The Week at NASA Ending September 10th

• An historic milestone for Perseverance …
• A busy week of activity at the space station …
• And a target launch date for the Webb Space Telescope

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Perseverance Collects First Mars Rock Samples

Our Perseverance rover completed the collection of its first two samples of Martian rock. Mission controllers at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory received data confirming the historic milestone. The core samples were collected from a rock located in Jezero Crater.

“I wanted to be a part of this moment; to be able to achieve something that has never, ever been done before. And, while it definitely was a very long time waiting, I think all of us can say that it feels fantastic.”—Jessica Samuels, Perseverance Surface Mission Manager

“Perseverance is playing an incredibly important role in our understanding of Mars and demonstrating key technologies as we take our next steps in exploring the solar system.”—Lori Glaze, NASA Director of Planetary Science

The cored rock material is sealed in airtight titanium sample tubes that, along with any additional samples, could be retrieved and returned to Earth for closer study by one of the future Mars Sample Return missions being planned by NASA and the European Space Agency.

Planned Spacewalk to Prepare Station for New Solar Array

The Sept. 12 spacewalk outside the International Space Station will be the first one conducted by two international partner astronauts out of the station’s Quest airlock. Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency will work to attach a support bracket for future installation of the station’s third new solar array. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will provide support during the spacewalk from inside the space station.

The Next Space Station Crew Rotation Missions

NASA and SpaceX are continuing plans for upcoming International Space Station crew rotation missions. Those plans include the launch of the Crew-3 mission to the space station as early as Sunday Oct. 31, a return to Earth for the Crew-2 astronauts currently onboard the station sometime in the early-to-mid November timeframe, and the launch of Crew-4 – currently targeted for no earlier than April 15, 2022. For more details, visit nasa.gov/commercialcrew.

Target Launch Date Set for Webb Space Telescope

We set Dec. 18 as the new target launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb is a NASA-led international partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Preparations are underway to ship the telescope to French Guiana, South America where an Ariane 5 rocket will launch it on a mission to reveal new and unexpected discoveries to help us better understand the origins of the universe and our place in it. Find out more at webb.nasa.gov.

Spacewalk to Outfit Station’s New Science Module

On Sept. 9, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos were back outside the International Space Station for the second in a series of spacewalks to outfit Russia’s new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Nauka will serve as a new science facility, docking port, and spacewalk airlock for future operations.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA … For more on these and other stories, follow us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.