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STARCOM: Development, connection, family readiness key to tomorrow’s Space Force
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By Space Force
Senior uniformed officers from the Air Force and Space Force told a Senate subcommittee March 12 that each service is focused on readiness but that budget shortfalls and determined adversaries are continuing sources for concern.
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency has unveiled the ESA Space HPC, a new resource for space in Europe. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher was joined by ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun and ASI president Teodoro Valente to cut the ribbon at ESA’s establishment in Italy, ESRIN.
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams displays a set of BioNutrients production packs during an experiment aboard the International Space Station. The experiment uses engineered yeast to produce nutrients and vitamins to support future astronaut health.NASA NASA’s BioNutrients series of experiments is testing ways to use microorganisms to make nutrients that will be needed for human health during future long-duration deep space exploration missions. Some vital nutrients lack the shelf-life needed to span multi-year human missions, such as a mission to Mars, and may need to be produced in space to support astronaut health. To meet this need, the BioNutrients project uses a biomanufacturing approach similar to making familiar fermented foods, such as yogurt. But these foods also will include specific types and amounts of nutrients that crew will be able to consume in the future.
The first experiment in the series, BioNutrients-1, set out to assess the five-year stability and performance of a hand-held system – called a production pack – that uses an engineered microorganism, yeast, to manufacture fresh vitamins on-demand and in space. The BioNutrients-1 experiments began after multiple sets of production packs launched to the station in 2019. This collection included spare production packs as backups to be used in case an experiment needs to be re-run during the five-year study. The planned experiments concluded in January 2024 spare production packs still remaining aboard the orbiting lab and in the BioNutrients lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where the ground team runs experiments in parallel to the crew operations.
Leaders at NASA’s International Space Station and Game Changing Development programs worked to coordinate the crew time needed to perform an additional BioNutrients-2 experiment using the spare packs. This extended the study’s timeline to almost six years in orbit, allowing valuable crew observations and data from the additional experiment run to be applied to a follow-on experiment, BioNutrients-3, which completed its analog astronaut experiment in April 2024, and is planned to launch to the station this year. Astronauts on the space station will freeze the sample and eventually it will be returned to Earth for analysis to see how much yeast grew and how much nutrient the experiment produced. This will help us understand how the shelf stability of the packets.
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Last Updated Mar 11, 2025 Related Terms
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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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