NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA and ESA have announced which three astronauts will train and become crew members for SpaceX Crew-3 mission in 2021. The mission, which is expected to launch sometime in the fall next year, will carry the three selected astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Over the weekend, in honor of its 30th anniversary, NASA unveiled 30 new images of space taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. These images include amazing views of star clusters, nebulae, and much more.

Today a total solar eclipse will pass over parts of South America, displaying a marvelous show as the Moon slowly crosses in front of the Sun. This is the only total solar eclipse of 2020, and NASA will be providing coverage on their main channel completely in Spanish.

In the coming months, Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) will become as talked about as all of the other launchpads on Florida’s Space Coast. NASA has been working on the development of this pad to be used by multiple launch providers with smaller classes of rockets. According to a press release issued today, they’ve set a limit of 500,000 pounds of thrust or less at liftoff.

The booster that recently launched CRS-21 also happens to be the same booster used to launch SpaceX’s DM-2 mission with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. To commemorate the mission, SpaceX painted NASA’s iconic worm and meatball logos on each side of the booster.

As part of its Launch Services Program (LSP), NASA has awarded Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contracts to three different companies. Those three companies and the fixed-price of their contracts are as follows:

NASA is currently in the process of replacing its three Bell Huey 2 helicopters with new Airbus H135 helicopters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA has been using the Hueys for about 30 years, and a lot of the staff have expressed their sadness to see them go.

NASA is preparing to send the first woman and next man to the Moon in this decade with the Artemis program. Our return to the Moon won’t be like the Apollo program, however, as NASA wants to return in a sustainable fashion: lunar orbit station called gateway, Moon base called Artemis Base Camp, and international partnerships.

The agency briefly paused a critical step in testing the core stage of its new Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center this week. NASA now says it will resume what’s called the wet dress rehearsal test next week. Launching NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and sending the Orion spacecraft around the Moon next year on the Artemis I mission is key to pushing forward with the Artemis program.

The team at the space center in South Mississippi briefly suspended fueling the rocket core stage on Monday after liquid oxygen temperature readings outside of the expected range were detected. Officials described the issue as operational and not caused by the rocket core stage. Now the team believes it has readjusted its fueling procedure to hit the target LOX delivery temperature.

Here’s the latest from NASA’s Artemis blog:

On November 21, the satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Its purpose is to monitor sea-level changes alongside other satellites, and today NASA received its first recordings.

After the failure of Starliner’s first uncrewed test flight back in December 2019, Boeing and NASA are finally ready to give it another go. The aerospace company is now targeting March 29, 2021, to launch Starliner’s second uncrewed flight.

NASA’s Artemis space program is set to send humans back to the Moon for the first time since 1972. The program’s current goals are to send humans around the Moon in 2023, then land humans on the Moon as soon as 2024. Today, NASA announced the 18 astronauts being considered for the prestigious program.

According to Ars Technica, Vice President Mike Pence will be announcing a group of 18 astronauts who will be considered for NASA’s Artemis Program. Some of which could even be lucky enough to set foot on the moon.

Boeing is currently developing a new spacecraft called Starliner that will be used to send astronauts to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This week Boeing released footage of its sixth and final parachute test as it progresses toward its next uncrewed test flight using Starliner.

During a presentation to advisory committees, NASA discussed the idea of having a constellation of commercial communications satellites in orbit around Mars. The satellites could then serve as a data relay system for future missions to the Martian planet.

NASA hopes to conduct a critical hot fire test of the core stage of its Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center later this month. The test is the last major step in developing NASA’s new powerful rocket to the Moon. If all goes well this month, NASA will be on track to conduct its first lunar flyby mission called Artemis I with SLS and the Orion spacecraft as early as November 2021.

It’s too early to know if NASA will have to kick back the hot fire test into next year, but a scheduled wet dress rehearsal that started over the weekend was paused on Monday after initial propellant loading to the rocket. NASA says the team at Stennis Space Center will now study data collected during initial propellant loading and adjust the fueling process before completing the wet dress rehearsal.

Astronauts are going back to the Moon for the first time since the end of NASA’s Apollo program in 1972. Under the Artemis program, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the Moon in this decade. NASA is releasing new details about the planned Artemis III mission today in a report outlining science priorities.

Last week we saw China land its Chang’e 5 lander on the surface from the Moon with the goal to gather lunar samples and launch to the return vehicles in orbit above the lander. This had to happen within just one lunar day (2 earth weeks). We saw them complete the mission in just a couple days based on state-run media coverage. Now NASA has captured a photo of the lander using cameras on its own orbiter around the Moon.