Blog

Space Shuttle
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans.
Posted September 17, 2026
APOD
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 17 – A… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Posted September 17, 2026
Earth Observatory
Extreme Temperatures
Heat & Radiation
Temperature records toppled across the central and southern U.S. as the autumnal equinox approached.
Posted September 17, 2026
People of Armstrong
Aeronautics
Armstrong Flight Research Center
Flight Innovation
People of NASA
Long before they helped shape NASA’s future aerospace breakthroughs, Derek Abramson, Justin Hall, and Justin Link were in their garages and homes building radio‑controlled aircraft, testing new ideas, and flying their creations at hobby events.
Posted September 17, 2026
Asteroids
Craters
Earth's Moon
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
Lunar Science
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
NASA Directorates
Planetary Environments & Atmospheres
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science & Research
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
It started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo caught his eye, as it implied that surface material in that area had been shaken up. “I […]
Posted September 16, 2026
Communicating and Navigating with Missions
General
Glenn Research Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
Research and Technology Mission Directorate
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)
NASA celebrated the full restoration of its Guam Remote Station with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 10, closing out more than three years of recovery after Super Typhoon Mawar devastated the site in 2023. Engineers from across the agency completed the final and most complex step of the rebuild on July 1, when they returned the […]
Posted September 16, 2026
Earth Science
Earth
Earth Surface & Interior
General
GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment)
GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
LAGEOS (LAser GEOdynamics Satellite)
Oceans
Water on Earth
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet’s center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth’s center of mass is a crucial reference point for satellite navigation and elevation measurements.
Posted September 16, 2026
Earth
Anak Krakatau erupts ash and volcanic gases in this Sept. 5, 2026, image acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8. Eruptions are a regular occurrence at Anak Krakatau, a small volcano between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Much of its activity remains relatively mild, but it occasionally puts on more […]
Posted September 16, 2026
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Photojournal
Description While parked at a sand ridge nicknamed “Chocolatal,” NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day. The first was taken on Aug. 30, 2026, at 9:56 a.m. local Mars time; the second was taken on Sep. 2, 2026, at 5:39 p.m. local Mars time. Those […]
Posted September 16, 2026
Grades 9 - 12
Learning Resources
NASA recently awarded $10.5 million to seven organizations nationwide through its new State Hubs initiative.
Posted September 16, 2026
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