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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
From left, NASA astronauts, Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, who served as part of Expedition 71, will discuss their recent missions to the International Space Station during a visit to Marshall Space Flight Center on Jan. 29. NASA NASA will host four astronauts at 9 a.m. CDT Wednesday, Jan. 29, for a media opportunity at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Tracy C. Dyson served as part of Expedition 71 and will discuss their recent missions to the International Space Station.
Dominick, Barratt, and Epps launched aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission in March 2024 and returned to Earth in October 2024 after spending nearly eight months aboard the orbiting complex. Dyson launched aboard a Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft also in March 2024 and returned in September 2024 after completing a six-month research mission aboard the space station.
Media are invited to attend the event and visit with the astronauts as they discuss their science missions aboard the microgravity laboratory and other mission highlights. Media interested in participating must confirm their attendance by 12 p.m., Monday, Jan. 27, to both Lance D. Davis – lance.d.davis@nasa.gov – and Joel Wallace – joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov – in Marshall’s Office of Communications.
Media must arrive by 8 a.m., Wednesday, to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center Gate 9 parking lot, located at the Interstate 565 interchange on Research Park Boulevard. The event will take place in the NASA Marshall Activities Building 4316. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate, so please allow extra time. All members of the media and drivers will need photo identification. Drivers will need proof of insurance if requested.
The Expedition 71 crew conducted hundreds of technology demonstrations and science experiments, including the bioprinting of human tissues. These higher-quality tissues printed in microgravity could help advance the production of organs and tissues for transplant and improve 3D printing of foods and medicines on future long-duration space missions. The crew also looked at neurological organoids, created with stem cells from patients to study neuroinflammation, a common feature of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. The organoids provided a platform to study these diseases and their treatments and could help address how extended spaceflight affects the brain.
As part of Crew-8, Dominick served as commander, Barratt served as pilot, and Epps served as a mission specialist. Dyson launched aboard a Soyuz space as part of an international crew and served as a flight engineer on a six-month research mission. The expedition to the space station was the first spaceflight for Dominick, third for Barratt, first for Epps, and third for Dyson.
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 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
Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
Lance D. Davis
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-640-9065
lance.d.davis@nasa.gov
Joel Wallace
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-786-0117
joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 24, 2025 EditorBeth Ridgeway Related Terms
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By NASA
Caption: As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ second delivery to the Moon will carry NASA technology demonstrations and science investigations on their Nova-C class lunar lander. Credit: Intuitive Machines For the second time, Intuitive Machines will launch a lunar lander to deliver NASA technology demonstrations and science investigations to the Moon for the benefit of all. Media accreditation is open for the IM-2 launch, part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the Moon.
The Intuitive Machines Nova-C class lunar lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and carry NASA science, technology demonstrations, and other commercial payloads to Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole region. Liftoff is targeted for a multi-day launch window, which opens no earlier than late February, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at NASA Kennedy and are open to U.S. citizens and international media. U.S. media must apply by Wednesday, Feb. 12, and international media must apply by Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Media wishing to take part in person must apply for credentials at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov
Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation or to request special logistical support, such as space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections, please email by Wednesday, Feb. 12, to: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov.
Among the items on its lander, the IM-2 mission will deliver one of the first on-site, or in-situ, demonstrations of resource utilization on the Moon, using a drill and mass spectrometer to measure the volatiles content of subsurface materials. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone mobility solution.
Launching as a rideshare alongside the IM-2 delivery NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.
A successful landing will help support the CLPS model for commercial payload deliveries to the lunar surface, as another step toward a sustainable lunar future. As a primary customer of CLPS, NASA is investing in lower-cost methods of Moon deliveries and is one of multiple customers for these flights.
NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the agency’s CLPS initiative. This pool of companies may bid on task orders to deliver NASA payloads to the Moon. Contract awards cover end-to-end commercial payload delivery services, including payload integration, mission operations, launch from Earth, and landing on the surface of the Moon. These contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum value of $2.6 billion through 2028.
For more information about the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, see:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
-end-
Alise Fisher / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
natalia.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 24, 2025 LocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Missions Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) View the full article
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The official Expedition 71 crew portrait with (bottom row from left) Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps. In the back row (from left) are, NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko. Four of the crew members – Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Dyson – will discuss their recent missions to the International Space Station during a visit at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Jan 29.NASA NASA will host four astronauts at 9 a.m. CDT Wednesday, Jan. 29, for a media opportunity at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Tracy C. Dyson served as part of Expedition 71 and will discuss their recent missions to the International Space Station.
Dominick, Barratt, and Epps launched aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission in March 2024 and returned to Earth in October 2024 after spending nearly eight months aboard the orbiting complex. Dyson launched aboard a Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft also in March 2024 and returned in September 2024 after completing a six-month research mission aboard the space station.
Media are invited to attend the event and visit with the astronauts as they discuss their science missions aboard the microgravity laboratory and other mission highlights. Media interested in participating must confirm their attendance by 12 p.m., Monday, Jan. 27, to Joel Wallace in Marshall’s Office of Communications at joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov or 256-786-0117.
Media must arrive by 8 a.m., Wednesday, to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center Gate 9 parking lot, located at the Interstate 565 interchange on Research Park Boulevard. The event will take place in the NASA Marshall Activities Building 4316. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate, so please allow extra time. All members of the media and drivers will need photo identification. Drivers will need proof of insurance if requested.
The Expedition 71 crew conducted hundreds of technology demonstrations and science experiments, including the bioprinting of human tissues. These higher-quality tissues printed in microgravity could help advance the production of organs and tissues for transplant and improve 3D printing of foods and medicines on future long-duration space missions. The crew also looked at neurological organoids, created with stem cells from patients to study neuroinflammation, a common feature of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. The organoids provided a platform to study these diseases and their treatments and could help address how extended spaceflight affects the brain.
As part of Crew-8, Dominick served as commander, Barratt served as pilot, and Epps served as a mission specialist. Dyson launched aboard a Soyuz space as part of an international crew and served as a flight engineer on a six-month research mission. The expedition to the space station was the first spaceflight for Dominick, third for Barratt, first for Epps, and third for Dyson.
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 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
Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
Joel Wallace
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 24, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Week in images: 20-24 January 2025
Discover our week through the lens
View the full article
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By NASA
NASA JPL is readying for, clockwise from lower right, the launches of CADRE (its engineering models are seen here), Lunar Trailblazer, NISAR (seen in an artist’s concept), Sentinel-6B (artist’s concept), and SPHEREx, as well as the Mars gravity assist of Europa Clipper (artist’s concept).NASA/JPL-Caltech/BAE Systems/Lockheed Martin Space Missions will study everything from water on the Moon to the transformation of our universe after the big bang and ongoing changes to Earth’s surface.
With 2024 receding into the distance, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is already deep into a busy 2025. Early in the new year, the Eaton Fire came close to JPL, destroying the homes of more than 200 employees, but work has continued apace to maintain mission operations and keep upcoming missions on track.
Several missions managed by NASA JPL are prepping for launch this year. Most have been years in the making and launches are, of course, only part of the bigger picture. Other milestones are also on the docket for the federal laboratory, which Caltech manages for NASA.
Here’s a glimpse of what lies ahead this year.
Mysterious Universe
Shaped like the bell of a trumpet and as big as a subcompact car, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory is aiming for the stars. Known formally as the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, the mission will create four 3D maps of the entire sky in order to improve humanity’s understanding of the universe — how it expanded after the big bang, where ingredients of life can be found in ice grains, and much more. Target launch date: no earlier than Feb. 27 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Moon’s Icy Secrets
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer aims to help resolve an enduring mystery: Where is the Moon’s water? Scientists have seen signs suggesting it exists even where temperatures soar on the lunar surface, and there’s good reason to believe it can be found as surface ice in permanently shadowed craters, places that have not seen direct sunlight for billions of years. Managed by NASA JPL and led by Caltech, the small satellite will help provide answers, mapping the Moon’s surface water in unprecedented detail to determine the water’s abundance, location, form, and how it changes over time. The small satellite will hitch a ride, slated for late February, on the same launch as the Intuitive Machines-2 delivery to the Moon through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
Earth’s Changing Surface
A collaboration between the United States and India, NISAR is a major addition to the fleet of satellites studying our changing planet. Short for NASA-Indian Space Research Organisation Synthetic Aperture Radar, the mission’s name is a nesting doll of acronyms, and the spacecraft is a nesting doll of capabilities: The first spacecraft to carry both L-band and S-band radars, it will see surface changes related to volcanoes, earthquakes, ice sheet motion, deforestation, and more in unprecedented detail after it launches in a few months’ time.
Sea Level
Targeting a November launch, Sentinel-6B will provide global sea surface height measurements — some of the most accurate data of its kind yet — that will improve climate models and hurricane tracking, as well as our understanding of phenomena like El Niño. A collaboration between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), the spacecraft will take the baton from its twin, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which launched in 2020. Together, the satellites are extending for another 10 years a nearly three-decade record of global sea surface height.
Moon Rover Trio
As a technology demonstration, the CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) project marks another step NASA is taking toward developing robots that, by operating autonomously, can boost the efficiency of future missions. The project team at JPL will soon be packing up and shipping CADRE’s three suitcase-size rovers to Texas in preparation for their journey to the Moon aboard a commercial lander through one of NASA’s future CLPS deliveries. The rovers are designed to work together as a team without direct input from mission controllers back on Earth. And, by taking simultaneous measurements from multiple locations, they are meant to show how multirobot missions could enable new science and support astronauts.
Quantum Technology
Having arrived at the International Space Station in November, SEAQUE (Space Entanglement and Annealing QUantum Experiment) is testing two technologies that, if successful, could enable communication using entangled photons between two quantum systems. The research from this experiment, which gets underway in 2025, could help develop the building blocks for a future global quantum network that would allow equipment such as quantum computers to transfer data securely across large distances.
Gravity Assist to Reach Jupiter
Launched this past October, Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 to investigate whether an ocean beneath the ice shell of the gas giant’s moon Europa has conditions suitable for life. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) to reach its destination. Since there are limitations on how much fuel the spacecraft can carry, mission planners are having Europa Clipper fly by Mars on March 1, using the planet’s gravity as a slingshot to add speed to its journey.
For more about NASA missions JPL supports, go to:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/
Meet SPHEREx, NASA’s newest cosmic mapper How NISAR will track Earth’s changing surface CADRE’s mini-rovers will team up to explore the Moon Instruments deployed, Europa Clipper is Mars-bound News Media Contact
Matthew Segal
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-008
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Last Updated Jan 23, 2025 Related Terms
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5 min read Study Finds Earth’s Small Asteroid Visitor Likely Chunk of Moon Rock
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