All articles tagged with #astronauts
SpaceX Crew 12 undocked from the International Space Station on October 7, 2026, concluding a 237-day mission. The four astronauts, including Jessica Meir and Sophie Adenot, are scheduled to splash down off California on October 8. They are being replaced by Crew 13, who arrived on October 1, while a third crew remains on the station for an extended stay.
Astronauts arrived at the International Space Station just eight hours after launching, marking a notably rapid transit to the orbital outpost.
Italy has announced a $5 billion investment to send two astronauts to the Moon, marking a significant expansion of its lunar exploration ambitions.
Fifty years after NASA unveiled the prototype shuttle Enterprise, the test orbiter proved a rocket launch followed by a glider landing and helped usher in reusable-orbiter technology; Enterprise later became a museum piece in 1985, while surviving orbiters toured and inspired generations of spaceflight enthusiasts, including ISS astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, who say the shuttle program played a pivotal role in sparking their careers.
NASA says Artemis II commanders Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover will transition to emeritus status at Johnson Space Center, serving as consultants while pursuing other opportunities; Glover has accepted a leadership post at Cal Poly while Wiseman has not publicly announced his next move. The 10-day lunar flyby, which marked a historic return to the Moon, paves the way for Artemis III in 2027 and a potential crewed lunar landing in 2028.
NASA says Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will leave active astronaut roles to become emeritus astronauts, dedicating time to mentor NASA staff and help guide future lunar missions. Glover has taken a leadership post at Cal Poly, while Wiseman’s plans remain undisclosed. The Artemis II crew, which also includes Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen, recently completed a lunar flyby that set a distance record for humanity.
The Artemis II crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on August 28 for their historic lunar flyby, which set a record distance from Earth (~406,771 km / 252,756 miles) during a 10-day mission. The ceremony will be at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a nod to a select group of astronauts who have earned the honor. The award followed a recommendation to President Trump, and comes amid ongoing NASA budget discussions; the Artemis II milestones echo the legacy of Armstrong and Glenn, with Hurley and Behnken the most recent prior recipients.
A study of 488 plasma samples from 52 astronauts on the ISS shows microgravity slows food transit through the gut, prompting gut bacteria to ferment proteins more than usual and producing metabolites that enter the bloodstream. The effect starts within weeks in space and largely reverses after returning to Earth. Findings suggest dietary fiber or slowly fermented carbohydrates could counteract the change for long-duration missions and also offer insights into Earth-based digestive health; published in Nature Communications.
NASA will host a two-day aerospace expo called Max Power at Kennedy Space Center on November 7–8, featuring immersive experiences, air shows, tech demonstrations, spaceflight hardware displays and talks by NASA experts, with astronauts slated to appear and Administrator Jared Isaacman set to participate in the air show; officials say the event could become the first in a series.
Spaceflight shifts body fluids toward the head and dulls taste/smell, making eating and drinking in orbit less satisfying and potentially reducing food intake. Swallowing itself doesn’t require gravity, but microgravity alters saliva production and oral conditions, contributing to dry mouth and swallowing difficulties. These changes can affect nutrition and hydration on long missions, such as a Mars voyage, prompting research into texture-modified foods and 3D-printed meals to tailor nutrition and ease swallowing for astronauts.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev returned to Earth from the ISS after 241 days in orbit aboard the Soyuz MS-28, landing in Kazakhstan about 3 hours and 24 minutes after undocking. The crew orbited Earth roughly 3,856 times and travelled over 102 million miles; Kud-Sverchkov handed ISS command to Jessica Meir as Expedition 75 began, while Williams heads to Johnson Space Center and Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev return to Star City.
Astronaut Michael Foale discusses the 1997 Mir crisis in PBS’s Once Upon a Time in Space, recounting how a manual docking of a Progress cargo ship tore Spektr and flooded the station with decompression. Foale, along with cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin, helped halt the leak and stabilize Mir during a life-threatening moment with limited oxygen. He notes Tsibliev bore the blame for the collision, a burden Foale says was unfair, highlighting the intense teamwork and international cooperation behind spaceflight.
In microgravity, the spine can lengthen by up to about five centimetres, leaving astronauts temporarily taller on return to Earth before gravity compresses the spine within days; the height gain is attributed to loading changes from gravity rather than muscle or bone loss. Historical data from Apollo-Soyuz and Skylab, plus ISS studies, support this, with seated height measurements affecting helmet and suit fit. The article also notes post-flight back injury risk and calls for routine in-flight measurements, post-flight imaging, and exploration of lumbar-focused countermeasures, given implications for future Artemis/Mars-class missions.
Astrophysicist Adam Becker says Martian dust is a major obstacle to SpaceX’s Mars colonization dream: the fine, toxic dust could cling to spacesuits and contaminate habitats, water, and food, and underground shelters wouldn’t fully solve the problem. Coupled with radiation, low gravity, and massive life-support challenges, a self-sustaining Mars settlement is not theoretically impossible but far more difficult and likely to take much longer than current plans suggest.
Four first-time astronauts aboard SpaceX Fram2 used a portable X-ray unit with roughly four hours of training to capture diagnostic images in orbit; three radiologists on the ground judged the images clinically usable to identify fractures or foreign objects, marking the first in-space diagnostic X-rays and highlighting portable imaging as a key tool for future deep-space missions where hospital care is unreachable.