Image Credit: Steve Nesius/Reuters

Want to #BeAnAstronaut, but don’t know where to start? Here are some ways you can kick-start your journey! Since the first Artemis class of astronauts graduated on Jan. 10, NASA announced that it will accept applications for a new astronaut class from March 2 to 31. Even if you don’t qualify to #BeAnAstronaut — yet — within NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, or OSTEM, there are ways to get involved with NASA’s missions. Check out the top 10 ways to #BeAnAstronaut:

See all 10 tips here.

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📸: #Astronaut Mae Jemison, Space.com

Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency, is someone who understands how it feels to be confined to a small space for long periods, more than most. She spent six and a half months in space (199 days to be precise), and up until June 2017, held the record for the longest single space flight by a woman. Here, she shares her tips on self-isolation and making the most of these testing times, exclusively with GLAMOUR. So how can we pace ourselves and adjust to a more confined way of living?

1. Reframe The Experience

Firstly, I must say that being in space wasn’t a struggle for me. Astronauts take it as a huge opportunity being in space. It’s something to enjoy. We knew in advance that we were going to be there. So I would say psychologically reframe this experience and try to make the most of the time. Ask yourself if there are things you can enjoy about it? I am getting to spend a lot more time with my three-year-old daughter, for example.

Read the other tips here.

📸: Universal-Sci

A technology that could help humans live on Mars is being used to address an immediate need here on Earth and produce hand sanitizer for a community impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19). Air Co., a company based in Brooklyn, New York, and competing in NASA’s CO₂ Conversion Challenge, is making hand sanitizer with a technology that coverts carbon dioxide into ethanol. The company donates the supplies to local hospitals, doctors’ offices, and police stations.

They’re using the same unique technology to convert carbon dioxide into simple sugar molecules known as D-sugars for the NASA competition. The ability to make D-sugars, such as glucose, in space could be used to create mission-critical products such as plastic, food and medicine.

Read the full article here.

📸: #AirCo

Do you love adorable, tiny things? Have you ever dreamed of having something you designed land on the moon? If you answered yes to both these questions, you should probably enter NASA’s new competition: “Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has issued a public challenge for people to design instruments that could support a long-term human presence on the moon. The contest’s name references the hit movie “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” which debuted in 1989.

Read the full article here.

📸: #NASA

In Bethel’s fluids lab, Jake Stein ’20 adjusts the speed of liquid moving in a Taylor-Couette flow apparatus. He built the apparatus, which features a motor on top of a small, clear cylinder that rotates an inner black cylinder, causing the liquid solution inside to flow. For Stein, the work carries important implications for his future. Along with gaining practical experience, he found his efforts never felt like work. “I love to do it,” he says. “It’s good to know, going into mechanical engineering, I really love to work on a project, design stuff, actually build it, and spend time trying to create something.”

Read the full article here.

📸: Jason Schoonover #BethelUniversity

The VIRGINIA SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM recently awarded the GEISE RESEARCH GROUP a grant to support an undergraduate research project. Under the direction and mentorship of assistant professor of chemical engineering GEOFFREY M. GEISE, undergraduate students will work with graduate researchers in Geise’s lab to investigate a new approach to designing polymer electrolyte membranes to make lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries viable for space applications. The project will focus on engineering advanced membranes to be used as battery separators in extreme environments. Batteries made using advanced technologies are expected to be a critical part of addressing space-based energy storage needs associated with NASA’s ARTEMIS MISSION for moon and Mars exploration.

See the original article here.

📸: University of Virginia

After 205 days in space and 3,280 orbits of Earth, astronaut Jessica Meir landed safely back on earth at 1:16 a.m. EDT in a remote area of Kazakhstan.

Meir, along with  Soyuz Commander Oleg Skripochka and fellow NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan will travel by helicopter to Baikonur after being given preliminary health checks. Meir and Morgan will then board a NASA plane and fly back to Houston.

Read the full article here.

📸: #Click2Houston

Join us when local students get to ask Maine astronauts a question while they are on the ISS!

On April 13, between 1:15-1:35 EDT, NASA Astronauts and Maine natives, Christopher Cassidy and Jessica Meir will make Maine history, and some lucky Maine students will be a part of it. For the first time, two Maine astronauts will be on board the International Space Station at the same time and students from Maine will be able to ask them both questions via video recordings. This historic event will be broadcasted live on NASA TV and on the Agency’s website https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

See full article and press release here.

📸: #WAGMTV