iss072e096874 (Oct. 22, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit looks out a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft as the International Space Station orbited 269 miles above the Pacific Ocean of the coast of Chile.

NASA Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Bob Pearce speaks on stage prior to the unveiling of the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft at a January 12, 2024 event at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.

iss071e329982 (July 12, 2024) --- Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter is attached to the leading end effector of the 57.7-foot-long Canadarm2 robotic arm about to be released into Earth orbit ending a five-and-a-half month cargo mission berthed to the International Space Station's Unity module.

Administrator Bill Nelson and Represenative Max Miller pose for a photo together. NASA Glenn Research Center and the Great Lakes Science Center hosted a three-day celestial celebration in downtown Cleveland, OH. This free, outdoor, family-friendly science and arts festival will feature free concerts, performances, speakers, and hands-on science activities with community partners. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft atop, stands in a vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in preparation for the 30th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station. NASA and partner research flying aboard the mission includes a look at plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other studies include a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

iss070e105132 (Feb. 20, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O'Hara holds a cargo transfer bag containing life support hardware inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module.

Representative Shontel Brown and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb view the eclipse together. NASA Glenn Research Center and the Great Lakes Science Center hosted a three-day celestial celebration in downtown Cleveland, OH. This free, outdoor, family-friendly science and arts festival will feature free concerts, performances, speakers, and hands-on science activities with community partners. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

Dr. Kevin Strait, curator of history, National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), speaks at an event to commemorate Black Space Week (BSW) 2024 titled, "Beyond the Color Lines From Science Fiction to Science Fact," in the Oprah Winfrey Theater at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Monday, June 17, 2024 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

iss070e094541 (Feb. 16, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli works on a bone cell study inside the Life Science Glovebox located inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. Moghbeli was working on the Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-A investigation that may provide a better understanding of space-caused bone loss and aging-related bone conditions on Earth.

A recent study led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California that seawater will infiltrate underground fresh water supplies in about 77% of coastal watersheds around the world by the year 2100, as illustrated in this graphic. Called saltwater intrusion, the phenomenon will result from the combined effects of sea level rise and slower replenishment of groundwater supplies due to warmer, drier regional climates, according to the study, which was funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense and published in Geophysical Research Letters in November 2024. In the graphic, areas that the study projected will experience the most severe saltwater intrusion are marked with red, while the few areas that will experience the opposite phenomenon, called saltwater retreat, are marked with blue. Saltwater intrusion happens deep below coastlines, where two masses of water naturally run up against each other. Rainfall on land replenishes, or recharges, fresh water in coastal aquifers (essentially, underground rock and dirt that hold water), which tends to flow underground toward the ocean. Meanwhile, seawater, backed by the pressure of the ocean, tends to push inland. Although there's some mixing in the transition zone where the two meet, the balance of opposing forces typically keeps the water fresh on one side and salty on the other. Spurred by melting ice sheets and glaciers, sea level rise is causing coastlines to migrate inland and increasing the force pushing underground salt water landward. At the same time, slower groundwater recharge resulting from reduced rainfall and warmer weather patterns is weakening the force behind the fresh water in some areas. Saltwater intrusion can render water in coastal aquifers undrinkable and useless for irrigation. It can also harm ecosystems and damage infrastructure. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26491

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft attached to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, rolls to Launch Pad 39A on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. The spacecraft will complete nearly 50 flybys of Europa to determine if there are conditions suitable for life beyond Earth. NASA and SpaceX are targeting launch for Europa Clipper at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

These photos and videos show teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans preparing, moving, and loading the engine section boat-tail of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the Artemis III mission for transportation to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida via the agency’s Pegasus barge. Inside the factory on Aug. 14 prior to the move, technicians covered the spaceflight hardware with a tarp to help protect it on its journey aboard NASA’s Pegasus barge. Crews then rolled out the hardware on Aug. 27 from the factory floor to the barge. Once in Florida, the boat-tail will be integrated with the engine section -- also manufactured at Michoud -- inside Kennedy’s Space Station Processing Facility. The engine section arrived at NASA Kennedy in Dec. 2022. Located at the bottom of the engine section, the aerodynamic boat-tail fairing channels airflow and protects the stage’s four RS-25 engines from extreme temperatures during launch. The engine section is one of five major elements that make up the 212-foot-tall rocket stage. The core stage, along with its four RS-25 engines, produce two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore participate in a virtual media engagement event from inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Wilmore and Williams will launch on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test aboard the company’s Starliner spacecraft atop a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET on Monday, May 6.

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

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission is the ninth 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. Hague and Gorbunov launched at 1:17 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin a six month mission aboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

The mission insignia of NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) mission is pictured in front of the satellite in a vertical position on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Part of a collaborative NOAA and NASA program, GOES-U is the fourth in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites. Data from the GOES satellite constellation – consisting of the GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U spacecraft – enables forecasters to predict, observe, and track local weather events that affect public safety like thunderstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires.

Gary Wentz, vice president, Government and Commercial Programs, United Launch Alliance, participates in a prelaunch briefing for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Friday, May 31, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.

jsc2024e013669 (February 8, 2024) --- UAE astronaut Nora Almatrooshi poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Credit: NASA/ Josh Valcarcel

For the first time in more than 50 years, new NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations are operating on the Moon following the first successful delivery of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Experts from NASA and Intuitive Machines hosted a news conference Feb. 23, 2024, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss the soft landing of the company’s Nova-C lander, called Odysseus. Participants in the briefing included (L-R): Steve Altemus, chief executive officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines; Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington; Tim Crain, chief technology officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines; and Prasun Desai, deputy associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Photo Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

Jenny Lyons, deputy program manager for NASA’s Launch Services Program, participates in rehearsal launch operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission inside Hangar X at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, June 17, 2024. The GOES-U satellite, the final addition to GOES-R series, serves a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Managers with NASA and SpaceX, along with international partners, participate in NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Flight Readiness Review at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Launch is targeted for 2:05 p.m. EDT Sept. 26, 2024, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s ninth crew rotation mission for NASA as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

NASA's F-15B Aeronautics Research Test Bed performs a calibration flight of the shock-sensing probe over Edwards, California, on Aug. 6, 2024. The probe will measure shock waves from NASA's X-59.

The DC-8 ascents during its final flight before it is retired from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. The DC-8 will provide real-world experience to train future aircraft technicians at the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology Program.

jsc2024e067200_alt (July 17, 2024) --- NASA astronaut Jonny Kim poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel

NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore, wearing Boeing spacesuits, are seen as they speak with NASA, Boeing, and ULA leadership as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch, Saturday, June 1, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts of the Boeing CFT-100 spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The flight test, targeted for launch at 12:25 p.m. EDT, serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system and will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to and from the orbiting laboratory. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA conducted a full-duration RS-25 hot fire April 3 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, achieving a major milestone for future Artemis flights of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. It marked the final test of a 12-test series to certify production of new RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to help power NASA’s SLS rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond, beginning with Artemis V.

NASA Chief Economist Alex MacDonald speaks at the Microgravity Science Summit at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Monday, Dec. 13, 2024 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is seen during the State Commission meeting to approve the Soyuz launch of the Expedition 72 crew to the International Space Station, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Expedition 72 crew members: NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner, are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft on September 11. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

jsc2024e079793 (Nov. 20, 2024) --- NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is pictured training inside a mockup of a Dragon cockpit at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

iss071e479858 (Aug. 13, 2024) --- The Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur are in between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above the Pacific off the coast of Los Angeles, California.

iss071e522256 (Aug. 21, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick checks CubeSat configurations packed inside launch cases installed in the Kibo laboratory module's Small Satellite Orbital Deployer.

These artist’s concepts show SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) on the Moon. NASA is working with SpaceX to develop Starship HLS to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back for Artemis III and Artemis IV as part of the agency’s Artemis campaign. At about 165 feet (50 m), Starship HLS will be about the same height as a 15-story building. An elevator on Starship HLS will be used to transport crew and cargo between the lander and the Moon’s surface.

iss070e086351 (Feb. 3, 2024) --- JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa processes cell samples inside a Kubik incubator for the Immune Cell Activation biotechnology experiment. The study is investigating ways to develop novel therapeutic tools to target central nervous system diseases and cutaneous cancers such as melanoma.

iss072e277661 (Nov. 23, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nick Hague services research hardware for the Rhodium Biomanufacturing-03 experiment inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. The investigation explores using bacteria and yeast samples as a method to potentially enable the production of food and medicine in space.

These photos and videos show how crews at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, moved and installed the payload adapter that will be used in the Block 1B configuration of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from Building 4708, where it was manufactured, into Structural Test Stand 4697 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on March 13. Teams at Marshall will begin structural testing the engineering development unit of the payload adapter – an exact replica of the flight version of the hardware – this spring. The cone-shaped payload adapter is about 8.5 feet tall and features two metal rings and eight composite panels. The adapter, which will debut on NASA’s Artemis IV mission, is an evolution from the Orion stage adapter used in the Block 1 configuration of the first three Artemis missions. It will be housed inside the universal stage adapter atop the rocket’s more powerful in-space stage, called the exploration upper stage. The payload adapter, like the launch vehicle stage adapter and the Orion stage adapter, is fully manufactured and tested at Marshall, which manages the SLS Program. NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft and Gateway in orbit around the Moon and commercial human landing systems, next-generational spacesuits, and rovers on the lunar surface. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, set to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station, passes in front of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The spacecraft began its journey from the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility and will be transported to ULA’s (United Launch Alliance) Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station prior to being lifted and connected to the Atlas V rocket, which is slated to launch no earlier than Monday, May 6, 2024.

jsc2024e015919 (February 21, 2024) --- NASA astronaut Anil Menon poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Credit: NASA/ Josh Valcarcel

iss071e230735 (June 27, 2024) --- Orange River is the border between South Africa and Namibia on the Atlantic coast and is the termination point of the Namib desert to the north and the desert landscape of Richtersveld to the south. The International Space Station was orbiting 268 miles above at the time of this photograph

This photo shows NASA and Boeing, the SLS core stage lead contractor, preparing the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for shipment at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. On July 6, NASA and Boeing moved the Artemis II rocket stage to Building 110. The move comes as teams prepare to roll the massive rocket stage with its four RS-25 engines to the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in mid-July. Prior to the move, technicians began removing external access stands, or scaffolding, surrounding the core stage to assess the interior elements, including its complex avionics and flight propulsion systems. The stage is fully manufactured at NASA Michoud.

Multiple 45,000-pound mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs, participate in a series of integrated system verification and validation tests inside at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. Originally designed for military applications, the MRAP offers a mobile bunker for astronauts and ground crews in the unlikely event they have to get away from the launch pad quickly in an emergency.

NASA Flight Director Diana Trujillo gives remarks during an event where NASA and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation signed a Space Act Agreement to collaborate and expand STEM opportunities for Latino K-12 and university students and reduce barriers to agency activities and opportunities, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen delivers remarks during a reception with Artemis II crew members Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

iss070e102740 (Feb. 26, 2024) --- Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli is photographed inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock. Bishop can be uninstalled from its home on the Tranquility module for portable operations. It can also be used to stow cargo and extract or install payloads.

United States Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter delivers remarks during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony, Thursday, May 30, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Slovakia is the 42nd 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)

iss072e116495 (Oct. 26, 2024) -- A waning crescent moon hangs against the deep black of space as the International Space Station orbited 258 miles above the North Pacific Ocean.

NASA Astronaut Marcos Berrios speaks at a staff engagement event that took place during a White House Hispanic Heritage month event titled “Soaring Together: Inspiring the Next Generation of Space Leaders” at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

jsc2024e013665 (February 8, 2024) --- NASA astronaut Luke Delaney poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Credit: NASA/ Josh Valcarcel

iss070e123815 (March 13, 2024) --- Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara photographs the condition of spacesuits during maintenance inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

iss071e186365 (June 14, 2024) --- The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station's Harmony module.

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module for the company’s 21st commercial resupply mission is lifted and moved by a crane inside the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, June 1, 2024, as prelaunch processing operations continue. The Cygnus spacecraft will launch to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, Kris Brown, right, and U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten, left, watch as a student operates a robot during a STEM event to kickoff the 21st Century Community Learning Centers NASA and U.S. Department of Education partnership, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 at Wheatley Education Campus (EC) in Washington. Students engaged in NASA hands-on activities and an engineering design challenge. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) launches from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The GOES-U satellite is the final satellite in the GOES-R series, which serves a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The Congressional Gold Medals to be presented are seen before the start of a ceremony recognizing NASA’s Hidden Figures, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Congressional Gold Medals were awarded to Katherine Johnson, Dr. Christine Darden, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary W. Jackson in recognition of their service to the United States as well as a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of all the women who served as computers, mathematicians, and engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA between the 1930s and 1970s. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson addresses a Diplomatic Corps during a U.S. Department of State Open House, Monday, April 29, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. The event was focused on deepening bilateral relationships, specifically how international partnerships are strengthened by space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Retired NASA astronaut Eileen Collins participates in a special presentation and question and answer session inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building’s Mission Briefing Room at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Collins visited NASA Kennedy in celebration of the 25th anniversary of becoming the first woman to command a space mission during STS-93, in which space shuttle Columbia lifted off from the spaceport’s Launch Complex 39B on July 23, 1999.

iss072e363875 (Dec. 9, 2024) ---A U.S. spacesuit is pictured being serviced for maintenance inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

jsc2024e066732 (Oct. 4, 2024) --- JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expedition 73 Commander Takuya Onishi poses for a crew portrait at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Onishi is also Mission Specialist for NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford/Helen Arase Vargas

jsc2024e022809 March 26, 2024 -- NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston hosted a Tuesday, March 26, visit by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who visited NASA’s Mission Control Center, spoke with native Texan and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara aboard the International Space Station, and introduced the new members of the Texas Space Commission. Abbott was joined by NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, Texas Representative Greg Bonnen and other state and space industry leaders.

iss071e406275 (July 27, 2024) -- The third quarter moon rises just above Earth's blue horizon as the International Space Station orbited 258 miles above the Red Sea.

NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) identical dual spacecraft are inspected and processed on dollies in a high bay of the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. As the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to Mars, ESCAPADE’s twin orbiters will take simultaneous observations from different locations around the planet and reveal the real-time response to space weather and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time.

Move crews at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move a liquid oxygen tank for its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from the vertical assembly building into a nearby cell on Dec. 23. The tank, which will be used on the core stage of the agency’s Artemis III mission, will be primed using an automated process in preparation for application of its thermal protection system. The propellant tank is one of five major elements that make up the 212-foot-tall rocket stage. The core stage, along with its four RS-25 engines, produce more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis.

Erica Rodgers, director of advanced programs for NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, left, Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, center, and NASA Deputy administrator Pam Melroy, are seen during a NASA employee town hall, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover viewed these yellow crystals of elemental sulfur using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on June 7, 2024, the 4,208th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The discovery marks the first time this mineral has ever been found in a pure form on Mars. Nicknamed "Convict Lake" after a location in California's Sierra Nevada, this collection of fragments is about 5 inches (13 centimeters) across from left to right. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. These crystals were found after Curiosity happened to drive over and crush the rock several days before, on May 30. The rover later used an instrument on the end of its robotic arm, called the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, to determine the composition of the rock. Scientists have seen many kinds of sulfur on Mars; the region Curiosity found this rock is, in fact, known for being rich in sulfates – a kind of sulfur-based salt that was left behind as water dried up on this part of the Red Planet billions of years ago. It isn't clear what relationship, if any, the elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area. Elemental sulfur consists only of pure sulfur atoms, unlike the sulfur bound to oxygen in sulfate. It's an odorless mineral that on Earth is created by a variety of different geological processes, including volcanic and hydrothermal activity. Curiosity's team doesn't yet know which processes would have formed the elemental sulfur found by the rover, but they're searching for clues in the rocks and surrounding area. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26309

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, successfully lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:33 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 8. PACE is NASA’s newest earth-observing satellite that will help increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and climate by delivering hyperspectral observations of microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton, as well new data on clouds and aerosols.

jsc2024e042505 (May 5, 2024) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut and SpaceX Crew-9 Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov gives a thumbs-up in his flight suit at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

jsc2024e024940 (March 1, 2024) --- NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members Commander Zena Cardman and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson use a breakout trainer to better understand how to correctly pack the Dragon spacecraft at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

A pair of umbilical support structures needed for future testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) were installed in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand on Oct. 30-31 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The support structures arrived from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans via the unique NASA Stennis seven-and-a-half-mile canal system in 2023. Since then, crews have prepared the structures that will align with the EUS unit for installation. In addition to helping secure the unit in place during hot fire testing, the umbilical support structures are where the command, control, and data electrical connections are mated to connect the ground systems to the vehicle systems, as well as most the commodity connections such as liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, hydrogen vent, helium bottle fill pressure, and purges. Prior to its initial flight, the EUS unit will undergo a series of so-called Green Run tests at NASA Stennis to ensure all systems are ready to go. The test series will culminate with a hot fire of the stage’s four RL10 engines, made by Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and lead SLS engines contractor. The new upper stage will enable NASA to carry larger payloads on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, right, speaks during a meeting with Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy Dr. Anna Christmann, left, Thursday, March 7, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Technicians integrate NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) payload inside the Rocket Lab Electron rocket payload fairing on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at the company’s facility in New Zealand. The agency’s PREFIRE mission to study heat loss to space in Earth’s polar regions will launch two CubeSats on two different flights aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rockets from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand.

Laurie Leshin, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, left, Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, right, and NASA Deputy administrator Pam Melroy, center, are seen following a NASA employee town hall, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Behind the iconic countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency’s Pegasus barge completes its 900-mile journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans carrying the powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Teams with NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) will offload the rocket stage and transfer it to the spaceport’s Vehicle Assembly Building to prepare it for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II launch.

iss071e243431 (June 28, 2024) --- Pictured in the foreground, is Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter, berthed to the International Space Station's Unity module, and one of two of its cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays. In the rear, is the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module. The orbital outpost was soaring 263 miles above the Pacific Ocean south of Midway Atoll.

This image shows one of the temporary seat structures built and installed on the Crew-8 Dragon in cargo pallet locations C7 and C5 using foam, straps, and other station soft goods such as cushions.

iss071e515505 (Aug. 20, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Tracy C. Dyson displays a sample processor for the Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory experiment that is exploring the production and manufacturing of medicines to benefit astronauts in space and humans on Earth. She installed the processor in the Advanced Space Experiment Processor, or ADSEP, that can house a variety of research samples and be delivered to the International Space Station and returned to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft.

Technicians test and extend one of the two “wings” comprising the solar arrays for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each array measures about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high. The spacecraft needs the massive solar arrays to power to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to move mobile launcher 1 atop the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. The crawler recently reached 2,500 miles traveling to the launch pad since its construction in 1965. The mobile launcher has been at the launch pad since August 2023 undergoing upgrades and tests in preparation for NASA’s Artemis II mission. The mobile launcher will be used to assemble, process, and launch NASA’s SLS (Space Launch Systems) and Orion spacecraft to the Moon and beyond.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is mated to the company's Falcon 9 rocket at SpaceX’s hangar at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are slated to launch to the International Space Station no earlier than 12:04 a.m. EST on March 1, 2024.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after its liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, on the company’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Dragon will deliver more than 6,200 pounds of cargo, including a variety of NASA and partner research including a look at plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other studies include a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions. The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

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

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this view using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, while heading west away from Gediz Vallis channel on Nov. 2, 2024, the 4,352nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This panorama is made up of two mosaics: one consisting of 171 individual images taken at 12:16 p.m. local Mars time; and another consisting of 169 at 12:46 p.m. local Mars time. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. Rover tracks can be seen trailing behind Curiosity at right. The difficult, rocky terrain made for slow going. The butte on the left side of the scene is nicknamed "Texoli"; the butte dominating the right side of the scene is nicknamed "Kukenán." https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26471

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Executive Vice President Greg Ulmer speaks on stage prior to the unveiling of the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft at a January 12, 2024 event at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.

Chirag Parikh, Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, is seen during an Earth-to-space call with NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test crew members Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station, Monday, June 10, 2024 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Parikh spoke to Wilmore and Williams about their mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner Spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Administrator Bill Nelson, Snoopy and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb view the eclipse just before totality. NASA Glenn Research Center and the Great Lakes Science Center hosted a three-day celestial celebration in downtown Cleveland, OH. This free, outdoor, family-friendly science and arts festival will feature free concerts, performances, speakers, and hands-on science activities with community partners. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

Representatives from NASA’s Stennis Space Center and NASA Shared Services Center participate in multiple related outreach events throughout Jackson, Mississippi, as part of the annual Stennis Day at the Capitol activities on Feb. 29. NASA personnel inspired the Artemis Generation with visits to Spann Elementary and Blackburn Middle schools. Activities included students learning about life as a NASA astronaut and a hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activity. Sending the first woman and first person of color to the Moon on future Artemis missions will inspire the Artemis Generation to see themselves in space and understand the importance of STEM studies and careers. As NASA takes giant leaps to bridge disparities and break barriers in STEM, the agency’s efforts in the future workforce advances the nation’s space exploration.

NASA Office of Communications Director of Engagement Aya Collins delivers remarks during a 5th Annual Hidden Figures Street Naming Anniversary event Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

On March 28, 2024 NASA held its 2023 Administrator’s Agency Honor Awards at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. This celebratory event recognized the invaluable contributions of civil servants and contractors alike, each one instrumental in propelling humanity further into the realms of space exploration, understanding, and discoverThis is NASA's highest form of recognition that is awarded to any Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA's advancement of United States' interests.

Tours were given of the In Space Propulsion Facility (ISP). NASA’s Facility is the world’s only high altitude test facility capable of full-scale rocket engine and launch vehicle system level tests. The facility supports mission profile thermal vacuum simulation and engine firing. Pictured are Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, Penelope Garcia-Galan, Kathryn Oriti, General David Stringer, Tiffany O'Rourke and Commander Reid Wiseman. Employees meet three of the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed flight paving the way for future lunar surface missions. Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be on hand to discuss their upcoming mission and participate in a Question and Answer session with employees afterward. Hansen is an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency. Victor Glover, the pilot and fourth crew member, will not be present.

Steve Volz, assistant administrator, NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, participates in a prelaunch news conference on Monday, June 24, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The GOES-U satellite is the final addition to GOES-R series, which serves a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the satellite’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Visitors are seen at a White House Halloween themed event titled, “Hallo-READ!” on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 on the south lawn of the White House in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida install and test one of several antennas on a solar array Wednesday, March 20, 2024, for the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft which will study Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to determine if the planet can support life. REASON, (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument will use the antennas to send both very high frequency radio waves and high frequency to penetrate up to 18 miles (30 kilometers) deep to search the ocean, measure ice thickness, and study the topography, composition, and roughness of Europa’s surface. The Europa Clipper spacecraft will ship to Florida later this year from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California in preparation for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A targeting October 2024.

iss071e522575 (Aug. 20, 2024) --- A portion of the Kalahari Desert, a semi-arid and sandy savanna, in South Africa's Northern Cape province is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above.

(L-R) Miranda (9) and Cameron Dyal, Yudi Lewis, and Cameron Dyal (7) view a partial solar eclipse in Washington, DC, Monday, April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Denny Henry)W

People learn about the work conducted at NASA Stennis in south Mississippi while visiting the NASA Stennis booth at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana on April 8.

iss071e666851 (Sept. 9, 2024) --- NASA astronauts (from left) Jeanette Epps, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, all three Expedition 71 Flght Engineers, make pizza aboard the International Space Station's galley located inside the Unity module. Items are attached to the galley using tape and velcro to keep them from flying away in the microgravity environment.

iss072e069133 (Oct. 16, 2024) --- Ancient settlements surround this circular, geological feature in the hot, desert climate of Mali pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above the African nation.

Video from a navigation camera aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover shows the position of a cover on the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument. During the video, the rover's robotic arm was commanded to move, allowing mission engineers to observe whether the cover for the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI) camera would change position independent of the commanded motion. The imagery – acquired Jan. 23, 2024 (the 1,041 Martian day, or sol, of the mission) – indicated that the cover was not responsive. On Jan. 6, 2024, a movable lens cover designed to protect the instrument's spectrometer and one of its cameras from dust became frozen in a position that prevented SHERLOC from collecting data. The rover team found a way to address the issue and confirmed the instrument is working on June 17, 2024. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is also characterizing the planet's geology and past climate, which paves the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26339

These images and videos show team members at Michoud Assembly Facility loading the first core stage that will help launch the first crewed flight of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the agency’s Artemis II mission onto the Pegasus barge on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The barge will ferry the core stage on a 900-mile journey from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to its Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage for the SLS mega rocket is the largest stage NASA has ever produced. At 212 feet tall, the stage consists of five major elements, including two huge propellant tanks that collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of super chilled liquid propellant to feed four RS-25 engines at its base. During launch and flight, the stage will operate for just over eight minutes, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help send a crew of four astronauts inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft onward to the Moon. All the major structures for every SLS core stage are fully manufactured at NASA Michoud. NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft and Gateway in orbit around the Moon and commercial human landing systems, next-generation space, next-generational spacesuits, and rovers on the lunar surface. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.

Derek Abramson, left, chief engineer for the Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory, and Justin Link, small unmanned aircraft system pilot, carry the atmospheric probe model and a quad rotor remotely piloted aircraft to position it for flight on Oct. 24, 2024. John Bodylski, probe principal investigator, right, and videographer Jacob Shaw watch the preparations. Once at altitude, the quad rotor aircraft released the probe above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The probe was designed and built at the center.

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft encapsulated inside SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings is transported from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, to be mated with a SpaceX Falcon 9 in preparation for liftoff set for no earlier than 1:33 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. PACE is NASA’s newest earth-observing satellite that will help increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and climate by delivering hyperspectral observations of microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton as well new data on clouds and aerosols.

iss071e040194 (4/24/2024) --- A CS-05A: Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space (GEARS) sample media plate is shown aboard the International Space Station. The GEARS investigation surveys the space station for antibiotic resistant-organisms. Genetic analysis could show how these bacteria adapt to the space environment, providing knowledge that informs measures to protect astronauts on future long-duration missions.