| In this week’s newsletter, explore the most diverse set of organic molecules ever found on Mars; learn about the mission of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, now targeting launch in early September 2026 ahead of its no‑later‑than‑May‑2027 commitment; and hear how NASA plans to keep time on other worlds in the latest episode of Houston We Have a Podcast. Plus, more stories you might have missed. |
| SCIENCE NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects New Findings on Mars  |
| After years of laboratory work, the results are finally in: A rock sample that NASA’s Curiosity rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 contains the most diverse set of organic molecules ever discovered on Mars. Of the 21 carbon‑based molecules identified, seven have never before been detected on the Red Planet. Scientists have no way of knowing whether these organic molecules were created by biologic or geologic processes — either path is possible — but their discovery renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life. MARTIAN CHEMISTRY |
 | THE UNIVERSE Roman Set for Launch NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team is targeting early September 2026 for launch, ahead of the agency’s commitment to flight no later than May 2027. By the end of its five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to amass a 20,000-terabyte data archive. Scientists can draw on it to identify and study 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of thousands of galaxies, billions of stars, and rare objects and phenomena — including some that astronomers have never witnessed before. UNVEILING THE COSMOS |
| HUMANS IN SPACE NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov are set to launch no earlier than mid‑September as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew‑13 mission. After reaching the International Space Station for their long‑duration science expedition, they will join the crew of Expedition 75. MEET THE CREW |  |
 SCIENCE Remarkably Light, Yet Strong NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft is literally beginning to take shape with the arrival of the lightweight honeycomb panels that form its main body. This primary structure is engineered to withstand the unique challenges of flying on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Scheduled to launch no earlier than 2028, Dragonfly will embark on a six‑year journey to Titan, where it will spend three years flying between diverse sites to investigate the moon’s chemistry, geology, and atmosphere — advancing our understanding of how life’s building blocks may have formed. LEARN MORE |  EARTH Advancing Earth Observation When NASA’s Apollo 8 crew rounded the Moon’s far side in 1968, astronaut Bill Anders captured Earth rising above the gray horizon — an image that quickly became a symbol of hope. This year, the Artemis II astronauts captured their own moving views of home. From cameras pressed to spacecraft windows to the most powerful radar ever flown, imaging technology has advanced dramatically since 1968, but our drive to understand our place in the cosmos remains unchanged. LEARN MORE |
| More NASA News |
 | This week, the Republic of Latvia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan signed the Artemis Accords during ceremonies hosted by NASA at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. In 2020 the United States — led by NASA and the U.S. Department of State — alongside seven other founding nations, established the Artemis Accords to respond to growing global interest in lunar activities by governments and private companies. The partnership now includes 63 countries. |
 | NASA has rolled out the core stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the crewed Artemis III mission in 2027, following the recent successful Artemis II test flight around the Moon. The stage left the NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday for delivery to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center, marking major progress toward the agency’s first crewed lunar landing of the Artemis program in two years. |
 | Beginning at 6 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 25, NASA will provide live launch coverage of the Roscosmos Progress 95 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft will deliver food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory. |
 | Time is so ubiquitous to our everyday lives that we often just think of it as numbers on a clock face. But what happens when we leave Earth? How do we track time where mornings and evenings don’t match a 24‑hour cycle, or where even seconds tick differently, like on the Moon? On the latest episode of Houston We Have a Podcast, hear how NASA plans to keep time on other worlds and why accurate timekeeping is essential for spaceflight. |
 | On April 21, NASA was recognized by the 30th Annual Webby Awards with two Webby Awards and five Webby People’s Voice Awards, the latter of which are awarded by the voting public. Since 1998, NASA has been nominated for more than 100 Webby Awards, winning 51 Webbys and 72 People’s Voice Awards. |
| Do You Know? |
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| Twenty-five years ago, on April 24, 2001, STS-100 astronauts Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski completed their second spacewalk to install a new component on the International Space Station. This important piece of hardware is sometimes abbreviated with the acronym SSRMS. |
| What is a more commonly used name for SSRMS? A. Quest B. S1 Truss Segment C. Dextre D. Canadarm2 |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we asked what unusual event happened to the Surveyor 3 lander after it completed its mission. The answer? It was visited by astronauts. In November 1969, Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan Bean landed NASA’s Apollo 12 lunar module less than 200 meters from the inactive Surveyor 3 lander. To date, it is the only space probe sent to another celestial body that has been visited by astronauts. |