"The large-scale homogeneity of the universe makes it very difficult to believe that the structure of the universe is determined by anything so peripheral as some complicated molecular structure on a minor planet orbiting a very average star in the outer suburbs of a fairly typical galaxy."

— Steven Hawking

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Earth will spin faster on July 22 to create 2nd-shortest day in history

Space.com - 5 hours 55 min ago
Our planet has been rotating at its fastest since records began in 1973.
Categories: Astronomy

Catherine Staggs: Advancing Artemis Through Contracting Expertise

NASA - Breaking News - 6 hours 41 min ago

A lifelong baseball fan, Catherine Staggs set out with her family to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums across the United States. That love of the game eventually led them to settle in Houston about eight years ago – a choice that helped lead Staggs to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she is a contracting officer for the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Through CLPS, she helps manage the contracts with commercial companies delivering science and technology to the Moon. These efforts support NASA’s Artemis campaign and lay the groundwork for continuous human presence on the lunar surface.

Official portrait of Catherine Staggs.NASA

She joined NASA as a civil servant in 2018, but Staggs’ career in the federal government stretches back to her college days. She completed an accounting co-op with the Department of Defense as a student at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, and secured a full-time accounting position with the agency following her graduation. She transitioned to a business financial manager position supporting U.S. Marine Corps projects while earning an MBA from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. “That position is where I started to dabble in contracting,” she said.

Staggs moved to Texas in 2014 to be closer to her boyfriend – now husband – who was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen. She was hired as a contract compliance manager for a small, Killeen-based business that specialized in government contracts, officially launching her career in contracting. When Staggs’ husband retired from the Army, the couple decided to move to Houston because they loved to watch the Houston Astros play ball. Staggs continued working for the contracting company from her new home but missed meeting new people and collaborating with colleagues in person.

“I applied for a contract specialist job with NASA to get back into the office, and the rest is history,” she said.

Her current role at Johnson involves managing the administrative contract functions for the 13 base contracts that support CLPS, which are valued at $2.6 billion. She is also the contracting officer for Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission-3 and helps to train and develop up-and-coming contract specialists. “I love to see the development each contract specialist has over their career,” she said. “My first Pathways intern is now working full-time for NASA as a contract specialist, and they are working to become a limited warrant contracting officer.”

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) procurement team celebrates the lunar landing of Intuitive Machines’ second CLPS flight at Ellington Field on March 6, 2025. Front row, from left: Doug York, Josh Smith, Tasha Beasley, Aubrie Henspeter, Jennifer Ariens, Catherine Staggs, and Shayla Martin. Back row: John Trahan.NASA

Her training experience provides valuable perspective on new team members. “Everyone starts at the bottom, not knowing what they don’t know,” she said. “We all have a beginning, and we need to remember that as we welcome new employees.”

Staggs said that navigating change has at times been difficult in her career, but she strives to remain flexible and open to adjusting work and life to meet the needs of the mission. “My time at NASA has helped develop my leadership skills through confidence in myself and my team,” she said.

Catherine Staggs received a 2023 Johnson Space Center Director’s Commendation Award. From left: Johnson Acting Center Director Steve Koerner, Jeremy Staggs, AJ Staggs, Catherine Staggs, NASA Acting Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche. NASA

She looks forward to mentoring the Artemis Generation and sharing her contracting knowledge with new team members. She also anticipates crossing more baseball stadiums off her family’s list this summer.  

Explore More 6 min read NASA Program Builds Bridge From Military to Civilian Careers for Johnson Team Members Article 4 days ago 2 min read NASA Sees Key Progress on Starlab Commercial Space Station Article 5 days ago 3 min read Melissa Harris: Shaping NASA’s Vision for a Future in Low Earth Orbit Article 6 days ago
Categories: NASA

Catherine Staggs: Advancing Artemis Through Contracting Expertise

NASA News - 6 hours 41 min ago

A lifelong baseball fan, Catherine Staggs set out with her family to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums across the United States. That love of the game eventually led them to settle in Houston about eight years ago – a choice that helped lead Staggs to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she is a contracting officer for the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Through CLPS, she helps manage the contracts with commercial companies delivering science and technology to the Moon. These efforts support NASA’s Artemis campaign and lay the groundwork for continuous human presence on the lunar surface.

Official portrait of Catherine Staggs.NASA

She joined NASA as a civil servant in 2018, but Staggs’ career in the federal government stretches back to her college days. She completed an accounting co-op with the Department of Defense as a student at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, and secured a full-time accounting position with the agency following her graduation. She transitioned to a business financial manager position supporting U.S. Marine Corps projects while earning an MBA from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. “That position is where I started to dabble in contracting,” she said.

Staggs moved to Texas in 2014 to be closer to her boyfriend – now husband – who was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen. She was hired as a contract compliance manager for a small, Killeen-based business that specialized in government contracts, officially launching her career in contracting. When Staggs’ husband retired from the Army, the couple decided to move to Houston because they loved to watch the Houston Astros play ball. Staggs continued working for the contracting company from her new home but missed meeting new people and collaborating with colleagues in person.

“I applied for a contract specialist job with NASA to get back into the office, and the rest is history,” she said.

Her current role at Johnson involves managing the administrative contract functions for the 13 base contracts that support CLPS, which are valued at $2.6 billion. She is also the contracting officer for Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission-3 and helps to train and develop up-and-coming contract specialists. “I love to see the development each contract specialist has over their career,” she said. “My first Pathways intern is now working full-time for NASA as a contract specialist, and they are working to become a limited warrant contracting officer.”

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) procurement team celebrates the lunar landing of Intuitive Machines’ second CLPS flight at Ellington Field on March 6, 2025. Front row, from left: Doug York, Josh Smith, Tasha Beasley, Aubrie Henspeter, Jennifer Ariens, Catherine Staggs, and Shayla Martin. Back row: John Trahan.NASA

Her training experience provides valuable perspective on new team members. “Everyone starts at the bottom, not knowing what they don’t know,” she said. “We all have a beginning, and we need to remember that as we welcome new employees.”

Staggs said that navigating change has at times been difficult in her career, but she strives to remain flexible and open to adjusting work and life to meet the needs of the mission. “My time at NASA has helped develop my leadership skills through confidence in myself and my team,” she said.

Catherine Staggs received a 2023 Johnson Space Center Director’s Commendation Award. From left: Johnson Acting Center Director Steve Koerner, Jeremy Staggs, AJ Staggs, Catherine Staggs, NASA Acting Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche. NASA

She looks forward to mentoring the Artemis Generation and sharing her contracting knowledge with new team members. She also anticipates crossing more baseball stadiums off her family’s list this summer.  

Explore More 6 min read NASA Program Builds Bridge From Military to Civilian Careers for Johnson Team Members Article 4 days ago 2 min read NASA Sees Key Progress on Starlab Commercial Space Station Article 5 days ago 3 min read Melissa Harris: Shaping NASA’s Vision for a Future in Low Earth Orbit Article 6 days ago
Categories: NASA

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APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm

The sixth object in


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm

Would the


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm

What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm

What is going on with this galaxy?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm

About 1,300 images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

South Korea wants to build a moon base by 2045

Space.com - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 12:00pm
South Korea just laid out its long-term space exploration road map, which features the planned construction of a moon base two decades from now.
Categories: Astronomy

This wild bioplastic made of algae just aced a Mars pressure test. Can astronauts use it to build on the Red Planet?

Space.com - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 11:00am
Scientists have grown algae in bioplastic habitats under Mars-like conditions, a step that could bring long-term space colonization closer to reality.
Categories: Astronomy

Discover where the Eagle might have landed: How to find Apollo 11's backup sites on the moon

Space.com - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 9:00am
Find the locations of the five landing zones considered as the setting for humanity's first steps on another world.
Categories: Astronomy

Cold Weather Alloy Opens New Possibilities for Space Technology

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough that could revolutionise space exploration with a "smart" metal alloy that remembers its shape even in the bone chilling cold of outer space. This remarkable copper based material can be twisted and deformed when cold, then automatically snap back to its original form when heated, maintaining this mechanical "memory" at temperatures as extreme as -200°C. The discovery solves a critical challenge that has limited spacecraft design for decades, opening the door to more reliable satellites, space telescopes, and future missions to the frozen reaches of our Solar System and beyond.

Categories: Astronomy

Seeing the Exact Moment When New Planets Started Forming

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

Astronomers have seen exoplanetary systems at almost every stage, from extremely young to older than the Solar System. But now, they've spotted the exact moment when planet formation is initiated around a young star. Meteorites store a history of when the first minerals formed in the Solar System, and the ALMA telescope has seen the signal of these minerals forming in a protostellar system, about 1,300 light-years from Earth.

Categories: Astronomy

What if a trip to space changed your eyesight forever?

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

NASA has discovered that 7 out of 10 astronauts returning from the International Space Station have been unable to see clearly, with vision problems that can last for years! As we prepare for multi year Mars missions, scientists are racing to solve this mysterious "space blindness" before it derails humanity's greatest journey. It seems the cause could be as simple as the effects of weightlessness and the distribution of fluids around the body. Thankfully, it seems there are some possible solutions to what could become one of our greatest health challenges as we reach out further among the planets.

Categories: Astronomy

How Star Clusters Age: The Pleiades, the Hyades, and the Orion Nebula Cluster

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

Astronomers found evolutionary links that connect three well-known star clusters. The Orion Nebular Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades are located roughly in the same region in space, but have different ages. New research shows that they're connected and have similar origins.

Categories: Astronomy

Lunar Regolith is a Surprisingly Good Resource for Supporting a Lunar Station

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

Lunar regolith is the crushed up volcanic rock that buries the surface of the Moon. Remote observations and sample analysis have shown there are trace amounts of water ice mixed in with the regolith, which can be extracted. By mixing this water with CO2 exhaled by astronauts, scientists have demonstrated this can be turned into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. This can then be turned into fuels and oxygen to support the astronauts. Everything we need is there on the Moon. We just need to learn how to use it.

Categories: Astronomy

Deepening stirling engine analysis: optimized model offers more accurate performance predictions

Universe Today - Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:35am

A Chinese team presents a new model for accurately predicting the performance of Sterling engines, which are being investigated as a possible means of powering

Categories: Astronomy