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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The original Mercury astronauts at the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. in May 1959. The astronauts are left to right: M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, Alan B. Shepard Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton.NASA The Mercury 7

On April 9, 1959, reporters and news media crammed into the ballroom of the Dolley Madison House in Washington—the location of NASA Headquarters at that time—to learn the names of the first American astronauts who came to be known as the Mercury 7. Public Information Director Walter Bonney kicked off the announcement by pointing to the seven men sitting on stage. “These are our astronaut volunteers,” he announced. “Take your pictures as you will, gentlemen.” One of those men on the dais, Deke Slayton, a test pilot from Edwards Air Force Base, recalled the pandemonium he witnessed. “I’ve never seen anything like it, before or since.” He described the event as, “a frenzy of light bulbs and questions…it was some kind of roar.” His colleague, Wally Schirra, a test pilot from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, called the media’s interest scary because he soon came to realize that their, “private lives were in jeopardy.”

I've never seen anything like it, before or since.

Deke Slayton

Former NASA Astronaut

The first class of astronauts were all test pilots: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. The men, as the media reported, had similar backgrounds, education, and skills. Obvious connections also included their age and race: all were white men in their thirties. Every one of them was married, had children, and were Protestants. They even donned similar outfits that day: suits with white shirts and ties.

The seven Mercury astronauts pose around a boiler plate capsule. Counterclockwise from the top left they are Walter M. Schirra, John H. Glenn Jr., Donald K. Slayton, Virgil I. Grissom, Alan B. Shepard Jr., M. Scott Carpenter, and Gordon Cooper Jr.NASA

Throughout the sixties, NASA considered jet pilot experience an important skill for anyone in the astronaut corps. Even when NASA selected two groups of scientist-astronauts, one in 1965 and another in 1967, they too learned to fly high-speed aircraft. Those without military jet pilot experience attended a year-long course that the Air Force called Undergraduate Pilot Training, and once they completed the program, they became military-qualified jet pilots.

Watch the story of the selection and training of the Mercury astronauts on NASA+ Adding Diversity to the Astronaut Corps

In the summer of 1976, NASA announced the space agency would be accepting applications for the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts, and encouraged women and minorities to apply. Almost 20 years after that first astronaut announcement, NASA included six women and four minority astronaut candidates in the 1978 class. Of the 35 selected, 15 were named pilots and 20 were mission specialists (scientists who would perform experiments in space and spacewalks). All the pilot astronauts named had similar backgrounds to the Mercury 7. Like their predecessors, they were white male test pilots with backgrounds in aviation, engineering, and science with one unique distinction: Frederick D. Gregory, an African American research test pilot from the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia. It was not until 1990 that Eileen Collins, a graduate of U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, became NASA’s first female pilot astronaut. Unlike the earlier scientist-astronauts, the mission specialists selected in 1978 and later classes did not have the opportunity to become military qualified jet pilots. They were required, however, to fly a certain number of hours per month in the back seat of a T-38, a jet trainer the pilot astronauts use to maintain their flight proficiency.

The astronaut class of 1978 was NASA’s first new group of astronauts since 1969. This class was notable for many reasons, including having the first African-American and Asian-American astronauts, and the first women.NASA

Even as NASA encouraged women and minorities to apply to be astronauts over the years, and more met the basic qualifications as they earned advanced degrees in engineering, medicine, and science, neither group was ever a majority of those selected as candidates. It was more than fifty years before women made up half of those selected in 2013; people of color have never been a majority of any class. Recent astronaut classes are more likely to reflect America’s diverse population, including the last group to be selected in 2021. This group, called the “Flies,” included several minority candidates and four women. (The class, which graduated in March 2024, also included two international astronauts from the United Arab Emirates, and all are now eligible for a flight assignment.) Flight experience continues to remain important, however. Of the ten Americans selected, four were test pilots. Another, Major Nichole Ayers, was a combat aviator from the United States Air Force.

NASA’s 2021 astronaut class graduated on Mar. 5, 2024. The 10 candidates, pictured here in an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are Nichole Ayers, Christopher Williams, Luke Delaney, Jessica Wittner, Anil Menon, Marcos Berríos, Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, Deniz Burnham, and Andre Douglas. UAE Astronaut Candidates Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla stand alongside them. NASA/Robert Markowitz The Artemis II Crew

Almost 64 years to the day after the Mercury 7 announcement, NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) revealed the names of the four astronauts assigned to the Artemis II mission. The flight will test and prove that the Orion spacecraft’s systems—including its life support, communication, and navigation systems—function as they were designed while a crew is aboard, ahead of future crewed missions to the Moon.

As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduced the crew, which included a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian national, he identified them as representatives of America’s creed: “E pluribus unum—out of many, one.” The four-member team included Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. (Half of this crew came from the 2013 astronaut class, which was equally weighted between men and women.) Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to circle the Moon since Apollo. NASA’s Artemis Generation represents a distinct shift from the sixties—when white men from the United States of America landed on the Moon—and hopes to inspire and engage the next generation by demonstrating that space is for everyone, no matter their race or gender. This crew exemplifies the global coalition NASA has built and its commitment to include international partners as well as commercial partners in this grand adventure.

NASA astronauts (left to right) Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen were assigned to fly on the Artemis II mission to the Moon.NASA

Like many who came before them, three of the four astronauts assigned to this historic mission are military-qualified jet pilots. Wiseman and Glover were both test pilots; Hansen flew as a fighter pilot for the Canadian Air Force. Test pilots regularly assess how new vehicles perform and have experience evaluating experimental aircraft. Astronauts with backgrounds as test pilots have traditionally been among those selected to fly new spacecraft for the first time. They have a strong understanding of the systems that they are monitoring, which helps them to identify and gather the type of data the space agency is seeking from this flight. The safety of future Artemis crews depends on this information.

While the Astronaut Office might look different from how it did in 1959, the decision to select test pilots for the first class of astronauts continues to influence and shape ideas about who is best suited to be an astronaut and fly in space. They are accustomed to working in a fast-paced environment and thrive under pressure. Bob Gilruth, the father of human spaceflight, called the decision to select test pilots to fly on Project Mercury in 1959, “one of the best decisions in the program. It made it quite simple and logical to delegate flight control and command functions to the pilot,” of the spacecraft. The importance of that decision continues to endure today.

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

• NASA History
• Artemis 2
• Astronauts
• Becoming an Astronaut
• Project Mercury

Explore More 5 min read NASA Names Astronauts to Next Moon Mission, First Crew Under Artemis Article 1 year ago 4 min read 45 Years Ago: NASA Selects 35 New Astronauts Article 1 year ago 7 min read 65 Years Ago: NASA Selects America’s First Astronauts Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

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What GAO Found The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported to Congress in May 2023 that it estimated the annual costs of a Direct File tax system could range from $64 million to $249 million depending on the number of taxpayers served and the complexity of tax situations supported. IRS also described assumptions used to estimate costs—a best practice for cost estimation. For example, IRS noted that it assumed a Direct File system would start with a limited tax scope. IRS also included elements of a sensitivity analysis, another best practice for cost estimation, to examine how changes in assumptions may affect cost estimates. IRS described how costs were expected to change depending on the number of taxpayers served and the complexity of tax situations supported. However, IRS's cost estimates did not address other recommended best practices, such as ensuring all costs were included and documented. GAO and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that IRS had no documentation to support the underlying data, analysis, or assumptions used for Direct File cost estimates. Further, IRS officials told GAO that the cost estimates did not include start-up costs, such as technology for a novel system, which could be substantial. A best practice for cost estimation is to include development costs as part of a complete cost estimate. Without a comprehensive accounting of costs, IRS's estimates could understate the full amount of resources required to develop and maintain a permanent Direct File program. A Direct File pilot provides opportunities for IRS to improve its cost estimates. IRS officials stated that they will update the cost estimates after the pilot. However, GAO found insufficient documentation to provide reasonable assurance that the pilot will capture the necessary data to inform more complete cost estimates. IRS officials reported that their current focus is to evaluate critical operational aspects of the pilot. However, IRS officials risk missing time-sensitive opportunities to inform cost estimates in such categories as customer service costs, potential costs of integrating a federal Direct File system with additional state-level direct file systems, and incremental costs of expanding the system's capabilities to assist taxpayers with additional tax situations. Complete cost information informs decisions about program design tradeoffs such as what additional tax situations to support. The Direct File pilot also provides opportunities for IRS to estimate potential benefits for taxpayers and for improving tax administration. IRS estimates that the Direct File pilot for the 2024 tax filing season will save taxpayers $21 million in compliance costs. In addition, IRS identified other potential benefits of Direct File, such as making it easier for eligible taxpayers to claim credits and deductions, reducing the volume of paper returns, and reducing errors. However, IRS evaluation documents did not consistently identify relevant metrics for measuring these potential benefits. IRS officials told GAO in February 2024 that senior leadership has not decided on the future of the pilot beyond the 2024 tax filing season. IRS officials reported that the time required to continue Direct File would depend on several factors, such as the size of the team working on the program. They noted that hiring new employees to replace outgoing employees is a lengthy process. Thus, IRS officials will have a short amount of time to analyze cost and benefit information before making decisions about the pilot for the 2025 tax filing season. Why GAO Did This Study IRS is piloting an online tax filing system to allow certain taxpayers to prepare and file their tax returns on an IRS website for free using a question-and-answer format during the 2024 tax filing season. Once mature, a government-run tax filing system could save taxpayers time and money, make it easier to claim tax benefits, and provide several benefits to IRS. Questions have been raised about how much funding will be required to support such a system, including providing a sufficient level of customer service. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 appropriated funds for IRS to study the cost of developing and running a free Direct File tax return system. IRS submitted its report to Congress in May 2023. The act also includes a provision for GAO to oversee the distribution and use of such funds. For this report, GAO evaluated IRS's estimates of the costs and benefits of Direct File and opportunities to use the pilot to collect data to improve those estimates to inform future decisions. GAO compared IRS's initial cost and benefit estimates against best practices for cost estimation and an IRS strategic goal of ensuring a Direct File system is cost effective.

3 Min Read NASA Names Finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge A word cloud generated from student essay entries. Credits: NASA/Dave Lam NASA has selected the nine finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes.

NASA selected nine finalists out of the 45 semifinalist student essays in the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal “super power” would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission.

The competition asked students to learn about NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), a type of “nuclear battery” that the agency uses to explore some of the most extreme destinations in our solar system and beyond. As cities across the United States experience a total solar eclipse, we experience first hand a momentary glimpse into what life would be like without sunlight. This draws attention to how NASA can power missions at destinations that cannot rely on the energy of the Sun, such as deep craters on the Moon and deep space exploration. In 250 words or less, students wrote about a mission of their own enabled by these space power systems and described their own power to achieve their mission goals.

The Power to Explore Challenge offered students the opportunity to learn more about these reliable power systems, celebrate their own strengths, and interact with NASA’s diverse workforce. This year’s contest received 1,787 submitted entries from 48 states and Puerto Rico.

"The RPS Program is so impressed by the ideas and quality of writing that come forth from essays submitted to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge

Carl Sandifer

Manager, Radioisotope Power Systems Program

“The RPS Program is so impressed by the ideas and quality of writing that come forth from essays submitted to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge,” said Carl Sandifer, NASA’s manager for the Radioisotope Power Systems Program in Cleveland. “We would like to congratulate the finalists, and we look forward to welcoming the winners to NASA’s Glenn Research Center this summer.”

Entries were split into three categories: grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Every student who submitted an entry received a digital certificate and an invitation to the Power Up virtual event that announced the semifinalists. Students learned about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and work together to explore.

Three national finalists in each grade category (nine finalists total) have been selected. In addition to receiving a NASA RPS prize pack, these participants will be invited to an exclusive virtual meeting with a NASA engineer or scientist to talk about their missions and have their space exploration questions answered. Winners will be announced on April 17.

Grades K-4

• Katerine Leon, Long Beach, CA
• Rainie Lin, Lexington, KY
• Zachary Tolchin, Guilford, CT

Grades 5-8

• Aadya Karthik, Redmond, WA
• Andrew Tavares, Bridgewater, MA
• Sara Wang, Henderson, NV

Grades 9-12

• Thomas Liu, Ridgewood, NJ
• Madeline Male, Fairway, KS
• Kailey Thomas, Las Vegas, NV

About the Challenge

The challenge is funded by the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and administered by Future Engineers under the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 contract. This contract is managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Kristin Jansen
NASA’s Glenn Research Center

What GAO Found Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank had borrowed substantial secured loans, or advances, from their respective Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) before their failures in spring 2023. As of year-end 2022, each of the three banks held substantially more FHLBank advances (as a proportion of their total assets) than a group of their peer banks. The three banks increased their outstanding FHLBank advances by 37 to 50 percent in the first 2 weeks of March 2023, when SVB and Signature Bank failed (see table). First Republic Bank’s outstanding advances then largely stabilized until the bank failed on May 1.   Percentage Changes in Outstanding Federal Home Loan Bank Advances for Failed Banks, March 1, 2023–Failure Date Bank Date Outstanding FHLBank advances (in billions of dollars) Percentage change Silicon Valley Bank March 1 $20.0 50% March 10 30.0 Signature Bank March 1 8.2 37 March 12 11.2 First Republic Bank March 1 19.4 45 May 1 28.1 Source: GAO analysis of Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) advance data. | GAO-24-106957 Prior to the three bank failures, the FHLBanks of New York and San Francisco reviewed examination reports for the three failed banks and stated that they met regularly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve Banks, and other regulators. The two FHLBanks and FDIC communicated about Signature Bank and First Republic Bank as the banks were declining. In addition, the two FHLBanks relied on established policies, procedures, and agreements with the relevant Federal Reserve Banks to help Signature Bank and First Republic Bank access additional funding. However, officials from the FHLBank of San Francisco said that SVB failed before they could coordinate with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to request additional supervisory information or facilitate SVB’s access to additional funding. Since the bank failures, the FHLBanks have received full repayment for SVB’s and Signature Bank’s advances. The bank that acquired First Republic Bank’s advances has indicated that it intends to repay the advances according to the advance terms. Why GAO Did This Study Between March 10 and May 1, 2023, state banking supervisors closed SVB, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank and named FDIC as receiver. The three failed banks had borrowed substantial secured loans (known as advances) from their respective FHLBanks before their failures. The FHLBanks are government-sponsored enterprises that support liquidity by making advances to member financial institutions and promote housing and community development. SVB and First Republic Bank were members of the FHLBank of San Francisco, and Signature Bank was a member of the FHLBank of New York. GAO was asked to review the role of the FHLBanks with regard to the recent bank failures. This report provides information on the FHLBanks’ funding to the failed banks, their communication and coordination with FDIC and the Federal Reserve System (the failed banks’ primary federal regulators), and repayment of the failed banks’ outstanding advances. This report is one in a series of reports about the bank failures. GAO plans to follow this report with work on broader issues related to the FHLBanks. GAO reviewed relevant laws and regulations; publications, policies, procedures, and other documentation and data from the FHLBanks and the federal banking regulators; and publicly available regulatory reporting data for the three failed banks. GAO also interviewed officials from the FHLBanks, federal banking regulators, and others. For more information, contact Jill Naamane at (202) 512-8678 or NaamaneJ@gao.gov.

What GAO Found To oversee basic and applied research at federal agencies, scientific program managers are typically responsible for managing award selection, monitoring ongoing awards, and coordinating with awardees and the research community. Program managers GAO interviewed from selected agencies identified key practices they used to carry out these responsibilities. They said these practices helped advance their agencies' goals, further science, and avoid unnecessary duplication. Further, the practices may help program managers, agencies, and others assess and improve management of basic and applied research. As outlined in the figure below, the key practices fall into three areas. Strengthening and building expertise—Practices that help program managers maintain scientific and management expertise. Developing connections—Practices that help program managers enhance collaboration with the scientific community and the public, as well as within their own agencies and in other agencies. Building a strong research portfolio—Practices that help program managers advance their agencies' research mission and scientific knowledge in general, while ensuring their own accountability and that of federally funded researchers. Key Practices for Federal Program Managers to Select, Coordinate, and Monitor Scientific Research Why GAO Did This Study The federal government invests in basic and applied scientific research to drive innovation, promote economic competitiveness, and enhance national security. The National Science Foundation estimates that 32 federal agencies funded over $85 billion in basic and applied research in fiscal year 2021. Scientific program managers at federal agencies that sponsor basic and applied research play a critical role in guiding and shaping the research funded by their agencies. In this report, GAO describes key practices that federal program managers use to manage their research. GAO held 14 group discussions with 79 program managers from seven selected agencies that funded over 90 percent of basic and applied research obligations in fiscal year 2021. GAO asked the program managers to describe the practices they use when managing projects in their basic and applied research portfolios. GAO conducted qualitative analysis to identify common themes and distilled them into 10 key practices. These key practices were cited by multiple program managers or agencies and could be used by program managers across the federal government when managing projects in their basic and applied research portfolios. GAO also conducted a literature review to help corroborate the key practices. GAO sought and incorporated feedback on these practices from the selected agencies as well as experts identified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. For more information, contact Candice N. Wright at (202) 512-6888 or wrightc@gao.gov.

What GAO Found In 2022, nearly 1,400 health centers provided primary and preventive health services to more than 30 million people, regardless of their ability to pay. Health centers' total revenue rose from about $28.7 billion in 2018 to $42.9 billion in 2022—an increase of more than $14 billion. The largest single source of revenue was Medicaid, accounting for over one-third of total revenue each year. The second largest revenue source each year was grants, including those provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Health Center Revenue Sources and Amounts, 2018 and 2022 Note: For more details, see figure 2 in GAO-24-106815. HRSA awarded about $34 billion in grant funding to health centers through its Health Center Program in fiscal years 2018 through 2022. About two-thirds of that funding—$23.5 billion—was awarded for service area funding, which supports ongoing operations and services, including existing and recently expanded services, at health centers. The second largest category of funding was provided for the purpose of assisting health centers with preventing, mitigating, and responding to COVID-19. The remaining grant funding supported special initiatives, such as cancer screening; increasing services at existing health centers; and increasing the number of health centers and sites. Health centers used various methods to meet requirements that they provide care at accessible locations and hours, and coverage for medical emergencies after regularly scheduled hours. According to officials from five primary care associations—organizations that provide technical assistance to health centers —most health centers in their states have at least one site that regularly offers extended hours, such as evenings or weekends, to accommodate patient needs. Officials said health centers have varied arrangements to ensure patients are evaluated after hours by a clinician and referred to emergency care or local urgent care as appropriate. GAO's analysis of HRSA's site visit findings from 2018 through 2022 found that over 93 percent of the 1,391 health centers that had a site visit complied with both of these access-to-care requirements. Health centers not in compliance took corrective actions, such as expanding clinic hours to include weekend hours and contracting with nurse triage services to clinically evaluate patients who called with symptoms after regular hours. Why GAO Did This Study Health centers rely on revenue from a variety of public and private sources, including grants awarded by HRSA through its Health Center Program. Among other things, HRSA requires health centers to have locations and hours that are responsive to patient needs, and to have procedures to handle medical emergencies that arise after hours. GAO was asked to review health centers' revenue, grant funding, and efforts to meet certain access-to-care requirements. This report describes (1) amounts and sources of health centers' revenue from 2018 through 2022; (2) purposes of HRSA grants awarded from fiscal year 2018 through 2022; and (3) methods used to meet requirements for accessible locations and hours, and coverage of medical emergencies after hours. GAO analyzed health center revenue data from HRSA and the Department of Health and Human Services for 2018 through 2022, the most recent data available. GAO also reviewed documentation for HRSA grants awarded from fiscal years 2018 through 2022 to determine grant amounts and purposes. Additionally, GAO reviewed results of health center site visits HRSA conducted from 2018 through 2022 that assessed compliance with certain access-to-care requirements. GAO also interviewed officials from five primary care associations, selected to achieve variation in geographic distribution and number of health centers in their states. For more information, contact Michelle B. Rosenberg at (202) 512-7114 or rosenbergm@gao.gov.

What GAO Found To provide patients with the highest level of care at its federally operated facilities, the Indian Health Service (IHS) reviews and verifies professional qualifications of clinicians through a process known as credentialing and privileging. GAO found that existing IHS oversight methods did not ensure adherence to all of IHS's credentialing and privileging requirements. GAO's review of a random nongeneralizable sample of 91 clinician files found that IHS generally met some of the requirements reviewed. However, IHS did not meet six of the requirements in 10 percent or more of the applicable files GAO reviewed. (Some of these requirements only apply to clinicians new to IHS.) Indian Health Service (IHS) Adherence to Selected Credentialing and Privileging Requirements This lack of adherence was due to IHS not having a single, comprehensive source of its credentialing and privileging requirements and limited monitoring by headquarters. Currently, IHS requirements are spread across multiple, sometimes conflicting, documents, making it challenging for officials to know of and meet them. Further, existing IHS oversight is concentrated at the local level and does not routinely include headquarters' reviews of clinicians' files for adherence with IHS requirements. IHS officials said they plan to improve guidance and oversight, but plans are in initial stages and have not yet been implemented. Until it ensures clinicians are appropriately screened, IHS risks hiring or retaining clinicians with performance, health, or other issues, potentially affecting the quality of care provided to patients and putting them at risk. The 24 IHS clinicians from federally operated facilities who GAO interviewed reported performing a range of tasks they considered to be administrative, including entering data in IHS's electronic health record (EHR) system and communicating about patient care. They varied in the time they estimated spending on administrative tasks; 11 clinicians said they spent 20 percent or less of their time, while 13 said they spent from 21 to 50 percent of their time on such tasks. Clinicians who previously worked in non-IHS facilities generally reported spending less time performing administrative tasks at those facilities than at their IHS facilities. They attributed the difference to non-IHS facilities having a superior EHR, fewer training requirements, or more administrative support. Why GAO Did This Study IHS provides health care services to 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives, including through a system of federally operated facilities. Clinician competence and excessive time spent on administrative tasks are factors that can affect the quality of care that clinicians provide. GAO was asked to review IHS clinician screening and the performance of administrative tasks. This report examines IHS oversight of credentialing and privileging. It also describes administrative tasks performed by IHS clinicians at federally operated facilities. GAO reviewed IHS policies and other documents, including the most recently available credentialing and privileging file for a random nongeneralizable sample of 91 clinicians. GAO also interviewed officials from IHS headquarters and nine geographic areas, as well as a random nongeneralizable sample of 24 clinicians who were working at an IHS federally operated facility.

5 min read

NASA’s New Hubble E-Book Spotlights Universe’s Best-Kept Dark Secrets This e-book is part of a series called Hubble Focus, which presents some of Hubble’s recent cosmic discoveries. Its cover, shown here, features the Abell S1063 galaxy cluster. A soft blue haze, called intracluster light, casts an otherworldly glow among innumerable galaxies. The stars producing this glow were thrown free of their home galaxies. These stars now live solitary lives, no longer part of a galaxy but aligning themselves with the gravity of the overall cluster. Astronomers using Hubble found that tracing intracluster light offers a good indicator of how invisible dark matter is distributed in the cluster. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope team has released a new downloadable e-book in the Hubble Focus series, called “Hubble Focus: The Dark Universe.” This e-book highlights the mission’s recent discoveries about two mysterious components of our universe, known as dark energy — an unexplained cosmic pressure that’s speeding up the universe’s expansion — and dark matter, an invisible substance detectable only by seeing how it gravitationally influences visible matter.

Download:

PDF format (10 MB)

EPUB format (70 MB)

“This new e-book is a wonderful summary of all the work that Hubble, in cooperation with other observatories on the ground and in space, has put into improving our understanding of two of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics today: the true nature and origin of dark matter and dark energy,” said Ken Carpenter, Hubble’s operations project scientist. “Much remains to be done, but this book will give you a front row seat to what’s been happening in this quest!”

This Hubble image features an unusually close-knit collection of five galaxies, called The Hickson Compact Group 40. Though such cozy groupings can be found in the heart of huge galaxy clusters, these galaxies are notably isolated in their own small patch of the universe. One possible explanation is that there’s a lot of dark matter holding these galaxies together. Hubble’s sensitivity, resolution, and wavelength range help astronomers probe the fundamental nature of the universe, including its most mysterious components. NASA, ESA, STScI; Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

A Cosmic Ghost Hunt

The trillions of stars, planets, galaxies, and other visible objects strewn throughout the cosmos represent less than 5 percent of what’s truly out there. Visible matter is like the tip of an iceberg, or the foam on top of a latte. All the rest of the universe, dark matter and dark energy, is mired in mystery.

Dark matter is a phantom in the machinery of the universe. Though it makes up the vast majority of the universe’s bulk, dark matter would evade even the best “ghost hunters” because it’s invisible, detectable only through its effects on normal matter. Its gravitational pull is the muscle of the cosmos, holding together both individual galaxies and galaxy clusters. Although scientists have long seen evidence of its existence, dark matter’s true nature remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern physics.

Hubble’s cosmic detective work offers clues by exploring the way matter, both normal and dark, is structured and distributed throughout space. Some of the mission’s observations have even tested theories about the type of particle that could make up dark matter. But Hubble’s observations haven’t always matched predictions, hinting that our theoretical models still have several missing pieces.

Under Pressure

Shock waves of surprise rippled through the scientific community in 1998, when Hubble observations of supernovae in more distant galaxies helped show that the universe actually expanded more slowly in the past than it does today. That meant the expansion of the universe was not slowing down due to the attractive force of gravity, as many thought it should — it was speeding up.

Today, we still don’t know the exact cause of this mysterious acceleration, but theoretical cosmologists coined the term “dark energy” to describe it. Dark energy is so weak that gravity overpowers it on the scale of humans, planets, and even within the galaxy, which is why it was unobserved for so long.

An artist’s impression of the cosmic web. Gravity builds a vast cobweb-like structure of filaments tying galaxies and galaxy clusters together along invisible bridges hundreds of millions of light-years long. Hubble studies the cosmic web to help us better understand the invisible forces that have shaped our universe into this structure. Volker Springel (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics) et al.

Dark energy is present in the room with you as you read, even within your body, but gravity is much stronger at smaller scales, which is why you don’t fly out of your seat. It is only on an intergalactic scale that dark energy becomes noticeable — and since it’s everywhere, it even overwhelms the dark matter! Hubble has helped gather very precise measurements of the universe’s expansion rate, but its findings underscore a nagging discrepancy. The universe is expanding faster now than was expected from its trajectory seen shortly after the big bang, and no one yet knows why.

The perplexity surrounding dark energy and dark matter indicates that for all we’ve learned about the universe, we still don’t know much about its underpinnings. Studying these mysteries opens the door to discovering exciting new physics.

“Hubble’s incredible scientific power continues to drive modern astronomy,” said Jennifer Wiseman, Hubble’s senior project scientist. “Dark matter and dark energy were not in mind when Hubble was first designed, and yet by detecting the impacts of these unseen cosmic phenomena, the Hubble Space Telescope is once again transforming our understanding of the universe.”

Scientists will expand upon Hubble’s insights about dark matter and dark energy with complementary observations from the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission, which has NASA contributions; NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and variety of other space and ground-based telescopes. We have far more left to learn among the stars.

As the fifth edition of the series, this e-book builds on the wealth of information shared in previous renditions, which focused on the solar system, galaxies, stars, and exoplanets. Upcoming editions will zoom in on other cosmic topics, such as black holes – astronomical objects with such strong gravity that nothing, not even light, can escape their clutches.

The new e-book is compatible with most electronic devices and can be downloaded in multiple formats for free from: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/multimedia/e-books.

For more information about Hubble, visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble

By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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Last Updated

Apr 09, 2024

Editor Andrea Gianopoulos

Related Terms

• Astrophysics
• Astrophysics Division
• Dark Matter
• Dark Matter & Dark Energy
• E-Books
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Missions
• Science Mission Directorate
• The Universe

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Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

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Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara gives a thumbs up inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. O’Hara is returning to Earth after logging 204 days in space as a member of Expeditions 69-70 aboard the International Space Station and Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya return after having spent the last 14 days in space.NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned to Earth after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on Saturday, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya.

The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5, and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 3:17 a.m., April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

O’Hara launched Sept. 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who both will remain aboard the space station to complete a one-year mission. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya launched aboard Soyuz MS-25 on March 23 along with NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who will remain aboard the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

O’Hara spent a total of 204 days in space as part of her first spaceflight. Novitskiy has logged a total of 545 days in space across four spaceflights and Vasilevskaya has spent 14 days in space as part of her first spaceflight.

Supporting NASA’s Artemis campaign, O’Hara’s mission helped prepare for exploration of the Moon and build foundations for crewed missions to Mars. She completed approximately 3,264 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 86.5 million miles. O’Hara worked on scientific activities aboard the space station, including investigating heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques during her stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. O’Hara will then board a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

With the undocking of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with O’Hara, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko make up Expedition 71 and will remain on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook, ISS Instagram, and the space station blog.

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Joshua Finch / Julian Coltre / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy gives keynote remarks during the 37th Space Symposium, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Associate Administrator Jim Free are scheduled to speak at the Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium from Tuesday, April 9 through Thursday, April 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

During her keynote, “Responsible Exploration: Preserving the Cosmos for Tomorrow,” Melroy will discuss NASA’s integrated approach to foster the long-term sustainability of the space environment at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 9.

Additionally, Free will moderate a panel titled “Mission Success is a Team Sport at NASA,” at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10. Panelists include:

• Kenneth Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Dr. Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Robert Gibbs, associate administrator, Mission Support Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Catherine Koerner, associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development, NASA Headquarters
• Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

The agency will stream both panels on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Jessica Watkins also will be participating in activities during the week. NASA currently is accepting applications for new astronauts until Tuesday, April 16. Media interested in an interview opportunity with the astronauts should email Amber Jacobson and Stephanie Schierholz.

To register for the symposium, media must email the Space Foundation at media@spacefoundation.org. Members of the media who have registered for the symposium will have two opportunities to meet onsite with different NASA leaders:

• April 9 at 11:40 a.m. MDT: Pam Melroy and Charity Weeden, associate administrator, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy
• April 11 at 9 a.m. MDT: Jim Free and Chris Hansen, deputy manager, Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility

A full agenda for this year’s Space Symposium is available online.

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about NASA’s missions and projects on a variety of topics during brief talks with subject matter experts in the agency’s exhibit space.

NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the Space Symposium from its @NASAExhibit on X.

For more information about NASA, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/

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Amber Jacobson / Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
240-298-1832 / 202-358-4997
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• Humans in Space
• Jessica Watkins
• Pamela A. Melroy
• Raja Chari

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8.

Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather Service will be added to a specially modified Alta X Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and flown to a maximum altitude of nearly two miles, higher than the team has ever flown the UAS. The UAS will provide vertical modeling of temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and wind to test an alternative data collection to using traditional weather balloons in the troposphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere where most types of clouds are found and where weather occurs.

Jake Revesz, electronic systems engineer, prepping the UAS for flight.NASA/Jen Fowler

“UAS hold promise for rapid deployment into the lower troposphere with repeated measurements for higher temporal resolution at lower cost,” said Jennifer Fowler, principal investigator and mission commander, “Typically, atmospheric data collection from instruments on board aircraft is done using balloons as the platform that, once released, are not recovered. UAS allow for the opportunity to conduct repeated profiles since the radiosonde is recovered after each flight.”

‘Forcing events’ in weather are events that drive some type of sudden change. Examples of forcing events are volcanic eruptions, wildland fires, and solar eclipses. The predictability of an eclipse, compared to other forcing events, presents a perfect opportunity for scientists to study the impact on the planetary boundary layer, the lowest part of the troposphere, in a natural experiment. Experiments with weather balloons use instruments, called dropsondes, that collect data about the atmosphere as they float to earth. Radiosondes are dropsondes attached to aircraft.

“The configuration [of instruments] that we’re using, a radiosonde integrated with a 3D sonic anemometer, flown on a multi-rotor aircraft, to my knowledge, has never been done before,” explained Tyler Willhite, airborne sensor operator, “The radiosonde is designed for balloon launches. So, the fact that we’re flying it on a drone is very different. Low altitude sounding data is critical to fill knowledge gaps that currently exist in the atmospheric boundary layer. We also have the ability to have a large variety of data outputs that can be streamed in real-time. This is something that other weather payloads are somewhat limited in.”

NASA’s team will work closely with collaborators from the World Meteorological Organization, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the University of Albany who will launch weather balloons to gather measurements during the same timeframe.

“During our eclipse mission we will also be participating in the World Meteorological Organization’s world-wide flight campaign. We will gather data in real-time throughout the eclipse and the days beforehand, send those to the WMO to input into their models for more updated and accurate forecast measurements,” said Willhite, “That is the main goal of all this data is to be inputted into models for more updated and accurate forecasts.”

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

• Langley Research Center
• Aeronautics
• Drones & You

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5 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Finalists will travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida next June to present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders. 

The 2024 finalist teams are: 

AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probe Theme: 

• Clarkson University with Khalifa University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) 
  • AUTONOMY: Augmented Unmanned Technology Operating in Navigating Objects of Mining Yield 
  • Advisors: Dr. Michael Bazzocchi (Clarkson), Dr. Roberto Sabatini (Khalifa), Dr. Alessandro Gardi (Khalifa), Dr. Anna Bourmistrova (RMIT) 

• Stanford University with the University of Waterloo 
  • Modular Self-Assembling Robotic Architecture (MARA) 
  • Advisors: Prof. Anton Ermakov (Stanford), Prof. William Melek (Waterloo) 

• University of Texas, Austin 
  • AETHER: Autonomous Exploration Through Extraterrestrial Regions 
  • Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes 

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 
  • Project Draupnir 
  • Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh 

Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector Theme: 

• Iowa State University 
  • Sub-Surface Condensation Analysis Rover for Crater Exploration (SCARCE) 
  • Advisor: Dr. Matthew Nelson 

• South Dakota State University
  • POSEID-N: Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation 
  • Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher 

• Tulane University 
  • S.P.I.D.E.R: South Pole Ice Drilling and Exploration Rover 
  • Advisors: Dr. Matt Barrios 

• University of Maryland 
  • SITIS: Subsurface Ice and Terrain In-situ Surveyor 
  • Advisor: Dr. David Akin 

• University of Texas, Austin 
  • VENOM: Volatile Examining luNar prOspectors and Mothership 
  • Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes 

Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon Theme: 

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne (ISAE) and National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space (EPFL) 
  • MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon with International Solidarity 
  • Advisors: Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman (MIT), Madelyn Hoying (MIT), Dr. George Lordos (MIT), Dr. Olivier de Weck (MIT), Dr. Alexandros Lordos (University of Cyprus), Vsevolo Peysakhovich (ISAE), Dr. Andreas Osterwalder (EPFL), Dr. Martin Heyne (Intuitive Machines), Dr. Alexander Miller (Blue Origin) 

• University of Maryland 
  • Moon-2-Mars 
  • Advisors: Dr. David Akin, Charles Hanner 

Sustained Lunar Evolution Theme: 

• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with Barrios Technology 
  • THEIA: Trans-lunar Hub for Exploration, ISRU, and Advancement 
  • Advisors: Dr. Victoria Coverstone (UIUC), Dr. Robyn Woollands (UIUC), Alec Auster (Barrios Technology) 

• University of Maryland
  • TILE: Terrapin Infrastructure for Lunar Evolution 
  • Advisors: Dr. Jarred Young, Christopher Kingsley 

• University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez 
  • POLARIS: Permanent-Outpost Lunar Architecture for Research and Innovative Services 
  • Advisors: Dr. Bárbara Calcagno, Dr. Gustavo Gutiérrez

For the 2024 competition, teams were asked to submit a two-minute video and detailed seven-to-nine-page proposal addressing one of four themes related to leveraging innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. They included: Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon, Sustained Lunar Evolution, AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probes – an Evolutionary Approach, and Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector. A steering committee of NASA personnel and industry experts selected the finalists based on a review of competitive proposals. 

“Each year we come up with themes for the competition that NASA and the aerospace industry are invested in, because these are real challenges that we are facing, and every year we are impressed with the proposals we receive,” said Patrick Troutman, RASC-AL sponsor and lead for human exploration strategic assessments at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We heard a lot of great ideas from the university community this year, but these 14 finalists really raised the bar and impressed us.” 

RASC-AL projects allow university students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. The competition emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary teams.   

“It’s never an easy decision when it comes to choosing finalists, because we love working with university students across the board and appreciate how passionate they all are about aerospace, but these fourteen teams really went above and beyond in their approaches and we look forward to hearing more from them at the forum, ” said Dr. Christopher Jones, Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley, and RASC-AL sponsor and judge.  

For 2024, each finalist team receives a $6,500 stipend to further develop and present their concept at the RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, where they will present their findings to a judging panel of NASA and industry experts. The teams with the top two winning papers will be invited to present their design projects to industry experts at AIAA’s 2024 ASCEND Conference. 

RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace. 

For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: 
https://rascal.nianet.org 

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

• Langley Research Center
• Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate

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NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, pose for a photo wearing solar glasses, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi spent 186 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 69; while Rubio set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, spending 371 days in orbit on an extended mission spanning Expeditions 68 and 69.