Spinoff 2013 shows how much space is in our lives
Water filtration bottles, comfortable car seats and remote medical monitoring devices all have one thing in common – they all have benefited from NASA technology. These products are featured in Spinoff 2013, an online publication now available that highlights commercial products created using NASA-developed technology, including some developed at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, …
NASA selfie during Earth Day 2014
NASA Astronaut John Mace Grunsfeld takes a quick selfie with astronauts at the International Space Station at the NASA sponsored Earth Day event April 22, 2014 at Union Station in Washington, DC. NASA announced the “Global Selfie” event as part of its “Earth Right Now” campaign, celebrating the launch of five Earth-observing missions in 2014. …
Land ho! Expedition 39 returns to Earth
Support personnel prepare to extract the crew from the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft shortly after it landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on May 14. Wakata, Tyurin and Mastracchio …
SLS engine prepared for the test stand
Formerly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine, the RS-25 accumulated more than one million seconds – or almost 280 hours – of hot fire experience during 135 missions and numerous engine tests like the one pictured here. Four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and the engine …
‘Smoke and fire’ rise over Utah Salt Flats as student rockets soar
The 2013-14 NASA Student Launch rocketry challenge has come to an end – and brought something new to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah, where car and motorcycle enthusiasts regularly watch cutting-edge vehicles put to the test, speeding across the vast, flat expanse. On May 17, all eyes there turned upward as 16 …
Venus Express gets ready to take the plunge
After eight years in orbit, ESA’s Venus Express has completed routine science observations and is preparing for a daring plunge into the planet’s hostile atmosphere. Venus Express was launched on a Soyuz–Fregat from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 9 November 2005, and arrived at Venus on 11 April 2006. It has been orbiting …