December 2023

NASA has achieved a new benchmark in developing an innovative propulsion system called the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, successfully tested a novel, 3D-printed RDRE for 251 seconds (or longer than four minutes), producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust.

Posted December 20, 2023

Astrophysics

Black Holes

Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes

Goddard Space Flight Center

Origin & Evolution of the Universe

Supermassive Black Holes

The Sun

The Universe

NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky

The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data acquired by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our Sun, occasionally flaring into prominence, serenely traces a path through the sky against the backdrop of high-energy sources within our galaxy and beyond. “The bright, steady gamma-ray glow of the Milky Way […]

Posted December 20, 2023

ISS Research

Humans in Space

International Space Station (ISS)

Johnson Space Center

3D Bioprinting

Science in Space: December 2023 Imagine someone needs a heart transplant and scientists take cells from that person to create an entire new heart for them. Research on the International Space Station is helping to bring that dream closer to reality. The process of 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) enables the design and […]

Posted December 20, 2023

Pamela A. Melroy

Earth

NASA Headquarters

NASA Sets Coverage for White House National Space Council Meeting

NASA is participating in a meeting of the National Space Council on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Washington. The meeting, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, will focus on international partnerships and is the third council meeting held by the Biden-Harris Administration.

Posted December 20, 2023

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

Hubble Space Telescope

Irregular Galaxies

Missions

The Universe

NASA’s Hubble Presents a Holiday Globe of Stars

The billion stars in galaxy UGC 8091 resemble a sparkling snow globe in this festive Hubble Space Telescope image from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The dwarf galaxy is approximately 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is considered an “irregular galaxy” because it does not have an orderly spiral or […]

Posted December 20, 2023

Glenn Research Center

AeroSpace Frontiers

General

New NASA Glenn Exhibit Spotlights Microgravity Research

The Fluids and Combustion Facility, or FCF, on the International Space Station was designed and built at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and has been supporting microgravity research for over a decade. A new exhibit at the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, located in the Great Lakes Science Center, brings that research down to Earth […]

Posted December 20, 2023

NASA History

Apollo

55 Years Ago: Seven Months Before the Moon Landing

December 1968 ended a year more turbulent than most. For the American space program, however, it brought the Moon landing one giant step closer. The successful first lunar orbital flight by Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders proved the space worthiness of the Apollo Command and Service Modules (CSM) […]

Posted December 20, 2023

Flight Opportunities Program

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Game Changing Development Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA, Partners Continue to Advance Space Tech on Suborbital Flights

Living and working in space requires getting ready a bit closer to Earth. Through a suborbital flight test on Dec. 19, 2023 with industry provider Blue Origin, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is helping 14 research payloads move one step toward future space missions and commercial applications.

Posted December 20, 2023

General

NASA’s Artemis II Crew Meet with President, VP at White House

The first astronauts to fly around the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program visited the White House in Washington Thursday, and met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office to thank him for his leadership and discuss their upcoming flight test. Artemis II crew members are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, […]

Posted December 19, 2023

Artemis 2

Humans in Space

Artemis II Crew Trains for Emergency Scenarios Ahead of Moon Mission

The four Artemis II astronauts practiced procedures to exit the Orion spacecraft in an emergency during training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Dec. 15. NASA astronaut Christina Koch (foreground) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen were assisted by Bill Owens, Artemis II spacesuit technician.

Posted December 19, 2023