Close-up: Spiral Galaxy Messier 96 in Leo | Victor Blanco Telescope

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy Messier 96 in Leo | Victor Blanco Telescope

Among the nearly four billion objects in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys’ map is Messier 96 (NGC 3368), a majestic spiral galaxy nestled in the constellation Leo approximately 35 million light-years from Earth. Spanning 100,000 light-years, slightly larger than our own Milky Way in size, it is the brightest member of the Messier 96 Group, the closest grouping of galaxies to our own Local Group. The Messier 96 data were extracted from the DESI Legacy Survey and captured by the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a CCD camera affixed to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

The asymmetrical appearance of Messier 96 hints at its history of gravitational interactions—dark dust trails are distributed unevenly throughout the spiral arms. These appear smeared in certain areas. Alhough it is not obvious in this image, astronomers agree that the bright core is not exactly at the center of the galaxy where they would expect it to be. These distorted spiral patterns and the misplaced central core point to disruption caused by the gravitational pull exerted by other galaxies in the Messier 96 Group that have drifted farther away from this preeminent group member.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE & KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Aug. 10, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Messier96 #M96 #NGC3368 #InteractingGalaxies #Messier96Group #LeoConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #NOIRLab #NSF #DOE #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spiral Galaxy Messier 96 in Leo | Victor Blanco Telescope

Spiral Galaxy Messier 96 in Leo | Victor Blanco Telescope

Among the nearly four billion objects in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys’ map is Messier 96 (NGC 3368), a majestic spiral galaxy nestled in the constellation Leo approximately 35 million light-years from Earth. Spanning 100,000 light-years, slightly larger than our own Milky Way in size, it is the brightest member of the Messier 96 Group, the closest grouping of galaxies to our own Local Group. The Messier 96 data were extracted from the DESI Legacy Survey and captured by the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a CCD camera affixed to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

The asymmetrical appearance of Messier 96 hints at its history of gravitational interactions—dark dust trails are distributed unevenly throughout the spiral arms. These appear smeared in certain areas. Alhough it is not obvious in this image, astronomers agree that the bright core is not exactly at the center of the galaxy where they would expect it to be. These distorted spiral patterns and the misplaced central core point to disruption caused by the gravitational pull exerted by other galaxies in the Messier 96 Group that have drifted farther away from this preeminent group member.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE & KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Release Date: Aug. 10, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Messier96 #M96 #NGC3368 #InteractingGalaxies #Messier96Group #LeoConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #NOIRLab #NSF #DOE #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Peering Down Deep into Earth's Green Aurora | International Space Station

Peering Down Deep into Earth's Green Aurora | International Space Station

Expedition 71/72 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Don Pettit: "Orbiting over wavy green auroras! Moments like these are some of the most surreal in spaceflight. What a view!"

Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras. Excited by solar energy outflows, oxygen molecules within planet Earth's atmosphere can produce green aurora colors roughly between 60 to 120 miles (100-200 km) altitude.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth on April 19, 2025, concluding a seven-month science mission aboard the International Space Station. Pettit spent 220 days in space, earning him a total of 590 days in space over the course of his four spaceflights. He orbited the Earth 3,520 times, traveling 93.3 million miles in low-Earth orbit.

Follow Expedition 75:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Jessica Meir
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Video Credits: NASA/JSC/D. Pettit
Duration: 24 seconds
Release Date: Aug. 22, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Aurora #GreenAurora #Astronauts #DonPettit #AstronautVideography #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition75 #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

SpaceX Starship Six-Engine Static Fire Pre-flight Test#14

SpaceX Starship Six-Engine Static Fire Pre-flight Test#14

To prepare for SpaceX's Flight Test#14: "Starship completed a full-duration, 60-second static fire with all six Raptor engines" on Friday, August 21, 2026.

Starship Flight Test#13 Summary:

On Friday, July 24, 2026, at 5:51 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its thirteenth flight test. This was the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles and the first Starship flight to deploy the next generation Starlink V3 satellites.

The flight test began with Super Heavy igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to continue its flight to space.

Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver. The startup sequence was modified for this flight to be more robust to timing variability in engine startup and flip in the desired direction. This is done to increase overall performance. The booster successfully completed the high thrust portion of the boostback burn with all 33 engines, the first time with a Super Heavy V3, before ending the burn early. It attempted to relight its engines for the landing burn with a subset successfully igniting before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf.

After completing a full-duration ascent burn on all six Raptor engines, Starship achieved its planned velocity and trajectory. Starship then successfully deployed all 20 Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX engineers were able to successfully communicate with every satellite using radio frequency and laser links and downloaded key telemetry from the satellites. The Starlink satellites were deployed on the pre-planned trajectory and are expected to have demised upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.

The vehicle also reignited a single Raptor engine in an in-space demonstration of a core capability for future orbital missions.

Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was able to gather critical data on the performance of its heatshield before executing a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly. Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean. After relighting all three Raptor engines, Starship executed a landing flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown, coming to rest intact in the Indian Ocean and providing critical views of an intact heatshield for the first time.

NASA plans to use a lunar lander version of Starship to deliver astronauts and cargo to the Moon during the Artemis IV mission and beyond through the Human Landing System (HLS) Program.

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: SpaceX
Duration: 1 minute, 18 seconds
Date: Aug. 21, 2026

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIV #Starship #StarshipV3 #FlightTest13 #ReusableSpacecraft #SuperHeavy #SuperHeavyV3 #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #StarbaseTexas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Aurora Australis over IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica

Aurora Australis over IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (or simply IceCube) is a neutrino observatory constructed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. 

Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

IceCube is the largest neutrino observatory in the world and consists of over five thousand optical detectors draped through a cubic kilometer of ice at the geographic South Pole. IceCube was built specifically to study cosmic neutrinos that come from outside our own solar system. Thanks to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, scientists have identified several types of cosmic structures that produce neutrinos. A new study estimates for the first time how likely a neutrino is to come from each source type, helping physicists understand more about these ghostly particles and how they are created in the universe.

Neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless elementary particles that travel through the universe at almost the speed of light. They were first made during the Big Bang and are produced today by fusion reactions inside stars (including our own Sun), by supernovae explosions when massive stars die, and by the violent transformations of matter and energy that happen around black holes.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, or IceCube as it is commonly called, has detected over 100 cosmic neutrinos since its first full science run in 2011, and scientists have figured out where a few of them came from: a flaring blazar, a nearby Seyfert galaxy, and a tidal disruption event, the term for when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole and gets gobbled up by it.

IceCube is operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and supported by the National Science Foundation.

Learn more: 

https://icecube.wisc.edu/science/icecube/
https://icecube.wisc.edu/

Story Credit: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Image Credits: Matt Yoder/Ilya Bodo/NSF
Release Dates: May 12, 2025-June 25, 2026

#NASA #NSF #Space #Astronomy #Science #Astrophysics #Earth #Aurora #AuroraAustralis #IceCubeNeutrinoObservatory #NeutrinoDetectors #SolarSystem #Stars #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Research #Technology #Engineering #AmundsenScottSouthPoleStation #SouthPole #Antarctica #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Sky around R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region | Digitized Sky Survey 2

The Sky around R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region | Digitized Sky Survey 2

This image shows the sky around the R Coronae Australis star-forming region in the southern constellation of Corona Australis. This part of the sky also contains interesting regions of dark and bright nebulosity surrounding the variable star R Coronae Australis (upper left), as well as the globular star cluster NGC 6723. Very close to the center of the image is the location of neutron star RX J1856.5-3754. However, the neutron star itself is too faint to be seen.

Distance from Earth: ~430 light years

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Release Date: Nov. 30, 2016

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #RCoronaeAustralis #BinaryStarSystems #NeutronStars #RXJ185653754 #HIIRegion #StellarNurseries #Nebulae #ReflectionNebulae #CoronaAustralisConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region: Wide-field view

R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region: Wide-field view

This wide field image shows the area around the star R Coronae Australis. A huge dust cloud, about eight light-years across, dominates the center of the image. The bluish reflection nebula close to R Coronae Australis is right of center and the globular cluster NGC 6723 lies to the upper-right of the nebula. Corona Australis is a tiny tiara-shaped constellation, located next to the larger constellation of Sagittarius, in the direction of the center of the Milky Way. In spite of its faintness, this southern winter constellation can be easily spotted from dark sites because of its characteristic shape and position in the sky.

Distance from Earth: ~430 light years

Credit: Loke Kun Tan 
Loke's website: StarryScapes.com
Release Date: June 30, 2010

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #NGC6723 #RCoronaeAustralis #BinaryStarSystems #HIIRegion #StellarNurseries #Nebulae #ReflectionNebulae #CoronaAustralisConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #LokeKunTan #Astrophotographers #STEM #Education

Close-up: R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region | ESO’s La Silla Observatory

Close-up: R Coronae Australis Star-forming Region | ESO’s La Silla Observatory

The nearby star-forming region around the star R Coronae Australis imaged by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. R Coronae Australis (R CrA) is a variable binary star system in the constellation Corona Australis.

Distance from Earth: ~430 light years

This picture, covers a field of 33.7 x 31.9 arcminutes (about the diameter of the full Moon), is a combination of twelve CCD frames, 67 megapixels each, taken through B, V and R filters, with four exposures of five minutes each.

Learn more about the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope:
https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/mpg22/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: June 30, 2010

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #RCoronaeAustralis #BinaryStarSystems #HIIRegion #StellarNurseries #Nebulae #ReflectionNebulae #CoronaAustralisConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Meir & Menon Spacewalk: Cosmonaut Anna Kikina View | International Space Station

Meir & Menon Spacewalk: Cosmonaut Anna Kikina View | International Space Station

Expedition 75 commander, flight engineer, and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir: "Perspective is everything.🌍Gazing down at Earth from above offers an incredibly profound one, as does looking back at the International Space Station from a window in the Russian segment. Our crewmate Anna Kikina captured this incredible footage during NASA astronaut Anil Menon and my spacewalk on Aug. 6. Even suited up in our bulky spacesuits, we look like tiny little worker bees at the hive given the massive scale of the station."

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3 p.m. EDT on August 6, 2026. It was Menon’s first spacewalk and Meir’s sixth. During the 6-hour, 27-minute spacewalk, Meir and Menon completed their primary objectives. They included preparing the 3B power channel. This work was necessary for the installation of roll-out solar arrays, called IROSA, to provide additional power for the orbiting laboratory, supporting critical systems and the safe, controlled deorbit of the space station.

This was the 281st spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. 

Follow Expedition 75:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Jessica Meir
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Video Credit: Roscosmos/A. Kikina
Duration: 37 seconds
Release Date: Aug. 7, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planets #Earth #Astronauts #Spacewalks #EVA #JessicaMeir #AnilMenon #CosmonautVideography #Cosmonauts #AnnaKikina #АннаЮрьевнаКикина #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition75 #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planet Mars Images: Aug. 18-20, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Aug. 18-20, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

MSL - sol 4988

MSL - sol 4985

MSL - sol 4988

MSL - sol 4988 

Mars 2020 - sol 1955

MSL - sol 4987

MSL - sol 4986

MSL - sol 4986

We invite you to become a monthly Friends of NASA supporter on our website:
https://www.friendsofnasa.org/p/friends-of-nasa.html

Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education. 

We rely on public donations.

One-time Donations to Friends of NASA (PayPal) accepted here: 

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Celebrating 14+ Years on Mars (2012-2026)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 5+ Years on Mars

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Release Dates: Aug. 18-20, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Mars #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #MSSS #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #STEM #Education

IC 883 in Canes Venatici: A Galactic Merger Remnant | Hubble Space Telescope

IC 883 in Canes Venatici: A Galactic Merger Remnant | Hubble Space Telescope

IC 883 displays a very disturbed, complex central region with two tidal tails of approximately the same length emerging at nearly right angles—one diagonally to the top right of the frame and the other to the bottom right. The twin tidal tails suggest that IC 883 is the remnant of the merger of two gas-rich disc galaxies. The collision appears to have triggered a burst of star formation, indicated by a number of bright star clusters in the central region. IC 883 is 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. It is Number 193 in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

Release Date: April 24, 2008

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #Galaxies #Arp193 #IC883 #InteractingGalaxies #GalacticMergers #CanesVenaticiConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

China Landspace Zhuque-3 Y2 Reusable Rocket: Payload Capacity Upgrades

China Landspace Zhuque-3 Y2 Reusable Rocket: Payload Capacity Upgrades

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket has undergone multiple technological upgrades, ranging from its nozzle to the landing legs, to boost its payload capacity, said Dai Zheng, engineering chief for the Zhuque-3.

The rocket blasted off at 7:35am Beijing Time Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China.

Its land-based recovery was completed as planned, with the rocket's first stage touching down smoothly at the designated position in the recovery site, and the second stage sending the onboard Honghu-03 satellite into the preset orbit.

The flight mission was a complete success.

It marked China's first land-based controlled recovery of a rocket's first stage using deployable landing legs, highlighting a major breakthrough in the country's reusable rocket technology.

Compared with the Zhuque-3 Y1, the Zhuque-3 Y2 optimized its landing propulsion system and adopted a vacuum nozzle design with a larger area ratio. This improves engine performance and rocket payload capacity, explained Dai.

"The second-stage vacuum nozzle is a large vacuum nozzle, whose area ratio has been increased from 50 in Y1 to 100 in Y2. What are the benefits of a larger area ratio? It increases the specific impulse of the second-stage engine, allowing for more complete convective expansion. A larger specific impulse also increases thrust, thus enhancing the overall payload capacity of the rocket," said Dai.

The landing legs are the main qualification focus for Y2. It had gone through numerous tests to ensure their performance and the mission success, said Dai.

"For the landing legs, we conducted numerous ground tests, including drop tests, deployment tests and locking tests. We also ran reliability verification to confirm they can perform their task at the very last moment," he said.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Aug. 20, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #InternetSatellites #Honghu03Satellite #HongqingTechnology #SatelliteConstellations #Earth #China #中国 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #Zhuque3Rocket #ZQ3 #Zhuque3Y2Rocket #ReusableRockets #SpaceTechnologies #JSLC #InnerMongolia #Gansu #CommercialSpace #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

SpaceX Starship Single Engine Static Fire Pre-flight Test#14

SpaceX Starship Single Engine Static Fire Pre-flight Test#14

Ahead of SpaceX's Flight Test#14 on Thursday, August 20, 2026, "Starship completed a single engine static fire demonstrating a deorbit burn for upcoming orbital missions."

Starship Flight Test#13 Summary:

On Friday, July 24, 2026, at 5:51 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its thirteenth flight test. This was the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles and the first Starship flight to deploy the next generation Starlink V3 satellites.

The flight test began with Super Heavy igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to continue its flight to space.

Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver. The startup sequence was modified for this flight to be more robust to timing variability in engine startup and flip in the desired direction. This is done to increase overall performance. The booster successfully completed the high thrust portion of the boostback burn with all 33 engines, the first time with a Super Heavy V3, before ending the burn early. It attempted to relight its engines for the landing burn with a subset successfully igniting before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf.

After completing a full-duration ascent burn on all six Raptor engines, Starship achieved its planned velocity and trajectory. Starship then successfully deployed all 20 Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX engineers were able to successfully communicate with every satellite using radio frequency and laser links and downloaded key telemetry from the satellites. The Starlink satellites were deployed on the pre-planned trajectory and are expected to have demised upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.

The vehicle also reignited a single Raptor engine in an in-space demonstration of a core capability for future orbital missions.

Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was able to gather critical data on the performance of its heatshield before executing a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly. Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean. After relighting all three Raptor engines, Starship executed a landing flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown, coming to rest intact in the Indian Ocean and providing critical views of an intact heatshield for the first time.

NASA plans to use a lunar lander version of Starship to deliver astronauts and cargo to the Moon during the Artemis IV mission and beyond through the Human Landing System (HLS) Program.

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: SpaceX
Duration: 16 seconds
Date: Aug. 20, 2026

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIV #Starship #StarshipV3 #FlightTest13 #ReusableSpacecraft #SuperHeavy #SuperHeavyV3 #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #StarbaseTexas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Wide-field view: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Digitized Sky Survey 2

This image shows the area around flocculent spiral galaxy NGC 2841. It is produced from Digitized Sky Survey 2 images. The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries vary according to the composition and density of gas present, and what triggers star formation in the first place? The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral, such as NGC 2841 shown here, which features short spiral arms rather than prominent and well-defined galactic limbs when viewed close-up.

Distance from Earth: 65 million light years

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Release Date: Feb. 17, 2011

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC2841 #SpiralGalaxies #UrsaMajorConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #WFC3 #GSFC #STScI #DSS2 #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Journey to Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope

Journey to Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope

Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries vary according to the composition and density of gas present, and what triggers star formation in the first place? The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral, such as NGC 2841 shown here, which features short spiral arms rather than prominent and well-defined galactic limbs.

Distance from Earth: 65 million light years

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration Acknowledgments: M. Crockett and S. Kaviraj (Oxford University, UK), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Whitmore (STScI) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee

Duration: 37 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 17, 2011

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC2841 #SpiralGalaxies #UrsaMajorConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #WFC3 #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope

Close-up: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope

Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries vary according to the composition and density of gas present, and what triggers star formation in the first place? The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral, such as NGC 2841 shown here, which features short spiral arms rather than prominent and well-defined galactic limbs.

Distance from Earth: 65 million light years

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration Acknowledgments: M. Crockett and S. Kaviraj (Oxford University, UK), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Whitmore (STScI) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee

Duration: 38 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 17, 2011

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC2841 #SpiralGalaxies #UrsaMajorConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #WFC3 #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video