Blogs

NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft reached a major milestone Friday, June 5, when it flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time.   The 81-minute flight achieved a speed of Mach 1.1 (approximately 713 mph) at an altitude of 43,400 feet, with the X-59 performing as expected. For NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less, the plane’s instruments were the only indication of flying supersonic — exactly what the team wanted.  “You know you are supersonic when gauges say you are supersonic. I didn’t feel anything,” Less said. “It went […]

Expedition 74 began the week bioprinting human cartilage tissue and harvesting alfalfa plants aboard the International Space Station to advance health and promote self-sustainable space crews. The orbital residents also retrieved materials exposed to the external space environment and conducted their own ultrasound vein scans to continuously learn how living in space affects physics and biology.

The Zvezda service module’s transfer tunnel, known as the PrK, on the International Space Station has experienced cracks since 2019 that have resulted in small atmosphere leaks and prompted ongoing monitoring and repair efforts by Roscosmos. NASA and Roscosmos have worked together to identify the root cause while Roscosmos has been applying leak mitigation measures, including temporary and permanent sealants. 

Teams working on NASA’s INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission, the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical convective storms, have completed assembly and tested two of the mission’s small satellites, or SmallSats. Testing continues on the third SmallSat and is scheduled for completion no earlier than September in advance of a 2027 launch. […]

The LINK spacecraft designed to capture and boost NASA’s Swift observatory arrived at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, June 5.

A collaboration of scientists from NASA and Brazilian research institutions has produced a detailed picture of groundwater change across Brazil. The images reveal significant declines in some of the aquifers that are critical to one of the world’s largest agricultural producers. In the study, published June 3 in Science Advances, researchers used artificial intelligence to […]

3D bioprinting and stem cell research were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The Expedition 74 crew members also photographed growing plants and lab windows for inspection while continuing to pack a U.S. cargo spacecraft.

48 undergraduate students from across the country are gathered to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience of hands-on science and data-gathering with NASA scientists and university mentors.

NASA satellite images show that mangrove forests, which protect shorelines, support coastal ecosystems, and store large amounts of carbon along saltwater coasts, are more resilient than scientists once believed. Four decades of Landsat observations reveal that mangrove forest coverage shifted from long-term decline to expansion, with the rebound beginning in 2010. The forests have long […]