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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Launch Pad Departure | Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 crew members right to left, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Launch Complex 39A to board the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-8 mission launch Sunday, March 3, 2024.
After suit-up and final fit checks, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts participate in a traditional game of cards inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Michael Barratt speak with family and friends as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, plus NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt, speak with family and friends as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts from right to left NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia smile and wave inside a Dragon spacecraft at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of liftoff
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia take their first steps outside from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to head to Space Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida prior to liftoff to the International Space Station at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday, March 3, 2024.
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.
Meet NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps: Crew-8 Mission Specialist
NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps is a mission specialist for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission. This will be Epps’ first trip to the International Space Station. She is from Syracuse, New York, and earned a bachelor’s in physics from LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, and a master’s in science and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining NASA, she worked at Ford Motor Company. She was selected as an astronaut in July 2009, and has served on the Generic Joint Operation Panel working on space station crew efficiency, as a crew support astronaut for two expeditions, and as lead capsule communicator in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Epps previously was assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission. NASA reassigned Epps to allow Boeing time to complete development of Starliner while also continuing plans for astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for future mission needs.
For over 23 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. As a global endeavor, more than 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.
The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to more fully focus its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission Overview | International Space Station
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is bringing NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos (Russia) to the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Crew-8 mission lifted off aboard the Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Commercial Crew quartet is taking a 28-hour automated ride aboard Endeavour and will dock to the International Space Station Harmony module’s forward port at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
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.
GN-z11: One of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen | James Webb Space Telescope
Looking deep into space and time, two teams using the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11 that existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old Universe was only about 430 million years old.
Delivering on its promise to transform our understanding of the early Universe, the James Webb Space Telescope is probing galaxies near the dawn of time. One of these is the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when the Universe was just a tiny fraction of its current age. Initially detected with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, it is one of the youngest and most distant galaxies ever observed, and it is also one of the most enigmatic. Why is it so bright? Webb appears to have found the answer.
A team studying GN-z11 with Webb found the first clear evidence that the galaxy is hosting a central, supermassive black hole that is rapidly accreting matter. Their finding makes this the most distant active supermassive black hole spotted to date.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B. Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), M. Rieke (University of Arizona), D. Eisenstein (CfA)
Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission | Kennedy Space Center
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft launched NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia onboard, Sunday, March 3, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
An exhaust plume from SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket
The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket returned to Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft launched NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin aboard at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the eighth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the International Space Station, and the ninth flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
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.
After boosting a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station with Crew-8 NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
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.
Video Credit: NASA/Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission: Launch Highlights | Kennedy Space Center
NASA's SpaceX Crew 8 NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, plus Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 39A aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
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.
Liftoff of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission | Kennedy Space Center
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission roars off the pad at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday, March 3, 2024. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia inside a Dragon spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Leaves Kennedy Space Center for the Launch Pad
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia walk down the hallway of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to head to Space Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for liftoff to the International Space Station at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday, March 3, 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Waves Goodbye Before Launch | Kennedy Space Center
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia take their first steps outside from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to head to Space Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for liftoff to the International Space Station at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday, March 3, 2024.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 at Kennedy Space Center: Before Launch Day
From left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, and NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, and Matthew Dominick, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024
Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 from right to left are NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia smile and pose for a photo in the suit-up room in the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building before launch on Saturday, March 2, 2024
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, and NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, and Michael Barratt, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-8 mission launch, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 crew members and NASA astronauts from left to right, Matthew Dominick and Michael Barratt check their SpaceX spacesuit in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 from right to left NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia check their SpaceX spacesuit in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, March 2, 2024
The members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission posed for photos at Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida as part of a pre-launch dress rehearsal on February 26, 2024, and during their first launch attempt on March 2, 2024. Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, plus Pilot Michael Barratt, Commander Matthew Dominick, and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps—all from NASA will launch no earlier than 10:53pm ET (0353 UTC), Sunday, March 3, 2024, on their SpaceX Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft via a Falcon 9 rocket. The weather is 85% favorable at this time.
Alexander Grebenkin graduated from Irkutsk High Military Aviation School, Irkutsk, Russia, majoring in engineering, maintenance, and repair of aircraft radio navigation systems. He graduated from Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics with a degree in radio communications, broadcasting, and television.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
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.
Data Sonification: "Bones" of a Ghostly Cosmic Hand | NASA Chandra & IXPE
MSH 15-52 is a cloud of energized particles blown away from a dead, collapsed star. This image includes X-rays from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, (purple) as well as Chandra (orange, green, and blue). These data have been combined with infrared data from the Dark Energy Plane Survey 2 (red and blue). In sound, the scan goes from the bottom to the top. The brightness of the Chandra data of the cloud have been converted into rough string-like sounds, while the blast wave is represented by a range of pitches of firework-type noises. The IXPE data are heard as wind-like sounds. The infrared data are mapped to musical pitches of a synthesizer sound. The light curve, or brightness over time, from the dead star’s collapsed core is heard in pulses that occur almost 7 times every second as it does in the original data.
A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. The story begins around 1,500 years ago when a giant star ran out of nuclear fuel to burn. This led to the star collapsing onto itself and forming an incredibly dense object called a neutron star.
Rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic fields are called pulsars. With today’s telescopes, astronomers use them as laboratories for extreme physics, offering high-energy conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.
Astronomers think that the B1509 pulsar here is about 1,700 years old as measured in Earth's time-frame (referring to when events are observable at Earth) and is located about 17,000 light years away. B1509 is spinning completely around almost 7 times every second and is releasing energy into its environment at a prodigious rate—presumably because it has an intense magnetic field at its surface, estimated to be 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. B1509's nebula is 15 times wider than the Crab Nebula.
Video Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)
Phantom Galaxy Data Sonification | NASA Chandra, Hubble & Webb
Messier 74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way. It is seen face-on from Earth’s vantage point and is around 32 million light-years away. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple) have been combined with an infrared view of M74 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (green, yellow, red, and magenta) as well as optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (orange, cyan, and blue).
In sonifying these data, a clockwise-moving radar-like scan starts around 12 o’clock. The distance from the center controls the frequencies of sound with light farther from the center being higher pitched. The Chandra sources correspond to relatively high musical pitches of glassy ethereal and clear plucked sounds. In the Webb data, large, medium, and small features are represented by low, medium, and high frequency ranges of pitches respectively with the brightest stars being heard as percussive sounds. The Hubble data have been turned into breathy synthesizer sounds along with thin metallic plucked sounds for bright stars and clusters.
Scientists combine data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum to truly understand astronomical objects. In this way, data from Chandra, Hubble, and Webb compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view of the spectacular M74 galaxy.
Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar, N. Bartmann
Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)
Panning across Spiral Galaxy UGC 11105 in Hercules | Hubble Space Telescope
This softly luminous galaxy—lying in the constellation Hercules, about 110 million light-years from Earth—seems outshone by the sparkling foreground stars that surround it. The type II supernova which took place in this galaxy in 2019, while no longer visible in this image, definitely outshone the galaxy at the time! To be more precise, UGC 11105 has an apparent magnitude of around 13.6 in the optical light regime. (This image was created using data that covers the heart of the optical regime, in addition to ultraviolet data.) Astronomers have different ways of quantifying how bright celestial objects are, and apparent magnitude is one of them.
Firstly, the ‘apparent’ part of this quantity refers to the fact that apparent magnitude only describes how bright objects appear to be from Earth, which is not the same thing as measuring how bright they actually are. For example, in reality the variable star Betelgeuse is about 21,000 times brighter than our Sun, but because the Sun is much, much closer to Earth, Betelgeuse appears to be vastly less bright than it. The ‘magnitude’ part is a little harder to describe, because the magnitude scale does not have a unit associated with it, unlike, for example, mass, which we measure in kilograms, or length, which we measure in meters. Magnitude values only have meaning relative to other magnitude values. Furthermore, the scale is not linear, but is a type of mathematical scale known as ‘reverse logarithmic’, which also means that lower-magnitude objects are brighter than higher-magnitude objects.
As an example, UGC 11105 has an apparent magnitude of around 13.6 in the optical, whereas the Sun has an apparent magnitude of about -26.8. Accounting for the reverse logarithmic scale, this means that the Sun appears to be about 14 thousand trillion times brighter than UGC 11105 from our perspective here on Earth, even though UGC 11105 is an entire galaxy! The faintest stars that humans can see with the naked eye come in at about sixth magnitude, with most galaxies being much dimmer than this. Hubble, however, has been known to detect objects with apparent magnitudes up to the extraordinary value of 31, so UGC 11105 does not really present much of a challenge.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy, with two prominent arms that are tightly wound around the brighter core. The arms disperse into a wide halo of stars and dust at their ends, giving the galaxy an oval shape. It is flanked by a number of bright stars in the foreground, each with a little cross over it due to light diffraction, and distant background galaxies as well.
Video Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), N. Bartmann
Panning over Star-forming Region IRAS 16562-3959 in Scorpius | Hubble
This image is a relatively close-by star-forming region known as IRAS 16562-3959 that lies within the Milky Way in the constellation Scorpius, about 5,900 light-years from Earth. The image was compiled using observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC 3). The detailed nuances of color are possible because of the four separate filters that were used to collect the data. Filters are thin slivers of highly specialized material that only allow very specific wavelengths of light through. They can be slid in front of the part of the telescope that is sensitive to light, letting astronomers control which wavelengths of light the telescope collects with each observation. This is useful not only for specific scientific research, but also for the creation of images like this one.
Raw telescope observations are always monochrome, regardless of the filter used. However, specially trained artists and image specialists can select colors that match the wavelength range covered by individual filters. Or, in the case where a direct match is not possible—such as for the data used in this image (all in the infrared regime) that human eyes are not sensitive to—the artist can select a color that sensibly represents what is taking place. For example, they might assign bluer colors to shorter wavelengths and redder colors to longer wavelengths, as is the case in the visible light range. Then, data from multiple filters can be combined to build up a multi-color image that looks beautiful and has scientific meaning.
At the center of the image, IRAS 16562-3959 is thought to host a massive star—about 30 times the mass of our Sun—that is still in the process of forming. At the near-infrared wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive, the central region appears dark because there is so much obscuring dust in the way. However, near-infrared light leaks out mainly on two sides—upper left and lower right—where a powerful jet from the massive protostar has cleared away the dust. Multi-wavelength images, including this incredible Hubble scene, will help us gain a better understanding of how the most massive, brightest stars in our galaxy are born.
Image Description: A nebula with stars. The center of the image from top-left to bottom-right glows brightly with light from where new stars are being formed, and is partially covered by dark dust. Colored layers of gas and dust billow out across the rest of the image. The nebula is speckled with foreground stars with large diffraction spikes.
Video Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Fedriani, J. Tan, N. Bartmann
Lina Borozdina: First Ukrainian Woman's Journey to Space | Virgin Galactic
Congratulations to The First Ukrainian Woman to Fly to Space!
"Meet Lina Borozdina: a scientist, chemist, and breast cancer survivor who now adds astronaut to her list of achievements. Embarking on a journey that transcends the bounds of Earth, watch as Lina ventures into the cosmos. Her story is not just about reaching for the stars but breaking barriers, inspiring generations, and proving that the sky is not the limit."
Lina Borozdina, a native of Odessa, became the first Ukrainian to make a tourist flight beyond the Earth on Galactic 06.
Galactic 06, Virgin Galactic’s sixth commercial spaceflight, was launched from Spaceport America, New Mexico, on January 26, 2024, at 10am MT. VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo, transported four passengers: Lina Borozdina, Robie Vaughn, Franz Haider, Neil Kornswiet. The flight reached an apogee of 55.1 miles (~88 km). “Galactic 06’ flight marked the first time all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied by private astronauts”.
VSS Unity was commanded by C.J. Sturckow with pilot Nicola Pecile. Michael Masucci commanded mothership VMS Eve joined by pilot Dan Alix.
· Astronaut 023 – Lina Borozdina, Ukraine and Nevada, U.S.
· Astronaut 024 – Robie Vaughn, Texas, U.S.
· Astronaut 025 – Franz Haider, Austria
· Astronaut 026 – Neil Kornswiet, California, U.S.
