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This week in 1985, space shuttle Discovery, mission STS-51C, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the first dedicated Department of Defense mission. Discovery landed at Kennedy on Jan. 27 following a successful three-day mission. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #STS51C #SpaceShuttleDiscovery #Discovery #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter
The last rays of an orbital sunset burst through Earth's horizon as the International Space Station flew 258 miles above Brazil in this image from June 2022. In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets. Want more station facts? Visit International Space Station Facts and Figures.
Image Credit: NASA
#nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #space #nasamarshall #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #Earth
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen at sunrise atop the mobile launcher as it arrives at Launch Pad 39B, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for no earlier than Aug. 29.
Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
#MoontoMars #NASAMarshall #nasasls #artemis #NASA #NASAMarshall #MSFC #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #SpaceLaunchSystem #ArtemisI
NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland, or OMG, airborne mission found that most of Greenland's glaciers that empty into the ocean are at greater risk of rapid ice loss than previously understood. OMG's six-year field campaign studied the ocean's role in glacial ice loss by gathering precise measurements of ocean depth, temperature, and salinity in front of more than 220 glaciers. The mission's goal was to clarify our understanding of sea level rise over the next 50 years. This photo of Apusiaajik Glacier was taken near Kulusuk, Greenland, on Aug. 26, 2018, during OMG's field operations.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
#NASA #NASAMarshall #MSFC #AmesResearchCenter #Earth #Greenland #glacier
This week in 2007, space shuttle Discovery, mission STS-120, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a 15-day mission to the International Space Station. This was the 23rd shuttle mission to the orbiting lab. Discovery carried the Italian-built multiport module, named Harmony, which connected the U.S. segment of the station to the European and Japanese laboratory modules. Today, the Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center serves as “science central” for the space station, working 24/7, 365 days a year in support of the orbiting laboratory’s science experiments. After 20 years of continuous human presence, the space station remains the sole space-based proving ground and stepping stone toward achieving the goals of the Artemis program. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #Discovery #spaceshuttle #SpaceShuttleDiscovery #STS120
Snow-covered mountains along the Kazakhstan-China border, including Sayram Lake at top, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the Asian nations.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation
This week in 1978, the space shuttle Enterprise arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for mated vertical ground vibration testing, which marked the first time the entire shuttle compliment – orbiter, external tank, and solid rocket boosters – were mated vertically. Here, Enterprise is offloaded at Redstone Arsenal Airfield before being moved to Marshall’s Dynamic Test Stand. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#FBF #TBT #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #STS109 #SpaceShuttleEnterprise #Enterprise #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx completed its last flyover of Bennu around 6 a.m. EDT (4 a.m. MDT) April 7 and is now slowly drifting away from the asteroid; however, the mission team will have to wait a few more days to find out how the spacecraft changed the surface of Bennu when it grabbed a sample of the asteroid.
This image shows a top-down view of asteroid Bennu, with a portion of the asteroid’s equatorial ridge and northern hemisphere illuminated. It was taken by the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 4, 2021, from a distance of about 186 miles (300 km). The spacecraft’s cameras are pointed directly at Bennu’s north pole. Two large equatorial craters are visible on the asteroid’s edge (center and center left). The image was obtained during the mission’s Post-TAG Operations phase, as the spacecraft slowly approached Bennu in preparation for a final observational flyby on April 7.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #Marshall #MSFC #GSFC #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #OSIRISRex #OriginsSpectralInterpretationResourceIdentificationSecurityRegolithExplorer #asteroid #newfrontiers #bennu
The second supermoon of 2019 happens Feb. 19. But what’s a supermoon? We asked NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams what’s really going on here. Here’s her answer!
Like the orbits of all bodies in the solar system, the Moon’s orbit around Earth is not circular, it has an oval or elliptical shape, with Earth slightly offset from the center. As a result, there are two distance extremes of each orbit: closest approach, known as perigee, and the farthest, or apogee. When the Moon is at closest approach and within a day or so of being full, it is called a supermoon because the Moon will be at its brightest and largest.
This is an image of a total lunar eclipse that accompanied the first in a trilogy of supermoons in 2019.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC/Joe Matus
This week in 1984, space shuttle Challenger, mission STS-41C, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the first direct ascent trajectory for a space shuttle. Here, the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite is housed in the orbiter's cargo bay, demonstrating the capability of the shuttle to rendezvous, service, checkout, and deploy an in-orbit satellite. This was the first in-orbit spacecraft repair. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA's remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA's activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA's history, visit the Marshall History Program's webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #STS41C #SpaceShuttleChallenger #Challenger #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter
This 2017 enhanced-color image from the fifth Juno flyby of Jupiter shows a mysterious dark spot which seems to reveal a Jovian “galaxy” of swirling storms.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Roman Tkachenko
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #jpl #jetpropulsionlaboratory #nasamarshall #MSFC #solarsystem #juno #jupiter #space #astronomy #nasajuno #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #GreatRedSpot #junocam
This week in 1997, the Fastrac engine was duration tested in Test Stand 116 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The overall purpose of this test was to gauge the length of time between contact of triethylaluminum and liquid oxygen as an ignitor for the engine. Initially developed for use with the first powered flight of NASA’s X-34 technology demonstrator, the Fastrac engine was capable of producing 60,000 pounds of thrust. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #rocketengine #fastrac
NASA's CubeSat designed to test a unique lunar orbit is safely in space and on the first leg of its journey to the Moon. The spacecraft is heading toward an orbit intended in the future for Gateway, a lunar space station built by the agency and its commercial and international partners that will support NASA's Artemis program, including astronaut missions.
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, mission launched at 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC) on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand Tuesday.
Image credit: Rocket Lab
#NASA #NASAMarshall #MSFC #ARC #AmesResearchCenter #CAPSTONE #Moon #Gateway
After revealing a trove of details about the moons Ganymede and Europa, the mission to Jupiter is setting its sights on sister moon Io.
NASA’s Juno mission is scheduled to obtain images of the Jovian moon Io on Dec. 15 as part of its continuing exploration of Jupiter’s inner moons. Now in the second year of its extended mission to investigate the interior of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft performed a close flyby of Ganymede in 2021 and of Europa earlier this year.
In this image, the volcano-laced surface of Jupiter’s moon Io was captured in infrared by the Juno spacecraft’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) imager as it flew by at a distance of was about 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) on July 5, 2022. Brighter spots indicate higher temperatures in this image.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #jpl #jetpropulsionlaboratory #nasamarshall #juno #nasajuno #Io
This image taken by JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi from the space station cupola shows the islands of Japan.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #space #moon #NASAMarshall #msfc #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #japan
This week in 1975, the final Saturn IB rocket launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project - an international partnership between the U.S. and Soviet space programs. A Soviet Soyuz rocket launch preceded the Saturn IB launch. Designed to test the compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems and the possibility of an international space rescue, the nine-day mission brought together NASA astronauts Tom Stafford, Donald "Deke" Slayton, and Vance Brand in an Apollo command and service module and Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov in a Soyuz capsule. During nearly two days of joint activities, the cosmonauts and astronauts carried out five joint experiments. Today, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA's exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA's remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA's activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA's history, visit the Marshall History Program's webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #Apollo-Soyuz
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen atop a mobile launcher on June 6, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #space #moon #Mars #Moon2Mars #MoontoMars #NASAMarshall #msfc #sls #spacelaunchsystem #nasasls #rockets #exploration #engineering #explore #rocketscience #artemis
Since the beginning of the space program, people have been captivated by big, powerful rockets—like NASA’s Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo to the lunar surface, or the Space Launch System that will produce millions of pounds of thrust as it sends Artemis astronauts back to the Moon.
But what if the most powerful propulsion system in NASA’s toolbox produces less than one pound of thrust while reaching speeds of up to 200,000 mph? What if it costs less, carries more, and uses less fuel?
This radical system is in-space electric propulsion. It can reduce the amount of fuel, or propellant, needed by up to 90% compared to chemical propulsion systems, saving millions in launch costs while providing greater mission flexibility.
In this image, a solar electric propulsion Hall Effect thruster is being tested under vacuum conditions at NASA.
Image credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #Marshall #MSFC #Glenn #GRC #GlennResearchCenter #electricpropulsion #solarelectricpropulsion
Sorry Charlie Brown, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is taking a peek at what might best be described as the "Greater Pumpkin," that looks like a Halloween decoration tucked away in a patch of sky cluttered with stars. What looks like two glowing eyes and a crooked carved smile is a snapshot of the early stages of a collision between two galaxies. The entire view is nearly 109,000 light-years across, approximately the diameter of our Milky Way.
The overall pumpkin-ish color corresponds to the glow of aging red stars in two galaxies, cataloged as NGC? 2292 and NGC? 2293, which only have a hint of spiral structure. Yet the smile is bluish due to newborn star clusters, spread out like pearls on a necklace, along a newly forming dusty arm. The glowing eyes are concentrations of stars around a pair of supermassive black holes. The scattering of blue foreground stars makes the "pumpkin" look like it got all glittery for a Halloween party.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astronomy #space #astrophysics #solarsystemandbeyond #gsfc #Goddard #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #ESA #EuropeanSpaceAgency #galaxy
The hot desert climate of Illizi, Algeria, and Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, is apparent in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above the African nation.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation
This week in 1984, space shuttle Challenger completed STS-41B, a seven-day mission that concluded with the first shuttle landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The mission launched the Westar-VI and Palapa-B2 communications satellites and featured the first untethered spacewalks, performed by astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #Challenger #spaceshuttle #SpaceShuttleChallenger #STS41B
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A after being rolled out overnight as preparations continue for the Crew-1 mission, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and astronaut Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are scheduled to launch at 7:49 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 14, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
#NASA #space #NASAMarshall #msfc #CommercialCrewProgram #CommercialCrew #SpaceX #Dragonspacecraft #LaunchAmerica #Falcon9
Astronauts on the International Space Station recently enjoyed a fresh supply of leafy greens, thanks in large part to the efforts of Expedition 64 crew member Michael Hopkins. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission commander took the lead on conducting four Vegetable Production System (Veggie) experiments, with the last two wrapping up after an April 13 harvest. VEG-03K and VEG-03L tested a new space crop, ‘Amara’ mustard, and a previously grown crop, ‘Extra Dwarf’ pak choi. They were grown for 64 days, the longest leafy greens have grown on station.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #space #moon #NASAMarshall #msfc #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS
The life of a planetary nebula is often chaotic, from the death of its parent star to the scattering of its contents far out into space. Captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESO 455-10 is one such planetary nebula, located in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion).
The oblate shells of ESO 455-10, previously held tightly together as layers of its central star, not only give this planetary nebula its unique appearance, but also offer information about the nebula. Seen in a field of stars, the distinct asymmetrical arc of material over the north side of the nebula is a clear sign of interactions between ESO 455-10 and the interstellar medium.
The interstellar medium is the material such as diffuse gas between star systems and galaxies. The star at the center of ESO 455-10 allows Hubble to see the interaction with the gas and dust of the nebula, the surrounding interstellar medium, and the light from the star itself. Planetary nebulae are thought to be crucial in galactic enrichment as they distribute their elements, particularly the heavier metal elements produced inside a star, into the interstellar medium which will in time form the next generation of stars.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Stanghellini
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astronomy #space #astrophysics #solarsystemandbeyond #gsfc #Goddard #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #planetarynebula
High above the turn of the world, a mammoth construct largely made of aluminum, titanium, and human ingenuity – big as a football field, easily seen from the ground with the naked eye – skates forever along the edge of the sky, while its pioneering crew works to prepare the way for new human journeys to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
NASA is marking 20 years of continuous crew operations in Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station, comprised of a 360-foot integrated “backbone” truss structure, four sets of 112-foot-long solar arrays, and 16 pressurized modules containing crew living quarters and state-of-the-art laboratories. Designed, built and tested by NASA and its 15 partner nations, its elements launched to orbit one by one over a 13-year period, the station is one of a kind. It weighs more than 925,000 pounds. It has roughly the interior volume of a six-bedroom house. It’s often the third-brightest object in the night sky.
The structure provided the backbone to transform the station into the orbiting laboratory it is today – and many of its largest structures were built, tested, and readied for flight by teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, working in partnership with American contractors and international firms around the world.
Image credit: NASA
#nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #SpaceStation20th #ISS20
This week in 1965, SA-9, the eighth Saturn flight, launched from Cape Kennedy Launch Complex in Florida. This was the first Saturn flight with an operational payload – the Pegasus I meteoroid detection satellite. Pegasus was developed by Fairchild Stratos Corporation for NASA through the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. A Pegasus satellite also flew aboard the SA-8 and SA-10 missions in 1965. After being placed in orbit around Earth, the satellite electronically recorded the size and frequency of particles in space and compared the performance of protected and unprotected solar cells as important preliminaries to crewed flights to the Moon. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #apollo #saturn
This week in 2012, engineers tested the power pack assembly of the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne-built J-2X engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The test ran for 278 seconds and verified the newly installed strain gauges designed to measure the turbine structural strain when the turbopump is spinning at high speeds. Today, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #StennisSpaceCenter #SSC
The contributions of NASA and Kennedy Space Center were stitched into the fabric of one of the nation's most recognizable symbols, when flags from Florida's Spaceport were sewn into an American Flag recovered near ground zero following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In this image, the National 9/11 Flag was raised over the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex after Florida's contribution was added. The flag is now a part of the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site.
Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
#NASA #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter
A fiery meteor streaked across the morning skies in southern Mississippi yesterday on April 27, 2022.
More than 30 eyewitnesses in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi reported seeing a bright fireball at 8:03 a.m. CDT. The sighting was soon followed by numerous reports of loud booms heard in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and surrounding counties.
Approximately 22,000 miles out in space, NOAA’s Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 16 and 17 detected several bright flashes associated with the fragmentation’s of this bolide, or exceptionally bright meteor, which was first spotted 54 miles above the Mississippi River near the Mississippi town of Alcorn.
Image Credit: NOAA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #meteor
NASA is partnering with Aerojet Rocketdyne to advance 3D printing technologies, known as metal additive manufacturing, and its capabilities for liquid rocket engines in landers and on-orbit stages/spacecraft.
The Robotic Deposition Technology (RDT) team, led out of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is designing and manufacturing innovative and lightweight combustion chambers, nozzles, and injectors that will incorporate automated robotic deposition 3D-printing technologies: cold spray deposition, laser wire direct closeout, laser powder bed fusion, and laser powder directed energy deposition. The goal is to evolve these processes using weight-optimized materials to validate operability, performance, and reusability through hot fire testing.
Image credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #3dprinting
This view of sample site Nightingale on asteroid Bennu is a mosaic of images collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 3. These images were captured when the spacecraft performed an 820-foot (250-meter) reconnaissance pass over site Nightingale, which at the time was the closest the site had been imaged. The low-altitude pass provided high-resolution imagery for the OSIRIS-REx team to identify the best location within the site to target for sample collection. Sample site Nightingale is located in the relatively clear patch just above the crater’s center – visible in the center of the image. The large, dark boulder located at the top right measures 43 feet (13 meters) on its longest axis. The mosaic is rotated so that Bennu’s east is at the top of the image. Nightingale is the primary sample collection site for the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to make its first sample collection attempt at site Nightingale on Oct. 20.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #Marshall #MSFC #GSFC #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #OSIRISRex #OriginsSpectralInterpretationResourceIdentificationSecurityRegolithExplorer #asteroid #newfrontiers #bennu
The Moon, with Earth's shadow draping across it during the May 15, 2022, lunar eclipse, is pictured in between the International Space Station's Nauka multipurpose laboratory module and the Rassvet module. Attached to Nauka is the new European robotic arm that was continuing checkouts and mobility tests.
Credit: NASA
#NASA #NASAMarshall #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #lunareclipse #eclipse
Just two days after leaving the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, in a specialized container carefully strapped to the deck of a semi-trailer truck, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft arrived in California — its final stop here on Earth.
DART will be the world’s first mission to test planetary defense techniques, demonstrating one mitigation method of asteroid deflection, called kinetic impact. DART will impact the small asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger companion, Didymos, in a binary asteroid system to change its orbital period.
Inside a cleanroom at Johns Hopkins APL, the DART spacecraft being moved into a specialized shipping container that headed across the country to Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, California, where DART is scheduled to launch from late next month.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #DART #DoubleAsteroidRedirectionTest #asteroid
No matter where you are on this planet, we're all #ConnectedByEarth
When NASA Marshall isn't studying the universe and bringing humanity to other worlds, we're taking time to explore and understand the beauty of our home planet. As we celebrate #EarthDay, take a look at a few of our favorite photos taken by Marshall team members-and follow @NASAEarth to learn more about our environment and the connections that hold it together.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #nasamarshall #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #earth #earthday2021 #earthpix #earthoutdoors #nasamarshall #nasa #msfc #marshallspaceflightcenter #explore
No matter where you are on this planet, we're all #ConnectedByEarth
When NASA Marshall isn't studying the universe and bringing humanity to other worlds, we're taking time to explore and understand the beauty of our home planet. As we celebrate #EarthDay, take a look at a few of our favorite photos taken by Marshall team members-and follow @NASAEarth to learn more about our environment and the connections that hold it together.
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #nasamarshall #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #earth #earthday2021 #earthpix #earthoutdoors #nasamarshall #nasa #msfc #marshallspaceflightcenter #explore
Image credit: NASA
Did you know that it's Pollinator Week—and that Marshall has a 165-plant "pollinator garden" on-site to provide a home for local birds, bees, and butterflies? Marshall's pollinator garden is also a waypoint for monarch butterflies as they migrate every summer and winter. Learn more about our "green team."
Image credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #PollinatorWeek
SERVIR is a joint program of NASA, USAID, and partners in Asia, Africa, and Latin America collaborating to help communities address environmental challenges with the use of Earth and climate satellites. Headquartered at UAH, SERVIR's collaborates with communities of all sizes to make every day #EarthDay.
Credit: USAID/Reynaldo Vela.
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #space #earth #SPoRT #SERVIR #EarthDay
No matter where you are on this planet, we're all #ConnectedByEarth
When NASA Marshall isn't studying the universe and bringing humanity to other worlds, we're taking time to explore and understand the beauty of our home planet. As we celebrate #EarthDay, take a look at a few of our favorite photos taken by Marshall team members-and follow @NASAEarth to learn more about our environment and the connections that hold it together.
Image credit: NASA
#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #nasamarshall #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #earth #earthday2021 #earthpix #earthoutdoors #nasamarshall #nasa #msfc #marshallspaceflightcenter #explore
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins has tended to multiple plant experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). Hopkins believes plants grown in space can help astronauts become more self-sufficient.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #space #moon #NASAMarshall #msfc #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS
The Science Verification Test for NASA’s Advanced Plant Experiment-08 (APEX-08) testing Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant scientists routinely use for research, takes place inside the Veggie growth chamber at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 6, 2020. The test is part of the process for demonstrating readiness for space research ahead of its flight on SpaceX’s 23rd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. The APEX-08 study includes making genetic alterations that elicit a response in a group of organic compounds that modulate plant responses to environmental stress.
Image Credit: NASA/Lucy Orozco
#NASA #space #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #msfc #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS
More than 40 high-powered, amateur rockets successfully launched April 15, in North Alabama, each carrying a scientific payload nearly one-mile-high above ground level, as part of a NASA student competition.
The launches were the culminating event of NASA’s Student Launch, a competition tasking students to design, build, and launch rockets in support of NASA research. When students were asked to describe learning from and working with NASA engineers, excited was the word used most often.
Here, students watch a high-powered amateur rocket launch during NASA’s 2023 Student Launch competition near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Image Credit: NASA/Charles Beason
#nasa #NASAMarshall #MSFC #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #education #space #studentlaunch
For more information about Student Launch, click here.
The next full Moon will be Wednesday night, August 30, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 9:36 PM EDT. The planet Saturn, just a few days from its closest and brightest for the year, will appear near the Moon. As evening twilight ends (at 8:42 PM) Saturn will be 5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon, and will appear to swing clockwise around the Moon as the evening progresses. The Moon will appear full for 3 days around the peak of the full Moon, from Tuesday night to Friday morning.
This will be a supermoon. Publications use different thresholds for deciding which Moons qualify as "super," but all agree that in 2023 the two full Moons in August qualify.
This full Moon will be the second full Moon in August, making it a Blue Moon by the newer definition introduced by Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946. The older definition of Blue Moon, dating back to at least the 1500s, is the name for the third full Moon in a season that has four Moons. By this definition, the full Moon in August 2024 will be the Blue Moon and this full Moon, as the last full Moon of summer, shares some of the seasonal names from my posting for the August 1 full Moon. Neither of these definitions has anything to do with the color of the Moon, so the Blue Moon will not actually look blue.
This full Moon corresponds with the Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan, also called Rakhi or Rakhi Purnima, celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. One of the traditions is for sisters of all ages to tie a rakhi (a cotton bracelet) around their brother's wrist, receiving a gift from the brother in return, as a sign of the continuing bond between them. The term "Raksha Bandhan" translates as "the bond of protection, obligation, or care."
Here, the Moon, or supermoon, is seen as it rises behind the U.S. Capitol, Monday, March 9, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
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Our ‘Moon Tree’ seedling that flew around the Moon on the NASAArtemis I mission is celebrating its second holiday season at #NASAMarshall. They really do grow up fast!
Image Credit: NASA
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Read more about the Moon trees
Teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed welding the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II, the first flight with astronauts. Teams moved the Artemis II launch vehicle stage adapter to another area of the Marshall facility to finish outfitting and assembly. The LVSA flight hardware is produced exclusively at Marshall by Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville.
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #space #moon #Mars #NASAMarshall #msfc #sls #spacelaunchsystem #nasasls #rockets #exploration #engineering #explore #rocketscience #artemis #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter
BE4 test firing at MSFC
Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine test plume rains over the recently demolished GVTA footprint at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
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Scientists thought Bennu's surface was like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples. Past telescope observations from Earth had suggested the presence of large swaths of fine-grained material smaller than a few centimeters called fine regolith. But when NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission arrived at Bennu in late 2018, the mission saw a surface covered in boulders. The mysterious lack of fine regolith became even more surprising when mission scientists observed evidence of processes potentially capable of grinding boulders into fine regolith.
New research, published in Nature and led by Saverio Cambioni, of the University of Arizona, used machine learning and surface temperature data to solve the mystery. Cambioni conducted the research at the university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He and his colleagues ultimately found that Bennu's highly porous rocks are responsible for the surface's surprising lack of fine regolith.
This image shows a view of asteroid Bennu’s surface in a region near the equator. It was taken by the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 21, 2019 from a distance of 2.2 miles (3.5 km). The field of view is 158.5 ft (48.3 m). For scale, the light-colored rock in the upper left corner of the image is 24 ft (7.4 m) wide.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #Marshall #MSFC #GSFC #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #OSIRISRex #OriginsSpectralInterpretationResourceIdentificationSecurityRegolithExplorer #asteroid #newfrontiers #bennu #regolith
In its second asteroid encounter, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million years ago. The spacecraft has begun returning images that were collected as it flew approximately 600 miles (960 km) from the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.
The asteroid was previously observed to have large brightness variations over a 10-day period, so some of Lucy team members’ expectations were confirmed when the first images showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). However, the team was surprised by the odd shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes, which looks like two nested ice cream cones.
In this image is the asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI). This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
#nasa #msfc #marshallspaceflightcenter #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #Goddard #GSFC #lucypacecraft #asteroids #Donaldjohanson
MSFC artist’s concept depicting an aft view of the Liquid Boost Module proposed to meet DoD launch requirements for missions originating from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Additionally, from the abstract of “SHUTTLE PERFORMANCE AUGMENTATION WITH THE TITAN LIQUID BOOST MODULE”, proposed by the Martin Marietta Corporation & Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company, and linked to below:
“The projected 24,000-pound payload lift capability for the baseline Space Shuttle, with anticipated orbiter and external tank weight savings programs implemented, will not meet the 32,000-pound payload requirements for the DoD Mission 4 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. NASA has selected the Titan Liquid Boost Module (LBM) to provide thrust augmentation during the boost phase sufficient to meet and provide margin for the defined Mission 4 requirements. The LBM will use Titan 34D Stage I engines and a cluster of four Titan derived 10-foot diameter tanks. The module will be attached to the aft end of the ET. This paper will provide a description of the LBM and discuss some of its advantages and capabilities.”
At, with a whole lot more, to include diagrams:
commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2565&con...
Credit: EMBRY-RIDDLE Aeronautical University Scholarly Commons website
“Mission 4" requirement:
“…The requirement to increase the Western Test Range (WTR) payload capability by 8,000 pounds is to satisfy the Performance Reference Mission 4 requirement of 32,000 pounds deployed and 25,000 pounds retrieved at 150 NM circular and 98-degree inclination on a 4-man, 7-day mission. This requirement encompasses all known, projected civil and military needs during the current mission model period.”
Again, for shuttle purposes, WTR applies to VAFB.
From/at:
www.gao.gov/assets/masad-81-6.pdf
Credit: GAO website
See also:
Credit: "The Unwanted Blog" blog
At the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the fuel tank assembly for the Saturn V S-IC-T (static test stage) fuel tank assembly is mated to the liquid oxygen (LOX) tank in building 4705. This stage underwent numerous static firings at the newly-built S-IC Static Test Stand at the MSFC west test area. The S-IC (first) stage used five F-1 engines that produced a total thrust of 7,500,000 pounds as each engine produced 1,500,000 pounds of thrust. The S-IC stage lifted the Saturn V vehicle and Apollo spacecraft from the launch pad. This July, in a series of special events, NASA is marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program – the historic effort that sent the first U.S. astronauts into orbit around the Moon in 1968, and landed a dozen astronauts on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. For more pictures, and to connect to NASA’s remarkable history, visit the Marshall History Program’swebpage.
Image credit: NASA
The fourth and final structural test article for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage was unloaded from NASA’s barge Pegasus at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Tuesday, July 9, 2019. The nearly 70-foot-long liquid oxygen (LOX) tank structural test article was manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and is structurally identical to the flight version. Next, crews will load it into a test stand at Marshall for critical testing. The liquid oxygen tank is one of two propellant tanks in the rocket’s core stage that will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and SLS, to the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/Fred Deaton