After nearly a decade of service to NASA, including an eight-month science expedition aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Jonny Kim’s last day at the agency is Thursday. He will continue serving as lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. Kim launched to the space station in April 2025 aboard the Soyuz MS‑27 spacecraft to conduct […]
During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is far hotter than its visible surface. Capturing the data they needed meant being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Pilots from NASA’s Johnson Space Center flew the WB-57F high altitude research aircraft from Ellington Field in Houston to Iceland, […]
NASA will provide coverage as two astronauts step outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to replace a spacecraft navigational aid and complete several maintenance tasks in support of space station operations. Watch live coverage beginning at 7 a.m. EDT. The spacewalk is expected to start at approximately 8:30 a.m. and last about […]
Lee esta historia en español aquí. Some of Earth’s microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the shaded nooks and crannies of the Moon’s South Pole region, NASA scientists say. Published on Aug. 19, 2026, in Science Advances, these findings highlight a need to better understand microbial persistence […]
Photographers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have documented some of the most defining moments in human spaceflight. From astronaut training and engineering tests to mission control operations and milestone celebrations, their images preserve the history of exploration while capturing the people and teams behind the missions shaping the next era. Meet the photographers behind the lens and explore the […]
As NASA prepares to establish the Moon Base, advancing surface mobility will be key to helping crews and robotic systems travel farther across the lunar surface. To help advance that capability, the Rock and Roll with NASA Challenge invited public innovators to design and build next-generation lunar rover wheels. Five teams from 128 submissions and 49 countries advanced to the final phase of the […]
NASA’s 737 aircraft was painted this week in Oklahoma as it progresses with modifications for use as a reduced gravity test aircraft for the agency. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, took ownership of the aircraft from the United States Air Force in June. The aircraft will perform lunar-gravity parabolic flights to validate […]
NASA has declared “wrenches down” on the first completed payload designed for Artemis astronauts to deploy on the Moon’s surface. Engineers working on NASA’s Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS, have completed hardware development and testing and the payload is ready for its permanent home near the lunar South Pole. With the hardware complete, LEMS […]
As NASA prepares to return astronauts to the lunar surface for longer stays and increasingly complex operations, building the Moon Base will require new ideas, advanced technologies, and expertise across many fields. During NASA Stories at the Ion on July 30, Shatel Bhakta, principal systems engineer for NASA’s Moon Base Program, presented “Building the Moon Base: Challenges and Opportunities at the Lunar South Pole.” He discussed the work required to establish a sustained human […]
Before astronauts return to the Moon’s surface through NASA’s Artemis program, the hardware they depend on must first prove it can survive the unforgiving lunar environment. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers at the Lunar Development and Test Facility are tackling one of exploration’s biggest challenges: Moon dust. Unlike sand on Earth, lunar dust is sharp, abrasive, and clings […]