NASA Space Program

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First three Moon base missions have been announced, with first launches this fall

 

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Canada’s questions for the Artemis II crew​

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The Crew of NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Reveals What They Saw on the Dark Side of the Moon

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How The Artemis II Crew Lived Together in Space​

 

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Artemis 3 crew announced!

 

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https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/nasa-x-ray-spacecraft-catches-jet-erupting-from-1st-supermassive-black-hole-imaged-by-humanity

NASA X-ray spacecraft catches jet erupting from 1st supermassive black hole imaged by humanity​

"We could already see changes in the jet, but never with this level of detail in X-rays."

A jet erupts from M87*, the first black hole imaged by humanity. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. Laval/C. Poitras et al.; IR: NASA/CSA/STScI; Radio:NSF/NRAO/VLA; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare)

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft have obtained the most detailed image yet of the jet erupting from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87).


If this black hole sounds familiar, that is because it made history in 2019 when it was revealed as the first black hole to be imaged by humanity.

M87* is located around 55 million light-years from Earth and is ravenously feeding on infalling gas and dust. As it does so, matter is channeled to the poles of this black hole, which has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the sun. This matter is blasted out at speeds approaching the speed of light as powerful jets that stretch out for thousands of light-years.

Jets of M87* have been imaged before in other wavelengths of light, such as optical light and infrared, but this is our most detailed look at these jets in X-rays. And the X-rays revealed a complex flow of material through the jets that's more dynamic than previously seen.


"We could already see changes in the jet, but never with this level of detail in X-rays," Camille Poitras, a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Laval University and lead of the study, said in a statement. "Structures that previously appeared blended together can now be distinguished, allowing us to better follow the jet's evolution over more than a decade of observations."

Some structures in the jets appeared to be moving at speeds five times faster than the speed of light. Of course, that isn't possible; according to Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, nothing with mass can move at the speed of light or faster. This so-called superluminal motion isn't a universe-breaking discovery, but rather an optical illusion created when matter moves at near-light speed directly toward Earth.

 

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Mission To Boost NASA's Swift Launches From Marshall Islands - NASA Science

A mission to raise the orbit of NASA’s Swift observatory has reached orbit.

science.nasa.gov

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Mission To Boost NASA’s Swift Launches From Marshall Islands​

Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer and Pegasus XL rocket, seen here at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Saturday, June 12, 2026, flew to Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, several days later. The aircraft released the rocket Friday at about 40,000 feet above the atoll, delivering LINK to low Earth

A mission to raise the altitude of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is underway after launching at 8:36 p.m. Marshall Islands Time (4:36 a.m. EDT), Friday, July 3, from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean.

LINK, a robotic servicing spacecraft built by Katalyst Space, launched into orbit on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was deployed by the company’s Stargazer, a modified L-1011 aircraft, at an altitude of about 40,000 feet.

Our planet’s atmosphere creates drag for spacecraft in low Earth orbit, gradually reducing their altitude if they don’t have propulsion systems to maintain their positions. Recent solar activity magnified this effect on Swift, and its orbit decayed faster than anticipated.

In September, NASA contracted Katalyst to boost Swift. The company needed to design, build, test, and launch LINK and meet, grab, and lift Swift in less than a year.

Now that LINK has reached orbit, the Katalyst team’s first step is to acquire a signal from the spacecraft, confirming its solar panels have deployed and the power systems are working. NASA will continue to provide updates on the agency’s Swift blog.

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How NASA’s Artemis III Lander Test Will Pave Way for Moon Landings - NASA

Before Artemis astronauts land on the Moon’s surface in 2028, NASA will conduct the Artemis III demonstration mission in 2027, allowing teams on Earth and in

www.nasa.gov

How NASA’s Artemis III Lander Test Will Pave Way for Moon Landings​

For the Artemis III mission, the Blue Moon test lander will be based on Blue Origin’s current architecture for its Mark 2 crew lander, incorporating all the major avionics and flight software and control systems to ensure flight operations from this demonstration mission can directly translate to crewed lunar flights. Up to two crew members, donning orange Orion crew survival system suits, will open the hatch to enter the Blue Origin test lander. The production hardware must incorporate many of the same systems and subsystems, including an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), a crew cabin, and avionics.

The Blue Origin lander also will fly with an instrumented lunar surface spacesuit mass simulator. Like the suited “Moonikin” manikin that flew aboard Orion during the uncrewed Artemis I test flight, the low-fidelity spacesuit mass simulator will provide real-time feedback about the environment within the Blue Moon crew cabin.






SpaceX’s Starship lander test article will use a Starship Version 3, currently in production and testing, with an added docking system installed on the nose of the 171-foot (52-m) spacecraft, enabling NASA and SpaceX to evaluate how the entire integrated stack of Orion and the Starship test lander interact. NASA and SpaceX are identifying controllability and communications tests for the Artemis III mission. Astronauts will not enter the Starship test lander during Artemis III.

Launch cadence​

NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin will launch three of the world’s most powerful rockets [SLS, Starship, New Glenn] within a short timeframe of one another, exercising ground processing, launch crews, and facilities as well as control centers, networking, and data exchange at key sites across the country during two separate, back-to-back rendezvous and docking maneuvers between Orion and the lander test articles, before a safe splashdown of the Artemis III crew in Orion.

“Artemis III will be a highly choreographed dance with a demanding launch sequence across multiple launch pads and equally demanding mission operations for our ground and flight crews, making it one of the most complex and ambitious missions NASA has ever undertaken,” said Jeremy Parsons, Artemis program manager. “The demonstration mission will set the stage before our next giant leap. NASA’s expertise in systems engineering and integration, as well as launch and mission operations in low Earth orbit, will bring the mission together.”

For future crewed missions to the Moon, NASA and one of the commercial lander partners will execute a “dual launch campaign,” prepositioning the lander in orbit to await a crewed Orion, launched on SLS. Launching the three rockets in succession of one another for Artemis III offers a unique opportunity to practice launch processing and operations.

Blue Origin’s lander test article is planned to launch first and will be able to loiter in space for up to 30 days, allowing for checkouts in orbit prior to the launch of SLS and Orion from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Blue Origin test article will launch at a set trajectory to meet a designated “parking” orbit for these systems checks.