NASA and SpaceX launched the 28th commercial resupply mission of the Cargo Dragon from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 11:47 a.m. EDT, June 5, 2023. SpaceX's Dragon will deliver new science investigations, food, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station for the crew, including the next pair of IROSAs (International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays). These solar panels, which roll out using stored kinetic energy, will expand the energy-production capabilities of the space station. This will be the third set launching in the SpaceX Dragon's trunk, and once installed, will help provide a 20% to 30% increase in power for space station research and operations.

At the top of this VIS image is an area eroded by the wind. This region of the Martian surface is highly dissected by wind action. The surface materials are poorly cemented and easily eroded. It has been suggested that the surface is comprised of volcanic ash deposits, sourced from the Tharsis and Apollinaris volcanoes. Orbit Number: 93116 Latitude: -8.25265 Longitude: 151.629 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-12-11 10:31 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25818

This collage represents NASA radar observations of near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5 on Feb. 4, 2023, one day after its close approach to Earth brought it about 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers, or a little under five times the distance between the Moon and Earth) from our planet. While there was no risk of 2011 AG5 impacting Earth, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California closely tracked the asteroid, making invaluable observations to help determine its size, rotation, surface details, and shape. More than three times as long as it is wide, 2011 AG5 is one of the most elongated asteroids to be observed by planetary radar to date. This close approach provided the first opportunity to take a detailed look at the asteroid since it was discovered in 2011, showing an object about 1,600 feet (500 meters) long and about 500 feet (150 meters) wide – dimensions comparable to the Empire State Building. The powerful 230-foot (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna dish at the Deep Space Network's facility near Barstow, California, revealed the asteroid's noteworthy dimensions. The Goldstone observations show that 2011 AG5 has a large concavity in one of its hemispheres and some subtle dark and lighter regions that may indicate small-scale surface features a few dozen meters across. If viewed by the human eye, 2011 AG5 would appear as dark as charcoal. The observations also confirmed the asteroid has a slow rotation rate, taking nine hours to fully rotate. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25259

iss070e003364 (Oct. 13, 2023) --- An orbital sunrise casts elongated cloud shadows in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above the Peru-Ecuador border in South America.

iss069e000127 (March 30, 2023) --- Mount Etna, an active stratovolcano on Italy's island of Sicily, billows smoke in this oblique photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.

Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, right, and Oleg Kononenko, center, along with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, visit with families shortly before departing for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman participates in a meet and greet, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen, who will fly around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II flight test, visited Washington to discuss their upcoming mission with members of Congress and others. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

The Alta-X aircraft flies by the former space shuttle hangar at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, as part of the Advanced Exploration of Reliable Operation at Low Altitudes: Meteorology, Simulation and Technology campaign. The campaign was at NASA Armstrong to study wind from the ground to 2,000 feet to provide data to assist future drones to safely land on rooftop hubs called vertiports and to potentially improve weather prediction.

NASA Earth Action Associate Director Tom Wagner, left, NASA Earth Science Division Director Karen St. Germain, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Adviser Kate Calvin, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Ocean Ecology Laboratory Chief Carlos Del Castillo, highlight NASA’s climate work during a media roundtable, Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. The Psyche mission will study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is NASA’s first mission to study an asteroid that has more metal than rock or ice. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration – NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment – which will be the first test of laser communications beyond the Moon.

Visitors explore NASA’s hands-on exhibits during an Earth Day event, Thursday, April 20, 2023, at Union Station in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Ambassador of Ecuador to the United States Ivonne A-Baki, left, delivers remarks during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at the Embassy of Ecuador in Washington. Ecuador is the twenty sixth country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks during a STEM event with NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) at James W. Robinson Secondary School, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Fairfax, Virginia. Lindgren spent 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

jsc2023e010183 (2/28/2023) --- The High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) Ball Clamp Monopod (HUNCH Ball Clamp Monopod) investigation aims to test a temporary but stable platform for holding cameras, making camera operations easier and faster for the International Space Station crew. This hardware was designed and developed by HUNCH students using engineering design processes. They produced elements such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings, CAD study models, and 3D printed engineering evaluation units on parts such as this insert that allow the seat track clamp to be positioned. Image courtesy of HUNCH.

GMT326_15_02_Andreas Mogensen_Earth obs

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam to capture this mosaic of Gediz Vallis on Nov. 7, 2022, the 3,646th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. In the center of the valley in this image is a pile of boulders and debris that may have been swept there by flowing water billions of years ago. Wind is thought to have carved the larger valley, which starts much higher up on Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Martian mountain whose foothills Curiosity has been ascending since 2014. The mountain is made up of layers, with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top. Approaching this debris in the valley's interior channel is thought to be the only way that Curiosity will be able to study younger material that originated higher on the mountain than the rover will ever go. The mosaic is made up of 18 individual images that were stitched together after being sent to Earth. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25733

iss070e025062 (Nov. 16, 2023) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli works in the International Space Station's Tranquility module clearing hardware and making space inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gives remarks after Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Sandhu signed the Artemis Accords, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington. India is the twenty seventh country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The first of two solar arrays for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has been extended inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 20, 2023. Technicians are preparing to integrate the solar arrays to the Psyche spacecraft. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts walk out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 1, 2023. In front, from left are NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; and NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, spacecraft commander. Behind them, from left are Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist; and Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. They will board two Tesla vehicles for the trip to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, where they will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch at 12:34 a.m. EST on March 2 from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Patrick Chan, electronics engineer, and NASA Armstrong’s FOSS portfolio project manager, closely examines an optic fiber inside of a protective sleeve. Armstrong’s Fiber Optic Sensing System recently supported tests in which oxygen was turned into liquid oxygen at minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit. Testing was aimed at developing technologies could allow future astronauts to manufacture rocket fuel on the Moon.

Ahead of launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is preparing to be encapsulated in the payload fairing, or nose cone, of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket on Nov. 21, 2023, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch of Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One will carry NASA and commercial payloads to the Moon in early 2024 to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface.

Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has his Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked ahead launching to the International Space Station with fellow crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonaut Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea, center, meets with Korean-American employees during a tour of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Greenbelt, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States Birgitta Tazelaar delivers remarks during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, at the Dutch Ambassador’s Residence in Washington. Netherlands is the 31st country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

From left to right, Republic of Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jin Park, Republic of Korea Ambassador to the U.S. Taeyong Cho, NASA Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations, Karen Feldstein, NASA International Program Specialist, Peyton Blackstock, Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General, Miyon Lee, Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General, Junpyo Kim, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson are seen during a meeting, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at left, holds the Artemis I plaque inside the lobby of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 24, 2023. Joining her from left are Shawn Quinn, manager, Exploration Ground Systems; and Kelvin Manning, Kennedy deputy director. Following tradition from the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, the plaque will be added to the wall behind them. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.

The Soyuz rocket is seen, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at pad 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on Sept. 15. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

jsc2023e055884 (9/26/2023) --- Trinh Huynh uses a quantitative Schlieren system to measure the deformation of the mucus-like gel around a liquid drop. The Gaucho Lung investigation will study fluid transport within gel-coated tubes to learn more about treatment programs for respiratory distress syndrome and develop new contamination control strategies. Image courtesy of University of California, Santa Barbara.

Work Request Description: Photographic coverage of Crew-7 astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov during during VR Training

NASA’s DC-8 aircraft from Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California flies to Everett, Washington to conduct science research about reducing engine particle emissions.  Partners include Boeing, United, General Electric Aerospace, German Aerospace Center (DLR), the FAA, and World Energy.  Boeing’s new passenger aircraft uses revolutionary Sustainable Aviation Fuel, SAF, and NASA’s DC-8 flies behind the Boeing plane to measure its impact throughout flight.  The results of this study will be released publicly to facilitate the improvement of aviation technology worldwide.

Teams with NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have fully integrated all five major structures of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and return them home. Technicians joined the engine section to the rest of the rocket stage March 17. Next, teams will integrate the four RS-25 engines to the engine section to complete the stage. Located at the bottom of the 212-foot-tall core stage, the engine section is the most complex and intricate part of the rocket stage, helping to power Artemis missions to the Moon. In addition to its miles of cabling and hundreds of sensors, the engine section is a crucial attachment point for the RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters that produce a combined 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. It houses the engines and includes vital systems for mounting, controlling, and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the engines. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Technical Group Supervisor for Sequence Planning and Execution and Tactical Mission Lead for the Mars Perseverance rover, Diana Trujillo, speaks to students at Rolling Terrace Elementary School, Monday, March 13, 2023, in Takoma Park, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

As part of NASA’s NextGen STEM project, Public Affairs Writers Danielle Sempsrott (left) and Jason Costa address students from Florida’s St. Cloud High School and Storm Grove Middle School in Vero Beach during an Artemis I student media briefing inside the John Holliman Auditorium of the News Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 19, 2023. Participants in the briefing included Kennedy Space Center Deputy Director Kelvin Manning, Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Manager of the Space Launch System Resident Management Office Elkin Norena, and Space Launch Delta 45 Weather Officer Melody Lovin. Along with the students participating in person, middle and high school students across the country had the opportunity to ask questions of the panel via phone to discuss the Artemis I mission and the agency’s future of human space exploration.

jsc2024e005964 (11/6/2023) --- A preflight image of the Janus base nano-matrix (JBNm) enabled cartilage tissue chip. The Compartment Cartilage Tissue Construct investigation uses biological materials that mimic DNA to develop a scaffold for regenerating cartilage tissues and tests the effect of a specific RNA on cartilage growth in space. Image courtesy of the University of Connecticut.

iss068e051172 (Feb. 10, 2023) --- The soft hues of an orbital sunrise begins revealing the cloud tops above the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand as the International Space Station orbited 260 miles above.

Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, participates in NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy Space Center on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. The mission is targeted to lift off from the Florida spaceport’s Launch Complex 39A at 3:49 a.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov will fly to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, powered by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.

The mobile launcher, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, nears the pad at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 17, 2023. While at the pad, the mobile launcher will undergo testing for the agency’s Artemis II mission. Under Artemis, the mobile launcher will transport NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to pad 39B for liftoff.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies during the House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on “An Overview of the Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget Request for NASA,” Thursday, April 27, 2023 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Jim Free gives remarks during an event announcing Blue Origin as the company selected to develop a sustainable human landing system for the Artemis V Moon mission, Friday, May 19, 2023 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The human landing system will take astronauts to and from Gateway in lunar orbit to the surface and back to the lunar space station as part of NASA’s return to the Moon for science, exploration, and inspiration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Data from two weather instruments developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to provide forecasters data on weather over the open ocean were used to create this image of Tropical Cyclone Mandous on Dec. 9, 2022, as the storm approached the southeastern coast of India. Forecasters at the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, used the image and others like it to understand the storm's intensity and track its path. The instruments, Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) and Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems (TEMPEST), observe the planet's atmosphere and surface from aboard the International Space Station. The image above uses 33.9 gigahertz microwave emissions measured from COWVR to detect structural features of Mandous, including its center, which is about 160 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of the northern tip of Sri Lanka. The colored portions over water indicate the presence of precipitation, with yellow and orange indicating where the storm is strongest, while blue shows where it's weakest. COWVR and TEMPEST sent the data for this image back to Earth in a direct stream via NASA's tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) constellation. The data was processed at JPL, and meteorologists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, California, created the image, which they shared with the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. About the size of a minifridge, COWVR measures natural microwave emissions over the ocean. The magnitude of the emissions increases with the amount of rain in the atmosphere. TEMPEST – comparable in size to a cereal box – tracks microwaves at a much shorter wavelength, allowing it to detect atmospheric water vapor. Both microwave radiometers were conceived to demonstrate that smaller, more energy-efficient, more simply designed sensors can perform most of the same measurements as current space-based weather instruments that are heavier, consume more power, and cost much more to construct. COWVR's development was funded by the U.S. Space Force, and TEMPEST was developed with NASA funding. The U.S. Space Test Program-Houston 8 (STP-H8) is responsible for hosting the instruments on the space station under Space Force funding in partnership with NASA. Data from the instruments is being used by government and university weather forecasters and scientists. The mission will inform development of future space-based weather sensors, and scientists are working on mission concepts that would take advantage of the low-cost microwave sensor technologies to study long-standing questions, such as how heat from the ocean fuels global weather patterns. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25565

This VIS image shows part of Hephaestus Fossae. Hephaestus Fossae is a complex channel system in Utopia Planitia near Elysium Mons. It has been proposed that the channel formed by the release of melted subsurface ice during the impact event that created the crater just off the left side of the image – only the ejecta is seen in this image. The crater is fairly young, as there is only minimal modification of the crater floor. While it appears that the crater sits of top of the channel, the creation of the crater may have also created the channel. The impact event would have caused subsurface heating, melting any subsurface ice in the region which would have created surface flow to form the channel. Additionally, the nearby Elysium volcanic center created subsurface heating that may have played a part in creating both Hephaestus Fossae and Hebrus Valles to the north. Orbit Number: 94645 Latitude: 17.6141 Longitude: 126.055 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-04-16 09:02 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26040

Joe Acaba, Chief of the Astronaut Office, monitors the countdown of the attempted launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev onboard, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, in firing room four of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission is the sixth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Today’s launch attempt was scrubbed due to an issue with ground systems. The next launch attempt is targeted for 12:34am ET on Thursday, March 2. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

iss070e020913 (Nov. 3, 2023) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli poses with a spacesuit in the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Psyche mission, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study it’s composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Matthew Sanchez attaches the strut and the wing to ensure they fit together as intended for a 10-foot model of the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. The aircraft concept involves a wing braced on an aircraft using diagonal struts that also add lift and could result in significantly improved aerodynamics.

iss069e020758 (June 15, 2023) --- This photograph of the International Space Station was taken by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg as he worked on the Starboard-6 truss structure during a spacewalk. The SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle is pictured docked to the Harmony module's space-facing port and the SpaceX Dragon crew vehicle docked to Harmony's forward port. In the foreground, is the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is shown in a clean room on Dec. 8, 2022, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft was powered on and connected to ground support equipment, enabling engineers and technicians to prepare it for launch in 2023. Teams working at Astrotech and at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California continue to monitor the health of its systems. After a one-year delay to complete critical testing, the Psyche project is targeting an October 2023 launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration, testing high-data-rate laser communications, is integrated into Psyche and will travel with it when it launches to its target, a metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, that lies in the main asteroid belt. The silver-colored cylinder shown in the photo is the sunshade for DSOC, and the gold blanketing is the aperture cover for the DSOC payload. The spacecraft's target may be the partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of rocky planets in our solar system. Researchers will study Psyche using a suite of instruments including multispectral cameras, a Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (GRNS) and a magnetometer. The GRNS and magnetometer sensors are visible in the photo as the tips of the two black protrusions at the far end of the spacecraft. Also visible is the large, disc-shaped high-gain antenna, which will enable the spacecraft to communicate with Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25664

iss068e067448 (March 4, 2023) --- Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates) is pictured inside the Kibo laboratory module during his first week aboard the International Space Station.

iss069e008883 (May 5, 2023) --- UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi removes physics research hardware from inside the Destiny laboratory module's Microgravity Science Glovebox. The Particle Vibrations experiment investigated the self-organization mechanisms of particles in fluids potentially providing insights into new manufacturing techniques and the formation of planets and asteroids.

jsc2023e055873 (10/5/2023) --- The Testing Contaminant Rejection of Aquaporin Inside® HFFO Module (Aquamembrane-3) hardware consists of three separate and parallel systems to quantify the membrane's water flux and contamination rejection in microgravity, which are key parameters for a full water recovery system. This image shows the unit containing the forward osmosis membranes and other fluid system components.

Support teams onboard the SpaceX recovery ship Shannon work around the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft shortly after it landed with with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, Saturday, March 11, 2023. Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikina are returning after 157 days in space as part of Expedition 68 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber).

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gives remarks during an event announcing Blue Origin as the company selected to develop a sustainable human landing system for the Artemis V Moon mission, Friday, May 19, 2023 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The human landing system will take astronauts to and from Gateway in lunar orbit to the surface and back to the lunar space station as part of NASA’s return to the Moon for science, exploration, and inspiration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Attendees view exhibits and listen to speakers during NASA’s Science Day on the Hill event, Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Located between the lava plains of Daedalia Planum and Solis Planum, Claritas Fossae is a graben filled highland. Graben are formed by tectonic activity, where extensional forces stretch the surface allowing blocks of material to slide down between paired faults. These linear grabens are termed fossae. This region of Mars had very active tectonism and volcanism, resulting in the huge volcanos like Arsia Mons and deep chasmata of Valles Marineris. Claritas Fossae was formed prior to the large lava flows of the Tharsis region. Orbit Number: 92164 Latitude: -26.3031 Longitude: 253.828 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-09-24 01:20 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25757

Artemis II astronauts, from left, NASA astronaut Victor Glover (left), CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman stand on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20. The test ensures the ground systems team is ready to support the crew timeline on launch day.

iss068e040300 (Jan. 16, 2023) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Anna Kikina checks procedures on a computer and works on life support maintenance tasks aboard the International Space Station.

A team from Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California participates in simulation training for the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The purpose of the training is to get the integrated PRIME-1 team – engineers with PRIME-1’s MSOLO (Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations) and Honeybee Robotics’ TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain) drill – prepared to operate the instrument on the lunar surface. The team commanded the PRIME-1 hardware, located at Intuitive Machines in Houston, to operate MSOLO and TRIDENT. PRIME-1 is scheduled to launch through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service) initiative and will be the first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon, with MSOLO and TRIDENT making up its two primary components. Through Artemis missions, CLPS deliveries will be used to perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human deep space exploration missions.

Erika Wright, education specialist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, speaks during a briefing on NASA’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. NASA’s TEMPO instrument, the first Earth Venture Instrument mission, will measure air pollution across North America from Mexico City to the Canadian oil sands and from the Atlantic to the Pacific hourly and at a high spatial resolution. A partnership between NASA and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, TEMPO will launch on a commercial satellite to geostationary orbit as early as April. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Horticulture scientist Blake Costine adjusts moisture sensors for the Advanced Plant Imaging project at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 17, 2023. In this project, hyperspectral cameras are used to assess plant health. The activity is taking place inside the Plant Production Area at the Florida spaceport’s Space Station Processing Facility.

The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Observatory inside the Space Environment Simulator (SES) thermal vacuuum chamber before thermal environmental testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on June 17th, 2023. PACE's unprecedented spectral coverage will provide the first-ever global measurements designed to identify phytoplankton community composition. The mission will make global ocean color measurements, using the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), to provide extended data records on ocean ecology and global biogeochemistry along with polarimetry measurements, using the Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEXone) and the Hyper Angular Research Polarimeter (HARP2) to provide extended data records on clouds and aerosols. The Earth-observing satellite mission, built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, will continue and advance observations of global ocean color, biogeochemistry, and ecology, as well as the carbon cycle, aerosols and clouds.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, is seen with Jeannie Schulz, widow of Peanuts gang creator Charles M. Schulz, right, holding the Artemis I Snoopy zero gravity indicator, Wednesday, April 5, 2023, during a visit to the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Schulz awarded a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal by Administrator Nelson at an “Our Blue Planet” concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Snoopy rode along as the zero gravity indicator on NASA’s Artemis I mission as part of a partnership with the agency and continues to help NASA inspire kids of all ages to follow along with Artemis missions. As part of the visit, Schulz showed the flown Artemis I Snoopy zero gravity indicator before it goes to its final home for display at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Engineers and technicians process the right forward center segment of the Space Launch System solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II mission inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2023. The team has been examining the 10 booster segments one-by-one then lifting them to make sure they are ready for integration and launch before moving them to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking atop the mobile launcher. Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will blast off from Kennedy and travel around the moon for the agency’s first crewed mission under Artemis that will test all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems.

President Joe Biden landed aboard Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield, near NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, en route to tour recent storm damage in the state. The President was greeted by Dr. David Korsmeyer, associate center director for research and technology at Ames, U.S. Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

jsc2024e005979 (9/15/2023) --- The investigation locker for the Robotic Surgery Tech Demo investigation is shown on the ground. The locker was designed so that the astronauts can initiate "autonomous mode" and switch to "telesurgery mode." The miniaturized robotic surgeon is housed inside the microwave-sized locker and will be controlled via remote human control and pre-programmed movements. Image courtesy of Virtual Incision.

iss068e054809 (Feb. 2, 2023) --- (At far left and right) Astronauts Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Nicole Mann of NASA are suited up in their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, following a spacewalk on Feb. 2, 2023, to install hardware on the International Space Station's Port-6 truss structure. Assisting the duo out of their EMUs are NASA Flight Engineers (center left and right) Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio.

Vice President Kamala Harris, third from right, and President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea, third from left, pose for a picture with NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left, MSIT Minister Jong-Ho Lee, Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, during a tour of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Today's VIS image shows a sand sheet located on the floor of an unnamed crater just north of the edge of the South polar ice cap. The morphology of the dune is different from other sand dunes in lower latitudes. The difference is due to ice cementing the sand grains, making the movement of sand materials almost impossible. Only during the summer season the very surface loses this interstitial ice enough for small movements during windy conditions. Orbit Number: 92704 Latitude: -71.2469 Longitude: 144.353 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-11-07 12:42 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25805

Before collecting a rock sample at a spot nicknamed "Otis Peak," NASA's Perseverance Mars rover employed an abrasion tool to wear down the rock surface and then used the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, or PIXL, to study the rock's internal chemistry. This image of the abrasion patch, dubbed "Ouzel Falls," was taken in May 2023 by WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), a camera that is part of an instrument called Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals, or SHERLOC, on the end of the rover's robotic arm. Data from PIXL is laid over the image. Colored squares show different areas where PIXL's X-ray beam scanned the rock's surface. The instrument's data found the rock was rich in phosphate, a material found in the DNA and cell membranes of all known life, and which also serves as a way to store and transfer energy within living things. The Ouzel Falls scan areas contain a rich diversity of other mineral grains, including igneous minerals transported as sand and pebbles, such as olivine and spinel, and minerals crystallized from water, such as carbonates, clays, and sulfates. Each of these record unique aspects of the magmatic, climatic, and paleoenvironmental history of the ancient lake within Jezero Crater and the surrounding region. This diversity will make the Otis Peak sample a treasure trove for scientists on Earth who may study it in the future. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26206

jsc2023e046631 (7/25/2023) --- Plexiglass is shown burning in Spacecraft Fire Experiment-IV (Saffire-IV). The flame appears orange because of the soot that is produced as it burns. As the plexiglass burns, the solid is melted, vaporized, and then the vapor burns. The bright flame balls in the flame is vapor burning as it is expelled from the surface. Saffire-VI burns plexiglass at higher oxygen concentrations. The Saffire experiments aim to inform the development of fire safety equipment and strategies for future spacecraft.

iss069e009939 (May 10, 2023) --- The city lights of Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, were pictured by UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above.

This animation shows NASA's Perseverance Mars rover collecting a rock sample from an outcrop the science team calls "Berea" using a coring bit on the end of its robotic arm. The sample was collected on March 30, 2023, the 749th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The images were taken by one of the rover's front hazard cameras. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25689

These images and videos show how crews in Alabama prepared the ICPS (interim cryogenic propulsion stage) for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for shipment to Florida between July 29-31. The ICPS in the photos and videos will help power NASA’s Artemis III mission to the Moon. The SLS upper stage is manufactured by United Launch Alliance at its facility in Decatur. Its RL10 engine is produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne, the SLS engines lead contractor, in West Palm Beach, Florida. ULA is working with Boeing, the SLS core stage and exploration upper stage lead contractor, to develop ICPS. ULA’s R/S RocketShip is transporting the flight hardware to its sister facility in Florida near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for final checkouts. The ICPS for Artemis III is the last of its kind as SLS transitions to its next, more powerful Block 1B configuration with an upgraded upper stage beginning with Artemis IV. NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

Crew members for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station arrive at the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. From left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa stand before members of the news media. Liftoff of the Crew-7 mission is targeted for 3:49 a.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.

iss069e020459 (June 13, 2023) --- The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, science investigation payload is pictured attached to the outside of the International Space Station. NICER studies the extraordinary physics of neutron stars providing new insights into their nature and behavior potentially revolutionizing the understanding of ultra-dense matter. Filling the background are the station's solar arrays that power the orbiting lab.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts stand near the mission emblem in the astronaut crew quarters inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 26, 2023. From left are Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist; NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, spacecraft commander; and Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. The astronauts are preparing for their launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket. Launch was targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST on Feb. 27 from Launch Complex 39A, but was scrubbed for the day. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

jsc2023e046373 (7/25/2023) --- Artistic rendering of the ram facing side of the Multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (m-NLP). The m-NLP will provide measurements of plasma density variation at spatial scales below one meter. Image courtesy of the University of Oslo, Maren C. Lithun

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rock target nicknamed "Quartier" with the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera belonging to an instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals). The rover uses a tool to abrade the surface of a rock (as with the circular portion in this image), removing dust, debris and other material that has settled on the rock's outer surface. After that's complete, instruments like SHERLOC can study the rock's composition. The white squares show areas where SHERLOC performed multiple scans with its ultraviolet laser. SHERLOC detected signals within Quartier consistent with organic, carbon-based molecules. If they are organic molecules – something that could be verified only by bringing the samples to Earth for closer study – they would have likely been formed by geological processes as opposed to ancient biological sources, but they represent the kinds of molecules Perseverance's science team are looking for. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25919

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, holding the Artemis I Snoopy zero gravity indicator, is seen during a visit with Jeannie Schulz, widow of Peanuts gang creator Charles M. Schulz, Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Schulz awarded a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal by Administrator Nelson at an “Our Blue Planet” concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Snoopy rode along as the zero gravity indicator on NASA’s Artemis I mission as part of a partnership with the agency and continues to help NASA inspire kids of all ages to follow along with Artemis missions. As part of the visit, Schulz showed the flown Artemis I Snoopy zero gravity indicator before it goes to its final home for display at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory spacecraft is uncrated for prelaunch processing at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. The PACE observatory will help us better understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, measure key atmospheric variables associated with air quality and Earth's climate, and monitor ocean health, in part by studying phytoplankton, tiny plants and algae that sustain the marine food web. PACE will be encapsulated for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, flew the B200 King Air in support of the Signals of Opportunity Synthetic Aperture Radar (SoOpSAR) campaign on Feb. 27, 2023.

These photos show highlights from Artemis II NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch of NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen visit to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Nov. 27. The crew met and spoke to employees and viewed facilities for SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. All four astronauts signed the Orion stage adapter (OSA), a small ring structure that connects SLS to NASA’s Orion spacecraft, that will be used for Artemis II. Koch and Wiseman also visited the Systems Integration Lab, where SLS flight software testing is conducted. The four astronauts will launch atop SLS inside Orion to venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed flight for Artemis.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, at the Dutch Ambassador’s Residence in Washington. Netherlands is the 31st country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gives remarks during an event unveiling the 2022 Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in the Earth Information Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy hosted Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), for the unveiling of the annual scorecard which looks at how federal agencies rank on meeting their small business goals. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

jsc2023e054808 (7/2/2023) --- The Astro Bit payload is a BBC micro:bit microcontroller v2.21 enclosed in an aerospace grade aluminum case for use on board the International Space Station. Astro Bit students in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries design an experiment that can also be repeated aboard the International Space Station with an interesting scientific outcome.

iss069e000857 (April 4, 2023) --- The California cities of San Francisco (top) and Oakland (bottom) separated by San Francisco Bay were pictured by NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov is seen as he and fellow crewmates Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A to board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-7 mission launch, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh 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. Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov are scheduled to launch at 3:27 a.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

An American bald eagle occupies a nest near Kennedy Parkway North at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 8, 2023. Each year, eagles take up winter residence at the Florida spaceport, breeding and raising a new generation. The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, home to more than 1,500 species of plants and animals, and 15 federally listed species.

Today's VIS image shows the complete length of two channels in northern Terra Sirenum. As with all channels in this region – including Mangala Valles – the flow is northward into the low elevation region south of Amazonis Mensa. Abus Vallis is on the left and is 66 km long (41 miles). Senus Vallis is on the right and is 22 km long (13 miles). Orbit Number: 92178 Latitude: -5.63635 Longitude: 212.823 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-09-25 04:53 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25752

The women who comprise the Artemis launch team are photographed inside Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 10, 2023. In the center of the front row is NASA’s first female Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. The team, which is about 30% women, launched the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in an increasingly complex series of missions to return humans to the Moon – from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 16, 2022. The primary goal of Artemis I was to thoroughly test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft’s integrated systems before crewed missions to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and establish sustainable lunar exploration in the near future.

The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), used during the Space Shuttle Program to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station, is moved by crane inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 20, 2023. The MPLM is being prepared for transport to Ellington Field in Houston, where it will then be transported by road to Axiom’s facility near Ellington to be utilized to further commercialization of space. Three MPLMs were built by Thales Alenia Space Italia (TASI) for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and named after Italian masters (Leonardo, Raffaello, and Donatello). Only two ever flew to the space station, Leonardo and Raffaello, with Axiom intending to use Raffaello as a future element that will attach to a segment being built by the company for addition to the space station.

The surface of Mars is littered with examples of glacier-like landforms. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to the polar caps, patterns of slow, viscous flow abound in many non-polar regions of Mars. Streamlines that appear as linear ridges in the surface soils and rocky debris are often exposed on top of infilling deposits that coat crater and valley floors. We see such patterns on the surfaces of Earth's icy glaciers and debris-covered "rock glaciers." As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface. While this process is gradual, taking perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow. Later and under warmer conditions, the ice may be lost through melting or sublimation. (Sublimation is the evaporation of ice directly from solid to gas without the presence of liquid.) Rock and minerals concentrated in these long ridges are then left behind, draped over the preexisting landscape. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25984

NASA’s X-59 sits in support framing while undergoing the installation of its lower empennage, or tail section, at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California in late March.

A baby American bald eagle is perched high in a tree above its nest at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 26, 2023. The nest is located off Kennedy Parkway, about two miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The eagle is from a mated pair that recently built a new home in this tree after storms badly damaged their original nest located about 50 yards away. That nest was built in 1973 and had been used by eagles almost every year since 1975. Kennedy currently is home to approximately 20 nesting pairs of bald eagles.

NASA's NISAR Project Manager Phil Barela (with hands raised) speaks with Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S. Somanath about the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) science instrument payload in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Feb. 3, 2023. Somanath was among a group of visitors to the facility that included officials from NASA, ISRO, and the Indian Embassy. The NISAR mission – a joint effort between NASA and ISRO – will measure changes to Earth's land ice surfaces down to fractions of an inch. Data collected by this satellite will help researchers monitor a wide range of changes critical to life on Earth in unprecedented detail. This includes spotting warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, helping to monitor groundwater supplies, tracking the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observing shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world. The data will inform humanity's responses to urgent challenges posed by natural disasters and climate change, and help communities prepare for and manage hazards. There are two instruments on the satellite that will send and receive radar signals to and from Earth's surface to make the mission's measurements. An L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses a signal wavelength of around 9 inches (24 centimeters), and an S-band SAR with a signal wavelength of nearly 5 inches (12 centimeters). Both will bounce their microwave signal off of the planet's surface and record how long it takes the signal to make one roundtrip, as well as the strength of that return signal. This enables the researchers to calculate the distance from the spacecraft to Earth's surface and thereby determine how the land or ice is changing. An antenna reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter, supported by a deployable boom, will focus the microwave signals sent and received by the SARs. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of NISAR and is providing the mission's L-band SAR instrument. NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band SAR, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25598

The linear features in this VIS image are called Mareotis Fossae. They are part of a huge region of graben that comprise Tempe Terra. The graben of Mareotis Fossae trend to the northeast, parallel to the fossae of Alba Mons located just to the west of Tempe Terra. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. Numerous sets of graben are visible in this THEMIS image, trending from northeast to southwest. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, we know that extensional forces were pulling the crust apart in the northwest/southeast direction. Mareotis Fossae is 1907km long (1185 miles). Orbit Number: 94059 Latitude: 46.0809 Longitude: 286.137 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-02-27 03:41 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25977

Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) speaks with students during a STEM event at DuVal High School, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Lanham, Maryland. Lindgren spent 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

DC area students participate in a Minecraft Artemis demonstration during Space Education Day, Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Microsoft Technology Center in Arlington, Va. Microsoft hosted the event to showcase the collaboration, early successes, and future plans for high quality student engagement through activities that combined space content and technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea delivers remarks during a tour of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Greenbelt, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

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