Captured Nov. 29, 2024 by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, this infrared view of Saturn shows its glowing icy rings and layered atmosphere. Several moons are visible, including Janus, Dione, and Enceladus.
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NASA has selected Jennifer Lyons as acting program manager for the agency’s Launch Services Program (LSP) based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Lyons will lead NASA’s acquisition and management of domestic commercial launch services for science and robotic exploration missions beginning Wednesday, April 1.
Lyons will oversee mission planning, launch vehicle selection, spacecraft integration, launch processing, launch campaigns, and postlaunch activities. The program matches spacecraft with the most suitable commercial rockets and ensures mission requirements are met from early planning through launch and mission completion. It supports NASA missions that observe Earth, explore the solar system, and expand understanding of the universe.
“Jenny brings the kind of flight-readiness discipline and mission-assurance expertise that have defined the program’s 25‑year record of more than 100 successful flights across 15 commercial rocket types,” said Bradley Smith, director of NASA’s Launch Services Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “In addition to being the transportation cornerstone of NASA’s science and robotic exploration missions, commercial launch is also critically important to NASA’s Artemis architecture. Jenny’s experience in having worked across many NASA projects — from space shuttle to the International Space Station, to Commercial Crew, and partnering with commercial providers — will enable LSP to continue bringing its core launch vehicle capabilities to bear, ensuring successful outcomes.”
Lyons brings nearly four decades of technical, operational, and program leadership experience to the role. She served as the launch services deputy program manager since March 2024 and previously was deputy manager for the Gateway Program’s Deep Space Logistics project. She has worked with launch services for nearly 20 years and led the Fleet and Systems Management Division for more than a decade, overseeing NASA insight and approval activities related to launch vehicle readiness, certification, and mission assurance across a diverse fleet of commercial rockets.
“I am honored to take on this important role supporting NASA’s science and exploration missions,” said Lyons. “I am confident our team will remain focused on delivering safe, reliable launch services while strengthening a healthy commercial market that enables discoveries across the solar system and beyond.”
Lyons has received numerous individual achievement, group, and leadership awards. She holds degrees in aerospace and ocean engineering, space technology, and engineering management. Her career includes a wide range of experiences, including serving as the first woman to act as NASA convoy commander for a space shuttle landing to chairing the source evaluation board for NASA Launch Services II, under which NASA has awarded multiple contracts that support many of the agency’s high-priority missions.
She succeeds Albert Sierra, who led the program since March 2024 and is retiring after 36 years of service with NASA. Sierra guided the program through five primary missions and numerous venture‑class launches that provided a steady cadence of flights for the agency. These missions ranged from major weather and Earth‑observing satellites to deep‑space probes, astrophysics and solar‑monitoring observatories, and many CubeSats.
“Leading LSP has been one of the greatest privileges of my career, especially knowing the missions we’ve launched will fuel discovery for years to come,” said Sierra. “While it’s never easy to step away, I’m confident the program will continue its strong record of mission success under Jenny’s leadership.”
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Leejay Lockhart
January 25, 2026 – March 14, 2026
Back-to-back low-pressure systems struck Hawaii in March 2026, delivering some of the worst flooding the state has seen in decades. The subtropical weather systems—called kona lows near Hawaii—siphoned moisture from the tropics, fueling slow-moving thunderstorms with torrential, destructive rains.
The National Weather Service reported rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 26 centimeters) throughout the state between March 11 and 15, with some areas seeing more than 30 inches. Weather stations in Honolulu, Hilo, Līhuʻe, and Kahului all broke daily rainfall records.
The satellite image on the right shows swamped neighborhoods and farmland between Mokuleia and Waialua on the island of O’ahu on March 14, 2026, after the first and more destructive storm system hit the island. Plumes of suspended sediment have discolored waters in and around Kaiaka Bay. Hawaii’s volcanic Hilo soils are known for being red due to the high levels of iron and aluminum oxide that accumulate as they weather. For comparison, the image on the left shows the same area on January 25, 2026, before the deluge.
Preliminary assessments indicate that hundreds of homes in O’ahu sustained damage. Farmers on the island and across the state reported millions of dollars in damage, according to news reports. The storm produced widespread wind gusts between 60 and 75 miles (97 and 121 kilometers) per hour, with gusts in some places reaching 100 miles per hour. As many as 115,000 O’ahu residents faced power outages in the storm’s aftermath.
While the most intense rains had subsided by March 24, forecasters are continuing to monitor unsettled weather and the possibility of more flash floods in the coming days.
NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System has been activated to support the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s response to the storms. The team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal as new information becomes available.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. 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.
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A NASA Pilatus PC-12 aircraft will now be based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in order to support flight research efforts across the agency.
The PC-12 was acquired in 2022 by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland for use in advanced technology development. The PC-12 will continue to support research at NASA Glenn while also helping expand flight research capability by supporting other agency efforts.
“NASA Armstrong is proficient in supporting a deployed aircraft concept, where our aircraft goes to another part of the country or world to complete a specific mission,” said Darren Cole, capabilities manager for the Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project at NASA Armstrong. “That’s exactly what we are going to do with the PC-12, to continue a wide range of flight research.”
Over four years of service at Glenn, the PC-12 has proven a valuable research asset, with contributions such as supporting a communications relay experiment with the International Space Station. Using a portable laser terminal, the PC-12 sent a 4K video stream relayed through a ground network and a satellite to the space station, which was able to send information back. The system helped effectively penetrate cloud coverage.
The aircraft also was used to study surveillance systems that could help handle the air traffic demands of future air taxis flying in cities.
From its new home at NASA Armstrong, the plane will support a variety of agency, industry, and academic research, including continued technology development research led by Glenn and conducted in conjunction with Glenn’s Aerospace Communications Facility.
A NASA T-34 aircraft from Glenn also arrived at Armstrong in February to be evaluated for use. The T-34 can allow NASA pilots to either conduct flight research or train to fly the PC-12 when that larger aircraft is undergoing maintenance or modifications.
“The T-34’s design allows for future pod-mounted flight research efforts,” Cole said. “This could include ideas in development by researchers within NASA or through external partnerships — to get something quickly into the air for flight testing at a low cost.”
The T-34 from Glenn joins another already housed at NASA Armstrong, part of a fleet that has recently grown with new assets, including two F-15s. These help Armstrong remain the agency’s home base for breakthrough flight research and test projects.
The aircraft are supported through NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
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Dede Dinius
Three Moon rocks are on display during a March 24, 2026, event where NASA announced a series of transformative agencywide initiatives designed to achieve the National Space Policy and advance American leadership in space.
NASA leadership provided updates on mission priorities, including sending the first astronauts to the lunar surface in more than 50 years, establishing the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, getting America underway in space on nuclear propulsion, and other objectives.
Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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Monika Luabeya
