NASA has awarded the Center, Operations Maintenance, and Engineering II contract to Jacobs Technology Inc. of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to support operations at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of $973.7 million. Following a phase-in period that starts Tuesday, Oct. 1 and … Read more
As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA has transferred to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample collected by the agency’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The sample was officially handed over by NASA officials during a ceremony on Aug. 22 at JAXA’s Sagamihara, Japan, campus. This asteroid sample transfer follows the … Read more
A pair of CubeSats from NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator, or PTD, series lifted off on SpaceX’s Transporter-11 rideshare mission at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, August 16, from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California. The two small satellites, PTD-4 and PTD-R, will help advance NASA’s efforts to validate novel technologies and increase small spacecraft capabilities in … Read more
In the heart of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, a team of photographers, imagery acquisition specialists, analytic scientists, and graphic designers work together to create visual narratives that capture the defining moments of space exploration with creativity and precision. From the Apollo missions to the Artemis campaign, these images, videos, and graphics chronicle NASA’s … Read more
Researchers tested a treatment on cartilage and bone tissue cultures subjected to compressive impact injury and found differences in the metabolites and proteins released by cells in space and on Earth along with partial improvement in both gravity conditions. The findings suggest the treatment is safe and could help ensure the health of crew members on future … Read more
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the RockSat-X mission on Tuesday, Aug. 13. The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles (162 kilometers) before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered. The launch window for … Read more
Since NASA began sending astronauts to space, the agency has relied on emergency systems for personnel to safely leave the launch pad and escape the hazard in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown. During the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA used launch escape systems on spacecraft for the crew to safely … Read more
Analyses suggest that microgravity does not significantly alter fundamental biochemical pathways in kidney cells, including metabolism of vitamin D. This finding could help researchers develop strategies to protect crew health on future missions and improve treatment of kidney-related diseases on Earth. Kidney Cells examined the effects of microgravity and other factors of space travel on kidney health. Previous … Read more
On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston commemorated the unsung heroes who helped make humanity’s first steps on the Moon possible. To celebrate their enduring legacy, Johnson named one of its central buildings the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of … Read more
Under a new agreement, NASA will host supercomputing resources for the University of California, Berkeley, at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The agreement is part of an expanding partnership between Ames and UC Berkeley and will support the development of novel computing algorithms and software for a wide variety of scientific … Read more