NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be on their journey to the International Space Station in just four days. Before history is made on May 27, the NASA and SpaceX teams must prepare with a bit of practice in the form of a dress rehearsal.

Sporting modern SpaceX flight suits inside a Tesla Model X electric SUV tagged with “ISSBND” (as in International Space Station bound), the astronaut duo went through all the motions of what we’ll see on Wednesday — minus firing off a Falcon 9 rocket.

Vice President Mike Pence who chairs the Space Counsel is expected to be in attendance when NASA and SpaceX send astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS from the U.S. next week, and now President Trump has weighed in:

NASA is just eight days away from sending astronauts to space from America for the first time since 2011, and the associate administrator in charge of human spaceflight has resigned. The development is one that has surprised observers of America’s space agency considering the timing of the milestone spaceflight.

Doug Loverro took the position of associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in October 2019, replacing acting associate administrator Kenneth Bowersox who filled the position for three months prior. Today former astronaut and shuttle pilot Bowersox resumed the role as the acting associate administrator.

NASA released a statement on the leadership shuffle without explaining the resignation:

SpaceX is less than two weeks from crossing a major milestone: sending humans to space for the first time with its rocket. The historic DM-2 mission will also mark the return of human spaceflight to America for the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011.

NASA will rely on SpaceX (and later Boeing) to provide access to space from America through its Commercial Crew Program.

Today NASA released a cinematic animation of the mission sequence.

In a special video conversation with space communicator Alex Orphanos, we discuss Tom Cruise going to the International Space Station, NASA’s three Human Landing System proposals for Artemis lunar missions, the upcoming SpaceX Demo-2 mission and NASA returning human spaceflight to the U.S., and much more.

From a successful test flight to a new NASA agreement, the first five days in May have been jam-packed for Virgin Galactic.

Now add its first-quarter earnings results (and second-ever investor call) to the list.

The crew of the upcoming NASA and SpaceX Demo-2 mission will have work awaiting them when they arrive at the International Space Station later this month. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will join Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy for an extended stay on ISS as part of the final flight test for SpaceX and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The launch on May 27 will be historic for several reasons. For NASA and the nation, the launch will mark the first time U.S. astronauts have launched from American soil on an American rocket since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. For SpaceX, Demo-2 will be the first time the commercial space company has launched humans to space ever.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine made the case for the crew of Demo-2’s extended stay on ISS in a blog post today:

NASA is returning astronauts to the Moon in this decade for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis program will see the first woman and next man walk on the Moon by 2024. The program will rely on NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, and Orion capsule for transporting astronauts from Earth to the Moon.

Artemis will also require a modern human landing system, or HLS, and today NASA announced which companies will be tasked with developing the new hardware.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics have been selected as commercial partners to design and develop NASA’s modern human landing system.

NASA outlines how each company’s proposal for new human landing systems:

• Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, is developing the Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) – a three-stage lander to be launched on its own New Glenn Rocket System and ULA Vulcan launch system. 
• Dynetics (a Leidos company) of Huntsville, Alabama, is developing the Dynetics Human Landing System (DHLS) – a single structure providing the ascent and descent capabilities that will launch on the ULA Vulcan launch system. 
• SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is developing the Starship – a fully integrated lander that will use the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket. 

Here’s how each Human Landing System proposal will work:

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NASA will close a nearly decade long chapter next month when SpaceX sends American astronauts to space on an American rocket from American soil.

Since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011, American’s space agency has relied on leasing seats from Russian rockets in Kazakhstan to send NASA astronauts to space.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today that the mission, called Demo-2 or DM-2, officially has a launch date scheduled.

NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy will make the journey from Earth to the International Space Station on Thursday, April 9. Astronaut Cassidy, who is also a U.S. Navy SEAL, will fly with Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

The crew will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan using a Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, joining NASA flight engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Roscosmos Expedition 62 Commander Oleg Skripochka.

Astronaut Cassidy, who is returning to space for his third spaceflight, will take on the role of Expedition 63 Commander once the crew of Expedition 62 leaves the ISS on Friday, April 17.

Astronaut Jessica Meir made history during her time on the ISS by completing the first all-female space walk with Astronaut Christina Koch.

NASA is launching a brand new podcast in April called Curious Universe. The new series hosted by astrophysicist Padi Boyd released its teaser episode today.

NASA’s Curious Universe explores the wild and wonderful places on our home planet and beyond. Host Padi Boyd transports listeners into the world of NASA’s missions, projects and people. Each episode is an invitation to an adventure with a NASA expert, such as astronaut Nick Hague and astrophysicist Michelle Thaller.

In a decision that has been months in the making, Boeing has announced that its Starliner spacecraft will conduct a second orbital flight test before it can demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities for NASA.

SpaceX passed its orbital flight test for NASA in March last year when its Crew Dragon capsule traveled to the International Space Station and back.

Boeing attempted its own orbital flight test in December, but the mission went awry within minutes of Starliner leaving the planet.

This is news that NASA enthusiasts will consider completely epic. NASA is bringing back its iconic “worm” typeface logo starting with the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule Demo-2 mission planned for next month.

The mission will mark a historic milestone for America’s space agency: NASA astronauts flying on an American rocket from American soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011.

Good news if you recently applied to be an astronaut candidate for NASA. The applications are in, and the odds are in your favor compared to the last time NASA accepted applicants.

NASA announced that over 12,000 people submitted astronaut candidate applications to join the next class of space explorers. That’s the second highest number of applications NASA has ever received

The agency says that number shows a “strong national interest” in NASA missions, although it’s a drop in applications received compared to 2016 when NASA received over 18,300 applications.

Two factors likely explain the smaller pool of people applying to become NASA astronauts: a smaller application window and a higher education requirement.

A majority of NASA facilities may be closed and on telework status, but that’s not stopping America’s space agency from coming together to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

NASA is sourcing innovative ideas on how to respond to the spread of COVID-19.

On April 1, NASA launched an agency-wide call for ideas on its internal crowdsourcing platform NASA @ WORK. The internal website fosters collaboration and provides NASA employees with an inventive way to share knowledge and solve challenges.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the effort is in response to employees already wanting to help.

SpaceX will be instrumental in NASA’s Artemis mission to send the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024. NASA has selected Elon Musk’s space exploration company to be the first U.S. commercial provider to deliver cargo to the Lunar Gateway — the space agency’s lunar orbiting hub.

It’s not yet clear how long it will be until the coronavirus pandemic is contained in the United States and around the world.

The spread of COVID-19 has not yet reached its apex in the U.S., so we cannot know the full effect that the virus will have on America’s space agency or the greater space economy.

We do know how NASA and partner companies are being affected by the health pandemic so far, however, including spaceflight plans and facilities going offline.

NASA employees and contractors will now be required to work remotely, Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on Tuesday night. The requirement is in effect across every NASA facility.

The space agency stress tested its telework capabilities earlier this month before the coronavirus pandemic began to worsen across the United States. NASA Ames Research Center in California was forced to mandate remote work a week later after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Here’s the latest statement from NASA Administrator Bridenstine:

Kyle Wiggers at VentureBeat published a story today examining the questionable quality of Amazon’s Alexa Answers service. The piece highlights several answers to questions that were false or misleading, including this:

The third question — “Who was the first black man on the moon?” — contains a false premise. No African American astronaut has walked on the moon to date, although one user offers “Bernard Anthony Harris Jr.” as a potential answer. This is incorrect — while Harris became the first African American to perform a spacewalk in February 1995, he never stepped foot on the moon. Interestingly, Alexa rarely surfaces this answer when asked the question, but instead erroneously responds with the answer “Neil Armstrong.”

I tried this same question with Siri on my Mac. Siri doesn’t offer a blatantly wrong answer like the Alexa Answers response, but it does punt to a list of web results with a misleading first entry.

The first Wikipedia result Siri surfaces tells you about Bernard Harris, the first African-American to complete a spacewalk, but not Guion Bluford who was the first African-American in space.

Donna Oddy’s “Everything to Know About Beach Mice” feature on NASA.gov today is hands-down the best space news of the week. I was very aware of the coastline beaches along Kennedy Space Center, but I have to admit I had no idea it inhabited beach mice.

The lesson of the day is there are 16 subspecies of field mice, four of which are considered beach mice.

The Alabama beach mouse lives in — you guessed it — Alabama. The Pallid beach mouse was found on the east coast, but this variety is believed to be extinct now. The Anastasia Island beach mouse and Southeastern beach mouse are found on the east coast of Florida.

Southeastern beach mice call the beaches of NASA’s rocket ranch home, spanning three federal properties: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Kennedy Space Center/Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Canaveral National Seashore.

Lindsey Stirling’s electric violin performances are stunning all on their own, and this collaboration with NASA is just incredible.

Her latest album is called Artemis, although it has no direct association to NASA’s Artemis missions to send the first woman and next moon to the Moon with Space Launch System and Orien — until now, that is.