NASA News

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission captured extraordinary images of our home planet during their journey around the far side of the Moon.

Windshaper A large WindShaper fan array is available for dynamic low-speed and hovering flight research.  The WindShaper is ideal for generating arbitrary wind gradients and wind gusts via a simple Python API.  A companion WindProbe is also available for quick surveys of flows.  The WindProbe utilizes the lab’s OptiTrack motion capture system to extract the […]

Listen to this audio excerpt from Dan Florez, test director for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program: At 1:47 a.m. EST November 16, 2022, as the Artemis I engines ignited, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and Dan Florez, NASA test director for the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems, watched from Kennedy’s Launch Control Center roof as the midnight […]

WindShaper A large WindShaper fan array is available for dynamic low-speed and hovering flight research.  The WindShaper is ideal for generating arbitrary wind gradients and wind gusts via a simple Python API.  A companion WindProbe is also available for quick surveys of flows.  The WindProbe utilizes the lab’s OptiTrack motion capture system to extract the […]

The Artemis II crew captured this photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, on April 7, 2026. The Milky Way’s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Spanning more than 100,000 light-years, Earth is located along one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, about […]

Description Staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California watch the agency’s Artemis II mission unfold soon after launch on April 1, 2026, at the Space Flight Operations Facility, which operates the Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN comprises of three complexes in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. Each complex has several […]

Description A graphical representation of the Deep Space Network’s radio frequency antennas indicate signal acquisition from NASA’s Artemis II mission to the Moon on April 1, 2026, inside the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Two antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, Deep Space Station 54 and […]

Description The acquisition of the radio frequency signal from the Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon by NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) is indicated by the peak in the data signal shown on the top computer screen.  Soon after the mission’s launch on April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. EDT, NASA’s Near Space Network […]

Description Blanca Renteria, Artemis Deep Space Network (DSN) operations chief, monitors data at the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California shortly after Artemis II launched from the agency’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. EDT. The Space Flight Operations Facility operates the […]

Description Staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California watch the launch of the agency’s Artemis II mission to the Moon on April 1, 2026, at the Space Flight Operations Facility, which operates the Deep Space Network (DSN). Soon after launch, the Artemis II crew communicated with the Near Space Network while they were […]

Description A container of “lucky peanuts” sits above workstations within the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory shortly before the launch of the Artemis II mission to the Moon on April 1, 2026. Eating peanuts before launches and other major mission events is a longstanding tradition at JPL. The Space Flight Operations Facility operates […]

An early autumn storm left higher elevations in southern Argentina with a fresh and fleeting coat of white.

Twin control rooms at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are actively supporting real-time mission operations in lunar orbit as part of the agency’s Artemis II mission, helping ensure astronaut safety and mission success as the crew prepares to return to Earth Friday, April 10. The LUCA (Lunar Utilization Control Area) and LESA […]

The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. During lunar flyby, the Artemis II astronauts observed a solar eclipse that only they could see due to their unique position. See more photos from […]

A massive, old caldera and more recently formed craters shape the landscape in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

Leo is a prominent sight for stargazers in April. Its famous sickle, punctuated by the bright star Regulus, draws many a beginning stargazer’s eyes, inviting deeper looks into some of Leo’s celestial delights, including a great double star and a famous galactic trio. Leo’s distinctive forward sickle, or “reverse question mark,” is easy to spot […]

Editor’s note: Some photo captions were updated on April 8, 2026, to reflect ongoing scientific observations and discussion about the images. The first flyby images of the Moon captured by NASA’s Artemis II astronauts during their historic test flight reveal some regions no human has seen, including a rare in-space solar eclipse. Released Tuesday, astronauts […]

The Artemis II crew captured this view of Earth setting on April 6, 2026, as they flew around the Moon. As the astronauts flew over the Moon’s far side, the crew photographed and described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface cracks and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time. […]

Digital creators and social media users are invited to register to attend the rollout of the third SLS (Space Launch System) core stage as it is prepped to head from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Are you passionate about social media and communications? Do you love to create content for an […]

Editor’s note: This advisory was updated Wednesday, April 8, 2026, to reflect a time change in the event. Media will have an opportunity at 10:45 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 8, to speak with NASA’s Artemis II crew members as they continue their journey toward Earth during their historic mission around the Moon. The 20-minute […]