On Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. Launching the Crew Dragon with two unoccupied seats is part of the agency’s decision to return the Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft uncrewed demonstrating the flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
In a crucial milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched into the Florida Space Coast skies at 10:52 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2024. The agency now has a second vehicle to send astronauts from American soil to and from the International Space Station. With two agency astronauts aboard, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
In November of 2024, NASA will renew human exploration beyond Earth as four astronauts travel to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Aboard an Orion spacecraft, four astronauts will loop beyond the lunar surface venturing farther away than humans ever traveled before. Plans call for the Artemis II flight test to pave the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon for long-term presence for science and exploration.
As clouds of smoke billowed into the air, the first Space Shuttle rose from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981. The agency’s Space Shuttle team overcame years of setbacks and delays. The result was a first flight that met all the goals set for the mission. When astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen landed Columbia at Edwards Air Force Base two days later, it was called a “textbook flight.”
On Jan. 26, 2023, NASA paused agency wide to honor astronauts who perished in efforts to explore and utilize the space frontier. This year’s Day of Remembrance ceremonies focused on the STS-107 crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia who lost their lives when their orbiter broke apart during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. The seven astronauts included Ilan Ramon, the first citizen from Israel to fly in space.
Capped by the highly successful Artemis I mission, 2022 was a landmark year for NASA. Groundbreaking research continued in Earth orbit, a new human-rated spacecraft circled the Moon, robotic exploration of Mars reached important milestones and the agency’s newest telescope revealed never-before seen images of the universe.
NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the final Moon landing of the Apollo Program. The results of the 12-day Apollo 17 mission, flown in December 1972, led to some of the most significant findings of the first efforts of lunar exploration. The agency’s endeavor to continue exploration of the Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor recently began anew with the spectacular flight of Artemis 1, helping pave the way for astronauts to return to the Moon.
The ground shook for miles around as NASA’s new mega-rocket, the most powerful in the world, roared to life for the first time, beginning a new era in space exploration. Liftoff of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System, or SLS, is sending a human-rated spacecraft to the Moon for the first time in 50 years. The Orion capsule now is streaking across trans-lunar space on a mission that will take it well beyond the Moon, paving the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.
On the evening of Aug. 16, 2022, the most powerful rocket ever built once again rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. But this time, it’s for real. The destination is the Moon.
Throughout history, humankind has shared an innate trait – the desire to explore. Prehistoric men and women may have stood curiously at the opening of caves and wondered what was over the next hill. Centuries later, a teenager in New England envisioned a trip to a distant planet. With the rollout of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) mega-rocket and Orion spacecraft, the agency now is preparing a return to the Moon as a steppingstone to an eventual expedition to Mars.