James Webb’s primary mirror passes test before pandemic suspends work
The team building NASA’s mammoth James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently accomplished a major milestone – fully deploying its 21 foot (6.5 meter) primary mirror into the same configuration it will have when it is carrying out astronomical observations in space. However, NASA has also suspended virtually all future testing of the Webb Telescope – …
SpaceX Crew Dragon closing in on first launch with astronauts aboard
The United States is drawing closer to launching humans from American soil once again with the arrival of the newest SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The capsule is slated to launch with a crew of two NASA astronauts on the Demo-2 mission sometime this spring, marking the first time …
Finalists selected for naming NASA’s next Mars rover
After conducting a nationwide contest where kindergarten through 12th grade students across the United States submitted essays to “Name the Rover,” NASA has selected nine candidate names as finalists to come up with a fitting name for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. The nine candidate names were selected from more than 28,000 essays submitted since the …
Solar Orbiter on way to explore Sun’s polar regions
The Solar Orbiter collaborative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA to study the Sun, its poles, and space weather in unprecedented detail, streaked to space on a commercial United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket this past weekend from the a rocket range along the Florida coastline. The Solar Orbiter mission started with an …
Christina Koch Breaks Record for Longest Female Spaceflight
NASA astronaut Christina Koch set a new mark for the longest single spaceflight by a female space flyer this past week on Saturday, Dec. 28 when she broke the record of 289 continuous days in space while living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season. Koch eclipsed …
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 …