NASA - News Releases
Official announcements on space missions, aerospace research, and exploration
NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan Retires
Former NASA astronaut and Army Brig. Gen. Andrew R. Morgan announced his retirement from NASA after a 12‑year tenure that included 272 days aboard the International Space Station. Morgan logged more than 115 million miles, completed 4,300 Earth orbits and performed seven spacewalks totaling 45 hours 48 minutes, a record for a single U.S. mission. He played a key role in repairing the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and held senior positions in astronaut office leadership. Morgan now returns to full‑time military duty as commanding general of White Sands Missile Range.
Going Low and Slow in Testing
NASA’s experimental X‑59 quiet‑supersonic aircraft has moved beyond its initial high‑altitude, near‑Mach‑1 flights to a new series of lower‑speed, lower‑altitude runs. The latest sorties test the plane’s performance across its full envelope, including operations with landing gear both retracted and...
Students Build Moon Robots for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge
NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge drew 47 university teams to design remote‑controlled robots that can navigate rough lunar terrain and build regolith‑based berms. The competition culminated in a finals showcase at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on May 19. Participants...
Webinar 6/17: Discover, Access, and Task Commercial Data with NASA’s Satellite Data Explorer
NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program will host a webinar on June 17, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EDT to showcase the Satellite Data Explorer (SDX), a web‑based portal for discovering, accessing, and tasking commercial Earth‑observation imagery. The live demo will...
NASA to Announce Artemis III Crew, Provide Mission Progress Update
NASA will host a live event on June 9 at 11 a.m. EDT from Johnson Space Center to announce the four astronauts selected for the Artemis III test flight. The announcement will be streamed on NASA+ and YouTube, with limited in‑person and virtual...
New Instrument Used Antarctic Ice Sheet to Probe Extreme Universe
The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) launched from Antarctica on Dec. 20, 2025, and spent 23 days at 120,000 ft altitude probing the continent’s ice sheet for ultra‑high‑energy neutrinos and cosmic‑ray air showers. By using a novel interferometric phased‑array trigger and...
Webb Studies Star Clusters
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured a near‑infrared view of a spiral arm in the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) as part of a survey of roughly 9,000 star clusters. The study finds that more massive clusters shed their natal gas faster,...
NASA Announces Realignment to Accelerate Mission Delivery
NASA announced an agency‑wide realignment aimed at accelerating mission delivery and aligning with the National Space Policy. The restructure consolidates the Exploration Systems Development and Space Operations directorates into a new Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate and merges Aeronautics with Space...
NASA to Showcase Mission to Boost Swift Spacecraft’s Orbit
NASA will showcase a June 2026 mission to boost the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory using Katalyst’s LINK robotic servicing spacecraft. The LINK vehicle will be encapsulated in Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL launch vehicle and released from the L‑1011...
NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars
In December 2023, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft captured the Zwan‑Wolf effect—previously known only from Earth’s magnetosphere—within Mars’ ionosphere below 200 km. The phenomenon, observed during a powerful solar storm, shows charged particles being squeezed along magnetic flux tubes, altering atmospheric dynamics. Published...
NASA Science, Cargo Launch on 34th SpaceX Resupply Mission to Station
SpaceX launched the 34th commercial resupply mission for NASA on May 15, 2026, using a Falcon 9 to deliver roughly 6,500 lb of cargo to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously on May 17, carrying new experiments...
Curiosity Shakes Loose a Pesky Rock
NASA's Curiosity rover successfully freed a rock nicknamed Atacama after it became lodged in the drill on April 25, 2026. Engineers spent several days repositioning the robotic arm and vibrating the drill before the rock detached on May 1, breaking...
NASA Draws on Industry for Mars Telecommunications Network
NASA released a Request for Proposal on May 14, 2026 to partner with commercial firms on the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN). The MTN will deploy high‑performance orbiters to deliver high‑bandwidth, low‑latency links for surface, orbital and future human missions on...
Rise Goes to Washington
NASA’s Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen—completed a ten‑day lunar flyby in April 2026 and then traveled to Washington, D.C. on May 12 to meet congressional staff on the Capitol’s dais. The team displayed “Rise,” a...
NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans
NASA released preliminary plans for Artemis III, an Earth‑orbit test flight slated for next year. The mission will launch four crew members aboard Orion on an SLS rocket that uses a non‑propulsive “spacer” in place of the interim upper stage. While...