AstroHub

Watch live with us as a crew of four launch on NASA's SpaceX #Crew7 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is targeted at 3:27 a.m. EDT (0727 UTC), Sat., Aug. 26. Commander Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, pilot Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, and mission specialists Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos will launch on their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Visit our Crew-7 blog for the latest mission news: https://blogs.nasa.gov/crew-7 Over 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations will take place during Crew-7's mission of approximately six months in space. Experiments will include the collection of microbial samples from the exterior of the space station, the first study of human response to different spaceflight durations, and an investigation of the physiological aspects of astronauts' sleep. Learn more about the mission and science at: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/what-you... Credit: NASA Thumbnail credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—the four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission—are scheduled to splash down off the coast of Florida at 12:17 a.m. EDT (0417 UTC) on Monday, Sept. 4, concluding their six-month stay in low Earth orbit. Join NASA and SpaceX for live coverage of Crew-6 and their Dragon Endeavour spacecraft from reentry through recovery. While aboard the International Space Station, Crew-6 contributed to a number of studies to help us learn how to live in space while making life better back on Earth: https://go.nasa.gov/3OOOR3l Follow the latest mission updates on our NASA blogs: https://blogs.nasa.gov/ Credit: NASA Thumbnail credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

Experts from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) mission give an overview on the asteroid sample capsule’s landing and recovery plans set for Sept. 24, 2023. News conference participants are: • Melissa Morris, OSIRIS-REx program executive, NASA Headquarters, Washington • Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson • Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland • Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager, Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado • Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston On Sept. 24, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will approach Earth and release its sample return capsule into the atmosphere on a path to land at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The event makes it the first U.S. asteroid sample return. The touchdown will mark the end of a seven-year journey to explore asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface, and deliver it to Earth for study. Scientists around the world will study the sample over the coming decades to learn about how our planet and solar system formed, as well as the origin of organics that may have led to life on Earth. All about the mission: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex Credit: NASA

Chandrayaan 3 Landing Updates: After a 40-day journey starting from the Sathish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission has landed successfully. The Chandrayaan 3's Vikram lander should made a soft lunar landing at 6.04 PM IST on August 23.

How do spacecraft slow down? Rigid heat shields and retropropulsion have been the favorites of engineers for years. Now NASA is testing a new inflatable heat shield technology that could allow us to carry even larger payloads to worlds with atmospheres: https://www.nasa.gov/loftid Launching on Nov. 1 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket along with NOAA’s JPSS-2 mission, the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, will demonstrate the heat shield’s ability to slow down and survive atmospheric entry: https://go.nasa.gov/3N7yzBG Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde Editor: Daniel Salazar Credit: NASA

Watch live as the Dragon Freedom spacecraft undocks with the four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission aboard: NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) is targeted for Friday, Oct. 14. Splashdown is targeted several hours later at 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 UTC) Friday off the coast of Florida. During their stay of nearly six months on the ISS, Crew-4 members contributed to ongoing and new scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, work that is helping to prepare humans for future space exploration missions and generating innovations and benefits for humanity on Earth:

Paul Smith is a night-sky fanatic and photographer. His obsession is sprites: immense jolts of light that flicker high above thunderstorms. Last October, he guided NASA scientist Dr. Burcu Kosar through the backroads of Oklahoma to catch one herself. Although she’d studied sprites for more than 15 years, she hadn’t yet chased one. Read more about chasing sprites with Paul and Burcu: https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2022/1... Learn about NASA’s citizen science project Spritacular: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/... Learn about the Heliophysics Big Year: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-sy... Image credits: Paul Smith, Frankie Lucena, Panagiotis Tsouras, Thomas Ashcraft. All imagery of sprites is copyrighted and used with permission. Music credits: “The Beauty Beyond” by Jeremy Noel William Abbott [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “Outer Orbit” by Alexander Ryder Mcnair [ASCAP], Harry Gregson Williams [BMI], Ho Ling Tang [BMI]; “Wonderful Orbit” by Tom Furse Fairfax Cowan [PRS]; “Starlights” by Marc Teitler [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “A Tranquil End” by Luke Gordon [PRS]; “Virtual Tidings” by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS]; “Winter Aurora” by Samuel Karl Bohn [PRS]; “Lava Flow” and “Water Dance” by Ben Niblett [PRS], Jon Cotton [PRS]. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Producer: Joy Ng (KBRwyle) Scientist: Burcu Kosar (Catholic University of America) Photographer: Paul Smith Photographer: Frankie Lucena Photographer: Panagiotis Tsouras Photographer: Thomas Ashcraft Videographer: Joy Ng, Thomas Smith Writer: Lina Tran

A new Earth science mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), will help communities plan for a better future by surveying the planet’s salt and freshwater bodies. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will measure the height of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the oceans. As climate change accelerates the water cycle, more communities around the world will be inundated with water while others won’t have enough. SWOT data will be used to improve flood forecasts and monitor drought conditions, providing essential information to water management agencies, civil engineers, universities, the U.S. Department of Defense, disaster preparedness agencies, and others who need to track water in their local areas. In this video, examples of how SWOT data will be used in these communities are shared by a National Weather Service representative in Oregon, an Alaska Department of Transportation engineer, researchers from the University of Oregon and University of North Carolina, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist working with the Department of Defense, and a JPL scientist working with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Agency.