Editor’s note: This advisory was updated April 16, 2025, to reflect an updated cargo weight for NASA’s SpaceX 32nd commercial resupply mission. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 4:15 a.m. EDT, Monday, April 21, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This is the 32nd SpaceX commercial resupply services […]
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission successfully completed spacecraft commissioning this week, opening its instrument doors to capture “first light,” the mission’s first images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere and the surrounding space. This is the first step in revealing new details of how the solar atmosphere unfolds and streams through …
By Wayne Smith The Lyra constellation in the Northern sky is known as a memorial to music thanks to being named after the lyre, a musical instrument similar to a harp. The small constellation is also the namesake from where the annual Lyrids meteor shower radiates. The Lyrids are expected to peak on the night […]
The first super pressure balloon flight of NASA’s New Zealand Balloon Campaign reached its float altitude after lifting off from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, at 10:44 a.m. NZST, Thursday, April 17 (6:44 p.m., Wednesday, April 16 in U.S. Eastern Time). The football-stadium-sized, heavy-lift super pressure balloon is on a mission planned for 100 days or more […]
The first of two planned scientific balloon flights for NASA’s 2025 New Zealand Super Pressure Balloon Campaign successfully lifted off from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, at 10:44 a.m. NZST, Thursday, April 17 (6:44 p.m., Wednesday, April 16 in U.S. Eastern Time). The 18.8 million-cubic-foot super pressure balloon is on a mission planned for 100 days […]
Three International Space Station residents will return to Earth this weekend just a couple of days before the expected arrival of the next SpaceX Dragon cargo mission. Soon after that, two NASA astronauts will exit the orbital outpost for a solar array maintenance spacewalk.
Two NASA astronauts are preparing their spacesuits for a spacewalk planned for the beginning of May to ready the International Space Station for a new rollout solar array. In the meantime, the rest of the Expedition 72 crew on Tuesday kept up its ongoing vision, respiratory, and circulatory system research ahead of this weekend’s crew departure.
The Expedition 72 crew began the week exploring what happens to a crew member’s eyes after living in space for months or years at a time. The International Space Station residents also kept up a host of other microgravity research, continued servicing spacesuits, and prepared for the departure of three crewmates.
NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket is taking shape following the successful integration of the launch vehicle stage adapter onto the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage on April 12 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program used a 325-ton crane to hoist […]
Spacesuit checks and breath and blood circulation studies wrapped up the week for the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, three new crewmates are getting used to life in space while another trio is preparing to return to Earth.
