NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured an unprecedented image of WR 124, a Wolf-Rayet star in the Sagittarius constellation 15,000 light-years away. This massive star is in the brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova, and Webb's observations of this rare phase are valuable to astronomers. The telescope is a joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency and is set to launch in 2021, providing astronomers with the most powerful space telescope ever built to study stars, galaxies, and planets, and search for signs of life.
Posts tagged as “NASA”
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday night after a successful five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Led by NASA's Nicole Mann, the first Native American woman to fly in space, the crew had to deal with a pair of leaking Russian capsules and the urgent delivery of a replacement craft. The mission is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team, and a reminder of the progress that can be made when we work together.
The Crew-5 mission, consisting of four astronauts from NASA, Japan, and Russia, has completed their five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon capsule, operated by SpaceX, departed from the ISS early Saturday morning and is expected to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico later Saturday night. During their 157-day mission, the Crew-5 team conducted hundreds of experiments, completed six spacewalks, and installed two solar arrays. This marks the first full-duration mission to the ISS for all four astronauts and the first time a Japanese astronaut has been part of a long-duration mission aboard the ISS.
SpaceX and NASA launched a mission to the International Space Station on Thursday morning, carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut, and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. The Crew Dragon capsule detached from the Falcon 9 rocket and is expected to dock at the space station on Friday. This mission is the first time an Arab astronaut has been assigned to a long-duration spaceflight and will last roughly six months, during which the astronauts will conduct a variety of experiments and research projects.
A launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying a four-man crew bound for the International Space Station was called off with less than three minutes to go due to a technical issue. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and is the first operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. The next attempt to launch the mission could come as early as Tuesday, although poor weather is forecast up the East Coast in the emergency recovery area.
NASA, SpaceX, and the United Arab Emirates are working together to launch a historic mission to the International Space Station on Monday. The four-man crew consists of two NASA astronauts, one Russian cosmonaut, and the first-ever UAE astronaut. This mission marks the first time that astronauts from all three countries will be working together in space, and is part of a public-private partnership between NASA and SpaceX to keep the ISS fully staffed and to return astronaut launches to US soil. It is also part of the UAE’s ambitious space program, and is expected to be a success.
Russia is set to launch a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday. The Soyuz MS-23/69S crew ferry ship will spend two days in orbit maneuvering towards the ISS and is loaded with equipment and supplies in place of a crew. If successful, the launch will be the first step in restoring the ISS's crew capacity.
SpaceX has successfully completed a test fire of its Super Heavy rocket booster, powered by 31 Raptor engines capable of generating 16.5 million pounds of thrust. The booster is designed to carry payloads of up to 140,000 pounds to low Earth orbit and up to 37,000 pounds to Mars. The test fire marks a major milestone for SpaceX, and the booster's maiden flight is expected to take place as early as next month as part of the company's Starship spacecraft, which is designed to carry humans to the Moon and Mars.