Kennedy – Kennedy Space Center

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 leap – landing 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.

Sharing is caring
Sharing is the basis of mentorship. Share your experiences either as a guiding tool or a lesson learned.
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.
Stepping up to the plate
How can you be a person of action?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 LCRD Launches Aboard Space Test Program 3

Conceptual image of the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) payload transmitting optical signals. LCRD, NASA’s first end-to-end laser relay system, will operate for at least two years and provide data rates 10 to 100 times higher than traditional radio frequency systems.
Photo credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 551 rocket successfully launched from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Dec. 7, at 5:19 a.m. EST for the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission. Two satellites were on board, including the Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft, which carried two NASA payloads that have been successfully deployed:

The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), will be NASA’s first end-to-end laser relay system, sending and receiving data over invisible infrared lasers at a rate of approximately 1.2 gigabits per second from geosynchronous orbit to Earth. With data rates 10 to 100 times higher than traditional radio frequency systems, laser communications systems will provide future missions with extraordinary data capabilities.

The mission will operate for at least two years. Engineers will beam data between LCRD and optical ground stations located in Table Mountain, California, and Haleakalā, Hawaii, once LCRD is positioned more than 22,000 miles above Earth. Experiments will refine the transmission process, study different operational scenarios, and perfect tracking systems. The information and data are essential to readying a laser communications system for an operational mission because engineers cannot replicate the same conditions with ground tests.

UVSC Pathfinder — short for Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph Pathfinder — begins its mission to peer at the lowest regions of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, where solar energetic particles, the Sun’s most dangerous form of radiation, are thought to originate. A joint NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment, UVSC Pathfinder becomes the latest addition to NASA’s fleet of heliophysics observatories, which study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets, and to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing stream of solar wind.

For a full recap of this morning’s launch, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-laser-communications-tech-science-experiment-safely-in-space-0/

To stay updated about LCRD and laser communications, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/lasercomms.

Stay connected with the LCRD mission on social media:
Twitter: @NASA, @NASAGoddard, @NASALaserComm, @NASA_Technology, @NASASCaN
Facebook: NASA, NASAGoddard, NASA Technology, NASA Space Communications and Navigation
Instagram: NASA, NASAGoddard

NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Deploys

Rendering of LCRD Spacecraft — The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload is attached to the LCRD Support Assembly Flight (LSAF), which can be seen in this image. The LSAF serves as the backbone for the LCRD components. Attached to the LSAF are the two optical modules, which generate the infrared lasers that transmit data to and from Earth. A star tracker is also attached here. These components are visible on the left side of this image. Other LCRD components, such as the modems that encode data into laser signals, are attached to the back of the LSAF.
Photo credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s payloads aboard STP-3, the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and UVSC Pathfinder, have successfully deployed. The Centaur second stage released the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft, which hosts the payloads, into geosynchronous orbit. After coasting for another 40 minutes, Centaur will release the Space Force’s additional satellite, completing the longest Atlas mission in its more than 60-year history.

LCRD will use laser communications systems to transmit data from space to Earth and help NASA update how astronauts communicate to and from space. LCRD is led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Partners include NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. LCRD is funded through NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program, part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, and the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program at NASA Headquarters.

UVSC Pathfinder — short for Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph Pathfinder — will peer at the lowest regions of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. The mission is a joint NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment that studies the origins of solar energetic particles, the Sun’s most dangerous form of radiation.

To stay updated about LCRD and laser communications, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/lasercomms.

LCRD Is On Its Way!

Rocket launch. — In this twenty-second exposure, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches on the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) mission has successfully launched, completed two Centaur engine burns, and is on its way! The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission sent two satellites including the Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft, which hosted two NASA payloads – LCRD and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder – to space. STPSat-6 is scheduled to separate from Centaur into geosynchronous orbit in about 6 hours.

First Main Engine Cutoff

Rocket contrails in the sky. — Contrails are seen illuminated in the sky as the Sun begins to rise following the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The first main engine cutoff, or MECO-1, is confirmed for the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage. It will coast in this preliminary Earth orbit for the next hour before the second burn begins.

The Atlas launched the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3), which hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder.

To stay updated about LCRD and laser communications, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/lasercomms.

Solid Rocket Booster Separation

Rocket in the night sky. — A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches on the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket has jettisoned its five solid rocket boosters and is approaching payload fairing jettison.

At this point in its ascent, the Atlas V is burning propellant at a rate of 2,000 pounds per second, traveling more than 7,500 miles per hour and located 64 miles in altitude and 150 miles down range.

Main engine cutoff will occur about a minute after booster jettison, followed shortly by Atlas Centaur separation.

Liftoff!

ULA Atlas V DoD STP-3 Launch — A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches on the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

We have liftoff! At 5:19 a.m., United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 551 rocket is on its way to orbit, carrying satellites and technology experiments on the Department of Defense and U.S. Space Force’s Space Test Program 3 mission.

Five Minutes to Launch – Everything Looking Good to Go

Rocket awaiting liftoff. — A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission is seen illuminated by spotlights at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Launch preparations are underway, and we are still on track for liftoff at 5:19 a.m. for the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission, managed by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC), from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket will carry satellites and technology experiments, including NASA payload Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder.

Currently, no issues are being tracked, and there is a 90% chance of favorable weather for liftoff.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Updated Launch Time

Launch preparations are underway, but because of high velocity upper level winds the new launch time is 5:19 a.m. EST for the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission, managed by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC), from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Watch the launch webcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Keep following the blog for updates on liftoff and the agency’s deployment of LCRD.

Stay connected with the LCRD mission on social media:

Twitter: @NASA, @NASAGoddard, @NASALaserComm, @NASA_Technology, @NASASCaN
Facebook: NASA, NASAGoddard, NASA Technology, NASA Space Communications and Navigation
Instagram: NASA, NASAGoddard