Feed aggregator
Can Philanthropy Fast-Track a Flagship Telescope?
New Space is a term now commonly used around the rocketry and satellite industries to indicate a new, speed focused model of development that takes its cue from the Silicon Valley mindset of “move fast and (hopefully don’t) break things.” Given that several of the founders of rocketry and satellite companies have a Silicon Valley background, that probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but the mindset has resulted in an exponential growth in the number of satellites in orbit, and also an exponential decrease in the cost of getting them to orbit. A new paper, recently published in pre-print form in arXiv from researchers at Schmidt Sciences and a variety of research institutes, lays out plans for the Lazuli Space Observatory, which hopes to apply that same mindset to flagship-level space observatory missions.
Greenland sharks survive for centuries with diseased hearts
Greenland sharks survive for centuries with diseased hearts
Betelgeuse’s Elusive Companion Might Be Making Waves
In new observations, astronomers detect a moving wake of gas in the outer layers of the red supergiant Betelgeuse, offering fresh evidence for a long-suspected secondary star.
The post Betelgeuse’s Elusive Companion Might Be Making Waves appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Hubble Nets Menagerie of Young Stellar Objects
- Hubble Home
- Overview
- Impact & Benefits
- Science
- Observatory
- Team
- Multimedia
- News
- More
3 min read
Hubble Nets Menagerie of Young Stellar Objects A bright reflection nebula shares the stage with a protostar and planet-forming disk in this Hubble image. NASA, ESA, K. Stapelfeldt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and D. Watson (University of Rochester); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Download this image (58.3 MB)
A disparate collection of young stellar objects bejewels a cosmic panorama in the star-forming region NGC 1333 in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. To the left, an actively forming star called a protostar casts its glow on the surrounding gas and dust, creating a reflection nebula. Two dark stripes on opposite sides of the bright point (upper left) are its protoplanetary disk, a region where planets could form, and the disk’s shadow, cast across the large envelope of material around the star. Material accumulates onto the protostar through this rotating disk of gas and dust, a product of the collapsing cloud of gas and dust that gave birth to the star. Where the shadow stops and the disk begins is presently unknown.
To the center right, an outflow cavity reveals a fan-shaped reflection nebula. The two stars at its base, HBC 340 (lower) and HBC 341 (upper), unleash stellar winds, or material flowing from the surface of the star, that clear out the cavity from the surrounding molecular cloud over time. A reflection nebula like this one is illuminated by light from nearby stars that is scattered by the surrounding gas and dust.
This reflection nebula fluctuates in brightness over time, which researchers attribute to variations in brightness of HBC 340 and HBC 341. HBC 340 is the primary source of the fluctuation as the brighter and more variable star.
HBC 340 and HBC 341 are Orion variable stars, a class of forming stars that change in brightness irregularly and unpredictably, possibly due to stellar flares and ejections of matter from their surfaces. Orion variable stars, so named because they are associated with diffuse nebulae like the Orion Nebula, eventually evolve into non-variable stars.
In this image, the four beaming stars near the bottom of the image and one in the top right corner are also Orion variable stars. The rest of the cloudscape is studded with other young stellar objects.
NGC 1333 lies about 950 light-years away in the Perseus molecular cloud, and was imaged by Hubble to learn more about young stellar objects, such as properties of circumstellar disks and outflows in the gas and dust created by these stars.
New images added every day between January 12-17, 2026! Follow @NASAHubble on social media for the latest Hubble images and news and see Hubble’s Stellar Construction Zones for more images of young stellar objects.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore MoreExploring the Birth of Stars
Hubble’s Nebulae
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Stellar Construction Zones
Explore the Night Sky
Hubble News
70 Percent of Cancer Patients Now Survive at Least Five Years, Study Finds
Cancer survival rates climbed significantly in recent decades. But federal funding cuts could threaten that progress, physicians warn
When Martian Winds Become Sandblasters
Mars Express has captured stunning images of wind sculpted terrain near the planet’s equator, revealing how Martian winds act as a sandblaster across geological timescales. The spacecraft’s high resolution camera spotted amazing ridges called yardangs, features carved by sand carrying winds that extend tens of kilometres across the surface. These dramatic erosional features share the landscape with impact craters and ancient lava flows, creating a fusion of three different geological forces that together tell the story of Mars’s violent and dynamic past.
Vertical Solar Panels—Wind-Resistant Trackers for High Latitudes
Traditional solar fails in the windswept north. Two Swedish inventors are betting on aerodynamic resilience to solve the latitude gap
The Hidden Lives of the Universe’s Ultramassive Galaxies
Astronomers have revealed a surprising diversity in the evolutionary paths of the universe’s most massive galaxies. Using multi-wavelength observations combining Keck Observatory spectroscopy with far infrared and radio data, researchers found that less than two billion years after the Big Bang, some ultramassive galaxies had already shut down star formation and shed their dust, while others continued building stars behind thick dusty veils.
The Galaxy’s Most Common Planets Have a Strange Childhood
Astronomers have discovered a crucial missing link in understanding how the Galaxy’s most common planets form. By studying four young, extraordinarily puffy planets orbiting a 20 million year old star, researchers have captured a rare snapshot of worlds actively transforming into super Earths and sub Neptunes. This discovery reveals that the universe’s most successful planets start as bloated giants before shrinking dramatically over billions of years, fundamentally changing our understanding of how planetary systems evolve.
NASA’s Webb Delivers Unprecedented Look Into Heart of Circinus Galaxy
- Webb
- News
- Overview
- Science
- Observatory
- Multimedia
- Team
- More
Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
The Circinus Galaxy, a galaxy about 13 million light-years away, contains an active supermassive black hole that continues to influence its evolution. The largest source of infrared light from the region closest to the black hole itself was thought to be outflows, or streams of superheated matter that fire outward.
Image: Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb) This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez (University of South Carolina), Deepashri Thatte (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NSF’s NOIRLab, CTIO
Now, new observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, seen here with a new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, provide evidence that reverses this thinking, suggesting that most of the hot, dusty material is actually feeding the central black hole. The technique used to gather this data also has the potential to analyze the outflow and accretion components for other nearby black holes.
The research, which includes the sharpest image of a black hole’s surroundings ever taken by Webb, published Tuesday in Nature.
Outflow questionSupermassive black holes like those in Circinus remain active by consuming surrounding matter. Infalling gas and dust accumulates into a donut-shaped ring around the black hole, known as a torus. As supermassive black holes gather matter from the torus’ inner walls, they form an accretion disk, similar to a whirlpool of water swirling around a drain. This disk grows hotter through friction, eventually becoming hot enough to emit light.
This glowing matter can become so bright that resolving details within the galaxy’s center with ground-based telescopes is difficult. It’s made even harder due to the bright, concealing starlight within Circinus. Further, since the torus is incredibly dense, the inner region of the infalling material, heated by the black hole, is obscured from our point of view. For decades, astronomers contended with these difficulties, designing and improving models of Circinus with as much data as they could gather.
Image: Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light. Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)“In order to study the supermassive black hole, despite being unable to resolve it, they had to obtain the total intensity of the inner region of the galaxy over a large wavelength range and then feed that data into models,” said lead author Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez of the University of South Carolina.
Early models would fit the spectra from specific regions, such as the emissions from the torus, those of the accretion disk closest to the black hole, or those from the outflows, each detected at certain wavelengths of light. However, since the region could not be resolved in its entirety, these models left questions at several wavelengths. For example, some telescopes could detect an excess of infrared light, but lacked the resolution to determine where exactly it was coming from.
“Since the ‘90s, it has not been possible to explain excess infrared emissions that come from hot dust at the cores of active galaxies, meaning the models only take into account either the torus or the outflows, but cannot explain that excess,” said Lopez-Rodriguez.
Such models found that most of the emission (and, therefore, mass) close to the center came from outflows. To test this theory, then, astronomers needed two things: the ability to filter the starlight that previously prevented a deeper analysis, and the ability to distinguish the infrared emissions of the torus from those of the outflows. Webb, sensitive and technologically sophisticated enough to meet both challenges, was necessary to advance our understanding.
Webb’s innovative techniqueTo look into the center of Circinus, Webb needed the Aperture Masking Interferometer tool on its NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument.
On Earth, interferometers usually take the form of telescope arrays: mirrors or antennae that work together as if they were a single telescope. An interferometer does this by gathering and combining the light from whichever source it is pointed toward, causing the electromagnetic waves that make up light to “interfere” with each other (hence, “interfere-ometer”) and creating interference patterns. These patterns can be analyzed by astronomers to reconstruct the size, shape, and features of distant objects with much greater detail than non-interferometric techniques.
The Aperture Masking Interferometer allows Webb to become an array of smaller telescopes working together as an interferometer, creating these interference patterns by itself. It does this by utilizing a special aperture made of seven small, hexagonal holes, which, like in photography, controls the amount and direction of light that enters the telescope’s detectors.
“These holes in the mask are transformed into small collectors of light that guide the light toward the detector of the camera and create an interference pattern,” said Joel Sanchez-Bermudez, co-author based at the National University of Mexico.
With new data in hand, the research team was able to construct an image from the central region’s interference patterns. To do so, they referenced data from previous observations to ensure their data from Webb was free of any artifacts. This resulted in the first extragalactic observation from an infrared interferometer in space.
“By using an advanced imaging mode of the camera, we can effectively double its resolution over a smaller area of the sky,” Sanchez-Bermudez said. “This allows us to see images twice as sharp. Instead of Webb’s 6.5-meter diameter, it’s like we are observing this region with a 13-meter space telescope.”
The data showed that contrary to the models predicting that the infrared excess comes from the outflows, around 87% of the infrared emissions from hot dust in Circinus come from the areas closest to the black hole, while less than 1% of emissions come from hot dusty outflows. The remaining 12% comes from distances farther away that could not previously be told apart.
“It is the first time a high-contrast mode of Webb has been used to look at an extragalactic source,” said Julien Girard, paper co-author and senior research scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “We hope our work inspires other astronomers to use the Aperture Masking Interferometer mode to study faint, but relatively small, dusty structures in the vicinity of any bright object.”
Video: Circinus Galaxy ZoomTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
While the mystery of Circinus’ excess emissions has been solved, there are billions of black holes in our universe. Those of different luminosities, the team notes, may have an influence on whether most of the emissions come from a black hole’s torus or their outflows.
“The intrinsic brightness of Circinus’ accretion disk is very moderate,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “So it makes sense that the emissions are dominated by the torus. But maybe, for brighter black holes, the emissions are dominated by the outflow.”
With this research, astronomers now have a tested technique to investigate whichever black holes they want, so long as they are bright enough for the Aperture Masking Interferometer to be useful. Studying additional targets will be essential to building a catalog of emission data to figure out if Circinus’ results were unique or characteristic of a pattern.
“We need a statistical sample of black holes, perhaps a dozen or two dozen, to understand how mass in their accretion disks and their outflows relate to their power,” Lopez-Rodriguez said.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
Downloads & Related InformationThe following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.
Related Images & Videos Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept)This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light.
Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb)
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots.
Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb Compass Image)
This image shows two views of the Circinus galaxy, one captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and the other by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph. It shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.
Circinus Galaxy Zoom
This zoom-in video shows the location of the Circinus galaxy on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo of the constellation Circinus by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The video closes in on the Circinus galaxy, using views from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Dark…
Related Links
Read more: The Modes of Webb’s NIRISS
Explore more: Black Hole Resources from NASA’s Universe of Learning
Read more: Webb’s Scientific Instruments
Video: NASA Animation Sizes Up the Universe’s Biggest Black Holes
Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Matthew Brown
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Science Paper: “JWST interferometric imaging reveals the dusty disk obscuring the supermassive black hole of the Circinus galaxy” by E. Lopez Rodriguez et al.
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Webb James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Science Overview
Webb Observatory
Webb Image Galleries
NASA’s Webb Delivers Unprecedented Look Into Heart of Circinus Galaxy
- Webb
- News
- Overview
- Science
- Observatory
- Multimedia
- Team
- More
Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
The Circinus Galaxy, a galaxy about 13 million light-years away, contains an active supermassive black hole that continues to influence its evolution. The largest source of infrared light from the region closest to the black hole itself was thought to be outflows, or streams of superheated matter that fire outward.
Image: Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb) This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez (University of South Carolina), Deepashri Thatte (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NSF’s NOIRLab, CTIONow, new observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, seen here with a new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, provide evidence that reverses this thinking, suggesting that most of the hot, dusty material is actually feeding the central black hole. The technique used to gather this data also has the potential to analyze the outflow and accretion components for other nearby black holes.
The research, which includes the sharpest image of a black hole’s surroundings ever taken by Webb, published Tuesday in Nature.
Outflow questionSupermassive black holes like those in Circinus remain active by consuming surrounding matter. Infalling gas and dust accumulates into a donut-shaped ring around the black hole, known as a torus. As supermassive black holes gather matter from the torus’ inner walls, they form an accretion disk, similar to a whirlpool of water swirling around a drain. This disk grows hotter through friction, eventually becoming hot enough to emit light.
This glowing matter can become so bright that resolving details within the galaxy’s center with ground-based telescopes is difficult. It’s made even harder due to the bright, concealing starlight within Circinus. Further, since the torus is incredibly dense, the inner region of the infalling material, heated by the black hole, is obscured from our point of view. For decades, astronomers contended with these difficulties, designing and improving models of Circinus with as much data as they could gather.
Image: Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light. Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)“In order to study the supermassive black hole, despite being unable to resolve it, they had to obtain the total intensity of the inner region of the galaxy over a large wavelength range and then feed that data into models,” said lead author Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez of the University of South Carolina.
Early models would fit the spectra from specific regions, such as the emissions from the torus, those of the accretion disk closest to the black hole, or those from the outflows, each detected at certain wavelengths of light. However, since the region could not be resolved in its entirety, these models left questions at several wavelengths. For example, some telescopes could detect an excess of infrared light, but lacked the resolution to determine where exactly it was coming from.
“Since the ‘90s, it has not been possible to explain excess infrared emissions that come from hot dust at the cores of active galaxies, meaning the models only take into account either the torus or the outflows, but cannot explain that excess,” said Lopez-Rodriguez.
Such models found that most of the emission (and, therefore, mass) close to the center came from outflows. To test this theory, then, astronomers needed two things: the ability to filter the starlight that previously prevented a deeper analysis, and the ability to distinguish the infrared emissions of the torus from those of the outflows. Webb, sensitive and technologically sophisticated enough to meet both challenges, was necessary to advance our understanding.
Webb’s innovative techniqueTo look into the center of Circinus, Webb needed the Aperture Masking Interferometer tool on its NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument.
On Earth, interferometers usually take the form of telescope arrays: mirrors or antennae that work together as if they were a single telescope. An interferometer does this by gathering and combining the light from whichever source it is pointed toward, causing the electromagnetic waves that make up light to “interfere” with each other (hence, “interfere-ometer”) and creating interference patterns. These patterns can be analyzed by astronomers to reconstruct the size, shape, and features of distant objects with much greater detail than non-interferometric techniques.
The Aperture Masking Interferometer allows Webb to become an array of smaller telescopes working together as an interferometer, creating these interference patterns by itself. It does this by utilizing a special aperture made of seven small, hexagonal holes, which, like in photography, controls the amount and direction of light that enters the telescope’s detectors.
“These holes in the mask are transformed into small collectors of light that guide the light toward the detector of the camera and create an interference pattern,” said Joel Sanchez-Bermudez, co-author based at the National University of Mexico.
With new data in hand, the research team was able to construct an image from the central region’s interference patterns. To do so, they referenced data from previous observations to ensure their data from Webb was free of any artifacts. This resulted in the first extragalactic observation from an infrared interferometer in space.
“By using an advanced imaging mode of the camera, we can effectively double its resolution over a smaller area of the sky,” Sanchez-Bermudez said. “This allows us to see images twice as sharp. Instead of Webb’s 6.5-meter diameter, it’s like we are observing this region with a 13-meter space telescope.”
The data showed that contrary to the models predicting that the infrared excess comes from the outflows, around 87% of the infrared emissions from hot dust in Circinus come from the areas closest to the black hole, while less than 1% of emissions come from hot dusty outflows. The remaining 12% comes from distances farther away that could not previously be told apart.
“It is the first time a high-contrast mode of Webb has been used to look at an extragalactic source,” said Julien Girard, paper co-author and senior research scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “We hope our work inspires other astronomers to use the Aperture Masking Interferometer mode to study faint, but relatively small, dusty structures in the vicinity of any bright object.”
Video: Circinus Galaxy ZoomTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
While the mystery of Circinus’ excess emissions has been solved, there are billions of black holes in our universe. Those of different luminosities, the team notes, may have an influence on whether most of the emissions come from a black hole’s torus or their outflows.
“The intrinsic brightness of Circinus’ accretion disk is very moderate,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “So it makes sense that the emissions are dominated by the torus. But maybe, for brighter black holes, the emissions are dominated by the outflow.”
With this research, astronomers now have a tested technique to investigate whichever black holes they want, so long as they are bright enough for the Aperture Masking Interferometer to be useful. Studying additional targets will be essential to building a catalog of emission data to figure out if Circinus’ results were unique or characteristic of a pattern.
“We need a statistical sample of black holes, perhaps a dozen or two dozen, to understand how mass in their accretion disks and their outflows relate to their power,” Lopez-Rodriguez said.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
Downloads & Related InformationThe following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.
Related Images & Videos Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept)This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light.
Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb)
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots.
Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb Compass Image)
This image shows two views of the Circinus galaxy, one captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and the other by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph. It shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.
Circinus Galaxy Zoom
This zoom-in video shows the location of the Circinus galaxy on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo of the constellation Circinus by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The video closes in on the Circinus galaxy, using views from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Dark…
Related Links
Read more: The Modes of Webb’s NIRISS
Explore more: Black Hole Resources from NASA’s Universe of Learning
Read more: Webb’s Scientific Instruments
Video: NASA Animation Sizes Up the Universe’s Biggest Black Holes
Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Matthew Brown
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Science Paper: “JWST interferometric imaging reveals the dusty disk obscuring the supermassive black hole of the Circinus galaxy” by E. Lopez Rodriguez et al.
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Webb James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Science Overview
Webb Observatory
Webb Image Galleries
A Plume of Bright Blue in Melissa’s Wake
- Earth
- Earth Observatory
- Image of the Day
- EO Explorer
- Topics
- More Content
- About
A Plume of Bright Blue in Melissa’s Wake
- Earth
- Earth Observatory
- Image of the Day
- EO Explorer
- Topics
- More Content
- About
Is the Universe Made of Math? Part 4: The Fire and the Filter
Like I said at the beginning, I’m not really keen on the idea of the mathematical universe. My own personal biggest objection stems from the whole point of occam’s razor: make things as simple as possible.
Astronomers Discover the First Galaxy-Wide Wobbling Black Hole Jet
Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island have uncovered the largest and most extended stream of super-heated gas ever observed flowing from a nearby galaxy, providing the clearest evidence yet that a supermassive black hole can dramatically reshape its host galaxy far beyond its core.
NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Watch Crew-12 Launch to Space Station
Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s 12th rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA announced it is targeting no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 15, for a splashdown of its Crew-11 mission. The agency also is working with SpaceX and international partners to advance the launch of Crew-12, which is currently slated for Sunday, Feb. 15.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, commander, Jack Hathaway, pilot; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, mission specialist. This will be the second spaceflight for Meir and Fedyaev, and the first for Hathaway and Adenot to the orbiting laboratory.
Media accreditation deadlines for the Crew-12 launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program are as follows:
- International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 15.
- U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18.
All accreditation requests must be submitted online at:
NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. For questions about accreditation or special logistical requests, email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Requests for space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections are due by Friday, Jan. 23.
For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.
For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Steve Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
Joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov
NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Watch Crew-12 Launch to Space Station
Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s 12th rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA announced it is targeting no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 15, for a splashdown of its Crew-11 mission. The agency also is working with SpaceX and international partners to advance the launch of Crew-12, which is currently slated for Sunday, Feb. 15.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, commander, Jack Hathaway, pilot; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, mission specialist. This will be the second spaceflight for Meir and Fedyaev, and the first for Hathaway and Adenot to the orbiting laboratory.
Media accreditation deadlines for the Crew-12 launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program are as follows:
- International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 15.
- U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18.
All accreditation requests must be submitted online at:
NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. For questions about accreditation or special logistical requests, email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Requests for space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections are due by Friday, Jan. 23.
For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.
For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Steve Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
Joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov
A Quarter Century in Orbit: Science Shaping Life on Earth and Beyond
For more than 25 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, conducting research that is transforming life on Earth and shaping the future of exploration. From growing food and sequencing DNA to studying disease and simulating Mars missions, every experiment aboard the orbiting laboratory expands our understanding of how humans can thrive beyond Earth while advancing science and technology that benefit people around the world.
Unlocking new cancer therapies from space NASA astronaut Christina Koch works on MicroQuin’s protein crystallization research aboard the International Space Station.NASA
The space station gives scientists a laboratory unlike any on Earth. In microgravity, cells grow in three dimensions, proteins form higher-quality crystals, and biological systems reveal details hidden by gravity. These conditions open new ways to study disease and develop treatments.
Astronauts and researchers have used the orbiting laboratory to observe how cancer cells grow, test drug delivery methods, and examine protein structures linked to diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. One example is the Angiex Cancer Therapy study, which tested a drug designed to target blood vessels that feed tumors. In microgravity, endothelial cells survive longer and behave more like they do in the human body, giving researchers a clearer view of how the therapy works and whether it is safe before human trials.
Protein crystal growth (PCG) is another major area of cancer-related study. The NanoRacks-PCG Therapeutic Discovery and On-Orbit Crystals investigations have advanced research on leukemia, breast cancer, and skin cancers. Protein crystals grown in microgravity produce larger, better-organized structures that allow scientists to determine fine structural details that guide the design of targeted treatments.
Studies in orbit have also provided insights about cardiovascular health, bone disorders, and how the immune system changes in space—knowledge that informs medicine on Earth and prepares astronauts for long missions in deep space.
By turning space into a research lab, scientists are advancing therapies that benefit people on Earth and laying the foundation for ensuring crew health on future journeys to the Moon and Mars.
Farming for the future NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines work on the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS) space botany investigation, which used the station’s Veggie facility to test soilless hydroponic and aeroponic methods to grow plants. The space agricultural study could enable production of crops on a larger scale to sustain crews on future space explorations farther away from Earth.NASA
Feeding astronauts on long-duration missions requires more than packaged meals. It demands sustainable systems that can grow fresh food in space. The Vegetable Production System, known as Veggie, is a garden on the space station designed to test how plants grow in microgravity while adding fresh produce to the crew’s diet and improving well-being in orbit.
To date, Veggie has produced three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale, and even zinnia flowers. Astronauts have eaten space-grown lettuce, mustard greens, radishes, and chili peppers using Veggie and the Advanced Plant Habitat, a larger, more controlled growth chamber that allows scientists to study crops in greater detail.
These plant experiments pave the way for future lunar and Martian greenhouses by showing how microgravity affects plant development, water and nutrient delivery, and microbial interactions. They also provide immediate benefits for Earth, advancing controlled-environment agriculture and vertical farming techniques that help make food production more efficient and resilient in challenging environments.
First year-long twin study Mark and Scott Kelly, both former NASA astronauts, are photographed as part of NASA’s Twins Study.NASA
Understanding how the human body changes in space is critical for planning long-duration missions. NASA’s Twins Study offered an unprecedented opportunity to investigate nature vs. nurture in orbit and on Earth. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent nearly a year aboard the space station while his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, remained on Earth.
By comparing the twins before, during, and after the mission, researchers examined changes at the genomic, physiological, and behavioral levels in one integrated study. The results showed most changes in Scott’s body returned to baseline after his return, but some persisted—such as shifts in gene expression, telomere length, and immune system responses.
The study provided the most comprehensive molecular view to date of how a human body adapts to spaceflight. Its findings may guide NASA’s Human Research Program for years to come, informing countermeasures for radiation, microgravity, and isolation. The research may have implications for health on Earth as well—from understanding aging and disease to exploring treatments for stress-related disorders and traumatic brain injury.
The Twins Study demonstrated the resilience of the human body in space and continues to shape the medical playbook for the Artemis campaign to the Moon and future journeys to Mars.
Simulating deep space A view inside the sandbox portion of the Crew Health and Performance Analog, where research volunteers participate in simulated walks on the surface of Mars.NASA/Bill Stafford
The space station, which is itself an analog for deep space, complements Earth-based analog research simulating the spaceflight environment. Space station observations, findings, and challenges, inform the research questions and countermeasures scientists explore on Earth.
Such work is currently underway through CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), a mission in which volunteers live and work inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed Mars habitat for about a year. The first CHAPEA crew completed 378 days in isolation in 2024, testing strategies for maintaining health, growing food, and sustaining morale under delayed communication.
NASA recently launched CHAPEA 2, with a four-person crew who began their 378-day simulated Mars mission at Johnson on October 19, 2025. Building on lessons from the first mission and decades of space station research, they will test new technologies and behavioral countermeasures that will help future explorers thrive during long-duration missions, preparing Artemis astronauts for the journey to the Moon and laying the foundation for the first human expeditions to Mars.
Keeping crews healthy in low Earth orbit NASA astronaut Nick Hague pedals on the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS), an exercise cycle located aboard the space station’s Destiny laboratory module. CEVIS provides aerobic and cardiovascular conditioning through recumbent or upright cycling activities.NASA
Staying healthy is a top priority for all NASA astronauts, but it is particularly important while living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Crews often spend extended periods of time aboard the orbiting laboratory, with the average mission lasting about six months or more. During these long-duration missions, without the continuous load of Earth’s gravity, there are many changes to the human body. Proper nutrition and exercise are some of the ways these effects may be mitigated.
NASA has a team of medical physicians, psychologists, nutritionists, exercise scientists, and other specialized medical personnel who collaborate to ensure astronauts’ health and fitness on the station. These teams are led by a NASA flight surgeon, who regularly monitors each crew member’s health during a mission and individualizes diet and fitness routines to prioritize health and safety while in space.
Crew members are also part of the ongoing health and performance research being conducted to advance understanding of long-term spaceflight’s effects on the human body. That knowledge is applied to any crewed mission and will help prepare humanity to travel farther than ever before, including the Moon and Mars.
Sequencing the future NASA astronaut Kate Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles prior to loading it in the biomolecule sequencer. When Rubins’ expedition began, zero base pairs of DNA had been sequenced in space. Within just a few weeks, she and the Biomolecule Sequencer team had sequenced their one billionth base of DNA aboard the orbiting laboratory.JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)/Takuya OnishiIn 2016, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins made history aboard the orbital outpost as the first person to sequence DNA in space. Using a handheld device called the MinION, she analyzed DNA samples in microgravity, proving that genetic sequencing could be performed in low Earth orbit for the first time.
Her work advanced in-flight molecular diagnostics, long-duration cell culture, and molecular biology techniques such as liquid handling in microgravity.
The ability to sequence DNA aboard the orbiting laboratory allows astronauts and scientists to identify microbes in real time, monitor crew health, and study how living organisms adapt to spaceflight. The same technology now supports medical diagnostics and disease detection in remote or extreme environments on Earth.
This research continues through the Genes in Space program, where students design DNA experiments that fly aboard NASA missions. Each investigation builds on Rubins’ milestone, paving the way for future explorers to diagnose illness, monitor environmental health, and search for signs of life beyond Earth.
Explore the timeline of space-based DNA sequencing.
Explore More 4 min read Susan Schuh: Supporting the Humans in Human Spaceflight Article 2 days ago 1 min read NASA Marshall Removes 2 Historic Test Stands Article 3 days ago 4 min read Shaken, Not Stirred: NASA’s StarBurst Aces Extreme Temperature Tests Article 4 days ago