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Astrophotographer Pavel: "This is a bolide I captured one evening on a trip to Baja California Norte, Mexico, earlier this summer. It's seen here reflecting over Hanson Lagoon. Bolides are fragments of a rock, comet, or asteroid that burn up or explode in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. These objects are still referred to as meteors, though they're orders of magnitude bigger and brighter. Also, note the electrical storm in the background at lower right."
Photo details: Nikon D750 camera; Irix15mm; f2.4.
Baja California is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean; on the east by Sonora, the U.S. state of Arizona, and the Gulf of California; on the north by the U.S. state of California; and on the south by Baja California Sur. [Wikipedia]
NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Receives 3rd International Space Station Assignment
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official Portrait 2023
Expedition 23 NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. in her Russian Sokol suit
Expedition 24 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson shakes hands with former NASA Astronaut and Chief of the Astronaut Office Peggy Whitson shortly after landing in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft.
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson pauses for a portrait while donning her spacesuit and before going under water in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official Portrait 2010
NASA has assigned astronaut Tracy C. Dyson to her second long-duration mission to the International Space Station as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 70/71 crew. Dyson will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft in March 2024 and spend approximately six months aboard the International Space Station. She will travel to the station with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, both of whom will spend approximately 12 days aboard the orbital complex.
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official NASA Biography:
During her expedition, Dyson will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit people on Earth. Among some of the hundreds of experiments ongoing during her mission, Dyson will continue to study how fire spreads and behaves in space with the Combustion Integrated Rack, as well as contribute to the long-running Crew Earth Observations study by photographing Earth to better understand how our planet is changing over time.
After completing her expedition, Dyson will return to Earth in fall 2024 with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. Kononenko and Chub launched Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. Kononenko and Chub will remain aboard the orbital laboratory for about one year. O’Hara, who will spend six months aboard the space station, will return with Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.
NASA selected Dyson as an astronaut in June 1998, and during her previous two flights, logged more than 188 days in space. Dyson first launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on STS-118 in 2007, serving as a mission specialist. During the mission, the crew successfully added the starboard-5 truss segment to the station’s “backbone” and a new gyroscope. In 2010, she served as flight engineer for Expedition 23/24 and performed three successful contingency spacewalks, logging 22 hours and 49 minutes outside the station as she helped remove and replace a failed pump module for one of two external ammonia circulation loops that keep internal and external equipment cool.
Dyson has worked inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as spacecraft communicator, known as capcom, for both space shuttle and space station operations. She also served as the lead capcom for various space station missions, as well as the development of the capcom cadre for Boeing’s Starliner Mission Operations Team. Other technical assignments included leading the development of the spacewalk qualification training flow, which she helped to complete for the 2017 class of NASA astronauts.
Born in Arcadia, California, Dyson received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from California State University, Fullerton, in 1993, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Davis, in 1997.
For more than 22 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. As a global endeavor, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 3,000 research and educational investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
On September 12, 2023, from a location just south of the Arctic Circle, stones of Iceland's modern Arctic Henge point skyward in this startling scene. Entertaining an intrepid group of aurora hunters during a geomagnetic storm, alluring Northern Lights dance across the darkened sky when a stunning fireball meteor explodes. Awestruck, the camera-equipped skygazers captured a still image of the boreal bolide, at its peak—about as bright as a full Moon. Though quickly fading from view, the fireball left a lingering visible trail or persistent train. The wraith-like trail was seen for minutes wafting in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 60 to 90 kilometers along with the auroral glow.
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe.
A New Long-Duration Spaceflight Record | This Week @NASA
A new long-duration spaceflight record, our SpaceX Crew-6 mission is back home, and our asteroid sample return mission is on target . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Video Producer, Editor & Narrator: Andre Valentine
Expedition 70: Liftoff of Russian Soyuz Rocket | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia successfully launched to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft atop a Soyuz rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara has begun a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub will both spend a year on the orbital outpost. This was the first spaceflight for O'Hara.
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.
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
NASA's Space to Ground: All Aboard | Week of Sept. 15, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft officially opened at 5:16 p.m. EDT on Sept. 15, 2023. The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 69 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost.
On Sept. 27, 2023, Rubio, Petelin, and Prokopyev will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. The trio have been aboard the orbital laboratory since arriving Sept. 21, 2022.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
Expedition 70 Soyuz Crew Spacecraft Hatch Opening | International Space Station
The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft officially opened at 5:16 p.m. EDT on Sept. 15, 2023. The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 69 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost.
On Sept. 27, 2023, Rubio, Petelin, and Prokopyev will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. The trio have been aboard the orbital laboratory since arriving Sept. 21, 2022.
NASA Astronaut Profile: Loral O’Hara | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara launched to the International Space Station for the first time on Sept. 15, 2023, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Her launch signifies a lifetime of dedication to exploration for O’Hara, who grew space-flown tomato seeds in the second grade, studied aerospace engineering in college, and even worked on scientific research vessels to study Earth’s oceans before coming to NASA.
O’Hara will serve as an Expedition 69 and 70 flight engineer over the course of her six-month mission. During her stay at the orbiting laboratory, she will work on hundreds of science experiments across a variety of disciplines including biology, physics, and physiology.
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.
Expedition 70 Soyuz Rocket Launch in Kazakhstan | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) and Nikolai Chub (Николай Чуб) of Russia are safely in orbit aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after launching on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time). The Soyuz spacecraft will dock to the International Space Station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m EDT. A short time after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub will both spend a year on the orbital outpost. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara.
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.
Expedition 70 Soyuz Rocket Launch in Kazakhstan | International Space Station
A Russian Soyuz rocket for Expedition 70 successfully launched with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Expedition 70 crew members NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, top, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, middle, and Oleg Kononenko of Russia wave farewell prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft for launch, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Expedition 70 crew member NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is seen prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft for launch with fellow crewmates Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia.
The Soyuz rocket is seen in this 90-second exposure as it launches with Expedition 70 crew members.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia are safely in orbit aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after launching on a Russian Soyuz rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time). The Soyuz spacecraft will dock to the International Space Station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m EDT. A short time after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub will both spend a year on the orbital outpost. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara.
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.
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Summer 2023: The Hottest on Record | NASA Earth Science
Summer 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
The months of June, July, and August 2023 combined were 0.23 degrees Celsius (0.41 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than any other summer in NASA’s record, and 1.2°C (2.1°F) warmer than the average summer between 1951 and 1980. August alone was 1.2°C (2.2°F) warmer than the average. June through August is considered meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
The map here depicts global temperature anomalies for June, July, and August 2023. It shows how much warmer or cooler Earth was compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. Note that the deepest reds are at least 4°C (7°F) above the mean.
This new record comes as exceptional heat swept across much of the world, exacerbating deadly wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, and searing heat waves in South America, Japan, Europe, and the U.S., while likely contributing to severe rainfall in Italy, Greece, and Central Europe.
NASA assembles its temperature record, known as GISTEMP, from surface air temperature data acquired by tens of thousands of meteorological stations, as well as sea surface temperature data from ship- and buoy-based instruments. This raw data is analyzed using methods that account for the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for urban heating effects that could skew the calculations.
The analysis calculates temperature anomalies rather than absolute temperature. A temperature anomaly shows how far the temperature has departed from the 1951 to 1980 base average.
“Exceptionally high sea surface temperatures, fueled in part by the return of El Niño, were largely responsible for the summer’s record warmth,” said Josh Willis, climate scientist and oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon characterized by warmer than normal sea surface temperatures (and higher sea levels) in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
The record-setting summer of 2023 continues a long-term trend of warming. Scientific observations and analyses made over decades by NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other international institutions have shown this warming has been driven primarily by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, natural El Niño events in the Pacific pump extra warmth into the global atmosphere and often correlate with the warmest years on record.
“With background warming and marine heat waves that have been creeping up on us for decades, this El Niño shot us over the hump for setting all kinds of records,” Willis said. “The heat waves that we experience now are longer, they’re hotter, and they’re more punishing. The atmosphere can also hold more water now, and when it’s hot and humid, it’s even harder for the human body to regulate its temperature.”
Willis and other scientists expect to see the biggest impacts of El Niño in February, March, and April 2024. El Niño is associated with the weakening of easterly trade winds and the movement of warm water from the western Pacific toward the western coast of the Americas. The phenomenon can have widespread effects, often bringing cooler, wetter conditions to the U.S. Southwest and drought to countries in the western Pacific, such as Indonesia and Australia.
“Unfortunately, climate change is happening. Things that we said would come to pass are coming to pass,” said Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist and director of GISS. “And it will get worse if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.”
NASA’s full temperature data set and the complete methodology used for the temperature calculation and its uncertainties are available online: https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
Video & Image Credits: NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, based on data from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Story Credit: Jenny Marder, NASA Earth Science News Team
Expedition 70 NASA Astronaut Loral O'Hara | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara prepares to enter a Soyuz spacecraft simulator in her Sokol launch and entry suit for preflight training before beginning her mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara conducts preflight training aboard a T-38 trainer jet at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, before beginning her mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara during spacewalk training at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara - Official Portrait (2017)
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara - Official Portrait (2022)
Expedition 70 Patch
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time). NASA selected Loral O'Hara as an astronaut in 2017. This is her first spaceflight.
O’Hara, who will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost, will fly on a quick two-orbit, three-hour trajectory that will result in a scheduled docking to the station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. A short time later, hatches between the station and the Soyuz will open and the crew will be welcomed aboard.
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.
A Blessing for Expedition 70 in Kazakhstan | International Space Station
A Russian Orthodox Priest blessed the Soyuz Rocket and personnel, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad 31 in Kazakhstan.
A Russian Orthodox priest blessed the Soyuz rocket and personnel for Expedition 70 on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad 31 in Kazakhstan.
A NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts (Russia) are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time).
O’Hara, who will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost, will fly on a quick two-orbit, three-hour trajectory that will result in a docking to the station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. A short time later, hatches between the station and the Soyuz will open and the crew will be welcomed aboard.
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.
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Expedition 70 Crew Press Conference in Kazakhstan | International Space Station
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Russia), and Nikolai Chub (Russia), right, pose for a group photograph while in quarantine behind glass during a press conference, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Expedition 70 astronaut Loral O'Hara is seen in quarantine behind glass during a press conference.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Russia), and Nikolai Chub (Russia), right.
Expedition 70 prime crew NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, and backup crew member NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson pose for a photograph
A NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts (Russia) are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time). O’Hara, who will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost, will fly on a quick two-orbit, three-hour trajectory that will result in a docking to the station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. A short time later, hatches between the station and the Soyuz will open and the crew will be welcomed aboard.
Expedition 69 Commander Sergey Prokopyev (Russia) and flight engineer Dmitri Petelin (Russia) will be on duty Friday to monitor the arrival of the new Soyuz. After the new crew docks and after leak and pressure checks, Prokopyev will open the station’s Rassvet hatch while Kononenko and Chub will open the Soyuz hatch. The new trio will enter the orbital outpost, join the station crew for a welcoming ceremony, participate in a safety briefing, and begin a six-month space research mission.
Prokopyev and Petelin continued preparing for the arrival of the new trio by setting up crew quarters for the new cosmonauts inside the orbital lab’s Roscosmos segment on Thursday. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio will configure O’Hara’s new crew quarters in the Columbus laboratory module on Friday before she arrives.
Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio are also preparing for their return to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on Sept. 27. When Rubio lands with his Soyuz crewmates, he will have the record for the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 371 days, surpassing astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s record of 355 days.
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.
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Spiral Galaxy NGC 7331 | Kitt Peak National Observatory
NGC 7331 is one of 18 galaxies chosen by the HST Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project to calibrate secondary distance estimators. The project will use the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain an accurate distance to galaxies via Cepheid variables, with the ultimate goal of using these to measure H0 (a cosmological parameter) to an external accuracy of 10%. It was determined this galaxy is 49 million light years away (and perhaps 30,000 light years across). In this image you will see some of the nearby neighbors being both spiral and elliptical galaxies. Nearby this field (not shown) is another famous group of galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet.
This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Paul Mortfield and Dietmar Kupke/Flynn Haase
Q&A with NASA Psyche Spacecraft Solar Propulsion Engineer Julie Li | JPL
This is a replay of a live chat event with Julie Li, an engineer on NASA’s Psyche mission, which will be the first to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Li, of Maxar Technologies, shares how the Psyche team developed the solar electric propulsion hardware on the spacecraft and accepted questions from viewers.
The Psyche mission aims to help answer fundamental questions about Earth’s own metal core and the formation of our solar system. Scheduled to launch on Oct. 5, 2023, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the spacecraft is expected to begin orbiting the asteroid Psyche in 2029.
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