NASA Conducts SLS Booster Test for Future Artemis Missions
NASA completed a full-scale booster test for the agency’s Space Launch System rocket in Promontory, Utah, on Sept. 2. NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, will use data from the test to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes that can be incorporated into future boosters.
Station Crew Performs Science Rack Swaps, Life Support Work
Sept. 1 was a busy day aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 63 crew reorganized science racks and serviced life support hardware. Since its inception, the main focus of the orbiting lab has been research that is only possible in microgravity. Scientists take advantage of these unique insights to improve health and industry for humans on Earth and in space.
Hubble Maps Giant Halo Around Andromeda Galaxy
In a landmark study, scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have mapped the immense envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy’s nearest large galactic neighbor. Scientists were surprised to find that this tenuous, nearly invisible halo of diffuse plasma extends 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy—about halfway to the Milky Way.
Final Launch Abort System Motor Arrives for Artemis II Crewed Mission
The last of three motors required to assemble the Launch Abort System for NASA’s Artemis II mission – the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft – arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 28. The attitude control motor was delivered by truck from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Maryland.
A Successful Mission: Summer Interns Go Virtual
The internship session at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans took on a different look this summer. With the COVID-19 global pandemic restricting access to on-site work, Marshall and Michoud employed 100 summer interns who were able to complete their projects via telework from the safety of their homes.
For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.