Cartilage, Cardiac Studies and Cargo Ops Wrap Up Week Aboard Station

por admin | 2 julio, 2026 - 2:05 pm |2 julio, 2026 ISS News

Cartilage, Cardiac Studies and Cargo Ops Wrap Up Week Aboard Station

NASA astronaut and Expedition 74 flight engineer Chris Williams playfully flexes for a portrait during a seven‑hour‑and‑20‑minute spacewalk to replace a malfunctioning wrist joint on the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm.

NASA astronaut Chris Williams playfully flexes for a portrait during a seven‑hour‑and‑20‑minute spacewalk to replace a malfunctioning wrist joint on the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm on June 30, 2026..

NASA/Jessica Meir

Cartilage repair, cardiac research, and cargo operations wrapped up the week for the Expedition 74 crew before heading into a relaxing three-day weekend. The International Space Station is also orbiting higher following a reboost maneuver on Wednesday.

NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir opened up the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Science Glovebox on Thursday and continued studying how cartilage tissues grow in microgravity. She nourished the cartilage cell samples inside the glovebox then processed them for stowage inside a research incubator. Scientists are exploring engineering cartilage tissues in space possibly leading to self-repairing implants on Earth and advanced fitness techniques for space crews.

NASA flight engineer Chris Williams began his shift with Roscosmos flight engineer Sergei Mikaev in the Columbus laboratory module for neck, shoulder, and leg vein scans using the Ultrasound 3 device that was delivered aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL resupply ship on April 14. Doctors will analyze the biomedical data from the Ultrasound 3 for insights into microgravity’s effect on the human circulatory system and learn how to protect crew members from space-caused blood clots. Next, Williams focused on cargo transfers inside Cygnus XL which is attached to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port. Meir, along with flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency), assisted Williams with the cargo work. Cygnus XL is in the middle of a six-month stay at the orbital outpost.

Adenot also partnered up with NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway and configured an extra sleep station, also called a crew alternate sleep accommodation, in Columbus preparing it for an upcoming crew swap later this month. Earlier, Hathaway inspected hatch seals then stowed cameras used during Tuesday’s spacewalk. Adenot updated an exercise database that records a crew member’s physical condition after a workout session aboard the space station.

Mikaev continued his blood circulation research with station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and studied how blood flows in tiny vessels , or the micro-circulatory system. The duo wore light-based sensors on their forehead, fingers, and toes and pointed a laser beam that interacted with the skin providing signals that characterize blood flow and distribution in weightlessness. Results may enable early detection of space-caused blood conditions and the development of advanced medical technology.

Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev focused primarily on maintenance tasks throughout the orbital outpost’s Roscosmos segment. Fedyaev began his shift replacing orbital plumbing components then servicing an oxygen generator. After lunchtime, the two-time station resident tested computer operations in the Nauka science module then documented stowage space and the location of hardware in the Zarya module.

The International Space Station is orbiting slightly higher after a Progress 95 resupply ship docked to the Zvezda service module fired its engines for nine-and-a-half-minutes on Wednesday. The reboost places the orbital outpost at the correct altitude for the arrival of the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft and its three crew members, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, in mid-July. A few days after the new trio arrives, Kud-Sverchkov, Mikaev, and Williams will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft completing the Expedition 74 mission.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_stationon X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here.

Get The Details…

Mark A. Garcia

NASA Students Get Airborne View of Atmospheric Science at Ellington Field

por admin | 2 julio, 2026 - 2:03 pm |2 julio, 2026 Astronomy

Deja un comentario

NASA Students Get Airborne View of Atmospheric Science at Ellington Field

From June 3 to 13, aircraft at Ellington Field in Houston gave students a firsthand look at how scientists study Earth from the air.

NASA Student Airborne Research Program students, researchers, and pilots gather with NASA aircraft at Ellington Field in Houston on June 9, 2026.

NASA/Bill Stafford

Through NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program, or SARP, students learned how airborne field campaigns collect data used in atmospheric science, ecology, air quality research, and climate modeling.

This year’s activity took place alongside an air quality campaign led by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), giving students a chance to see how federal agencies work together to study Earth’s atmosphere.

From left: Kelly Griffin, Elizabeth Lockerby, and Vidal Salazar from NASA Ames Research Center’s Earth Science Project Office stand in front of NASA aircraft at Ellington Field.

NASA/Bill Stafford

“Every SARP flight is more than a mission; it’s a classroom in the sky, where students learn how science is planned, executed, and transformed into discovery,” said NASA’s Ames Research Center Earth Science Project Specialist Vidal Salazar.

The NOAA effort allowed NASA to build on active atmospheric research already underway in Texas. By integrating additional aircraft into the campaign, students gained access to a real-world research environment and saw how scientists collect data from the air.

Students attend daily lectures, take coding classes, work with instrument teams, and use campaign data and NASA’s extensive archive to design, implement, and present independent research projects.

“SARP is full of passionate individuals who work together to inspire the next generation of Earth scientists,” said SARP Project Manager Joelle Hopkins.

Students work with NASA subject matter experts throughout the program, giving them exposure to a range of career paths in airborne science.

“It is great seeing different students with very diverse backgrounds exploring the next step in their academic journey,” said NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Lead Forecaster Joe Finlon.

NASA Student Airborne Research Program students and team members stand near research equipment aboard a NASA aircraft at Ellington Field.

NASA/Bill Stafford

The operations involved the agency’s Gulfstream V (N95NA); Gulfstream C-20A (N802NA); and Gulfstream III (N520NA), as well as NOAA’s WP-3D Orion (N43RF), and a King Air B200 aircraft (N46L), owned by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA.

The WP-3D Orion conducted maneuvers as low as 1,000 feet above ground level. Owned and operated by NOAA, the aircraft is used as a hurricane hunter and has supported several airborne science missions for NASA.

NASA aircraft also carried instruments that support atmospheric science and ecology research. One instrument – the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, or AVIRIS – was used to characterize Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Additional atmosphere and air quality measurements were collected by instruments including the High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2, GeoCAPE Airborne Spectrometer, Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, and Aerosol Wind Profiler.

Low-altitude flights are important for this type of work because aircraft must fly close enough to Earth’s surface for instruments to collect data at the needed resolution.

NASA Student Airborne Research Program team members examine aircraft equipment.

NASA/Bill Stafford

For NOAA’s campaign, aircraft measurements can help researchers study air quality conditions and feed data into numerical models. Since similar measurements are collected over time, researchers can compare conditions from year to year and better understand changes in pollution and atmospheric chemistry.

Get The Details…
Sumer Loggins

Good Morning, Earth!

por admin | 2 julio, 2026 - 2:03 pm |2 julio, 2026 Astronomy

Deja un comentario

Good Morning, Earth!

A bright orange sunburst illuminates Earth’s atmosphere during an orbital sunrise in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above the Caucasus Mountains.

NASA/Chris Williams

NASA astronaut Chris Williams took this photo of an orbital sunrise from the International Space Station on June 26, 2026. In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

Learn more about the orbiting laboratory.

Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams

Get The Details…
HQ Web Team

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

por admin | 2 julio, 2026 - 2:01 pm |2 julio, 2026 Astronomy

Deja un comentario

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

4 Min Read

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies strewn about the black background of space.

In infrared light, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals bright protostars in star system FS Tau and a tapestry of background galaxies. FS Tau B, the orange protostar slightly right of center, is thought to be responsible for the orange outflows amid the dusty region.

Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the infrared light of numerous features that previously were impossible to see beyond the thick dust of the FS Tau star system. In addition to myriad background galaxies that burst into view like fireworks for the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations, this image flickers with a number of protostars, or baby stars that are formed from dense pockets of gas and dust. These hot, clumpy, and low-mass objects eventually will become full-fledged stars capable of burning hydrogen in their cores, like our Sun. The protostars of FS Tau are about 1 to 3 million years old, which is relatively young in cosmic scales. Our Sun, by contrast, is 4.6 billion years old.

Low-mass stars emit less radiation and have less energetic stellar winds than those with larger masses, which means they disrupt their environment at a much lower level. This makes the FS Tau region incredibly useful for studying low-mass star evolution without the same level of environmental interference seen near higher-mass stars. A pair of protostars that creates the largest diffraction pattern seen slightly to the left of center in the image, called FS Tau A, is about half the mass of our Sun.

Image: FS Tau (Webb Image)

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Even though these objects are young and low-mass, they still can impact their surroundings, partially due to the outflows they emit. These outflows, seen as orange and red wisps and wide sheets, are theorized to come from FS Tau B, the protostar slightly to the right of center that has an orange diffraction pattern. As FS Tau B feeds on the surrounding dust and gas to grow, it ejects some of that matter outward. The wider outflows are thought to come from the interaction between the protostar’s magnetic field and superheated matter closest to the protostar within its accretion disk. The disk is seen as a dark band that cuts across at a 30-degree angle.

The gaps between the outflows, newly discovered in this Webb observation, add to growing evidence that protostars accrete matter in discrete episodes. In the periods where protostars gather material and increase in mass, they also eject superheated matter in different directions. In between these episodes, they are relatively quiet.

Image: FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

Side-by-side images of FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. The left, labeled Webb, shows clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust extending from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are within the clouds. Orange wisps of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. The right, labeled Hubble, shows a bright white point made up of two orbiting stars with a four-pronged diffraction pattern to the right of center. At 2 o’clock from this star, there is another, smaller protostar, surrounded by a dark disk of matter. In the center of the image is a cavity where the clouds are thinner and background stars shine through. The stars and protostar are on the edges of this cavity and are surrounded by dark clouds that appear like thick smoke in the light. A thin, short blue jet of material extends horizontally, emerging from both sides of the disk.

A comparison between the observations of FS Tau by NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Hubble’s visible-light view shows the star-forming region mostly obscured by thick dust. Webb sees through the dust, revealing how the protostars are shaping their surroundings.

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

As protostars eject these outflows, they shape their surroundings. This is best shown by the prominent light-blue ridges of dust and gas near FS Tau B. These thicker regions were likely created as outflows struck and compressed matter together. The brightness of these light-blue ridges shows that the nearby protostar’s light is reflected. Moreover, Webb’s sensitivity reveals the varying textures of dust and gas across the entire region.

The range of colors seen in this observation also provides a wealth of information, specifically about where dust is and how much of it obscures the region. Light with bluer wavelengths is absorbed and scattered by dust, while redder-wavelength light is able to slip through. Therefore, background galaxies behind thicker foreground dust appear redder. Alternatively, yellow galaxies have much less dust obscuring them. The few white stars visible in this image are likely in the foreground.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and Spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

FS Tau (Webb Image)

FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webbu2019s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies against the black background of space. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points toward 4 ou2019clock. The east arrow points toward 1 ou2019clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 2 light-years. The length of the scale bar is one-sixth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F090W is blue; F187N is cyan; F212N is green; F277W and F335M are orange; F470N is red.

FS Tau (Webb Compass Image)

An image of FS Tau captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Details

Last Updated

Jul 02, 2026

Location

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Contact

Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Matthew Brown
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Abigail Major
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

por admin | 2 julio, 2026 - 2:02 am |2 julio, 2026 Astronomy

Deja un comentario

What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

A predawn Moon-and-planets meetup, a returning comet, a great chance to see the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings at a new angle.

Skywatching Highlights

July 7: Last Quarter Moon
July 11 + 12: Dawn alignment of the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus
July 14: New Moon; best dark-sky window for Comet 10P/Tempel 2 and the Milky Way
Later in July: Saturn’s unusually thin rings are a rewarding telescope target
July 21: First Quarter Moon
July 29: Full Moon

Transcript

An early morning hangout with the Moon and planets, a comet swings by, prime time for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings shine at a new angle. That’s What’s Up for July.

Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, look toward the eastern sky for a lineup of the Moon and planets. On these mornings, the waning crescent Moon helps point the way to Mars, with Saturn shining nearby in the morning sky.

Uranus is in the same general part of the sky, too, but it is much fainter, so you will need binoculars or a telescope to see it.

Mars will look like a small reddish point of light, Saturn is brighter and easier to spot, and the Moon makes the whole scene easy to locate.

Four black squares agains a night sky image. From left to right, the squares show the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Uranus.

Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus will parade in the eastern sky.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Around the New Moon on July 14, Comet 10P/Tempel 2 swings by.

This is a short-period comet, meaning it returns to the inner solar system on a regular orbit. In this case, it comes back about every 5½ years. It is not a dramatic comet that you see just by looking up at the sky, though.

Through binoculars or a telescope, find the constellation Capricornus and look for a small fuzzy glow nearby, possibly with a brighter central knot and a short, broad, fan-shaped tail.

For the best chance to view the comet, head somewhere dark, away from city lights. Start looking once the sky is fully dark, ideally about 45 to 60 minutes after sunset.

What's Up - Comet 10P/Tempel 2 - July 14, 2026

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Those same dark nights around the July 14 New Moon are also the best time this month to look for the Milky Way.

From a dark location, away from city lights, the Milky Way appears as a pale, cloudy band across the summer sky. The bright, cloudy region of the Milky Way marks the direction of the galactic center. It looks so dense because we’re looking toward one of the most crowded parts of our galaxy, where countless stars glow behind dark clouds of cosmic dust.

Late in the evening, look low in the southern sky for a group of stars shaped like a big hook or scorpion tail. That’s Scorpius. The bright, cloudy part of the Milky Way is nearby, close to another group of stars called Sagittarius.

For the best chance to see the Milky Way, go somewhere dark, give your eyes time to adjust, and try not to look at your phone.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Later in July, Saturn is a rewarding target for telescope users.

Saturn’s rings are still tilted at a very shallow angle from our point of view, making them look unusually thin. The rings aren’t disappearing, but how they appear from Earth is changing. It’s a great reminder that our view of the solar system is always in motion.

Saturn is famous for the intriguing rings that encircle it. As Saturn orbits the Sun, though, our view of its rings changes. Roughly every 15 years (halfway through Saturn’s almost-30-year orbit), Saturn’s rings appear edge-on, sometimes seeming to disappear altogether. On Feb. 24, 2009, when Saturn’s rings were nearly edge-on, Hubble tracked four of Saturn’s moons as they passed across the face of the giant ringed planet.

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Here are the phases of the Moon for July.

Chart showing June 2026 moon phases: Third Quarter on the 7th, New Moon on the 14th, First Quarter on the 21st, and Full Moon on the 29th.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Raquel Villanueva from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

What’s Up

Skywatching

Galaxies

Stars

Get The Details…

Archivo del Autor: admin

Cartilage, Cardiac Studies and Cargo Ops Wrap Up Week Aboard Station

Cartilage, Cardiac Studies and Cargo Ops Wrap Up Week Aboard Station

NASA Students Get Airborne View of Atmospheric Science at Ellington Field

NASA Students Get Airborne View of Atmospheric Science at Ellington Field

Good Morning, Earth!

Good Morning, Earth!

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

Image: FS Tau (Webb Image)

Image: FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

Downloads & Related Information

Related Images & Videos

FS Tau (Webb Image)

FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

FS Tau (Webb Compass Image)

Related Links

Share

Details

Related Terms

Related Topics

James Webb Space Telescope

What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

Skywatching Highlights

Transcript

Discover More Topics From NASA

Weather

Categories

Cartilage, Cardiac Studies and Cargo Ops Wrap Up Week Aboard Station

NASA Students Get Airborne View of Atmospheric Science at Ellington Field

Explore More

NextSTEP-3 B: Moon Base Demonstrations

Ames Science Stars of the Month July 2026

NASA’s Newest Wind Tunnel Builds on Legacy of Innovation

Good Morning, Earth!

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

Image: FS Tau (Webb Image)

Image: FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

Downloads & Related Information

Related Images & Videos

FS Tau (Webb Image)

FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

FS Tau (Webb Compass Image)

Related Links

Share

Details

Related Terms

Related Topics

James Webb Space Telescope

What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

Skywatching Highlights

Transcript

Discover More Topics From NASA

Weather

Categories