Before astronauts return to the lunar surface, NASA will first conduct one of the most ambitious and complex test missions in the agency’s history. Launching in 2027, Artemis III will send NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano aboard the Orion spacecraft into low Earth orbit
As NASA returns humans to the lunar surface and establishes a long-term presence on our closest celestial neighbor, the agency and commercial human landing system providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have streamlined the designs and changed both concepts of operations for its future crewed landers. Since NASA established initial contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX
NASA tested RS-25 engine No. 10001 on Oct. 21 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Test teams fired the developmental engine for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines fire during launch of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. During
The Republic of Uzbekistan became the 77th signatory of the Artemis Accords during a ceremony in Samarkand on Monday, committing to the practical principles that guide safe, transparent, and responsible civil space exploration. “Uzbekistan joins the Artemis Accords at a pivotal moment,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson. “President Trump has directed NASA to build
Shortly after NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. In the months after, the agency measured whether the thermal protection system effectively safeguarded the crew and Orion systems as the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. This rigorous analysis confirmed that the
As the supercooled propellant flowed into the core stage, and NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket roared to life, Allison Mjoen and her family watched with awe and pride. Mjoen, NASA’s operations manager for the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems program, helped shape the systems and ground operations that will one day send humans back to
