NASA News Week Ending November 17th 2023

NASA News Week Ending November 17th 2023

• Science and supplies delivered to the space station.
• Another early discovery by our Lucy mission.
• And celebrating the one-year anniversary of Artemis I.

A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
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On Nov. 11, a SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station with about 6,500 pounds of cargo. This included an investigation to test technology that could provide enhanced data communications on the space station, a study on how atmospheric gravity waves contribute to space weather, and more. This is SpaceX’s 29th contracted commercial resupply mission to the station
for NASA.

Early data from our Lucy spacecraft recently revealed that asteroid Dinkinesh is a binary pair – with a smaller asteroid orbiting Dinkinesh. Now, the Lucy team has learned that the smaller orbiting asteroid is actually a contact binary. This means it is made of two smaller objects touching each other. This is the first-ever contact binary seen orbiting another asteroid.

Nov. 16 marked the one-year anniversary of Artemis I. During the uncrewed flight test our Space Launch System rocket sent the Orion spacecraft on a 1.4-million-mile journey beyond the Moon and back. Artemis II, which will be the first Artemis mission to fly astronauts around the Moon and safely return them to Earth, is targeted for launch no earlier than Nov. 2024.

NASA Associate Administrator and former astronaut Bob Cabana will retire from the agency, effective Dec. 31, after more than 38 years of service. Cabana is NASA’s third highest ranking official, and a veteran of four space shuttle missions – including two as a commander. He also served as director of our Kennedy Space Center, where he led the center’s transition to a multi-user spaceport following the retirement of the space shuttle.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA. For more about what else we’re up to, check out nasa.gov.