NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

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NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

NASA will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study how Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet.

The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) sounding rockets will launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study the disturbances in the ionosphere created when the Moon eclipses the Sun. The sounding rockets had been previously launched and successfully recovered from White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, during the October 2023 annular solar eclipse. They have been refurbished with new instrumentation and will be relaunched in April 2024. The mission is led by Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he directs the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab.

A group of people wearing blue jackets pose for the picture. They stand inside a tall, industrial room. Three silver rockets are behind them.
This photo shows the three APEP sounding rockets and the support team after successful assembly. The team lead, Aroh Barjatya, is at the top center, standing next to the guardrails on the second floor.
NASA/Berit Bland

The sounding rockets will launch at three different times: 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peak local eclipse. These intervals are important to collect data on how the Sun’s sudden disappearance affects the ionosphere, creating disturbances that have the potential to interfere with our communications.

This conceptual animation is an example of what observers might expect to see during a total solar eclipse, like the one happening over the United States on April 8, 2024.
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

The ionosphere is a region of Earth’s atmosphere that is between 55 to 310 miles (90 to 500 kilometers) above the ground. “It’s an electrified region that reflects and refracts radio signals, and also impacts satellite communications as the signals pass through,” said Barjatya. “Understanding the ionosphere and developing models to help us predict disturbances is crucial to making sure our increasingly communication-dependent world operates smoothly.”

The ionosphere forms the boundary between Earth’s lower atmosphere – where we live and breathe – and the vacuum of space. It is made up of a sea of particles that become ionized, or electrically charged, from the Sun’s energy, or solar radiation. When night falls, the ionosphere thins out as previously ionized particles relax and recombine back into neutral particles. However, Earth’s terrestrial weather and space weather can impact these particles, making it a dynamic region and difficult to know what the ionosphere will be like at a given time. 

A cartoon Earth becomes shadowed as it turns from day to night, to day again. Red swirls sweep across the planet when it's daytime. Satellites orbit around the planet.
An animation depicts changes in the ionosphere over a 24-hour period. The red and yellow swaths represent high-density ionized particles during the day. The purple dots represent neutral, relaxed particles at night.
NASA/Krystofer Kim

It’s often difficult to study short-term changes in the ionosphere during an eclipse with satellites because they may not be at the right place or time to cross the eclipse path. Since the exact date and times of the total solar eclipse are known, NASA can launch targeted sounding rockets to study the effects of the eclipse at the right time and at all altitudes of the ionosphere.

As the eclipse shadow races through the atmosphere, it creates a rapid, localized sunset that triggers large-scale atmospheric waves and small-scale disturbances, or perturbations. These perturbations affect different radio communication frequencies. Gathering the data on these perturbations will help scientists validate and improve current models that help predict potential disturbances to our communications, especially high frequency communication. 

A map of the U.S. on a graph. The map is covered with light green, teal, and yellow dots. As the path of the Moon's shadow sweeps from the northwest US to the southeast US, the dots changed to a dark blue color.
The animation depicts the waves created by ionized particles during the 2017 total solar eclipse.
MIT Haystack Observatory/Shun-rong Zhang. Zhang, S.-R., Erickson, P. J., Goncharenko, L. P., Coster, A. J., Rideout, W. & Vierinen, J. (2017). Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(24), 12,067-12,073. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076054.

The APEP rockets are expected to reach a maximum altitude of 260 miles (420 kilometers). Each rocket will measure charged and neutral particle density and surrounding electric and magnetic fields. “Each rocket will eject four secondary instruments the size of a two-liter soda bottle that also measure the same data points, so it’s similar to results from fifteen rockets, while only launching three,” explained Barjatya. Three secondary instruments on each rocket were built by Embry-Riddle, and the fourth one was built at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

In addition to the rockets, several teams across the U.S. will also be taking measurements of the ionosphere by various means. A team of students from Embry-Riddle will deploy a series of high-altitude balloons. Co-investigators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts, and the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, will operate a variety of ground-based radars taking measurements. Using this data, a team of scientists from Embry-Riddle and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory are refining existing models. Together, these various investigations will help provide the puzzle pieces needed to see the bigger picture of ionospheric dynamics.

A sounding rocket is able to carry science instruments between 30 and 300 miles above Earth’s surface. These altitudes are typically too high for science balloons and too low for satellites to access safely, making sounding rockets the only platforms that can carry out direct measurements in these regions.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

When the APEP sounding rockets launched during the 2023 annular solar eclipse, scientists saw a sharp reduction in the density of charged particles as the annular eclipse shadow passed over the atmosphere. “We saw the perturbations capable of affecting radio communications in the second and third rockets, but not during the first rocket that was before peak local eclipse” said Barjatya. “We are super excited to relaunch them during the total eclipse, to see if the perturbations start at the same altitude and if their magnitude and scale remain the same.”

The next total solar eclipse over the contiguous U.S. is not until 2044, so these experiments are a rare opportunity for scientists to collect crucial data.

The APEP launches will be live streamed via NASA’s Wallops’ official YouTube page and featured in NASA’s official broadcast of the total solar eclipse. The public can also watch the launches in person from 1-4 p.m. at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center.

By Desiree Apodaca
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Awarded Robert Goddard Memorial Trophy

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Awarded Robert Goddard Memorial Trophy

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team was selected as the winner of the National Space Club and Foundation’s 2024 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for their tremendous work on the first U.S. mission to bring an asteroid sample to Earth. The winning team  received the award at the 67th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 22, 2024.

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The sample was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
NASA/Keegan Barber

The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) team includes NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado; University of Arizona, Tucson and KinetX in Tempe, Arizona.

The trophy is National Space Club’s highest honor and presented annually to the individual or group who has made a substantial contribution to U.S. leadership in astronautics or rocketry.

“The OSIRIS-REx team’s successful delivery of the asteroid Bennu sample to Earth will enable important scientific discoveries for generations to come,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “I’m so pleased to see the mission team recognized with the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for their accomplishments.”

Making U.S. History

Following its launch in 2016, the OSIRIS-REx mission made U.S. space history when it became the first U.S. spacecraft to touch an asteroid and capture a sample on Oct. 20, 2020, and again when it successfully returned with the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

The sample, which is the largest asteroid sample ever delivered to Earth, is from the ancient asteroid Bennu and will give researchers worldwide a glimpse into the earliest days of our solar system, offering insights into planet formation and the origin of organics that led to life on Earth. Data collected by the spacecraft combined with future analysis of the Bennu sample will also aid our understanding of asteroids that can impact Earth.

The OSIRIS-REx mission conducted unprecedented centimeter-scale mapping of Bennu, surpassing precision levels achieved for any other planetary body and setting three Guinness World Records for: smallest object orbited by a spacecraft, closest orbit of an asteroid and highest resolution satellite map of any planetary body.

“The OSIRIS-REx mission rewrote U.S. space exploration history,” said Joe Vealencis, president, NSCF. “The data the spacecraft collected, plus all that we have yet to uncover from the sample it brought back, means scientists and engineers will be reaping the benefits of this mission for years to come.”

The Mission Continues

Following its successful sample return, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX and will now enter an extended mission to visit and study near-Earth asteroid Apophis in 2029.

OSIRIS-REx’s success was made possible by the unique contributions of over 1,000 individuals from government and mission partners like the science lead at the University of Arizona, the project team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the curation team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, spacecraft design, operations, and recovery by Lockheed Martin, guidance and navigation at KinetX, and the launch provider at United Launch Alliance.

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Find more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission at:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex

Rob Gutro / Rani Gran
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Karen Fox / Charles Blue
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1257 / 202-802-5345

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Antarctic Sea Ice Near Historic Lows; Arctic Ice Continues Decline

Antarctic Sea Ice Near Historic Lows; Arctic Ice Continues Decline

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Antarctic Sea Ice Near Historic Lows; Arctic Ice Continues Decline

On Feb. 20, 2024, Antarctic sea ice officially reached its minimum extent for the year. This cycle of growth and melting occurs every year, with the ice reaching its smallest size during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer.

Credits:
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Trent L. Schindler

Sea ice at both the top and bottom of the planet continued its decline in 2024. In the waters around Antarctica, ice coverage shrank to near-historic lows for the third year in a row. The recurring loss hints at a long-term shift in conditions in the Southern Ocean, likely resulting from global climate change, according to scientists at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Meanwhile, the 46-year trend of shrinking and thinning ice in the Arctic Ocean shows no sign of reversing.

“Sea ice acts like a buffer between the ocean and the atmosphere,” said ice scientist Linette Boisvert of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Sea ice prevents much of the exchange of heat and moisture from the relatively warm ocean to the atmosphere above it.”

Less ice coverage allows the ocean to warm the atmosphere over the poles, leading to more ice melting in a vicious cycle of rising temperatures.

Historically, the area of sea ice surrounding the Antarctic continent has fluctuated dramatically from year to year while averages over decades have been relatively stable. In recent years, though, sea ice cover around Antarctica has plummeted.

On Feb. 20, 2024, Antarctic sea ice officially reached its minimum extent for the year. This cycle of growth and melting occurs every year, with the ice reaching its smallest size during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, this marks the second-lowest sea ice extent recorded by satellites, reflecting a trend of declining coverage over time.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Download this video in HD formats from https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14538.

“In 2016, we saw what some people are calling a regime shift,” said sea ice scientist Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “The Antarctic sea ice coverage dropped and has largely remained lower than normal. Over the past seven years, we’ve had three record lows.”

This year, Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest annual extent on Feb. 20 with a total of 768,000 square miles (1.99 million square kilometers). That’s 30% below the 1981 to 2010 end-of-summer average. The difference in ice cover spans an area about the size of Texas. Sea ice extent is defined as the total area of the ocean in which the ice cover fraction is at least 15%.

This year’s minimum is tied with February 2022 for the second lowest ice coverage around the Antarctic and close to the 2023 all-time low of 691,000 square miles (1.79 million square kilometers). With the latest ice retreat, this year marks the lowest three-year average for ice coverage observed around the Antarctic continent across more than four decades.

The changes were observed in data collected with microwave sensors aboard the Nimbus-7 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), along with satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the planet, the maximum winter ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean is consistent with an ongoing 46-year decline. Satellite images reveal that the total area of the Arctic Ocean covered in sea ice reached 6 million square miles (15.65 million square kilometers) on March 14. That’s 247,000 square miles (640,000 square kilometers) less ice than the average between 1981 and 2010. Overall, the maximum winter ice coverage in the Arctic has shrunk by an area equivalent to the size of Alaska since 1979.

This year’s Arctic ice maximum is the 14th lowest on record. Complex weather patterns make it difficult to predict what will happen in any given year.

An illustrated graph depicting the annual fluctuation of ice in the Arctic. The x-axis shows January through December while the y-axis starts at 2 and goes up to 16 by 2's, depicting the millions of square kilometers. Several lines go across the graph in blue, red, orange, and pink colors. The lines are dotted and dashedd or show a larger area. The lines move closely together in a wave-like motion starting from the top left of the graph and moving to the right. The lines peak in March and reach a minimum in September.
The Arctic Ocean sea ice reached its annual maximum on March 14, continuing the long-term decline in ice at the poles.
Chart by Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory, using data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Shrinking ice makes Earth more susceptible to solar heating. “The sea ice and the snow on top of it are very reflective,” Boisvert said. “In the summer, if we have more sea ice, it reflects the Sun’s radiation and helps keep the planet cooler.”

On the other hand, the exposed ocean is darker and readily absorbs solar radiation, capturing and retaining that energy and ultimately contributing to warming in the planet’s oceans and atmosphere. 

Sea ice around the poles is more susceptible to the weather than it was a dozen years ago. Ice thickness measurements collected with laser altimeters aboard NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite show that less ice has managed to stick around through the warmer months. This means new ice must form from scratch each year, rather than building on old ice to make thicker layers. Thinner ice, in turn, is more prone to melting than multi-year accumulations.

“The thought is that in a couple of decades, we’re going to have these essentially ice-free summers,” Boisvert said, with ice coverage reduced below 400,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) and most of the Arctic Ocean exposed to the Sun’s warming glare.

It’s too soon to know whether recent sea ice lows at the South Pole point to a long-term change rather than a statistical fluctuation, but Meier believes long term declines are inevitable.

“It’s only a matter of time,” he said. “After six, seven, eight years, it’s starting to look like maybe it’s happening. It’s just a question of whether there’s enough data to say for sure.”

By James Riordon
NASA’s Earth Science News Team

Media contact: Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters

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Mar 25, 2024

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Jennifer M. Fadoul

Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health

Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health

5 min read

Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health

From the atmosphere down to the surface of the ocean, data from NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite benefits ecosystems, human health, and underrepresented communities.

Years before the launch in February 2024, mission leaders from NASA teamed with dozens of applied scientists and environmental professionals to prepare for the many practical uses that could be informed by PACE data. PACE’s Early Adopter program integrates science data into business, environmental management, and decision-making activities to benefit society.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft stands vertical at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 5, 2024. PACE is NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite that will help increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and climate by delivering hyperspectral observations of microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton as well new data on clouds and aerosols.
SpaceX

The researchers specialize in a wide range of topics including water resources, fisheries and aquaculture, air quality and health, climate, and agriculture. These early adopters of the science provide a bridge between the PACE team and local communities and decision-makers who need accessible products for public use. Such work can help connect the new frontier of PACE’s hyperspectral and multi-angular polarimetric data to real-world problems – and find new ways to address challenges.

Helping Coastal Communities Keep Fisheries Safe

In coastal communities, knowing the quality of the water is essential for ecosystem health, safe and sustainable seafood, and recreation – not to mention human livelihoods that depend on fisheries.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments. When conditions are right, phytoplankton undergo explosive population growth, creating blooms visible from space. Such a bloom occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland in early August 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on Aug. 9, 2010. The paisley pattern of peacock blue owes its color to phytoplankton.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team

Marina Marrari, executive director of the Costa Rican Fishing Federation in San José is one of PACE’s early adopters. Marrari and her colleagues developed a mobile app that will pull in data from PACE’s Ocean Color Instrument to help inform the public about harmful algal blooms. Known as pezCA, the app distributes near real-time data about ocean temperature, chlorophyll concentration, and currents as measured by other NASA satellites. Once PACE data is available, the app will be updated to include a product on specific types of harmful algal blooms that can have toxic effects on people and animals.

Bringing Air Quality Alerts to the Midwest

Information on air quality and airborne particles (aerosols) is typically available for dense urban areas like Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York. Marcela Loría-Salazar, assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, plans to use data from PACE’s polarimeters and OCI to study air quality in locations in the middle of the United States, where there tend to be fewer ground-based monitors.

Urban pollution emissions, desert dust, and smoke from wildfires can travel from distant places – across continents or even oceans. (Think of the wildfire smoke that can blow from Alaska and Canada into the central U.S.) PACE gathers global data on this dust and smoke in Earth’s atmosphere every one to two days, and that data is open access – meaning it is available for anyone to find and download free from the Internet.

A satellite view shows the greens and orange browns of land in the Midwest of the United States. The land, split up by dark blue lakes at the top of the image, also has thin twisting rivers snaking through it. The land and water take up the background of the image. In the foreground are wisps of white clouds and gray smoke. Clouds are seen in the top left corner of the image and alone the right side of the image. The smoke trails from the top left of the image to the bottom right, and the land can be seen through the smoky plumes.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts slowly south over the United States’ Midwest. The drifting smoke can be seen in this Terra satellite image taken in December 2017 over Lake Michigan, as well as parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio.
NASA MODIS Rapid Response Team / Jeff Schmaltz

Loría-Salazar and her team can use this information to track aerosols, studying how they change as they move over land, change altitude, and interact with other atmospheric particles. Her goal is to better understand how these aerosols affect human health when they’re inhaled. Her team works with the Oklahoma state government to develop solutions to improve air quality decision-making.

She also works with tribal nations to help inform air quality decisions in their communities. For example, setting prescribed fires is a traditional activity to preserve ecosystems, but the fires do put smoke into the air. By using satellite data, tribal managers can make better-informed decisions about the potential risk of acute smoke exposure on a given day.

Tracking Health of Marine Mammal Ecosystems

Phytoplankton are the center of the marine food web. These microscopic organisms are food for bigger animals like zooplankton, fish, and shellfish – and ultimately whales and dolphins. While PACE can’t directly detect fish or mammals below the surface of the ocean, it can view communities of phytoplankton, which can inform scientists about the ocean ecosystem in which fish and mammals live.

Centered in the image is a woman wearing a white linen shirt and dark pants. She is sitting on a rock, her knees tucked up as if she is in a crouching position. She has blonde hair which is blowing slightly with the breeze to the left of the image. The rock she is sitting on is brown colored and has small craters in it. The rocky landscape extends behind her where it then reaches the ocean, which is a light cray color. There are rocks extending from the ocean as well.
Liz Ferguson on the coast of the oceans where she studies marine mammals.
Courtesy of Liz Ferguson

By examining phytoplankton, scientists can gain valuable insights into changes occurring within marine habitats, as these microorganisms often serve as early indicators of regional ecosystem health. Liz Ferguson, CEO and marine ecologist for Ocean Science Analytics, studies marine mammals off the Pacific Coast of North America.

Monitoring plankton communities enhances scientists’ ability to perceive the intricate dynamics within marine ecosystems. By closely monitoring shifts in environmental variables and the behavior of indicator species such as marine mammals, Ferguson can study the impact of climate change on the California current’s ecosystems.

Doubling Up Satellite Data

Some species of phytoplankton produce toxins that can be dangerous for humans, pets, and livestock. When these phytoplankton multiply to large numbers, it’s called a harmful algal bloom.

Richard Stumpf and Michelle Tomlinson, oceanographers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), use satellite data to study these blooms and help inform communities about their risks. They have been using data from the Ocean and Land Color Instrument on the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-3 satellite, which captures Earth data by measuring certain wavelengths of light. PACE’s Ocean Color Instrument sensor does the same, but as a hyperspectral instrument, it can detect more than 200 wavelengths – more than five times the number observed by Sentinel-3 and other current instruments.

A man is seen to the left of the picture wearing a blue polo shirt with the NOAA logo on it and a brown, felt material cowboy-like hat. He is facing the right side of the picture and is looking three short, cylindrical containers stacked on top of one another that he is holding. The bottom container has a green hue while the top two are more clear. Behind him is the blue green color of the ocean.
Richard Stumpf examines water from plankton net tows in Lake Erie taken in early summer 2023. A net tow concentrates plankton from the water making it easier to identify what is present, particularly when a bloom is developing. The middle jar is the unfiltered lake water, the top one is from an area that has mostly zooplankton (microscopic animals), and the bottom (greenish) one has cyanobacteria.
Courtesy of Richard Stumpf

PACE data can help Stumpf and Tomlinson continue their research on how the color of harmful algal blooms change over time and space. Choosing specific wavelengths of data from PACE can also help verify the data from Sentinel-3 and extend the long-term data record.

The hyperspectral capabilities of PACE can allow scientists and environmental managers to not only spot emerging blooms, but also identify the specific communities of phytoplankton that make up the bloom. Detecting these details helps scientists better inform local water managers about the location, timing, and type of harmful algal blooms, which can help mitigate risks to the public.

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Soyuz Spacecraft Docks to Station With Three Crew Members Aboard

Soyuz Spacecraft Docks to Station With Three Crew Members Aboard

The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft approaches the station for docking. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft approaches the station for docking. Credit: NASA TV

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station at 11:03 a.m. EDT.

Coverage of hatch opening will air live at 1:15 p.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Once on station, the trio will join Expedition 70 crew members including NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin, already living and working aboard the space station.

Dyson will spend six months aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, returning to Earth in September with Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos, who will complete a year-long mission on the laboratory.

Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be aboard the station for 12 days, providing the ride home for O’Hara on Saturday, April 6, aboard Soyuz MS-24 for a parachute-assisted landing on steppe of Kazakhstan. O’Hara will have spent 204 days in space when she returns.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly updates from NASA Johnson Space Center at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/

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Abby Graf