Women Launching Women: How NASA Mentors Artemis Generation

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission lifted off on a Saturn V rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crowds gathered with their eyes craned toward the sky, as NASA set out to make history with their next giant leaplanding astronauts on the Moon. 

One historical member watching the launch, JoAnn Morgan, instrumentation controller for Apollo 11, and the only female in the firing room inside NASA’s Launch Control Center.

Photo show members of Kennedy Space Center team inside the Launch Control Center to watch Apollo 11 liftoff. JoAnn Morgan is seated to the left of center in third row.
Members of the Kennedy Space Center government-industry team rise from their consoles within the Launch Control Center to watch the Apollo 11 liftoff through a window. JoAnn Morgan is seated to the left of center in the third row. Photo credit: NASA

“I look at that picture of the firing room where I’m the only woman. And I hope all the pictures now that show people working on the missions to the Moon and onto Mars, in rooms like mission Control or launch Control or wherever — that there will always be several women. I hope that photos like the ones I’m in don’t exist anymore,” said Morgan. 

NASA is hard at work 55 years later returning astronauts to the Moon with the Artemis campaign which will land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon – and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. With these new missions supporting lunar exploration, Morgan’s hope for several women in the STEM field is coming true.  

Today, in that very same room where Morgan once sat as the only female engineer, dozens of women sit on console preparing to launch the mighty SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Moon for Artemis II. The room itself is not only full of a diverse group of engineers, but leading the team to liftoff is NASA’s first female Launch Director, Charlie Blackwell Thompson.

Photo shows women of Artemis launch team wearing green for
The women of Artemis launch team pose for a photo wearing green for “go” inside the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

This Women’s History Month, female leaders within the space industry met at NASA Kennedy to reflect on what mentorship means to them.  

“JoAnn, you did show us, whether you knew it at the time or not, that we belong in this room,” Blackwell-Thompson said. “Because of the work you did all those years ago, you made it possible for me.” 

The leaders meeting shared their thoughts on ways women can lead in the space industry. 

  1. Sharing is caring 
    Sharing is the basis of mentorship. Share your experiences either as a guiding tool or a lesson learned.
  2. An attitude of gratitude  
    We grow stronger when we grow together. Shine the light their way and give them a moment in the sun. A sense of gratitude and encouragement amongst others can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of the team.
  3. Stepping up to the plate  
    How can you be a person of action?  
  4. Growing pains are good  
    Just like physical growing pains, experiencing uncomfortableness in your career can be a sign of growth. Outperformance will feel uncomfortable. Trying something new will feel uncomfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
  5. Define how others view you  
    Deliver on your word. Do the right thing when nobody is looking. Be the person you would want on your team.
  6. Leadership is not defined by your title 
    Rise to the challenge within your everyday activities. Inspire those around you and offer a helping hand when it is needed. You can embody all of the characteristics of someone who leads long before you have the words manager, supervisor, or director in your official title.
  7. Identify your board of advisors  
    Just like any company trying to grow, your career deserves a board of advisors to grow. Create a space where you can talk your career navigation. Your board of advisors can change over periods of time and take shape in formal or informal relationships. 
  8. Bet on yourself 
    At every stage in your career, you hold power. Ask for a new challenge, the power to say no, and the power to ask for help.  
  9. Surround yourself with the best of the best  
    Teams can only be the best of the best when they include diverse thought. Be mindful of who you can collaborate with that will bring ideas unique from yours.  
  10. Make your mistakes matter   
    What did you learn? What can you teach others? How will this mistake lead you in the future? 

The work NASA does today, wouldn’t be possible without the mentors who have blazed the trail before. NASA Kennedy Center Director Janet Petro shares the importance of this teamwork, reminding us, “We are not doing any of this work for just ourselves, it is for the bigger goals of the agency and humanity.”  

Have a mentor you would like to thank? Send them your very own NASA thank you card: SP-2024-02-154-KSC EGS Women Launching Women Notecards_fillable.pdf 

¿Tienes un mentor al que le gustaría agradecer? Envíales tu propia tarjeta de agradecimiento de la NASA: SP-2024-03-246-KSC EGS WLW – Thank You Card Spanish Notecards_Fillable.pdf 

NASA, SpaceX Target New Launch Date for NOAA Weather Satellite

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting Tuesday, June 25, for the launch of GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series. The new launch date allowed time for teams to fully repair and test the Falcon Heavy core booster after a liquid oxygen leak was identified during routine new booster testing in February. NASA and SpaceX teams have resumed preparation of the GOES-U launch. GOES-U will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NOAA oversees the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated NOAA-NASA office, managing the ground system, operating the satellites, and distributing their data to users worldwide. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the acquisition of the spacecraft and instruments and also built the Magnetometer instrument for GOES-T and GOES-U. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center manages the launch services for the GOES missions. Lockheed Martin designs, builds, and tests the GOES-R series satellites. L3Harris Technologies provides the primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, along with the ground system, which includes the antenna system for data reception.

NASA’s SpaceX CRS-30: Liftoff at 4:55 p.m. EDT

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after its liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, on the company’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after its liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, on the company’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn BensonA SpaceX Dragon launched on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at 4:55 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of research, hardware, and supplies to the International Space Station.

NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website continue to provide live coverage of the ascent. About 12 minutes after launch, Dragon will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, open its nosecone, and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station

The spacecraft is on track to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday, March 23, with an expected docking of the cargo spacecraft about 7:30 a.m. EDT. Watch live coverage  of the arrival on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

When it arrives to the space station, Dragon will dock to the station’s Harmony module. NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Michael Barratt will monitor the arrival of the spacecraft.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

NASA’s SpaceX CRS-30: Launch Coverage Underway

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft atop, stands in a vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in preparation for the 30th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station. NASA and partner research flying aboard the mission includes a look at plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, 2024. Photo credit: SpaceX

New research and technology demonstrations for NASA are scheduled to launch aboard the agency’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station at 4:55 EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Coverage of launch and docking activities will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Full mission timeline is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on operations):

COUNTDOWN
Hour/Min/Sec Events
00:38:00       SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
00:35:00       RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
00:35:00       1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
00:16:00       2nd stage LOX loading begins
00:07:00       Falcon 9 begins pre-launch engine chill
00:05:00       Dragon transitions to internal power
00:01:00       Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
00:01:00       Propellant tanks pressurize for flight
00:00:45       SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
00:00:03       Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
00:00:00       Falcon 9 liftoff

 LAUNCH AND DRAGON DEPLOYMENT
Hour/Min/Sec Events
00:00:58       Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:19       1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:22       1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:29       2nd stage engine starts
00:02:32       Boostback Burn Starts
00:03:24       Boostback Burn Ends
00:06:20       1st stage entry burn starts
00:06:40       1st stage entry burn ends
00:07:26       1st stage landing burn starts
00:07:50       1st stage landing
00:08:35       2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
00:11:48       Dragon separates from 2nd stage
00:12:40       Dragon nosecone open sequence begins

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will carry more than 6,000 pounds of cargo, including new science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the international crew aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA and its partners will send studies aboard the mission on plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other research includes a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions.

Arrival at the station is scheduled for approximately 7:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously to the zenith port of the station’s Harmony module.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Weather 90% Favorable for NASA’s SpaceX 30th Cargo Mission

Close up view of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Space Launch Complex 40
Seen here is an up-close view of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket after being raised to a vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in preparation for the 30th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, 2024. Photo credit: SpaceX

New research and technology demonstrations for NASA are set to launch aboard the agency’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions at the launch pad for liftoff. Launch is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Live launch coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will carry more than 6,000 pounds of cargo, including new science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the international crew aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA and its partners will send studies aboard the mission on plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other research includes a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Coverage Set for SpaceX’s 30th Resupply Mission to Station

SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket lift off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A for the 29th resupply mission to the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, on the company’s 29th commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 8:28 p.m. EST. Photo credit: SpaceX

New research and technology demonstrations for NASA are set to launch aboard the agency’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Live launch coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, March 19. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will deliver new scientific investigations, food, supplies, and equipment to the international crew. NASA and its partners will send studies aboard the mission on plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other research includes a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions.

Arrival at the station is scheduled for approximately 7:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously to the zenith port of the station’s Harmony module.

The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

Click here for the entire schedule of events.

NASA Set to Launch Four CubeSats to Space Station

This photograph shows two women working on a small spacecraft.
NASA engineers Julie Cox and Kate Gasaway install a solar panel on the BurstCube spacecraft in this image. The work was conducted in the CubeSat Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Photo credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts

NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative is sending a group of four small satellites, called CubeSats, to the International Space Station as ELaNa 51 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites). These small payloads have been developed by NASA and universities and will be deployed from low Earth orbit. 

Once circling Earth, the satellites will help demonstrate and mature technologies meant to improve solar power generation, detect gamma ray bursts, determine crop water usage, and measure root-zone soil and snowpack moisture levels. 

The suite of satellites will hitch a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft set to deliver additional science, crew supplies, and hardware for the company’s 30th commercial resupply services mission for NASA. Liftoff is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

First Cornhusker State CubeSat 

The first CubeSat from Nebraska is the Big Red Sat-1, which aims to investigate and improve the power production ability of solar cells. It is built by a team of middle and high school students mentored by University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergraduate engineering students. 

The satellite measuring 1U, or one unit, (about four inches cubed), will test out Perovskite cells, a new type of solar cell designed to enhance power production with and without direct exposure to sunlight. The team will compare the power production to that of typical cells, called gallium arsenide solar cells, also flying on the CubeSat. 

Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts 

BurstCube is a NASA-developed 6U CubeSat designed to search the sky for brief flashes of high-energy light such as gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and other hard X-ray transients. 

Long and short gamma ray bursts are stellar remnants that can be the result of some of the universe’s most powerful explosions like the collapse or collision of massive stars, or when a neutron star collides with a black hole. BurstCube will use a new kind of compact, low-power silicon photomultiplier array to detect the elusive bursts of light. 

With the ability to detect these brief flashes from space, BurstCube can help alert other observatories to witness changes in the universe as they happen. Astronomers can also benefit from the information because these bursts are important sources for gravitational wave discoveries. 

Rooting Out Earth Water Sources from Space 

The SigNals of Opportunity P-band Investigation, or SNoOPI, is a technology demonstration CubeSat designed to improve the detection of moisture levels on a global scale of underground root-zone and within snowpacks. 

Root zone soil moisture and snow water equivalent play critical roles in the hydrologic cycle, impacting agricultural food production, water management, and weather phenomena. When scientists understand the amount of water in the soil, crop growth can be accurately forecasted, and irrigation can become more efficient. 

The 6U CubeSat is collaboratively developed by NASA, Purdue University in Indiana, Mississippi State University, and the United States Department of Agriculture.  

The fourth in the suite of small satellites, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s HyTI (Hyperspectral Thermal Imager) is also a 6U CubeSat designed to study water sources. 

Developed in partnership with NASA to map irrigated and rainfed cropland, HyTI is a pathfinder demonstration that packs the Hyperspectral Imager Instrument, temporal resolution thermal infrared imager focal plane technology, and high-performance onboard computing to help better understand crop water use and water productivity of major world crops. 

With these tools, HyTI can help develop a more detailed understanding of the movement, distribution, and availability of water and its variability over time and space, an important contribution to global food and water security issues.  

These payloads were selected through NASA’s CSLI, which provides U.S. educational institutions, nonprofits with an education/outreach component, informal educational institutions (museums and science centers), and NASA centers with access to space at a low cost. 

Once the CubeSat selections are made, NASA’s Launch Services Program works to pair them with a launch that is best suited to carry them as auxiliary payloads. 

For more information about NASA’s CSLI, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative 

NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Advances with Solar Array Deployment

Three people in jumpsuits stand in front of a stretched out five-panel solar array inside of a building.
Technicians examine the first of two fully extended five-panel solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper suspended on a support system called a gravity offload fixture during inspection and cleaning as part of assembly, test, and launch operations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Processing of the large solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper is now underway inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Planned to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will study Jupiter’s moon Europa, which shows strong evidence beneath its icy crust of a global ocean over twice the volume of all Earth’s oceans. Europa is currently considered one of the most promising habitable environments in our solar system.

The first of two five-panel solar arrays built for NASA’s Europa Clipper stands inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for inspection and cleaning as part of assembly, test, and launch operations on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Once processing of the first five-panel solar array is complete, technicians will remove it from the gravity offload fixture, which helps support the weight of the array. The same steps will then be repeated with the second solar array. Built by Airbus in Leiden, Netherlands, the arrays arrived at Kennedy late last month by truck, after travelling to the U.S. by air. 

When both solar arrays are installed and deployed on Europa Clipper – the agency’s largest spacecraft ever developed for a planetary mission – the spacecraft will span a total length of more than 100 feet and weigh 7,145 pounds without the inclusion of propellants. The spacecraft needs the large solar arrays to collect enough light to power it as it operates in the Jupiter system, which is more than five times as far from the Sun as Earth. 

Europa Clipper is being assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and is managed in partnership with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The spacecraft will ship to Florida later this year for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch service.  

Join the conversation and get Europa Clipper mission updates from these accounts: 

X: @EuropaClipper, @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASA_LSP, @NASASolarSystem, @NASAKennedy 

Facebook: NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission, NASA, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s Launch Services Program, NASA Solar System Exploration, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASASolarSystem, @NASAKennedy 

Dragon Endeavour Reaches Orbit, News Conference at 12:15 a.m. EST

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission launches from Kennedy Space Center at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission launches from Kennedy Space Center at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3, 2024. Photo credit: NASA Television

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and mission specialist Jeanette Epps along with Roscosmos cosmonaut mission specialist Alexander Grebenkin to the International Space Station has safely reached orbit, and the nosecone has opened.

A postlaunch news conference will be held at approximately 12:15 a.m. EST at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center with the following participants:

  • Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
  • Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
  • Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX

NASA will air the postlaunch news conference on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.

Follow along with mission activities and get more information on the International Space Station blog.

Learn more about commercial crew and space station activities by following @commercial_crew, @Space_Station, @ISS_Research on X, as well as the Commercial Crew Facebook, ISS Facebook, and ISS Instagram accounts.

Separation Confirmed! Dragon Now Flying Solo

The Dragon spacecraft has separated from the Falcon 9’s second stage and is flying on its own. The spacecraft is traveling at approximately 17,500 miles per hour (28,200 kilometers per hour). In less than a minute, the Dragon nosecone open sequence will begin.