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Celebrating the Women Who Bring NASA Technology to Life
Meet just a few of the women who are bringing NASA technologies to life. These women are helping shape the future by contributing to exciting NASA missions. Their work also impacts life here on Earth. Join us as we celebrate Women's History Month and honor women who are making a difference in our world.
Women's History Month is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women's Day on March 8,
NASA's Space to Ground: Crew-8 Arrival | Week of March 8, 2024
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. A pair of commercial crews is preparing to switch places onboard the International Space Station next week. Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, along with Alexander Grebenkin of Russia of Crew-8, are in the first week of a six-month space research mission. Meanwhile, crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are preparing for their return to Earth next week. Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia will be staying in space a few more months.
Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)
Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov
JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)
NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)
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.
New Expedition 70 & Crew-8 Photos | International Space Station
The four SpaceX Crew-8 members (front row) join the Expedition 70 crew (back row) for welcome remarks shortly after docking and entering the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. In the front row (from left), are SpaceX Crew-8 members Jeanette Epps from NASA, Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos (Russia), and NASA astronauts Mike Barratt and Matthew Dominick. In the back row (from left), are Expedition 70 crewmates Satoshi Furukawa from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Loral O’Hara from NASA, Nikolai Chub from Roscosmos (Russia), Jasmin Moghbeli from NASA, Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA), and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Konstantin Borisov of Russia.
The four SpaceX Crew-8 members are pictured inside the SpaceX Dragon "Endeavour" spacecraft shortly after the hatch opened on the forward port of the International Space Station's Harmony module. From left are, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia and NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Matthew Dominick.
The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, with the Crew-8 quartet aboard, is pictured approaching the International Space Station as it orbited 268 miles above the Indian Ocean.
The Crew-7 quartet (from left), cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa pose for a photo in their Dragon flight suits ahead of their departure from the International Space Station.
Four Expedition 70 crew members pose for a portrait inside the vestibule in between the SpaceX Dragon "Endurance" spacecraft and the International Space Station's Harmony module. The quartet also represent the SpaceX Crew-7 mission having lived and worked aboard the orbital outpost since Aug. 27, 2023. From left are, Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
Expedition 70 Flight Engineers (from left) Loral O'Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, both NASA astronauts who also reside in Texas, give a thumbs up after voting from the International Space Station.
Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli is photographed inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock.
Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara is photographed inside the NanoRacks Bishop airlock.
A pair of commercial crews is preparing to switch places onboard the International Space Station next week. Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, along with Alexander Grebenkin of Russia of Crew-8, are in the first week of a six-month space research mission. Meanwhile, crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are preparing for their return to Earth next week. Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia will be staying in space a few more months.
Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)
Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov
JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)
NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)
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 Europa Clipper Spacecraft: Instrument Integration | JPL
Hardware for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft was developed at institutions and facilities across the U.S. and Europe, including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This work included the science instruments and other spacecraft components, such as the propulsion module, radio frequency module, solar arrays, electronics vault, and more.
During the assembly, test, and launch operations phase of the mission, engineers put together the spacecraft, test its components, and prepare it for its launch and journey to Jupiter’s ice-encrusted moon Europa.
In this video, spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations mechanical engineer Steve Barajas and science systems engineer Jenny Kampmeier provide a behind-the-scenes look at the nearly completed spacecraft in the High Bay 1 clean room at JPL.
The propulsion module for the spacecraft was built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, with help from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and JPL.
The science instruments were developed by APL, the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, JPL, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life.
Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet. The spacecraft needs to be hardy enough to survive a 1.6 billion-mile, six-year journey to Jupiter—and sophisticated enough to perform a detailed science investigation of Europa once it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2030.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
Spinoff highlights NASA technologies that benefit life on Earth in the form of commercial products. We have profiled more than 2,000 spinoffs since 1976—there’s more space in your life than you think!
Learn more about NASA spinoffs and technology transfer:
NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test#9: March 6, 2024 | Stennis Space Center
An Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 rocket engine (RS-25 developmental engine E0525) was tested for 600 seconds on the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand) at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, on March 6, 2024, at 13:09pm CST. This was the third test using a new production engine nozzle providing additional performance data on the upgraded unit and the ninth hot fire test out of the 12 planned in the final round of certification testing ahead of production of an updated set of engines for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) that will be used beginning with Artemis V. The test had the RS-25 engine running up to 113% power level.
As NASA aims to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for scientific discovery and exploration, and prepare for future missions to Mars, new engines will incorporate dozens of improvements to make production more efficient and affordable while maintaining high performance and reliability.
With completion of the certification test series, all systems will be “go” to produce the first new RS-25 engines since the space shuttle era. NASA has contracted with Aerojet Rocketdyne to produce 24 new RS-25 engines using the updated design for missions beginning with Artemis V. NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne modified 16 former space shuttle missions for use on Artemis missions I through IV.
Through Artemis, NASA will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
Soyuz MS-25 Crew Prepares for Launch to the International Space Station
At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, along with their backups, NASA’s Don Pettit, Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos and Anastasia Lenkova of the Belarus Space Agency, participated in qualification exams Feb. 28 and 29, 2024, as part of their pre-launch training for their flight to the International Space Station. Dyson, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya are scheduled to launch in the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 21, 2024.
Dyson will spend six months on the station, returning to Earth in September on Soyuz MS-25 while Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will return to Earth April 2 on Soyuz MS-24 along with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, who has been aboard the orbital complex since last September.
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.
Soyuz MS-25 Crew Members Training in Russia | International Space Station
Soyuz MS-25 crew members (from left) Tracy Dyson from NASA, Oleg Novitskiy from Roscosmos, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya join hands during their crew qualification exams at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia
Soyuz MS-25 crew members (from left) Tracy Dyson from NASA, Oleg Novitskiy from Roscosmos, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya meet with mission managers before beginning crew qualification exams
Soyuz MS-25 crew member Tracy Dyson from NASA
Soyuz MS-25 crew members (from left) Tracy Dyson from NASA, Oleg Novitskiy from Roscosmos, and Marina Vasilevskaya from the Belarus Space Agency pose for a portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson departing Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Soyuz MS-25 crew members (from left) NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya
Soyuz MS-25 crew members NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya have departed the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio is in final training for its mission launching aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station this month.
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: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC)
New Crew Members Barratt & Epps Discuss Life on The International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 70 Flight Engineers Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview March 6, 2024, with WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. and the University of Maryland. Barratt and Epps are the midst of long-duration missions living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.
Espacio a Tierra | A continuación: 01 de marzo de 2024 | NASA
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.
Astronómos miden el par de Agujeros Negros más pesado jamás encontrado
Usando datos de archivo del telescopio Gemini Norte, un equipo de astrónomos midió un par de agujero negros supermasivos, los más pesados jamás encontrados. La fusión de estos agujeros negros supermasivos es un fenómeno que se predice desde hace mucho tiempo, aunque nunca se ha observado. Este par masivo nos entrega pistas de por qué un evento como este es tan improbable en el Universo.
Astronómos miden el par de Agujeros Negros más pesado jamás encontrado:
Astronomers Measure Heaviest Black Hole Pair Ever Found | NOIRLab
Cosmoview Episode 76: Using archival data from the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, a team of astronomers have measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merging of two supermassive black holes is a phenomenon that has long been predicted, though never observed. This massive pair gives clues as to why such an event seems so unlikely in the Universe.
Nearly every massive galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its center. When two galaxies merge, their black holes can form a binary pair, meaning they are in a bound orbit with one another. It is hypothesized that these binaries are fated to eventually merge, but this has never been observed. The question of whether such an event is possible has been a topic of discussion amongst astronomers for decades. In a recently published paper in The Astrophysical Journal, a team of astronomers have presented new insight into this question.
The team used data from the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i to analyze a supermassive black hole binary located within the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. This is the only supermassive black hole binary ever resolved in enough detail to see both objects separately, and it holds the record for having the smallest separation ever directly measured—a mere 24 light-years. While this close separation foretells a powerful merger, further study revealed that the pair has been stalled at this distance for over three billion years, begging the question: "Why the delay?"
The team estimates the binary’s mass to be a whopping 28 billion times that of the Sun, qualifying the pair as the heaviest binary black hole ever measured. Not only does this measurement give valuable context to the formation of the binary system and the history of its host galaxy, but it supports the long-standing theory that the mass of a supermassive binary black hole plays a key role in stalling a potential merger.
With new knowledge of the system’s extremely large mass, the team concluded that an exceptionally large number of stars would have been needed to slow the binary’s orbit enough to bring them this close. In the process, the black holes seem to have flung out nearly all the matter in their vicinity, leaving the core of the galaxy starved of stars and gas. With no more material available to further slow the pair’s orbit, their merger has stalled in its final stages.
Since 2002 Gemini North has also been known as the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope. Dr. Gillett, who died in April 2001, was one of the primary visionaries of the Gemini telescopes. He was instrumental in assuring that the design of Gemini's twin 8-meter telescopes would make major scientific contributions to astronomy.
Planet-forming Discs around Young Stars in Our Milky Way Galaxy | ESO
MWC 758 planet-forming disc
Distance: about 500 light-years away in the Taurus region
Credit: ESO/A. Garufi et al.; R. Dong et al.; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
Planet-forming discs in three clouds of the Milky Way
Credit: ESO/C. Ginski, A. Garufi, P.-G. Valegård et al.
Planet-forming discs in the Orion cloud
Distance: roughly 1600 light-years
Credit: ESO/P.-G. Valegård et al.; IRAS
Planet-forming discs in the Taurus cloud
Distance: around 600 light-years
Credit: ESO/A.Garufi et al.; IRAS
Planet-forming discs in the Chamaeleon cloud
Distance: close to 600 light-years from Earth
Credit: ESO/C. Ginski et al.; ESA/Herschel
In a series of studies, a team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The stunning images, captured using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, represent one of the largest ever surveys of planet-forming discs. The research brings together observations of more than 80 young stars that might have planets forming around them, providing astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of our galaxy.
Research papers:
The SPHERE view of the Chamaeleon I star-forming region
NASA’s Orion Capsule Put to the Test Before Artemis II Crewed Moon Mission
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, prepare the Orion Environmental Test Article for testing in advance of the Artemis II mission.
Artemis II will be the first flight with crew aboard NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. During their mission, four astronauts will confirm all of the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with people aboard in the actual environment of deep space, over the course of about a 10-day mission. The Artemis II flight test will pave the way to land the first woman and next man on the Moon on Artemis III.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 4423: A Matter of Perspective | Hubble Space Telescope
Here we see NGC 4423, a galaxy that lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. In this image NGC 4423 appears to have quite an irregular, tubular form, so it might be surprising to find out that it is in fact a spiral galaxy. Knowing this, we can make out the denser central bulge of the galaxy, and the less crowded surrounding disc (the part that comprises the spiral arms).
If NGC 4423 were viewed face-on it would resemble the shape that we most associate with spiral galaxies: the spectacular curving arms sweeping out from a bright centre, interspersed with dimmer, darker, less populated regions. However, when observing the skies we are constrained by the relative alignments between Earth and the objects that we are observing: we cannot simply reposition Earth so that we can get a better face-on view of NGC 4423!
Of course, celestial objects do not remain sedentary in space, but often move at extremely rapid velocities relative to one another. This might suggest that, should a galaxy be moving in a fortuitous direction relative to Earth, we might be able to view it from a substantially different perspective once it has moved far enough. This is theoretically possible, but the reality is that the distances in space are simply far too big, and human lifetimes far too short, for a noticeable difference in relative alignment to occur. In other words, this is more-or-less the view of NGC 4423 that we will always have!
Image Description: A broad spiral galaxy is seen edge-on, so that its spiral arms cannot be seen. Visible dust and stars trace the disc of the galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo above and below. The color of the galaxy changes smoothly between the outer disc at the ends and the bulge in the center. A few bright stars surround the galaxy on a dark background.
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