The Cygnus spacecraft, with its prominent cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays, departs the International Space Station as both spacecraft orbited above the Atlantic Ocean. At 6:55 a.m. EDT, the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which earlier detached Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space [...]
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is pictured attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm ahead of its release from the International Space Station’s Unity module on July 12, 2024.NASA Live coverage of the departure of the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station is underway on NASA+, with [...]
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 members stand inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left are Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Pilot NASA astronaut Mike Fincke.Credit: NASA As part of NASA’s SpaceX [...]
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) For Anum Ashraf, Ph.D., the interconnectedness of NASA’s workforce presents the exciting opportunity to collaborate with a multitude of people and teams. With more than 11 years at the agency, Ashraf has played a fundamental role in leading efforts that actively bridge these connections [...]
NASA The instrument enclosure of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor is prepared for critical environmental tests inside the historic Chamber A at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in December 2024. Wrapped in silver thermal blanketing, the 12-foot-long (3.7-meter-long) angular structure was subjected to the frigid, airless conditions that the [...]
From left to right, NASA Marshall engineers Carlos Diaz and John Luke Bili, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory mechanical engineer contractor Eloise Stump, and Marshall engineers Tomasz Liz, David Banks, and Elise Doan observe StarBurst in the cleanroom environment before it’s unboxed from its shipping container. The cleanroom environment at Marshall is designed to minimize contamination [...]
NASA’s Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) successfully demonstrated its ability to remove regolith, or lunar dust and dirt, from its various surfaces on the Moon during Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which concluded on March 16. Lunar dust is extremely abrasive and electrostatic, which means it clings to anything that carries a charge. It [...]
The Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman is pictured moments after its release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station orbited over the South Pacific on Jan. 31, 2020.NASA The Expedition 72 crew members explored ways to protect their immune and circulatory systems in microgravity and tested robotic docking procedures aboard the [...]
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Ice cover ebbs and flows through the seasons in the Arctic (left) and the Antarctic (right). Overall, ice cover has declined since scientists started tracking it half a century ago. Download this visualization from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5099Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Winter [...]
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Technion/N. Keshet et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss People often think about archaeology happening deep in jungles or inside ancient pyramids. However, a team of astronomers has shown that they can use stars and the remains they leave behind to conduct a special kind of archaeology in space. Mining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, [...]
