From left, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jenni Gibbons, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman participate in a media day event on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Gibbons and Douglas are Artemis II backup crew members.
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
Idaho Students to Connect with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station
NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit points a camera outside a window on the International Space Station’s Poisk module for a sun photography session. (Credit: NASA)
Students from Hawthorne Elementary School in Boise, Idaho, will have the chance to hear NASA astronaut Don Pettit answer their prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related questions from aboard the International Space Station.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 12:30 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 7, to
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
NASA’s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth’s Magnetosphere
5 min read
NASA’s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth’s Magnetosphere
A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation.
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support NASA’s goal to understand how our home planet responds to space weather, the conditions in space driven by the Sun.
NASA’s next mission to the Moon will carry an instrument called LEXI (the Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager), which will provide the first-ever global view of the magnetic environment that shields Earth from solar radiation. This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14739. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Once the dust clears from its lunar landing, LEXI will power on, warm up, and direct its focus back toward Earth. For six days, it will collect images of the X-rays emanating from the edges of our planet’s vast magnetosphere. This comprehensive view could illustrate how this protective boundary responds to space weather and other cosmic forces, as well as how it can open to allow streams of charged solar particles in, creating aurora and potentially damaging infrastructure.
“We’re trying to get this big picture of Earth’s space environment,” said Brian Walsh, a space physicist at Boston University and LEXI’s principal investigator. “A lot of physics can be esoteric or difficult to follow without years of specific training, but this will be science that you can see.”
What LEXI will see is the low-energy X-rays that form when a stream of particles from the Sun, called the solar wind, slams into Earth’s magnetic field. This happens at the edge of the magnetosphere, called the magnetopause. Researchers have recently been able to detect these X-rays in a patchwork of observations from other satellites and instruments. From the vantage point of the Moon, however, the whole magnetopause will be in LEXI’s field of view.
In this visualization, the LEXI instrument is shown onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which will deliver 10 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) payloads to the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace
The team back on Earth will be working around the clock to track how the magnetosphere expands, contracts, and changes shape in response to the strength of the solar wind.
“We expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and breathing in, for the first time,” said Hyunju Connor, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the NASA lead for LEXI. “When the solar wind is very strong, the magnetosphere will shrink and push backward toward Earth, and then expand when the solar wind weakens.”
The LEXI instrument will also be poised to capture magnetic reconnection, which is when the magnetosphere’s field lines merge with those in the solar wind and release energetic particles that rain down on Earth’s poles. This could help researchers answer lingering questions about these events, including whether they happen at multiple sites simultaneously, whether they occur steadily or in bursts, and more.
These solar particles streaming into Earth’s atmosphere can cause brilliant auroras, but they can also damage satellites orbiting the planet or interfere with power grids on the ground.
“We want to understand how nature behaves,” Connor said, “and by understanding this we can help protect our infrastructure in space.”
The LEXI team packs the instrument at Boston University.
Michael Spencer/Boston University
The CLPS delivery won’t be LEXI’s first trip to space. A team at Goddard, including Walsh, built the instrument (then called STORM) to test technology to detect low-energy X-rays over a wide field of view. In 2012, STORM launched into space on a sounding rocket, collected X-ray images, and then fell back to Earth.
It ended up in a display case at Goddard, where it sat for a decade. When NASA put out a call for CLPS projects that could be done quickly and with a limited budget, Walsh thought of the instrument and the potential for what it could see from the lunar surface.
“We’d break the glass — not literally — but remove it, restore it, and refurbish it, and that would allow us to look back and get this global picture that we’ve never had before,” he said. Some old optics and other components were replaced, but the instrument was overall in good shape and is now ready to fly again. “There’s a lot of really rich science we can get from this.”
Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA aims to be one of many customers on future flights. NASA Goddard is a lead science collaborator on LEXI. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development of seven of the 10 CLPS payloads carried on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, including LEXI.
NASA, NOAA to Announce 2024 Global Temperatures, Climate Conditions
This map depicts global temperature anomalies for meteorological summer in 2024 (June, July, and August). It shows how much warmer or cooler different regions of Earth were compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. (Credit: NASA/NOAA)
Climate researchers from NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will release their annual assessments of global temperatures and discuss the major climate trends of 2024 during a media briefing at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10.
Gavin Schmidt, director, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Russ Vose, chief, Monitoring and Assessment Branch, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Media interested in participating must RSVP to NOAA by the time of the event.
NASA and NOAA are stewards of global temperature data and independently produce a record of Earth’s surface temperatures and changes based on historical observations over land and ocean.
For more information about NASA’s Earth science programs, visit:
Explore the January 2025 issue, highlighting the year in review at NASA Stennis, and how to become a NASA test conductor at the official visitor center and more!
Explore Lagniappe for January 2025 featuring:
NASA Stennis Celebrates Key Testing, Operations Milestones in 2024
NASA Exhibit Puts Visitors in Test Conductor Seat
NASA Stennis Hosts Mississippi Kween
Gator Speaks
Gator Speaks
NASA/Stennis
This time of year is one Gator enjoys. The ending of one year and beginning of another provides the opportunity to reflect, reset, and refocus.
This is true at NASA Stennis, a place that powers space dreams, or for someone who enjoys staying up to date with all the happenings around NASA Stennis – you!
In 2024, Gator witnessed the legacy of excellence continue at the south Mississippi NASA center. There were milestones reached with RS-25 engine testing and preparations for testing NASA’s new exploration upper stage for future Artemis missions, the center continued to fuel the space market with its support of commercial companies at the E Test Complex, and it was announced the historic in-space payload mission for the NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory team would continue.
Another bright spot at NASA Stennis is range operations. The partnership between NASA Stennis and Skydweller Aero represents the first big step in this area. In 2024, NASA Stennis entered into an agreement with Skydweller Aero for the company to operate its solar-powered autonomous aircraft in the site’s restricted airspace.
It marks the first agreement between NASA Stennis and a commercial company to use the center’s unique capabilities to support testing and operation of uncrewed systems.
The future is indeed bright. The new year is like the NASA Stennis buffer zone. The 125,000-plus acre buffer zone enables many opportunities for site achievement and advancement, much like a new year does.
We all can make 2025 the best year to date by building on what we have accomplished and setting bold, new goals.
Here is to 2025 – a year of focus, ambition, and collaboration. Together, we can turn our goals into achievements and make this year one of our best yet.
NASA Stennis Celebrates Key Testing, Operations Milestones in 2024
NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, celebrated propulsion testing and site operations milestones in 2024, all while inspiring the Artemis Generation and welcoming new leadership that will help NASA Stennis innovate and grow into the future.
NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is helping the Artemis Generation learn how to power space dreams with an interactive exhibit at INFINITY Science Center.
Cookbook author and culinary content creator Caroline Davis, popularly known as Mississippi Kween, and her family enjoy touring facilities and learning about NASA Stennis and its frontline work during a site visit Dec. 18. Davis, husband Joe, and children Zeke and Zoey, met with NASA Stennis leadership before touring the L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, Thad Cochran Test Stand, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, and the NASA Stennis rocket engine garden. The tour highlighted the NASA Stennis story and how the south Mississippi NASA center has the ingredients for a recipe that accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space, innovates to benefit NASA and industry, and leverages assets to stimulate the economy.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
Cookbook author and culinary content creator Caroline Davis, popularly known as Mississippi Kween, and her family enjoy touring facilities and learning about NASA Stennis and its frontline work during a site visit Dec. 18. Davis, husband Joe, and children Zeke and Zoey, met with NASA Stennis leadership before touring the L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, Thad Cochran Test Stand, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, and the NASA Stennis rocket engine garden. The tour highlighted the NASA Stennis story and how the south Mississippi NASA center has the ingredients for a recipe that accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space, innovates to benefit NASA and industry, and leverages assets to stimulate the economy.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
Cookbook author and culinary content creator Caroline Davis, popularly known as Mississippi Kween, and her family enjoy touring facilities and learning about NASA Stennis and its frontline work during a site visit Dec. 18. Davis, husband Joe, and children Zeke and Zoey, met with NASA Stennis leadership before touring the L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, Thad Cochran Test Stand, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, and the NASA Stennis rocket engine garden. The tour highlighted the NASA Stennis story and how the south Mississippi NASA center has the ingredients for a recipe that accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space, innovates to benefit NASA and industry, and leverages assets to stimulate the economy.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
Cookbook author and culinary content creator Caroline Davis, popularly known as Mississippi Kween, and her family enjoy touring facilities and learning about NASA Stennis and its frontline work during a site visit Dec. 18. Davis, husband Joe, and children Zeke and Zoey, met with NASA Stennis leadership before touring the L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, Thad Cochran Test Stand, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, and the NASA Stennis rocket engine garden. The tour highlighted the NASA Stennis story and how the south Mississippi NASA center has the ingredients for a recipe that accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space, innovates to benefit NASA and industry, and leverages assets to stimulate the economy.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
Cookbook author and culinary content creator Caroline Davis, popularly known as Mississippi Kween, and her family enjoy touring facilities and learning about NASA Stennis and its frontline work during a site visit Dec. 18. Davis, husband Joe, and children Zeke and Zoey, met with NASA Stennis leadership before touring the L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, Thad Cochran Test Stand, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, and the NASA Stennis rocket engine garden. The tour highlighted the NASA Stennis story and how the south Mississippi NASA center has the ingredients for a recipe that accelerates the exploration and commercialization of space, innovates to benefit NASA and industry, and leverages assets to stimulate the economy.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
SLS Rocket on Display at Governor’s Mansion
A model of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket is part of the holiday display in the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, the official residence of state Gov. Tate Reeves. The model symbolizes the longtime relationship and shared history between the state of Mississippi and NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the nation’s largest rocket propulsion test site. Built in the 1960s, NASA Stennis tested Apollo rocket stages that carried humans to the Moon and every main engine that helped launch 135 space shuttle missions. It now is testing engines and systems for NASA’s Artemis missions and operates as a powerful aerospace and technology hub for the region and state. “We are grateful for our ongoing relationship with the state of Mississippi,” NASA Stennis Director John Bailey said. “We appreciate every opportunity to highlight the role NASA Stennis and the state play in helping to power the nation’s human space exploration program. We look forward to 2025 and continuing our work to test engines and systems that will help launch Artemis missions back to the Moon and beyond.”
NASA Stennis/Troy Frisbie
NASA Stennis Director Hosts Java with John
NASA Stennis Director John Bailey hosts a Java with John session on Dec. 10 with employees representing the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of STEM Engagement, Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, and the center’s Autonomous Systems Laboratory team. Java with John is an employee-led discussion in a casual environment aimed at fostering a culture in which employees are welcome to share what matters most to them at work.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
NASA Assistant Administrator for Procurement Visits NASA Stennis
The NASA assistant administrator for procurement stands with leaders of NASA’s Stennis Space Center and the NASA Shared Services Center during a visit to the south Mississippi site Dec. 11 to deliver an agency update, highlighting key initiatives and priorities across NASA’s procurement activities. The visit focused on fostering open communications and collaboration, and included an opportunity for Jackson to engage with procurement staff, provide updates, and respond to questions. The assistant administrator met with NASA leadership to align on strategic goals, discuss procurement-related challenges and opportunities, and reinforce support for the NASA Stennis mission. The visit highlighted NASA’s continued commitment to innovation, efficiency, and mission success through effective procurement strategies. Pictured (left to right) are James Bailey, NASA Shared Services Center/NASA Stennis deputy procurement officer; NASA Stennis Deputy Director Christine Powell; NASA Stennis Director John Bailey; Karla Smith, NASA assistant administrator for procurement; Eli Ouder, NASA Shared Services Center/NASA Stennis procurement officer; and Jamiel Charlton, NASA executive officer.
Heather Seagren grew up near NASA’s Stennis Space Center and visited for field trips as a child. Now, as a financial management specialist, Seagren coordinates work trips for NASA employees at the south Mississippi NASA center.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
A leap of faith for Heather Seagren eight years ago brought the Gulf Coast native to something new, yet also returned her to a familiar place at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Lagniappe is published monthly by the Office of Communications at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The NASA Stennis office may be contacted by at 228-688-3333 (phone); ssc-office-of-communications@mail.nasa.gov (email); or NASA OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS, Attn: LAGNIAPPE, Mail code IA00, Building 1111 Room 173, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 (mail).
The Lagniappe staff includes: Managing Editor Lacy Thompson, Editor Bo Black, and photographer Danny Nowlin.
