May 2026

Psyche’s High-Resolution View of Mars’ South Pole

Description This is the highest-resolution view of the water ice-rich south polar cap of Mars captured by NASA’s Psyche mission after it made its close approach with the planet for a gravity assist. The image scale is around 0.7 miles per pixel (1.14 kilometers per pixel). The cap itself extends across more than 430 miles […]

Posted May 19, 2026

NASA’s Psyche Mission Sees Mars’ South Pole After Flyby

Description This is Psyche’s first view of a nearly “full Mars” seen shortly after the spacecraft’s closest approach to the planet on May 15, 2026. The view extends from the south polar cap northwards to the Valles Marineris canyon system and beyond. With Mars in the rearview mirror, the spacecraft will soon resume use of […]

Posted May 19, 2026

Photojournal

Psyche Mission

NASA’s Psyche Mission Images the Crescent of Mars

Description This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA’s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. Captured by the spacecraft’s multispectral imager instrument, this was the last view of the whole planet before it began to overfill the field of […]

Posted May 19, 2026

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Psyche Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used a gravity assist from Mars to provide a critical boost in speed and to adjust the spacecraft’s orbital plane without using any onboard propellant, sending it on its way toward […]

Posted May 19, 2026

Earth's Moon

Moon-Venus Conjunction

The Moon and Venus, center, are seen in conjunction above the Washington Monument, Monday, May 18, 2026, as viewed from the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. The Moon and Venus look close together because they line up from our point of view on Earth. In reality, they are separated by millions of […]

Posted May 19, 2026

Johnson Space Center

Artemis

Astromaterials

General

Lunar Science

People of Johnson

Johnson’s Cindy Evans Prepares Artemis Teams for Lunar Science

NASA’s Artemis II crew had many technical and operational responsibilities during their historic mission to the Moon, but they also served an important role as scientific ambassadors to Earth’s nearest neighbor.

Posted May 19, 2026

Citizen Science

NASA’s New Shock Detectives Project Invites Volunteers to Help Study Solar Wind

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has collected more than ten years of data from this zone – more than scientists can analyze alone. As Shock Detectives, you’ll help sort the chaotic from peaceful regions of the data, giving researchers a crucial set of clues.

Posted May 19, 2026

Earth Observatory

Farming in Ancient Lake Agassiz

The glacial lake left a layer of silt and clay in southeastern Manitoba, creating fertile farmland that was divided during 19th-century land surveys and is still farmed today.

Posted May 19, 2026

Blogs

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4893-4899: Drilling at Campo Marte and a Visit From the Psyche Spacecraft

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth planning date: Friday, May 15, 2026 After freeing the rover’s arm from the “Atacama” block, we are ready to drill again! The new drill target will represent the same geologic stratum as Atacama, which is the layered sulfate unit above the boxwork […]

Posted May 19, 2026

Johnson Space Center

People of Johnson

Johnson Photographers Honored for Award-Winning Portraits

Three photographers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center who inspire the world through visual storytelling earned top honors in the portrait category at the 2025 NASA Imagery Experts Program Annual Awards. “Congratulations to all three on this impressive achievement and for capturing such breathtaking imagery,” said Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche.

Posted May 19, 2026