Download NASA’s Space Launch System Info Guide
The Space Launch System Reference Guide was prepared by NASA’s SLS Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama, which has responsibility for the design, development, testing, and engineering of SLS, the new super heavy-lift rocket that will send astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis missions. The first flight …
Artemis I Mission Word Search
NASA is launching the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion human-crated spacecraft on their maiden voyage – a long test flight around the Moon and back. We’re celebrating the milestone here at RocketSTEM with a section devoted to Artemis-related articles and activities. In our latest Word Search puzzle, we’ve hidden 33 words related to …
NASA slates August 29 launch of maiden SLS rocket on Artemis 1 mission
August 29 has been selected by NASA as the launch date for the maiden flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket on the Artemis 1 unpiloted test flight from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. NASA officials earlier determined that the fourth Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) Tanking Test conducted on June 20 was …
Nichelle Nichols’ legacy defined by more than a kiss
On a 1968 episode of “Star Trek,” Nichelle Nichols, playing Lt. Uhura, locked lips with William Shatner’s Capt. Kirk in what’s widely thought to be first kiss between a Black woman and white man on American television. The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the …
Artemis 1 rolls out to Pad 39B for launch rehearsal
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop Launch Complex 39B on March 18, 2022, after the first-ever rollout from the VAB the previous day. Prior to the Artemis 1 flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) …
James Webb Space Telescope: How to send a giant telescope to space – and why
The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to head to space on Dec. 22, 2021. With it, astronomers hope to find the first galaxies to form in the universe, will search for Earthlike atmospheres around other planets, and accomplish many other scientific goals. I am an astronomer and the principal investigator for the Near Infrared …
Star Trek’s William Shatner rides emotional journey to final frontier aboard Blue Origin mission
William Shatner, aka Capt. James T. Kirk of Star Trek, launched to space successfully on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, riding along on an emotional journey to the final frontier as the oldest the human ever. Shatner was invited aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket whose development was financed by billionaire Jeff Bezos …
Inspiration4 mission represents a new type of space tourism
On Sept. 15, 2021, the next batch of space tourists are set to lift off aboard a SpaceX rocket. Organized and funded by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Inspiration4 mission touts itself as “the first all-civilian mission to orbit” and represents a new type of space tourism. The four crew members will not be the first …
S.S. Ellison Onizuka on way to ISS after successful launch
Northrop Grumman successfully launched its 16th resupply mission to the International Space Station from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Wallops Island, Virginia on August 10, 2021, at 6:01:05 p.m. EDT. The NG16 mission will deliver approximately 8,200 pounds of cargo to the station including crew supplies, hardware, and scientific research once …
Northrop Grumman to launch its 16th resupply mission to the ISS
The 16th resupply mission by Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is currently targeted to lift off on August 10th at 5:56 p.m. from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. On top of the Antares booster, the Cygnus spacecraft will carry more than 8,200 pounds of science and research, …
QuizMe: Pluto Quiz
Discovered by humanity less than 100 years ago, Pluto has largely remained an enigma ever since. It was not until 2015 that the first spacecraft from Earth – an uncrewed probe sent by NASA – made a flyby of the distant planet, passing within 7,750 miles of the surface after traversing three billion miles since …
Ingenuity ready for historic first flight on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has just snapped her first-ever selfie on Mars this week on April 6, or Sol 46 — as well as its also being the first joint selfie with the experimental Ingenuity Mars helicopter on the Red Planet — and it is truly spectacular. Ahead of humanity’s history-making first controlled test flight by …
Without gravity, what happens to our cells in space?
There’s one force whose effects are so deeply entrenched in our everyday lives that we probably don’t think much about it at all: gravity. Gravity is the force that causes attraction between masses. It’s why when you drop a pen, it falls to the ground. But because gravitational force is proportional to the mass of …
Final SLS Green Run test goes the distance
NASA successfully completed the critical and long-awaited hot fire test of the core stage engines for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) human-rated mega Moon rocket Thursday afternoon, March 18, on a test stand in Mississippi. The rocket stage will now be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center, paving the path for the launch of the …
Soleil Moon Frye wants to take Punky Power into space
In 1984, Soleil Moon Frye wriggled her way into the hearts of millions of Americans as the precocious character Punky on the NBC series, “Punky Brewster,” and although this much beloved sitcom about a quirky orphaned 7-year-old girl and the old man who befriends her was pure fiction, the series didn’t shy away from tackling …
Keeping Earth’s germs from contaminating Mars
While Nasa’s Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars last month, another, China’s Tianwen rover is expected to follow in May. Both missions intend to search the planet for signs of life. But how do we make sure when our landers touch down on the Red Planet’s surface, nothing unwanted is landing with them? If we aren’t careful, …
Wheels in motion for NASA’s newest Mars rover
NASA’s Perseverance rover performed its first test drive on Martain terrain on March 4, or Sol 14, the mission team announced with the release of a batch of dramatic new images captured at the landing site now bearing the name “Octavia E. Butler Landing” where the six-wheeled robot touched down safely two weeks ago on …
Venus was once more Earth-like, until its climate dramatically changed
We can learn a lot about climate change from Venus, our sister planet. Venus currently has a surface temperature of 450℃ (the temperature of an oven’s self-cleaning cycle) and an atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide (96 per cent) with a density 90 times that of Earth’s. Venus is a very strange place, totally uninhabitable, except …
Parker Solar Probe catches unexpected glimpse of surface of Venus
The Parker Solar Probe captured an absolutely stunning glimpse of Venus during its third close flyby of the planet in July 2020, as seen in a newly released image from NASA and the mission’s science team. Although the Sun is the focus of the Parker Solar Probe’s seven-year-long mission to “touch” the Sun and fly …
Boeing slates Starliner test flight to ISS; SpaceX readies Crew-2 mission
Boeing’s next uncrewed Starliner test flight set for April 2 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Following a military mission delay for the U.S. Space Force, winter storms blanketed Texas, and a need for spacecraft and hardware processing time, NASA and Boeing are now targeting NET April 2, for the launch of Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test …