Blog

NASA Administrator Pays Tribute to President Carter

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Sunday’s passing of President Jimmy Carter: “President Carter was the pinnacle of a public servant, dedicating his life to making our world a better place. He showed us each and every person has the power to make a difference. From providing for those in need, protecting […]

Posted December 30, 2024

Goddard Space Flight Center

Heliophysics

Heliophysics Division

Parker Solar Probe (PSP)

Science & Research

Science Mission Directorate

Solar Flares

Solar Wind

Space Weather

The Sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to Sun

Operations teams have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour […]

Posted December 27, 2024

Hubble Spies a Cosmic Eye

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 2566, which 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 disk takes on an […]

Posted December 27, 2024

NASA Engineering and Safety Center

Mechanical Systems TDT Support Reaches Across NASA Programs

The NESC Mechanical Systems TDT provides broad support across NASA’s mission directorates.

Posted December 26, 2024

NASA Engineering and Safety Center

NESC Assists in Heatshield Investigation

NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I mission launched from KSC on November 16, 2022. After a successful mission that included orbiting the Moon, the Orion spacecraft returned to Earth splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, 2022.

Posted December 26, 2024

Women at NASA

Laboratory Director Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse

“When I transitioned from Spelman to Georgia Tech, it was probably the first time in my life that I had a professor that made me question if I belonged or had what it takes. Previously, I was always used as an example of how students should study, and now, in my first chemical engineering class, […]

Posted December 26, 2024

Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Star Clusters

Hang a Shining Star Upon the Highest Bough

This new view of the “Christmas tree cluster” NGC 2264, released on Dec. 17, 2024, combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from astrophotographer Michael Clow’s telescope in Arizona. Chandra data is represented in red, purple, blue, and white, while optical data is in green and violet.

Posted December 24, 2024

General

NASA Engineering and Safety Center

Collaboration Is Key to A Strong Materials Discipline

NASA has a strong need for advanced materials and processes (M&P) across the realms of robotic- and crewed-spaceflight, as well as aeronautics, particularly when one acknowledges that all craft must be made of something. To meet that need, the materials discipline relies on collaboration—both between centers and across disciplines.

Posted December 24, 2024

NASA Engineering and Safety Center

Characterizing the Visual Experience of Astronauts at the Lunar South Pole

Humans are returning to the Moon—this time, to stay. Because our presence will be more permanent, NASA has selected a location that maximizes line-of-sight communication with Earth, solar visibility, and access to water ice: the Lunar South Pole (LSP). While the Sun is in the lunar sky more consistently at the poles, it never rises […]

Posted December 24, 2024

General

Johnson Space Center