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By NASA
3 Min Read NASA, Partners to Conduct Space Station Research During Expedition 73
NASA NASA astronauts are gearing up for a scientific mission aboard the International Space Station. Expedition 73 NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will launch in March as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will join the crew when he launches aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft in April alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.
Read more about some of the microgravity research planned by NASA and its partners:
Subjects for human research
NASA Astronauts often serve as test subjects, submitting blood and other samples for research. NASA astronaut Anne McClain is pictured submitting a sample on a previous mission with assistance from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut David Saint-Jacques. McClain will participate in NASA’s Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research investigation, or CIPHER, a suite of integrated studies on physiological and psychological changes seen in space. Results could provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.
Testing lunar navigation
NASA When Expedition 73 astronauts engage with students worldwide via the ISS Ham Radio program, researchers will use the ham radio hardware to test software for the Navigation and Communication Testbed (NAVCOM) that could help shape future lunar navigation. Researchers from the investigation recently launched a related study to the Moon aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost to help bridge existing Earth navigation with emerging lunar-specific solutions.
Advancing fire safety
NASA Expedition 73 is scheduled to conduct a Material Ignition and Suppression Test (SoFIE-MIST), testing material flammability in microgravity. This research could improve fire safety on future missions, contributing to models used to select materials for space facilities and helping to determine the best ways to extinguish fires in space.
Keeping blood flowing
Angelo Taibi/ASI Expedition 73 crew members will participate in Drain Brain 2.0, which examines how blood flows from the brain to the heart in microgravity using this plethysmograph, a device that can record the volume of blood drainage from the skull. Results could identify which processes in the body compensate for the lack of gravity, helping to ensure proper blood flow for astronauts on future missions and people with cardiovascular issues on Earth.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under Artemis and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
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Space Station Research and Technology
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Last Updated Mar 10, 2025 Related Terms
ISS Research International Space Station (ISS) View the full article
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By NASA
On March 6, 1985, NASA’s newest space shuttle, Atlantis, made its public debut during a rollout ceremony at the Rockwell International manufacturing plant in Palmdale, California. Under construction for three years, Atlantis joined NASA’s other three space-worthy orbiters, Columbia, Challenger, and Discovery, and atmospheric test vehicle Enterprise. Officials from NASA, Rockwell, and other organizations attended the rollout ceremony. By the time NASA retired Atlantis in 2011, it had flown 33 missions in a career spanning 26 years and flying many types of missions envisioned for the space shuttle. The Visitor Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has Atlantis on display.
Space shuttle Atlantis under construction at Rockwell International’s Palmdale, California, plant in 1984. Credit/NASA. Atlantis during the rollout ceremony in Palmdale. Credit/NASA. Workers truck Atlantis from Palmdale to NASA’s Dryden, now Armstrong, Flight Research Center. Credit/NASA. On Jan. 25, 1979, NASA announced the names of the first four space-worthy orbiters – Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. Like the other vehicles, NASA named Atlantis after an historical vessel of discovery and exploration – the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s two-masted research ship Atlantis that operated from 1930 to 1966. On Jan. 29, NASA signed the contract with Rockwell International of Downey, California, to build and deliver Atlantis. Construction began in March 1980 and finished in April 1984. Nearly identical to Discovery but with the addition of hardware to support the cryogenic Centaur upper stage then planned to deploy planetary spacecraft in 1986, plans shelved following the Challenger accident. After a year of testing, workers prepared Atlantis for its public debut.
Atlantis arrives at NASA’s Dryden, now Armstrong, Flight Research Center to prepare for its cross-country ferry flight. Credit/NASA. Atlantis during an overnight stop at Ellington Air Force Base, now Ellington Field, in Houston. Credit/NASA. Atlantis arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Credit/NASA. Three days after the rollout ceremony, workers trucked Atlantis 36 miles overland to NASA’s Dryden, now Armstrong, Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert, for final preparations for its cross-country ferry flight. In the Mate Demate Device, workers placed Atlantis atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, to begin the ferry flight. The duo left Edwards on April 12, the fourth anniversary of the first space shuttle flight. Following an overnight stop at Houston’s Ellington Air Force Base, now Ellington Field, Atlantis arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 13.
Atlantis following its first rollout to Launch Pad 39A. Credit/NASA. The flight readiness firing of Atlantis’ three main engines.Credit/NASA. Liftoff of Atlantis on its first mission, STS-51J. Credit/NASA. Four months later, on Aug. 12, workers towed Atlantis from the processing facility to the assembly building and mated it to an external tank and twin solid rocket boosters. The entire stack rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on Aug. 30 in preparation for the planned Oct. 3 launch of the STS-51J mission. As with any new orbiter, on Sept. 13 NASA conducted a 20-second Flight Readiness Firing of Atlantis’ three main engines. On Sept. 16, the five-person crew participated in a countdown demonstration test, leading to an on time Oct. 3 launch. Atlantis had joined the shuttle fleet and begun its first mission to space.
Space shuttle Atlantis in the Visitor Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit/NASA. Over the course of its 33 missions spanning more than 26 years, Atlantis flew virtually every type of mission envisioned for the space shuttle, including government and commercial satellite deployments, deploying spacecraft to visit interplanetary destinations, supporting scientific missions, launching and servicing scientific observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope, performing crew rotations and resupplying the Mir space station, and assembling and maintaining the International Space Station. Atlantis flew the final mission of the shuttle program, STS-135, in July 2011. The following year, NASA transported Atlantis to the Kennedy Visitor Center for public display.
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By Space Force
Air Force and Space Force senior leaders took to the stage at the recent Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium March 3-5, outlining their vision for the future of warfare.
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Ahead of launch, NASA’s SPHEREx is enclosed in a payload fairing at Vandenberg Space Force Base on March 2. The observatory is stacked atop the four small satellites that make up the agency’s PUNCH mission.NASA/BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry NASA’s latest space observatory is targeting a March 8 liftoff, and the agency’s PUNCH heliophysics mission is sharing a ride. Here’s what to expect during launch and beyond.
In a little over a day, NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope is slated to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The observatory will map the entire celestial sky four times in two years, creating a 3D map of over 450 million galaxies. In doing so, the mission will provide insight into what happened a fraction of a second after the big bang, in addition to searching interstellar dust for the ingredients of life, and measuring the collective glow from all galaxies, including ones that other telescopes cannot easily detect.
The launch window opens at 7:09:56 p.m. PST on Saturday, March 8, with a target launch time of 7:10:12 p.m. PST. Additional opportunities occur in the following days.
Launching together into low Earth orbit, NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions will study a range of topics from the early universe to our nearest star. NASA/JPL-Caltech Sharing a ride with SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), a constellation of four small satellites that will map the region where the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, transitions to the solar wind, the constant outflow of material from the Sun.
For the latest on PUNCH, visit the blog:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/punch
What SPHEREx Will Do
The SPHEREx observatory detects infrared light — wavelengths slightly longer than what the human eye can see that are emitted by warm objects including stars and galaxies. Using a technique called spectroscopy, SPHEREx will separate the infrared light emitted by hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies into 102 individual colors — the same way a prism splits sunlight into a rainbow. Observing those colors separately can reveal various properties of objects, including their composition and, in the case of galaxies, their distance from Earth. No other all-sky survey has performed spectroscopy in so many wavelengths and on so many sources.
The mission’s all-sky spectroscopic map can be used for a wide variety of science investigations. In particular, SPHEREx has its sights set on a phenomenon called inflation, which caused the universe to expand a trillion-trillionfold in a fraction of a second after the big bang. This nearly instantaneous event left an impression on the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe. The mission will map the distribution of more than 450 million galaxies to improve scientists’ understanding of the physics behind this extreme cosmic event.
SPHEREx Fact Sheet Additionally, the space telescope will measure the total glow from all galaxies, including ones that other telescopes cannot easily detect. When combined with studies of individual galaxies by other telescopes, the measurement of this overall glow will provide a more complete picture of how the light output from galaxies has changed over the universe’s history.
At the same time, spectroscopy will allow SPHEREx to seek out frozen water, carbon dioxide, and other key ingredients for life. The mission will provide an unprecedented survey of the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving researchers better insight into the interstellar chemistry that set the stage for life.
Launch Sequence
But, first, SPHEREx has to get into space. Prelaunch testing is complete on the spacecraft’s various systems, and it’s been encapsulated in the protective nose cone, or payload fairing, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will get it there from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-4 East.
NASA’s SPHEREx mission will lift off from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vanden-berg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, just as the Sur-face Water and Ocean Topography mission, shown here, did in December 2022. NASA/Keegan Barber A little more than two minutes after the Falcon 9 lifts off, the main engine will cut off. Shortly after, the rocket’s first and second stages will separate, followed by second-stage engine start. The reusable first stage will then begin its automated boost-back burn to the launch site for a propulsive landing.
Once the rocket is out of Earth’s atmosphere, about three minutes after launch, the payload fairing that surrounds the spacecraft will separate into two halves and fall back to Earth, landing in the ocean. Roughly 41 minutes after launch, SPHEREx will separate from the rocket and start its internal systems so that it can point its solar panel to the Sun. After this happens, the spacecraft can establish communications with ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission for the agency. This milestone, called acquisition of signal, should happen about three minutes after separation.
About 52 minutes after liftoff, PUNCH should separate as well from the Falcon 9.
Both spacecraft will be in a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, where their position relative to the Sun remains the same throughout the year. Each approximately 98-minute orbit allows the SPHEREx telescope to view a 360-degree strip of the celestial sky. As Earth’s orbit around the Sun progresses, that strip slowly advances, enabling SPHEREx to image almost the entire sky in six months. For PUNCH, the orbit provides a clear view in all directions around the Sun.
About four days after launch, SPHEREx should eject the protective cover over its telescope lens. The observatory will begin science operations a little over a month after launch, once the telescope has cooled down to its operating temperature and the mission team has completed a series of checks.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is providing the launch service for SPHEREx and PUNCH.
For more information about the SPHEREx mission, visit:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex
More About SPHEREx
SPHEREx is managed by NASA JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive.
Get the SPHEREx Press Kit How to Watch March 8 SPHEREx Launch 6 Things to Know About SPHEREx Why NASA’s SPHEREx Will Make ‘Most Colorful’ Cosmic Map Ever NASA’s SPHEREX Space Telescope Will Seek Life’s Ingredients News Media Contacts
Karen Fox / Alise Fisher
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-2546
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Calla Cofield, SPHEREx
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier, PUNCH
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
2025-033
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Last Updated Mar 07, 2025 Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Exoplanets Galaxies Heliophysics Jet Propulsion Laboratory Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) The Big Bang The Milky Way The Search for Life The Sun The Universe Explore More
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By Space Force
Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force Jon Bentivegna and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi discuss key challenges and strategies to prepare enlisted personnel for future conflicts.
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