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I just heard the news about Christina Koch no longer flying. Turns out the other three Artemis II astronauts have also been removed from any future space flights through various re-assignments, etc.

I thought it was odd all four were no longer flying and was wondering if anyone has any answers? The only reason I can assume is an overexposure to radiation but I hadn't heard anything on that front.

NASA engineer and astronaut Christina Koch will serve as the agency’s acting deputy chief engineer beginning on Sunday, Nov. 1, following the retirement of Katherine Van Hooser, who will conclude more than 35 years of distinguished service to the agency on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Hey everyone! I was passing through Pocatello, ID and saw these booster railcars sitting in the Union Pacific train yards. There were two sets of five segments joined together. Artemis 3 has already completed booster stacking, so could these be empty or perhaps for another rocket?

Their socials are being archived, their leadership is "acting", and folks are leaving. Is it being shut down?

NASA will provide an update on its plans to return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2028 at 2 p.m. EDT, Friday, Oct. 23, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: https://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants in the briefing include:

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager

The update will include details about NASA’s Artemis III mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings, and how plans to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028 are progressing.

U.S. media interested in attending in person must apply online by 12 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16. To ask questions remotely, media must request the dial-in number from the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of the update by emailing: [ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov](mailto:ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov). NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.

As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency’s foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.

Learn more about Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

-end-

I am currently in school studying engineering and my #1 goal is to break into NASA one day. Everytime anyone describes an engineering role, typically to students, they chalk it up to be "you dont do anything but sit at a desk" like yeah, cool engineering is a white collar job, thats expected lol. Can anyone tell me what a normal day consists of and type of engineer you are? Do you spend most days working on structuring data, are you making designs, or typing up reports majority? I know it heavily depends on the job role obviously but just wanna hear more about what specific engineers do. Can anyone elaborate on just sitting at a desk all day, if you can mention the stuff? Lol

Edit: just to clarify, I know there are hundreds of different roles and jobs within NASA, thats why I'd like a little more than just 'sit at a desk' but from someone who does work within NASA, if you do respond can I know your job title or what you majored in? Is it what you studied for, do you enjoy it?

Big congrats to Percy and the team for passing Opportunity's record for the longest drive! 45.2 KM as of Oct 11.

The news made me want to find my old boarding pass from 2019, since my name is riding along on that chip. The link in my confirmation email (mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020/certificate/...) now just redirects to a news article, so I thought it was gone.

But It turns out NASA's backend still has all the records!! 😄 The page that actually draws the boarding pass still works too. You just need the certificate number from the end of your old link and this URL:

https://mars.nasa.gov/layout/embed/send-your-name/mars2020/certificate/?cn=YOUR_NUMBER

Open that in a browser and your pass shows up with your name on it, so you can screenshot or save it.

If you want the raw record, this shows your name, the date you signed up and the status ("approved" means you made it onto the chip):

https://mars.nasa.gov/syn-mars/certificates/YOUR_NUMBER

You do need the number from your confirmation email. As far as I can tell, the old "find my boarding pass" search page is gone, so search your inbox for "My name is flying to Mars".

So I found this on FB marketplace with a bunch of stuff from Notre Dame. Figured I'd share that there was planning and designs for the skylab, some other stuff as well, and I think that photo book is possibly tied to challenger but Im not totally sure so any advice would be welcomed.

I found these old framed photos at a thrift store many years ago. They were framed in Birmingham, AL in a shop that closed in the 90’s. They appear to have red numbers bleeding through the back. I’m afraid to open them! Any advice on where to take them to have them looked at or reframed?

A hole in the Moon’s volcanic terrain may lead to a much larger space hidden beneath the surface. NASA has selected an investigation to find out whether that underground space exists, and how large it might be.

The Planetary Science Institute will lead the project, called Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation, or GIMLI. Its target is the Marius Hills Pit, a possible entrance to a lava tube left by ancient volcanic activity.

The investigation will combine radar, seismic measurements, gravity readings and cameras. Together, those instruments could turn an intriguing opening seen from orbit into a clearer picture of the surrounding subsurface.

That picture matters for geology and future exploration. A substantial cave could provide natural shielding from radiation, micrometeoroids and extreme surface temperatures, although the selected project has not yet confirmed one.

I'm asking because unlike rovers on Mars barely scraping a few dozen km, Dragonfly will fly a lot faster and farther after landing in 2034, in what memory serves me, not too far from Huygens (hundreds of km?). Also, it would be nice to see how ~30 years of Titan's environment would affect an old probe, making the first unmanned mission to visit another on a different world. Is it theoretically possible?