| In this week’s newsletter, discover how the broadest planned survey by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey, will reveal hundreds of millions of galaxies scattered across the cosmos; find out where and when to watch continuing coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station; and go behind the scenes of the Artemis II mission with the NASA+ documentary series Moonbound. Plus, more stories you might have missed. |
| THE UNIVERSE NASA Roman to Unveil Universe’s Dark Side  |
| The broadest planned survey by the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey, will reveal hundreds of millions of galaxies scattered across the cosmos. After Roman launches, scientists will use these sparkly beacons to study the universe’s shadowy underpinnings: dark matter and dark energy. The survey will combine the powers of imaging and spectroscopy to unveil a goldmine of galaxies strewn across cosmic time. Astronomers will use the survey’s data to explore invisible dark matter, detectable only via its gravitational effects on other objects, and the nature of dark energy—a pressure that seems to be speeding up the universe’s expansion. ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE |
 | THE UNIVERSE The Light Around a Dying Star The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula—the first, youngest, and closest pre-planetary nebula ever discovered. Located approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Egg Nebula features a central star obscured by a dense cloud of dust—like a “yolk” nestled within a dark, opaque “egg white.” HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE |
| HUMANS IN SPACE NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Coverage NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission launched at 5:15 a.m. EST Friday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for a science mission aboard the International Space Station. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the orbiting laboratory is targeted to dock at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14. LIVE COVERAGE DETAILS |  |
 EARTH A Volcanic Laboratory Researchers from NASA and the Universidad de Costa Rica are continuing a decades‑long scientific partnership, currently providing insight into the future of the planet. In summer 2025, a NASA‑led team of scientists and engineers gathered in Rincón de la Vieja National Park in Costa Rica to test whether an uncrewed aircraft system could safely collect data on volcanic emissions. Their goal: to use those measurements to better understand how rising carbon dioxide levels may affect vegetation around the world. LEARN MORE |  THE UNIVERSE A Failed Supernova Using archival data from the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, or NEOWISE, along with data from other space- and ground-based observatories from 2005 to 2023, astronomers have pieced together the mystery of a “failed” supernova 2.5 million light-years away from Earth, in the Andromeda galaxy.LEARN MORE |
| More NASA News |
 | The Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow scale-model wing flew for the first time on a NASA F-15 research jet during a test flight from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Jan. 29. The agency will continue flight tests to collect data that validates the design and its potential to improve laminar flow, reducing drag and lowering fuel costs for future commercial aircraft. |
 | NASA and Vast have signed an order for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027 from Florida. This private astronaut mission marks the company’s first selection to the orbiting laboratory, underscoring the agency’s ongoing investment in fostering a commercial space economy and expanding opportunities for private industry in low Earth orbit. |
 | The thermal infrared capabilities of an imager on the Earth-observing satellite Terra have been shut off and will no longer collect data, more than 25 years after the instrument captured its first image of Earth from space, in the latest effort to prioritize power on the satellite for its remaining instruments. |
| Do You Know? |
 |
| 25 years ago this week, as NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker mission was coming to an end, the spacecraft achieved a first in space exploration history. |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we asked what nickname Astronaut Group 20, which includes Artemis II’s Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen, gave to Group 21. The answer: Eight Balls—a nod to the eight astronaut candidates in Group 21, among them Artemis II’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch. All eight members of this class have lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, with “Eight Ball” Jessica Meir launching to the orbiting laboratory this week as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12. |
 |
| With Artemis II on the horizon, four astronauts transition from years of training to mission-ready reality. The second episode of the NASA+ documentary series Moonbound explores the mental and physical challenges of preparing for a crewed flight around the Moon–and the teamwork required to test new systems at the edge of exploration. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The approximately 10-day flight will help confirm systems and hardware needed for early human lunar exploration missions. RETURN TO THE MOON |
NOTE: This is a NASA publication. Used with permission and formatted to fit this webpage.