Tag: NASA
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NASA Seeks Commercial Providers to Replace $5B TDRSS Network
Will NASA’s $5 billion TDRSS network finally go commercial? NASA issued a draft solicitation April 10 for Project NEXUS, marking the agency’s most serious attempt to transition from its aging Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) to commercial communications services. The initiative, valued at potentially billions over the coming decade, requires backward compatibility with…
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Senate Chair Blocks NASA Budget Cuts, Pledges 2026 Funding Levels
Will Senate appropriators maintain NASA’s 2026 budget levels? The chairman of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee has rejected proposed cuts to NASA’s budget and committed to funding the agency at 2026 levels, providing crucial protection for the Artemis Program and other critical space initiatives during a period of fiscal…
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NASA Rolls Out Artemis III Core Stage April 20
When will NASA roll out the Artemis III core stage? NASA will roll the core stage for Artemis III from its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday, April 20, marking a critical milestone for the mission that will return astronauts to the lunar surface. The core stage represents the top four-fifths of the…
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The Artemis II mission has ended. Where does NASA go from here?
The Artemis era well and truly began Friday evening when a shiny spacecraft that had traveled 700,000 miles around the Moon, carrying four astronauts, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. For NASA, for its international partners, and for all of humanity the successful conclusion of the Artemis II mission marked…
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Artemis 2 Crew Returns to Earth After Historic Lunar Flyby
What does Artemis 2’s successful return mean for NASA’s lunar program? The Artemis 2 crew capsule successfully completed its atmospheric reentry and Pacific Ocean splashdown off the California coast on April 10, marking the first crewed lunar mission in over five decades. The four-person crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Hammock Koch,…
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The gravity of their experience hasn’t quite set in for the Artemis II astronauts
On the home stretch of their nine-day mission, the four astronauts flying aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft are just beginning to reflect on their experience of flying beyond the Moon. Their memories of Monday’s encounter with the Moon are still fresh as they return to Earth, heading for reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on…
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Artemis II returns to Earth after historic 10-day mission around the Moon
After 10 days, over 800,000 km traveled, and a historic flyby of the Moon, Artemis II returned to Earth on Friday evening. Orion CM-003 Integrity, which served as the home for the mission’s four-person crew since April 1, reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean before ultimately splashing down off the coast of San Diego,…
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Artemis 2’s trip around the moon enters the home stretch — here’s how to watch the splashdown
A view from a camera mounted on one of the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings shows Orion’s engines and thrusters in the foreground, and Earth in the background. (NASA via YouTube) The crew of NASA’s round-the-moon test mission crossed the halfway point between the moon and Earth today on their homeward journey — and they’re…
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The Moon is already on Google Maps—did Artemis II really tell us anything new?
The data pipeline from NASA’s Artemis II mission opened to full blast a few hours after looping behind the far side of the Moon on Monday night, when the Orion spacecraft established a laser communications link with a receiving station back on Earth. A cache of high-resolution images began streaming down through this connection. NASA…
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Finally, Artemis delivers some exceptional, high-quality photos of the Moon
NASA’s Artemis II mission, carrying four astronauts on an out-of-this-world journey, flew around the Moon on Monday. The crew members took turns describing the stunning landscape below and captured images of Earth rising behind the Moon, in communications with Mission Control in Houston. What they did not send back in real time, due to a…