This Documentary Explores The Loneliness Of A Mars Mission – Science Friday

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

Listen to Universe of Art onApple Podcasts,Spotify,Google Podcasts,Stitcher,TuneInor your favorite podcasting app.

NASA is preparing to send humans to Mars. Although the launch date has been pushed back over the years, the agency says it wants to get there in the 2030s. And it has a lot on its to-do list. NASA needs to build new rockets, new habitable living spaces, new spacesuits, and new radiation shielding, just to name a few items.

But what if the one of the biggest challenges of these missions is not the engineering, but the mental health of the astronauts? Can all of the crew members get along with each other and stay alive over the course of three years in tight quarters and unforgiving environments? How will they cope with being separated from their families and friends for so long? And what lessons can they learn from astronauts whove lived on the International Space Stationand from our collective experience of isolation during the pandemic?

A new documentary, out March 8, explores all these questions and more. Its called The Longest Goodbye, and it dives intoNASAs Human Factors program, which includes a group of psychologists who are trying to figure out the best way to preserve astronauts mental health on a long and demanding mission.

Host D. Peterschmidt spoke to the films director, Ido Mizrahy, and one of its featured astronauts, Dr. Cady Coleman, about how NASA is thinking about tackling loneliness in space and what we can learn from astronauts whove already lived on the space station.

Plus, a listener shares his experience about performing a drumroll for the solar eclipse.

Universe of Art is hosted and produced by D. Peterschmidt, who also wrote the music. Our show art was illustrated by Abelle Hayford. Support for Science Fridays science and arts coverage comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Do you have science-inspired art youd like to share with us for a future episode? Send us an email or a voice memo touniverse@sciencefriday.com.

D. Peterschmidt

D. Peterschmidt is a producer, host of the podcast Universe of Art, and composes music for Science Fridays podcasts. Their D&D character is a clumsy bard named Chip Chap Chopman.

This Documentary Explores The Loneliness Of A Mars Mission - Science Friday

Could these big expandable habitats help humanity settle the moon and Mars? – Space.com

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

COLORADO SPRINGS Max Space wants to help humanity expand into the final frontier.

The startup is developing a range of inflatable space habitats, the largest of which could provide as much internal volume as a sports stadium. These plans, which Max Space unveiled on Tuesday (April 9) here at the 39th Space Symposium, are designed to help our species make the difficult leap off its home planet.

"The problem with space today is, there isn't enough habitable space in space," Max Space co-founder Aaron Kemmer said in a statement on Tuesday. "Unless we make usable space in space a lot less expensive, and much much larger, humanity's future in space will remain limited."

Related: Living on the moon: What it would be like (infographic)

Back in 2010, Kemmer co-founded the off-Earth manufacturing company Made In Space, which has sent multiple 3D-printing devices to the International Space Station (ISS) over the years. (Made In Space was acquired by Redwire in 2020.)

He says that experience helped convince him that expandable habitats are the future, citing one of the machines Made In Space modified for use on the ISS.

"It's like a three-story system on Earth, and all the engineering wasn't to make it work in space it was actually to get it down to a locker [size], just because there wasn't enough real estate in there," Kemmer told Space.com in an interview here at the symposium on Tuesday.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Expandable habitats, as the name suggests, launch in compressed form to fit inside rocket fairings but increase in size greatly when deployed in space. They therefore offer much more bang for the buck volume-wise than traditional "tin can" module designs.

An expandable habitat with 100 cubic meters (3,530 cubic feet) of pressurized volume, for example, would be "at least an order of magnitude cheaper" than a comparable metallic one, Kemmer said. (For perspective: The ISS offers 388 cubic meters, or 13,700 cubic feet, of habitable volume, not including the space provided by visiting vehicles.)

This is not a sci-fi concept; three expandable module prototypes are actually circling Earth right now. They are Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, which are free fliers that launched in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which has been attached to the ISS since 2016.

All three were built by Nevada-based company Bigelow Aerospace, which closed its doors in 2020. The pressure-restraining hulls for Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were designed and manufactured by Thin Red Line Aerospace, a small Canadian company run by Maxim de Jong Max Space's other co-founder.

The new startup, which has been in operation for about a year, is commercializing Thin Red Line Aerospace technology, Kemmer and de Jong said. But that tech isn't just a Genesis retread.

"It's a very, very, very different approach, where you're just putting fibers in an uncoupled scenario where they don't conflict with one another," de Jong told Space.com on Tuesday. The result, he and Kemmer said, is a cost-effective module that expands in a predictable and reliable way, and is highly scalable to larger sizes.

The new tech will get its first off-Earth test just two years from now, if all goes according to plan: Max Space has booked a spot on a SpaceX rideshare launch in 2026.

That mission will send a module the size of two large suitcases to orbit. However, that's the habitat's compressed configuration. Once deployed, it will expand to a pressurized volume of 20 cubic meters (706 cubic feet).

This deployment will set a new record for expandable habitats. The two Genesis prototypes both feature 11.5 cubic meters (406 cubic feet) of internal volume, while BEAM has 16 cubic meters (565 cubic feet).

Max Space has already built a full-size prototype of the first flight unit, which the company is using for ground testing, Kemmer said. It has started manufacturing the flight vehicle, which will not feature life-support systems but will have the same shielding and strength as human-rated versions.

Related: NASA's moon-orbiting space station will be claustrophobic, architect says

Max Space plans to keep moving fast after this pioneering module makes it to orbit. The startup aims to launch its first 100-cubic-meter (3,531 cubic feet) module in 2027 and to get a 1,000-cubic-meter (35,314 cubic feet) behemoth up by 2030. Even larger variants could potentially launch thereafter, aboard SpaceX's Starship megarocket or Blue Origin's New Glenn vehicle, the company said.

The goal is to provide a variety of destinations to a range of customers, from pharmaceutical companies that want to mass-produce medicines in microgravity to commercial space stations that want to expand their living space all the way to movie studios looking to film in orbit.

"We have several space production companies that we're talking to," Kemmer said. The company has already secured some customer contracts, including from the U.S. Space Force, he added.

But Earth orbit will be just the starting point for Max Space modules, if all goes according to plan.

"My dream is to have a city on the moon before I die," Kemmer said. "So I look at this like, this is going to be the habitat, the structures, that are going to go inside the lava tubes buried under the [lunar] surface."

The company's modules would then make their way to Mars, if all goes well, for Max Space wants to be a key enabler of off-Earth settlement. Indeed, that's why Kemmer and de Jong founded the company to help humanity extend its footprint out into the solar system.

"That was the entire reason," Kemmer said.

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Could these big expandable habitats help humanity settle the moon and Mars? - Space.com

SpaceX’s most-flown reusable rocket will go for its 20th launch tonight – Ars Technica

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

Enlarge / File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket rolling out of its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

For the first time, SpaceX will launch one of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters for a 20th time Friday night on a flight to deliver 23 more Starlink Internet satellites to orbit.

This milestone mission is scheduled to lift off at 9:22 pm EDT Friday (01:22 UTC Saturday) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Forecasters from the US Space Force predict "excellent" weather for the primetime launch.

Falcon 9 will blaze a familiar trail into space, following the same profile as dozens of past Starlink missions.

The rocket's first-stage booster will shut off its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin engines about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, reaching a top speed of more than 5,000 mph (8,000 km per hour). The first stage will detach from the Falcon 9's upper stage, which will continue firing into orbit. The 15-story-tall Falcon 9 booster, meanwhile, will follow an arcing trajectory before braking for a vertical landing on a drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas.

The 23 flat-packed Starlink spacecraft will deploy from the upper stage a little more than an hour after liftoff, bringing the total number of Starlinks in low-Earth orbit to more than 5,800 spacecraft.

Pretty much every day, SpaceX is either launching a rocket or rolling one out of the hangar to the launch pad. At this pace, SpaceX isredefining what is routine in the space industry, but the rapid-fire launch rate also means the company is continually breaking records, mostly its own.

Friday night's launch will break another one of those records. This first-stage booster, designated by the tail number B1062, has flown 19 times since its first flight in November 2020. The booster will now be the first in SpaceX's inventory to go for a 20th flight, breaking a tie with three other rockets as the company's fleet leader.

When SpaceX debuted the latest version of its Falcon 9 rocket, the Falcon 9 Block 5, officials said the reusable first stage could fly 10 times with minimal refurbishment and perhaps additional flights with a more extensive overhaul. Now, SpaceX is certifying Falcon 9 boosters for 40 flights.

This particular rocket has not undergone any extended maintenance or long-term grounding. It has flown an average of once every two months since debuting three-and-a-half years ago. So the 20-flight milestone SpaceX will achieve Friday night means this rocket has doubled its original design life and, at the same time, has reached the halfway point of its extended service life.

In its career, this booster has launched eight people and 530 spacecraft, mostly Starlinks. The rocket's first two flights launched GPS navigation satellites for the US military, then it launched two commercial human spaceflight missions with Dragon crew capsules. These were the all-private Inspiration4 mission and Axiom Mission 1, the first fully commercial crew flight to the International Space Station.

Remarkably, this will be the sixth Falcon 9 launch in less than eight days, more flights than SpaceX's main US rival, United Launch Alliance, has launched in 17 months.

It will be the 38th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the 111th flight of a Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocketthe 114th launch by SpaceX overallin the last 365 days. More than a third of SpaceX's Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy missions, a number that will stand at 332 after Friday night's flight, have launched in the past year.

This month, for the first time, SpaceX demonstrated it could launch two Falcon 9 rockets in less than five days from the company's launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. SpaceX has also cut the turnaround time between Falcon 9 rockets at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The company's most-used launch pad, SLC-40, can handle two Falcon 9 flights in less than four days.

It's not just launch pad turnaround. SpaceX uses its drone shipstwo based in Florida and one in Californiafor most Falcon 9 landings. In order to meet the appetite for Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX is getting rockets back to port and re-deploying drone ships back to sea at a faster rate.

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SpaceX's most-flown reusable rocket will go for its 20th launch tonight - Ars Technica

Startup Looking to Launch Stadium-Sized Space Habitats on SpaceX – Futurism

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

A space startup called Max Space is looking to launch expandable, "stadium-sized" habitats into the Earth's orbit on board a SpaceX rocket by the end of the decade.

In theory, the startup's goal is straightforward. Its habitats are designed to give us as much room to live in space by minimizing the mass and volume of the payload required to be launched into space, a notoriously costly process.

"The problem with space today is, there isn't enough habitable space in space," said co-founder Aaron Kemmer in a statement. "Unless we make usable space in space a lot less expensive, and much larger, humanity's future in space will remain limited."

The one-year-old company's "scalable habitat" designs range from 20 cubic meters to a whopping 1,000, or 700 and 35,300 cubic feet respectively which would dwarf existing habitat concepts out there if they're launched in 2027 and 2030 as planned.

These habitats could not only float in the microgravity of orbit, the company says, but even be deployed on the surface of the Moon or even Mars.

"My dream is to have a city on the Moon before I die," Kemmer said. "So I look at this like, this is going to be the habitat, the structures, that are going to go inside the lava tubes buried under the [lunar] surface," Kemmer told Space.com.

That's all with a huge disclaimer, of course: it's a wildly ambitious plan and the company is bound to encounter plenty of obstacles along the way.

At least the startup's leadership has some existing experience to draw from. Kemmer co-founded Redwire Space (formerly Made in Space), a company that has sent several 3D-printing devices to the International Space Station to explore off-Earth manufacturing.

Making habitats inflatable has some key advantages, including a much smaller size that could squeeze into a rocket fairing.

The idea isn't exactly new. As Space.com points out, there are three inflatable space habitat modules orbiting the Earth right now, all of which were developed and built by Bigelow Aerospace, which has been pioneering the concept.

Max Space cofounder Maxim de Jong worked on the pressure-restraining hulls of two of these habitats at Canadian contractor Thin Red Line Aerospace.

The startup is hoping to bring costs down by using a new approach that's highly scalable, and launch its first off-Earth test a module roughly the size of two suitcases that expands into a volume of 700 cubic feet just two years from now, per Space.com.

If everything goes according to plan, the prototype could set a new record, ballooning past the volumes of all three inflatable habitats currently orbiting the Earth.

But Max Space isn't the only company looking to launch a new generation of expanding habitats into space.

Competitor Sierra Space has also been busy intentionally blowing up full-scale inflatable habitat prototypes on Earth, and is planning to start work on flight-ready hardware by mid-2026.

More on inflatable habitats: Full-Scale Prototype Space Habitat Explodes Under Pressure

Excerpt from:

Startup Looking to Launch Stadium-Sized Space Habitats on SpaceX - Futurism

Peterson Health earns three-year CARF accreditation | Community Life | hccommunityjournal.com – Community journal

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Dook Domini

CARF International, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, announced that Peterson Health has been accredited for a period of three years for its comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation and stroke specialty programs.

The latest accreditation is the second consecutive Three-Year Accreditation that CARF has awarded to Peterson Health.

This is amazing work, Elizabeth Johnson, Director of Rehab Services at Peterson Health, said. It is a true testament to how our units dedication to exceptional, compassionate, patient-centered care continues to shine.

This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be given to an organization and shows the organizations substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has gone through a rigorous peer-review process. Peterson has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit its commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

These types of results dont happen by accident, Joe Piszczor, Peterson Healths Chief Operating Officer, said. They are the outcome of our teams dedication and hard work to ensure the residents of Kerrville and surrounding communities receive the absolute best care.

CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process and continuous improvement services that center on enhancing the lives of persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF International, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services. For more information about the accreditation process, please visit the CARF website at http://www.carf.org.

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Peterson Health earns three-year CARF accreditation | Community Life | hccommunityjournal.com - Community journal

ChatGPT Use Linked to Memory Loss, Procrastination in Students – Futurism

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

You won't always have an AI chatbot in your pocket... right? Brain Drain

New research has found a worrying link to memory loss and tanking grades in students who relied on ChatGPT, in an early but fascinating exploration of the swift impact that large language models have had in education.

As detailed in a new studypublished in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, the researchers surveyed hundreds of university students ranging from undergrads to doctoral candidates over two phases, using self-reported evaluations. They were spurred on by witnessing more and more of their own students turn to ChatGPT.

"My interest in this topic stemmed from the growing prevalence of generative artificial intelligence in academia and its potential impact on students," study co-author Muhammad Abhas at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences in Pakistan told PsyPost. "For the last year, I observed an increasing, uncritical, reliance on generative AI tools among my students for various assignments and projects I assigned."

In the first phase, the researchers collected responses from 165 students who used an eight-item scale to report their degree of ChatGPT reliance. The items ranged from "I use ChatGPT for my course assignments" to "ChatGPT is part of my campus life."

To validate those results, they also conducted a more rigorous "time-lagged" second phase, in which they expanded their scope to nearly 500 students, who were surveyed three times at one to two week intervals.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that students under a heavy academic workload and "time pressure" were much more likely to use ChatGPT. They observed that those who relied on ChatGPT reported more procrastination, more memory loss, and a drop in GPA. And the reason why is quite simple: the chatbot, however good or bad its responses are, is making schoolwork too easy.

"Since ChatGPT can quickly respond to any questions asked by a user," the researchers wrote in the study, "students who excessively use ChatGPT may reduce their cognitive efforts to complete their academic tasks, resulting in poor memory."

There were a few curveballs, however.

"Contrary to expectations, students who were more sensitive to rewards were less likely to use generative AI," Abbas told PsyPost, suggesting that those seeking good grades avoided using the chatbot out of fear of getting caught.

It's possible that the relationship between ChatGPT usage and its negative effects is bidirectional, notes PsyPost. A student may turn to the chatbot because they already have bad grades, and not the other way around. It's also worth considering that the data was self-reported, which comes with its own biases.

That's not to exonerate AI, though. Based on these findings, we should be wary about ChatGPT's role in education.

"The average person should recognize the dark side of excessive generative AI usage," Abbas told Psypost. "While these tools offer convenience, they can also lead to negative consequences such as procrastination, memory loss, and compromised academic performance."

More on AI: Google's AI Search Caught Pushing Users to Download Malware

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ChatGPT Use Linked to Memory Loss, Procrastination in Students - Futurism

ChatGPT linked to declining academic performance and memory loss in new study – PsyPost

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

Students tend to turn to ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence tool, when faced with increased academic workload and time constraints, according to new research published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. The study also reveals a concerning trend: reliance on ChatGPT is linked to procrastination, memory loss, and a decline in academic performance. These findings shed light on the role of generative AI in education, suggesting both its widespread use and potential drawbacks.

The motivation behind this research stems from the explosive growth of generative AI technologies in educational settings. Despite their potential to assist in learning and research, theres a growing concern among educators about their misuse, especially in relation to academic integrity. Previous studies have largely focused on theoretical discussions without much empirical data to support the claims.

My interest in this topic stemmed from the growing prevalence of generative artificial intelligence in academia and its potential impact on students, explained study author Muhammad Abbas, an associate professor at the FAST School of Management at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences in Pakistan. For the last year, I observed an increasing, uncritical, reliance on generative AI tools among my students for various assignments and projects I assigned. This prompted me to delve deeper into understanding the underlying causes and consequences of its usage among them.

To understand these dynamics, the study was conducted in two phases. Initially, the researchers developed and validated a scale to measure university students use of ChatGPT for academic purposes. They began by generating an initial set of 12 items, which was refined to 10 after expert evaluations for content validity. Further refinement through an exploratory factor analysis and reliability testing led to the final selection of eight items that effectively measured the extent of ChatGPTs academic use.

The scale included items such as: I use ChatGPT for my course assignments, I am addicted to ChatGPT when it comes to studies, and ChatGPT is part of my campus life.

In the second phase of the study, the researchers sought to validate the findings from the first phase while also testing specific hypotheses related to ChatGPTs impact. The sample consisted of 494 university students who were surveyed across three timepoints, each separated by a 1-2 week interval.

This time-lagged approach allowed the researchers to first gather data on predictor variables (academic workload, time pressure, sensitivity to rewards, and sensitivity to quality), followed by the measurement of ChatGPT usage, and finally, the assessment of outcomes (procrastination, memory loss, and academic performance).

Abbas and his colleagues found that high levels of academic workload and time pressure were significant predictors of increased ChatGPT usage, suggesting that students under significant academic stress are more likely to turn to generative AI tools for assistance.

Students who were more sensitive to rewards were less inclined to use ChatGPT, indicating a possible concern about the academic integrity and the potential negative consequences of relying on AI for academic tasks.

Moreover, the study uncovered significant adverse effects of ChatGPT usage on students personal and academic outcomes. Increased reliance on ChatGPT was associated with higher levels of procrastination and memory loss, and a negative impact on academic performance, as reflected in students grade point averages. These findings suggest that while ChatGPT can be a valuable resource under certain circumstances, its excessive use might lead to detrimental effects on learning behaviors and outcomes.

One surprising finding was the role of sensitivity to rewards, Abbas told PsyPost. Contrary to expectations, students who were more sensitive to rewards were less likely to use generative AI. Another surprising finding was the positive relationship of generative AI usage with procrastination and self-reported memory loss and negative relationship between generative AI usage and academic performance.

Interestingly, the study did not find a significant relationship between sensitivity to quality and ChatGPT usage, suggesting that concerns over the quality of academic work do not necessarily influence the decision to use AI tools.

The findings highlight the potential dual impact of ChatGPT in academia, serving both as a helpful tool under academic pressure and as a potential risk to academic integrity and student learning outcomes.

The average person should recognize the dark side of excessive generative AI usage, Abbas said. While these tools offer convenience, they can also lead to negative consequences such as procrastination, memory loss, and compromised academic performance. Also, factors like academic workload, sensitivity to rewards, and time pressure play significant roles in influencing students decision to use generative AI.

The study provides important details about ChatGPT usage among university students. But the study, like all research, includes limitations. For example, the time-lagged design, while more robust than cross-sectional designs, does not entirely eliminate the possibility of reciprocal relationships.

The study suggests a one-way impact of ChatGPT usage on students academic workload and personal outcomes, such as procrastination and memory loss. However, its conceivable that these relationships could be bidirectional. For instance, students who are prone to procrastination might be more inclined to use ChatGPT, rather than ChatGPT usage leading to increased procrastination.

The research opens the door to investigating the broader effects of ChatGPT usage on students learning outcomes and health. Future research could delve into how reliance on generative AI tools affects cognitive skills, mental health, and overall learning experiences.

My long-term goals involve expanding this line of research to further explore through other methods, such as experiments, how excessive use of generative AI affects students outcomes, Abbas said.

The study, Is it harmful or helpful? Examining the causes and consequences of generative AI usage among university students, was authored by Muhammad Abbas, Farooq Ahmed Jam, and Tariq Iqbal Khan.

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ChatGPT linked to declining academic performance and memory loss in new study - PsyPost

Experience the Launch of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Mission – NASA

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission to the International Space Station. The mission will be the first crewed launch of Boeings Starliner spacecraft as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program.

Starliner will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the orbiting laboratory for a stay of about one to two weeks. Liftoff is targeted for mid-April 2024 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Stations Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida.

If your passion is to communicate and engage the world online, then this is the event for you! Seize the opportunity to see and share the #Starliner mission launch.

A maximum of 50 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event and will be given access similar to news media.

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

NASA Social registration for the CFT launch opens on Wednesday, Feb. 21, and the deadline to apply is at 3 p.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 27. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

APPLY NOW

Yes. This event is designed for people who:

Users on all social networks are encouraged to use the hashtag #NASASocial and #Starliner. Updates and information about the event will be shared on X via @NASASocial and @NASAKennedy, and via posts to Facebook and Instagram.

Registration for this event opens Wednesday, Feb. 21, and closes at 3 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Registration is for one person only (you) and is non-transferable. Each individual wishing to attend must register separately. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Because of the security deadlines, registration is limited to U.S. citizens. If you have a valid permanent resident card, you will be processed as a U.S. citizen.

After registrations have been received and processed, an email with confirmation information and additional instructions will be sent to those selected. We expect to send the acceptance notifications by March 1.

All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Those chosen must prove through the registration process they meet specific engagement criteria.

If you do not make the registration list for this NASA Social, you still can attend the launch offsite and participate in the conversation online. Find out about ways to experience a launch here.

Registration indicates your intent to travel to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida and attend the two-day event in person. You are responsible for your own expenses for travel, accommodations, food, and other amenities.

Some events and participants scheduled to appear at the event are subject to change without notice. NASA is not responsible for loss or damage incurred as a result of attending. NASA, moreover, is not responsible for loss or damage incurred if the event is cancelled with limited or no notice. Please plan accordingly.

Kennedy is a government facility. Those who are selected will need to complete an additional registration step to receive clearance to enter the secure areas.

IMPORTANT: To be admitted, you will need to provide two forms of unexpired government-issued identification; one must be a photo ID and match the name provided on the registration. Those without proper identification cannot be admitted.

For a complete list of acceptable forms of ID, please visit: NASA Credentialing Identification Requirements.

All registrants must be at least 18 years old.

Many different factors can cause a scheduled launch date to change multiple times. If the launch date changes, NASA may adjust the date of the NASA Social accordingly to coincide with the new target launch date. NASA will notify registrants of any changes by email.

If the launch is postponed, attendees will be invited to attend a later launch date. NASA cannot accommodate attendees for delays beyond 72 hours.

NASA Social attendees are responsible for any additional costs they incur related to any launch delay. We strongly encourage participants to make travel arrangements that are refundable and/or flexible.

If you cannot come to the Kennedy Space Center and attend in person, you should not register for the NASA Social. You can follow the conversation online using #NASASocial.

You can watch the launch on NASA Television or http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/. NASA will provide regular launch and mission updates on @NASA, @NASAKennedy, and @Commercial_Crew.

If you cannot make this NASA Social, dont worry; NASA is planning many other Socials in the near future at various locations! Check backherefor updates.

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Experience the Launch of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Mission - NASA

NASA, SpaceX’s Crew-8 astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center – Yahoo News

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

NASA and SpaceX are counting down to the launch of their next crewed mission to the International Space Station.

Crew-8 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday.

The team consists of three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut.

See: SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft arrives at Kennedy Space Center ahead of Crew-8 launch

They are set to travel to the ISS on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

One veteran astronaut on the crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center 13 years ago and said he is excited to make a return trip.

Watch: SpaceX launches 2nd Starship mega rocket

So, its just an absolute pleasure to see Kennedy Space Center be the thriving spaceport that it is, said NASA astronaut Michael Barratt. Were very honored to be a part of that. I cant wait to get back to that magnificent space station. I cant wait to fly this new spaceship and I cant wait to fly with this crew.

The launch is scheduled for just after midnight on Friday.

Read: NASA looks for Martians on Earth for yearlong Mars simulation

Click hereto download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. Andclick hereto stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

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NASA, SpaceX's Crew-8 astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center - Yahoo News

Why the Odysseus Moon Landing Is So Important – TIME

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

Early this week, Facebook provided me with a sweet piece of serendipity when it served up a picture of the late Gene Cernan. I had taken and posted the picture in 2014, when Cernan, the last man on the moon, was being feted at the premiere of the documentary about his life, titled, straightforwardly, The Last Man On the Moon. I had gotten to know Gene well over the course of many years of reporting on the space program, and was keenly saddened when we lost him to cancer three years later.

But this week, on Feb. 22, Cernan made news in a bank-shot sort of way, when the Odysseus spacecraft touched down near the south lunar pole, marking the first time the U.S. had soft-landed metal on the moon since Cernan feathered his lunar module Challenger down to the surface of the Taurus-Littrow Valley on Dec. 11, 1972. The networks made much of that 52-year gulf in cosmic history, but Odysseus was significant for two other, more substantive reasons: it marked the first time a spacecraft built by a private company, not by a governmental space program, had managed a lunar landing, and it was the first time any ship had visited a spot so far in the moons south, down in a region where ice is preserved in permanently shadowed craters. Those deposits could be harvested to serve as drinking water, breathable oxygen, and even rocket fuel by future lunar astronauts.

Today, for the first time in more than a half century, the U.S. has returned to the moon, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a livestream that accompanied the landing. Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company and an American company launched and led the voyage up there.

Nelsons enthusiasm was not misplaced. The six Apollo lunar landings might have been epochal events, but they were also abbreviated ones. The longest stay any of the crews logged on the surface was just three days by Cernan and his lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt. The shortest stay was less than 21 hours, by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission, the first lunar landing, in 1969. That so-called flags and footprints model was fine for the days when the U.S. lunar program was mostly about doing some basic spelunking and, not for nothing, beating the much-feared Soviet Union at planting a flag in the lunar regolith.

But the 21st-century moon program is different. Ever since NASA established its Artemis program in 2017, the space agency has made it clear that the new era of exploration will be much more ambitious. The goal is in part for American astronauts to establish at least a semi-permanent presence on the moon, with a mini-space station known as Gateway positioned in lunar orbit, allowing crews to shuttle to and from the surface. NASA also plans to create a south pole habitat that the crews could call home. And all of this will be done by a much more diverse corps of astronauts, with women and persons of color joining the all-white, all-male list of astronauts who traveled to the moon the first time around.

There is, however, a catch: money. In the glory days of Apollo, NASA funding represented 4% of the total federal budget; now its just 0.4%. That means taking the job of designing and building spacecraft off of the space agencys plate and outsourcing it to private industry, the way SpaceX now ferries crews to the International Space Station, charging NASA for the rides the way it charges satellite manufacturers and other private customers. The Commercial Crew Program, of which SpaceX is a part, was established in 2011, and has been a rousing success, so much so that, in 2018, NASA took things a step further, announcing the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, similarly outsourcing the delivery of equipment that astronaut-settlers will need.

CLPS, however, stumbled out of the gate. On Jan. 8 of this year, the Peregrine lander, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, was launched to a similar lunar region that Odysseus targeted, carrying 20 payloads, including mini-rovers, a spectrometer designed to scour the soil for traces of water, and another to study the moons exceedingly tenuous atmosphere. Peregrine was not destined to make it out of Earths orbit, however, after an engine failure stranded itleaving the ship to plunge back into the atmosphere 10 days after launch.

There will be some failures, Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told TIME before the Peregrine mission launched. But if even half of these missions succeed, it is still a wild, runaway success.

Odysseus landed in that second, happier column. Built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, the spacecraft carries six science instruments, including stereoscopic cameras, an autonomous navigation system, and a radio wave detector to help measure charged particles above the surfacecritical to determining the necessary sheathing in an eventual habitat. NASA has at least eight other CLPS missions planned, including two more by Intuitive Machines and another by Astrobotic, through 2026. After that, the program is expected to go on indefinitelysupplying lunar bases for as long as Artemis has astronauts on the moon.

Just when those explorers will arrive is unclear. The Artemis II mission, which was expected to take astronauts on a circumlunar journey in November of this year, has been postponed until September of 2025, due to R&D issues in both the Space Launch System moon rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Artemis III, set to be the first landing since the Apollo 17 astronauts trod the regolith, will likely not come until 2026 at the earliest.

That 52 year wait would not have sat well with that long-ago crew. In the same year in which they flew, the National Football Leagues Miami Dolphins made a less consequential history of their own, when they became the first and so far only team to go through an entire season undefeated. The surviving members of that legendary squad have waited out the seasons that have followed, pulling for their record to standand conceding relief when the final undefeated team at last records a loss. Cernan, for his part, wanted nothing to do with his own last man record. We leave here as we came and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind, he said before he climbed back up the ladder of his lunar module and left the moon behind. The success of Odysseus does not make the fulfillment of Cernans wish imminent, but it does nudge it closer.

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Why the Odysseus Moon Landing Is So Important - TIME

NASA will retire the ISS soon. Here’s what comes next. – NPR

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Dook Domini

The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab on Nov. 8, 2021. NASA hide caption

The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab on Nov. 8, 2021.

Since its first modules launched at the end of 1998, the International Space Station has been orbiting 250 miles above Earth. But at the end of 2030, NASA plans to crash the ISS into the ocean after it is replaced with a new space station, a reminder that nothing within Earth's orbit can stay in space forever.

NASA is collaborating on developing a space station owned, built, and operated by a private company either Axiom Space, Voyager Space, or Blue Origin. NASA is giving each company hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and sharing their expertise with them.

Eventually, they will select one company to officially partner with and have them replace the ISS. NASA says this will help them focus on deep space exploration, which they consider a much more difficult task.

Progress photos showing the Axiom Space station being built. ENRICO SACCHETTI/Axiom Space hide caption

Progress photos showing the Axiom Space station being built.

But any company that is able to develop their own space station, get approval from the federal government and launch it into space will be able to pursue their own deep space missions even without the approval of NASA.

Phil McCalister, director of the Commercial Space Division of NASA, told NPR's Morning Edition that NASA does not want to own in perpetuity everything in low-Earth orbit which is up to 1,200 miles above Earth's surface.

"We want to turn those things over to other organizations that could potentially do it more cost-effectively, and then focus our research and activities on deep space exploration," said McCalister.

McCalister says the ISS could stay in space longer, but it's much more cost-effective for NASA to acquire a brand new station with new technology. NASA would then transition to purchasing services from commercial entities as opposed to the government building a next-generation commercial space station.

The ISS was designed in the 80s, so the technology when it was first built was very different from what is available today.

"I kind of see this as like an automobile. When we bought that automobile in 1999, it was state of the art. And it has been great. And it serves us well and continues to be safe. But it's getting older. It's getting harder to find spare parts. The maintenance for that is becoming a larger issue," McCalister said.

A new, private space station will have a lot of similarities and some differences from the current ISS.

Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station, says that despite it aging, not all the technology on the ISS is out of date.

"We've been evolving the technology on the International Space Station since it was first built. So some of these technologies will carry over to these private space stations," said Gatens. "We've upgraded the batteries, we've upgraded and added solar arrays that roll out and are flexible, we've been upgrading our life support systems."

The view from NASA spacewalker Thomas Marshburn's camera points downward toward the ISS on December 2, 2021. Thomas Marshburn/NASA hide caption

The view from NASA spacewalker Thomas Marshburn's camera points downward toward the ISS on December 2, 2021.

Paulo Lozano is the director of the Space Propulsion Laboratory at MIT and an aerospace engineer. He said, "NASA has already changed the solar panels at least once and switched them from these very large arrays that produce relatively little power, to these smaller arrays that produce much more power. All the computer power at the beginning is nothing compared to what can be done today."

Gatens says the structure of the space station which is the size of a football field is what can't be upgraded and replaced. And something of that size is costly for NASA to maintain.

"The big structure, even though it's doing very well, has a finite lifetime. It won't last forever. It is affected by the environment that it's in. And every time we dock a vehicle and undock a vehicle, the thermal environment puts stresses and loads on that primary structure that will eventually make it wear out," said Gatens.

Gatens says we can expect a new space station to be designed a little more efficiently and right sized for the amount of research that NASA and its partners are going to want to do in low-Earth orbit.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur doing an experiment on the ISS on May 26, 2021. NASA hide caption

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur doing an experiment on the ISS on May 26, 2021.

The structure of the ship is also extremely important to the people who work there.

The ISS carries scientists who perform research that can only be done in the weak gravity of space, like medical research. In space, cells age more quickly and conditions progress more rapidly, helping researchers understand the progression of things like heart disease or cancer more quickly.

Researchers on the ISS also work to understand what happens to the human body when it's exposed to microgravity. This research is aimed at helping develop ways to counteract the negative effects of being in space and let astronauts stay there longer something essential to getting a human on Mars.

Gatens says a new space station will have updated research facilities.

"I'm looking forward to seeing very modern laboratory equipment on these space stations. We say the International Space Station has a lot of capability, but it's more like a test kitchen. I'm looking forward to seeing the future commercial space stations take these laboratory capabilities and really develop them into state-of-the-art space laboratories," said Gatens.

Expedition 60 crewmembers Luca Parmitano, Christina Koch, Andrew Morgan, and Nick Hague in the ISS cupola photographing Hurricane Dorian on August 30, 2019. NASA hide caption

Expedition 60 crewmembers Luca Parmitano, Christina Koch, Andrew Morgan, and Nick Hague in the ISS cupola photographing Hurricane Dorian on August 30, 2019.

On top of having modern research facilities, new space stations will likely be designed to provide a cleaner environment for researchers.

"If you see pictures of the station, you'll think 'how can they work there?' It looks cluttered, it looks messy," Astronaut Peggy Whitson told NPR. She's spent more time in space than any other woman and is the first woman to command the ISS. Whitson is now Director of Human Spaceflight and an astronaut at Axiom Space, one of the companies funded by NASA to develop a space station.

Whitson said the reason there are cables all over the place is because the structure of the station wasn't designed for some of the systems it has now. She thinks having a method for making a station even more adaptable to new technology will be important in terms of user experience.

Whitson doesn't know what technology will be available five years from now. But she said Axiom Space will want to take advantage of whatever they can get their hands on, ideally without wires everywhere.

Peggy Whitson in the ISS's cupola. AXIOM SPACE/Axiom Space hide caption

Peggy Whitson in the ISS's cupola.

"I would like all that cabling and networking to be behind the panels so that it's easier for folks to move around in space," Whitson said. "Having and building in that adaptability is one of the most critical parts, I think, of building a station for low-Earth orbit."

Paulo Lozano says many of the electronic components on the ISS are bulky. But now that electronics are smaller, she expects the interior of future stations might be a bit different.

At the current ISS, there is one small inflatable module. That structure flies up, collapsed, and then expands as it gets filled with air once it's attached to the primary structure of the station with it literally blowing up kind of like a balloon. Gatens says they are looking at multiple elements of a new space station being inflatable.

Whitson told NPR that on the space station Axiom Space is developing, they will have windows in the crew quarters and a huge cupola, what she describes as an astronaut's window to the world. On the ISS, they have a cupola you can pop your head and shoulders into and see 360-degree views of space and look down at the Earth.

On the proposed Axiom space station, Whitson said the cupola is so large that astronauts will be able to float their whole body in there and have it be an experience of basically almost flying in space.

NASA hopes that by handing responsibility of an ISS replacement over to private companies, it will allow the agency to develop technology more quickly and focus on their next goal of putting a station beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time. Current proposed low-Earth orbit stations include the Lunar Gateway, which is NASA's planned space station on the moon.

"What the space stations of today are doing is just paving the way for humans to actually explore deeper into space, which is going to be a significantly harder challenge to accomplish. The space stations of today are essential stepping stones towards that goal," said Lozano.

Gatens says one piece of technology that is being developed at Blue Origin is a big rotating space station that, when finished, would have artificial gravity.

For long trips in space, the lack of gravity is a main issue for the human body, causing bone-loss and other health issues. "If you could recreate that in space, that will be very beneficial," Gatens said.

Lozano says that a space station beyond low-Earth orbit would need new technology that is radically different from what's been used in the ISS. And both NASA and Lozano don't think it is possible to venture deeper into space, and eventually get a human on Mars, with U.S. government funding alone.

"I don't think we're very far away in terms of technology development. I think we're a little bit far away in terms of investment, because space technology is quite expensive and sometimes a single nation cannot really make it work by itself. So you need international cooperation." Lozano said.

Treye Green edited the digital version of this story.

NASA will retire the ISS soon. Here's what comes next. - NPR

Russia launches a Valentine’s Day Progress supply ship to the ISS – Space.com

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Dook Domini

A fresh load of supplies is headed for the International Space Station.

Russia launched its robotic Progress 87 cargo ship on a Valentine's Day delivery mission toward the International Space Station tonight (Feb. 14).

The freighter lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT and 8:25 a.m. on Feb. 15 local time in Baikonur).

Related: Facts about Roscosmos, Russia's space agency

Progress 87 is carrying about 3 tons of food, propellant and other supplies.

If all goes according to plan, the freighter will reach the orbiting lab early Saturday (Feb. 17), docking with the Russian Zvezda service module at 1:12 a.m. EST (0612 GMT). You can watch that rendezvous live here at Space.com, via NASA; coverage will begin at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT) on Saturday.

Progress is one of three robotic spacecraft that currently fly resupply missions to the ISS, along with Northrop Grumman's Cygnus vehicle and SpaceX's Cargo Dragon capsule.

Progress and Cygnus are expendable spacecraft, burning up in Earth's atmosphere when their time in orbit is done. But Dragon is designed to be reusable; it splashes down safely in the ocean under parachutes, which means it can bring science samples back down to Earth.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:45 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 with news of a successful liftoff.

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Russia launches a Valentine's Day Progress supply ship to the ISS - Space.com

Valentine’s Day 2024 means 3 rocket launches, a SpaceX doubleheader and a moon probe for space lovers – Space.com

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Dook Domini

Update for Feb. 14: SpaceX is now aiming to launch the IM-1 moon lander mission for Intuitive Machines no earlier than Thursday (Feb. 15), due to a liquid methane temperature issue during preparations to fuel the Odysseus lander. You can read our story and see the updated times for the mission below.

SpaceX also recently announced another mission with a Feb. 14 liftoff, however: The company plans to launch 22 of its Starlink internet satellites from California at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT on Feb. 15).

This Valentine's Day is going to be out of this world for space fans.

With up to three rocket launches possible on Wednesday (Feb. 14), including at least two by SpaceX one of which carries a private moon probe Valentine's Day 2024 is certainly shaping up to be a space lover's dream. You can even watch them all live online, but you'll need to be both an early bird and a night owl.

The space action actually starts before dawn with SpaceX's launch of the private IM-1 moon lander Odysseus for the company Intuitive Machines. The mission will launch to the moon on a Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:57 a.m. EST (0557 GMT) and you can watch it online, with NASA's webcast beginning at 12:15 a.m. EST (0515 GMT).

Odysseus is the first Nova-C lander built by Intuitive Machines and is carrying a suite of NASA experiments as part of a $118 million contract under the agency's Commercial Lunar Payloads Services program. If all goes well, the spacecraft will touch down in a crater near the lunar south pole on Feb. 22 to deliver NASA's experiments and host of other commercial payloads to the lunar surface.

Have Your Own Starship

You can have a SpaceX Starship of your own with this desktop rocket model. Standing at 12.5 inches (32 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio.

SpaceX will follow the IM-1 moon flight with the launch of USSF-124, a classified payload for the U.S. Space Force. That mission is scheduled to lift off at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

SpaceX is expected to provide a livestream of the military space launch beginning 10 to 15 minutes before liftoff, but the company may cut off the stream shortly after liftoff at its customer's request as has been done in the past for classified missions. You can watch that USSF-124 launch at SpaceX's page on X (formerly Twitter).

Because of its classified nature, not much is known about the USSF-124 mission, but it is part of SpaceX's commitment for its National Security Space Launch contracts, according to Spaceflight Now.

Finally, Russia's space agency Roscosmos will close out Valentine's Day with an uncrewed Progress cargo ship launch to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A Russian-built Soyuz rocket will launch the Progress MS-26 vehicle, also known as Progress 87, to the ISS at 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 Feb. 15 GMT).

Progress 87 will deliver nearly 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies to astronauts on the ISS. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the station on Saturday (Feb. 17) at 1:12 a.m. EST (0612 GMT) to deliver its bounty. NASA will provide a live launch webcast for Progress 87 on NASA TV starting at 10 p.m. EST (0300 GMT).

If rocket launches don't light your space fire, there is one other big space event to track on Valentine's Day.

The future of the International Space Station will take center stage at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) during a congressional hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in Washington, D.C. The hearing, entitled "ISS and Beyond: The Present and Future of American Low-Earth Orbit Activities," will discuss NASA's plans to retire the ISS around 2030 by burning it up in Earth's atmosphere, as well as the agency's efforts to spur the development of private U.S. space stations as a replacement.

"This hearing will also provide the Committee with insight into NASAs end-of-life planning for the International Space Station (ISS) as well as the status of commercial space station development," the hearing's charter states.

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Valentine's Day 2024 means 3 rocket launches, a SpaceX doubleheader and a moon probe for space lovers - Space.com

This astronaut took 5 spacewalks. Now, he’s helping make spacesuits for future ISS crews (exclusive) – Space.com

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Dook Domini

The next generation of spacesuits for astronauts just went parabolic.

Collins Aerospace tested its new spacesuit design, built for International Space Station spacewalks, on a parabolic flight that simulated microgravity conditions. The goal was to fulfill requirements for a NASA contract aimed at replacing the long-standing extravehicular mobility units (EMUs) now used on the orbiting complex.

Following the news release on Feb. 1, Collinschief test astronaut John "Danny" Olivas a retired NASA astronaut spoke with Space.com about the company's plans for the floating suit. He also discussed exciting possibilities for moon exploration. Read on to learn more about how Olivas is using his past spacewalking experience to pave the way for future spacewalkers.

Collins received a 2022 task order from NASA to develop a next-generation EMU to be lighter and more flexible than current spacesuits. These suits are also under consideration to become moonwalking outfits for the agency's Artemis program; the design team received a separate task order in July 2023 to modify the floating-style spacesuits for surface excursions.

Related: Watch next-generation lightweight spacesuit tested on Zero-G flight (photos, video)

Space.com: What sorts of experiences were you able to port from your time at NASA to Collins, to help with the development?

Danny Olivas: I've been an engineer for over 35 years. I've always been fascinated about space. It is very much like coming home and being part of an engineering family where we toil away to produce things that are safe, efficient and effective for our clients.

The intent is basically, "right design" this suit. It should be a suit that is intuitive to the astronauts. So I feel like what I'm bringing to the table is essentially helping the engineers understand what is important, where do things need to be placed, what are the things that you need to be considering. For example, in December of last year, we completed an exercise called the "concept of operations." That essentially is evaluating the suit in an environment like you're integrated onto a spacewalk and then coming back from doing a spacewalk.

I was able to bring to the table: when we do our prep and post, here's what we do. Here's what we did on orbit. Here's how we work to this particular issue. Through that exercise, it provided feedback directly to the engineers on how to move forward. It's not a one and done thing. It's a collaboration: we've gone, and taken a look at that, and we can do this or we can't do that.

Related: Shuttle astronaut Danny Olivas talks diversity on Earth (and space) in 'Virtual Astronaut' webcast

I feel like I'm bringing everything I can to this. This likely going to be my last job, and I'm going to be on the field. I care about the astronauts: that we're building the spacesuits for the people who got me five spacewalks, and did so in a safe manner. I owe it to them, to give back to the engineering community: everything I can to help our team be successful and provide the safest and most efficient, most effective spacesuit for the next generation of explorers. That's the very least I owe for being given the opportunity.

Space.com: Can you step us through the development?

Olivas: Collins, with our partners ILC Dover Astrospace and Oceaneering, use heritage or legacy from the original Hamilton Standard suit technology, which is something that's been ingrained in the company DNA from the Apollo missions. The A7L spacesuit was the first one that was formed, all the way through the current EMU. It makes perfect sense that we are looking at extending to the next generation spacesuit for the International Space Station.

The intent is for NASA delivery and, at that point, we'll have a new suit on the space station that will not only be for the space station, but also will be applicable for other commercial destinations after ISS. That includes lunar landings as well; as you're familiar with, Axiom Space won the contract for the lunar suit and they're destined for their launch on (first moon landing) Artemis 3. We wish them the very best of luck. But we're also making a suit that's compatible with lunar applications. We look to be a continued competitor in the lunar space as well, because that is the future of exploration.

Space.com: What happened during the parabolic campaign?

Olivas: This campaign actually began over a year ago, when it was first decided that we would conduct a portion of the crew capability assessment in a microgravity environment. There's no 1 G equivalent that would give you confidence that the things that you would be doing could be applicable in microgravity. We looked at some of the more challenging things, such as airlock egress and ingress. Collins has built a mockup that was to scale.

Getting this this new suit across the hatch was vital to demonstrate that you have the ability to be able to do so, and the geometry of the suit would in fact actually go through there. So that was a big risk, especially if you consider that you only have a parabola to be able to demonstrate that. Sometimes getting in and out of the airlock can take upwards of a couple of minutes, but you don't get that liberty if you're doing a zero-G flight.

Related: I flew weightlessly on a parabolic flight to see incredible student science soar

The answer to that is practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. We were literally, on a weekly basis, writing the choreography of what we would do on each and every parabola. Every team member was there. We knew where we were going to be positioned. The whole idea was that you want to be out of the way when it's time to go to the task, when there's limited time to be able to do that. And it worked flawlessly.

I learned some things. Trying to stand on your feet on a footplate makes it a bit challenging, so for me, it was trying to learn how to operate in this I would call it a bronco, if you will. Certainly there were oscillations. But we were still able to demonstrate that you could get inside a portable foot restraint within 20 seconds.

Space.com: Can you give a comparison about what it's like to be working in the current EMU compared with what Collins is going to be able to offer?

Olivas: From the outside, probably not a lot. You're going to see two arms, two legs, a helmet and a layer of white. The secret sauce is below that layer of white. There's no technology that's carried over from the EMU, but what has been carried over is all the lessons learned against this concept in doing this from day one. We bring all that experience and heritage with the suit into the development designers.

Now let's talk about the difference between the EMU and the next generation suit. It is like night and day. I'm talking strictly right now from the PGS the pressure garment system, the mobility aspect of it. Things that would lock you up in the suit on orbit. By the way, lockup issues especially with shoulder joints are part of the reason why we had an injury rate.

As we think of accessibility to the lunar application, we have intentionally gotten rid of a component called the waist bearing assembly, the ability to essentially pivot around the waist. In exchange we have introduced hip joints, joints which work in unison to allow for walking. This gives us a lot more flexibility in the lower extremities. I think the increasing range of motion, increased maneuverability are probably the biggest attributes that I've seen.

Space.com: Anything else would you like to add?

Olivas: I would say, help me carry forward the message about what the suit is. As much as this machine is to keep the human being alive in the space like solo spacecraft it's the contributions that make it right. It's all those engineers who go through kind of an anonymous perspective in their entire career, and you're never really knowing what they do. But it just happens because of a human being behind it. That team, I'm part of today, and I want to make sure that that becomes clear.

This interview was edited and condensed. This article was amended at 2:15 p.m. EST Feb. 14 to add information about other companies involved with the Collins spacesuit and to address a typo.

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This astronaut took 5 spacewalks. Now, he's helping make spacesuits for future ISS crews (exclusive) - Space.com

SpaceX launches private Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS (video) – Space.com

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Dook Domini

SpaceX launched Northrop Grumman's robotic Cygnus spacecraft today (Jan. 30), sending the freighter and its 4 tons of cargo toward the International Space Station.

The Cygnus lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 GMT).

The launch kicked off the 20th operational cargo mission for Cygnus. SpaceX was not involved in the previous 19; they all lifted off atop Antares or Atlas V rockets.

Related: Facts about Cygnus, Northrop Grumman's cargo ship

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth as planned today, acing its touchdown at Cape Canaveral about 8 minutes and 20 seconds after launch. It was the 10th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

The Cygnus, meanwhile, deployed from the Falcon 9's upper stage in low Earth orbit around 14 minutes and 45 seconds after launch. The freighter then began making its own way to the International Space Station (ISS).

If all goes according to plan, Cygnus will arrive at the orbiting lab at 4:20 a.m. EST (0920 GMT) on Thursday (Feb. 1). You can watch its rendezvous and docking activities live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.

Northrop Grumman named this Cygnus vehicle after Patty Hilliard Robertson, a NASA astronaut who died in a private plane crash in 2001. She was selected to the astronaut corps in 1998 and was supposed to fly to the ISS in 2002.

The freighter is packed with more than 8,200 pounds (3,720 kilograms) of supplies and scientific hardware. Among the research gear is a cartilage-growing experiment that could help address joint damage and disease here on Earth and a European Space Agency project that will test the 3D printing of metals in microgravity.

You can learn more about this cargo mission, called NG-20,via NASA's overview.

Cygnus will spend about six months docked to the ISS, then head back down for a fiery destruction in Earth's atmosphere.

One experiment aboard Cygnus, called the Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2, will gather data during this death dive, taking "measurements to demonstrate a thermal protection system for spacecraft and their contents during re-entry in Earth's atmosphere, which can be difficult to replicate in ground simulations," NASA officials wrote in their NG-20 mission overview.

Cygnus is one of three robotic cargo craft that currently service the ISS, along with SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Russia's Progress vehicle. Progress, like Cygnus, is an expendable spacecraft, but Dragon is reusable, surviving the trip through Earth's atmosphere and splashing down softly under parachutes in the ocean.

Editor's note: This story was corrected at 4:40 p.m. EST on Jan. 30 to state that Patty Hilliard Robertson was supposed to fly to the ISS in 2002 (rather than 2022, as originally written).

SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launches spacecraft to the International Space Station: All the best pictures – Wonderwall

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Dook Domini

By Wonderwall.com Editors 7:10pm PST, Jan 31, 2024