NASA Unveils Enterprise, the First Space ShuttleFifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans. Nearly 100,000 fans of the Star Trek television series wrote the White House urging that the […]
APOD: 2026 September 17 – A Treasure Chest in the Carina NebulaAPOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 17 – A… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. A Treasure […]
Summer Goes Out With a Heat DomeTemperature records toppled across the central and southern U.S. as the autumnal equinox approached.
Passion Meets Precision at NASA’s Flight Research LabLong before they helped shape NASA’s future aerospace breakthroughs, Derek Abramson, Justin Hall, and Justin Link were in their garages and homes building radio‑controlled aircraft, testing new ideas, and flying their creations at hobby events. That early passion now fuels the work of NASA’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory at the agency’s Armstrong Flight […]
NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon CraterIt started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo caught his eye, as it implied that surface material in that area had been shaken up. “I […]
NASA Celebrates Restoration of Guam Station Damaged by Typhoon Mawar NASA celebrated the full restoration of its Guam Remote Station with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 10, closing out more than three years of recovery after Super Typhoon Mawar devastated the site in 2023. Engineers from across the agency completed the final and most complex step of the rebuild on July 1, when they returned the […]
NASA Watches Earth’s Weight, Finds Center of MassSeasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet’s center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth’s center of mass is a crucial reference point for satellite navigation and elevation measurements. A team, led […]
Indonesia’s Anak KrakatauAnak Krakatau erupts ash and volcanic gases in this Sept. 5, 2026, image acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8. Eruptions are a regular occurrence at Anak Krakatau, a small volcano between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Much of its activity remains relatively mild, but it occasionally puts on more […]
Curiosity Postcard Celebrates Rover’s 5,000th Day on MarsDescription While parked at a sand ridge nicknamed “Chocolatal,” NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day. The first was taken on Aug. 30, 2026, at 9:56 a.m. local Mars time; the second was taken on Sep. 2, 2026, at 5:39 p.m. local Mars time. Those […]
NASA Visits Schools Strengthening Florida’s Skilled WorkforceNASA recently awarded $10.5 million to seven organizations nationwide through its new State Hubs initiative. Space Florida was selected for Project ORBIT, which aims to expand opportunities for middle and high school students, boost enrollment in key career and technical programs, and create a statewide portal connecting skilled workers with aerospace employers. Elaine Ho, associate […]