The International Space Station was orbiting on a northeast track 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean when this photograph captured the first rays of an orbital sunrise illuminating Earth’s atmosphere.NASA/Matthew Dominick NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured the start of this orbital sunrise on Aug. 15, 2024, while aboard the International Space Station. Crew members aboard [...]

Crews moved the cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter out of NASA Marshall’s Building 4708 to the agency’s Pegasus barge on August 21. The barge will ferry the adapter first to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, where it will pick up additional SLS hardware for future Artemis missions, and then travel to NASA Kennedy. In Florida, teams [...]

Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 9 min read Looking Back on Looking Up: The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Credit: NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) Introduction First as a bite, then a half Moon, until crescent-shaped shadows [...]

2 min read Hubble Finds Structure in an Unstructured Galaxy NASA, ESA, A. del Pino Molina (CEFCA), K. Gilbert and R. van der Marel (STScI), A. Cole (University of Tasmania); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the nearby dwarf irregular galaxy Leo A, located some [...]

29 Min Read The Marshall Star for August 21, 2024 Hundreds Honored at Marshall, NASA Awards Ceremony NASA Chief Financial Officer Margaret Vo Schaus speaks to audience members and honorees Aug. 15 during the 2023 Agency/Center Honor Awards at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Activities Building 4316. In all, 332 Marshall team members [...]

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In-space propulsion systems utilizing cryogenic liquids as propellants are necessary to achieve NASA’s exploration missions to the Moon, and later to Mars. In current state of the art (SOA) human scale, in-space propulsion vehicles, cryogenic liquids can be stored for several hours. For the [...]

2 min read NASA’s DART Team Earns AIAA Space Systems Award for Pioneering Mission NASA’s DART (Double​ Asteroid Redirection Test) mission continues to yield scientific discoveries and garner accolades for its groundbreaking achievements. The mission team was recently recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)with the 2024 Space Systems Award during this year’s AIAA ASCEND event, [...]

Screenshot of Copernicus with the Artemis I trajectoryNASA/JSC Copernicus, a generalized spacecraft trajectory design and optimization system, is capable of solving a wide range of trajectory problems such as planet or moon centered trajectories, libration point trajectories, planet-moon transfers and tours, and all types of interplanetary and asteroid/comet missions. Latest News August 13, 2024: Copernicus [...]

4 Min Read Talented Teams Tackle Toasty Planet Simulation of a planet transiting its host star by Exoplanet Watch volunteer Guiseppe Conzo. Credits: Guiseppe Conzo Exoplanets, look out! Two NASA-funded teams of amateur astronomers are tracking you with their backyard telescopes.  These two teams, called UNITE (UNISTELLAR Network Investigating TESS Exoplanets) and Exoplanet Watch, have combined forces [...]

The Sturgeon Moon rises behind a replica Saturn V rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Monday, August 19, 2024. Over 99% full when it rose, the moon was a rare combination of a blue moon and a supermoon, a phenomenon that will not repeat until 2027. NASA/Michael DeMocker A [...]