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Hubble spots interstellar invader Comet 3I/ATLAS for the first time
Male Birth Control Pill YCT-529 Passes Human Safety Test
A hormone-free pill, called YCT-529, that temporarily stops sperm production by blocking a vitamin A metabolite has just concluded its first safety trial in humans, getting a step closer to increasing male contraceptive options
Gluten may not actually trigger many irritable bowel syndrome cases
Gluten may not actually trigger many irritable bowel syndrome cases
SpaceX aborts satellite launch 11 seconds before liftoff (video)
'Chaos' reigns beneath the ice of Jupiter moon Europa, James Webb Space Telescope reveals
Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win
Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win
Eclipse chasers share insider tips, travel advice and skywatching secrets for the 2026 total solar eclipse
This new 'CosmoCube' moon orbiter could eavesdrop on whispers from the early universe
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Return
Media are invited to hear from NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 during a news conference beginning at 10:40 a.m. EDT, Friday, July 25, from the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will discuss their upcoming return to Earth on the agency’s YouTube channel.
Media interested in participating must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, July 24, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial into the news conference no later than 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
Crew-10 joined the Expedition 72 crew when arriving to the station in March. Throughout Expedition 72 and into Expedition 73, the crew aboard the space station contributed to hundreds of experiments, including testing expanded capabilities of existing hardware for pharmaceutical production in space, investigating how cells sense gravity, which is an important aspect of space biology, and examining the effects of microgravity on protein yields in microalgae, a potential source for life support, fuel, and food on long-duration missions.
The crew will depart the space station after the arrival of Crew-11 and a handover period. Ahead of Crew-10’s return, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of California prior to departure from station.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Follow updates on the Crew-10 mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/crew-10
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Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Return
Media are invited to hear from NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 during a news conference beginning at 10:40 a.m. EDT, Friday, July 25, from the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will discuss their upcoming return to Earth on the agency’s YouTube channel.
Media interested in participating must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, July 24, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial into the news conference no later than 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
Crew-10 joined the Expedition 72 crew when arriving to the station in March. Throughout Expedition 72 and into Expedition 73, the crew aboard the space station contributed to hundreds of experiments, including testing expanded capabilities of existing hardware for pharmaceutical production in space, investigating how cells sense gravity, which is an important aspect of space biology, and examining the effects of microgravity on protein yields in microalgae, a potential source for life support, fuel, and food on long-duration missions.
The crew will depart the space station after the arrival of Crew-11 and a handover period. Ahead of Crew-10’s return, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of California prior to departure from station.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Follow updates on the Crew-10 mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/crew-10
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Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov
Optimists Are Alike, but Pessimists Are Unique, Brain Scan Study Suggests
Optimists have similar patterns of brain activation when they think about the future—but pessimists are all different from one another, a brain scan study suggests
NASA's X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet rolls out for its 1st test drive (video)
These Massive Runaway Stars Were Birthed in a Chaotic Cluster
Mysteries abound in space. In the Tarantula Nebula, which lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud, astronomers used simulations to reconstruct how three stars were ejected from the star cluster R136, about 60,000 years ago. The analysis, published in Physical Review Letters, reveals that five stars were involved, an unexpected result.
The Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever
Astronomers using the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational wave detectors announced the most massive black hole merger ever seen. Two black holes crashed together, producing a final black hole with approximately 225 times the mass of the Sun. Designated GW231123, it was detected during the 2023 observing run, and appears to be from the collision of 100- and 140-stellar-mass black holes. Black holes this massive are hard to get through standard stellar evolution, but could be the results of previous mergers.
Supernova Cinematography: How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Create a Movie of Exploding Stars
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope isn't due to launch until May 2027, but astronomers are preparing for its science operations by running simulated operations. One of those involves supernovae, massive stars the end their lives in gargantuan explosions. Research shows that the Roman could find 100,000 supernovae in one of its surveys.
HWO Could Find Irrefutable Signs Of Life On Exoplanets
Searching for habitable exoplanets will require decades of work, new technologies, and new ideas. A lot of that effort seems to coalescing around the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a proposed mission expected to launch in the early 2040s that would be capable of directly imaging potentially habitable worlds, and, importantly, detecting features about them that could prove whether or not they host life as we know it. A new paper by exobiology specialists in Europe and the US, led by Svetlana Berdyugina of ISROL in Locarno, Switzerland, details an observational plan with HWO that could definitely prove that life exists on another planet - if they’re able to find one where it does anyway.
NASA Goddard Center Director Makenzie Lystrup Set to Depart
On Monday, NASA announced Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is set to leave the agency on Friday, Aug. 1.
As center director of Goddard, a role she has held since April 2023, Lystrup also was responsible for guiding the direction and management of multiple other NASA field installations including Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation Facility in West Virginia, the White Sands Complex in New Mexico, and the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas.
“Having served in a variety of science and aerospace civilian and government roles in her career, Makenzie has led development of, and/or contributed to a variety of NASA’s priority science missions including successful operations of our James Webb Space Telescope and Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, as well as development of the agency’s Roman Space Telescope, and more,” said Vanessa Wyche, acting NASA associate administrator. “We’re grateful to Makenzie for her leadership at NASA Goddard for more than two years, including her work to inspire a Golden Age of explorers, scientists, and engineers.”
Throughout her time at NASA, Lystrup led Goddard’s workforce, which consists of more than 8,000 civil servants and contractors. Before joining the agency, Lystrup served as senior director for Ball’s Civil Space Advanced Systems and Business Development, where she managed new business activities for NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other civilian U.S. government agencies as well as for academia and other science organizations. In addition, she served in the company’s Strategic Operations organization, based in Washington where she led Ball’s space sciences portfolio.
Prior to joining Ball, Lystrup worked as an American Institute of Physics – Acoustical Society of American Congressional Fellow from 2011 to 2012 where she managed a portfolio including technology, national defense, nuclear energy, and nuclear nonproliferation.
Lystrup also has served on boards and committees for several organizations to include the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, International Society for Optics and Photonic, the University of Colorado, and the American Astronomical Society. She was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow in 2019 for her distinguished record in the fields of planetary science and infrared astronomy, science policy and advocacy, and aerospace leadership. Lystrup also served as an AmeriCorps volunteer focusing on STEM education.
Lystrup holds a bachelor’s in physics from Portland State University and attended graduate school at University College London earning her doctorate in astrophysics. She was a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Research Fellow spending time at the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado, and University of Liege in Belgium. As a planetary scientist and astronomer, Lystrup’s scientific work has been in using ground- and space-based astronomical observatories to understand the interactions and dynamics of planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres – the relationships between planets and their surrounding space environments.
Following Lystrup’s departure, NASA’s Cynthia Simmons will serve as acting center director. Simmons is the current deputy center director.
For more information about NASA’s work, visit:
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Cheryl Warner / Kathryn Hambleton
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov / kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov
Katy Mersmann
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-377-1724
katy.mersmann@nasa.gov