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Crew Works Ongoing Spacecraft Operations, Robotics, and Combustion Science

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Crew Works Ongoing Spacecraft Operations, Robotics, and Combustion Science

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for portrait inside the vestibule between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. Clockwise from left, are NASA astronauts Butch Wimore, Nick Hague, and Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
NASA

Docked spacecraft operations were the main focus at the International Space Station on Thursday with crew departure training, cargo packing, and an orbital reboost also taking place. The Expedition 72 crew also worked on science hardware activating a free-flying robotic assistant and preparing for a fire safety experiment.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members which includes NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov joined each other on Wednesday for a refresher session and practiced on a computer the procedures for reentering the Earth’s atmosphere aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. The quartet is planned to undock from the space station about a week after NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission arrives carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Takuya Onishi. Crew-10’s four crew members are targeted to launch no earlier than March 12 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Hague and Gorbunov also trained to use a new tool that measures airflow velocity from vents aboard the station. Williams replaced ammonia leak emergency response procedures with new safety manuals delivered on Aug. 6, 2024 aboard the Cygnus space freighter. Wilmore swapped fuel bottles inside the Combustion Integrated Rack to prepare for a spacecraft fire safety study that explores how flames spread in microgravity.

NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit was back on robotics duty on Wednesday powering up an Astrobee robotic free-flyer for the Astrobee-Zero Robotics student competition to program the toaster-sized device to make a variety of maneuvers. Winning students had their algorithms uploaded to Astrobee testing its ability to autonomously detect and move objects within a time limit aboard the Kibo laboratory module.

The space station is orbiting higher after the Progress 89 cargo craft, which is docked to the rear port of Zvezda service module, fired its thrusters for over 22 minutes on Wednesday night. The reboost places the station at the correct altitude to receive the new Progress 91 craft after it launches on Feb. 27 then docks on March 1.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner packed the Progress 89 with trash and discarded hardware in preparation for cargo craft’s undocking on Feb. 25. Ovchinin also prepared the Progress 89 for its departure removing air ducts and checking its hatch. Vagner moved on and serviced Zvezda’s oxygen generator while Gorbunov photographed the condition of stowage areas in the Zarya module. Following the Progress 89’s departure, Zvezda’s rear port will be vacated where the Progress 91 will dock beginning a six-month cargo mission.

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

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Mark A. Garcia

Guiding Orion: Jorge Chong’s Mission to Advance Deep Space Exploration 

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Guiding Orion: Jorge Chong’s Mission to Advance Deep Space Exploration 

Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep space autonomously. 

Jorge Chong in front of the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when he helped with optical navigation operations during Artemis I.
Image courtesy of Jorge Chong

“GNC is like the brain of a spacecraft. It involves a suite of sensors that keep track of where the vehicle is in orbit so it can return home safely,” he said. “Getting to test the components of a GNC system makes you very familiar with how it all works together, and then to see it fly and help it operate successfully is immensely rewarding.” 

His work is critical to the Artemis campaign, which aims to return humans to the Moon and pave the way for Mars. From developing optical navigation technology that allows Orion to determine its position using images of Earth and the Moon to testing docking cameras and Light Detection and Ranging systems that enable autonomous spacecraft rendezvous, Chong is pushing the limits of exploration. He also runs high-fidelity flight simulations at Lockheed Martin’s Orion Test Hardware facility in Houston, ensuring Orion’s software is ready for the demands of spaceflight. 

Chong’s NASA career spans seven years as a full-time engineer, plus three years as a co-op student at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In 2024, he began leading Project TRON, an optical navigation initiative funded by a $2 million Early Career Initiative award. The project aims to advance autonomous space navigation—an essential capability for missions beyond Earth’s orbit. 

Jorge Chong and his colleagues with the Artemis II docking camera in the Electro-Optics Lab at Johnson. From left to right: Paul McKee, Jorge Chong, and Kevin Kobylka. Bottom right: Steve Lockhart and Ronney Lovelace.

Thanks to Chong’s work, the Artemis Generation is one step closer to exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He supported optical navigation operations during Artemis I, is writing software that will fly on Artemis II, and leads optical testing for Orion’s docking cameras. But his path to NASA wasn’t always written in the stars. 

“I found math difficult as a kid,” Chong admits. “I didn’t enjoy it at first, but my parents encouraged me patiently, and eventually it started to click and then became a strength and something I enjoyed. Now, it’s a core part of my career.” He emphasizes that perseverance is key, especially for students who may feel discouraged by challenging subjects. 

Most of what Chong has learned, he says, came from working collaboratively on the job. “No matter how difficult something may seem, anything can be learned,” he said. “I could not have envisioned being involved in projects like these or working alongside such great teams before coming to Johnson.” 

Jorge Chong (left) and his siblings Ashley and Bronsen at a Texas A&M University game.
Image courtesy of Jorge Chong

His career has also reinforced the importance of teamwork, especially when working with contractors, vendors, universities, and other NASA centers. “Coordinating across these dynamic teams and keeping the deliverables on track can be challenging, but it has helped to be able to lean on teammates for assistance and keep communication flowing,” said Chong.

And soon, those systems will help Artemis astronauts explore places no human has gone before. Whether guiding Orion to the Moon or beyond, Chong’s work is helping NASA write the next chapter of space exploration. 

“I thank God for the doors He has opened for me and the incredible mentors and coworkers who have helped me along the way,” he said. 

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Sumer Loggins

60 Years Ago: Ranger 8 Moon Photos Aid in Apollo Site Selection 

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60 Years Ago: Ranger 8 Moon Photos Aid in Apollo Site Selection 

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the lunar surface existed, only those obtained by Earth-based telescopes. 

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed the Ranger program, a series of spacecraft designed to return closeup images before impacting on the Moon’s surface. Ranger 7 first accomplished that goal in July 1964. On Feb. 17, 1965, its successor Ranger 8 launched toward the Moon, and three days later returned images of the Moon. The mission’s success helped the country meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of a human Moon landing before the end of the decade. 

Black and white schematic illustration of a spacecraft with two solar panels.
Schematic diagram of the Ranger 8 spacecraft, showing its major components.
NASA/JPL

Color image of a complex of six cameras, three above and three below.
The television system aboard Ranger 8 showing its six cameras.
NASA/JPL.

Color image of a rocket lifting off its launch pad, with a blue sky in the background.
Launch of Ranger 8.
NASA.


Ranger 8 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, now Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 17, 1965. The Atlas-Agena rocket first placed the spacecraft into Earth orbit before sending it on a lunar trajectory. The next day, the spacecraft carried out a mid-course correction, and on Feb. 20, Ranger 8 reached the Moon. The spacecraft’s six cameras turned on as planned, about eight minutes earlier than its predecessor to obtain images comparable in resolution to ground-based photographs for calibration purposes. Ranger 8 took its first photograph at an altitude of 1,560 miles, and during its final 23 minutes of flight, the spacecraft sent back 7,137 images of the lunar surface. The last image, taken at an altitude of 1,600 feet and 0.28 seconds before Ranger 8 impacted at 1.67 miles per second, had a resolution of about five feet. The spacecraft impacted 16 miles from its intended target in the Sea of Tranquility, ending a flight of 248,900 miles. Scientists had an interest in this area of the Moon as a possible landing zone for a future human landing, and indeed Apollo 11 landed 44 miles southeast of the Ranger 8 impact site in July 1969.  

Black and white slightly blurry image of the Moon's surface with a few craters visible.
Ranger 8’s first image from an altitude of 1,560 miles.
NASA/JPL.

Black and white image of the Moon's surface, showing two large craters, several medium sized ones, and many smaller ones.
Ranger 8 image from an altitude of 198 miles, showing craters Ritter and Sabine.
NASA/JPL.

A collage of four black and white images of the Moon taken from close above its surface.
Ranger 8’s final images, taken at an altitude as low as 1,600 feet.
NASA/JPL.


One more Ranger mission followed, Ranger 9, in March 1965. Television networks broadcast Ranger 9’s images of the Alphonsus crater and the surrounding area “live” as the spacecraft approached its impact site in the crater – letting millions of Americans see the Moon up-close as it happened. Based on the photographs returned by the last three Rangers, scientists felt confident to move on to the next phase of robotic lunar exploration, the Surveyor series of soft landers. The Ranger photographs provided confidence that the lunar surface could support a soft-landing and that the Sea of Tranquility presented a good site for the first human landing. A little more than four years after the final Ranger images, Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon. 

Black and white image of a gibbous Moon showing the impacts sites of Rangers 7, 8, and 9.
Impact sites of Rangers 7, 8, and 9.
NASA/JPL.

Black and white image of a portion of the Moon with a blue circle indicating Ranger 8's impact point.
The Ranger 8 impact crater, marked by the blue circle, photographed by Lunar Orbiter 2 in 1966.
NASA/JPL.

Dark black and white image of a portion of the Moon showing Ranger 8's impact site at the center of the image.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the Ranger 8 impact crater, taken in 2012 at a low sun angle.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University.


The impacts of the Ranger probes left visible craters on the lunar surface, later photographed by orbiting spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter 2 and Apollo 16 both imaged the Ranger 8 impact site at relatively low resolution in 1966 and 1972, respectively. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the crash site in greater detail in 2012. 

Watch a brief video about the Ranger 8 impact on the Moon. 

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John J. Uri

55 Years Ago: Preps for Apollo 13 and 14, Apollo 12 Crew on World Tour

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55 Years Ago: Preps for Apollo 13 and 14, Apollo 12 Crew on World Tour

With two months to go before flight, the Apollo 13 prime crew of James Lovell, Thomas Mattingly, Fred Haise, and backups John Young, John Swigert, and Charles Duke continued to train for the 10-day mission planned to land in the Fra Mauro highlands region of the Moon. Engineers continued to prepare the Saturn V rocket and spacecraft at the launch pad for the April 11, 1970, liftoff and completed the Flight Readiness Test of the vehicle. All six astronauts spent many hours in flight simulators training while the Moon walkers practiced landing the Lunar Module and rehearsed their planned Moon walks. The crew for the next Moon landing mission, Apollo 14, participated in a geology field trip as part of their training for the flight then planned for October 1970. Meanwhile, NASA released Apollo 12 lunar samples to scientists and the Apollo 12 crew set off on a Presidential world goodwill tour.  

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers completed the Flight Readiness Test of the Apollo 13 Saturn V on Feb. 26. The test ensured that all systems are flight ready and compatible with ground support equipment, and the astronauts simulated portions of the countdown and powered flight. Successful completion of the readiness test cleared the way for a countdown dress rehearsal at the end of March. 

Image of four-legged metal contraption, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle, sitting on a runway, against the background of a blue sky.
John Young prepares for a flight aboard the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle.
NASA

Scene on a runway of an astronaut wearing white overalls and a helmet sitting in the cockpit of the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle with several other men standing nearby in support.
John Young after a training flight aboard the landing trainer.
NASA

Nighttime scene of an astronaut in white overalls and a helmet standing in the cockpit of a lunar module trainer.
Fred Haise prepares for a flight at the Lunar Landing Research Facility.
NASA


One of the greatest challenges astronauts faced during a lunar mission entailed completing a safe landing on the lunar surface. In addition to time spent in simulators, Apollo mission commanders and their backups trained for the final few hundred feet of the descent using the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in Houston. Bell Aerosystems of Buffalo, New York, built the trainer for NASA to simulate the flying characteristics of the Lunar Module. Lovell and Young completed several flights in February 1970. Due to scheduling constraints with the trainer, lunar module pilots trained for their role in the landing using the Lunar Landing Research Facility at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Haise and Duke completed training sessions at the Langley facility in February. 

Image aboard an aircraft of white spacesuited astronaut practicing backing out of a lunar module mockup, with two men in orange overalls assisting him.
Charles Duke practices Lunar Module egress during a KC-135 parabolic flight.
NASA

Image aboard an aircraft of a white spacesuited astronaut practicing unloading equipment from a lunar module mockup.
Charles Duke rehearses unstowing equipment from the Lunar Module during a KC-135 parabolic flight.
NASA


The astronauts trained for moonwalks with parabolic flights aboard NASA’s KC-135 aircraft that simulated the low lunar gravity, practicing their ladder descent to the surface. On the ground, they rehearsed the moonwalks, setting up the American flag and the large S-band communications antenna, and collecting lunar samples. Engineers improved their spacesuits to make the expected longer spacewalks more comfortable for the crew members by installing eight-ounce bags of water inside the helmets for hydration. 

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice a moonwalk, with an American flag visible in front of a lunar module mockup.
James Lovell, left, and Fred Haise practice setting up science equipment, the American flag, and the S-band antenna.
NASA

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice a moonwalk and collecting rock samples.
Lovell, left, and Haise practice collecting rock samples.
NASA

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice setting up instruments in a moonwalk training exercise.
John Young, left, and Charles Duke train to collect rock samples.
NASA

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice removing equipment from a lunar module mockup during moonwalk training.
Fred Haise, left, and James Lovell practice lowering the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package from the Lunar Module.
NASA

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice setting up an experiment package during lunar surface training.
Lovell, left, and Haise practice setting up the experiments.
NASA

Two astronauts wearing white spacesuits practice using a drill during moonwalk training, assisted by a man in a white shirt.
Lovell, left, and Haise practice drilling for the Heat Flow Experiment.
NASA


During their 35 hours on the Moon’s surface, Lovell and Haise planned to conduct two four-hour spacewalks to set up the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), a suite of four investigations designed to collect data about the lunar environment after the astronauts’ departure, and to conduct geologic explorations of the landing site. The four experiments included the: 

  • Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment designed to measure the flexes of charged particles 
  • Cold Cathode Gauge Experiment designed to measure the pressure of the lunar atmosphere 
  • Heat Flow Experiment designed to make thermal measurements of the lunar subsurface 
  • Passive Seismic Experiment designed to measure any moonquakes, either naturally occurring or caused by artificial means 

 As an additional investigation, the astronauts planned to deploy and retrieve the Solar Wind Composition experiment, a sheet of aluminum foil to collect particles from the solar wind for analysis by scientists back on Earth after about 20 hours of exposure on the lunar surface. 

Image of five men, four astronauts and a geologist, standing in rugged terrain, against a blue sky background.
Apollo 14 astronauts Eugene Cernan, left, Joe Engle, Edgar Mitchell, and Alan Shepard with geologist Richard Jahns in the Pinacates Mountains of northern Mexico.
NASA

Image of five men, four astronauts and a geologist, working in rugged terrain, one of them pulling a golf cart like vehicle loaded with tools.
Shepard, left, Engle, Mitchell, and Cernan training with the Modular Equipment Transporter, accompanied by geologist Jahns.
NASA


With one lunar mission just two months away, NASA continued preparations for the following flight, Apollo 14, then scheduled for October 1970 with a landing targeted for the Littrow region of the Moon, an area scientists believed to be of volcanic origin. Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell and their backups Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Joe Engle  learned spacecraft systems in the simulators. Accompanied by a team of geologists led by Richard Jahns, Shepard, Mitchell, Cernan, and Engle participated in a geology expedition to the Pinacate Mountain Range in northern Mexico Feb. 14-18, 1970. The astronauts practiced using the Modular Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled conveyance to transport tools and samples on the lunar surface. 

Black and white image of a man and a woman at a desk preparing packages for shipment.
Mail out of the Apollo 12 lunar samples.

Black and white photo of three astronauts riding in a convertible with an ornate building in the background.
Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad, left, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean ride in a motorcade in Lima, Peru.
NASA


On Feb. 13, 1970, NASA began releasing Apollo 12 lunar samples to 139 U.S. and 54 international scientists in 16 countries, a total of 28.6 pounds of material. On Feb. 16, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean, accompanied by their wives and NASA and State Department officials, departed Houston’s Ellington Air Force Base for their 38-day Bullseye Presidential Goodwill World Tour. They first traveled to Latin America, making stops in Venezuela, Peru, Chile, and Panama before continuing on to Europe, Africa, and Asia. 

The groundbreaking science and discoveries made during Apollo missions has pushed NASA to explore the Moon more than ever before through the Artemis program. Apollo astronauts set up mirror arrays, or “retroreflectors,” on the Moon to accurately reflect laser light beamed at them from Earth with minimal scattering or diffusion. Retroreflectors are mirrors that reflect the incoming light back in the same incoming direction. Calculating the time required for the beams to bounce back allowed scientists to precisely measure the Moon’s shape and distance from Earth, both of which are directly affected by Earth’s gravitational pull. More than 50 years later, on the cusp of NASA’s crewed Artemis missions to the Moon, lunar research still leverages data from those Apollo-era retroreflectors. 

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John J. Uri

NASA Invites Media to Simulated Mars Habitat Before Next Mission

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NASA Invites Media to Simulated Mars Habitat Before Next Mission

The Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) team hosts a Media Day on April 11, 2023.
The Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) team hosts a Media Day at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on April 11, 2023.
Credit: NASA

Media are invited to visit NASA’s simulated Mars habitat on Monday, March 10, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The simulation will help prepare humanity for future missions to the Red Planet.

This is the second of three missions as part of NASA’s CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), set to begin in May 2025 when volunteer crew members enter the 3D printed habitat to live and work for a year.

During the mission, crew members will carry out different types of mission activities, including simulated “marswalks,” robotic operations, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene, exercise, and crop growth. Crew also will face planned environmental stressors such as resource limitations, isolation, and equipment failure.

The in-person media event includes an opportunity to speak with subject matter experts and capture b-roll and photos inside the habitat. Crew members will arrive for training at a later date and will not be available at this event.

To attend the event, U.S. media must request accreditation by 5 p.m. CDT Monday, March 3, and international media by 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 24, via the NASA Johnson newsroom at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@nasa.gov. Media accreditation will be limited due to limited space inside the habitat. Confirmed media will receive additional details on how to participate.

For more information about CHAPEA, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea

-end-

Cindy Anderson / James Gannon
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cindy.anderson@nasa.gov / james.h.gannon@nasa.gov

Kelsey Spivey
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelsey.m.spivey@nasa.gov

Victoria Segovia
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
victoria.segovia@nasa.gov

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Feb 20, 2025

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Tiernan P. Doyle