Washington DC (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
For the first time, astronomers have uncovered evidence of water vapor in the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. This water vapor forms when ice from the moon's surface sublimates - that is, turns from solid to gas. Scientists used new and archival datasets from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make the discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy. Previous research has offere

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
Fifty years ago, Apollo 15 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, sending Commander David R. Scott, Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden, and Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin on the first of three Apollo "J" missions. These missions gave astronauts the opportunity to explore the Moon for longer periods using upgraded and more plentiful scientific instruments than ever before. Apollo 15 wa

by Francis Reddy for GSFC News
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 27, 2021 On Aug. 26, 2020, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a pulse of high-energy radiation that had been racing toward Earth for nearly half the present age of the universe. Lasting only about a second, it turned out to be one for the record books - the shortest gamma-ray burst (GRB) caused by the death of a massive star ever seen. GRBs are the most

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
The unpiloted Russian Progress 77 cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station while attached to the Pirs docking compartment at 6:55 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft will reenter Earth's atmosphere and harmlessly burn up over the south Pacific. The mission launched and docked to the space station in February delivering more than a ton of cargo to the Expedition 65 crew. De

Toronto, Canada (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
MDA Ltd. has been awarded a $35.3 million contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the design of the Gateway External Robotics Interfaces (GERI), a key component of Canadarm3 which will be installed on the international Lunar Gateway. MDA has completed Phase A, the system definition phase of this GERI project. This new contract award covers the preliminary and detailed design of t

Fino Mornasco, Italy (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
D-Orbit, the space logistics and transportation company, announced that it has successfully completed the deployment phase of its WILD RIDE mission. As part of this phase, D-Orbit's ION Satellite Carrier (ION), the company's proprietary space transportation vehicle, successfully deployed all six satellites hosted onboard and will now proceed with the in-orbit demonstration of 12 hosted payloads.

Beijing (XNA) Jul 27, 2021
Three Chinese astronauts have been living and working in China's space station core module Tianhe for more than a month. They are scheduled to stay in space for three months. The astronauts have been exercising, maintaining healthy diets and undergoing regular check-ups to reduce the effects of living in a microgravity environment. Scientists have found that microgravity weakens both

Beijing (XNA) Jul 27, 2021
China's Zhurong Mars rover finished exploring a sand dune on the red planet on the first anniversary of the launch of the country's first interplanetary expedition, the China National Space Administration said on Friday. The robot headed toward the dune earlier this week and began to take photographs, then activated onboard scientific equipment to survey the dune and its surroundings, the

Bethesda MD (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
Space exploitation/exploration is expensive. For example, the transportation cost for each lemon sent to the International Space Station (ISS) may cost over $2,000. Such lemons and other food supplies are sent to the station periodically by cargo modules from U.S. and Russian suppliers. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA has been using other sources for resupplying the

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jul 27, 2021
NASA and Boeing are taking another major step on the path to regular human spaceflight launches to the International Space Station on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil with the second uncrewed flight test of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. NASA's Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is targeting launch of the Starliner spacecraft