Crew swap activities are underway aboard the International Space Station as three new crewmates continue getting up to speed with living and working in microgravity and another Expedition 74 trio prepares to return to Earth. Meanwhile, scientific operations are back in full swing aboard the orbital outpost with lab residents studying how weightlessness affects the human body.
You may have noticed that NASA’s X-59 has a shadow— another aircraft trailing it from a safe distance. That sidekick is known as a “chase plane,” and it has an important role in NASA’s Quesst mission. Chase planes are commonly used during the flight testing of major experimental aircraft, providing an extra layer of observation […]
NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver laser communications capabilities for next year’s Artemis III mission, enabling the agency to provide a front row seat for viewers from the Orion spacecraft as four astronauts test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and test versions of commercial human landing systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon in 2028. To supplement Orion’s existing communications system, NASA will install two of SpaceX’s Starlink mini laser terminals – the same laser […]
The International Space Station is a busy place hosting ten crewmates from NASA, Roscosmos, and ESA (European Space Agency) through the end of July. The expanded Expedition 74 crew is continuing its microgravity research, helping three new arrivals adjust to life in space, and preparing for the departure of another three crew members. NASA flight […]
The solar panels that will help power NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope completed prelaunch cleaning and inspections July 8 at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians are following necessary procedures to protect Roman from tiny debris, dust, or other material so that it operates optimally in […]
Teams continue to progress through in-orbit preparations for the robotic servicing spacecraft designed to boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude.
![An educational diagram illustrating how measurement uncertainty can distort data regarding Earth's magnetosphere, featuring a detailed space visualization alongside two comparative line graphs. Top Right: Earth is shown surrounded by a complex network of blue magnetic field lines.Far Right: A bright blue, curved line denotes the "Bow shock," which transitions into an orange-red turbulent region labeled the "Magnetosheath." Spacecraft Locations: The "WIND" spacecraft is positioned far to the left in the "Solar wind" stream, connected to a label reading "Measured solar wind strength." The "THEMIS" spacecraft sits closer to Earth inside the magnetosheath, labeled "Corrected solar wind strength. Left Graph: Plots "Earth's response [mV/m]" against "Measured solar wind strength [mV/m]." A blue line initially follows a linear path but then flattens out, marked with the text "illusion of saturation due to measurement uncertainty."Right Graph: Plots "Earth's response [mV/m]" against "Corrected solar wind strength [mV/m]." A pink line continues steadily upward diagonally, labeled as the "True linear response."](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sivadas-2026-explanation-figure-v5-1.jpg?w=900)
For decades, scientists have thought that there is a ceiling to how intensely Earth responds to solar storms. However, a NASA-led paper published Wednesday in Nature suggests this upper limit is an illusion. If so, it means solar storms could have far worse effects on our technology than previously thought. Observations have suggested that electric […]
10 crew members now occupy the International Space Station following the arrival of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft on Tuesday. The expanded Expedition 74 crew will stay that way until the end of the month when another three crewmates depart the orbital outpost after an eight-month space research mission.
At 4:30 p.m. EDT, the hatch opened between the International Space Station and the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina have entered the station, where they will spend the next eight months living and working before returning to Earth in April 2027.
