Caitlin Milera

Test Launch day

“Going in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…” The eight-foot tall rocket stood, motionless.

“… Come on Chungus.” the rocketeer murmured into the microphone.

With an ear-shattering roar, Chungus burst into the sky, 500 hundred feet, 1,000 feet, over 3,000 feet! A speck in the brilliant blue.

The team erupted, screaming wildly as the rocket flew.

“YES!” Reign Pagaran yelled, leaping into the air, held aloft, it seemed, by the joy of this moment. The Trailblazers did it, they flew before they walked.

…

Read the full article on colorado.edu

Image Credit: University of Colorado Boulder & Colorado Space Grant Consortium

Author Credit:  Grace Wilson

Learn more about the First Nations Launch – Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium

If you had two days to work with NASA to eliminate barriers of access to space and science opportunities, what would you do?

For nearly 30,000 participants who had this opportunity earlier this month, the sky was the limit. Coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, builders, artists, and technologists across the world came together in person and virtually for the 2022 NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Using NASA’s open-source data, they tackled the challenge of scientific access, using their scientific knowledge, artistic skills, business acumen, and wildest imaginations.

Read the full article on american.edu

Author Credit: Patty Housman

Image Credit: DC Space Grant Consortium

The historic Artemis I mission took flight in the early hours of Wednesday morning after months of anticipation. The milestone event kicked off a journey that will send an uncrewed spacecraft around the moon, paving the way for NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century.

The Orion spacecraft’s spectacular first views of Earth were shared more than nine hours into the journey, with the vehicle about 57,000 miles away from our planet on its way to the moon.

Read the full article on CNN.com.

Author Credit: By Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland, CNN

Image Credit: CNN Business

NC Space Grant is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Team Experience and Competition Awards, which help undergraduate teams participate in competitions either sponsored or sanctioned by NASA or other STEM-related organizations. Competitions are in the fields of engineering, science, technology and/or mathematics (STEM), and complement the academic studies of the team members.

“These opportunities help students develop the skills and knowledge base, as well as build strong teamwork capabilities, necessary to succeed in STEM careers in the future,” says Sandra Canfield, assistant director of NC Space Grant.

Read the full article on the NC Space Grant Consortium website here.

Author Credit: Michelle Yu

Image Credit: UNC Charlotte

“NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) this week captured an image of the sun in ultraviolet light featuring three dark patches that look like a smiling face — a face that could signal a solar storm with problems for Earth.”

Read the full article and view a video of the Sun at npr.org.

Author Credit: Ashley Ahn

Image Credit: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the sun “smiling” in 193 angstrom light on Oct. 26. NASA/GSFC/SDO

After 170 days in orbit, NASA astronauts  Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti safely splashed down Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency’s fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and astronauts.

Read the full article on nasa.gov here.

Author Credit: Monika Luabeya

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The crew members assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission are in orbit following their launch to the International Space Station noon EDT Wednesday, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The international crew will serve as the agency’s fifth commercial crew rotation mission with SpaceX aboard the orbital laboratory.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon Endurance spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann as mission commander, and Josh Cassada, pilot. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, also aboard the Dragon, will serve as mission specialists for their science expedition in microgravity aboard the space station.

Read the full article on NASA.gov here.

Author Credit:Gerelle Dodson

Image Credit:NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA is awarding more than $1 million to the Virginia Space Grant Consortium for the NASA Space Grant Plant the Moon Challenge project. The proposal is one of four awards made nationally through the NASA Space Grant KIDS funding opportunity which focuses on providing experiences for students to learn about NASA’s Artemis mission to return human explorers to the Moon and to Mars.

The Moon Challenge Project will significantly extend the reach of the Institute of Competition Science’s current international Plant the Moon Challenge in a six-state region that includes partnerships with the North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and Puerto Rico Space Grant programs. Virginia Space Grant Consortium is serving as project lead.

Read the full article on “The College Today,” official news site of the College of Charleston.

Author Credit: The College Today Editor

Image Credit: South Carolina Space Grant Consortium | The College Today

The DART mission has been flying to its target since launching last year. On Monday night, it will connect.

An asteroid minding its own business not too far from Earth is about to get knocked about by a visitor from our planet.

On Monday, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, is set to collide with Dimorphos, a small asteroid that is the moon of a larger space rock, Didymos. While these two near-Earth objects pose no immediate threat to our world, NASA launched DART last year to test a technique that could one day be used for planetary defense. Here’s what you need to know about the mission.

Read the full article on The New York Times website.

Author Credit: Kenneth Chang

Image Credit: NASA/John Hopkins/APL