Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
-
By NASA
NASA astronaut Christopher Williams poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Chris Williams will embark on his first mission to the International Space Station, serving as a flight engineer and Expedition 74 crew member.
Williams will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft in November, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. After launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
During his expedition, Williams will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit humanity.
Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Williams graduated with the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. He began training for his first space station flight assignment immediately after completing initial astronaut candidate training.
Williams was born in New York City, and considers Potomac, Maryland, his hometown. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Stanford University in California and a doctorate in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where his research focused on astrophysics. Williams completed Medical Physics Residency training at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He was working as a clinical physicist and researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston when he was selected as an astronaut.
For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to more fully focus its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 03, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Humans in Space International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Johnson Space Center View the full article
-
By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Eric Garza, técnico de ingeniería en el Taller de Fabricación Experimental del Centro de Investigación de Vuelos Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California, corta madera contrachapada a medida para las tablas del piso temporal del avión demostrador experimental X-66 el 26 de agosto de 2024.NASA/Steve Freeman Lee esta historia en español aquí.
La NASA diseño unas tablas de piso temporales para el avión MD-90, que se utilizaran mientras el avión se transforma en el demostrador experimental X-66. Estas tablas de piso protegerán el piso original y agilizarán el proceso de modificación.
En apoyo al proyecto Demostrador de Vuelo Sostenible de la agencia, un pequeño equipo del Taller de Fabricación Experimental del Centro de Investigación de Vuelos Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California, construyó tablas de piso temporales para ahorrarle tiempo y recursos al proyecto. La retirada e instalación repetidas del piso original durante el proceso de modificación requería mucho tiempo. El uso de paneles temporales también garantiza la protección de las tablas del piso original y su aptitud para el vuelo cuando se finalicen las modificaciones y se vuelva a instalar el piso original.
“La tarea de crear las tablas de piso temporales para el MD-90 implica un proceso meticuloso dirigido a facilitar las modificaciones, manteniendo la seguridad y la eficacia. La necesidad de estas tablas de piso temporales surge del detallado procedimiento necesario para retirar y reinstalar los pisos originales del fabricante (OEM, por su acrónimo inglés),” explica Jason Nelson, jefe de fabricación experimental. Él es uno de los dos miembros del equipo de fabricación – un técnico de ingeniería y un inspector – que fabrica acerca de 50 tablas de piso temporales, con dimensiones que varían entre 20 pulgadas por 36 pulgadas y 42 pulgadas por 75 pulgadas.
Una máquina de madera corta agujeros precisos en madera contrachapada para las tablas del piso temporal el 26 de agosto de 2024, en el Taller de Fabricación Experimental del Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California. El piso fue diseñado para el avión de demonstración experimental X-66. NASA/Steve Freeman Nelson continuó, “Como estas tablas OEM se quitarán y volverán a instalar varias veces para acomodar las modificaciones necesarias, las tablas temporales ahorrarán al equipo tiempo y recursos valiosos. También proporcionarán el mismo nivel de seguridad y resistencia que las tablas OEM, garantizando que el proceso se desarrolle sin problemas y sin comprometer la calidad.”
El diseño y la creación de prototipos del piso fue un proceso meticuloso, pero la solución temporal desempeña un papel crucial en la optimización del tiempo y los recursos en los esfuerzos de la NASA por avanzar en la seguridad y la eficiencia de los viajes aéreos. El proyecto Demostrador de Vuelo Sostenible de la agencia busca informar la próxima generación de aviones pasajeros de un solo pasillo, que son las aeronaves más comunes de aviación comercial de todo el mundo. La NASA se asoció con Boeing para desarrollar el avión de demostración experimental X-66. El Taller de Fabricación Experimental de Armstrong de la NASA lleva a cabo modificaciones y trabajos de reparación en aeronaves, que van desde la creación de algo tan pequeño como un soporte de aluminio hasta la modificación de la estructura principal de las alas, las costillas del fuselaje, las superficies de control y otras tareas de apoyo a las misiones.
Eric Garza, técnico de ingeniería en el Taller de Fabricación Experimental del Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California, observa cómo una máquina de madera corta agujeros para las tablas del piso temporal el 26 de agosto de 2024. El piso fue diseñado para el avión de demostración experimental X-66. NASA/Steve Freeman Artículo Traducido por: Priscila Valdez
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 03, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactSarah Mannsarah.mann@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronáutica NASA en español Explore More
4 min read El X-59 de la NASA completa las pruebas electromagnéticas
Article 3 weeks ago 11 min read La NASA identifica causa de pérdida de material del escudo térmico de Orion de Artemis I
Article 4 months ago 10 min read Preguntas frecuentes: La verdadera historia del cuidado de la salud de los astronautas en el espacio
Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Armstrong Flight Research Center
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
5 Min Read NASA Langley’s Legacy of Landing
The first image of the Moon taken by the cameras on the Lunar Orbiter in 1966. Credits: NASA Landing safely on the surface of another planetary body, like the Moon or Mars, is one of the most important milestones of any given space mission. From the very beginning, NASA’s Langley Research Center has been at the heart of the entry, descent and landing (EDL) research that enables our exploration. Today, NASA Langley’s legacy of landing continues at the forefront of present day lunar missions and as NASA prepares for future travel to more distant worlds.
Project Mercury: 1958
Project Mercury was the United States’ first human-in-space program, led by NASA’s Space Task Group located at NASA Langley. There were five major programs of study and experimentation.
An airdrop study that helped us understand the characteristics of the Mercury capsule as it returned to Earth. A group of study focused on the escape systems, ultimately becoming known as the launch abort system. Exhaustive wind-tunnel studies of the blunt-nosed capsule design and its aerodynamic stability at various altitudes and speeds and angles of reentry, all with a focus on making the capsule safe and stable. A study on the problem of landing impact, resulting in the development of absorption systems that minimized the shock of impact to the capsule’s pilot. Studies into the use of drogue parachutes and their characteristics at high altitudes and speeds, ensuring that they would be able to stabilize and slow the capsule’s descent for a safe landing. All of this research went on to inform the subsequent Gemini and Apollo programs. All of this research went on to inform the subsequent Gemini and Apollo programs.
Apollo Program: 1962
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed to putting Americans on the surface of the Moon and shortly after that historic declaration, NASA’s Apollo program was born. In the years that followed, the original team of NASA astronauts completed their basic training at NASA Langley’s Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF). When Apollo 11 successfully landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969, NASA Langley had played a pivotal role in the monumental success.
Lunar Orbiter: 1966
The Lunar Orbiter missions launched with the purpose of mapping the lunar surface and identifying potential landing sites ahead of the Apollo landings. From 1966 to 1967, the five successful Lunar Orbiter missions, led and managed by Langley Research Center, resulted in 99% of the moon photographed and a suitable site selected for the upcoming human landings.
Viking: 1976
After the success of Apollo, NASA set its sights further across the solar system to Mars. Two Viking missions aimed to successfully place landers on the Red Planet and capture high resolution images of the Martian surfaces, assisting in the search for life. Langley Research Center was chosen to lead this inaugural Mars mission and went on to play key roles in the missions to Mars that followed.
HIAD: 2009 – Present
Successful landings on Mars led to more ambitious dreams of landing larger payloads, including those that could support future human exploration. In order to land those payloads safely, a new style of heat shield would be needed. Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology was positioned as an answer to the payload problem, enabling missions to use inflatable heat shields to slow down and protect a payload as it enters a planet’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
IRVE – 2009-2012
Two successful Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiments (IRVE) proved the capability of inflatable heat shield technology and opened the door for larger iterations.
LOFTID – 2022
The Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) followed in the footsteps of its predecessor IRVE with a larger aeroshell that could be deployed to a scale much larger than the shroud. The 2022 successful test of this technology further proved the capability of HIAD technology.
MEDLI 1 and 2: 2012 & 2020
As a part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, NASA Langley’s Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) was designed to gather data from the MSL entry vehicle’s heatshield during its entry and descent to the surface of Mars. MEDLI2 expanded on that groundbreaking data during the Mars 2020 mission which safely landed the Perseverance rover after successfully entering the planet’s arid atmosphere, and enabling improvements on the design for future entry systems.
Curiosity Rover
Curiosity was the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars when it launched in 2011. Leading up the mission, Langley engineers performed millions of simulations of the entry, descent and landing phase — or the so-called “Seven Minutes of Terror” — that determines success or failure. Curiosity continues to look for signs that Mars once was – or still is – a habitable place for life as we know it.
CLPS: 2023 – Present
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative takes the Artemis mission further by working with commercial partners to advance the technology needed to return humans to the Moon and enable humanity to explore Mars.
NDL
Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) technology, developed at Langley Research Center, uses lasers to assist spacecraft in identifying safe locations to land. In 2024, NDL flew on the Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed Nova-C lander, with its laser instruments designed to measure velocity and altitude to within a few feet. While NASA planetary landers have traditionally relied on radar and used radio waves, NDL technology has proven more accurate and less heavy, both major benefits for cost and space savings as we continue to pursue planetary missions.
SCALPSS
Like Lunar Orbiter and the Viking missions before it, Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) set out to better understand the surface of another celestial body. These cameras affixed to the bottom of a lunar lander focus on the interaction between the lander’s rocket plumes and the lunar surface. The SCALPSS 1.1 instrument captured first-of-its-kind imagery as the engine plumes of Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander reached the Moon’s surface. These images will serve as key pieces of data as trips to the Moon increase in the coming years.
About the Author
Angelique Herring
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 03, 2025 EditorAngelique HerringContactJoseph Scott Atkinsonjoseph.s.atkinson@nasa.govLocationNASA Langley Research Center Related Terms
General Langley Research Center Explore More
4 min read NASA Cameras on Blue Ghost Capture First-of-its-Kind Moon Landing Footage
Article 3 weeks ago 4 min read Six NASA Instruments Will Fly to Moon on Intuitive Machines Lander
Article 1 year ago 4 min read Impact Story: Navigation Doppler Lidar
Article 2 years ago 7 min read Langley’s Contributions to Artemis
Article 3 years ago 1 min read 2024 Annual Report Highlights Langley’s Wonder at Work
Article 2 months ago 12 min read 60 Years Ago: NASA Approves the Lunar Orbiter Program
Article 2 years ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore This Section Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA Webb Explores Effect of Strong Magnetic Fields on Star Formation
An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope array puts the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. Full image below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Follow-up research on a 2023 image of the Sagittarius C stellar nursery in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has revealed ejections from still-forming protostars and insights into the impact of strong magnetic fields on interstellar gas and the life cycle of stars.
“A big question in the Central Molecular Zone of our galaxy has been, if there is so much dense gas and cosmic dust here, and we know that stars form in such clouds, why are so few stars born here?” said astrophysicist John Bally of the University of Colorado Boulder, one of the principal investigators. “Now, for the first time, we are seeing directly that strong magnetic fields may play an important role in suppressing star formation, even at small scales.”
Detailed study of stars in this crowded, dusty region has been limited, but Webb’s advanced near-infrared instruments have allowed astronomers to see through the clouds to study young stars like never before.
“The extreme environment of the galactic center is a fascinating place to put star formation theories to the test, and the infrared capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provide the opportunity to build on past important observations from ground-based telescopes like ALMA and MeerKAT,” said Samuel Crowe, another principal investigator on the research, a senior undergraduate at the University of Virginia and a 2025 Rhodes Scholar.
Bally and Crowe each led a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Image A: Milky Way Center (MeerKAT and Webb)
An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT (formerly the Karoo Array Telescope) radio telescope array puts the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. Like a super-long exposure photograph, MeerKAT shows the bubble-like remnants of supernovas that exploded over millennia, capturing the dynamic nature of the Milky Way’s chaotic core. At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Image B: Milky Way Center (MeerKAT and Webb), Labeled
The star-forming region Sagittarius C, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, is about 200 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The spectral index at the lower left shows how color was assigned to the radio data to create the image. On the negative end, there is non-thermal emission, stimulated by electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines. On the positive side, thermal emission is coming from hot, ionized plasma. For Webb, color is assigned by shifting the infrared spectrum to visible light colors. The shortest infrared wavelengths are bluer, and the longer wavelengths appear more red. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford) Using Infrared to Reveal Forming Stars
In Sagittarius C’s brightest cluster, the researchers confirmed the tentative finding from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) that two massive stars are forming there. Along with infrared data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope and SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) mission, as well as the Herschel Space Observatory, they used Webb to determine that each of the massive protostars is already more than 20 times the mass of the Sun. Webb also revealed the bright outflows powered by each protostar.
Even more challenging is finding low-mass protostars, still shrouded in cocoons of cosmic dust. Researchers compared Webb’s data with ALMA’s past observations to identify five likely low-mass protostar candidates.
The team also identified 88 features that appear to be shocked hydrogen gas, where material being blasted out in jets from young stars impacts the surrounding gas cloud. Analysis of these features led to the discovery of a new star-forming cloud, distinct from the main Sagittarius C cloud, hosting at least two protostars powering their own jets.
“Outflows from forming stars in Sagittarius C have been hinted at in past observations, but this is the first time we’ve been able to confirm them in infrared light. It’s very exciting to see, because there is still a lot we don’t know about star formation, especially in the Central Molecular Zone, and it’s so important to how the universe works,” said Crowe.
Magnetic Fields and Star Formation
Webb’s 2023 image of Sagittarius C showed dozens of distinctive filaments in a region of hot hydrogen plasma surrounding the main star-forming cloud. New analysis by Bally and his team has led them to hypothesize that the filaments are shaped by magnetic fields, which have also been observed in the past by the ground-based observatories ALMA and MeerKAT (formerly the Karoo Array Telescope).
“The motion of gas swirling in the extreme tidal forces of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, can stretch and amplify the surrounding magnetic fields. Those fields, in turn, are shaping the plasma in Sagittarius C,” said Bally.
The researchers think that the magnetic forces in the galactic center may be strong enough to keep the plasma from spreading, instead confining it into the concentrated filaments seen in the Webb image. These strong magnetic fields may also resist the gravity that would typically cause dense clouds of gas and dust to collapse and forge stars, explaining Sagittarius C’s lower-than-expected star formation rate.
“This is an exciting area for future research, as the influence of strong magnetic fields, in the center of our galaxy or other galaxies, on stellar ecology has not been fully considered,” said Crowe.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Downloads
Click any image to open a larger version.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
View/Download the science paper led by Bally from the The Astrophysical Journal.
View/Download the science paper led by Crowe from the The Astrophysical Journal.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Leah Ramsay – lramsay@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
Read more: press releases about the center of the Milky Way
NASA’s Universe of Learning: ViewSpace Interactive image tour of the center of the Milky Way
Learn more about the Milky Way and Sagittarius Constellation
More Webb News
More Webb Images
Webb Science Themes
Webb Mission Page
Related For Kids
What Is a Nebula?
What Is a Galaxy?
What is the Webb Telescope?
SpacePlace for Kids
En Español
¿Qué es una nebulosa?
¿Qué es una galaxia?
Ciencia de la NASA
NASA en español
Space Place para niños
Keep Exploring Related Topics
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Stars
Galaxies
Universe
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 02, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Goddard Space Flight Center Protostars Science & Research Stars The Milky Way The Universe View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.