Brian Hughes, NASA Chief of Staff, left, Meredith McKay, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations, second from left, Israel’s Minister for Innovation, Science, and Technology Gila Gamliel, and Shani Edri, director of International Relations in Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology pose for a picture after the signing the US-Israel Space Cooperation Framework Agreement Extension, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA leadership and guests watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns as part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA reached out to inspire members of the Artemis Generation on Jan. 10-12, joining one of the largest comic con producers in the world to host an outreach booth at the 2025 FAN EXPO in New Orleans. Thousands of fans celebrating the best in pop culture such as movies, comics, and video gaming learned about NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and its role to power space dreams.

iss073e0098600 (May 26, 2025) --- The Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of approximately 49,300, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above.

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, undergoes spacesuit checks inside the crew quarters suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.

NASA Glenn Research Center has received the first of three Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) thrusters for the Gateway lunar space station. Built by L3Harris Technologies, the thruster will undergo testing before integration with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element, launching with the HALO module ahead of Artemis IV.

iss072e782440 (March 16, 2025) --- JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi is pictured inside the cargo-packed vestibule in between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. Onishi was continuing to unpack cargo stowed inside Dragon that had docked to the orbital outpost the day before with him and fellow SpaceX Crew-9 members Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers of NASA, and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos aboard.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui conducts leak checks for his SpaceX spacesuit inside the crew suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, July 31, 2025, during the first attempt of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station. Yui, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket for its second attempt at 11:43 a.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

Casey Swails, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator walks with John Rhys-Davies, the actor best known for his roles as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise, Friday, March 28, 2025 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim prepares to have his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as he and fellow crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station Tuesday, April 8, 2025 (April 7 Eastern Time), in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Kim, Ryzhikov, Zubritskiy on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Teams move a liquid oxygen tank from the main factory at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to a nearby production cell on April 25, 2025. Designated for the core stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for NASA’s Artemis III mission, the tank will now undergo application of its thermal protection system through an automated process. 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. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

iss073e0917008 (Oct. 21, 2025) --- JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui removes a small satellite orbital deployer from the airlock of the Kibo laboratory module. The deployer houses CubeSats, which are released into Earth orbit after the mechanism is transferred to the external microgravity environment outside the International Space Station.

Move crews at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move the liquid oxygen tank for the core stage of the agency’s Artemis III mission into the facility’s vertical assembly building on Nov.3. Eventually, teams with SLS (Space Launch System) prime contractor, Boeing, will lift the tank into the production cell currently housing the intertank and mate the flight hardware together before capping them off with the forward skirt to complete the core stage forward join.   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.

jsc2025e032543 (March 18, 2025) --- NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore receives a warm welcome at Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston from NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Woody Hoburg after completing a long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station. After undocking from the orbiting laboratory, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 splashed down at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 18, in the Gulf of America near Tallahassee, Florida.

iss073e0249083 (June 15, 2025) --- The seven-member Expedition 73 crew poses for a portrait inside the International Space Station's Zvezda service module. Clockwise from top left are, NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Commander Takuya Onishi; Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky; NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Anne McClain; and Roscosmos Flight Engineers Kirill Peskov and Sergey Ryzhikov.

Two Navy MH-60 Seahawks from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 are seen as they approach the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) to recover crew members as NASA and Navy recovery teams practice operations during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset, Thursday, March 27, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

iss074e0000942 (Dec. 16, 2025) --- Astronauts Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Mike Fincke of NASA—Expedition 74 Flight Engineer and Commander, respectively—pose for a fun portrait during maintenance activities inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module.

jsc2025e064544 (July 3, 2025) --- The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission train for their upcoming trip to the International Space Station at SpaceX facilities in Florida. From left: Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and Kimiya Yui. Credit: SpaceX

NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, is seen during an Expedition 71 postflight presentation, Monday, March 3, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Barrett, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, and Tracy Dyson served as part of Expedition 71 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

This illustration depicts the interior of dwarf planet Ceres, including the transfer of water and gases from the rocky core to a reservoir of salty water as a consequence of internal heating. A couple examples of molecules carrying chemical energy – carbon dioxide and methane – are included in the illustration. Research published in Science Advances on Aug. 20, 2025, relies on data from NASA's Dawn mission to find that chemical energy inside Ceres may have lasted long enough to fuel microbial metabolisms. Although there is no evidence that microorganisms ever existed on Ceres, the finding supports theories that this intriguing dwarf planet, which is the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, may have once had conditions suitable to support single-celled lifeforms. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26570

jsc2025e007251 (2/14/2025) --- Biofilm testing is shown in the early stages of the Polaris Bioremediation Science Experiment - Genetic Exchange in Microgravity for Biofilm Bioremediation (GEM-B2) project.

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a small satellite set to operate at Lagrange Point 1 (L1), an orbit point between the Earth and Sun about one million miles away. Carruthers will use its ultraviolet cameras to monitor how space weather from the Sun impacts the exosphere, the outermost part of Earth’s atmosphere. The observatory will launch as a rideshare with NASA’s (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) no earlier than September 2025.

iss072e747154 (March 18, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit inserts research hardware into the Combustion Integrated Rack located inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. Pettit was configuring the SoFIE-MIST, or the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction - Material Ignition and Suppression Test, investigation that is exploring the flammability of materials in microgravity to improve spacecraft fire safety.

NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails delivers remarks during a NASA Office of Procurement Enterprise Reverse Industry Day event Thursday, April 24, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA crew members practice emergency rescue drills during simulated lunar surface operations at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory where teams evaluate how well crew perform tasks while wearing the Artemis III lunar spacesuit developed by Axiom Space called the AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit).

At the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy, technicians prepare Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) for transport. The module’s primary structure, fabricated by Thales Alenia Space, will travel to Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona, for final outfitting ahead of its launch to lunar orbit.

iss073e0981639 (Sept. 11, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Zena Cardman practices Canadarm2 robotic maneuvers at the robotics workstation inside the International Space Station's cupola. Kim was preparing for the robotic capture of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft that launched on Sept. 14, 2025, and arrived on Sept. 18 delivering about 11,000 pounds of science, supplies, and hardware to the Expedition 73 crew.

iss073e0080280 (May 15, 2025) --- This nebula-like formation is actually lightning illuminating the clouds during a storm off the coast of North Carolina in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

iss073e0384067 (July 12, 2025) --- The Andes Mountains run through Chile and Bolivia on the South American continent. The eastern slope of the Andes in Bolivia captures moisture from the Amazon basin creating more rainfall on that side of the nation and contributes to an arid climate on South America's Pacific coast. The International Space Station was orbiting 260 miles above Chile when this photograph was taken.

Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) arrives in Mesa, Arizona, after traveling from Italy, where Thales Alenia Space fabricated its primary structure. Delivered by cargo aircraft to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, HALO will be transported to Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert for final outfitting.

The liquid oxygen tank for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for the Artemis III mission is lifted into a production cell at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Nov. 7. Move crews use an overhead crane system to lift the tank from the mobile transporter, which carried it from another area of the factory and set it atop the previously loaded intertank. Once the liquid oxygen tank is mated to the intertank, team will mate the stage’s forward skirt atop the tank to complete the forward join. 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.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and primary contractor Amentum, integrate the SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket with the solid rocket boosters onto mobile launcher 1 inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Artemis II is the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.

NASA’s X-59 lights up the night sky with its unique Mach diamonds, also known as shock diamonds, during maximum afterburner testing at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The test demonstrates the engine’s ability to generate the thrust required for supersonic flight, advancing NASA’s Quesst mission.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the international Sentinel-6B spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 9:21 p.m. PST Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans.

Technicians use a crane to place the Sentinel-6B spacecraft onto a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. Sentinel-6B will undergo detailed inspections, tests, and fueling in a cleanroom as it prepares for a November launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans and will extend out to a decade the record of atmospheric temperatures begun by Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich.

Artemis Orion Circle of Excellence Award presented to Marc D. Rezin received by Orion Deputy Program Manager Debbie Korth, left, NASA astronauts Victor J. Glover, right, and Christina Koch, left, in the N201 auditorium.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida complete routine inspections the Artemis II Orion stage adapter on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, to the spaceport’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility to undergo CubeSat integration following its arrival from the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA Marshall built the Orion stage adapter which connects to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage to the Orion spacecraft and protects Orion from flammable gases generated during launch. The Artemis II test flight will take four astronauts around the Moon and return them back home in early 2026.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov has his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as he and fellow crewmates, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Zubritskiy prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station Tuesday, April 8, 2025 (April 7 Eastern Time), in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Kim, Ryzhikov, Zubritskiy on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins visits the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Laboratory inside Swamp Works at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, to view some of the evolving technologies in development that astronauts may use to explore the Moon’s surface, prepare it for sustainable outposts, and to handle the dust that is collected during moonwalks.

From left, Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson with the Exploration Ground Systems Program and former NASA Space Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach speak during a meetup inside the Operations Support Building I at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. Leinbach spoke about his experience as the launch director for several space shuttle missions and discussed the upcoming Artemis II mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and back in early 2026 from the spaceport’s Launch Complex 39B at NASA Kennedy.

Sergeant Huff of the 45 weather squadron deploys a weather balloon during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, Thursday, March 27, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano is seen in the window as a Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 returns to USS Somerset as teams practice Artemis recovery operations during Underway Recovery Test-12 off the coast of California, Friday, March 28, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

jsc2025e074499 (Jan. 16, 2025) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut and Soyuz MS-28 Flight Engineer Sergey Mikaev poses for a portrait in his Sokol launch and entry suit at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Credit: GCTC

The Soyuz rocket is rolled out by train to the launch pad, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, at Site 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 74 crewmembers: NASA astronaut Chris Williams, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on November 27. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is uncrated for prelaunch processing at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025.

Erin Fritzler during the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) vehicle operational readiness test in the Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC), N240A.

NASA photographer James Ross monitors the Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System (ALIGNS) from the backseat of an F-15 near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The ALIGNS provides real-time positioning guidance between aircraft for shock wave probing and schlieren imagery capture.

Move crews at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move a liquid oxygen tank out of the facility’s vertical assembly building on Aug. 27, 2025. Using self-propelled mobile transporters teams transferred the tank to the final assembly production area. There, it will undergo integration of the forward dome by SLS (Space Launch System) prime contractor, Boeing. Eventually, the liquid oxygen tank will be moved back to the high bay where it will be mated with the intertank and forward skirt to complete the forward join of the Artemis III core stage. 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.

iss073e1198029 (Nov. 27, 2025) --- The seven-member Expedition 73 crew gathers together for a portrait inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module celebrating NASA astronaut Mike Fincke's (center) 500 cumulative days in space over four missions since 2004. In the front from left are, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. In the back are, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov and Alexey Zubritsky.

Justin Hall, left, and Justin Link attach the wings onto a subscale aircraft on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Hall is chief pilot at the center’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory and Link is a pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems.

Attendees view exhibits during NASA’s Day on the Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

During this Engineering Qualification Module test, the gimbal platforms for the Busek-built BHT-6000 Hall effect thrusters are exercised through their full range of motion to verify articulation performance and confirm the system can properly steer thrust once integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). On PPE, four BHT-6000 Hall effect thrusters and three Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) thrusters will use solar power generated by Gateway’s Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSAs) to ionize xenon gas. The resulting xenon ions are then accelerated to extremely high speeds and expelled from the thrusters, creating a steady and highly efficient stream of thrust. This propulsion system will enable the Gateway lunar space station to maneuver and maintain its orbit around the Moon.

iss072e742508 (March 2, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit stares at a ball of water shaped by microgravity and attached to research hardware by surface tension. Pettit was demonstrating simple space physics phenomena inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module.

Technicians and engineers encapsulate the Sentinel-6B spacecraft within a protective payload fairing inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans. NASA is targeting launch no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 16, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg.

iss073e0000481 (April 22, 2025) --- The St. Clair River flows into the freshwater Lake St. Clair and separates the American state of Michigan (top) from the Canadian province of Ontario (bottom) in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above.

Expedition 71 NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, left, Tracy Dyson, and Michael Barratt, speak to students, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington. Epps, Barratt, and Dyson served as part of Expedition 71 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Teams monitor the progress of a Countdown Demonstration Test with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard their Orion spacecraft from Firing Room 2 of the Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch teams are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and spacecraft ingress and egress. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

jsc2025e015690 (3/6/2025) --- An overview of the prototype with the various components as part of the High Performance Radiation Hardened GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors for Space Applications (Radiation Harden GaN) investigation which studies how radiation affects a type of transistor used in the semiconductor industry. Researchers measure the performance of the devices before, during, and after flight to determine whether performance degrades. This could help determine how well the transistors can tolerate radiation in space. Image courtesy of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware.

Technicians conduct blanket closeout work on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) observatory at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. IMAP will explore and map the boundaries of the heliosphere — a huge bubble created by the Sun’s wind that encapsulates our entire solar system — and study how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond.

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, provides remarks at a briefing as NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, prepare for launch from Launch Complex 39A on NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, July 31, 2025. The launch was scrubbed due to weather and is now scheduled for 11:43 a.m. EDT on Friday, August 1. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter team members are seen onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, as NASA and Department of Defense teams participate in Underway Recovery Test-12, Friday, March 28, 2025. During the test, teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

jsc2025e089531 (Dec. 10, 2025) --- NASA astronaut Jonny Kim exits the Gulfstream V aircraft that returned him to Houston, Texas, from Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Waiting to greet Kim are (from left), NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Scott, Johnson Space Center (JSC) Deputy Director Stephen Koerner, and JSC Director Vanessa Wyche. The day before, Kim had landed in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky after completing a 245-day research mission aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

Teams work to recover the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) as they practice Artemis recovery procedures during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, Friday, March 28, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls and Joel Kowsky)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A during early morning on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s IMAP will use 10 science instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system from radiation incoming from interstellar space. NASA’s IMAP will scan the heliosphere, analyze the composition of charged particles, and investigate how those particles move through the solar system.

Head of the Search-and-Rescue Department of Rosaviatsiya (Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport) Andrey Aleksandrovich, is seen at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at a meeting to discuss the readiness for the landing of Expedition 73 NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, bottom, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, middle, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Zubritskiy, top, wave farewell prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft for launch, Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket will send the trio on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

iss072e782430 (March 16, 2025) --- NASA astronauts (from left) Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, both Expedition 72 Flight Engineers, are pictured relaxing inside the International Space Station's Harmony module.

Orion Deputy Program Manager Debbie Korth, at the podium, leads a question-and-answer session with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor J. Glover, right, with Ames employees following the Orion Circle of Excellence Award Ceremony in the Syvertson Auditorium, N201.

Associate Administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate Clayton Turner speaks with acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, Friday, July 18, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Students and young professionals share the results of their DEVELOP Project, Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Every summer early career researchers from NASA’s DEVELOP National Program come to NASA Headquarters and present their research projects. DEVELOP is a training and development program where early career researchers work on Earth science projects, mentored by science advisors from NASA and partner agencies, and provide research results to local communities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Technicians at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are seen in these images taken April 17, 2025, moving the payload adapter test article from Building 4697 to Building 4705 for storage. This move marks the end of structural testing for the test article. Next, engineers will complete the qualification article and conduct additional for further testing before building the final flight hardware. Manufactured at Marshall, the test article underwent extensive and rigorous testing to validate the design before engineers finalized the configuration for the flight article. The newly completed composite payload adapter is an evolution from the Orion stage adapter to be used in the upgraded Block 1B configuration of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, debuting with Artemis IV.

iss072e472714 (Jan. 14, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore configures spacewalking hardware aboard the International Space Station's Unity module.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One is on its way to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The Blue Ghost lander launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 carrying 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface to further understand the Moon and help prepare for future human missions.

Group photo of the Orion astronauts with the staff of the Ames Arc Jet Complex in N238. Front row: Luis Saucedo, left, Debbie Korth, Christina Koch, Victor J. Glover, and George Raiche, right.

Technicians integrate the Sentinel-6B spacecraft to the payload attach fitting inside the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. The payload attach fitting is part of the system that connects Sentinel-6B to the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will carry it to orbit. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans. NASA is targeting launch no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 16, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg.

jsc2025e032538 (March 18, 2025) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov smiles as he returns to Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston after completing a long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station. After undocking from the orbiting laboratory, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 splashed down at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 18, in the Gulf of America near Tallahassee, Florida.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov onboard, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is the eleventh 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. Cardman, Fincke, Yui, Platonov launched at 11:43 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the NASA's Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission aboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham is seen as she prepares to take part in practicing Artemis recovery procedures during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, Friday, March 28, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next administrator of NASA, appears before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Members of NASA’s Landing and Recovery team are seen as they recover the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA), a full scale mockup of the Orion spacecraft, as teams practice Artemis recovery operations during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, Saturday, March 29, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send Artemis II around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Dr. Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, participates in a prelaunch news conference on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for NASA's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission. NASA’s IMAP will use 10 science instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system from radiation incoming from interstellar space. This mission and its two rideshares – NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory – will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Launch is targeting 7:32 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

Managers from NASA and industry partners for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket upper stage hand off the baton to managers from the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) are shown with the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, March 10, 2025, after being transported from United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta Operations Center at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. From left to right are Jim Bonato, ICPS Mission Manager, ULA; Ron Fortson, Director and General Manager, ULA; Chris Calfee, Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution element manager, SLS; Cliff Lanham, senior vehicle operations manager, EGS; Todd Lamond, Strategic Planning and Integration, Amentum; and Natasha Wiest, Interim Director, Boeing Core Stage Integrated Product Team; The interim cryogenic propulsion stage is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen-based system that will fire its RL10 engine to give the Orion spacecraft the big in-space push needed to fly around the Moon and back.

Crews prepare to move NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft from the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to the Launch Abort System Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. Technicians will integrate Orion with its 44-foot-tall launch abort system designed to carry the crew to safety in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen around the Moon and return them safely back home.

Technicians test the spring-activated door on the Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) instrument of NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) observatory inside the high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. The door will remain closed to protect IDEX from contamination during integration and launch. Once in space, the door will swing open permanently to allow interstellar and interplanetary dust to flow into the instrument for measurement. The IMAP observatory will study how the Sun shapes the boundaries of the heliosphere, the protective bubble around our solar system. Launch is targeted for no earlier than September 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

jsc2025e074928 (September 16, 2025) --- Anna Menon was selected by NASA to join the 2025 astronaut candidate class. She reported for duty in September 2025. Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford

NASA astronauts Victor J. Glover, left, and Christina Koch, with Joe Mach as they tour STAR Labs, N238

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard, Friday, March 14, 2025, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth 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. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the NASA's Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission aboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Crews conduct additional solar array deployment testing for NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Astrotech Space Operations located on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. PUNCH, consisting of four satellites, will produce continuous 3D images of the solar wind and solar storms as it travels from the Sun to Earth to better understand how material in the corona accelerates. PUNCH, along with NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.

iss073e0175630 (May 23, 2025) --- Cairo, Egypt, and its surrounding metropolitan area with a population of about 22.6 million, near the base of the Nile Delta is pictured at approximately 11:28 p.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above the Middle Eastern nation.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Official Portrait, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

These photos and videos show how NASA certified a new lander flight training course using helicopters in the mountains of northern Colorado. NASA is partnering with the Colorado Army National Guard at its High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site near Gypsum, Colorado, to develop the foundational flight training course that will help astronauts practice flight and landing procedures for the Moon. The certification marks an important milestone in crew training for Artemis missions to the Moon, when astronauts will use a commercial human landing system to land on the lunar surface. During the two-week certification run in late August 2025, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Mark Vande Hei participated in flight and landing training to help certify the course. The pair, along with trained instructor pilots with the Army National Guard, took turns flying a helicopter and navigating to landing zones. Artemis flight crew trainers, mission control leads, and lunar lander operational experts from NASA Johnson joined them on each helicopter flight to assess the instruction, training environment, and technical applications for crewed lunar missions. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544

iss073e0253839 (July 1, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers removes physics research hardware from inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox located inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. Ayers was completing operations with the Ring Sheared Drop investigation that may benefit pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques and 3D printing in space.

Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin operate a 30-ton crane to move NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell inside the Neil A. Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. The move prepares for the upcoming installation of four solar array wings and spacecraft adapter jettison fairings for the agency’s first crewed flight test under the Artemis campaign. 

Technicians transfer the Sentinel-6B spacecraft from the NASA hangar to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. Sentinel-6B will undergo detailed inspections, tests, and fueling in a cleanroom as it prepares for a November launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans and will extend out to a decade the record of atmospheric temperatures begun by Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich.

iss073e0982679 (Oct. 25, 2025) --- The Milky Way spans the night sky above a bright orange-yellow airglow that blankets the city lights along the east coast of Africa, from Kenya to Somalia. The International Space Station was orbiting 259 miles above the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, at approximately 10:29 p.m. local time when this photograph was taken.

Technicians completed installation of the German Aerospace Center TACHELES CubeSat within the Orion stage adapter inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The TACHELES CubeSat, about the size of a shoebox, is one of the CubeSats slated to fly on NASA’s Artemis II test flight in 2026. Deploying in high Earth orbit from a spacecraft adapter on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket after Orion is safely flying on its own with its crew of four astronauts, TACHELES will collect measurements on the effects of the space environment on electrical components to inform technologies for lunar vehicles.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members prepare to enter the convoy carrying that will take them from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to nearby Launch Complex 39A ahead of launch on Friday, March 14, 2025. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

jsc2025e011960_alt (Feb. 26, 2025) --- The official portrait of the four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station. From left, are Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov; NASA astronaut and Pilot Mike Fincke; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui; and NASA astronaut and Commander Zena Cardman.

The astronaut transport vehicle carrying Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist is seen as it departs the Vehicle Assembly Building following the Artemis II countdown demonstration test, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch teams simulated the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and spacecraft ingress and egress. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, left, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Zubritskiy and Sergey Ryzhikov, right, are seen as they depart the Cosmonaut Hotel to suit-up for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, Tuesday, April 8, 2025 (April 7 Eastern Time), in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch will send Kim, Ryzhikov, Zubritskiy on a mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)