China's Lunar Exploration Program Welcomes More Global Partners

China's Lunar Exploration Program Welcomes More Global Partners

The United Nations has marked July 20 as International Moon Day to honor the anniversary of the first landing of a human on the Moon. Following China's successful Chang'e-6 lunar mission this year, many countries now seek to work more closely with China on future lunar programs. 

China's aerospace and lunar exploration programs are open to the world and welcome all countries to engage in cooperative missions and projects, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of the country's lunar exploration program, ahead of the International Moon Day on July 20.

After the successful operation of payloads from the European Space Agency (ESA), France, Italy, and Pakistan in China's Chang'e-6 Moon mission, China will aim to expand its international collaboration in upcoming lunar exploration endeavors, Wu said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).

"We are open and welcome international cooperation from all countries, including those countries from the Global South, emerging BRICS countries, as well as Western countries. We do not have any isolating or exclusionary policies, and we want to cooperate in an all-round way. I think our principle is to share data, share results. We are willing to co-build and co-share with our partners. We have no intention to establish small circles or groups. Therefore, China's aerospace and lunar exploration programs, including planetary exploration, are all open to the whole world," said Wu.

He also offered an update on the development of the international lunar research station (ILRS) and the country’s plans for the station.

"The international lunar research station is actually the first large-scale scientific project to be implemented in our country. We are preparing to build a lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the Moon. This scientific research station will be combined with an orbital station and a lunar surface station, plus ground facilities such as the headquarters for major scientific projects. This is being done so that work can continue for a long time, with or without people at the south pole of the moon. It will enable scientific exploration and resource development," said Wu.

"We hope to build a basic station by 2035, and an extended station by 2045. So far, we have signed agreements with more than 10 countries and nearly 30 international research institutions. We hope to work with 50 countries by inviting 500 foreign scientific research institutions, and 5,000 foreign scientific research personnel to jointly build our international lunar scientific research station," he added.

Wu said that in the future, visiting the the international lunar research station will no longer be just a dream for ordinary citizens, while Chinese astronauts and international partners will reach deeper into the solar system.

"I think China should also think about these plans, including space tourism, space breeding, and space mining in the future. We can achieve these targets on the Moon and Mars. I don't think this is too far away," Wu said.

Space breeding involves exposing plant seeds to cosmic radiation and microgravity in space to generate potentially beneficial genetic mutations.

Video Credit: CGTN

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: July 20, 2024

#NASA #China #中国 #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #CLEP #ILRS #Change6Mission #嫦娥六号 #CNSA #中国国家航天局 #LunarSampleReturn #Spacecraft #Robotics #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #CAST #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

30 Years Since Historic Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet Impacts of Jupiter | NASA

30 Years Since Historic Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet Impacts of Jupiter | NASA

In July 1994, astronomers around the world watched with bated breath as fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the planet Jupiter.

The impacts proved to be impressive. Fragments plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere over the course of six days. Like the splash from throwing a rock into a pond, the impacts created giant plumes of material from Jupiter’s lower atmosphere which rose as high as 1,900 miles or 3,000 kilometers above the cloud tops into the stratosphere. In the aftermath, the plume splashback scarred Jupiter’s atmosphere with dark clouds of impact debris that could be seen for months as they were gradually dispersed by Jupiter's winds.

This historic event helped to give rise to the field of planetary defense.

Explore more about NASA’s mission of finding, tracking and better understanding asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

Video Credit: NASA 360

Duration: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

Release Date: July 17, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Hubble #Jupiter #Planet #Comet #CometShoemakerLevy9 #PlanetaryDefense #SolarSystem #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #JPL #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #Animation #History #HD #Video

Apollo Anniversary Event: "Go for The Moon" Full Outdoor Show [Replay]

NASA Apollo 11 Anniversary Event: "Go for The Moon" Outdoor Show [Replay]

Over 500,000 people assembled on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in July 2019 for the Apollo 50: Go For The Moon projection show on the Washington Monument. You can now relive this once-in-a-lifetime celebration in full. Go for the Moon captures the excitement of the first Moon landing and tells the story of the iconic Apollo 11 mission from launch to landing and beyond.

"Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" was commissioned by the National Air and Space Museum and produced by 59 Productions. The Museum's Apollo 50 programming was made possible  by the support of Boeing with additional support from Raytheon.

Learn more about NASA's historic Apollo 11 Moon Mission: 

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/

Video Credit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Duration: 19 minutes

Release Date: Aug. 2, 2019

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ApolloProgram #Apollo11 #Apollo11Mission #LunarModule #TranquilityBase #SaturnVRocket #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #MichaelCollins #NationalMonument #Washington #DistrictOfColumbia #NASM #UnitedStates #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Mars 2024 Images Released | NASA Curiosity & Perseverance Mars Rovers

New Mars 2024 Images Released | NASA Curiosity & Perseverance Mars Rovers

MSL - sol 4142 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of Gediz Vallis channel on March 31, 2024. This area was likely formed by large floods of water and debris that piled jumbles of rocks into mounds within the channel.

Mars 2020 - sol 1213

MSL - sol 4239

MSL - sol 4244

Mars 2020 - sol 1193

Mars 2020 - sol 1213

Mars 2020 - sol 1192

MSL - sol 4178

While exploring the Gediz Vallis channel in May, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured this image of rocks that show a pale color near their edges. These rings, also called halos, resemble markings seen on Earth when groundwater leaks into rocks along fractures, causing chemical reactions that change the color.

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Elon Musk: "And now it is time for America to reach far greater heights by sending astronauts to Mars! Ultimately, anyone who wants to be a space traveler and help build a new civilization on Mars should be able to do so. That is an inspiring future!"

Celebrating 11+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 3+ Years on Mars

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

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

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: June 29-July 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

The Plaque NASA Apollo 11 Astronauts Left on The Moon in July 1969

The Plaque NASA Apollo 11 Astronauts Left on The Moon in July 1969

This is a replica of the plaque the Apollo 11 astronauts left behind on the Moon in commemoration of the historic event. The plaque was made of stainless steel, measuring nine by seven and five-eighths inches, and one-sixteenth inch thick. The plaque was attached to the ladder on the landing gear strut on the descent stage of the Apollo 11 lunar module (LM). Covering the plaque during the flight, there was a thin sheet of stainless steel that was removed on the lunar surface.

On July 20, 1969—55 years ago today—NASA's Apollo 11 lunar module, named "Eagle", touched down on the Moon with commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. They landed in the south-western corner of the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") on the Moon's near side.

The Apollo 11 crew left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and this plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Learn more about NASA's historic Apollo 11 Moon Mission: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 14, 1969

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Moon #ApolloProgram #Apollo11 #Apollo11Mission #CommemorativePlaque #LunarModule #TranquilityBase #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #MichaelCollins #UnitedStates #History #Humanity #InternationalPeace #STEM #Education

NASA Apollo 11: Earth Views | 55th Anniversary (1969-2024)

NASA Apollo 11: Earth Views | 55th Anniversary (1969-2024)

View of the Pacific Ocean and the West coast of the United States and Mexico

View of Africa, the Middle East, and western Asia from the Apollo 11 spacecraft

Distant Earth view from Apollo 11 spacecraft

Landing site view of Earth (in background at top) from the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") with the Apollo 11 lunar module in the foreground. 

View of Earth and of the Apollo 11 lunar module ascent stage (with commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin aboard) from the Apollo 11 command and service (CSM) module with astronaut/pilot Michael Collins. 

Earthrise from lunar orbit

Sunlit view of Earth's atmosphere

Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula

On July 20, 1969—55 years ago today—NASA's Apollo 11 lunar module, named "Eagle", touched down on the Moon with commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. They landed in the south-western corner of the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") on the Moon's near side.

The Apollo 11 crew left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Learn more about NASA's historic Apollo 11 Moon Mission: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Image Dates: July 16-24, 1969

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Moon #ApolloProgram #Apollo11 #Apollo11Mission #LunarModule #TranquilityBase #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #MichaelCollins #UnitedStates #History #OverviewEffect #STEM #Education

NASA Apollo 11 Mission Emblem: An Eagle as a Dove of Peace | 55th Anniversary

NASA Apollo 11 Mission Emblem: An Eagle as a Dove of Peace | 55th Anniversary

"The Eagle has landed."

On July 20, 1969—55 years ago today—NASA's Apollo 11 lunar module, named "Eagle", touched down on the Moon with commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. They landed in the south-western corner of the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") on the Moon's near side.

The Apollo 11 crew left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Michael Collins, the Command and Service Module pilot, designed the mission emblem for Apollo 11. It is the only mission emblem where the names of the astronauts are not written at the edge, as was common practice on the Mercury and Gemini flights and the first three Apollo flights, as well as on subsequent missions. 

Collins wanted to show that the crew was flying to the Moon on behalf of all the 400,000 people who were involved in the construction of the launcher and the three spacecraft modules, the preparations and the planning. The bald eagle, the heraldic creature of the USA, holds an olive branch in its talons. This expresses the peaceful character of the mission. 

The Earth, the place where the Apollo 11 crew came from and would return safely to in order to fulfill United States President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to the nation, rested on a field of black, representing the vast unknown of space.

Note: It has since been noticed that the Earth above the lunar horizon here is illuminated by the Sun from the wrong direction during Apollo 11’s flight along the lunar equator. The hemisphere in shadow should be on the underside and not to the left as the emblem depicted.

Learn more about NASA's historic Apollo 11 Moon Mission: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Release Date: 2019

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ApolloProgram #Apollo11 #Apollo11Mission #MissionEmblem #LunarModule #TranquilityBase #SaturnVRocket #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #MichaelCollins #UnitedStates #History #Insignia #Art #InternationalPeace #STEM #Education

Small Sagittarius Star Cloud: Messier 24

Small Sagittarius Star Cloud: Messier 24

Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It is a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. 

Direct your gaze through this gap with binoculars or small telescope and you are looking through a window over 300 light-years wide at stars 10,000 light-years or more from Earth. Also called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars are left of center in this vast starscape. Covering over 6 degrees or the width of 12 full moons in the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic field of view includes dark markings B92 and B93 near the center of M24, along with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way.

Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Freeburn

Christopher's website:

https://www.astrobin.com/users/CrestwoodSky/

Release Date: July 18, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #StarCloud #Nebulae #Sagittarius #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #ChristopherFreeburn #Astrophotographer #STEM #Education #APoD

Southeast Asia & Russian Soyuz at Night | International Space Station

Southeast Asia & Russian Soyuz at Night | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick: "Looking aft from the cupola towards Soyuz over Southeast Asia at night. A sun about to rise from behind the camera (forward of space station) provides the light blue light to illuminate Soyuz."

Photo details: 1/4s, 6400 ISO, 28mm, f1.4, de-noised, dark frame subtracted

Expedition 71 Updates: 

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

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #SoutheastAsia #PacificOcean #SoyuzSpacecraft #Science #SpaceTechnology #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2390 | Europe's Euclid & XMM-Newton Space Telescopes

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2390 | Europe's Euclid & XMM-Newton Space Telescopes

Scientists have combined Euclid’s recently released image of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2390 with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton’s X-ray observation of the same site to showcase the blazing million degree hot gas that fills the space between the galaxies.

Abell 2390 is a giant conglomeration of many galaxies like the Milky Way, located 2.7 billion light-years from Earth. Euclid’s image was obtained from observations in visible and near-infrared light and features more than 50,000 galaxies. Thousands of these are part of the cluster. Yet, we cannot directly see most of the mass that makes up this cluster in Euclid’s sparkling view.

A galaxy cluster like Abell 2390 is a gigantic pile of dark matter that makes up about 80% of its total mass. Most of the ‘normal’ matter in the pile is in the form of scorching hot gas. It makes up about 15% of the cluster. These galaxies, add up to only a few percent of the total mass, sit in this pile like raisins in a cake.

The temperature of the gas ranges between 10 to 100 million degrees Celsius. Here, electrons are stripped from the atoms in the gas and become ionized. The sizzling mixture of charged particles produces the X-rays captured by XMM-Newton.

In the image, the X-ray light appears as a blue glow that permeates the expanses between the galaxies. The diffuse light is brighter towards the center of the cluster, indicating that there the gas becomes hotter and more concentrated.

By mapping where the hot gas is located and studying how it behaves, astronomers learn more about how galaxy clusters grow, and about how galaxies interact and evolve in this dynamic environment.

The gigantic, curved arcs in Euclid’s image are the result of gravitational lensing where the light travelling to us from more distant galaxies is bent and distorted by the matter in the foreground (‘normal’ and dark matter). Euclid uses lensing as a key technique for exploring the dark Universe, indirectly mapping the amount and distribution of dark matter both in galaxy clusters and elsewhere.

Credits: ESA/XMM-Newton/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Acknowledgements: XMM-Newton: Ignacio de la Calle. Euclid: Processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Release Date: July 16, 2024

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GalaxyCluster #Abell2390 #GravitationalLenses #Pegasus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Infrared #XMMNewton #Xray #SpaceTelescopes #Europe #STEM #Education

Severe Thunderstorms Race Through American Midwest | NOAA

Severe Thunderstorms Race Through American Midwest | NOAA

Parts of the Midwest are cleaning up after thunderstorms barreled through the region on the night of Monday, July 15, 2024, bringing hurricane-force winds and multiple tornadoes around Chicago. More than 600 reports of damaging winds from Iowa to Michigan left over 350,000 customers without power Tuesday morning.

The storm complex was a derecho, or a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of fast-moving showers or thunderstorms. Storms first erupted during the mid-evening hours in central and eastern Iowa, bringing tennis-ball-size hail in Crawford. Initial storms began as rotating supercells, including one that spawned a tornado near Des Moines, then continued through northeastern Indiana along a 500-mile-long path before dissipating around 2 a.m. Tuesday. It toppled hundreds of trees, downed wires and power poles, ripped off roofs and damaged vehicles.

In Chicago, forecasters at the National Weather Service had to abandon their posts as a tornado approached, transferring warnings to a sister office in Gaylord, Michigan. These storms then merged into a cluster, reaching 55,000 feet in height. From there, the storms moved east along a stalled frontal boundary. Cooler air was present to the north, with very warm, moist air to the south. Storms tend to straddle boundaries, in this case, steering them into northern and central Illinois and then Chicago.

Video Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: July 19, 2024

#NASA #NOAA #NWS #Space #Science #Satellite #GOESEast #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #Thunderstorms #Storms #Derecho #UnitedStates #Midwest #MidwesternStates #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Watch Boeing Starliner Astronauts Dock at International Space Station

Watch Boeing Starliner Astronauts Dock at International Space Station

“Nice to be attached to that big city in the sky!”

Go inside Starliner while in flight and autonomously docking to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

From launch to docked operations, the spacecraft and its crew accomplished all capability checkouts and 77 flight test objectives for certification. The remaining 10 objectives will be accomplished from undocking to landing.

For more info on CFT and Starliner, visit:

boeing.com/starliner

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

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 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.

Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

Video Credit: Boeing Space

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: July 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Boeing #Starliner #CST100 #CommercialCrewProgram #CFT #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #BarryWilmore #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #LaunchAmerica #CommercialSpace #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Skylight—A Small Moon Rover with a Big Vision | NASA Artemis

Skylight—A Small Moon Rover with a Big Vision | NASA Artemis

Researchers are working on a mission concept to explore and model lunar craters and pits. Planetary pits are visionary destinations for exploration and science. They are gateways to caves that offer havens for human habitation and are also high priority targets for science. This mission concept, called Skylight, proposes technologies to rapidly survey and model craters and pits. This mission would use high-resolution images to create 3D models of the environment. The data would be used to determine whether a crater can be explored by future human or robotic missions.

NASA 360 takes a look at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) that could dramatically accelerate lunar exploration. 

For more information about the Skylight mission concept visit: https://go.nasa.gov/42UdcvD

To learn more about NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program visit: https://www.nasa.gov/niac

To watch the in-depth presentation about this topic please visit the 2021 NIAC Symposium Vimeo site: https://vimeo.com/912832096#t=19327s

Video Credit: NASA 360

Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds

Release Date: July 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #LunarGeology #LunarCaves #LunarPits #SkylightMissionConcept #Robotics #MoonRovers #LunarRovers #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SpaceResearch #NIAC #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Learning to Explore The Moon in a Meteorite Crater | Canadian Space Agency

Learning to Explore The Moon in a Meteorite Crater | Canadian Space Agency

Over 50 years ago, NASA's Apollo astronauts brought back samples of the Moon that are still being studied to this day. Yet, we still have much to learn about the Moon. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Gibbons explains how Artemis astronauts are preparing for future missions on the lunar surface by learning about the geological processes that have happened on the Moon and our own planet.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Gibbons Official Biography: https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/canadian/active/bio-jenni-gibbons.asp

Learn about NASA's Artemis Missions:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/

Video Credit: Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

Duration: 1 minute, 45 seconds

Duration: July 19, 2024

#NASA #CSA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #ApolloProgram #ArtemisProgram #LunarGeology #MeteoriteCraters #ArtemisAstronaut #JenniGibbons #Training #Astronauts #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #LakeCrater #Labrador #Canada #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Images | Week of July 19, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground: Images | Week of July 19, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. 

Expedition 71 Updates: 

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

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 4 minutes

Release Date: July 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SpaceTechnology #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Polaris Dawn Mission Crew Update: SpaceX Spacesuit Acceptance Tests

Polaris Dawn Mission Crew Update: SpaceX Spacesuit Acceptance Tests

Sarah Gillis - Mission Specialist

Anna Menon - Mission Specialist & Medical Officer

Anna Menon - Mission Specialist & Medical Officer

Sarah Gillis - Mission Specialist

Scott Poteet - Mission Pilot

Jared Isaacman - Mission Commander

Mission Specialists Anna Menon & Sarah Gillis

Mission Commander Jared Isaacman & Mission Pilot Scott Poteet 

The Polaris Program is a planned human spaceflight program organized by businessman and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman. Isaacman, who commanded the first all-civilian spaceflight— Inspiration4—in September 2021, purchased flights from SpaceX in order to create the Polaris Program.

Ahead of "this summer’s first commercial spacewalk" from a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Polaris Dawn crew recently completed a series of spacesuit acceptance tests. They are preparing for the mission’s extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, marking the final significant developmental and test milestone for SpaceX’s newly-developed EVA spacesuit.

Completing the first commercial extravehicular activity in low-Earth orbit is an important first step towards a future where millions of humans are visiting, working, and living on the Moon, Mars, and other destinations in our solar system.

These tests marked the first time the Polaris Dawn crew wore the spacesuit in a vacuum environment, This allows for:

1. Familiarization with how the spacesuit performs in a vacuum;

2. Collection of spacesuit and biometric data to assess the overall system’s performance in a flight-like environment;

3. Understanding of general impacts of pressure changes on their body during pressurized operations;

4. Insight into thermal states expected throughout the spacewalk

5. An elevated metabolic period for the crew to simulate the expected workload during the spacewalk, as well as a reduced-activity period to understand the trend of body temperatures throughout the operation

Polaris Dawn’s spacewalk will mark the first-ever commercial spacewalk and the first time that four astronauts will be concurrently exposed to the vacuum of space. During the approximately two-hour-long operation, Mission Commander Jared Isaacman and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis will separately exit the Dragon spacecraft through its forward hatch. Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet and Mission Specialist & Medical Officer Anna Menon will remain seated, managing spacesuit umbilicals and monitoring telemetry on Dragon’s interior displays.

This final spacesuit testing milestone took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, June 24-28, 2024, utilizing a historic chamber facility previously used to support testing of America’s earliest spacesuits and spacecraft during the Gemini and Apollo programs. Built in the mid-1960s, the facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and remains in use today to support various space industry tests.

“It was a profound feeling for our crew to conduct operations in the same vacuum chambers that supported the Gemini and Apollo programs in the 1960s,” said Jared Isaacman.

“These facilities were declared national historic landmarks because of the history they made then, and still today they make history and advance humankind’s capabilities in space. We are very grateful to the teams at NASA and SpaceX who contributed to the development and safe testing of these spacesuits.”

Polaris Dawn Crew

Jared Isaacman - Mission Commander

Scott Poteet - Mission Pilot

Sarah Gillis - Mission Specialist

Anna Menon - Mission Specialist & Medical Officer

Learn more about the Polaris Program:

https://polarisprogram.com

Credit: Polaris Program/SpaceX

Image Date: June 24, 2024

Release Date: July 17, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #PolarisDawn #CrewDragonSpacecraft #FalconRocket #EVA #Spacewalk #Spacesuits #SpaceTechnology #Astronauts #JaredIsaacman #ScottPoteet #SarahGillis #AnnaMenon #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #JSC #Houston #UnitedStates #STEM #Education