This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month takes us to a fantastical realm within our home galaxy, where piercing starlight and billowing winds sculpt dust clouds into inventive shapes. This scene is from the Carina Nebula, which lies just 7500 light-years away in the constellation Carina (the Keel).
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President Donald J. Trump will award each of NASA’s Artemis II crew members the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28, during a ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, completed a 10-day mission around the Moon on April 10. During a historic test flight as the first astronauts to fly aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, these crew members were the first to travel beyond the Moon in more than 50 years and traveled farther in space than humans have ever before.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will join the President and astronauts in the awards ceremony.
The event will stream live on a variety of platforms. Learn how to watch online:
In addition to pooled media, limited media credentialing is available for this event. To apply, please submit your request online by 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program on the agency’s website.
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Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
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Gerelle Q. Dodson
Western Europe got its first hint of an unusual summer in May 2026, when a heat dome produced exceptional temperatures that shattered records in several countries. Remarkable as it was, that early heat wave turned out to be only the opening salvo.
By mid-August, Europeans were sweating through their fifth heat wave of the season, with the latest onslaught pushing temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across a broad area. During these bouts of extreme weather, high temperatures were often unrelenting, persisting for several days and sometimes weeks on end, and remaining overnight.
For a region accustomed to relatively mild summers, the heat upended everyday life. Hospitalizations and heat-related deaths spiked. Highways and train tracks buckled, forcing road closures and service disruptions. Large and destructive wildfires raged in areas where they were once rarely seen. The heat also worsened the severe drought that has gripped the region for months, contributing to record-low river water levels and disrupting water and power supplies, transportation routes, and agriculture.
The animation above shows the daily maximum surface air temperature across Western Europe from May 1 to August 19, 2026. It was produced by combining satellite observations with temperatures predicted by a version of NASA’s GEOS (Goddard Earth Observing System) global model, which uses mathematical equations to represent physical processes in the atmosphere. The darkest red areas indicate where temperatures met or exceeded 40°C.
The heat broke records at a furious pace, often by wide margins. According to the UK Met Office, temperatures soared as high as 35.1°C (95.2°F) in London on May 26, smashing the previous May record by 2.3°C (4.1°F). In June, Bordeaux, France, broke its maximum-temperature record on three consecutive days, hitting 42.5°C on June 24, Météo-France reported. Slovakia, meanwhile, set new national records for both daytime and nighttime highs in August. Combined June and July temperatures in Western Europe were the highest on record, according to Europe’s Copernicus climate monitoring service.
In Europe, extreme temperatures collided with several vulnerabilities, including limited access to air conditioning, high nighttime temperatures, and a lack of green space in some cities. The circumstances triggered not just discomfort but heat exhaustion and heatstroke in some cases. Preliminary reports suggest that heat may have been associated with 10,000 excess deaths, including thousands of people in the UK, France, Germany, and Belgium.
“Air conditioning is an especially critical issue in Europe in the short term,” said Anamika Shreevastava, a researcher at New York University who studied urban heat islands as a postdoc at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of her goals was to produce thermal maps based on NASA data from missions like ECOSTRESS that city planners could use to make cities more resilient to heat waves.
International Energy Agency data show that 23 percent of homes in Europe have air conditioning, compared to 90 percent of homes in the United States. That difference contributes to the much higher death rates that researchers have documented in European cities during heat waves than in comparable American cities. “Longer term, cities can also plant trees, expand parks, use reflective roof paint, and transition to building materials less likely to retain heat,” Shreevastava said.
An analysis from the World Health Organization indicates that heat stress is the world’s leading cause of weather-related deaths, noting it exacerbates underlying illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health conditions, and asthma. Researchers have calculated that roughly 489,000 heat-related deaths occur each year, with 45 percent of the deaths in Asia and 36 percent in Europe.
“For older adults with physical health problems, temperatures as low as 26.7°C (80°F) can pose significant danger,” said Deborah Carr, a Boston University sociologist who specializes in the study of aging. “Nighttime heat is especially harmful for older adults whose homes lack air conditioning.”
Carr is part of a research team that used demographic data, along with temperature and climate data archived by NASA, to identify which parts of the world are at the greatest risk of current and future heat exposure. Southern Europe was among the areas facing growing heat exposure and an aging population, the researchers found.
Other research, published in Lancet Planetary Health in August 2026, underscores the importance of demographics in assessing the risks posed by heat. This study, led by Stanford researcher Qinqin Kong, mapped where increasing heat is likely to lead to intolerable conditions in the coming decades for young, middle-aged, and older adults, concluding that safe thresholds will be breached often and widely, with risks falling disproportionately on older people.
“The human body can tolerate only a limited range of ambient heat,” said Kong, a recipient of a NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology award. “Understanding where, when, and to what extent these limits are exceeded is critical.”
With intolerable levels of heat expected to affect more people across larger regions and for longer periods than previously thought, Kong and his colleagues hope that their findings will inform targeted heat action plans, emergency preparedness, and health system planning.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using GEOS-FP data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Story by Adam Voiland.
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.
A ridge of high pressure fueled record-breaking temperatures in Montana, Utah, and Wyoming on July 12, 2026.
New animations from NASA’s PREFIRE mission reveal two years of seasonal temperature swings at the Arctic and Antarctic.
Satellite observations of sea surface height indicated that the 2026 event continued to strengthen in early June.
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On Tuesday, Aug. 25, NASA flight engineer Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) flight engineer Sophie Adenot will conduct a spacewalk to finish replacing the space‑to‑ground antenna on the International Space Station. The pair began the work on Aug. 18.
Menon will ride the Canadarm2 robotic arm to retrieve a spare antenna that Adenot will release from an external platform. Together, they will install the antenna on the Z1 truss segment above the station’s Unity module. The astronauts then will make the precise electrical and data connections needed to activate the spare antenna for high‑speed transmissions with mission control.
If time allows, Menon and Adenot will attempt a get‑ahead task to replace a retroreflector on the forward port of the Harmony module, which improves navigation data for visiting spacecraft. Menon will serve as spacewalk crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Adenot will serve as crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. NASA’s live spacewalk coverage on Aug. 25 begins at 7 a.m. EDT. The spacewalk is expected to start at about 8:35 a.m. and last roughly six and a half hours.
NASA also is planning a fourth spacewalk on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to connect power channel cables and data relay systems as part of ongoing maintenance. However, the replacement of the retroreflector would become the primary task if it is not completed on Aug. 25. The agency will make a decision on whether the early September spacewalk is needed following installation of the space-to-ground antenna.
Inside station on Thursday, Adenot and Menon were joined by station commander Jessica Meir and flight engineer Jack Hathaway, both NASA astronauts, for spacewalk procedure reviews throughout the day. Meir and Hathway will help the spacewalkers in and out of their spacesuits next week. Meir will also monitor the spacewalkers and assist Hathaway as he operates the Canadarm2 with Menon attached. The four astronauts also called down to mission controllers at the end of their shift on Thursday to discuss spacewalk procedures and robotics operations.
The astronauts still had time for research and lab maintenance on Thursday. Meir participated in a relaxation study to help reduce stress and improve sleep during a long-duration space mission. Hathaway photographed 3D colloidal crystal samples growing for a space manufacturing investigation. Menon and Adenot spent their extra time on light maintenance duties servicing life support and communications systems.
The three Expedition75 cosmonauts stayed focused on their station research and lap upkeep tasks for Roscosmos. Flight engineer Anna Kikina jogged on the Zvezda service module’s treadmill as electrodes measured her heart rate for a regularly scheduled fitness assessment. Afterward, she assisted flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov as he installed Earth observation gear to automatically capture visible and near-infrared photography of rivers, lakes, and mountains throughout Europe and Asia. Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent his shift on orbital plumbing and ventilation maintenance.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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Mark A. Garcia
SmallSat 2026
Join NASA in the Exhibit Hall (Booth # 635, 835, 641, and 940) for Storytelling by NASA experts. Full Agenda below.
MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 9:00 – 10:00 AM
| Welcome | Jose Nunez |
| BryceTech’s Smallsats by the Numbers: 2026 | Fletcher Franklin |
| Supply Chain Observations | Bruce Yost |
Technology Shortfall |
Rudy de Rosee |
| SPARCS Camera and Early Science Observations | Kaitlyn Ashcroft |
| JPL: Skyfall | Tim Canham |
| SWIFT LINK Reboost | Bo Naasz |
| Flight Opportunities – Hosted Orbital Ecosystem – Fly Foundational Robos – Space Roboticist Challenge | Anh Nguyen |
| From Rideshare to Dedicated Launches: SmallSat Options with NASA LSP | Caley Burke |
| You Bring the Mission, We’ll Bring the Lab: Partnering with MSFC | Rush Elkins |
| NASA Ames Mission Design Center: Imagining the Next Generation of Spaceflight Missions | Matthew Napoli |
| Engineering Challenges and Best Practices from a Stellar Launch Cycle | Brad Williams |
| HIAD Payload Return Solution for SmallSats | Joe Del Corso |
3:25 – 4:10 PM
| Moderating | Bruce Yost |
| RTMD NASA | Greg Stover |
| SMD HPD ADF | Asal Naseri |
| HSMD CSLI/CLPS/ Commercial Access to Space (CAtS) | Pete Wilczynski |
| CARA: Conjunction Assessment Best Practices | Lauri Newman |
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 9:45 – 10:45 AM
| Moderating | Cari Reinert |
| SMD Panelist 1 – Solicitations | Aly Mendoza-Hill |
| STMD Panelist CATALYST – I-Corps | Maggie Yancey |
| SBIR / STTR- Launchpad for Innovation | Ryszard Pisarski |
| Agency level Tech Transfer | Jose Nunez |
3:15 – 4:15 PM
| Moderating | Aly Mendoza-Hill |
| SMD – APD Pioneers | Pablo Saz Parkinson |
| SMD – Science as a Service: What SmallSat Providers Need to Know | Beth Weinstein |
| SMD – HPD | Asal Naseri |
| ESCAPADE (HPD) Innovating Methods for Exploration | Skyler Kleinschmidt |
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 9:45 – 10:45 AM
| Moderator, FO Panelist | Danielle McCulloch |
| NASA CSLI, VADR Panelist | Norman Phelps |
| CLPS Panelist | Angela Melito |
| Rideshare Panelist | Aly Mendoza-hill |
| SLS | David Hitt |
3:15 – 4:15 PM
| Welcome / Close out Presentor/Moderator | Sam Pedrotty |
| JPL Mission INCUS | Benjamin (Benji) Donitz |
| SMD – Biological & Physical Sciences Payload Concepts for Future SmallSat Missions | Matthew Lera |
| SMD APD – SWIFT Reboost highlight | David Morris |
| SMD ESD – Mission Highlight | Sachidananda Babu |
| SMD HPD – TRACERS Mission Highlight | Skyler Kleinschmidt |
| SunRISE (SMD HPD) – Maximizing Science Uptime Across the Constellation | Carson Schubert |
| STMD USTP Overview | Mike Gaunce |
| STMD Mission CAPSTONE 02 | Sam Phan |
| STMD R5 Spacecraft Series | Sam Pedrotty |
| STMD GPDM | Nehemiah Williams |
| STMD Mission DiskSat | Roger Hunter |
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