Topic: Astronaut

NASA’s Mars 2020 mission to use autopilot to maneuver around hazards during landing

July 3, 2019 |

Pasadena, CA – During the first astronaut landing on the Moon, the view of the Sea of Tranquility rising up to meet Neil Armstrong was not what Apollo 11 mission planners had intended.

They had hoped to send the lunar module Eagle toward a relatively flat landing zone with few craters, rocks and boulders. Instead, peering through his small, triangular commander’s window, Armstrong saw a boulder field – very unfriendly for a lunar module.

So the Apollo 11 commander took control of the descent from the onboard computer, piloting Eagle well beyond the boulder field, to a landing site that will forever be known as Tranquility Base.

NASA’s Mars 2020 mission will have an autopilot that helps guide it to safer landings on the Red Planet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission will pave way for future Astronauts

June 13, 2019 |

Pasadena, CA – A historic moment, when a female astronaut first sets foot on the Moon in 2024 will represent a step toward another NASA first: eventually putting humans on Mars. NASA’s latest robotic mission to the Red Planet, Mars 2020, aims to help future astronauts brave that inhospitable landscape.

When a female astronaut first sets foot on the Moon in 2024, the historic moment will represent a step toward another NASA first: eventually putting humans on Mars. NASA’s latest robotic mission to the Red Planet, Mars 2020, aims to help future astronauts brave that inhospitable landscape.

This artist’s concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans. (NASA)

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NASA looks to advance Nanomaterial-Based Detector Platform

February 18, 2019 |

Written by Lori Keesey
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – A NASA technologist is taking miniaturization to the extreme.

Mahmooda Sultana won funding to advance a potentially revolutionary, nanomaterial-based detector platform. The technology is capable of sensing everything from minute concentrations of gases and vapor, atmospheric pressure and temperature, and then transmitting that data via a wireless antenna — all from the same self-contained platform that measures just two-by-three-inches in size.

Under a $2 million technology development award, Sultana and her team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will spend the next two years advancing the autonomous multifunctional sensor platform.

Technologist Mahmooda Sultana holds an early iteration of an autonomous multifunctional sensor platform, which could benefit all of NASA’s major scientific disciplines and efforts to send humans to the Moon and Mars. (NASA/W. Hrybyk)

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NASA Astronaut, Cosmonaut Safe After Abort During Launch to International Space Station

October 12, 2018 |

NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are resting comfortably in the city of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, after an anomaly occurred shortly after their launch.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 3:40am CDT Thursday, October 11th, 2018 (2:40pm in Baikonur time) carrying Hague and Ovchinin. Shortly after launch, there was an anomaly with the booster, and the launch ascent was aborted, resulting in a ballistic landing of the spacecraft.

Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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NASA Mourns the Passing of Astronaut John Young

January 8, 2018 |

NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – Astronaut John Young, who walked on the Moon during Apollo 16 and commanded the first space shuttle mission, died Friday, January 5th, 2018, at the age of 87 from complications of pneumonia. Young began his impressive career at NASA in 1962, when he was selected from among hundreds of young pilots to join NASA’s second astronaut class, known as the “New Nine.”

“Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer,” acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement. “Astronaut John Young’s storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier.

John Young’s official astronaut portrait. (NASA)

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NASA partners with American Girl to inspire children about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)

December 29, 2017 |

NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – NASA is collaborating with a well-known doll and book company to inspire children to dream big and reach for the stars.

Through a Space Act Agreement, NASA partnered with American Girl to share the excitement of space with the public, and in particular, inspire young girls to learn about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

NASA provided the company subject matter experts for their advisory board, provided input for an upcoming book series, and also reviewed merchandise as it was developed for a new STEM-inspired character to ensure authenticity and adherence to agency graphic and media usage standards.

Megan McArthur, NASA astronaut who serves on the advisory board for American Girl’s new STEM-inspired character, says she always wants to encourage girls and boys to pursue their dreams, no matter how big. McArthur, seen here during a space shuttle mission, dreamed of being an astronaut since she was a teenager. (NASA)

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NASA 2017 Highlights

December 24, 2017 |

Written by Jen Rae Wang / Allard Beutel
NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – The Moon became a key focus point for NASA in 2017, whether it was blocking out the Sun during one of the most-viewed events in U.S. history, or reinvigorating the agency’s human space exploration plans.

One of the numerous NASA-related activities and actions the Trump Administration did in 2017 was to reconstitute the National Space Council. During its first meeting on October 5th, Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to develop a plan to help extend human exploration across our solar system, and return astronauts to the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars and other destinations.

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APSU’s Fortera Stadium hosts hundreds for the Total Solar Eclipse

August 25, 2017 |

Clarksville, TN – Around 1:25pm on Monday, August 21st, 2017, hundreds of people cheered in the near-dark inside Austin Peay State University’s Fortera Stadium.

APSU hosts Peayclipse, an event for the community to gather and witness a once in a lifetime solar eclipse at Fortera Stadium on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Taylor Slifko, APSU)

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APSU is holding several Total Solar Eclipse events

August 8, 2017 |

Clarksville, TN – On Monday, August 21st, 2017, the heavens—in the words of English poet Lavinia Greenlaw—will throw a “celestial dimmer switch” during the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse, and as excitement builds across the country for this cosmic spectacle, Austin Peay State University is hosting several events, including an official NASA viewing parties at the campus’ Fortera Stadium.

Austin Peay is hosting several events for the upcoming 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.

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APSU PeayClipse celebration to host free talk with Astronaut Rhea Seddon August 20th

June 26, 2017 |

Clarksville, TN – On April 12th, 1985, Dr. Rhea Seddon sat on 4.5 million pounds of explosives. It was a moment she’d been preparing for most of her life, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a little anxious.

“It’s pretty scary those first few minutes,” she said during a 2015 AuthorSpeak event at the Linebaugh Library. “You feel this giant explosion way back behind you, and it feels like you’re going to blow up.”

Dr. Rhea Seddon

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