure at the location in the atmosphere where the MWR reading occurred. The measurements to the right of each layer of MWR data provide the distance – either above or below the 1 bar level – from which the corresponding MWR measurement was taken. For context, the top layer in the figure is a visible-light image depicting Jupiter's different levels of clouds, with an average altitude about 6 miles above the 1 bar pressure region. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24975

Bradley Cheetham, CEO and president, Advanced Space of Westminster, Colorado listens during a media event where NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduce three local Colorado companies and university partners that help make NASA’s missions possible, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, during the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Workers use a crane to lower the right-hand forward assembly for NASA’s Space Launch System onto the right-hand center forward segment on the mobile launcher (ML) in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on March 2, 2021. Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams are stacking the twin five-segment boosters on the ML over a number of weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the mobile launcher, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the SLS. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.

iss065e018758 (May 3, 2021) --- A sunset is pictured above the Earth's horizon as the International Space Station orbited 269 miles above the Atlantic Ocean near the southern coast of Argentina.

Rick Gilbrech, director of NASA's Stennis Space Center, speaks to invited guests ahead of a second hot fire test of the core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket in the B-2 Test Stand, Thursday, March 18, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The hot fire test is the final stage of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the Space Launch System’s core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Robert Markowitz)

NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft – the agency’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization – arrives at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 5, 2021. IXPE is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on Dec. 9, 2021. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy. IXPE will study the polarization of X-rays coming to us from some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes and dead stars known as pulsars.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide onboard, Friday, April 23, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Kimbrough, McArthur, Pesquet, and Hoshide launched at 5:49 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Astronaut Matthew Dominick speaks with media representatives prior to the Green Run hot fire test of the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Saturday, January 16, 2021. NASA conducted a hot fire test of the core stage’s four RS-25 engines on the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis. Scheduled for as long as eight minutes, the engines fired for a little more than one minute to generate a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust, just as will occur during an actual launch. The hot fire is the final test of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the SLS core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the Moon.

iss065e028811 (May 9, 2021) --- The sun's rays beam into the camera as the International Space Station orbited 265 miles above Kazakhstan. In the top foreground, is a portion of the Japanese Kibo laboratory module, Kibo's robotic arm and its Exposed Facility that hosts external space experiments.

iss065e032225 (May 11, 2021) --- Expedition 65 Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency replaces a science rack fan inside the International Space Station's U.S. Destiny laboratory.

NASA, Roscosmos, and Russian Search and Recovery Forces meet at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Karaganda, Kazakhstan to discuss the readiness for the landing of Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, Thursday, April 15, 2021, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Karaganda. Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov will be returning after 185 days in space having served as Expedition 63-64 crew members onboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

iss066e085145 (Nov. 30, 2021) --- ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and Expedition 66 Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer is pictured inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world." Just outside the cupola and behind Maurer is a portion of the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship docked to the Rassvet module and the Prichal docking module attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory service module.

In July 2021, NASA associate administrator Bob Cabana visits Lockheed Martin in Palmdale, California to see the assembly of the X-59 QueSST.

Advanced Air Mobility, with its many vehicle concepts and potential uses in both local and intraregional applications, is shown in this illustration.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs integrate the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) atop the massive SLS core stage in the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 5, 2021. The ICPS is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen-based system that will fire its RL 10 engine to give the Orion spacecraft the big in-space push needed to fly tens of thousands of miles beyond the Moon. The next component to be stacked on top of ICPS will be the Orion stage adapter, which will connect the ICPS with the spacecraft. Through Artemis, NASA will send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface, as well as establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon. As the first in an increasingly complex set of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.

iss064e036971 (Feb. 22, 2021) --- The Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman is pictured moments after its capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi commanded the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus packed with about 4 tons of new science experiments, crew supplies and station hardware.

jsc2021e009510 (March 3, 2021) --- SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts (from left) Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron are pictured during a training session at the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

ASCAN Group 23 (Class of 2021) Photo. Photo Date: March 7, 2022. Location: Building 8, Room 183 - Photo Studio. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz & Josh Valcarcel.

iss065e164333 (June 12, 2021) --- Expedition 65 Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured during photographic activities aboard the International Space Station.

In this image of Peru's Sabancaya stratovolcano, acquired May 13, 2020, the years-long eruption continues. In the top image, Sabancaya has a bright white cloud in its caldera. The greyish cloud to the east is an ash plume. The Ampato volcano, with its prominent summit caldera, is to the south. The red areas are vegetation. The lower thermal infrared composite image shows the plume in purple, indicating that it is dominantly composed of ash and water vapor. A bright hotspot can be seen in the summit caldera of Sabancaya. The images cover an area of 13.5 by 24 kilometers, and are located at 15.8 degrees south, 71.9 degrees west. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24866

A close-up view of the Artemis I Space Launch System rocket inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 20, 2021. All 10 levels of work platforms have been retracted from around the rocket as part of an umbilical test. During the test, several umbilical arms on the mobile launcher were extended to connect to the SLS rocket. They swung away from the launch vehicle, just as they will on launch day. NASA and Jacobs teams will continue conducting tests inside the VAB before transporting the Orion spacecraft to the assembly building and stacking it atop the SLS, completing assembly of the rocket for the Artemis I mission. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.

iss065e049854 (May 20, 2021) --- In this view from a window aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, a pair of the International Space Station's main solar arrays drape across the Earth's horizon as the orbital lab soared 271 miles above the south Atlantic in between Argentina and South Africa.

Frank De Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA (European Space Agency) speaks to members of the media during a press conference with, from left, acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, Hiroshi Sasaki, vice president and director general of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, and Jasmin Moghbeli, and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, ahead of the Crew-2 launch, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are scheduled to launch at 5:49 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 23, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The X-56B remotely piloted aircraft lands following the first of a new flight series. The flight was April 19 at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, with partner Northrop Grumman.

iss065e092790 (June 7, 2021) --- At center, Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei pose with astronauts Shane Kimbrough (far left) and Thomas Pesquet (far right) who are in U.S. spacesuits testing them for a fit verification. Kimbrough and Pesquet are preparing for two spacewalks on June 16 and 20 to install a pair of new solar arrays to augment the International Space Station's power system.

The shipping container holding NASA's Lucy spacecraft is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane, stationed out of Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America's multi-user spaceport.

NASA acting administrator Steve Jurczyk raises the Crew-2 flag near the countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site on April 24, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission launched NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, spacecraft commander; NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, pilot; ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, mission specialist; and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, mission specialist, to the International Space Station on April 23. Liftoff, from the Florida spaceport’s Launch Complex 39A, was at 5:49 a.m. EDT. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour docked to the space station on April 24, at 5:08 a.m. EDT.

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 part of Australe Mensa, part of the south polar ice cap. The round depressions have given rise to the informal name Swiss cheese. The depressions are seen only in the top layer of the ice. Orbit Number: 73802 Latitude: -86.9527 Longitude: 353.712 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-08-04 01:51 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24556

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility have joined the engine and boat-tail sections of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Artemis II in preparation for its next step in production. When complete, the engine section will house the four RS-25 engines and include vital systems for mounting, controlling and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the rocket’s engines. The boat-tail is designed to protect the bottom end of the core stage and the RS-25 engines and was joined with the engine section to comprise the lowest portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage. Together with its four RS-25 engines and its twin solid rocket boosters, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit, the Human Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration and the Artemis lunar program. No other rocket is capable of carrying astronauts in Orion around the Moon in a single mission.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, left, and Tom Marshburn, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they place a sticker of the Crew-3 mission patch on the windshield of the vehicle that will take them to the launch pad as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-3 mission launch, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is the third crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Chari, Marshburn, Barron, Maurer are scheduled to launch at Oct. 31 at 2:21 a.m. ET, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The satellite for the Landsat 9 mission, secured inside its shipping container, arrives at the Integrated Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 7, 2021. The Landsat 9 mission will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg in September 2021. The launch is being managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America’s multi-user spaceport. The Landsat 9 satellite will continue the nearly 50-year legacy of previous Landsat missions. It will monitor key natural and economic resources from orbit. Landsat 9 is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The satellite will carry two instruments: the Operational Land Imager 2, which collects images of Earth’s landscapes in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared light, and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, which measures the temperature of land surfaces. Like its predecessors, Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility have joined the engine and boat-tail sections of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Artemis II in preparation for its next step in production. When complete, the engine section will house the four RS-25 engines and include vital systems for mounting, controlling and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the rocket’s engines. The boat-tail is designed to protect the bottom end of the core stage and the RS-25 engines and was joined with the engine section to comprise the lowest portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage. Together with its four RS-25 engines and its twin solid rocket boosters, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit, the Human Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration and the Artemis lunar program. No other rocket is capable of carrying astronauts in Orion around the Moon in a single mission.