Preflight Checks for Astronaut Loral O’Hara

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara has her Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked ahead of launching to the International Space Station on Sept. 15, 2023. O’Hara, currently on the station, is scheduled to spend six months there. She and her fellow Expedition 70 crew members are studying an array of microgravity phenomena to benefit humans living on and off the Earth, as well as exploring heart health, cancer treatments, space manufacturing techniques, and more during their long-duration stay in Earth orbit.

The NASA Headquarters photographers chose this photo as one of the best images from 2023. See the rest on Flickr.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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Monika Luabeya

NASA Astronauts to Speak with North Carolina, Virginia Students

Students from North Carolina and Virginia will have separate opportunities next week to each hear from a NASA astronaut living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The two Earth-to-space calls will air live Tuesday, Jan. 9, on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Follow events online at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

At 9:20 a.m. EST, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will answer prerecorded questions from students at Thales Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina. In preparation for the education downlink, students will participate in an annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Day that will include presentations about the space station by Marc Fusco, one of NASA’s solar system ambassadors. Students also will participate in hands-on activities, including making space related art, building bottle rockets, and launching a model rocket.

Media interested in covering the North Carolina event must RSVP no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8., to Janice Holton at: janice.holton@thalesacademy.org or 919-882-2320.

At 1:05 p.m., NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will answer prerecorded questions from students across the state of Virginia through an event hosted by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. These students studied life aboard the space station and participated in a Plant the Moon Challenge where they worked to grow plants in lunar regolith simulant for the Artemis mission.

Media interested in covering the Virginia event must RSVP no later than 4 p.m. on Jan. 8., to Kristyn Damadeo at: kdamadeo@odu.edu or 202-465-5190.

For more than 23 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts living in space aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Near Space Network.

Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the International Space Station benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration.

As part of Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the space station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

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Katherine Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1288
katherine.m.brown@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones 
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan

NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Crew-8 Mission Launch to Space Station

Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s eighth rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Endeavour spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is targeted for no earlier than mid-February from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch will carry NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist. This is the first spaceflight for Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin, and the third spaceflight for Barratt.

Following a short handover period, astronauts from NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission are scheduled for return to Earth aboard their SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft.

Media accreditation deadlines for the Crew-8 launch are as follows:

• U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 2.
• International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 19.

All accreditation requests must be submitted online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. For questions about accreditation or special logistical requests, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Requests for space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections are due by Monday, Feb. 12.

For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom: at 321-867-2468.

Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.

For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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News Media Contacts:

Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Steve Siceloff / Danielle Sempsrott
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / danielle.c.sempsrott@nasa.gov

Leah Cheshier
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov

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NASA Features New Discoveries at American Astronomical Society Meeting

Experts will discuss new research from NASA missions at the 243^rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), on topics ranging from planets outside our solar system to fleeting, high-energy explosions in the universe. The meeting will take place Jan. 7-11 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

In press conferences, scientific sessions, and town halls, scientists and agency leaders will present the latest developments in astrophysics. Press conferences – highlighting results enabled by NASA missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope (also called “Webb” or “JWST”), Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope – will stream live to the public on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel.

In addition to press conferences, NASA highlights for registered attendees include:

• NASA Town Hall: Monday, Jan. 8, 12:45 p.m. CST
• James Webb Space Telescope Town Hall: Wednesday, Jan. 10, 6 p.m. CST
• Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Town Hall: Thursday, Jan. 11, 12:45 p.m. CST

Throughout the week, expert talks at the NASA Exhibit Booth will discuss science from current NASA missions including Webb, Hubble, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), and Chandra ahead of its 25th anniversary; NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and SPHEREx observatory; the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a concept for a future NASA flagship space telescope; the agency’s scientific Balloon Program; the 2024 total solar eclipse; and open science at NASA, among other topics.

Members of the media can request interviews with NASA experts on any of these topics by contacting Alise Fisher at alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov.

The full list of NASA meeting highlights is as follows. All times are Central.

Monday, Jan. 8

10:15 a.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Chandra, Webb, and retired SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) mission will be featured:

• “Polarized Dust Ring in the Milky Way’s Center”
• “NASA Telescopes Show Famous Exploded Star in Its Best Light”

12:45 p.m. CST: NASA Town Hall

Great Hall A

Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, will share an update on NASA’s astrophysics programs.

2:15 p.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Hubble, SOFIA, and Fermi will be highlighted:

• “Asymmetric Gamma-Ray Emission from the Quiet Sun”
• “The Wondrous 3D World of Protostellar Shocks in NGC 2071”

Tuesday, Jan. 9

10:15 a.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

A NASA-funded citizen science program and news from NASA’s Webb mission will be highlighted:

• “Using Citizen Science to Identify New Ultracool Benchmark Systems”
• “JWST Indicates Auroral Signature in an Extremely Cold Brown Dwarf”

2:15 p.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Webb and Hubble space telescopes will be highlighted:

• “Revealing Dual Quasars and Their Host Galaxy With JWST and ALMA”
• “Breaking Cosmic Scales: JWST’s Discovery of Unexpectedly Massive Black Holes”
• “Revealing the Environment of the Most Distant Fast Radio Burst with the Hubble Space Telescope”

Wednesday, Jan. 10

10:15 a.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Fermi satellite will be highlighted: “A 12.4-Day Periodicity in a Close Binary System After a Supernova.”

12:45 p.m. CST: Splinter Session – “Habitable Worlds Observatory: Current Status and Opportunities for Engagement“

Room R08/R09

Agency experts will provide a status update as NASA’s Great Observatory Maturation Program lays the groundwork for the Habitable Worlds Observatory concept, including the recent formation of planning teams and other opportunities for community participation.

1 p.m. CST: Splinter Session – “Astrophysics and Open Science“

Room 237

NASA experts will discuss the agency’s role in supporting an inclusive culture of open science, and to empower researchers, early career scientists, and underrepresented communities with the knowledge and tools necessary to embrace open science practices.

2:15 p.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Webb and TESS missions will be highlighted:

• “Weakened Magnetic Braking in the Exoplanet Host Star 51 Pegasi”
• “JWST’s New View of Beta Pictoris Suggests Recent Episodic Dust Production from an Eccentric, Inclined Secondary Debris Disk”
• “An Earth-Sized Addition to a 400-Myr Planetary System in the Ursa Major Moving Group”

6 p.m. CST: James Webb Space Telescope Town Hall

Room 215

Experts will provide a status update on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Now in its second year of science observations, Webb has continued to pull back the curtain on some of the farthest galaxies, stars, and black holes ever observed; solved a longstanding mystery about the early universe; found methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system; and offered new views and insights into planets and small objects in our own cosmic backyard.

Thursday, Jan. 11

10:15 a.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Chandra and Fermi missions, as well as XMM-Newton, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with NASA contributions, will be highlighted:

• “Evidence of a Relic Active Galactic Nucleus Eruption”
• “Evidence for Large-Scale Anisotropy in the Gamma-ray Sky”
• “Astronomers Find Spark of Star Birth Across Billions of Years”

12:45 p.m. CST: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Town Hall

Room 207

Mission experts will provide a status update on the development of the Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next flagship observatory, which is currently in development and planned to launch by May 2027. The Roman team recently finished assembling the spacecraft’s giant camera, and Roman’s fully assembled Coronagraph Instrument passed its first big optics test.

2:15 p.m. CST: AAS News Conference

Room 229

News from NASA’s Webb will be highlighted: “A Potentially Isolated Quiescent Dwarf Galaxy.”

For more information on the meeting, including press registration and the complete meeting schedule, visit:

https://aas.org/meetings/aas243

Media Contacts

Alise Fisher / Liz Landau
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546 / 202-358-0845
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / elizabeth.r.landau@nasa.gov

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NASA Sets Coverage for X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Rollout

NASA will provide live coverage as it reveals its X-59 aircraft at 4 p.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 12, as part of the agency’s Quesst mission to make commercial supersonic flight possible.

For the first time, the public will see the painted aircraft, which will be unveiled during a ceremony hosted by prime contractor Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.

The ceremony and rollout of the aircraft will stream live on the NASA+ streaming service. Coverage also will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and on the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Speakers at the event include:

• NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy
• NASA Associate Administrator James Free
• Bob Pearce, associate administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
• John Clark, vice president and general manager, Skunk Works
• Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of aeronautics, Lockheed Martin

Members of the media with questions about attending the event should contact Skunk Works. In addition to the on-site events, NASA will host a teleconference after the ceremony for members of the media. Reporters can contact brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov to RSVP.

Members of the public can sign up to get their own virtual boarding pass for the X-59’s first flight. Via NASA’s Flight Log experience, participants’ names will be digitized and downloaded onto a storage device that will be carried personally by the X-59 pilot. Participants will also receive a printable boarding pass with their names, and the flight will be entered into their logbooks.

NASA’s X-59 is a one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft that will demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic while generating a gentle “sonic thump” rather than the normally loud sonic boom.

Once the X-59 completes assembly and testing, NASA’s Quesst team will select several U.S. communities to fly the aircraft and gather data on how people perceive the sound it produces. The agency will provide that data to U.S. and international regulators to potentially adjust current rules that prohibit commercial supersonic flight over land.

For more information about Quesst, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/Quesst

-end-

Rob Margetta
Headquarters, Washington
202-763-5012
robert.j.margetta@nasa.gov

Sasha Ellis
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
757-864-5473
sasha.c.ellis@nasa.gov

Candis Roussel
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Palmdale, California
661- 264-8592
candis.s.roussel@lmco.com

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Roxana Bardan