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• NASA’s X-59 Aircraft Flies Supersonic for First Time

  NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft marked a major milestone Friday, June 5, when it flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time, setting the stage for demonstrating its quiet supersonic capabilities later this year.  NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, reaching a top speed of approximately Mach 1.1 (713 mph) and altitude of 43,400 feet. The X-59’s flight began at 11:08 a.m. PDT and lasted 81 minutes, with the team focusing on flying qualities at both subsonic and then […]

• NASA Announces Winners of 2026 University Innovation Competition 

  NASA announced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm, as the first place winner for the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, which challenges students to bridge gaps in aerospace technology by innovating new system concepts and prototypes.  Another team from the same university won second place overall for their project, Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement, while Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took third place with the Mars […]

• NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Research Continues on Earth

  Since NASA’s Artemis II crew members safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10 after their record-setting mission around the Moon, science teams have been busy collecting more data and combing through observations collected on the test flight. Results from these science investigations will help support safe human exploration of deep space and […]

• NASA Concludes Antenna Mishap Investigation, Releases Report

  NASA has completed the investigation into the damage sustained last year at its 70-meter radio-frequency antenna, known as the Deep Space Station 14 (DSS-14), at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. The agency has classified the event as a Type A mishap based on the total cost of damages. The antenna will […]

• First Steps: America’s Grueling Second Spacewalk

  One year after Gemini IV astronaut Edward H. White completed NASA’s first spacewalk the agency prepared for a demanding second excursion. Originally scheduled for Gemini VIII, the extravehicular activity (EVA) was reassigned to Gemini IX-A after that mission ended early, with Gene Cernan taking on the task. On June 5, 1966—the mission’s third day—Cernan exited […]

• Fighting Fire With Fire

  In fire-prone ecosystems in Australia’s Northern Territory, prescribed burns are lit to minimize the severity of fires later in the season.

• NASA Hosts 2026 Review on Advanced Composite Manufacturing

  NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project brought together its full team of Advanced Composites Consortium partners for a 2026 spring review at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.   The meeting took place May 5-7, bringing together about 150 people from the consortium, a 22-member public-private partnership.   The review gave NASA and industry partners a chance to look at recent progress and […]

• NASA-Funded Study Shows Wildfire Smoke’s Hidden Ozone Toll

  Over the last decade, wildfires have worsened ground-level ozone pollution across much of the contiguous United States, creating unhealthy air far from active flames.

• Colorful, Chaotic Jupiter

  NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of Jupiter’s northern hemisphere during its 61st close flyby of the giant planet on May 12, 2024. Citizen scientist Gary Eason made this image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, applying digital processing techniques to enhance color and clarity. It provides a detailed view of chaotic clouds […]

• A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II

  An astronaut’s photo, taken en route to the Moon, reveals our planet and its place in space in a novel way.