Before astronauts venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the agency’s first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo, Mark Cavanaugh is helping make sure the Orion spacecraft is safe and space-ready for the journey ahead. As an Orion integration lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, he ensures the spacecraft’s critical systems— in […]
Category: Artemis
Looking Forward to the Moon
On May 8, 2022, NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems’ Program Manager Shawn Quinn captured this crop of a full frame image of the Hadley–Apennine region of Earth’s Moon including the Apollo 15 landing site (very near the edge of the shadow of one of the lunar mountains in the area). Building upon the pioneers from the […]
NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before. This delivery is the first time NASA will use […]
NASA Selects Instruments for Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle
NASA has selected three instruments to travel to the Moon, with two planned for integration onto an LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) and one for a future orbital opportunity. The LTV is part of NASA’s efforts to explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis campaign and is the first crew-driven vehicle to operate on […]
I Am Artemis: Joe Pavicic
Listen to this audio excerpt from Joe Pavicic, Artemis operations project engineer Joe Pavicic will never forget when he told the Artemis launch director teams were NO-GO for launch. Before Artemis I lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2022, the launch team made multiple launch attempts the months prior. […]
Aaisha Ali: From Marine Biology to the Artemis Control Room
As humanity prepares to return to the lunar surface, Aaisha Ali is behind the scenes ensuring mission readiness for astronauts set to orbit the Moon during Artemis II. Ali is the Artemis ground control flight lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She makes sure her team has the resources needed for the next […]
NASA Announces Winners of 2025 Human Lander Challenge
NASA’s Human Lander Challenge marked its second year on June 26, awarding $18,000 in prize money to three university teams for their solutions for long-duration cryogenic, or super chilled, liquid storage and transfer systems for spaceflight. Building on the crewed Artemis II flight test, NASA’s Artemis III mission will send astronauts to explore the lunar […]
I Am Artemis: Patrick Junen
For some people, a passion for space is something that might develop over time, but for Patrick Junen, the desire was there from the beginning. With a father and grandfather who both worked for NASA, space exploration is not just a dream; it remains a family legacy. Now, as the stage assembly and structures subsystem […]
NASA’s SLS Solid Rocket Boosters: What is DM-1?
Demonstration Motor-1 (DM-1) is the first full-scale ground test of the evolved five-segment solid rocket motor of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The event will take place in Promontory, Utah, and will be used as an opportunity to test several upgrades made from the current solid rocket boosters. Each booster burns six tons of […]
Mission Accomplished! Artemis ROADS III National Challenge Competitors Celebrate their Achievements
The NASA Science Activation program’s Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) team has successfully concluded the 2024–2025 Artemis ROADS III National Challenge, an educational competition that brought real NASA mission objectives to student teams (and reached more than 1,500 learners) across the country. From December 2024 through May 2025, over 300 teams of upper […]