NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 Visits NASA Headquarters

NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 Visits NASA Headquarters

Crew-5 astronauts Josh Cassada, left, and Nicole Mann of NASA, second from left, and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata of Japan, right, pose for a picture with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, second from right, on June 5, 2023.

On June 5, 2023, Crew-5 astronauts Josh Cassada (left) and Nicole A. Mann (second from left) of NASA, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata (right) visited NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana (second from right) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Mann, Cassada, and Wakata spent 157 days in space as part of Expedition 68 aboard the International Space Station. While aboard, the astronauts worked on experiments related to heart disease, 3D printing human tissue, and fluid behavior in microgravity.

Astronaut Josh Cassada Official NASA Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/josh-a-cassada

Astronaut Nicole Mann Official NASA Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/nicole-a-mann

Astronaut Koichi Wakata Official JAXA Biography

https://humans-in-space.jaxa.jp/en/astronaut/wakata-koichi/

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Image Date: June 5, 2023

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Space #ISS #Roscosmos #JAXA #SpaceX #SpacexCrew5 #CrewDragon #Astronauts #NicoleMann #JoshCassada #KoichiWakata #Cosmonaut #AnnaKikina #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition68 #Expedition69 #Japan #日本 #Russia #Россия #UnitedStates #Science #STEM #Education

NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test #10: Preparing for Crewed Missions

NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test #10: Preparing for Crewed Missions

An Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 rocket engine (RS-25 Engine 10001) was tested on the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand) at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, on June 8, 2023, at 18:16 UTC (13:16 CDT). This was the tenth hot fire test in a planned 12-test series of the newly redesigned RS-25 engines that will be used beginning with Artemis V. The test had a planned duration of 500 seconds, the same amount of time the engines must fire during an actual flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).

Through Artemis, NASA is returning humans, including the first woman and the first person of color, to the Moon to explore the lunar surface and prepare for flights to Mars. SLS is the only rocket capable of sending the agency’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

For information about the Space Launch System, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

Credit: NASA's Stennis Space Center

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 9 minutes

Release Date: June 8, 2023

#NASA #Space #Artemis #ArtemisV #Moon #Rocket #SpaceLaunchSystem #SLS #Engine #RS25 #AerojetRocketdyne #MoonToMars #DeepSpace #Propulsion #Engineering #Technology #NASAStennis #Mississippi #MSFC #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How Does NASA Name Things on Mars? Mars Report - June 2023 | NASA/JPL

How Does NASA Name Things on Mars? Mars Report - June 2023 | NASA/JPL

NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers are exploring new terrain on Mars every day, adding thousands of names to the Red Planet over the last few years. Set in the Perseverance rover operations area at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this edition of the Mars Report features geologist Tina Seeger of Caltech explaining the process for naming Mars rocks, drill targets, and other locations as the teams explore.

This video discusses how official and unofficial names are decided by scientists who need a common language to reference while navigating Mars. For the Curiosity and Perseverance missions, scientists have been systematically dividing their maps into quadrants and giving each quadrant a theme from which to draw names, such as national parks around the world.

For more information on the naming process, visit https://go.nasa.gov/3qsNgI1

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit mars.nasa.gov

Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Other Credits: Video production, rover engineering camera images, Pathfinder mission images: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Perseverance rover’s WATSON, Curiosity rover’s Mastcam, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s CTX images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; Perseverance rover Mastcam-Z images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS; Mars maps: USGS Astrogeology Science Center, NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona, and ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO); Ubajara National Park: R. Ourico (public domain); West Virginia: K. Thomas (public domain); Belva Lockwood: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (CC0); Victoria Crater: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Cornell/Ohio State University; NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona; NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU; Spirit and Opportunity images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell; Shenandoah and Death Valley National Parks: NPS/N. Lewis and NPS (public domain); Death Valley aerial view: NASA; California Map: USGS George I Smith; personal images courtesy of T. Seeger

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: June 8, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #IngenuityHelicopter #JezeroCrater #MROSpacecraft #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #JPL #Caltech #ASU #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Smoke from Wildfires in Canada Blankets the United States | NASA/NOAA

Smoke from Wildfires in Canada Blankets the United States | NOAA/NASA

NOAA satellites are monitoring more than 400 fires currently burning across Canada after unusually hot and dry weather triggered an early and intense start to the wildfire season. Canada is on track to have the worst wildfire season on record. 

Earlier last month, smoke from wildfires burning in Alberta and British Columbia produced a smoky haze that moved across New England. Last week, smoke from wildfires in Nova Scotia was seen moving over the area as well. This week, even more thick smoke from fires burning in Ontario and Quebec is blowing over the eastern and central U.S. much closer to the Earth, triggering air quality alerts throughout those regions.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: June 8, 2023

#NASA #NOAA #Space #Satellites #GOESEast #GOESWest #Science #Earth #Planet #Canada #Ontario #Quebec #Wildfires #Smoke #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Atmosphere #AirQuality #Weather #Meteorology #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #CIRA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Expedition 69 SpaceX Cargo Dragon & Crew Photos | International Space Station

Expedition 69 SpaceX Cargo Dragon & Crew Photos | International Space Station

SpaceX Dragon cargo craft approaches the International Space Station for docking

NASA Astronaut Woody Hoburg works on maintenance activities

Astronauts Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Woody Hoburg (USA) pose for a portrait

NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg, Frank Rubio & Stephen Bowen

Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates sets up hardware for a protein crystal study

NASA Astronaut Woody Hoburg conducts maintenance on the station's treadmill

Follow Expedition 69 updates here:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (May 2023)

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: May 31-June 7, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #SpaceX #SpaceXCargoDragon #ISS #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #UAESA #MBRSC #HumanSpaceflight #Technology #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #Microgravity #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UNOOSA #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula & The Caravan in Cepheus

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula & The Caravan in Cepheus

Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Seen on the left the cosmic elephant's trunk, also known as vdB 142, is over 20 light-years long.

This detailed telescopic view features the bright swept-back ridges and pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas that abound in the region. However, the dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. This rendition spans a 1 degree wide field of view though, about the angular size of 2 full moons. Of course the dark shapes below and to the right of the outstretched Elephant's Trunk, are known to some as The Caravan.

Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Cannistra 

Steve's Website StarryWonders: http://www.starrywonders.com

Release Date: June 8, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #ElephantsTrunkNebula #vdB142 #StarCluster  #IC1396 #TheCaravan #Cepheus #Constellation #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #SteveCannistra #CitizenScience #APoD #STEM #Education

Planet Mars: Dunes of Another World | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Planet Mars: Dunes of Another World | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

This enhanced color cutout is a part of a global scale study of Martian dunes that serves a dual purpose in furthering understanding of both climatic and sedimentary processes. These are two fundamental topics currently driving Martian science.

Image cutout is less than 1 km (under 1 mi) top to bottom and north is to the right. The spacecraft altitude was 254 km (158 mi). 

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. 

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.

Image Acquisition date

April 27, 2009

Local Mars time

15:23

Latitude (centered)

-48.229°

Longitude (East)

334.663°

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Dunes #SandDunes #Atmosphere #Climate #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #MRO #MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #Caltech #UniversityOfArizona #BallAerospace #STEM #Education

Vulcan Rocket Hot Fire Test at Cape Canaveral | United Launch Alliance

Vulcan Rocket Hot Fire Test at Cape Canaveral | United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance (ULA) performed the Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) of the Vulcan rocket as a validation of the fully integrated launch vehicle at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on June 7, 2023, at 21:05 ET. United Launch Alliance successfully conducted a booster engine flight readiness firing (FRF) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The engine start sequence began at T-4.88 seconds, the engines throttled up to the target level for two seconds and then powered down.

Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #UnitedLaunchAlliance #ULA #BlueOrigin #RocketTesting #VulcanRocket 

#BE4Engines #FRF #CapeCanaveralSpaceForceStation #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Espacio A Tierra | Observación de tormentas: 2 de junio de 2023

NASA's Espacio A Tierra | Observación de tormentas: 2 de junio de 2023

Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional. 

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes, 35 seconds

Broadcast Date: June 3, 2023

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Space #ISS #NASAenEspañol #Español #Axiom #AxiomSpace #Ax2Mission #Ax2 #AX2Crew #Astronauts #PeggyWhitson #JohnShoffner #AliAlqarni #RayyanahBarnawi #SpaceX #CrewDragon #Science #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #UAE #SaudiArabia #SaudiSpaceCommission #Russia #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA F-18 Aircraft Gets New Paint | Armstrong Flight Research Center

NASA F-18 Aircraft Gets New Paint | Armstrong Flight Research Center

NASA’s F/A-18D entered the U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility on Edwards Air Force Base, California, also known as the Paint Barn, in March 2023. Once complete, the aircraft was returned to its homebase at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

The aircraft is intended to track, or “chase,” the quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft and provide a platform for videographers and photographers to document research and tests.

The X-59 is central to NASA’s Quesst mission to expand supersonic flight and provide regulators with data to help change existing national and international aviation rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land. The aircraft is designed to produce a gentle thump instead of a sonic boom.

For more information about NASA's quiet supersonic mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/Quesst

Credit: NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Aerospace #F18Aircraft #FA18DAircraft #SupersonicFlight #X59 #Sonicboom #QuietAviation #Aviation #QuesstMission #Science #Physics #Engineering #AeronauticalResearch #FlightTests #LockheedMartin #NASAArmstrong #AFRC #EdwardsAFB #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Timelapse #HD #Video

Fires Burn Across the Province of Quebec in Canada | NASA Aqua Earth Satellite

Fires Burn Across the Province of Quebec in Canada | NASA Aqua Earth Satellite

An unusually intense start to Canada’s wildfire season filled skies with smoke in May 2023. Then, at the beginning of June, scores of new fires raged in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec, some of which were ignited by lightning.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this view of smoke billowing from the fires on June 3. Shortly after the fires started, about 5,000 residents were ordered to evacuate near the city of Sept-Îles in the province’s east. As the fires grew, evacuations were extended to an additional 9,000 people in surrounding communities and in western Quebec’s Val-d’Or and Normétal municipalities. As of June 5, more than 150 wildfires were active in Quebec.

Smoke from the blazes prompted air quality warnings across Quebec and Ontario. On June 4, the air quality index for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) was classified as unhealthy in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, according to NOAA’s Aerosol Watch. Fine particulate matter from the smoke blew down to the U.S. Midwest, where it made the air quality unhealthy for sensitive groups in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.

Fire season in Quebec usually starts in late May. In an average year, only 247 hectares (a square mile) of area would be burned by June 5, according to Quebec’s fire prevention agency (SOPFEU). But so far this year, 160,000 hectares (600 square miles) have burned.

The fire prevention agency said the fierce start to the season has in part been due to high temperatures and dry conditions in the province.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Emily Cassidy.

Image Date: June 3, 2023

#NASA #Space #Satellites #AquaSatellite #Science #Earth #Planet #Canada #Quebec #Wildfires #Smoke #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Dazzling Image of Supernova in The Pinwheel Galaxy | Gemini North Telescope

Dazzling Image of Supernova in The Pinwheel Galaxy | Gemini North Telescope

Gemini North, part of the International Gemini Observatory operated by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, is back observing the night sky following the repair and refurbishment of its primary mirror. The telescope’s debut observation captured the supernova dubbed SN 2023ixf (lower left), which was discovered on May 19, 2023, by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki. This dazzling point of light, the closest supernova seen in the past five years, is located along one of the spiral arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101). 

Distance: 23 million light years

Credits: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab).

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Supernovae #Supernova #TypeIISupernova #SN2023ixf #Galaxy #M101 #PinwheelGalaxy #Spiral #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #GeminiTelescope #NOIRLab #NSF #AURA #Hawaii #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

What might NASA's Artemis III astronauts encounter at the lunar south pole?

What might NASA's Artemis III astronauts encounter at the lunar south pole?

Join a livestream by the Lunar & Planetary Institute (LPI), belonging to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Thursday, June 8, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. CT (8:30pm ET) for a presentation by Dr. David Kring, Principal Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, via the LPI YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/gddKsruv

Artemis III astronauts will land on a fascinatingly cold and rugged terrain in the lunar south polar region. Far different than terrains traversed by Apollo astronauts, the south polar terrain presents new and exciting scientific opportunities to learn more about the Moon. Dr. Kring will discuss this unique environment and what astronauts may encounter during traverses of this unexplored region.

Credit: USRA

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #SouthPole #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIIMission #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #Geology #Lunar #Technology #Engineering #LPI #UnitedStates #Livestream #PublicEvent #STEM #Education

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 | Hubble Space Telescope

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 | Hubble Space Telescope

This image shows the galaxy Messier 94, which lies in the small northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs, about 16 million light-years away.

Within the bright ring around Messier 94 new stars are forming at a high rate and many young, bright stars are present within it—thanks to this feature called a starburst ring.

The cause of this peculiarly shaped star-forming region is likely a pressure wave going outwards from the galactic center, compressing the gas and dust in the outer region. The compression of material means the gas starts to collapse into denser clouds. Inside these dense clouds, gravity pulls the gas and dust together until temperature and pressure are high enough for stars to be born.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA

Release Date: Oct. 19, 2015

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Messier94 #M94 #Spiral #Starburst #StarburstRing #DoubleRingGalaxy #CanesVenatici #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Hubble #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Spiral Galaxy Messier 94: A Double Ring Galaxy

Spiral Galaxy Messier 94: A Double Ring Galaxy

Most galaxies do not have any rings of stars and gas—why does Messier 94 (M94) have two? First, spiral galaxy M94 has an inner ring of newly formed stars surrounding its nucleus, giving it not only an unusual appearance but also a strong interior glow. A leading origin hypothesis holds that an elongated knot of stars known as a bar rotates in M94 and has generated a burst of star formation in this inner ring. Observations have also revealed another ring, an outer ring, one that is more faint, different in color, not closed, and relatively complex. What caused this outer ring is currently unknown. 

M94, pictured here, spans about 45,000 light years in total, lies about 15 million light years away, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici).

Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Brennan

Brian's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/astrolips2000/

Release Date: June 7, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Messier94 #M94 #Spiral #Starburst #DoubleRingGalaxy #CanesVenatici #Constellation #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #BrianBrennan #CitizenScience #APoD #STEM #Education

Planet Mars: On the Floor of Mawrth Vallis | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Planet Mars: On the Floor of Mawrth Vallis | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's CRISM instrument shows a localized, unique spectral phase consistent with polyhydrated sulfate or zeolite here on the Mawrth Vallis channel floor, with implications for the regional history. We want to look for potential textural differences between new hydrated mineral and adjacent clays.

Mawrth Vallis is a valley on Mars, located in the Oxia Palus quadrangle at 22.3°N, 343.5°E with an elevation approximately two kilometers below datum. Situated between the southern highlands and northern lowlands, the valley is a channel formed by massive flooding which occurred in Mars’ ancient past. It is an ancient water outflow channel with light-colored clay-rich rocks.

Prior to the selection of Gale Crater for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover mission, Mawrth Vallis was considered as a potential landing site because of the detection of a stratigraphic section rich in clay minerals. Clay minerals have implications for past aqueous environments as well as the potential to preserve biosignatures, making them ideal targets for the search for life on Mars.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. 

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.

Image cutout is less than 1 km (under a mile) top to bottom and the spacecraft altitude was 285 km (177 mi) and north is to the right.

Acquisition date

May 21, 2011

Local Mars time

14:05

Latitude (centered)

22.982°

Longitude (East)

341.496°

Spacecraft altitude

285.4 km (177.4 miles)

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Release Date: June 6, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #MawrthVallis #Valley #Clays #Biosignatures #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #MRO #MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #Caltech #UniversityOfArizona #BallAerospace #STEM #Education