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SpaceX's Crew Dragon "Endeavour" lifted off on its fourth mission on Thursday (Mar. 2), this time bringing Crew-6 to the International Space Station. Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg of NASA, Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos and Sultan AlNeyadi from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) will spend the six months helping to conduct science and keeping the station running. AlNeyadi is the first Arab to launch on a long-duration spaceflight.
The four astronauts who launched on SpaceX's Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station chose a veteran space flier to be their official zero-g indicator. Suhail, the mascot of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut program, first logged eight days in orbit with Hazza AlMansoori, the first Emirati to fly into space in 2019. Now, Suhail is back, accompanying Sultan AlNeyadi on the first long-duration space station mission by an Arab.
The new ORLY x NASA collection of nail polishes and wraps celebrate some of the agency's most historic space missions. From the Apollo 17-inspired "Spirit of Peace" to the "View from L2" with its "holo jelly" mimicking the Webb Space Telescope Deep Field, the lacquers shine in four shades of space history. The matching sticker sets feature imagery from the Hubble and Webb orbiting observatories, as well as NASA logos.
Swatch specifically chose Tuesday (March 7) for the release of its new MoonSwatch, a wristwatch based on the design of the Omega Speedmaster first worn on the moon, because it is the date of the full moon. Although not a limited edition, production of the timepieces' Moonshine Gold second hands was limited to last month's full moon. The watch was also only sold at 7 p.m. at Swatch stores in London, Milan, Tokyo and Zurich.
To celebrate International Women's Day, Mattel has presented seven STEM role models with Barbie dolls in their likeness. The chosen women include Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican-born female "citizen astronaut," and UK space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who is known for her appearances on BBC's "The Sky at Night." The dolls will not be offered for sale but their real-life inspirations will be highlighted on Barbie's website.
The U.S. Space Force has assigned three long-retired launch pads to four commercial launch service providers, including Stoke Space, which will reactivate the Cape Canaveral site where John Glenn lifted off to become the first American in Earth orbit. Space Launch Complex-14 (LC-14) was used for all four Mercury-Atlas astronaut missions in 1962 and 1963. Stoke Space is developing a fully-reusable rocket capable of flying daily.
Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata and Anna Kikina are back on Earth after 157 days working in orbit. The four Crew-5 crew members landed aboard SpaceX's Dragon "Endurance" in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday (March 11). Kikina is now the first Russian cosmonaut to intentionally splash down from space, while Wakata has logged more than 500 days off of the planet during the course of his five career spaceflights.
As NASA prepares to receive its first samples collected from an asteroid, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced it will celebrate the feat on a new postage stamp. The "OSIRIS-REx Return to Earth" issue will depict the mission's small sample capsule descending under a parachute over Utah, where the rock and soil-filled container is slated to land on Sept. 24, 2023. The stamp's "landing" date is still to come.
Axiom Space, the Houston-based space services company, unveiled a prototype of its spacesuit that astronauts will wear to walk on the moon. The AxEMU, or Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, provides increased flexibility and greater protection from the harsh lunar environment than the Apollo spacesuits offered more than 50 years ago. While the suits worn on the moon will feature a white outer layer, the prototype AxEMU sports a black, blue and orange colorway and a central Axiom logo.
The first woman and the next American to walk on the moon will return to Earth, but the spacesuits they wear while on the lunar surface are destined for a one-way trip. On the same day Axiom Space unveiled the first prototype for the Artemis III suits, company officials revealed that the garments currently have no ride home.
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has debuted its first new logo in nearly 30 years. The new mark retains the maple leaf and four-pointed star from the agency's original identifier, but rearranges them in a way to evoke taking flight, as well as the strength of the community and pushing the boundaries of ingenuity. The new logo comes as CSA prepares to send the first Canadian to the moon with NASA's Artemis II crew.
The sixth astronaut and first scientist from France to fly into space, Jean-Jacques Favier died on Sunday (March 19) at the age of 73. In 1996, 11 years after being selected by the French space agency CNES, Favier launched on the space shuttle Columbia as an STS-78 payload specialist and conducted physics experiments of his own design. He logged a total of 16 days and 21 hours completing 271 orbits of Earth.
Happiness is... a new immersive stage show featuring Snoopy and NASA's return to the moon. "All Systems Are Go" debuted Friday (March 24) at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, featuring life-size puppets of the Peanuts gang, new lighting effects and an original soundtrack. Audiences come along with Snoopy and Woodstock as they train for the Artemis moon landings while learning about NASA's past and future missions.
Three and a half months after he splashed down on NASA's Artemis I mission to the moon, Shaun the Sheep was hailed as a hero on Wednesday (March 29) at Aardman Animations' studio in Bristol, England. Shaun, in the form of a stop motion figure, flew around the moon as a representative of the European Space Agency (ESA), which now plans to tour the woolly astronaut around the space centers located across Europe.
NASA's next rocket to lift off for the moon will be rolled out to the launch pad using a Guinness World Record-setting ride. The Artemis-upgraded, Apollo-era Crawler-Transporter 2 has been certified as the heaviest self-powered vehicle in the world, weighing in 6.65 million pounds (3,106 tonnes). The giant tracked vehicle reached its current weight after upgrades to support the Space Launch System, as completed in 2016.
A 40-year-old design that could have been the mission patch for space shuttle Discovery's first flight is now a new limited edition emblem. Patrick Mullane gave permission for his sketch to be adapted into a patch honoring his father, STS-41D mission specialist Mike Mullane. The badges, which are "signed" in thread by astronaut Mullane, benefit Taking Up Space, a non-profit that sends Native American girls to Space Camp.
