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Thursday, March 20, 2025

Stars Alshain, Altair & Tarazed in Aquila

Stars Alshain, Altair & Tarazed in Aquila

Shown above are the 3 brightest stars in the constellation of Aquila. Altair at center is flanked by Alshain (lower left) and yellowish Tarazed (upper right). Note that Altair forms the southeastern most star in the Summer Triangle and is the 2nd brightest star in the summer sky with a magnitude of 0.77. It is so bright because it lies relatively close to us—just 17-light years distant. Alshain and Tarazed are approximately 45 light years away and 460 light years away, respectively.

This two-frame mosaic image is another Greg Parker/George Roberts collaboration. It was photographed at the New Forest Observatory in the U.K., in October 2024.

Image Details: Taken with the 200mm lenses and the ASI 2600MC Pro OSC CMOS cameras on the MiniWASP array at the New Forest Observatory. Each frame was 4-hours, using 10-minute subs.

Image Credit: Greg Parker
Caption Credit: Greg Parker; George Roberts
Capture Location: New Forest Observatory, Hampshire, U. K. Coordinates: 50.819444, -1.59
Release Date: March 12, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Alshain #Altair #Tarazed #Aquila #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #GregParker #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #NewForestObservatory #Hampshire #England #UK #USRA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #EPoD

Four Lasers, Four Layers of the Cosmos | ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile

Four Lasers, Four Layers of The Cosmos | ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile

The four lasers of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) pierce the heart of the Milky Way in this picture. The starry night is interrupted by the vertical glow of the zodiacal light, caused by dust grains in the Solar System, so faint that it is only visible in the darkest skies, such as those of Chile’s Atacama Desert. The pristine night sky in this region has always been intertwined with the culture and traditions of its indigenous people.

The Chakana is a recurrent symbol within Andean cultures. Shaped like a square stepped cross, it represents four stairs or bridges to the upper levels of the Andean cosmovision.

For the Mapuche people in south-central Chile, the sky is the Wenu mapu, a land of goodness and order inhabited by deities, ancestors and benign spirits. The Wenu mapu is ordered into four layers where holy beings like the four gods of the stars (Meli wanlén) and the four gods of the Moon (Meli Kiyén) oppose the forces of evil below. These opposite forces then clash on Earth, a natural world divided into four cardinal directions, each linked to different levels of goodness and evil.

The names and details of this vision of the Cosmos may change across Andean traditions, but one thing remains constant: a belief that four is more than just a number. Four represents a measure of perfection, as only two opposite things can bring balance. The four lasers of ESO’s VLT are currently sharpening our view of the Cosmos, but, in a sense, they also continue this ancient pattern, giving us a small connection to the beliefs of the Mapuche community.

Credit: F. Millour/ESO
Release Date: March 17, 2025

#NASA #FoN #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #ZodiacalLight #LaserGuideStar #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #AtacamaDesert #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Planet Mars Images: March 17-19, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: March 17-19, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

MSL - sol 188

MSL - sol 4480/4482

MSL - sol 4484

Mars 2020 - sol 1450

MSL - sol 4484

Mars 2020 - sol 1449

Mars 2020 - sol 1448

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Celebrating 12+ 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 4+ 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: March 17-19, 2025

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

Journey to The Most Distant Galaxy to Date JADES-GS-z14-0: Oxygen Detected | ESO

Journey to The Most Distant Galaxy to Date JADES-GS-z14-0: Oxygen Detected | ESO

This video zooms into the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, the most distant galaxy confirmed to date. Thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory and its international partners, astronomers have now uncovered the presence of a surprising element after examining its light spectrum: oxygen. The presence of heavy elements like oxygen suggests that the formation of these early galaxies happened much faster than we thought. It must have had multiple generations of stars being born and dying.

The various images shown here, blended together to create this zoom, come from telescopes at distinct time intervals, ending with close-up of the galaxy as seen by ALMA, together with the spectrum recovered by two independent research teams.

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/Digitized Sky Survey 2/DESI/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Carniani et al./S. Schouws et al/JWST: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA).
Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: March 20, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #DistantGalaxies #Galaxy #JADESGSz140 #Oxygen #Fornax #Constellation #EarlyUniverse #Cosmos #Universe #ALMA #RadioTelescopes #RadioAstronomy #Chajnantor #Chile #Europe #ESA #CSA #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Oxygen Discovered in Most Distant Galaxy | European Southern Observatory

Oxygen Discovered in Most Distant Galaxy | European Southern Observatory

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0, the most distant galaxy known so far. This is the earliest detection of oxygen yet, and it is very intriguing. How did galaxies evolve fast enough to get enriched with heavy elements like oxygen so early on?

In this Chasing Starlight episode, we will show you everything behind this incredible achievement, and explain how it is changing what we knew about the conditions of the early Universe.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser
Hosted by: S. Randall
Written by: S. Randall
Editing: M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada
Videography: A. Tsaousis
Animations & footage: ESO, ALMA, M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada, C. Malin, B. Tafreshi, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab, DSS, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA)
Scientific consultant: Gergö Popping
Duration: 6 minutes
Release Date: March 20, 2025

NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Watching Indian Ocean | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Watching Indian Ocean | International Space Station

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Suni Williams peers at the Earth below from inside the International Space Station's cupola. The orbital outpost was soaring 260 miles above the Indian Ocean at the time of this photograph.

Welcome home, Suni!

Crew-9's SpaceX Dragon spacecraft landed off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia aboard. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore returned from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

Hague and Gorbunov have been at the International Space Station since Sept. 29, 2024, while Williams and Wilmore arrived on June 6. This completes a stay in space of 171 days for Hague and Gorbunov and 286 days for Williams and Wilmore.

A plane carrying NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 later touched down at Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas at 11:19 pm CDT, March 18, 2025.

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.

NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams Official Biography:
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/sunita-l-williams/biography
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/williams-s.pdf

Image Credit: NASA/JSC
Capture Date: March 9, 2025
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #IndianOcean #India #ISRO #BhāratGaṇarājya #Crew9 #DragonSpacecraft #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #SunitaWilliams #NickHague #ButchWilmore #Cosmonaut #AleksandrGorbunov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #Houston #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

A Deep Field Collection of Galaxies | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

A Deep Field Collection of Galaxies | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

This image shows examples of galaxies in a variety of shapes, all captured by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope during its first observations of the Deep Field areas.

Deep field refers to a composite image of far distant objects in space, compiled from multiple exposures.

As part of the data release, a detailed catalog of more than 380,000 galaxies was published. They have been classified according to features, such as spiral arms, central bars, and tidal tails that infer merging galaxies.

Image Description: A collage of nine by five squares containing galaxies of numerous shapes and viewed in a range of orientations. For example, the first column shows five edge-on galaxies that appear thin like a pencil. The galaxies in the second column have a more fuzzy, diffuse appearance. The middle columns showcase face-on spiral galaxies with many shapes and densities of stars. The last two columns include interacting galaxies or galaxies with an unusual spiral arm or tidal tail.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA Image Processing: M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #DeepField #GalacticSurvey #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Deep Field Collection of Strong Gravitational Lenses | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Deep Field Collection of Strong Gravitational Lenses | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

This image shows examples of gravitational lenses that the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope captured in its first observations of its assigned Deep Field areas. Using an initial sweep by artificial intelligence models, followed by citizen science inspection, expert vetting and modeling, a first catalog of 500 galaxy-galaxy strong lens candidates was created, almost all were previously unknown. This type of lensing happens when a foreground galaxy and its halo of dark matter acts as a lens, distorting the image of a background galaxy along the line of sight towards Euclid.

With the help of these models, Euclid will capture around 7,000 candidates in the major cosmology data release planned for the end of 2026, and in the order of 100,000 galaxy-galaxy strong lenses by the end of the mission, around 100 times more than currently known.

Image Description: A collage of fourteen by eight squares containing examples of gravitational lenses. Each example typically comprises a bright center with smears of stars in an arc or multiple arcs around it as a result of light travelling towards Euclid from distant galaxies being bent and distorted by normal and dark matter in the foreground. In rare cases, the smearing is in a complete ring, creating a so-called Einstein Ring.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA Image Processing: M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GravitationalLenses #EinsteinRings #GalaxyClusters #DeepFields #GalacticSurvey #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA Cameras on Blue Ghost Lander Capture Effects of Lunar Sunset

NASA Cameras on Blue Ghost Lander Capture Effects of Lunar Sunset

This is a view of light changes from a lunar sunset on the Moon's surface from NASA's SCALPSS cameras on Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander. A compressed, resolution-limited Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) file shows the view of lunar sunset from one of the six Stereo Cameras for Lunar-Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 cameras on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander. It operated on the Moon’s surface for a little more than 14 days and stopped, as anticipated, a few hours into lunar night. SCALPSS was taking images every 10 minutes during the sunset. The bright, swirly light moving across the surface on the top right of the image is sunlight reflecting off the lander. Images taken by SCALPSS 1.1 during Blue Ghost’s descent and landing, as well as images from the surface during the long lunar day, will help researchers better understand the effects of a lander’s engine plumes on the lunar soil, or regolith.

The SCALPSS instrument collected almost 9,000 images and returned 10 GB of data. This data is important as trips to the Moon increase and the number of payloads touching down in proximity to one another grows. The SCALPSS 1.1 project is funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Game Changing Development program. SCALPSS was developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, with support from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

This work was part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence. Blue Ghost Mission 1 performed science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, and X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field to advance research for future human missions on the Moon, as well as to provide insights into space weather effects.

Learn more about the mission:

https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/

Learn more about CLPS: https://www.nasa.gov/clps

Video/Image Credit: NASA/Olivia Tyrrell/Langley Research Center

Duration: 7 seconds

Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Sunsets #Planet #Earth #ArtemisProgram #Moon #LunarLanders #LunarSunset #FireflyAerospace #BlueGhostLunarLander #BlueGhostMission1 #BGM1 #UnitedStates #Robotics #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #SD #Video

NASA Crew-9 Homecoming in Houston | Johnson Space Center

NASA Crew-9 Homecoming in Houston | Johnson Space Center

NASA astronaut Suni Williams is welcomed home by Acting Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Steve Koerner

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore is welcomed home by fellow NASA astronauts

Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia steps off the plane at Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas

NASA astronaut Nick Hague is welcomed home by Acting Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Steve Koerner

Home sweet home! 🏠 Welcome home, Butch, Suni, Nick, & Aleksandr! NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 touched down at Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas at 11:19 pm CDT, March 18, 2025, after their International Space Station mission and successful splashdown earlier this afternoon.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft landed off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia aboard. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

On the main deck of the recovery ship, the crew exited their Dragon spacecraft. They underwent medical checks before a short helicopter ride to board a plane for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. These are photos of the plane's arrival at Ellington Field.

Next up will be the arrival of the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft to the International Space Station due to launch on April 8, 2025, carrying NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky of Russia. Kim and Zubritsky will be beginning their first space mission while Ryzhikov will be serving on his third expedition to the orbiting lab.

Image Credit: NASA/JSC
Capture Date: March 18, 2025
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Crew9 #DragonSpacecraft #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #NickHague #ButchWilmore #Cosmonaut #AleksandrGorbunov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #EllingtonField #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Cat’s Eye Nebula: Ultra close-up views | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Cat’s Eye Nebula: Ultra close-up views | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

These are zoom-ins of the European Space Agency Euclid space telescope’s Deep Field North, showing the Cat’s Eye Nebula in the center of the images, around 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Draco. Also known as NGC 6543, this nebula is a visual ‘fossil record’ of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. This dying star is shedding its outer colorful shells.

Wide-field (Final) Image Description: The Cat’s Eye Nebula takes center stage in a sparkling sea of stars and galaxies. A dot lies at the center of the nebula, the sight of the dying star. Around it are a series of complex and colorful layers and loops of gas and dust that have been ejected by the star over time. Further away are tendrils and patches of gas and dust in various shapes and sizes that give the impression of fragments of a burst balloon frozen around the point of explosion. Millions of galaxies lie in the background. Numerous bright stars with distinct diffraction spikes are also clearly visible.

Image Credit: ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #CatsEyeNebula #Nebula #PlanetaryNebula #NGC6543 #Caldwell6 #Draco #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #DeepFieldNorth #GalacticSurvey #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Deep Field South Galaxy Cluster Survey: 70x Zoom | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Deep Field South Galaxy Cluster Survey: 70x Zoom | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

This image shows an area of the European Space Agency Euclid space telescope’s Deep Field South survey. The area is zoomed in 70 times compared to its larger mosaic.

Various huge galaxy clusters are visible in this image, as well as intra-cluster light, and gravitational lenses. The cluster near the center is called J041110.98-481939.3, and is located almost 6 billion light-years away.

Image Description: A sea of galaxies of many shapes and sizes, oriented in all directions and many with spiral arms visible. A large, nearby face-on spiral galaxy draws attention at the bottom center of the image. Two bright stars in the center and to the left are seen with prominent diffraction spikes. In between the two stars lie a lensed galaxy cluster, with arc-like smears surrounding the central bright galaxy cluster.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #ClusterJ041110984819393 #DeepFieldNorth #GalacticSurvey #GravitationalLensing #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Cat’s Eye Nebula: Wide-field view | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Cat’s Eye Nebula: Close-up & Wide-field views | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Wide-field Image Description: The Cat’s Eye Nebula takes center stage in a sparkling sea of stars and galaxies. A dot lies at the center of the nebula, the sight of the dying star. Around it are a series of complex and colorful layers and loops of gas and dust that have been ejected by the star over time. Further away are tendrils and patches of gas and dust in various shapes and sizes that give the impression of fragments of a burst balloon frozen around the point of explosion. Millions of galaxies lie in the background. Numerous bright stars with distinct diffraction spikes are also clearly visible.

Image Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

New Views: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon Splashdown | International Space Station

New Views: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon Splashdown | International Space Station

The helicopter carrying NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia takes off from the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

Crew-9 were later lifted onto the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN while inside their Dragon crew spacecraft shortly after landing.

On the main deck of the recovery ship, the crew exited the spacecraft. They underwent medical checks before a short helicopter ride to board a plane for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

At 1:05 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 18, 2025, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia undocked from the space-facing port of International Space Station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Image Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Capture Date: March 18, 2025
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planet #Earth #Crew9 #DragonSpacecraft #Splashdown #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #NickHague #ButchWilmore #Cosmonaut #AleksandrGorbunov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

A First Deep Dive into The Universe | Euclid Space Telescope | European Space Agency

A First Deep Dive into The Universe | Euclid Space Telescope | European Space Agency

The European Space Agency’s Euclid Space Telescope mission has scouted out the three areas in the sky where it will eventually provide the deepest observations of its mission.

In just one week of observations, with one scan of each region so far, Euclid already spotted 26 million galaxies. The farthest of those are up to 10.5 billion light-years away.

In the coming years, Euclid will pass over these three regions tens of times, capturing many more faraway galaxies, making these fields truly ‘deep’ by the end of the nominal mission in 2030.

The first glimpse of 63 square degrees of the sky, the equivalent area of more than 300 times the full Moon, already gives an impressive preview of the scale of Euclid’s grand cosmic atlas when the mission is complete. This atlas will cover one-third of the entire sky—14,000 square degrees—in this high-quality detail.

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 7 minutes
Release Date: March 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GalacticSurvey #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Flight Home Highlights | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Flight Home Highlights | International Space Station

NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia returned to Earth for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 18, completing their long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

Hague and Gorbunov have been at the International Space Station since  Sept. 29, 2024, while Williams and Wilmore arrived on June 6. This completes a stay in space of 171 days for Hague and Gorbunov and 286 days for Williams and Wilmore.

On the main deck of the recovery ship, MEGAN, the crew exited their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. They will undergo medical checks before a short helicopter ride to board a plane for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Video Credit: NASA/JSC
Duration: 36 minutes
Release Date: March 18, 2025

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Thursday, March 20, 2025

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