Solar Eclipse Data Story Helps the Public Visualize the April 2024 Total Eclipse

The NASA Science Activation program’s Cosmic Data Stories team, led by Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, released a new Data Story for the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. A Data Story is an interactive, digital showcase of new science imagery, including ideas for exploration and scientific highlights shared in a brief video and narrative text. In this Data Story, learners everywhere were able to view what the eclipse would look like from any location, including the ability to speed up or slow down time to watch what would happen as the Moon moved in front of the Sun. Users were also able to catch the ethereal glow of the Sun’s corona during totality and learn why we do not usually see the corona. They could also see what percentage of the Sun would be eclipsed at various locations. An educator guide and exploration guide make this Data Story an easy activity to fit in to any classroom. It is being used by students from late elementary through early college, and as of mid-April 2024, 23,000 learners from all 50 US states and outside the USA have accessed the Total Eclipse Data Story.

Explore the Total Eclipse Data Story

The Cosmic Data Stories project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC21M0002 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn

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Perseverance Pays Off for Student Challenge Winners

As radioisotopes power the Perseverance rover to explore Mars, perseverance “powered” three winners to write essays each year till they achieved their mission goal of winning NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge. These students explored behind the scenes at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) in Cleveland after writing the top essays in the national contest.

The competition for kindergarten through 12th grade students focuses on the enabling power of radioisotopes. Students were challenged to learn how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal “superpower” would energize their own radioisotope-powered science mission.

Judges narrowed down over a seventeen hundred creative essays to 45 semi-finalists, who received prize packs, nine finalists, who participated in a videoconference with NASA experts, and three winners, who were awarded with a visit to NASA Glenn.

“I’m so impressed by the work of these talented young students,” said Dr. Wanda Peters, acting deputy center director at NASA Glenn. “It’s wonderful to see their interest, innovation, and creativity at this stage in their lives. Our future is bright!”

Rainie Lin, the kindergarten through fourth grade winner; Aadya Karthik, the fifth through eighth grade winner, and Thomas Liu, the nineth through 12th grade winner, toured several research facilities including the Electric Propulsion and Power Laboratory, Telescience Support Center, Graphics and Visualization Lab, and Simulated Lunar Operations Lab. Along the way, they met with engineers and researchers to learn about NASA’s missions and the technologies that are innovating exploration.

“I’m so impressed by the work of these talented young students. It’s wonderful to see their interest, innovation, and creativity at this stage in their lives. Our future is bright!

Dr. Wanda Peters

Acting Deputy Director, NASA Glenn Research Center

The next day students and their families traveled to GLSC, which houses NASA Glenn’s Visitor Center. Accompanied by members of NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) team, the group toured the visitor center and explored the many interactive displays.

“It was our pleasure to host the three student winners of The Power to Explore Challenge, and I hope that this visit will further inspire and motivate them to pursue their interests in science and exploration,” said Carl Sandifer, manager for NASA’s RPS Program. “We are so impressed by the ideas and quality of the essays submitted this year and we can’t wait to what new ideas student come up with for next year’s challenge!”

The Power to Explore Challenge asked students to learn about the RPS, one of NASA’s “nuclear batteries” it uses to explore some of the most extreme destinations in our solar system and beyond. Students then wrote about their own power to achieve goals in 250 words or less.

ABOUT THE CHALLENGE:

Power to Explore is a national essay challenge that asks students in grades K-12 to learn about Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), a type of “nuclear battery” that NASA uses to explore some of the most extreme destinations in our solar system and beyond, and then write about, in 250 words or less, an RPS-powered space mission that would energize their space exploration dreams. The next Power to Explore challenge is expected to launch in Fall 2024.

ABOUT FUTURE ENGINEERS:

Future Engineers hosts online contests and challenges for K-12 students. Previous challenges have helped produce historic achievements – from naming NASA’s Perseverance rover to manufacturing the first student-designed 3D print in space. All challenges are offered free for student and classroom participation. For more information, visit futureengineers.org. Follow Future Engineers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Media Contact:
Kristin Jansen
Public Affairs Specialist
Office of Communications
NASA RPS Program

Phone: 216-296-2203
Email: kristin.m.jansen@nasa.gov

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55 Years Ago: NASA Group 7 Astronaut Selection

On Aug. 14, 1969, NASA announced the selection of seven new astronauts. The Group 7 astronauts consisted of pilots transferred from the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) Program canceled two months earlier. The MOL, a joint project of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the National Reconnaissance Office, sought to obtain high-resolution photographic imagery of America’s Cold War adversaries. The Air Force selected 17 pilots in three groups for the MOL program – eight pilots in 1965, five in 1966, and four in 1967. After the cancellation, NASA invited the younger (under 35) of the 14 remaining MOL pilots to join its astronaut corps at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The selected pilots included Major Karol J. “Bo” Bobko, USAF, Commander Robert L. Crippen, US Navy, Major C. Gordon Fullerton, USAF, Major Henry W. “Hank” Hartsfield, USAF, Major Robert F. Overmyer, US Marine Corps, Major Donald H. Peterson, USAF, and Commander Richard H. Truly, US Navy. In addition to the seven selected as astronauts, NASA assigned an eighth MOL pilot, Lt. Colonel Albert H. Crews, USAF, to MSC’s Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Prior to his MOL training, Crews served as a pilot for the X-20 Dyna-Soar Program, an early USAF experimental lifting body vehicle canceled in 1963.

Left: Official NASA photograph of Group 7 astronauts Karol J. “Bo” Bobko, left, C. Gordon Fullerton, Henry “Hank” W. Hartsfield, Robert L. Crippen, Donald H. Peterson, Richard H. Truly, and Robert F. Overmyer who transferred from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Right: Official Air Force portrait of Albert H. Crews. Image credit: courtesy U.S. Air Force.

The MOL Program had envisioned a series of 60-foot-long space stations in low polar Earth orbit, occupied by 2-man crews for 30 days at a time, launching and returning to Earth aboard modified Gemini-B capsules. Externally similar to NASA’s Gemini spacecraft, the MOL version’s major modification involved a hatch cut into the heat shield that allowed the pilots to access the laboratory located behind the spacecraft without the need for a spacewalk. While MOL pilots would carry out a variety of experiments, a telescope with imaging systems for military reconnaissance constituted the primary payload intended to fly in the laboratory. The imaging system carried the Keyhole KH-10 designation with the code name Dorian. Its 72-inch primary mirror could provide high resolution images of targets of military interest. To reach their polar orbits, MOLs would launch from Vandenberg Air Force, now Space Force, Base in California atop Titan-IIIM rockets. Construction of Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6) had begun in 1966 to accommodate that launch vehicle but stopped with the program’s cancellation. When NASA and the Air Force decided to fly payloads into polar orbit using the space shuttle, in 1979 they began to reconfigure the SLC-6 facilities to accommodate the new vehicle. After the January 1986 Challenger accident, the agencies abandoned plans for shuttle missions from Vandenberg and mothballed SLC-6.

Group 7 astronauts. Left: Karol J. “Bo” Bobko. Middle left: Robert L. Crippen. Middle right: L. Gordon Fullerton. Right: Henry “Hank” W. Hartsfield.

Bobko, selected in the second group of MOL pilots, served as the pilot for the 56-day Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT) in 1972, a ground-based simulation of a Skylab mission. He then served as a support crew member for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) that flew in July 1975. For his first spaceflight, he served as pilot on STS-6 in April 1983. NASA next assigned him as commander of STS-41F, a mission to launch two communications satellites in August 1984. However, following the STS-41D launch abort in June 1984, NASA canceled the mission, combined its payloads with the delayed STS-41D, and reassigned Bobko and his crew to a later mission. That flight, STS-51E, a four-day mission aboard Challenger planned for February 1985 to deploy the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), in turn was canceled when the TDRS developed serious problems. NASA reassigned Bobko and his crew to STS-51D, flown aboard Discovery in April 1985. Bobko flew his third and final spaceflight as commander of STS-51J, a Department of Defense mission and the first flight of Atlantis, in October 1985. The 167 days between his last two missions marked the shortest turnaround between spaceflights up to that time. Bobko retired from NASA in 1989.

Crippen, a member of the second group of MOL pilots, served as commander of SMEAT in 1972, a ground-based simulation of a Skylab mission. He then served as a member of the ASTP support crew. NASA assigned him as pilot of STS-1, the first space shuttle mission in April 1981. He later served as commander of STS-7 in June 1983, STS-41C in April 1984, and STS-41G in October 1984. NASA assigned him as commander of STS-62A, planned for October 1986 as the first shuttle flight from Vandenberg in California, prior to cancellation of all shuttle flights from that launch site after the Challenger accident. Crippen went on to serve as director of the Space Shuttle Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 1990 to 1992, and then as director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida from 1992 until his retirement from the agency in 1995.

Fullerton, selected into the second group of MOL pilots, served as the pilot of the first, third, and fifth Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) with space shuttle Enterprise in 1977. NASA assigned him as pilot on STS-3, the only shuttle to land at White Sands in March 1982. He flew his second mission in July-August 1985 as the commander of the STS-51F Spacelab 2 mission. Fullerton retired from NASA in 1986.

Hartsfield, part of the second group of MOL pilots, served as the pilot on STS-4, the first Department of Defense shuttle mission in June-July 1982. NASA next assigned him as commander of STS-12, a mission to launch the second TDRS that was canceled due to continuing problems with its Inertial Upper Stage. NASA reassigned Hartsfield and his crew to STS-41D, space shuttle Discovery’s first flight that in June 1984, experienced the first launch pad abort of the program. That mission flew two months later, having absorbed payloads from the canceled STS-41F mission. Hartsfield commanded his third and final flight in October-November 1985, the STS-61A German Spacelab D1 mission that included the first eight-person crew. He retired from NASA in 1988.

Group 7 astronauts. Left: Robert F. Overmyer. Middle: Donald H. Peterson. Right: Richard H. Truly.

Overmyer, selected as part of the second group of MOL pilots, served as a support crew member for ASTP. For his first space mission, Overmyer served as pilot of STS-5 in November 1982. For his second and final spaceflight, he served as commander of the STS-51B Spacelab 3 mission in April-May 1985. Overmyer retired from NASA in 1986.

Peterson, selected in the third group of MOL pilots, made his only spaceflight as a mission specialist during STS-6 in April 1983. During that mission, he participated in the first spacewalk of the shuttle program. Peterson retired from NASA in 1984.

Truly, selected with the first group of MOL pilots, served as an ASTP support crew member and then as the pilot of the ALT-2 and 4 flights with space shuttle Enterprise in 1977. During his first spaceflight, he served as pilot of STS-2 in November 1981, the first reflight of a reusable spacecraft. On his second and final mission, he commanded STS-8 that included the first night launch and night landing of the shuttle program. Truly retired from NASA in 1984 but returned in 1986 as Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1989, he assumed the position of NASA’s eighth administrator, serving until 1992.

Summary of spaceflights by Group 7 astronauts. Missions in italics represent canceled flights.

Although it took nearly 12 years for the first of the MOL transfers to make it to orbit (Crippen on STS-1 in 1981), many served in supporting roles during Skylab and ASTP, and all of them went on to fly on the space shuttle in the 1980s. After their flying careers, Truly and Crippen went on serve in senior NASA leadership positions. Crews stayed with the agency as a pilot until 1994.

Read Bobko’s, Crews’, Crippen’s, Fullerton’s, Hartsfield’s, Peterson’s, and Truly’s recollections of the MOL program and their subsequent NASA careers in their oral history interviews with the JSC History Office.

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NASA Invites Media to Event with Scientists, Research Plane in Alaska

NASA invites media to view a research aircraft and interview scientists in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 22, prior to flights of the agency’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), which seeks a better understanding of the sensitivity of northern ecosystems and communities to climate change.

Media also will have the opportunity to tour NASA’s C-20A, a modified Gulfstream III aircraft from the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and meet scientists and instrument team members using ABoVE’s radar instrument from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Media are welcome to film researchers on the ground as they communicate with the airborne team.   

Weather permitting, the ABoVE media availability will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. AKDT at the Omni Logistics aircraft hangar, 6302 Old Airport Road, Fairbanks. Media interested in participating should contact Dr. Elizabeth Hoy, senior support scientist, at elizabeth.hoy@nasa.gov prior to the event. NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.

Climate change in the Arctic and boreal regions is unfolding faster than anywhere else on Earth, resulting in reduced Arctic Sea ice, thawing of permafrost soils, decomposition of long-frozen organic matter, widespread changes to lakes, rivers, coastlines, and alterations of ecosystem structure and function.

Nearly a decade of ABoVE flights has enabled accurate comparisons over time of permafrost, thermokarst, and boreal forests. The 2024 ABoVE field campaign covers Alaska and western Canada. It is coordinated through NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program. 

For more information on ABoVE, visit:

https://above.nasa.gov

-end-

Rob Garner
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-5687
rob.garner@nasa.gov

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NASA Funds Research Projects Advancing STEM Career Development

NASA has awarded $6 million to 20 teams from emerging research institutions across the United States supporting projects that offer career development opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students.

This is the third round of seed funding awarded through the agency’s MOSAICS (Mentoring and Opportunities in STEM with Academic Institutions for Community Success) program, formerly the Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program. The program seeks to expand access to NASA research opportunities in the science and engineering disciplines, as well as to NASA’s workforce.

“The STEM workforce continues to grow, and today’s students, studying at a variety of higher-education institutions — community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, and minority-serving institutions — are the STEM workforce of tomorrow, who will work to solve some of our biggest challenges at home while answering some of our biggest questions about our universe,” said Padi Boyd, director of MOSAICS at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Exposing today’s students to the incredibly inspiring and cutting-edge discoveries made through NASA’s space science people and resources ensures that these students get the training they need to persist in STEM careers, while fostering enduring collaborations between NASA researchers and faculty at a wide range of institutions.”

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate MOSAICS program funds research projects building relationships between college faculty and researchers at the agency while providing mentorship and training for students in STEM disciplines. The projects support teams at academic institutions that historically have not been part of the agency’s research enterprise — including Hispanic-serving institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and primarily undergraduate institutions.

The program previously awarded seed funding to 11 teams in February and 13 teams in April. This third cohort brings the total number of projects funded to 44 teams at 36 academic institutions in 21 U.S. states and territories, including Washington and Puerto Rico, in collaboration with seven NASA centers. A new opportunity to apply for seed funding is now open until March 28, 2025.

The following projects were selected as the third cohort to receive seed funding:

“Bridging Fundamental Ice Chemistry Studies and Ocean World Explorations”
Principal investigator: Chris Arumainayagam, Wellesley College, Massachusetts
NASA center: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Southern California

“Planetary Analog Field Science Experiences for Undergraduates: Advancing Fundamental Research and Testing Field Instrument Operations”
Principal investigator: Alice Baldridge, Saint Mary’s College of California
NASA center: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

“Building an FSU-JPL Partnership to Advance Science Productivity Through Applications of Deep Learning”
Principal investigator: Sambit Bhattacharya, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina
NASA center: NASA JPL

“CSTAT: Establishing Center for Safe and Trustworthy Autonomous Technologies”
Principal investigator: Moitrayee Chatterjee, New Jersey City University
NASA center: NASA Goddard

“Development of Biomechanics Simulation Tool for Muscle Mechanics in Reduced Gravity to Enhance Astronaut Mission Readiness”
Principal investigator: Ji Chen, University of the District of Columbia
NASA center: NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston

“NASA Next Level”
Principal investigator: Teresa Ciardi, Santa Clarita Community College District, California
NASA center: NASA JPL

“Controlled Assembly of Amphiphilic Janus Particles in Polymer Matrix for Novel 3D Printing Applications in Space”
Principal investigator: Ubaldo Cordova-Figueroa, Recinto Universitario Mayaguez
NASA center: NASA’s Glenn Research Center, Cleveland

“Development of a Non-Invasive Sweat Biosensor for Traumatic Brain Injury Compatible With In-Space Manufacturing to Monitor the Health of Astronauts”
Principal investigator: Lisandro Cunci, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Pedras
NASA center: NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California

“Examining Climate Impacts of Cirrus Clouds Through Past, Present, and Future NASA Airborne Campaigns”
Principal investigator: Minghui Diao, San Jose State University Research Foundation, California
NASA center: NASA Ames

“CSUN-JPL Collaboration to Study Ocean Fronts Using Big Data and Open Science Structures in Coastal North America”
Principal investigator: Mario Giraldo, California State University, Northridge
NASA center: NASA JPL

“Accelerating Electric Propulsion Development for Planetary Science Missions With Optical Plasma Diagnostics”
Principal investigator: Nathaniel Hicks, University of Alaska, Anchorage
NASA center: NASA JPL

“Advancing Students Through Research Opportunities in Los Angeles (ASTRO-LA)”
Principal investigator: Margaret Lazzarini, California State University, Los Angeles
NASA center: NASA JPL

“Bridging Toward a More Inclusive Learning Environment Through Gamma-ray Burst Studies With Machine Learning and Citizen Science”
Principal investigator: Amy Lien, University of Tampa, Florida
NASA center: NASA Goddard

“Hampton University STEM Experience With NASA Langley Research Center: Polarimetry for Aerosol Characterization”
Principal investigator: Robert Loughman, Hampton University, Virginia
NASA center: NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia

“Aerocapture Analysis and Development for Uranus and Neptune Planetary Missions”
Principal investigator: Ping Lu, San Diego State University
NASA center: NASA Langley

“Pathways from Undergraduate Research to the Habitable Worlds Observatory”
Principal investigator: Ben Ovryn, New York Institute of Technology
NASA center: NASA Goddard

“Point-Diffraction Interferometer for Digital Holography”
Principal investigator: James Scire, New York Institute of Technology
NASA center: NASA Goddard

“From Sunbeams to Career Dreams: Illuminating Pathways for NMSU Students in Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Partnership With NASA GSFC”
Principal investigator: Juie Shetye, New Mexico State University
NASA center: NASA Goddard

“CONNECT-SBG: Collaborative Nexus for Networking, Education, and Career Training in Surface Biology and Geology”
Principal investigator: Gabriela Shirkey, Chapman University, California
NASA center: NASA JPL

“Multiplexed Phytohormone and Nitrate Sensors for Real-Time Analysis of Plant Responses to Pathogenic Stress in Spaceflight-Like Conditions”
Principal investigator: Shawana Tabassum, University of Texas, Tyler
NASA center: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Learn more about the MOSAICS program at:

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/smd-bridge-program

-end-

Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

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Jessica Taveau