Seeing Eye to Eye: Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis | Hubble

Seeing Eye to Eye: Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis | Hubble

Featured in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture is the spiral galaxy NGC 2566. It sits 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis. A prominent bar of stars stretches across the center of this galaxy, and spiral arms emerge from each end of the bar. Because NGC 2566 appears tilted from our perspective, its disc takes on an almond shape, giving the galaxy the appearance of a cosmic eye.

As NGC 2566 gazes at us, astronomers gaze right back, using Hubble to survey the galaxy’s star clusters and star-forming regions. The Hubble data are especially valuable for studying stars that are just a few million years old; these stars are bright at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive. Using these data, researchers will measure the ages of NGC 2566’s stars, helping to piece together the timeline of the galaxy’s star formation and the exchange of gas between star-forming clouds and stars themselves.

Several other astronomical observatories have examined NGC 2566, including the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The Webb data complement this Hubble image, adding a view of NGC 2566’s warm, glowing dust to Hubble’s stellar portrait. At the long-wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum, NGC 2566 has also been observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA is a network of 66 radio telescopes that work together as one to capture detailed images of the clouds of gas in which stars form. Together, Hubble, Webb and ALMA provide an overview of the formation, lives and deaths of stars in galaxies across the Universe.

Image Description: An oval-shaped spiral galaxy. Its core is a compact, glowing blue spot. A bright bar of light, lined with dark reddish dust, extends horizontally to the edge of the disc. A spiral arm emerges from each end of the bar and follows the edge of the disc, lined with blue and red glowing patches of stars, to the opposite end and a little off the galaxy. Blue stars are scattered between us and the galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC2566 #SpiralGalaxy #Puppis #Constellation #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China to Launch New Long March-8 Rocket at First Commercial Space Launch Site

China to Launch New Long March-8 Rocket at First Commercial Space Launch Site

China's new-generation medium-sized rocket, the Long March-8 (CZ-8), was successfully transferred to the launching area at the country's first commercial space launch site in Wenchang of China's south island province of Hainan on Sunday afternoon, December 15, 2024—ready to be launched at an appropriate time in the coming days.

The rocket was developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It adopts liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LH/LOX)—a "green" and environmentally friendly liquid propellant, and concluded a successful full rehearsal in early November this year. The new Long March-8 rocket implements a larger 3.35 meters diameter liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen second stage, coupled with two upgraded versions of the YF-75D engines (known as the YF-75H) with increased thrust to 10 tonnes each through measures, such as increased turbopump speeds. The Long March 8A can also use a larger 5.2 meter diameter payload fairing.

At 13:44, the rocket was transferred to No. 1 launch pad at the Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site.

Construction of the No. 1 launch pad started in July 2022 and finished on December 29, 2023.

The launch of Long March-8 marks the inaugural event for the No. 1 launch pad, serving as a further capability test of the launch site following its first successful launch mission.

On Nov. 30, a Long March-12 carrier rocket was successfully launched into space, serving as the maiden launch mission undertaken by the launch site.

China's commercial space industry expanded from 800 billion yuan (about 112 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019 to 1.9 trillion yuan in 2023. The market scale is expected to reach 2.34 trillion yuan by the end of 2024, according to an industry report.

Video Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)
Duration: 28 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #CNSA #中国国家航天局 #LongMarch8 #CZ8 #CZ8A #长征八号运载火箭 #Rocket #RocketEngine #LHLOX #LiquidHydrogen #LiquidOxygen #RocketLaunch #CarrierRocket #MediumLift #CASC #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #CommercialSpace #Spaceflight #HICAL #WSLS #Wenchang #Hainan #STEM #Education #HD #Video

SpaceX Starship Static Fire: Preparing for Starship Flight Test#7

SpaceX Starship Static Fire: Preparing for Starship Flight Test#7

On December 15, 2024, SpaceX performed a brief static test fire of the Starship that will be used for Flight Test#7 at SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 121m/397ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission 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: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Duration: 11 seconds
Capture Date: Dec.15, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship7 #TestFlight7 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Download Free 2025 ESA Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

Download Free 2025 ESA Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new 2025 calendar that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

Print, share & enjoy:

High Resolution Digital 2025 Calendar PDF File (100 MB)
https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdf/cal2025.pdf

Low Resolution Digital 2025 Calendar PDF File (6 MB)

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdfsm/cal2025.pdf

Print-Ready 2025 Calendar PDF File (465 MB) https://esahubble.org/media/archives/announcements/pdf/calendar_hubble_2025_v05_print.pdf

The 2025 calendar features a selection of images from press releases (for Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published in 2024. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more.

Here is a list of images in the 2025 calendar:

Cover: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud lies the young star cluster NGC 602 where star formation is ongoing. This image highlights the cluster stars, the young stellar objects, and the surrounding gas and dust ridges, while also showing background galaxies and other stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

January: The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by Hubble in this image taken on January 6, 2024. A pair of battling storms are visible right of center, a deep red cyclone and a reddish anticyclone. To the left of the planet its volcanic moon Io appears.

February: This sharpest-ever infrared view of the famous Horsehead Nebula from Webb shows the depth and complexity of the thick clumps of material like never before. Also featured are Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image, and one of the first images from ESA’s Euclid telescope.

March: The two bright ‘eyes’ and semi-circular ‘smile’ in the Webb image of this spiral galaxy are the result of an off-center collision by the elliptical galaxy now seen here to its left. A tenuous gas bridge runs between the galaxies, together known as Arp 107. 

April: M76, the colorful Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula created by a collapsing red giant star. Hot, vibrant gases are propelled outwards by the now white-dwarf’s stellar winds; the red color is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen. Hubble turned to this favorite target of amateur astronomers for its 34th anniversary in April 2024.

May: This is NGC 5253, a starburst galaxy filled with extraordinary star clusters and continually forming stars. Hubble’s image reveals super star clusters lurking in its core amongst dark dust clouds. As a dwarf galaxy, it resembles ancient galaxies and is a laboratory to study star and galaxy evolution.

June: Among the many massive galaxies of the lensing galaxy cluster shown here, SPT-CL J0615−5746, lies the Cosmic Gems arc. An infant galaxy from just 460 million years after the Big Bang, it is visible thanks to strong gravitational lensing by the cluster. Astronomers are using Webb to map its inner workings.

July: R Aquarii is a binary star system surrounded by a large, dynamic nebula. Outbursts eject powerful jets, forming loops and trails as plasma emerges in streamers. They are energized by blistering radiation from the stellar duo to glow in visible light.

August: A stunning mosaic of images from Webb showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333, in the Perseus molecular cloud. Large patches of orange represent gas glowing in the infrared as ionised material ejected from young stars collides with the surrounding cloud. They are hallmarks of a very active site of star formation.

September: Omega Centauri is the brightest, largest, and most massive Milky Way globular cluster known. This image shows the depth and extent of its population of stars. In 2024 astronomers found new evidence in Hubble data that it hides an intermediate-mass black hole at its center.

October: The Serpens Nebula is home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars. This Webb image shows the nebula’s center. Filaments and wisps of different hues represent reflected starlight from still-forming protostars within the cloud; dust in front of that reflection appears in an orange, diffuse shade.

November: Hubble continued its long run of capturing beautiful celestial objects in fine color and detail in 2024, and this year as ever, many were spiral galaxies. Seen here are NGC 4951, NGC 3810, NGC 3783 and Messier 90, gems from a treasure trove of new Hubble observations.

December: Westerlund 1 is one of our galaxy’s few remaining super star clusters. Its large, dense, and diverse population of massive stars is unrivalled in the Milky Way galaxy. Webb can pierce the dense dust surrounding it and study its population of lower-mass stars.

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble/Webb.

Credit: ESA/Webb/ESA Hubble Team
Release Date: Dec. 12, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #HST #JWST #Planets #Stars #StarClusters #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #AdobePDF #PDF #FreeCalendar #Calendar2025 #STEM #Education

Stars Castor & Pollux in Gemini | UK's New Forest Observatory

Stars Castor & Pollux in Gemini | UK's New Forest Observatory

Data captured with a Meade 127mm apo-refractor, a 500 lines/mm transmission grating-3D printed spectrometer and a QHY5-11m camera. Spectral data processed using Basic Astronomical Spectroscopy Software (BASS) Project.

Featured here is an image of the stars Castor and Pollux, the prominent stars in the constellation Gemini (The Twins). As you will have noted if you have ever looked at this constellation, Castor and Pollux are quite close in brightness—1.93 magnitude and 1.14 magnitude, respectively. Blue-white Castor is part of a multiple star system, approximately 52 light years away. Pollux, an orange giant, is slightly brighter than Castor and is found about 34 light years away. 

All stars emit light across a variety of spectral wavelengths or colors. The wavelength that light output peaks provides information about a star's temperature. Pollux is classified as a K0 IIIb spectral-type star. It is actually cooler than our Sun, having an estimated surface temperature of 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,400 degrees Celsius), compared with the Sun's surface temperature of 10,000 F (5,500 C). Castor is an A type Main Sequence star (A1V + dM1e), much more massive than the Sun and much hotter (between 8,000-10,000 C). This spectral comparison between Castor and Pollux was another collaborative effort with my spectroscopist friend, George Roberts.

Image Details: Taken with the 200 mm lenses and M26C OSC CCDs on the MiniWASP array.

Image & Caption Credit: Greg Parker
Location: New Forest Observatory, U.K. Coordinates: 50.819444, -1.59
The JPO, Suffolk, U.K. Coordinates: 52.483161, 1.702376
Release Date: Dec. 12, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Spectra #StarSystems #Castor #Star #Pollux #OrangeGiant #Gemini #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Optical #Astrophotographer #GregParker #Astrophotography #Suffolk #UK #UnitedKingdom #STEM #Education #EPoD

China's Shenzhou-19 Station Crew in Full Swing Conducting Scientific Experiments

China's Shenzhou-19 Station Crew in Full Swing Conducting Scientific Experiments

China's Shenzhou-19 crew have been carrying out multiple scientific and technical research tasks in an orderly manner over their past 47 days aboard the orbiting Tiangong Space Station.

During research on the biological effects and molecular mechanisms of fruit flies under a weak magnetic field in space, crew members completed the transfer and collection of fruit flies with a soft glove cover.

They also carried out the replacement of the gas purification module, plus the transfer and storage of the fruit flies' collection tube. The experiment is expected to realize the first clear generation of fruit flies at the China Space Station.

In an experiment to monitoring and guide astronaut heart rates and other data in a range of situations, crew members used activity recording devices to collect their heart rates and other health data. Then, they backed the data up and sent it to the ground for analysis.

The crew have completed the in-orbit upgrade and testing of the station's material information management system. This system plays the role of a "smart warehouse", recording the consumption and location changes of materials within the space station in real time.

During the six-month mission in orbit, the crew will conduct audiological tests regularly to monitor their hearing health.

The crew has continued their weightlessness protection training since they arrived at the space station in late October. This is to better ensure their physical health and in-orbit working ability during their long-term mission.

The Shenzhou-19 crew has also carried out inspection and maintenance work on the devices of the regenerative life support system. This helps recycle consumable resources, such as water at the China Space Station to ensure the long-term stay of astronauts in orbit.

Of course, the crew also regularly cleaned the cabin environment and organized the storage of devices and materials.

The crew members—Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze—were sent to the Tiangong Space Station on October 30, 2024, for a six-month mission.

During their flight, the three astronauts will conduct 86 space science research and technology experiments, covering fields, such as space life sciences, basic microgravity physics, space material science, aerospace medicine, and new aerospace technologies.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:

Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)

Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)

Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #SpaceDebris #MicrogravityExperiments #Maintenance #CMSA #国家航天局 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to Nebula LHA 120-N150 in Dorado | Hubble

Journey to Nebula LHA 120-N150 in Dorado | Hubble

This video zooms in on the nebula LHA 120-N150. It begins with a view of the night sky focused on the Large Magellanic Cloud, as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, which show the whole Tarantula Nebula — in which LHA 120-N150 is located. The video finally ends with a view of the nebula obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The final image shows a region of space called LHA 120-N150. It is a substructure of the gigantic Tarantula Nebula. The latter is the largest known stellar nursery in the local Universe. The nebula is situated more than 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf irregular galaxy that orbits our Milky Way.

Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Duration: 51 seconds

Release Date: March 18, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebulae #LHA120N150 #N150 #Nebula #TarantulaNebula #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up view: Nebula LHA 120-N150: A Massive Star Formation Lab | Hubble

Close-up view: Nebula LHA 120-N150: A Massive Star Formation Lab | Hubble

This image shows a region of space called LHA 120-N150. It is a substructure of the gigantic Tarantula Nebula. The latter is the largest known stellar nursery in the local Universe. The nebula is situated more than 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf irregular galaxy that orbits our Milky Way.

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, NASA, I. Stephens
Duration: 25 seconds
Release Date: March 18, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebulae #LHA120N150 #N150 #Nebula #TarantulaNebula #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up view: Grand Spiral NGC 5643 in Lupus | Hubble Space Telescope

Close-up view: Grand Spiral NGC 5643 in Lupus | Hubble Space Telescope

This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture features the glorious spiral galaxy NGC 5643. It is located roughly 40 million light-years away in the constellation Lupus. NGC 5643 is a grand design spiral, referring to how the galaxy’s two large, winding spiral arms are clear to see. The spiral arms are defined by bright blue stars, lacy reddish-brown dust clouds and pink star-forming regions.

As fascinating as the galaxy appears at visible wavelengths, NGC 5643 has several interesting features invisible to the human eye. Ultraviolet and X-ray images and spectra of NGC 5643 show that the galaxy hosts an active galactic nucleus (AGN): an especially bright galactic core powered by a feasting supermassive black hole. When a supermassive black hole ensnares gas from its surroundings, the gas collects in a disc that heats up to hundreds of thousands of degrees. The superheated gas shines brightly across the electromagnetic spectrum, but especially at X-ray wavelengths.

NGC 5643’s active galactic nucleus is not the brightest source of X-rays in the galaxy, though. Researchers using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton discovered an even brighter X-ray-emitting object, called NGC 5643 X-1, on the galaxy’s outskirts. What could be a more powerful source of X-rays than a supermassive black hole? Surprisingly, the answer appears to be a much smaller black hole! While the exact identity of NGC 5643 X-1 is not yet known, evidence points to a black hole that is about 30 times more massive than the Sun. Locked in an orbital dance with a companion star, the black hole ensnares gas from its stellar companion, creating a superheated disc that outshines the galactic center.

NGC 5643 was also the subject of a previous picture. The new image incorporates additional wavelengths of light, including the red color that is characteristic of gas heated by massive young stars. 

Image Description: A close-up of a spiral galaxy, seen face-on. Its center is a bright white point, surrounded by a large yellowish oval with thin lines of dust swirling in it. From the sides of the oval emerge two bright spiral arms which wind through the round disc of the galaxy, filled with shining pink spots where stars are forming and more dark reddish dust. Many stars can be seen in the foreground, over and around the galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess, D. Thilker, D. De Martin (ESA/Hubble), M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 9, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC5643 #SpiralGalaxy #AGN #BlackHoles #NGC5643X1 #Lupus #Constellation #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

What name would you give this nebula? | European Southern Observatory

What name would you give this nebula? | European Southern Observatory

The image shows a large nebulous cloud at the center, taking up most of the frame. The bulgy nebula is opaque and yellowy at the bottom right, slashed by darker parts, and becomes more diffuse, pink-hued and translucent towards the top. The dark background is full of small orange and blue stars. A bigger blue star pops up in the middle of the nebula as well as to the top right of it.

Do you see a playful fox, a skulking hyena or . . . a chicken’s head? Located in the Centaurus constellation, this gas cloud is part of the giant Running Chicken Nebula. There are people that see it as the head of the chicken, others see the chicken’s rear end.

However, as much as scientists love fun names for nebulae, they are often not very conducive to clear communication in an international field like astronomy. That is why this nebula is formally known by two names that sound, well . . . a little less funky.

In 1955, Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum made an inventory of 84 emission nebulae in the southern sky: the Gum catalog. This one is known, quite dryly, as Gum 40. Long before Gum, in 1888, Danish astronomer John Louis Emil Dreyer had already compiled the ambitious New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC), an index of 7,840 astronomical objects, such as galaxies, star clusters and emission nebulae like this one. Dreyer later added two Index Catalogues (IC) to his work, describing another 5386 celestial objects. This nebula was labelled IC 2872. The NGC is still used today: it received its most recent update in 2019, with 13,957 new objects.

This image of IC 2872—or Gum 40, the chicken head or whatever nickname you might wish to give it—was captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As telescopes and instruments keep getting better, more and more deep-sky objects are discovered, so the lists and catalogues will never be complete. Nevertheless, this should not keep us from attempting to compile them—or making up fun nicknames, right?

Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team.
Release Date: Dec. 9, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #EmissionNebula #Gum40 #IC2872 #StarFormation #StellarNursery #HIIRegion #RunningChickenNebula #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VLTSurveyTelescope #VST #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Training: Ayers & Onishi | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Training: Ayers & Onishi | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and Pilot of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission outside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi outside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and Pilot of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission is pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi is pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and Pilot of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission is pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi is pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at the company's facilities in Hawthorne, California.

Official crew portrait of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 members:

 (from left) Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia); Pilot Nicole Ayers and Commander Anne McClain, both NASA astronauts; and Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Emblem

Four crew members are preparing to launch for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Russia will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory no earlier than February 2025.

The flight is the 10th crew rotation with SpaceX to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). While aboard, the international crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions and benefit people on Earth.

Astronaut Nichole Ayers NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/nasa-astronaut-nichole-ayers

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/nasa-astronaut-nichole-ayers/

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi Biography:

https://humans-in-space.jaxa.jp/en/astronaut/onishi-takuya/

Veteran Astronaut Anne McClain NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/anne-c-mcclain/

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/anne-c-mcclain/

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission will be the first spaceflight for Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Russia. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test-cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.

Learn more about NASA's SpaceX Crew-10:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crew-10/

NASA's Commercial Crew Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/commercial-crew-program/

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.

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Image Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #SpaceXCrew10 #SpaceX #CrewDragonSpacecraft #Falcon9Rocket #Astronauts #AnneMcClain #Crew10MissionCommander #NicholeAyers #TakuyaOnishi #Japan #日本 #Cosmonaut #KirillPeskov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #CCP #Expedition72 #Expedition73 #JSC #Hawthorne #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Coffee Breaks in Microgravity | International Space Station

Coffee Breaks in Microgravity | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut & Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit: "Coffee break on the International Space Station. Of course, we use my 0g coffee cups!"

Note: surface tension, wetting, and container shape hold coffee in these specially designed space cups.

Expedition 72 Updates:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 
For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Astronaut Don Pettit
Release Date: Dec. 14, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Astronauts #Astronaut #DonPettit #AstronautPhotography #CoffeeBreaks #CoffeeCups #Microgravity #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Shenzhou-19 Crew Life & Work: Extended Views | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Life & Work: Extended Views | China Space Station

China's Shenzhou-19 crew members have completed a range of tasks during their over-one-month stay aboard the orbiting Tiangong space station, including scientific research and experiments and space station maintenance work.

The crew members—Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze—were sent into the Tiangong Space Station on October 30, 2024, for a six-month mission. Wang Haoze is the country's first female space engineer.

During their flight, the three astronauts will conduct 86 space science research and technology experiments.

During research on the biological effects and molecular mechanisms of fruit flies under a weak magnetic field in space, the crew completed operations, including clearing petri dishes for the fruit flies and replacing the gas purification components in the life science experimental facility.

For a research project on how stem cells undergo three-dimensional growth and tissue generation in microgravity, the crew completed the collection and storage of cell experiment samples, laying a solid foundation for future applications of stem cell three-dimensional tissues and for conducting space drug screening using these tissues.

Meanwhile, ongoing research is being conducted on the impact of phase separation of biological entities on lipid metabolism in microgravity.

The crew members have also conducted several other tasks, including replacing the burner inside the combustion science experimental cabinet, setting and restoring the states of vacuum extraction and exhaust emission, as well as replacing samples in the fluid physics experimental cabinet.

In the field of space medicine experiments, the crew members employed a visual function measurement instrument, an eye tracker, and visual gravity representation testing software to conduct research on the representation and dynamic processing mechanisms of gravity in visual motion.

This research delves into the influence of gravity environments on the sensitivity of human visual biological motion perception and how weightlessness changes these perceptual sensitivities. It aims to provide a scientific basis for human exploration in deep space and adaptation to diverse gravity environments in the future.

To ensure a long-term stable operation of the space station, the crew members have completed the installation of forward and aft hatch protection devices against space debris. Through physical shielding, these devices effectively mitigate the adverse effects caused by impacts from small space debris on the hatches.

Additionally, the astronauts have also completed tasks such as cleaning, inspecting maintenance in each module, and sorting supplies on the space station and the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:

Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)

Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)

Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CNSA-W
Duration: 3 minute, 48 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 8, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #SpaceDebris #MicrogravityExperiments #Maintenance #CMSA #国家航天局 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Expedition 72 Crew Images | International Space Station

New Expedition 72 Crew Images | International Space Station

Astronaut Suni Williams displays science hardware for a biomanufacturing study

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams displays science hardware housing bacteria and yeast samples for the Rhodium Biomanufacturing 03 study that may enable the production of food and medicine in space. Williams was in the cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world," as the orbital outpost soared 258 miles above a cloudy Pacific Ocean off the coast of Costa Rica.

Astronaut Suni Williams between the SpaceX Dragon and the Harmony module

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams is pictured inside the vestibule between the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module.

Astronaut Don Pettit points a camera outside a window for a sun photography session

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit points a camera outside a window on the International Space Station's Poisk module for a sun photography session.

Expedition 72 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Ivan Vagner

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit points a camera outside a window on the International Space Station's Poisk module for a sun photography session with assistance from Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner of Russia.

Astronaut Don Pettit points a camera outside a window for a sun photography session

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit points a camera outside a window on the International Space Station's Poisk module for a sun photography session with assistance from Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner of Russia.

Astronaut Don Pettit processes bacteria samples

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit processes bacteria samples in the Kibo laboratory module's Life Science Glove to understand why some pathogens are more potent in the microgravity environment. Those samples were also packed inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft for return and analysis back on Earth. The space biology investigation uses genetic analysis techniques to identify the antibiotic resistant organisms and help researchers protect crew health on long-term space missions.

Astronaut Butch Wilmore shows off 3D printing research hardware

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore shows off research hardware supporting a study that explores 3D printing on-demand medical devices on the International Space Station to treat Earthbound and space-caused health conditions.

Astronaut Suni Williams swaps a hard drive inside a sample processor

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams swaps a hard drive inside the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 (ADSEP-4). ADESP-4 is a research facility that processes samples for numerous types of experiments supporting biology and physics research aboard the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply ship.

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 
For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: Nov. 29-Dec. 7, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy: A Close Neighbor | International Space Station

Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy: A Close Neighbor | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut & Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit: "Large Magellanic Cloud visible in the southern hemisphere with the upper 'red-orange' part of our atmosphere (called the f-region) seen in the lower part of the photograph. This is a time exposure using my homemade tracker that compensates for the International Space Station's motion, thus allowing longish (so far up to 30 seconds) time exposures where the stars [will] not streak."

Nearly 162,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), is the largest and brightest of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies. The LMC is one our nearest galactic neighbors. This dwarf galaxy looms large in Earth's southern nighttime sky at twenty times the apparent diameter of the full Moon.

Also visible here is bright "red-orange" airglow. It occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy.

Image details: Nikon Z9, 50mm f1.2 lens, 20 sec, f1.2, ISO 12800, tracker set to 0.064 degrees/sec, with  levels, color, contrast adjusted with Photoshop

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Astronaut Don Pettit
Release Date: Dec. 13, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Atmosphere #FRegion #Airglow #Astronauts #Astronaut #DonPettit #AstronautPhotography #Galaxies #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #DwarfGalaxy #SatelliteGalaxy #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

From The Team: Recovering the Artemis II Spacecraft & Crew | NASA Kennedy

From The Team: Recovering the Artemis II Spacecraft & Crew | NASA Kennedy

This week in 2022, the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Landing and Recovery team and partners with the Department of Defense recovered the Artemis II Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean. Since then, teams and the Artemis II astronauts have conducted Underway Recovery Test 11, the eleventh of a series of tests, where they practiced extracting crew and recovering Orion. As teams continue to prepare for subsequent tests and Artemis II recovery, meet members of the team that will accomplish these history-making tasks.

Artemis II will launch no earlier than April 2026.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)

Duration: 4 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 13, 2024

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLSRocket #CoreStage #Astronauts #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #EGS #KSC #NASAKennedy #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video