NASA 360

Highlights from NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 launch day -- Thursday, Aug. 26, 2023 -- from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov makes his first trip to space and serves as a mission specialist on Crew-7, working to monitor the spacecraft during the dynamic launch and entry phases of flight. He entered the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps as a test cosmonaut candidate in 2018 and will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 69/70. _______________________________________ FOLLOW THE SPACE STATION! X: https://x.com/Space_Station Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ISS Instagram: https://instagram.com/iss/

Meet Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut from Kanagawa, Japan, making his second trip to space as a mission specialist on Crew-7. Furukawa was selected as a JAXA astronaut in 1999 and has 165 days aboard the space station under his belt as part of Expeditions 28 and 29 in 2011. He is a physician and received his medical degree from the University of Tokyo, and later a doctorate in medical science from the same university. Furukawa served as a crewmember on the 13th NEEMO mission, and later, was appointed head of JAXA’s Space Biomedical Research Group. _______________________________________ FOLLOW THE SPACE STATION! X: https://x.com/Space_Station Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ISS Instagram: https://instagram.com/iss/

Marc Simard is part of the science team behind the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). SWOT will make the first global survey of nearly all the water on Earth’s surface. Simard, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, developed a passion for the environment during his early school years in Quebec, Canada, and now focuses his scientific work on estuaries and wetlands. He believes SWOT will provide critical data on the Mississippi River delta and deltas around the world, helping us understand how deltas are affected by sea level rise and climate change. The SWOT mission is a collaboration between NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. SWOT is expected to launch in December 2022. For more information about SWOT, go to: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/

The Nanoracks Bishop Airlock - the first commercially funded airlock for the International Space Station - is ready for its journey to space. Teams packed the airlock in the trunk of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in preparation for the company's 21st Commercial Resupply Services mission to the orbiting laboratory. This will be the first flight of SpaceX's upgraded cargo version of Dragon, which is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy's Launch Complex 39A. Also this week, Kennedy kicked off the 2020 Combined Federal Campaign - one the largest workplace giving campaigns in the world.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) discussed living and working in space during an in-flight interview as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Wednesday, May 25. Cristoforetti launched in April on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom for a science expedition mission to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 66 flight engineer Mattias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) discussed living and working in space during an in-flight interview during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20. Maurer launched in November on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance for a planned six-month science mission to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will enable a new era of space exploration. With NASA’s Orion spacecraft, SLS will launch astronauts on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Artemis I, the first integrated flight SLS and an uncrewed Orion, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will provide the foundation for human deep-space exploration. The Artemis missions will demonstrate NASA’s commitment and capability to extend human existence beyond low-Earth orbit. Launching as the world’s most powerful rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space in Florida, the nation’s premier multi-use spaceport, SLS will be the only rocket capable of sending crew and large cargo to the Moon in a single launch. Learn more about SLS and Artemis, here: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html.

Human-generated greenhouse gases and atmospheric particles were affecting global drought risk as far back as the early 20th century, according to a study from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. The study, published in the journal Nature, compared predicted and real-world soil moisture data to look for human influences on global drought patterns in the 20th century. Climate models predict that a human “fingerprint” – a global pattern of regional drying and wetting characteristic of the climate response to greenhouse gases – should be visible early in the 1900’s and increase over time as emissions increased. Using observational data such as precipitation and historical data reconstructed from tree rings, the researchers found that the real-world data began to align with the fingerprint within the first half of the 20th century.

Members of leadership from NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and other partners shared opening remarks prior to the release of the first full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022. Webb is the biggest telescope ever launched into space. It will unlock mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

The International Space Station continues its scientific journey orbiting over 200 miles above the Earth’s surface. This past year, spacecraft carried crew from around the world to and from the space station, where they participated in and supported hundreds of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations. From deploying CubeSats to studying fluid dynamics in space, the orbiting lab expanded its legacy of science and discovery for the benefit of humanity. Look back at some of the best photos of breakthrough science the crew members conducted in 2022: https://go.nasa.gov/3FVGTlX

The world’s first-ever planetary defense test is a big hit, a major hurricane spotted from space, and moving our mega Moon rocket back inside ahead of that storm … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. The poem, titled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” connects two water worlds — Earth, yearning to reach out and understand what makes a world habitable, and Europa, waiting with secrets yet to be explored. The poem is engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The animation features Limón’s own voice and handwriting. The poem was released on June 1, 2023, for NASA’s Message in a Bottle campaign, which invites people around the world to sign their names to the poem. The poem and participants’ names will travel 1.8 billion miles with the Europa Clipper spacecraft on its path to the Jupiter system. Europa Clipper is set to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October 2024, and by 2030, it will be in orbit around Jupiter. Over several years, it will conduct multiple flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, gathering detailed measurements to determine if the moon has conditions suitable for life. To read the poem, send your name to Europa, and create your own customizable souvenir artwork go to: go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle For more information on the mission go to: https://europa.nasa.gov/.

Cedric David is part of the science team behind the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a mission led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). SWOT will make the first global survey of nearly all the water on Earth’s surface. Born in France, David is now a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Water was the one place where David felt comfortable growing up, and now he studies the world’s rivers. In a visit to Castaic Lake in California, David describes what drives him: the preciousness of water as a resource for everyone around the world. The SWOT mission is a collaboration between NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. SWOT is expected to launch in December 2022. For more information about SWOT, go to: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/

This is NASA Space Exploration Video.