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.
InSight Prepares to Enter Martian Atmosphere


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). …
Without the regular rising and setting of the Sun to bring a sense of duration, the long winter nights in Ny-Ålesund can seem timeless.
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 …
It is sometimes overlooked that Plymouth, Massachusetts, was not the first stop—nor the intended destination—of the Pilgrims.
We have journeyed to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, the northernmost town in the world, so that we can touch the sky.

On Nov. 26, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will blaze through the Martian atmosphere and attempt to set a lander gently on the surface of the Red Planet in less time than it takes to hard-boil an egg. InSight’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) team, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, along with another …
Loop Heat Pipe Radiator (LHPR) removal: Following a successful completion of the LHPR experiment on GMT 320, today the crew removed it from the MPEP and stowed the hardware. The Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) was then removed from the Japanese Experiment Module Air Lock (JEMAL) slide table and troubleshooting was performed on a limit switch …