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The tension is rising for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. On Monday (Jan. 3), James Webb Space Telescope controllers began tightening the tension on its massive sunshield, a five-layer shield the size of a tennis court designed to keep the $10 billion observatory cool enough for science. The task is the final step in unfolding … Read more
Astrophotography allows us all to become citizens of the cosmos. At a glimpse, we can be transported into the depths of space to gaze upon Jupiter’s dazzling cloudscape. Moments later we can picture the shifting rust-colored sands of Mars, or navigate our way across the lunar surface. It’s a gift that’s easy to take … Read more
NASA personnel are spending the day studying the power subsystem of the massive James Webb Space Telescope to ensure the observatory is ready to execute a key procedure: tensioning its vast sunshield. The Webb space telescope, which launched on Dec. 25, is conducting a month-long deployment procedure necessary to prepare the telescope to gather data. … Read more
This article was originally published at The Conversation as part of the Curious Kids series. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insight. Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University A space station on the moon could be very useful. It would provide future space missions with a stopping … Read more
To celebrate the new year, consider taking a day to rest. That’s what the team managing the complicated process of deploying the James Webb Space Telescope are doing, taking Saturday (Jan. 1) off. Work will resume on Sunday (Jan. 2), according to an agency update. The pause comes after a long day on Friday (Dec. … Read more
The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are marking the New Year, becoming only the 37th crew in history to be in space as Earth begins another revolution around the Sun. Expedition 66 crew members Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, Matthias Maurer of the European Space … Read more
One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s most nail-biting deployment steps is safely in the books. The $10 billion observatory unfurled its huge sunshield on Friday (Dec. 31), carefully unfolding the five-layer structure by sequentially deploying two booms. “Shine bright like a diamond. With the successful deployment of our right sunshield mid-boom, or ‘arm,’ Webb’s … Read more
The International Space Station is a state-of-the-art laboratory where astronauts perform hundreds of important experiments every year — but that does not mean that life on orbit is all work and no play for the outpost’s crews. In between their other assignments, NASA astronauts take part in in-flight educational downlinks with schools around the country, answering … Read more
The White House has given NASA a New Year’s Eve “go” to continue operations on board the International Space Station through 2030, granting the orbital outpost a six-year life extension. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was directed by the Biden-Harris administration to work with the agency’s partners, including the European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency, … Read more
Orbiting more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) over Earth and separated by tens of millions of light-years from many of the interstellar objects it studies, the Hubble Space Telescope takes “working remotely” to a new extreme. Even as the world below grappled with another pandemic year, weird and wonderful space discoveries flooded in from above, … Read more