The Latest Update on the First Crewed Flight to the Moon in 50+ Years...

NASA

NASA Trains for Orion Water Recovery Ahead of Artemis II Launch (News Release - March 31)

Preparations for NASA’s next Artemis flight recently took to the seas as a joint NASA and Department of Defense team, led by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, spent a week aboard the USS Somerset off the coast of California practicing procedures for recovering the Artemis II spacecraft and crew.

Following successful completion of Underway Recovery Test-12 (URT-12) on Monday, NASA’s Landing and Recovery team and their Defense Department counterparts are certified to recover the Orion spacecraft as part of the upcoming Artemis II test flight that will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.

“This will be NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon under the Artemis program,” said Lili Villarreal, the landing and recovery director for Artemis II. “A lot of practice led up to this week’s event, and seeing everything come together at sea gives me great confidence that the air, water, ground and medical support teams are ready to safely recover the spacecraft and the crew for this historic mission.”

Once Orion reenters Earth’s atmosphere, the capsule will keep the crew safe as it slows from nearly 25,000 mph to about 325 mph. Then its system of 11 parachutes will deploy in a precise sequence to slow the capsule and crew to a relatively gentle 20 mph for splashdown off the coast of California. From the time it enters Earth’s atmosphere, the Artemis II spacecraft will fly 1,775 nautical miles to its landing spot in the Pacific Ocean.

This direct approach for reentry allows NASA to control the amount of time the spacecraft will spend in extremely high-temperature ranges.

The Artemis II astronauts trained during URT-11 in February 2024, when they donned Orion Crew Survival System suits and practiced a range of recovery operations at sea using the Crew Module Test Article, a stand-in for their spacecraft.

For the 12th training exercise, NASA astronauts Deniz Burnham and Andre Douglas, along with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, did the same, moving from the simulated crew module to the USS Somerset, with helicopters, a team of Navy divers in small boats, NASA’s open water lead – a technical expert and lead design engineer for all open water operations – as well as Navy and NASA medical teams rehearsing different recovery scenarios.

“Allowing astronauts to participate when they are not directly involved in a mission gives them valuable experience by exposing them to a lot of different scenarios,” said Glover, who will pilot Artemis II. “Learning about different systems and working with ground control teams also broadens their skillsets and prepares them for future roles. It also allows astronauts like me who are assigned to the mission to experience other roles – in this case, I am serving in the role of Joe Acaba, Chief of the Astronaut Office.”

As the astronauts safely arrive at the ship for medical checkouts, recovery teams focus on returning the spacecraft and its auxiliary ground support hardware to the amphibious transport dock.

Navy divers attach a connection collar to the spacecraft and an additional line to a pneumatic winch inside the USS Somerset’s well deck, allowing joint NASA and Navy teams to tow Orion toward the ship. A team of sailors and NASA recovery personnel inside the ship manually pull some of the lines to help align Orion with its stand, which will secure the spacecraft for its trip to the shore. Following a safe and precise recovery, sailors will drain the well deck of water, and the ship will make its way back to Naval Base San Diego.

The Artemis II test flight will confirm the foundational systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration, taking another step towards missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for human missions to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

The Very First Crewed Spaceflight to Polar Orbit Has Launched...

SpaceX

Fram2 Mission (News Release)

On Monday, March 31 at 9:46 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched Fram2 to a polar orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Mission Objectives

During their multi-day mission, Dragon and the crew will explore Earth from a polar orbit and fly over Earth’s polar regions for the first time. They will also conduct 22 types of research designed to help advance humanity’s capabilities for long-duration space exploration and understanding of human health in space. Throughout Fram2’s time on-orbit, the crew are planning to take the first x-ray in space, perform exercise studies to maintain muscle and skeletal mass, and grow mushrooms in microgravity.

Additionally, after safely returning to Earth, the crew plans to exit from the Dragon spacecraft without additional medical and operational assistance, helping researchers characterize the ability of astronauts to perform unassisted functional tasks after short and long durations in space.

The Crew

This is the first human spaceflight for Mission Commander Chun Wang, Vehicle Commander Jannicke Mikkelsen, Vehicle Pilot Rabea Rogge, and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Eric Philips.

Source: SpaceX

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SpaceX


SpaceX

For the first time in history, a human spaceflight mission is orbiting over Antartica to begin their polar orbit mission. Read more about the four person crew who is onboard the Fram2 mission as they embark on their 3.5-5 day journey.

Article: https://t.co/VMVnUbdrtd pic.twitter.com/O9WbEXV8Qf

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) April 1, 2025

We are about to see PICTURES of Antarctica from space by Fram2.

It has never been done by humans. The closest latitude the ISS gets to Antarctica is the South Georgia Islands.

This @astro_Pettit photo is the best most astronauts have seen of it.

Historic precedence incoming. https://t.co/aNXb4LxSqn pic.twitter.com/NQE5OWHRUg

— A. Pettit (@PettitFrontier) April 1, 2025

The Mars 2020 Rover Is Playing a Role in Prepping for a Future Crewed Mission to the Red Planet...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

How NASA’s Perseverance Is Helping Prepare Astronauts for Mars (News Release)

The rover carries several swatches of spacesuit materials, and scientists are assessing how they’ve held up after four years on the Red Planet.

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 to search for signs of ancient microbial life and to help scientists understand the planet’s climate and geography. But another key objective is to pave the way for human exploration of Mars, and as part of that effort, the rover carries a set of five spacesuit material samples. Now, after those samples have endured four years of exposure on Mars’ dusty, radiation-soaked surface, scientists are beginning the next phase of studying them.

The end goal is to predict accurately the usable lifetime of a Mars spacesuit. What the agency learns about how the materials perform on Mars will inform the design of future spacesuits for the first astronauts on the Red Planet.

“This is one of the forward-looking aspects of the rover’s mission — not just thinking about its current science, but also about what comes next,” said planetary scientist Marc Fries of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who helped provide the spacesuit materials. “We’re preparing for people to eventually go and explore Mars.”

The swatches, each three-quarters of an inch square (20 millimeters square), are part of a calibration target used to test the settings of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), an instrument on the end of Perseverance’s arm.

The samples include a piece of polycarbonate helmet visor; Vectran, a cut-resistant material used for the palms of astronaut gloves; two kinds of Teflon, which has dust-repelling nonstick properties; and a commonly used spacesuit material called Ortho-Fabric. This last fabric features multiple layers, including Nomex, a flame-resistant material found in firefighter outfits; Gore-Tex, which is waterproof but breathable; and Kevlar, a strong material used in bulletproof vests that makes spacesuits more rip-resistant.

Martian Wear and Tear

Mars is far from hospitable. It has freezing temperatures, fine dust that can stick to solar panels and spacesuits (causing wear and tear on the latter), and a surface rife with perchlorates, a kind of corrosive salt that can be toxic to humans.

There’s also lots of solar radiation. Unlike Earth, which has a magnetic field that deflects much of the Sun’s radiation, Mars lost its magnetic field billions of years ago, followed by much of its atmosphere. Its surface has little protection from the Sun’s ultraviolet light (which is why researchers have looked into how rock formations and caves could provide astronauts some shielding).

“Mars is a really harsh, tough place,” said SHERLOC science team member Joby Razzell Hollis of the Natural History Museum in London. “Don’t underestimate that — the radiation in particular is pretty nasty.”

Razzell Hollis was a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California from 2018 to 2021, where he helped prepare SHERLOC for arrival on Mars and took part in science operations once the rover landed. A materials scientist, Razzell Hollis has previously studied the chemical effects of sunlight on a new kind of solar panel made from plastic, as well as on plastic pollution floating in the Earth’s oceans.

Razzell Hollis likened those effects to how white plastic lawn chairs become yellow and brittle after years in sunlight. Roughly the same thing happens on Mars, but the weathering likely happens faster because of the high exposure to ultraviolet light there.

The key to developing safer spacesuit materials will be understanding how quickly they would wear down on the Martian surface. About 50% of the changes that SHERLOC witnessed in the samples happened within Perseverance’s first 200 days on Mars, with the Vectran appearing to change first.

Another nuance will be figuring out how much solar radiation different parts of a spacesuit will have to withstand. For example, an astronaut’s shoulders will be more exposed — and likely encounter more radiation — than his or her palms.

Next Steps

The SHERLOC team is working on a science paper detailing initial data on how the samples have fared on Mars. Meanwhile, scientists at NASA Johnson are eager to simulate that weathering in special chambers that mimic the carbon dioxide atmosphere, air pressure, and ultraviolet light on the Martian surface. They could then compare the results generated on Earth while putting the materials to the test with those seen in the SHERLOC data.

For example, the researchers could stretch the materials until they break to check if they become more brittle over time.

“The fabric materials are designed to be tough but flexible, so they protect astronauts but can bend freely,” Fries said. “We want to know the extent to which the fabrics lose their strength and flexibility over time. As the fabrics weaken, they can fray and tear, allowing a spacesuit to leak both heat and air.”

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

The Next Big Orange Moon Rocket Continues to Take Shape in Florida...

NASA / Frank Michaux

NASA’s Artemis II Core Stage Integration Complete at Kennedy (News Release)

Another element of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis II is poised for flight. Technicians joined the core stage on March 23 with the stacked solid rocket boosters for the mission at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program and primary contractor Amentum used one of the five overhead cranes inside the spaceport’s Vehicle Assembly Building to lift the rocket stage from the facility’s transfer aisle to High Bay 3, where it was secured between the booster segments atop the launch tower.

As the newest addition to the Mobile Launcher, the core stage is the largest component of the rocket, standing 212 feet tall. The stage is the backbone of the rocket, supporting the launch vehicle stage adapter, interim cryogenic propulsion stage, Orion stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft for the agency’s crewed Artemis II mission. The adapter will be the next element integrated and will be lifted and secured atop the core stage in the coming weeks.

The Artemis II test flight will take a crew of four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, helping confirm the foundational systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration. The mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign, and is another step towards missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Frank Michaux


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NASA / Frank Michaux

The Latest Update on the Next Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle to Launch to the Moon...

NASA / Glenn Benson

NASA’s Artemis II Orion Service Module Buttoned Up for Launch (News Release)

Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin fitted three spacecraft adapter jettison fairing panels onto the service module of the agency’s Orion’s spacecraft. The operation was completed on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The European-built service module is the powerhouse that will propel the spacecraft to the Moon. Its four solar array wings were installed to its exterior in early March. The latest addition of fairing panels on Orion’s service module will protect the solar array wings, shielding them from the heat, wind, and acoustics of launch and ascent, and also help redistribute the load between Orion and the massive thrust of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during liftoff and ascent.

Once Orion is above the atmosphere, the three fairing panels will separate from the service module, allowing the wings to unfurl. In addition to power, the service module will provide propulsion and life support including thermal control, air and water for the Artemis II test flight, NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign that will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.

Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Glenn Benson

Butch and Suni's Mission on Boeing's Crew Flight Test Is Finally Over...

NASA / Keegan Barber

Welcome Home! NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Back on Earth After Science Mission (News Release)

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 completed the agency’s ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, splashing down safely in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth at 5:57 p.m. EDT. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew. After returning to shore, the crew will fly to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and reunite with their families.

Hague and Gorbunov lifted off at 1:17 p.m. on September 28, 2024, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The next day, they docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on June 5, 2024, from Space Launch Complex 41 as part of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.

Butch and Suni arrived at the space station on June 6. In August, NASA announced the uncrewed return of Starliner to Earth and integrated Wilmore and Williams as part of the space station’s Expedition 71/72 for a return on Crew-9. The crew of four undocked at 1:05 a.m. on Tuesday to begin the trip home.

Wilmore and Williams traveled 121,347,491 miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth. Hague and Gorbunov traveled 72,553,920 miles during their mission, spent 171 days in space, and completed 2,736 orbits around Earth.

The Crew-9 mission was the first spaceflight for Gorbunov. Hague has logged 374 days in space over his two missions, Williams has logged 608 days in space over her three flights, and Wilmore has logged 464 days in space over his three flights.

Throughout its mission, Crew-9 contributed to a host of science and maintenance activities and technology demonstrations. Williams conducted two spacewalks, joined by Wilmore for one and Hague for another, removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collecting samples from the station’s external surface for analysis, installing patches to cover damaged areas of light filters on an X-ray telescope, and more. Williams now holds the record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut, with 62 hours and 6 minutes outside of station, and is fourth on the all-time spacewalk duration list.

The American crew members conducted more than 150 unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations between them, with over 900 hours of research. This research included investigations on plant growth and quality, as well as the potential of stem cell technology to address blood diseases, autoimmune disorders and cancers. They also tested lighting systems to help astronauts maintain circadian rhythms, loaded the first wooden satellite for deployment, and took samples from the space station’s exterior to study whether microorganisms can survive in space.

The Crew-9 mission was the fourth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Freedom. It also previously supported NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4, Axiom Mission 2 and Axiom Mission 3. The spacecraft will return to Florida for inspection and processing at SpaceX’s refurbishing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where teams will inspect the Dragon, analyze data on its performance, and begin processing for its next flight.

The Crew-9 flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and its return to Earth follows on the heels of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch, which docked to the station on March 16, beginning another long-duration science expedition.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station and low-Earth orbit. The program provides additional research time and has increased opportunities for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity testbed for exploration, including helping NASA prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Keegan Barber

The Next SLS Rocket Will Resume Pre-Launch Stacking Before the End of this Month...

NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA Artemis II Core Stage Goes Horizontal Ahead of Final Integration (News Release - March 14)

Technicians used massive cranes inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to lift the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage out of High Bay 2 and into a horizontal position in the facility’s transfer aisle. The move, completed on March 14, prepares the stage for integration with other elements of the rocket later this month.

The operation entailed vertically hoisting the 212-foot tall core stage, which weighs about 219,000 pounds with its engines, out of a stand it had been in since December that allowed engineers 360-degree access to interior and exterior elements of the rocket to enable final assembly and inspection activities.

In the transfer aisle, technicians will conduct final checkouts of the core stage before it is integrated with the completed twin solid rocket booster segments. During integration operations, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will lift and secure the rocket stage atop the Mobile Launcher inside High Bay 3 in the VAB.

Next year, the Artemis II mission will carry four astronauts – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – around the Moon. The mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step towards missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human flights to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett

Butch and Suni's Replacements Have Arrived at the ISS...

NASA TV

Dragon Crew Enters Station and Joins Expedition 72 Crew (News Release)

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov entered the International Space Station shortly after opening the hatches between the space station and SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft at 1:35 a.m. EDT.

McClain, Ayers, Onishi and Peskov were welcomed by the Expedition 72 crew, including NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA TV

Butch and Suni's Replacements Are Now En Route to the ISS...

SpaceX

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Launches to International Space Station (News Release)

Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT on Friday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Shortly after docking, the crew will join Expedition 72/73 for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

“Congratulations to our NASA and SpaceX teams on the 10th crew rotation mission under our commercial crew partnership. This milestone demonstrates NASA’s continued commitment to advancing American leadership in space and driving growth in our national space economy,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “Through these missions, we are laying the foundation for future exploration, from low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. Our international crew will contribute to innovative science research and technology development, delivering benefits to all humanity.”

During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA’s live coverage resumes at 9:45 p.m., March 15, on NASA+ with rendezvous, docking and hatch opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 1:05 a.m. on Sunday, March 16. Once the new crew is aboard the orbital outpost, NASA will broadcast welcome remarks from Crew-10 and farewell remarks from the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts, beginning at about 1:40 a.m.

Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time as Crew-10 joins NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Don Pettit, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Following a brief handover period, Hague, Williams, Wilmore and Gorbunov will return to Earth no earlier than Wednesday, March 19. Ahead of Crew-9’s departure from station, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of Florida.

During their mission, Crew-10 is scheduled to conduct material flammability tests to contribute to future spacecraft and facility designs. The crew will engage with students worldwide via the ISS Ham Radio program and use the program’s existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution. The astronauts will also serve as test subjects, with one crew member conducting an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.

With this mission, NASA continues to maximize the use of the orbiting laboratory, where people have lived and worked continuously for more than 24 years, testing technologies, performing science and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low-Earth orbit and explore farther from our home planet. Research conducted at the space station benefits people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration missions to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign and beyond.

More about Crew-10

McClain is the commander of Crew-10 and is making her second trip to the orbital outpost since her selection as an astronaut in 2013. She will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73 aboard the space station.

Ayers is the pilot of Crew-10 and is flying her first mission. Selected as an astronaut in 2021, Ayers will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.

Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his second flight to the space station. He will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.

Peskov is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his first flight to the space station. Peskov will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.

Source: NASA.Gov

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SpaceX

A Quick Update on Humanity's First Lunar Space Station...

NASA / GRC / Jef Janis

Gateway Hardware Milestone: First AEPS Thruster for Power and Propulsion Element Delivered to NASA Glenn (Photo Release)

NASA Glenn Research Center has received the first of three Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) thrusters for the Gateway lunar space station.

Built by L3Harris Technologies, the thruster will undergo testing before integration with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element, launching with the HALO module ahead of Artemis IV.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / GRC / Jef Janis


NASA / Maxar Space Systems