The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31 (M31), is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years. Astronomers use Andromeda to understand the structure and evolution of our own spiral, which is much harder to do since Earth is embedded inside the Milky Way. The galaxy […]
Category: Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA Tests New RS-25 Engine
NASA tested RS-25 engine No. 20001 on June 20, at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Test teams fired the engine for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines fire during a launch of an SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on […]
NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge
Two students guide their rover through an obstacle course in this April 11, 2025, image from the 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing student challenges – is in its 31st year. This year’s competition challenged teams to design, build, and test a lunar rover powered by […]
NASA Welcomes Community, Astronauts to Marshall’s 65th Anniversary Celebration July 19
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center invites the community to help celebrate the center’s 65th anniversary during a free public event noon to 5 p.m. CDT Saturday, July 19, at The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama. Marshall, along with its partners and collaborators, will fill the amphitheater with space exhibits, music, food vendors, and hands-on activities […]
NASA Engineers Simulate Lunar Lighting for Artemis III Moon Landing
Better understanding the lunar lighting environment will help NASA prepare astronauts for the harsh environment Artemis III Moonwalkers will experience on their mission. NASA’s Artemis III mission will build on earlier test flights and add new capabilities with the human landing system and advanced spacesuits to send the first astronauts to explore the lunar South […]
- Common Exploration Systems Development Division
- Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Marshall Space Flight Center
- OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)
- OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
- Space Launch System (SLS)
NASA Employees Named 2025 Service to America Medals Honorees
Two NASA employees are being honored as part of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, also known as the Sammies, recognizing outstanding federal employees who are addressing many of our country’s greatest challenges. Rich Burns of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and John Blevins of Marshall Space Flight Center in […]
NASA Announces Winners of 2025 Student Launch Competition
By Beth Ridgeway NASA’s Student Launch competition celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 4, just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, bringing together more than 980 middle school, high school, college, and university students from across the U.S. to showcase and launch their high-powered rocketry designs. The event marked the conclusion […]
NASA’s Chandra Sees Surprisingly Strong Black Hole Jet at Cosmic “Noon”
A black hole has blasted out a surprisingly powerful jet in the distant universe, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and discussed in our latest press release. This jet exists early enough in the cosmos that it is being illuminated by the leftover glow from the big bang itself. Astronomers used […]
NASA’s IXPE Obtains First X-ray Polarization Measurement of Magnetar Outburst
What happens when the universe’s most magnetic object shines with the power of 1000 Suns in a matter of seconds? Thanks to NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), a mission in collaboration with ASI (Italian Space Agency), scientists are one step closer to understanding this extreme event. Magnetars are a type of young neutron star […]
Galaxy Clusters on Course to Crash Again, NASA’s Chandra Finds
New observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have captured a rare cosmic event: two galaxy clusters have collided and are now poised to head back for another swipe at each other. Galaxy clusters are some of the largest structures in the Universe. Held together by gravity, they are monster-sized collections of hundreds […]