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In 1983, NASA’s Guy Bluford broke barriers and made history as the first African American astronaut in space. Hear from Bluford himself, see footage from his Space Shuttle missions, and celebrate the milestones that forever changed the landscape of space exploration. Bluford’s first mission was STS-8, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Aug. 30, 1983. This was the third flight for the Challenger orbiter, and the first mission with a night launch and night landing. During the mission, the STS-8 crew deployed the Indian National Satellite (INSAT-1B), operated the Canadian-built RMS with the Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA), operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) with live cell samples, conducted medical measurements to understand biophysiological effects of spaceflight, and activated four “Getaway Special” canisters. STS-8 completed 98 orbits of the Earth in 145 hours before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Sept. 5, 1983.

After launching to the International Space Station on March 2, 2023, NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission is wrapping up its time in orbit, with a return to Earth in early September 2023. NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev spent their months on the orbiting lab conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, including running a student robotic challenge, studying plant genetic adaptations to space, and monitoring human health in microgravity to prepare for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth. The astronauts also released Saskatchewan's first satellite, which tests a new radiation detection and protection system derived from melanin.

On Oct. 14, 2023, a “ring of fire,” or annular, solar eclipse will travel from Oregon coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Weather permitting, most of the Americas will be able to view at least a partial solar eclipse. Click here to see the NASA 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipse Map: https://go.nasa.gov/USEclipseMaps An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, but is just far away enough in its orbit that the Sun is not completely covered—creating a large, bright ring in the sky. WARNING: During an annular eclipse, it is never safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection designed for solar viewing. How to safely view an eclipse: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses... Not in the path of the eclipse? Watch with us from anywhere in the world. We will provide live broadcast coverage on Oct. 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. EDT (1530-1715 UTC) on NASA TV, NASA.gov, the NASA app, and right here on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/LlY79zjud-Q

Our next space station crew rotation flight, a launch day simulation for our upcoming Moon mission, and visiting the splashdown recovery crew for Artemis II … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Is climate change the same as global warming? Not quite. The warming of Earth — or global warming — is just one factor that makes up a range of changes that are happening to our planet, which is climate change. And NASA is studying all of it:

How do planets get their names? With the exception of Earth, the planets in our solar system were named after Greek or Roman gods. Today, the job of naming things in space falls to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features. NASA scientist Dr. Henry Throop explains mor

Introducing NASA's new streaming service, NASA+, launching soon. More space. More rockets. More science. More missions. More NASA. All in one place. No subscription needed. NASA+ is ad free, no cost, and family friendly. It will feature NASA's Emmy award-winning live coverage, and new original video series. NASA+ will be available on most major platforms via the NASA App on iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices; streaming media players such as, Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV; and on the web across desktop and mobile devices.

On May 16, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew past Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, and then the gas giant soon after. Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Slightly larger than Earth’s moon, Io is a world in constant torment. Not only is the biggest planet in the solar system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are its Galilean siblings – Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede. The result is that Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes. This rendering provides a “starship captain” point of view of the flyby, using images from JunoCam. For both targets, Io and Jupiter, raw JunoCam images were reprojected into views similar to the perspective of a consumer camera. The Io flyby and the Jupiter approach movie were rendered separately and composed into a synchronous split-screen video. Launched on Aug. 5, 2011, Juno embarked on a 5-year journey to Jupiter. Its mission: to probe beneath the planet's dense clouds and answer questions about the origin and evolution of Jupiter, our solar system, and giant planets in general across the cosmos. Juno arrived at the gas giant on July 4, 2016, after a 1.7-billion-mile journey, and settled into a 53-day polar orbit stretching from just above Jupiter’s cloud tops to the outer reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere. Now in its extended mission, NASA’s most distant planetary orbiter continues doing flybys of Jupiter and its moons.

Sending a swarm of small satellites into orbit, the first views from our newest storm-watching mission, and making the grade for investing in small business … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Our Webb Space Telescope captures a cosmic ring, the team behind our upcoming Psyche mission, and the unique thing about a star that was ripped apart by a black hole … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

We know the Moon contains water, but, could future astronauts access and make use of it? That’s the goal. At NASA, we’re actively trying to answer that question. Once it lands at the lunar south pole, our PRIME-1 — Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 – will robotically sample and analyze ice from beneath the lunar surface, contributing to our search for water on the Moon:

A commercial resupply mission heads to the space station, a key piece of hardware for a future Moon mission is on the move, and another spacecraft gets ready to spread its wings in deep space … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

An international crew is preparing to launch to the International Space Station aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos will perform research technology demonstrations, science experiments, and maintenance activities aboard the microgravity laboratory. Crew-7 is targeted to launch no earlier than 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 26 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Crew-7 marks the eighth human spaceflight mission supported by a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the seventh crew rotation mission to the space station since 2020 for NASA.

Where are the Moon rocks from the Apollo missions kept? When they’re not being studied by institutions or enjoyed by museumgoers, NASA has a specialized Lunar Sample Curation Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to store and keep these otherworldly samples safe. Studying these samples helps us learn more about the origin of not only our moon, but our planet. Deputy Apollo Sample Curator (Sept 2019 – Dec 2022) Dr. Juliane Gross explains more about lunar sample curation.

When it comes to space, humans and robots go way back. We rely heavily on our mechanical friends to perform tasks that are too dangerous, difficult, or out of reach for us humans. We’re even working on a new generation of robots that will help us explore in advanced and novel ways.

Find out why July 2023 was a record-breaking month, a high-flying NASA aircraft is helping to study lighting, and making landings safe for flights of the future … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

The Artemis II astronauts check out their ride to the Moon, practicing post-splashdown recovery operations for Artemis II, and the Webb Space Telescope checks out a record-breaking star … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

A new Earth science mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), will help communities plan for a better future by surveying the planet’s salt and freshwater bodies. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will measure the height of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the oceans. As climate change accelerates the water cycle, more communities around the world will be inundated with water while others won’t have enough. SWOT data will be used to improve flood forecasts and monitor drought conditions, providing essential information to water management agencies, civil engineers, universities, the U.S. Department of Defense, disaster preparedness agencies, and others who need to track water in their local areas. In this video, examples of how SWOT data will be used in these communities are shared by a National Weather Service representative in Oregon, an Alaska Department of Transportation engineer, researchers from the University of Oregon and University of North Carolina, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist working with the Department of Defense, and a JPL scientist working with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Agency.