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NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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A world-wide space leader

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite into orbit. While it was a dummy payload, with very few scientific or military instruments on board, it stroke fear to non-communist countries around the world.

On the other side of the world, what was believed to be the Western Super power, the United States, was struggling to keep up with the Soviet Union. So in 1958, Congress drafted and approved the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It was then signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 29, 1958. With that, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created.

NASA’s goal since then has been to develop new technologies for both use in our atmosphere and in space. It was also designed to lead the nations new civil space program in openness, a contrast to the Soviet Union.

Since then the agencies has grown and now leads the world in both funding and number of projects it can run. NASA has become the organizer of other space agencies to collaborate to do bigger things than what we could do on our own, as well as be the champion of commercial space applications. (Sometimes.)

NASA is headquartered in Washington DC, and the current interim administrator is Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

Space Exploration

Since the agencies beginning, space exploration has been NASA’s primary mission. Beginning with Project Mercury, to Gemini, Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and now Artemis, NASA leads the world in expanding exploration of space.

International Space Station

Arguably the largest ongoing space mission that NASA is involved in is the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is a habitable modular space station involving five space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. Construction of the orbital laboratory began on November 20, 1998.

NASA’s four enduring strategic goals are as follows:

  • Expand human knowledge via new scientific discoveries
  • Extend human presence deeper into space for sustainable, long-term utilization
  • Address national issues and catalyze economic growth
  • Optimize capabilities and operations

The Artemis Program

Currently, NASA’s major space exploration program is a daring adventure to return humanity to the Moon. The plan consists of the agency’s SLS rocket and Orion space capsule. The program originally started as a fully public program but has since switched over to using the growing commercial space sector to help develop parts of the program.

Artemis consists of multiple programs and contracts to meet its goal of returning humanity back to Moon sustainably and to stay this time. To do that, NASA has taken a big bet that in the future there will be a commercial market for access to the Moon.

NASA developed the primary launcher for crew, SLS and Orion, while it has partnered with the commercial industry for everything else. Contracts have been signed for NASA to purchase lunar landers, spacesuits, rovers, and resupply services commercially rather than owning the systems itself.

Eventually, NASA could be just one of many customers served by these services it helped create.

Florida will be the home of SLS Core Stage assembly starting with Artemis 3

MacBook Pro space wallpaper VAB

Earlier this month, NASA moved the SLS engine section for Artemis 3 into the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This comes as a distinct change from previous SLS core stages like the recently flown Artemis 1 and Artemis 2, which are still being assembled at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. The biggest questions arising from this change are what NASA’s plan for Artemis 3 is and onwards and what stirred this sudden change.

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Blue Origin forms National Team 2.0 in hope of winning NASA’s second lunar lander contract

blue origin lunar lander

Back in March, NASA announced it would seek to award a contract to purchase a second lunar lander for the Artemis Program. We’re seeing many similar faces return with bids for NASA’s money, including Blue Origin with a revised National Team of other notable aerospace contractors.

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Display your message on the iPad flying around the Moon

Callisto technology demo on Artemis 1's Orion displaying user submitted message on an iPad while traveling around the Moon

That’s right! While Artemis 1 is an important mission for the return of humanity to the Moon, everyone back here on Earth has the opportunity to participate by sending messages to an iPad that resides within the Orion spacecraft. A camera will capture the message on the iPad within the capsule and share the recording, so while sending your message beyond the Moon you can spread it to other people here on Earth. And sending your message is really simple. Here’s how.

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NASA's Artemis 1 launch of Orion on SLS

Watch NASA’s historic Artemis 1 launch in slow motion

While plenty of people on the space coast and around the world stayed up to watch the SLS rocket take flight for the very first time on the historic Artemis 1 launch, that 1:47 a.m. ET liftoff wasn’t ideal for those who wanted to catch some sleep. But we captured the launch of Artemis 1 in slow motion from the press site, so whether you missed liftoff when it happened or just want to relive the moment, you can do so.

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Track Artemis 1 on its journey to the Moon and back

Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft track its journey to the moon

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket may have taken flight early Wednesday morning, but as with most missions, the rocket launch is only the start of it! The Orion spacecraft is on a journey to the Moon and back, proving all the systems ahead of humans stepping aboard the spacecraft on Artemis II. Here’s how you can follow with this historic mission and track Orion on its journey.

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Government agencies are finally taking UFOs seriously

UFOs, which are more commonly referred to as UAPs these days, have been in the media quite a bit since 2017. This is due to a piece written by the New York Times, which was credited with starting up the UFO curiosity machine for the first time in decades. Since then, the stigma that has notoriously surrounded the topic has finally begun to wane, and various governments have become publically interested in the subject.

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Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft arrives at the space station – despite a failed solar panel

Cygnus one solar panel

Early this morning, Northrop Grumman’s SS Sally Ride Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station carrying 8,200 pounds of supplies for the seven crewmembers. However, the Cygnus is missing one of its now iconic circular solar panels due to an unknown failure.

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Quick Thoughts: A bad case of the space Mondays

Have you ever woken up on a Monday morning and thought to yourself, “yeah, no, I don’t want to do anything,” and then you attempt to get up, and the day doesn’t stop punching? That was today for the space industry. We work up to a new report of Subtropical Storm Nicole making landfall on Florida’s Space Coast (just in time for Artemis 1 to be rolled out to the pad), Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft only having one solar panel deployed, and an absolutely terrible weather forecast for SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch.

I guess here’s the deal, Mondays suck not just for the average person but even for the most talented and intelligent people we know. I just got back from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch on Saturday, and I hopefully plan to drive back down from Wisconsin for Artemis 1 and an airshow this Thursday, both of which could be canceled, so I guess the joke is on me?

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NASA discovers largest fresh meteoroid impact on Mars in 16 years

Last year, on December 24, NASA’s InSight lander detected a magnitude 4 marsquake, which initially didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Only later did NASA learn that this particular marsquake was quite remarkable, caused by one of the largest meteoroid strikes that NASA has ever seen on Mars.

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James Webb telescope teams up with Chandra X-Ray Observatory for astronautical collab

Chandra X-ray observatory

If the James Webb Space Telescope had a resume, the very first quality of it would read “Works well with others.” Webb already stunned the world when its first pictures were released earlier in 2022. Then the world’s minds were blown again when images from Webb were combined with images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, JWST has made another friend: the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

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space explored podcast

Space Explored 50: Astra delisting notice, Elon Musk with Ukraine, more

This week Seth and Jared dive into Astra Space receiving a delisting warning from the NASDAQ and what that means if you own shares of the company. Also, they catch you up on all the rockets that launched last (eight in seven days!!!), Elon Musk’s peace idea for Ukraine and Taiwan, oh and what’s the deal with that Crew-5 Meatball?

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That time when NASA became experts in *checks notes* Maritime Salvage Law

“‘Twas a dark and very stormy night, November 14-15, 1994…” is how the legal brief begins its description of events that led to the largest maritime salvage operation at the time. Space shuttle external tank 70 (ET-70) was aboard the barge Poseidon when Tropical Storm Gordon decided to make this trip from New Orleans to Cape Canaveral anything but ordinary.

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