Koch and Meir complete historic first all-female spacewalk
A dynamic duo of NASA women astronauts – Christina Koch and Jessica Meir – made history Friday, Oct. 18 when they carried out and successfully completed history’s first all-female spacewalk. Soaring some 400 kilometers above Earth while working and floating outside the International Space Station (ISS), they performed a critical task of swapping out a …
New spacesuits unveiled for future Artemis missions
Culminating years of design effort, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine unveiled a pair of hi-tech spacesuits to be worn by the first woman and the next man who will journey to the Moon in Orion capsules and walk on the lunar South Pole – during a rousing event held Tuesday, Oct. 15, at NASA Headquarters in …
India’s Vikram lander remains silent since last moments of lunar descent
Indian scientists have pinpointed the location of their ambitious Vikram lunar lander on the Moon’s surface this weekend via imaging from their Chandrayaan-2 orbiting mothership. The lander was feared lost last Friday when contact was lost in the final moments of descent. The mission is India’s first attempt to soft land a robotic probe on …
Parker Solar Probe makes close approach to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe narrowly zipped by the Sun on Sept. 1, 2019 in its third close approach, mere weeks after celebrating the completion of its second solar orbit and the first anniversary of its launch from Earth. Meanwhile, during that same timeframe, the Earth has made only a single leisurely jaunt around the Sun. …
First night launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy lofts 24 science satellites into orbit
Twenty-four science satellites streaked to orbit during an absolutely spectacular middle-of-the-night liftoff Tuesday. It was the first night launch of the triple-stick SpaceX Falcon Heavy program. As an added bonus it also featured the first ever fairing catch by the Ms. Tree boat out at sea, as well as twin landings of the side boosters …
NASA’s Martian helicopter enters final test phase for 2020 rover
Going where no helicopter has gone before, humanity’s maiden Martian chopper has entered its final testing phase with the goal of proving the rather difficult feat that a heavier-than-air vehicle can fly in the Red Planet’s extremely thin atmosphere. If all goes well, the Martian helicopter will be mated to the belly of NASA’s 2020 …