NASA Breaking News

NASA Expands Options for Spacewalking, Moonwalking Suits, Services

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 14:14 EDT

NASA has awarded Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace task orders under existing contracts to advance spacewalking capabilities in low Earth orbit, as well as moonwalking services for Artemis missions.

Join NASA to Celebrate Webb Space Telescope’s First Year of Science

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 13:31 EDT

NASA is commemorating the first year of science and discoveries from the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most complex space telescope ever built. To celebrate the anniversary, multiple events will take place online and live across the U.S.

NASA Invites Media to Next SpaceX Commercial Crew Space Station Launch

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 11:49 EDT

Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s seventh rotational mission of a SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station.

NASA Hosts OSIRIS-REx Sample Lab Media Day in Houston

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 14:40 EDT

Ahead of the first asteroid sample collected by the U.S. arriving on Earth in September, media are invited on Monday, July 24, to see NASA’s newly-built OSIRIS-REx Sample Curation Laboratory where the agency will study the sample at its Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA Offers Media Interviews in Utah on Asteroid Sample Return

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:20 EDT

NASA invites media to the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground about 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City on Thursday, July 20, before the agency’s first asteroid sample collected in space is returned to Earth.

NASA to Provide Coverage as Dragon Departs Station with Science

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:45 EDT

NASA is set to receive scientific research samples and hardware as a SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft departs the International Space Station on Thursday, June 29.

NASA to Provide Coverage for Launch of ESA ‘Dark Universe’ Mission

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 11:47 EDT

The ESA (European Space Agency) and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 11:11 a.m. EDT Saturday, July 1, to launch the Euclid spacecraft. Euclid is an ESA mission with contributions from NASA that will shed light on the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two of the biggest modern mysteries about the universe.

NASA Welcomes India as 27th Artemis Accords Signatory

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 16:41 EDT

During a ceremony at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington on Wednesday, June 21, India became the 27th country to sign the Artemis Accords. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency and Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s ambassador to the United States, signed on behalf of India.

NASA Awards Millions in STEM Research Grants

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 14:52 EDT

NASA announced the recipients of its annual STEM grants, providing nearly $4 million in total funding, to support scientific and technical research that aligns with the agency’s strategic research and technology development priorities. By providing resources to support cutting-edge research in STEM, NASA helps create a stronger and more vibrant sci

NASA Invites Media to Cover Asteroid Sample Return, Logistics Call

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 09:46 EDT

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission will deliver the agency’s first asteroid sample collected in space to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. Media interested in covering the landing, as well as mission activities leading up to and following the return, are invited to register

July 2 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-02T00:00:00Z

Thomas A. Spragens (1917–2006) was an American administrator who was the 17th president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Spragens worked for the state and federal government early in his career before joining the staff at Stanford University as a presidential advisor. He was the president of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, for a five-year term, and left Stephens for Centre in 1957. He was an effective fundraiser and was instrumental in the school's integration; Centre admitted its first black student in 1962 and hired its first black faculty member in 1971. While in office, he helped to facilitate the founding of what is now the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and he attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention as a delegate to support Senator Eugene McCarthy. He resigned in 1981, at which point Centre's enrollment and faculty numbers had both nearly doubled and its endowment had grown. (Full article...) +

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July 3 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-03T00:00:00Z

Illustration of the first wing-bone

The Mauritius sheldgoose (Alopochen mauritiana) is an extinct sheldgoose that was endemic to Mauritius. Accounts by visitors in the 17th century mentioned geese, with few details. In 1893, a wing-bone (depicted) and pelvis were attributed to a new species of comb duck, but later determined to belong to a relative of the Egyptian goose in Alopochen, a genus of sheldgeese. The bird may have descended from Egyptian geese that colonised the Mascarene Islands. This small sheldgoose had wings that were half black and half white. Although smaller than the Egyptian goose, it had more robust legs. Accounts indicate they were very tame, were grazers, lived in groups, and were usually found on the north side of the island except when seeking water to drink in the dry season. They were terrestrial, and avoided water. The species was eaten by travellers, and while abundant in 1681, it was declared extinct in 1698, probably due to overhunting and predation by introduced animals, particularly cats. (Full article...) +

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July 4 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-04T00:00:00Z

Map of troop positions during the Battle of Helena

The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union troops had been using Helena, Arkansas, as a base of operations since July 1862. More than 7,500 Confederate troops led by Theophilus H. Holmes attempted to capture Helena in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on the Confederate army besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Helena was defended by about 4,100 Union troops led by Benjamin Prentiss, manning one fort and four batteries. Differing interpretations of the order by Holmes to attack at daylight resulted in James Fleming Fagan's troops attacking Battery D unsupported, and Sterling Price's attack against the Union center was made after Fagan's had largely fizzled out. To the north, Confederate cavalry commanded by John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker failed to act in concert and accomplished little. The assaults failed, and Vicksburg fell the same day. Later in the year, Union troops used Helena as a staging ground for the Little Rock campaign. (Full article...) +

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July 5 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-05T00:00:00Z

Small-cell lung carcinoma, a type of lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth that begins in the lung. It is the most diagnosed cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer death. Those with early lung cancer often have no symptoms, but advanced disease can cause shortness of breath, coughing (including with blood), and chest pain. The cancer can spread to other organs, increasing both the variety of symptoms and the likelihood of death. Lung cancer is treated with surgery and chemotherapy, followed by newer targeted molecular therapies and immunotherapy. Prognosis is poor, with around 19 percent of people surviving five years from their diagnoses. Lung cancer used to be a rare disease, but its incidence rose dramatically following the mass popularity of cigarettes in the 20th century. Up to 90 percent of lung cancer cases are caused by exposure to tobacco smoke, with the remainder caused by genetic factors, radon gas, asbestos, and air pollution. (Full article...) +

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July 6 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-06T00:00:00Z

Accelerator mass spectrometer used for radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of carbon-bearing material by measuring its levels of radiocarbon, the radioactive isotope carbon-14. Invented by Willard Libby in the late 1940s, it soon became a standard tool for archaeologists. Radiocarbon is constantly created in the atmosphere, when cosmic rays create free neutrons that hit nitrogen. Plants take in radiocarbon through photosynthesis, and animals eat the plants. After death, they stop exchanging carbon with the environment. Half of the radiocarbon decays every 5,730 years; the oldest dates that can be reliably estimated are around 50,000 years ago. The amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere was reduced starting from the late 19th century by fossil fuels, which contain little radiocarbon, but nuclear weapons testing almost doubled levels by around 1965. Accelerator mass spectrometry (apparatus pictured) is the standard method used, which allows minute samples. Libby received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960. (Full article...) +

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July 7 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-07T00:00:00Z

Coat of arms of Sir John Mowbray

John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1415–1461), was a fifteenth-century English magnate who was the only son and heir of John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and Katherine Neville. As a minor he became a ward of King Henry VI and was placed under the protection of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, alongside whom Mowbray would later campaign in France. He led the defence of England's possessions in Normandy during the Hundred Years' War. He fought in Calais in 1436, and in 1437 and 1438 served as warden of the Eastern March on the Anglo-Scottish border. In the early 1430s he became the bitter rival of William de la Pole, Earl (later Duke) of Suffolk. In the early years of the Wars of the Roses in the 1450s he defended King Henry against two rebellions by Richard, Duke of York. Eventually Mowbray drifted towards York, with whom he shared an enmity towards de la Pole. In March 1461, Mowbray was instrumental in King Edward IV's victory at the Battle of Towton, bringing reinforcements late in the combat. (Full article...) +

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July 8 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-08T00:00:00Z

Sid Barnes c. 1932, hospitalised during the Test

The Third Test of the 1948 Ashes series was one of five Tests in the Ashes cricket series between Australia and England. It was played at Old Trafford in Manchester from 8 to 13 July 1948. After a bouncer by Ray Lindwall bloodied his head, Denis Compton left the field but returned and helped England recover to 363 all out on the second afternoon. Compton and Alec Bedser were involved in a mix-up, running out the latter and ending a 121-run partnership. Dick Pollard hit Australian Sid Barnes (pictured) in the ribs with a pull shot, hospitalising him. After rain washed out the fourth day and the first half of the fifth day, the match was drawn, meaning that England could do no better than level the series. As Australia held the Ashes, they retained them. Even though 30% of the playing time was lost to rain, the match set a record for the highest attendance at a Test match in England at 133,740, surpassing the previous Test. (This article is part of a featured topic: Australian cricket team in England in 1948.) +

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July 9 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-09T00:00:00Z

Solidus coin bearing the image of Tiberius III

Tiberius III (died c. 706) was Byzantine emperor from 698 to 705. He was a mid-level commander who served in the Cibyrrhaeot Theme. In 696, he was part of an army sent by Emperor Leontius to retake Carthage from the Umayyads. After seizing the city, the army was pushed back by Arab reinforcements and retreated to Crete. Some officers, fearing Leontius, killed their commander and declared Tiberius emperor. Tiberius gathered a fleet, sailed for Constantinople, and deposed Leontius. He did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads, but campaigned against them along the eastern border. In 705, former emperor Justinian II, previously deposed by Leontius, led an army of Slavs and Bulgars from the First Bulgarian Empire to Constantinople, and deposed Tiberius. Tiberius fled to Bithynia, but was captured a few months later and beheaded between August 705 and February 706. His body was initially thrown into the sea, but was later recovered and buried in a church on the island of Prote. (Full article...) +

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July 10 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-10T00:00:00Z

Plaque marking the location of Rosée's shop

Pasqua Rosée (fl. 1651–1658) opened the first coffee-house in London and possibly Britain. He was born in the Republic of Ragusa (now southernmost Croatia). In 1651 he became the servant of Daniel Edwards, an English merchant of the Levant Company living in Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey); Rosée prepared Edwards's daily coffee. After Edwards returned to London, he set up Rosée as the proprietor of a coffee-house near the Royal Exchange. As Rosée was not a freeman of the City of London he was not able to trade; accordingly Edwards had the freeman Christopher "Kitt" Bowman join Rosée as a partner. The last known reference to Rosée was in 1658, after which Bowman ran the shop with his wife until his death in 1662. The building was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London. On its location is a late-19th-century structure, housing—in the 21st century—a pub, the Jamaica Wine House; a commemorative plaque (shown) is now on the spot, unveiled in 1952—the tercentenary of the founding of Rosée's shop. (Full article...) +

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July 11 Wikipedia featured article

2023-07-11T00:00:00Z

Obverse of the United States trade dollar

The trade dollar was a United States dollar coin minted to compete with other large silver coins that were already popular in East Asia. The idea first came about in the 1860s, when the price of silver began to decline due to increased mining efforts in the western United States. The Coinage Act of 1873 made trade dollars legal tender up to five dollars. The coins were first struck in 1873, and most of the production was sent to China. Eventually, bullion producers began converting large amounts of silver into trade dollars, causing the coins to make their way into American commercial channels. This frustrated payees, as the coins were traded for less than one dollar each. In response to their wide distribution in US commerce, the coins were officially demonetized in 1876, but continued to circulate. Production of business strikes ended in 1878, though the mintage of proof coins continued until 1883. The trade dollar was remonetized when the Coinage Act of 1965 was signed into law. (Full article...) +

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