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Huge Spring Storms Rouse Uranus from Winter Hibernation
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The NASA History Office brings you the new Spring 2025 issue of NASA History News & Notes reflecting on some of the transitional periods in NASA’s history, as well as the legacies of past programs. Topics include NASA’s 1967 class of astronauts, historic experiments in airborne astronomy, NASA’s aircraft consolidation efforts in the 1990s, lightning observations from space, the founding of the NACA, the DC-8 airborne science laboratory, and more!
Volume 42, Number 1
Spring 2025
Featured Articles
From the Chief Historian
By Brian Odom
In the first few months of 2025, NASA will celebrate several significant anniversaries, including the 110th anniversary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) (March 3), the 55th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13 (April 11), and the 35th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (April 24). Celebrating these important milestones is a way for us as an agency and for the public to reflect upon where we have been and what we have accomplished and to think about what we might accomplish next. Continue Reading
The XS-11 and the Transition Away from Mandatory Jet Pilot Training for NASA Astronauts
By Jennifer Ross-Nazzal
Flying in space has been associated with pilots ever since 1959, when NASA announced its first class of astronauts, known as the Mercury 7. Part of being a professional astronaut meant you were a certified jet pilot. Even the scientist-astronauts, so named to differentiate them from the astronauts assigned to the Mercury and Gemini missions, selected in 1965 and in 1967, received pilot training. Until NASA better understood the impact of weightlessness on the human body, Robert R. Gilruth, head of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, believed all astronauts should meet this qualification. But when five scientist-astronauts from the 1967 class had a rocky transition, leading them to resign—due to their disinterest in flying at the cost of their scientific training and no spaceflight opportunities—it eventually led NASA to rethink their idea of having all astronauts become jet pilots. Continue Reading
Portrait of NASA’s 1967 group of astronauts. Seated at the table, left to right, are Philip K. Chapman, Robert A. R. Parker, William E. Thornton, and John A. Llewellyn. Standing, left to right, are Joseph P. Allen IV, Karl G. Henize, Anthony W. England, Donald L. Holmquest, Story Musgrave, William B. Lenoir, and Brian T. O’Leary.NASA The High-Flying Legacy of Airborne Observation: How Experimental Aircraft Contributed to Astronomy at NASA
By Lois Rosson
In June 2011, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) chased down Pluto’s occultation of a far-away star. … SOFIA’s 2011 observation of Pluto followed up on a historic 1988 observation made by the airborne Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) that proved that Pluto had an atmosphere at all. The technical versatility of both flights, conducted from aircraft hurtling stabilized telescopes through the air, speaks to the legacy of airborne astronomical observation at NASA. But how did this idiosyncratic format emerge in the first place? Airborne astronomy, in which astronomical observations are made from a moving aircraft, was attempted almost as soon as airplanes themselves were developed. Continue Reading
NASA’s Tortuous Effort to Consolidate its Aircraft
By Robert Arrighi
Thirty years ago, on January 6, 1995, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin announced, “We’ve started a revolution at NASA. It’s real. We have a road map for change. We’ve already begun.” Thus began one of the agency’s most daunting endeavors, a top-to-bottom reassessment of NASA’s processes, programmatic assignments, and staffing levels. One of the most controversial aspects of this effort was the proposal to transfer nearly all of the agency’s research aircraft to Dryden Flight Research Center (today known as Armstrong). Continue Reading
Three ER-2 Aircraft in formation over Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA on their final flight out of NASA Ames Research Center before redeployment to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, now known as NASA Armstrong.NASA/Eric James The Space Between: Mesoscale Lightning Observations and Weather Forecasting, 1965–82
By Brad Massey
Skylab astronaut Edward G. Gibson looked down at Earth often during his 84 days on NASA’s first space station. From his orbital vantage point, Gibson took in the breathtaking views of our planet’s diverse landscapes. He also noted the interesting behavior of the planet’s most powerful electrical force: lightning. … Gibson’s words were of great interest to the lightning researchers affiliated with NASA’s Severe Storms and Local Research Program and others who believed observing Earth’s lightning from low Earth orbit generated valuable data that meteorologists could use to better forecast dangerous storm characteristics and behavior. With these motivations in mind, researchers created new Earth- and space-based experiments from the mid-1960s to the first Space Shuttle missions in the early 1980s that observed lightning on a regional level. Continue Reading
Adding Color to the Moon: Jack Kinzler’s Oral History Interviews
By Sandra Johnson
Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) Director Robert R. Gilruth placed a call to Jack Kinzler less than four months before the Apollo 11 launch. Gilruth asked him to attend a meeting with a high-level group of individuals from both MSC and NASA Headquarters to discuss ideas for celebrating the first lunar landing. Kinzler, in his capacity as the chief of the Technical Services Division, arrived ready to present his suggestions for commemorating the achievement. Continue Reading
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during the mission’s extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface.NASA The Founding of the NACA
By James Anderson
One hundred ten years ago this month, NASA’s predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), was founded. The date of the anniversary marks the passage of a rider to a naval appropriations bill that established the NACA for the modest sum of $5,000 annually. Telling the story of the NACA’s founding in this manner—using March 3, 1915, as the moment in time to represent the NACA’s beginning—is true, but it overlooks two crucial aspects of the founding. The founding was both a culmination and a turning point for science and aeronautics in the United States. Continue Reading
Remembering the DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory at NASA
By Bradley Lynn Coleman
The NASA History Office and NASA Earth Science Division cohosted a workshop on the recently retired NASA DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory (1986–2024) at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington, DC, October 24 and 25, 2024. The workshop celebrated the history of the legendary aircraft; documented DC-8–enabled scientific, engineering, education, and outreach activities; and captured lessons of the past for future operators. Continue Reading
The DC-8 in flight near Lone Pine, California. NASA/Jim Ross Download the Spring 2025 Edition More Issues of NASA History News and Notes Share
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Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 5 Min Read 20-Year Hubble Study of Uranus Yields New Atmospheric Insights
The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that STIS observed Uranus across a 20-year period. Over that span of time, the researchers watched the seasons of Uranus as the south polar region darkened going into winter shadow while the north polar region brightened as northern summer approaches. Credits:
NASA, ESA, Erich Karkoschka (LPL) The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the Sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet’s atmospheric composition and dynamics. This was possible only because of Hubble’s sharp resolution, spectral capabilities, and longevity.
The team’s results will help astronomers to better understand how the atmosphere of Uranus works and responds to changing sunlight. These long-term observations provide valuable data for understanding the atmospheric dynamics of this distant ice giant, which can serve as a proxy for studying exoplanets of similar size and composition.
When Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, it provided a close-up snapshot of the sideways planet. What it saw resembled a bland, blue-green billiard ball. By comparison, Hubble chronicled a 20-year story of seasonal changes from 2002 to 2022. Over that period, a team led by Erich Karkoschka of the University of Arizona, and Larry Sromovsky and Pat Fry from the University of Wisconsin used the same Hubble instrument, STIS (the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph), to paint an accurate picture of the atmospheric structure of Uranus.
Uranus’ atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus its cyan color by absorbing the red wavelengths of sunlight.
The Hubble team observed Uranus four times in the 20-year period: in 2002, 2012, 2015, and 2022. They found that, unlike conditions on the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter, methane is not uniformly distributed across Uranus. Instead, it is strongly depleted near the poles. This depletion remained relatively constant over the two decades. However, the aerosol and haze structure changed dramatically, brightening significantly in the northern polar region as the planet approaches its northern summer solstice in 2030.
The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that STIS observed Uranus across a 20-year period. Over that span of time, the researchers watched the seasons of Uranus as the south polar region darkened going into winter shadow while the north polar region brightened as northern summer approaches. NASA, ESA, Erich Karkoschka (LPL) Uranus takes a little over 84 Earth years to complete a single orbit of the Sun. So, over two decades, the Hubble team has only seen mostly northern spring as the Sun moves from shining directly over Uranus’ equator toward shining almost directly over its north pole in 2030. Hubble observations suggest complex atmospheric circulation patterns on Uranus during this period. The data that are most sensitive to the methane distribution indicate a downwelling in the polar regions and upwelling in other regions.
The team analyzed their results in several ways. The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that STIS observed Uranus across a 20-year period. Over that span of time, the researchers watched the seasons of Uranus as the south polar region (left) darkened going into winter shadow while the north polar region (right) brightened as it began to come into a more direct view as northern summer approaches.
The top row, in visible light, shows how the color of Uranus appears to the human eye as seen through even an amateur telescope.
In the second row, the false-color image of the planet is assembled from visible and near-infrared light observations. The color and brightness correspond to the amounts of methane and aerosols. Both of these quantities could not be distinguished before Hubble’s STIS was first aimed at Uranus in 2002. Generally, green areas indicate less methane than blue areas, and red areas show no methane. The red areas are at the limb, where the stratosphere of Uranus is almost completely devoid of methane.
The two bottom rows show the latitude structure of aerosols and methane inferred from 1,000 different wavelengths (colors) from visible to near infrared. In the third row, bright areas indicate cloudier conditions, while the dark areas represent clearer conditions. In the fourth row, bright areas indicate depleted methane, while dark areas show the full amount of methane.
At middle and low latitudes, aerosols and methane depletion have their own latitudinal structure that mostly did not change much over the two decades of observation. However, in the polar regions, aerosols and methane depletion behave very differently.
In the third row, the aerosols near the north pole display a dramatic increase, showing up as very dark during early northern spring, turning very bright in recent years. Aerosols also seem to disappear at the left limb as the solar radiation disappeared. This is evidence that solar radiation changes the aerosol haze in the atmosphere of Uranus. On the other hand, methane depletion seems to stay quite high in both polar regions throughout the observing period.
Astronomers will continue to observe Uranus as the planet approaches northern summer.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
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Last Updated Mar 31, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact Media Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ann Jenkins
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Ice cover ebbs and flows through the seasons in the Arctic (left) and the Antarctic (right). Overall, ice cover has declined since scientists started tracking it half a century ago. Download this visualization from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5099Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Winter sea ice cover in the Arctic was the lowest it’s ever been at its annual peak on March 22, 2025, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. At 5.53 million square miles (14.33 million square kilometers), the maximum extent fell below the prior low of 5.56 million square miles (14.41 million square kilometers) in 2017.
In the dark and cold of winter, sea ice forms and spreads across Arctic seas. But in recent years, less new ice has been forming, and less multi-year ice has accumulated. This winter continued a downward trend scientists have observed over the past several decades. This year’s peak ice cover was 510,000 square miles (1.32 million square kilometers) below the average levels between 1981 and 2010.
In 2025, summer ice in the Antarctic retreated to 764,000 square miles (1.98 million square kilometers) on March 1, tying for the second lowest minimum extent ever recorded. That’s 30% below the 1.10 million square miles (2.84 million square kilometers) that was typical in the Antarctic prior to 2010. Sea ice extent is defined as the total area of the ocean with at least 15% ice concentration.
The reduction in ice in both polar regions has led to another milestone — the total amount of sea ice on the planet reached an all-time low. Globally, ice coverage in mid-February of this year declined by more than a million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers) from the average before 2010. Altogether, Earth is missing an area of sea ice large enough to cover the entire continental United States east of the Mississippi.
“We’re going to come into this next summer season with less ice to begin with,” said Linette Boisvert, an ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It doesn’t bode well for the future.”
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Observations since 1978 show that ice cover has declined at both poles, leading to a downward trend in the total ice cover over the entire planet. In February 2025, global ice fell to the smallest area ever recorded. Download this visualization from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5521Mark Subbaro/NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio Scientists primarily rely on satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, which measure Earth’s radiation in the microwave range. This natural radiation is different for open water and for sea ice — with ice cover standing out brightly in microwave-based satellite images. Microwave scanners can also penetrate through cloud cover, allowing for daily global observations. The DMSP data are augmented with historical sources, including data collected between 1978 and 1985 with the Nimbus-7 satellite that was jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It’s not yet clear whether the Southern Hemisphere has entered a new norm with perennially low ice or if the Antarctic is in a passing phase that will revert to prior levels in the years to come,” said Walt Meier, an ice scientist with NSIDC.
By James Riordon
NASA’s Earth Science News Team
Media contact: Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters
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Last Updated Mar 27, 2025 LocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Skylab 3 astronauts witnessed many spectacular sights during their 858 orbital trips around the Earth in the summer of 1973. One involved watching powerful Hurricane Ellen take shape off the West African coast. “There’s a nice storm down there. She looks pretty big. She’s got a lot of clouds,” said astronaut Alan L. Bean upon viewing the storm from Skylab’s low-Earth orbit.
Knowing they were witnessing something of interest to meteorologists on Earth, Bean and his fellow Skylab crew members captured stereo photographs of the storm using cameras aboard the space station. Meteorologists later used these images, which provided three-dimensional data, to help them understand how the clouds in tropical systems formed and functioned.
This image of Hurricane Ellen was taken by Skylab astronauts in September 1973. Unscheduled weather observations that relied on the judgement and actions of Skylab astronauts captured valuable research data for scientists.NASA Like the Skylab 3 crew’s photographs of Hurricane Ellen, the lightning observations of Skylab 4 astronaut Edward G. Gibson were also used by meteorologists to understand regional weather phenomena. While gazing down at a storm over South America’s Andes Mountains, Gibson noted that the thunderstorm he observed generated recognizable lightning patterns over a 500-square-mile region.
“A few things impressed me here: one is the fact that they could go off simultaneously or near simultaneously over a large distance—sympathetic lightning bolts, if you will, analogous to sympathetic flares on the sun. And that we do get periods of calm between periods of very high activity. Some sort of collective phenomenon appears to be at work,” Gibson recalled.
This photograph of Edward G. Gibson, Skylab 4 science pilot, was taken at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on November 8, 1973, before his November 16 launch to Skylab. Meteorologists were very interested in the regional lightning patterns he witnessed while aboard the space station.NASA The photographs of Hurricane Ellen and Gibson’s notes about lightning patterns are just two of many valuable meteorological observations and recordings astronauts made during Skylab’s three crewed missions. All told, astronaut-conducted Earth studies provided important regional, also known as mesoscale, weather data that improved storm forecasting.
Along with providing valuable data to meteorologists, the notable findings of the Skylab astronauts supported the argument of the era’s scientists and mission planners who insisted that there was no adequate replacement for intelligent human observers in space.
Perhaps the authors of Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab put it best when they wrote: “Man’s ability to discriminate, to select the important features of a wide vista, and to respond effectively to unexpected events constituted his greatest contribution to orbital investigations.”
Read more about how Ed Gibson's lightning observations impacted weather forecasting Read the NASA publication Skylab Explores the Earth Share
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Students from colleges and universities across the country gather to start their adventure as spring interns at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis NASA’s Glenn Research Center is hosting 45 spring interns at its Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, campuses through May 16. This group represents 43 universities across the country, spanning from Arizona to Ohio to Texas.
Through NASA’s internship programs, students gain practical experience while working side-by-side with scientists, engineers, and individuals from many other professions. The interns are contributing to a broad range of innovative projects, such as AI-driven aerospace design, electrified aircraft visualization, spaceflight material flammability, superconducting coil testing, fission surface power for sustained lunar and Martian exploration, and more.
Their research supports NASA’s mission in advancing aeronautics, space technology, and scientific discovery. Several students are returning for repeat internships, reinforcing NASA Glenn’s role as a leader in STEM workforce development.
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