NASA
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National Aviation Day: Celebrating NASA’s Heritage While Charting Our Future
As we observe National Aviation Day Tuesday – a tribute to Orville Wright’s birthday – let’s reflect on both America’s and NASA’s aviation heritage and share how we are pushing the boundaries of flight for the nation’s future. Modern NASA grew from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), an agency created by Congress in 1915 to advance U.S. aviation.…
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NASA Invites You to Celebrate National Aviation Day 2025
The first “A” in NASA stands for Aeronautics – so naturally that means today, Aug. 19, National Aviation Day, is one of our favorite days all year! National Aviation Day was first proclaimed in 1939 by President Franklin Roosevelt to celebrate the birthday of aviation pioneer Orville Wright, who, with his brother Wilbur, in 1903, were the first humans to…
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Station Nation: Meet Tess Caswell, Extravehicular Activity Flight Controller and Lead Capsule Communicator
Tess Caswell supports the International Space Station from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as a capsule communicator, or capcom, and helps plan and train for future spacewalks with the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) team in the Flight Operations Directorate. She is currently on rotation as the Artemis lead capcom, helping to develop training and processes for the Artemis campaign by…
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Summary of the 2025 GEDI Science Team Meeting
Introduction The 2025 Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Science Team Meeting (STM) took place April 1–3, 2025 at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). Upwards of 60 participants attended in-person, while several others joined virtually by Zoom. The GEDI Mission and Competed Science Team members were in attendance along with the GEDI NASA program manager and various postdoctoral associates, graduate students,…
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Portable Planetarium takes Thousands of Alaskan Students on a Cosmic Adventure
Exploring the Cosmos and Inspiring Young Minds From January through June 2025, the Education Outreach Office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (GI) continued its mission of bringing science to life by delivering the magic of its portable planetarium to communities across Alaska. This year, they reached over 1,807 students, educators, and participants through engaging, interactive astronomy experiences.…
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Summary of the 54th U.S.–Japan ASTER Science Team Meeting
Introduction The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Science Team (ST) organized a three-day workshop that took place June 9–11, 2025, at the Japan Space System’s (JSS) offices in Tokyo, Japan. About 25 people from Japan and the United States participated during the in-person meeting – see Photo 1. U.S. participants included representatives of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); two universities –…
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A Decade of Global Water Cycle Monitoring: NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission
Introduction The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, launched in 2015, has over 10 years of global L-band radiometry observations. The low frequency [1.4 GHz frequency or 21 cm (8 in) wavelength] measurements provide information on the state of land surfaces in all weather conditions – regardless of solar illumination. A principal objective of the SMAP mission is to…
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Bone Loss Research Launches Aboard NASA’s SpaceX-33 Resupply Mission
The 33rd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission for NASA, scheduled to liftoff from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late August, is heading to the International Space Station with an important investigation for the future of bone health. The experiment will test how microgravity affects bone-forming and bone-degrading cells and explore potential ways to prevent bone loss. This…
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NASA, Army National Guard Partner on Flight Training for Moon Landing
By Corinne BeckingerWhen Artemis astronauts land on the Moon’s South Pole in a commercial human landing system, they will encounter a landscape pockmarked with deep craters, sloped connecting ridges, and harsh lighting conditions. The Moon’s lack of contrast, combined with its rolling terrain, will also pose a challenge, making it difficult for astronauts to overcome visual illusions on the lunar…
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Artemis II Crew Practices Night Launch Scenario
NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, and Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, walk on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. On Aug. 11 and 12, teams with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover,…
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