On May 27 we launch into a new era of human spaceflight.

We launch for the first time in 9 years from American soil,
with American Astronauts on an American rocket.
We launch together with our partners at @SpaceX as part of our Commercial Crew Program.
We #LaunchAmerica.

Pictured here is SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft that will carry @nasaastronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the @iss.
It will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket,
from Launch Complex 39A in Florida,
for the Demo-2 mission,
the final flight test for SpaceX.
The mission will validate our partner's crew capabilities to return American spaceflight from American soil since the end of the space shuttle program so that we can continue preparing our #Artemis missions to the Moon --
and beyond.
#letsdothis #crewdragon #spacex #nasa

Catching heat in Saturn’s atmosphere 🪐A mystery that’s unravelling …
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This false-color composite image,
constructed from data obtained by our Cassini spacecraft,
shows the glow of auroras streaking out about 1,000 kilometers or 600 miles from the cloud tops of Saturn's south polar region.⁣
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The upper layers in the atmospheres of gas giants —
Saturn,
Jupiter,
Uranus and Neptune —
are hot,
just like Earth's.
But unlike Earth,
the Sun is too far from these outer planets to account for the high temperatures.
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New analysis of Cassini’s data finds a viable explanation for what's keeping the upper layers of Saturn,
and possibly the other gas giants,
so hot:
auroras at the planet's north and south poles.
Electric currents,
triggered by interactions between solar winds and charged particles from Saturn's moons,
spark the auroras and heat the upper atmosphere.⁣
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Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/ASI/University of Arizona/University of Leicester⁣
⁣ #Saturn #NowYouKnow #Planets #Science #NASA #SolarSystem⁣

"Houston,
we've had a problem."⁣
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It was a mission burdened with problems from the beginning.
But failure was not an option.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission’s oxygen tank explosion which derailed the nation’s third attempt to land on the Moon.⁣
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The explosion nearly left astronauts Jim Lovell,
Jack Swigert and Fred Haise stranded in space.
Fighting to keep their spacecraft alive,
they raced against the clock alongside Mission Control.
To save power,
the crew shut down several critical systems --
including heat.
Quickly,
their Apollo spacecraft became an igloo.
Water condensed onto the computer displays and switches.
Toxic levels of carbon dioxide filled the spacecraft cabin.
Thankfully,
ingenuity,
teamwork and cool heads brought the crew home to a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 18,
1970.
What could have been a tale of tragedy turned into a tale of triumph.
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We remember the lessons of Apollo 13 as we prepare our return to the Moon under our #Artemis program.
Houston,
we're going back.
This time,
to stay.
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Image Credit:
NASA⁣
⁣ #Apollo #NASA #Apollo13 #OTD #SuccessStories #Moon