| In this week’s newsletter, celebrate the numerous investigations the crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission performed while aboard the International Space Station; watch the latest episode of the NASA+ original series, Far Out, where host Megan Cruz learns how the development of soft, flexible robots could change how we build structures in space; and take a look at the sharpest-ever picture of the unexpected interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by a team of astronomers. Plus, more stories you might have missed. |
| HUMANS IN SPACE The Science of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10  |
| The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission—NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov—are preparing to return to Earth this August after a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. During their stay, the crew performed numerous investigations to advance our understanding of biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology, providing the foundation for continuing human exploration beyond low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. SPACE STATION RESEARCH |
HUMANS IN SPACE
 | NASA Astronaut Butch Wilmore Retires After 25 years at NASA, astronaut and test pilot Butch Wilmore has retired. During his time at the agency, Wilmore completed three missions, launching aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, Roscosmos Soyuz, and Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station. Additionally, Wilmore conducted five spacewalks, totaling 32 hours outside the orbital laboratory. LEARN MORE |
NASA+ SERIES
Sailing on Sunlight
Megan Cruz explores how the development of soft, flexible robots could change how structures are built in space, and how NASA is using sunlight to push our way through the galaxy.
WATCH
 THE UNIVERSE Orbiting Gas Giant Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found strong evidence of a giant planet orbiting a star in the stellar system closest to our own Sun. At just 4 light-years away from Earth, the Alpha Centauri triple star system has long been a compelling target in the search for worlds beyond our solar system. LEARN MORE |  THE UNIVERSE Interstellar Comet A team of astronomers has taken the sharpest-ever picture of the unexpected interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using the crisp vision of the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is one of many missions across NASA’s fleet of space telescopes slated to observe this comet, together providing more information about its size and physical properties. LEARN MORE |
 | ARTEMIS Preparing for a Journey Around the Moon In July, the first crew slated to fly in the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission around the Moon in 2026 entered their spacecraft for a multi-day training. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen participated in a suited crew test and equipment interface test, performing launch day and simulated orbital activities inside Orion. CREW TRAINING |
| More NASA News |
 | What can skywatchers look for in August? Venus and Jupiter have a close meetup over several days; views of the annual Perseid meteor shower will be hampered by an 84% full Moon; and the Dumbbell Nebula, one of the easiest planetary nebulas to observe. |
 | The Perseverance Mars rover imaging team took advantage of clear skies to capture one of the sharpest panoramas of the Red Planet so far. Visible in the mosaic, which was stitched together from 96 images taken at a location the science team calls “Falbreen,” are a rock that appears to lie on top of a sand ripple, a boundary line between two geologic units, and hills as distant as 40 miles away. |
 | Runoff from Greenland’s ice sheet is kicking nutrients up from the ocean depths and boosting phytoplankton growth, a new NASA-supported study has found. Oceanographers are keen to understand what drives the tiny plantlike organisms, which take up carbon dioxide and power the world’s fisheries. |
 | Several regions around the world are seeing marked declines in water availability, according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances on July 25. The study, partially funded by NASA, found that dry areas are increasing by about twice the size of California each year. |
 | In the latest episode of the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast, find out what happens when extremely dense neutron stars collide, and how the StarBurst mission, a satellite about the size of a washing machine, plans to detect the initial blasts of these cosmic fireworks. |
| Do You Know? |
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| NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper and his crewmate Charles “Pete” Conrad created the first astronaut-designed mission patch 60 years ago in 1965. Emphasizing the pioneering nature of their Gemini V flight, their design for the patch featured a covered wagon with a short phrase embroidered on it. With some reluctance, NASA’s administrator at the time approved the patch on the condition that the text on the wagon be removed or covered up. |
| What phrase was embroidered on the covered wagon? A. “To the Moon, Alice” B. “8 Days or Bust” C. “Mission Accomplished” D. “Space Pioneers” |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we asked how long it had been since the last crewed U.S. spacecraft landed with a splashdown when the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft landed on August 2, 2020. The answer? 45 years! As part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the last flown Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1975—now over 50 years ago. |
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| Do you have a telescope? Would you like to see some of the same night sky objects from the ground that Hubble has seen from space? We invite you to commemorate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35th anniversary by accepting our yearlong stargazing challenge! New challenge objects will be featured weekly. This week’s object is the Messier 8 (M8), famously known as the Lagoon Nebula, located 5,200 light-years from Earth. Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna discovered the nebula in 1654. Hodierna, like Charles Messier, sought to catalog nebulous night-sky objects that could possibly be mistaken for comets. This star-forming cloud of interstellar gas and dust is located in the constellation Sagittarius. It is faintly visible to the unaided eye in dark skies and easily seen with binoculars or a small telescope. JOIN THE CELEBRATION |
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