Blogs

At Home in Space (AHIS):  The crew completed an AHIS questionnaire this morning.  This Canadian Space Agency investigation assesses culture, values, and psychosocial adaptation of astronauts to a space environment shared by multinational crews on long-duration missions. It is hypothesized that astronauts develop a shared space culture that is an adaptive strategy for handling cultural …

NASA’s InSight Lander has returned its first picture from Mars. A post-landing news is briefing expected at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST). Raw Images ›

Mission controllers at NASA-JPL have received a signal from NASA’s InSight lander on the Mars surface via MarCO OR a beep from InSight’s X-band radio. In the coming hours, engineers will be checking on the spacecraft’s health. A post-landing news briefing expected at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST).

NASA’s InSight has begun its entry, descent and landing phase at Mars. Within seven minutes of entering the atmosphere, the spacecraft is expected to deploy its parachute, separate from its heat shield, pop out its landing legs, turn on its landing radar and start firing its retrorockets as it separates from its back shell. Touchdown …

The first CubeSats to deep space — Mars Cube One A and B — have begun to relay communications from the InSight spacecraft as it lands on Mars. MarCOs’ transmissions may be interrupted during the landing process, but their signals do not affect whether InSight completes its activities.

NASA’s InSight lander has separated from the cruise stage. It is turning to orient its heat shield in preparation for the entry, descent and landing process at Mars.

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have completed the final adjustments for landing NASA’s InSight spacecraft on Mars. Atmospheric entry is expected around 11:47 p.m. PST (2:47 p.m. EST) and touchdown, about seven minutes later. Watch live commentary at https://www.nasa.gov/live

The Expedition 57 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted human research and space physics today while maintaining life support systems. The space trio also continued U.S. and Russian cargo operations as another crew on Earth prepared for its launch early next week. Commander Alexander Gerst started his day with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and scanned …

NASA’s InSight spacecraft is on target for Mars landing at around noon PST today. Regular updates about the entry, descent and landing will be posted here. In mere hours, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will complete its seven-month journey to Mars. It will have cruised 301,223,981 miles (484,773,006 km) at a top speed of 6,200 mph (10,000 kph). …

Food Acceptability Questionnaire: The crew performed the Food Acceptability questionnaire. Food Acceptability seeks to determine the impact of repetitive consumption of food currently available from the spaceflight food system.  The results will be used in developing strategies to improve food system composition to support crew health and performance on long duration missions. Microgravity Investigation of …