jsc2023e054221 (Aug. 12, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and SpaceX Crew-10 Pilot Nichole Ayers prepares for spacewalk training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik speaks during the 2024 Artemis Suppliers Conference, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
This graphic depicts the most likely scenario for the hard landing NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took during its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024. Engineers at JPL and AeroVironment, which collaborated with NASA on the helicopter's design and development, are completing a detailed assessment of the final flight that will be published as an agency technical report. Flight 72 was planned as a brief vertical hop to assess Ingenuity's flight systems and photograph the surrounding area. Data from the flight shows Ingenuity climbing to 40 feet (12 meters), hovering, and capturing images. It initiated its descent at 19 seconds, and by 32 seconds the helicopter was back on the surface and had halted communications. The assessment describes the mostly likely scenario for Flight 72, as follows. Lack of suitable features on the planet's surface for the helicopter's navigation system to track resulted in high horizontal velocities at the time the helicopter touched down. This caused a hard impact on a sloping sand ripple, making Ingenuity pitch and roll. The rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits, snapping all four of them off at their weakest point – about a third of the way from the tip. The damaged blades caused excessive vibration in the rotor system, ripping the remainder of one blade from its root and generating an excessive power demand that resulted in loss of communications. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26482
NASA’s Artemis II crew member NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman observes a news conference discussing the practice recovery procedures following the Underway Recovery Test (URT-11) aboard the USS San Diego on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
NASA's Juno spacecraft captured these images showing surface changes at Nusku Patera (center in each sub-figure) on Jupiter's moon Io. A red ring formed around Nusku Patera in the two months between the spacecraft's 58th flyby on Feb. 3, 2024, and its 60th on April 9, 2024. The ring obscures some nearby features like Creidne Patera. This ring, 683 miles (1,100 kilometers) wide is likely from a Pele-type plume rich in sulfur. Similar transient red rings were observed by NASA's Galileo mission around Grian Patera and Surt and were associated with intense but short-lived thermal "outburst" eruptions. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26488
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket soars upward from the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday, June 5, 2024, carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Aboard Starliner are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the first crewed flight of the spacecraft as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Several manatees swim in the turn basin of Launch Complex 39 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. NASA Kennedy shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife National Refuge and is home to more than 1,500 species of plants and animals on 140,000 acres.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, and NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the eighth 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. Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin are scheduled to launch at 12:04 a.m. EST on Friday, March 1, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, left, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, right, participate in a White House staff briefing, Thursday, June 6, 2024, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Isac Mata, engineering technician at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, attends to the interior of the DC-8 aircraft at Building 703 in Palmdale, CA. The DC-8 aircraft is prepared for its last mission, ASIA-AQ (Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality), that will collect detailed air quality data over several locations in Asia to improve the understanding of local air quality in collaboration with local scientists, air quality agencies, and government partners
iss071e650763 (Sept. 14, 2024) --- The long exposure photograph taken by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shows star trails, streaks of city lights, and two Roscosmos crew ships, the Soyuz MS-26 docked to the Rassvet module (foreground) and the Soyuz MS-25 (background) docked to the Prichal docking module, as the International Space Station orbited 265 miles above central China.
iss071e665075 (Sept. 16, 2024) --- Two Roscosmos crew ships, the Soyuz MS-26 docked to the Rassvet module (foreground) and the Soyuz MS-25 (background) docked to the Prichal docking module, are pictured parked at the International Space Station as it orbited 257 miles above the Atlantic Ocean near Brazil's Amazon Delta.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson 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)
From left to right, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of Israel Eliav Benjamin, place wreaths at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial during a ceremony that was part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. The wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
Slovak Republic Minister of Education, Research, Development, and Youth Tomáš Drucker, left, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, shake hands 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)
jsc2024e062107 (9/13/2024) --- One of the ANT1 Radiation Tolerance Experiment with Moss in Orbit on the Space Station (ARTEMOSS) plates is seen. To prepare the plates, tissue of Antarctic moss Ceratodon purpureus (named ANT1 isolate) is blended in water and thirteen (13) spot-inoculums are deposited per Petri plate and grown in optimal conditions for seven (7) days. The ARTEMOSS investigation examines whether and how an Antarctic moss repairs damage caused by cosmic radiation and microgravity. Image courtesy of Agata Zupanska.
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.
iss071e009150 (April 16, 2024) --- Turin, Italy, and its suburbs (at left) lie at the southwestern foot of the Alps in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above Europe.
NASA Earth Sciences Division, Deputy Director, Julie Robinson, previews of the Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. The exhibit includes a video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth’s connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A reflection in the water shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket at Launch Pad 39A on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, at the agency’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. Launch is targeting 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
During the first launch attempt of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore says goodbye to friends and family upon exiting the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, May 6, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was targeted for 10:34 p.m. ET but scrubbed for the day.
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore is seen on the crew access tower as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts aboard the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The flight test, targeted for launch at 10:34 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 6, serves as an end-to-end demonstration of Boeing’s crew transportation system and will carry NASA astronauts Wilmore and Suni Williams to and from the orbiting laboratory. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
jsc2024e066527 (10/4/2024) --- Pinecrest Academy Space Coast students Cameron Winchester, Chase Elden-Moore and Baylen Wreggit experiment on tardigrades extending the efficacy of Hemlibra. Their experiment is part of the Nanoracks-National Center for Earth and Space Science Education-Surveyor-Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Mission 18 to ISS (Nanoracks-NCESSE-Surveyor-SSEP).
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket called “PREFIRE and Ice,” is vertical on the pad awaiting liftoff at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, ahead of NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The mission, the second of two launches for NASA’S PREFIRE, features two identical 6U CubeSats in asynchronous, near-polar orbits, will study how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participates in a NASA employee town hall on how the agency is using and developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to advance missions and research, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Teams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center complete a safe lift and install of an interstage simulator unit needed for future testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand. The lift and install, completed over a two-week period that began Oct. 10, marks a milestone for testing the new SLS (Space Launch System) rocket stage that will fly on future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. The EUS will undergo a series of Green Run tests of its integrated systems prior to its first flight. During testing, the interstage simulator component will function like the SLS interstage section that helps protect the upper stage during Artemis launches.
iss071e608479 (Aug. 17, 2024) --- Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub (foreground) and Oleg Kononenko, Expedition 71 Flight Engineer and Commander respectively, are at the controls of the telerobotically operated rendezvous unit, or TORU, monitoring the automated rendezvous and docking of the Progress 89 cargo craft. Located inside the International Space Station's Zvezda service module, the TORU can be used to remotely control the Roscosmos spaceship in the unlikely event it would be unable to complete its automated docking.
Dan Billow, Mike Brown, and Maggie Persinger were honored May 15, 2024, during the 2024 Kennedy Chroniclers ceremony at the Press Site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Three brass plates bearing their names were added to the wall of the “bull pen,” where reporters traditionally gather to cover launches and events at NASA Kennedy. The three were honored for their efforts in helping tell the story of America’s space program, primarily from the Florida spaceport. They were nominated by their peers and selected by a panel of NASA officials and current space reporters.
iss071e700487 (Sept. 22, 2024) --- Comet C2023-A3, or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was pictured about 99.4 million miles away from Earth by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick using long-duration photography on a camera programmed for high sensitivity aboard the International Space Station
iss072e316172 (Oct. 23, 2024) --- The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft by a SpaceX Crew-8 member shortly after undocking from the Harmony module's space-facing port. The orbital outpost was soaring 272 miles above the cloudy Patagonia region of South America at the time of this photograph.
Visitors to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis learn about the upcoming total solar eclipse from NASA staff, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Technicians examine the first of two fully extended five-panel solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper suspended on a support system called a gravity offload fixture during inspection and cleaning as part of assembly, test, and launch operations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Another name for the gravity offload fixture is the Transportable Large Envelope Deployment Facility (T-LEDF). When both solar arrays are installed and deployed on Europa Clipper – the agency’s largest spacecraft ever developed for a planetary mission – the spacecraft will span a total length of more than 100 feet and weigh 7,145 pounds without the inclusion of propellants.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, gives remarks during a NASA agencywide all hands, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, is previewed, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. The exhibit includes a video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth’s connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
iss071e462180 (Aug. 9, 2024) --- Lake Assad in Syria (upper right) and lakes created by hydroelectric dams in Turkiye, all along the Euphrates River, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the Turkish nation that connects Europe with Asia.
Subject: HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) Location: Thales Alenia Space - Turin, Italy Photo Date: November, 2024 Photo Credit: Thales Alenia Space
Researchers test a 10-foot Mock Truss-Braced Wing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The test team makes observations between tests. The aircraft concept involves a wing braced on an aircraft using diagonal struts that also add lift and could result in significantly improved aerodynamics.
This natural-color mosaic showing NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at "Valinor Hills" was acquired by the agency's Perseverance Mars rover on Feb. 21, 2024, the 1,068th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The helicopter – the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another world – sits just left of center, a speck-like figure amid a field of sand ripples. Ingenuity damaged its rotor blades during landing on its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024. The helicopter team nicknamed the spot where the last flight concluded Valinor Hills after the fictional location in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, which include "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The 67 images that were stitched together to make this mosaic were captured from about 1,365 feet (415 meters) away by the rover's Mastcam-Z camera. This is a wider and more detailed view of Valinor Hills than was shown in a previously released six-image Mastcam-Z mosaic that was taken from farther away. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets. 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/PIA26237
iss070e129908 (March 26, 2024) --- Five NASA astronauts wear eye-protecting specs in anticipation of viewing the solar eclipse from the International Space Station's cupola. The Expedition 70 crewmates will have three opportunities on April 8 to view the Moon's shadow as it tracks across the Earth surface during the eclipse.
Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program move the right aft assembly, or bottom portion of the right solid rocket booster for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, into inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2024. The crane will lift the right aft assembly on top of mobile launcher 1, joining the previously stacked left aft assembly as the first booster segments stacked for the Artemis II Moon rocket.
jsc2024e066392 (Sept. 26, 2024) --- NASA astronaut and commander of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission Anne McClain trains during a simulation inside a mockup of a Dragon cockpit at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX
Evening photo of the Space Experiments Complex in the evening of the arrival of the Orion ETA (Environmental Test Article) having been shipped from Florida by truck. The Orion ETA flew on Artemis I and will undergo testing of the docking module jettison and the forward by cover jettison in preparation of the Artemis II launch.
NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, wearing a SpaceX spacesuit, waves as he prepares to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the eighth 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. NASA astronauts Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are scheduled to launch at 12:04 a.m. EST on Friday, March 1, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test crew members Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore are seen aboard the International Space Station on a monitor during an Earth-to-space call with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, and Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, Monday, June 10, 2024 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Nelson, Melroy, Free, and Wyche spoke to Wilmore and Williams about their mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner Spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut, 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)
iss071e666899 (Sept. 9, 2024) --- Astronauts show off ingredients while making 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.
Teams from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems transport the engine section of the agency’s Artemis IV SLS (Space Launch System) core stage from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the spaceport’s Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF) on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. NASA’s Pegasus barge delivered the core stage engine section housing the four RS-25 engines from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana to NASA Kennedy on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. The engine section is one the most complex and intricate parts of the rocket stage that will help power the Artemis missions to the Moon.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is seen on the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, May 4, 2024, ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET Monday, May 6.
From left, Joan Misner, mission integration engineer with the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Jessica Conner, mission integration engineer at NASA Kennedy, participate in a mission dress rehearsal on Monday, June 17, 2024, inside Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The GOES-U satellite, the final addition to GOES-R series, will serve a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans launched Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt speak with family and friends as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A to board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-8 mission launch, Sunday, March 3, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the eighth 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. Dominick, Barratt, Epps, Grebenkin are scheduled to launch at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA engineer Jacob Nunez-Kearny removes the foreign object debris (FOD) cover from the propulsion system on the agency’s CubeSat R5 Spacecraft 4 (R5-S4) at Firefly Aerospace’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The spacecraft will soon be integrated for launch aboard the company’s Alpha rocket, as part of launch services provided for NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative and Educational Launch of Nanosatellites 43 mission in support of the agency ’s Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract .
iss071e067117 (May 8, 2024) --- The last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate Earth's atmosphere and reveal the cloud tops in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.
iss070e128597 (March 23, 2024) --- Expeditiom 70 Flight Engineers (from left) Nikolai Chub from Roscosmos, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps, both from NASA, are pictured inside the International Space Station's Harmony module. The trio was awaiting the opening of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft's hatch on Harmony's space-facing port.
Bishop Ignatii of Kyzylorda and Aktobe blesses the Soyuz rocket, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome site 31 launch in 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)
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.
The Artemis II Orion spacecraft is lifted from the Final Assembly and Testing (FAST) Cell and placed in the west altitude chamber inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’S Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 28, 2024. Inside the altitude chamber, the spacecraft underwent a series of tests simulating deep space vacuum conditions. Photo Credit: NASA / Rad Sinyak
iss072e000922 (Sept. 23, 2024) -- The vibrant night lights of coastal cities on the Mediterranean Sea, from Spain to Italy in Europe and Algeria to Lybia in Africa, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above Barcelona. Peeking in at the bottom of the image is Mallorca Island, next to it Minorca. The Italian islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily are also visible. Above Earth, stars glitter in the night sky.
NASA Stennis Safety and Mission Assurance Director Gary Benton, right, presents a token of appreciation to keynote speaker and former NASA astronaut Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg at the annual Safety and Health Day in the StenniSphere Auditorium at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Sept. 26. The yearly event is a reminder to the NASA Stennis workforce about the importance of a safe work environment.
Event attendees view the eclipse. 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.
jsc2024e055766 (July 26, 2024) -- Dr. Jon Olansen, Gateway Program Manager, shares insights during "The Historic Artemis II Mission" forum held at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024. The panel, held at the Theater in the Woods on July 26, discussed NASA's upcoming Artemis II mission and the innovative technologies enabling humanity's return to the Moon. Photo Credit: NASA/Andrew Carlsen
jsc2024e061943 (4/10/2024) --- The COronal Diagnostic EXperiment (CODEX) instrument rests inside a clean facility at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: CODEX team / NASA
The Soyuz rocket is raised vertical Monday, March 18, 2024, at launch pad Site 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 71 NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft on March 21. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
From left to right, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson are seen during a wreath laying ceremony, as a part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. The wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
Engineers and technicians with the Exploration Ground Systems Program prepare to transfer one of the aft assemblies of the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II mission with an overhead crane inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. The booster segments are being transferred to the NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building via a transporter for stacking operations in preparation for launch of the Artemis II mission.
NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research, Robert Pearce, discusses the agency’s goals during the annual State of NASA address, Monday, March 11, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. NASA leaders discussed plans for promoting U.S. leadership in space exploration, improving life on Earth through science and innovation, humanity’s return to the Moon under the Artemis campaign, aeronautics, and more. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies before the Senate Appropriations’ Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee during a fiscal year 2025 budget hearing, Thursday, May 23, 2024, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Extravehicular flight controller Jaclyn Kagey, left, and Tess Caswell work in the JETT 5 flight control room during the JETT 5 field test. JETT 5 was a week-long field test in the lunar-like landscape of San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona while a team of flight controllers and scientists at Johnson monitor and guide their activities. Credit NASA/James Blair
Frank Rubio, NASA Astronaut, speaks at 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)
iss071e407666 (July 29, 2024) -- A waning crescent moon hangs in the deep black of space as the International Space Station orbited 270 miles above the South Pacific Ocean.
NASA Astronaut Frank Rubio answers a question 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)
A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu. The dust and rocks were poured into the trays from the top plate of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. 51.2 grams were collected from this pour, bringing the final mass of asteroid sample to 121.6 grams. Credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
The helicopter that will carry cargo and support personnel back to shore is seen as it approaches the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov are returning after nearly six-months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Experts at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, conducted a lightning test, which simulates the electromagnetic effects of a lightning strike to the vehicle on the launch pad awaiting liftoff. The February 20, 2024, test proved the grounding path of the vehicle is operating as designed and protecting the vehicle from damage to any of its equipment or systems. Photo Credit: (NASA/Quentin Schwinn)
Mike Brown accepts a certificate naming him a Kennedy Chronicler during a May 15 ceremony at the Press Site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Presenting the award is Burt Summerfield, NASA Kennedy Space Center’s associate director, management. Brown, a long-time space photographer, was among three reporters and industry professionals who were nominated by their peers and selected by a panel of NASA officials and current space reporters for their efforts in helping tell the story of America’s space program. Brass plates bearing their names were added to the wall of the “bull pen,” where reporters traditionally gather to cover launches and events at NASA Kennedy.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, June 24, 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 two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT. on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft sits atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket at Launch Pad 39A on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, at the agency’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. Launch is targeting 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA participates in the Podcast Movement conference, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. During the event, NASA hosted a panel entitled, "Eclipses, Moon Missions, and Climate Change: How NASA Reaches Curious Listeners." Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra delivers remarks during an event with NASA to highlight how the agencies are making progress toward President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, Thursday, March 21, 2024, in the Earth Information Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. NASA is working with agencies and researchers across the federal government to help cut the nation’s cancer death rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years, a goal of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
Emily Nelson, NASA's chief flight director, monitors the countdown of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in the control center of SpaceX’s HangarX at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 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 are scheduled to launch at 1:17 p.m. EDT, from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
A crane lowers the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish into position on Dec. 18, 2024, at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. Once online in 2026, DSS-23 will be the fifth of six new beam waveguide antennas to be added to the network, following DSS-53, which was added at the DSN's Madrid complex in 2022. After the reflector skeleton was bolted into place, engineers placed what's called a quadripod into the center of the structure. A four-legged support structure weighing 16 ½ tons, the quadripod is fitted with a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna's pedestal where the antenna's receivers are housed. Next steps: to fit panels onto the steel skeleton of the parabolic reflector to create a curved surface to collect radio frequency signals. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26454
Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner is helped into his Russian Sokol suit as he and fellow crew mates, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, and NASA astronaut Don Pettit, prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)
Technicians from the University of Maine prepare CubeSat MESAT-1 for integration at Firefly’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Monday, April 22, 2024. MESAT-1, along with seven other payloads, will be integrated into a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket for NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and Firefly’s Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract.
iss071e002694 (April 8, 2024) -- Orbiting 260 miles above the Northeastern coast of the United States, the Expedition 71 crew experienced the 2024 solar eclipse from space. Pictured here is the umbra, or the Moon's shadow, passing over Earth. Aboard the International Space Station to witness the celestial event was NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Tracy Dyson, as well as cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin.
Center of Science and Industry (COSI) Chief Strategy Officer Stephen White, joined by Principal MScott Berkowitz, left, and NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, second from left, displays a piece of dry ice to students during a science demonstration at Catherine Watkins Elementary School Monday, Dec. 2, 2024 in Washington. O’Hara and Moghbeli spent six months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
NASA astronaut Andre Douglas collects soil samples during the first in a series of four simulated moonwalks in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Norther Arizona on May 13, 2024. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks during a NASA Safety Town Hall, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The Safety Town Hall is held annually near the Day of Remembrance to learn from past errors and pay tribute to those that lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, speaks with NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara alongside NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. O’Hara and Moghbeli spent six months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at left, NASA Artemis launch director; and Jeremy Graeber, assistant Artemis launch director, monitor the terminal countdown simulation for the Artemis II mission inside Firing Room at the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration through Artemis.
Ambassador of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the United States of America Georg Sparber delivers remarks during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The Principality of Liechtenstein is the 52nd 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 program specialist Miyoshi Collins talks with an annual ESSENCE Fest audience in New Orleans on July 5 following a video presentation from NASA astronaut Jeannette Epps aboard the International Space Station. NASA representatives participated in a panel presentation about women in space during the cultural festival held each year during the Fourth of July weekend.
NASA rolled out a key piece of space flight hardware for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Wednesday, Aug. 21 for shipment to the agency’s spaceport in Florida. The cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter connects the rocket’s core stage to the upper stage and helps protect the upper stage’s engine that will help propel the Artemis II test flight around the Moon, slated for 2025. Manufactured by prime contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering and the Jacobs Space Exploration Group’s ESSCA (Engineering Services and Science Capability Augmentation) contract using NASA Marshall’s self-reacting friction-stir robotic and vertical weld tools. Crews moved the adapter out of NASA Marshall’s Building 4708 to the agency’s Pegasus barge Aug. 21. The barge will ferry the adapter first to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where crews will pick up additional SLS hardware for future Artemis missions, before traveling to NASA Kennedy. Once in Florida, the adapter will join the recently delivered core stage. There, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems will prepare the adapter for stacking and launch.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) lifts off 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.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts aboard the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The flight test, targeted for launch at 10:34 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 6, 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)
Teams from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems transport the engine section of the agency’s Artemis IV SLS (Space Launch System) core stage from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the spaceport’s Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF) on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. NASA’s Pegasus barge delivered the core stage engine section housing the four RS-25 engines from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana to NASA Kennedy on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. The engine section is one the most complex and intricate parts of the rocket stage that will help power the Artemis missions to the Moon.
Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida install and test antennas on a solar array on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, for the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft which will study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine if the planet has conditions that could support life. The REASON, (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument will use the antennas to send both High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio waves to penetrate up to 18 miles (30 kilometers) deep and 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.
Artemis II Commander, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman provides remarks at a Moon tree dedication ceremony, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at the United States Capitol in Washington. The American Sweetgum tree planted on the southwestern side of the Capitol, was grown from a seed that was flown around the Moon during the Artemis I mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA’s Artemis II crew members (left to right) NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen finish suiting up in the well deck of the USS San Diego as NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the ship practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article, during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
The test chamber is 38 ft in diameter by 62 ft deep amd made of stainless steel. It is vacuum rated at 10-7 torr long duration (Local atmospheric pressure to 100 statute miles altitude). The vacuum chamber surfaces are lined with a liquid nitrogen cold wall, capable of maintaining -320 °F. A quartz infrared heating system can be programmed to radiate a sinusoidal distribution, simulating rotational solar heating. Photo Credit: (NASA/Quentin Schwinn)
iss070e129455 (March 23, 2024) --- The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, on NASA's 30th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-30) mission, is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station's Harmony module.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z instrument to capture this 360-degree view of a region on Mars called "Bright Angel," where an ancient river flowed billions of years ago. The panorama was captured on June 12, 2024, the 1,178th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, and is made up of 346 individual images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The color has been enhanced to bring out subtle details. It was not far from here that the rover took a sample at a rock dubbed "Cheyava Falls," finding one of the most exciting discoveries of the mission thus far. Cheyava Falls is slightly right of center, about 361 feet (110 meters) from the rover. Also visible is Perseverance itself, though not all of the rover was imaged in this panorama. The rover's mast, or "head," is visible in silhouette at bottom center. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets. 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. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26369