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Presidential congratulations for\h
the Mars Perseverance rover team …

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The rover makes its first\h
drive on the Red Planet …

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And a pair of spacewalks outside\h
the space station … a few of the\h\h

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stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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On March 4, President Joe Biden made a\h
congratulatory call to our Jet Propulsion\h\h

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Laboratory’s Center Director, Mike\h
Watkins and the entire Mars 2020\h\h

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team for the successful Feb. 18 landing on\h
the Red Planet of our Perseverance rover.

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“You guys did it. You guys gave a sense\h
of “America is back.” It‘s -- it's\h\h

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astounding what you did. You believed\h
in science, you believed in hard work,\h\h

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and you believed there wasn’t a darn thing you\h
couldn't do if you put your minds together.”

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Perseverance also made its first drive on Mars\h
March 4 – a trek across the Martian landscape\h\h

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that covered about 21.3 feet, and which also\h
served as a mobility test. Once the rover begins\h\h

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pursuing its science goals, it is expected to\h
clock drives of 665 feet or more. Meanwhile,\h\h

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mission team scientists have informally named the\h
rover’s landing site “Octavia E. Butler Landing,”\h\h

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in honor of the groundbreaking author\h
and Pasadena, California native,\h\h

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who was the first African American woman to\h
win both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award,\h\h

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and was the first science fiction writer\h
honored with a MacArthur Fellowship.

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Astronauts conducted a pair of spacewalks outside\h
the International Space Station during the week.\h\h

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On Feb. 28 our Kate Rubins and Victor\h
Glover completed a 7-hour-4-minute spacewalk\h\h

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to begin installing modification kits needed\h
for solar array upgrades later this year.\h\h

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Once installed, the new solar arrays will\h
increase the station’s total available power.\h\h

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Five days later, Rubins and Japan’s Soichi\h
Noguchi ventured outside to complete the\h\h

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installation of the modification\h
kits and to tackle additional work,\h\h

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including the venting of ammonia from\h
the station’s thermal control system.

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission, targeted\h
for launch no earlier than mid-April,\h\h

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will be the second crew rotation flight of\h
a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts\h\h

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to the space station. The Crew-2 astronauts,\h
Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA,\h\h

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Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace\h
Exploration Agency, and European Space Agency\h\h

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astronaut Thomas Pesquet, talked about the mission\h
during a virtual Crew News Conference on March 1.

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“I’m looking forward to flying with this\h
great crew that you see on the screen.\h\h

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It’s been the first time in over\h
20 years that a crew from NASA,\h\h

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ESA, and JAXA have flown together so,\h
that’s pretty cool too. We’re looking\h\h

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forward to spending several months\h
on the International Space Station.”

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Our James Webb Space Telescope\h
passed two important milestone tests\h\h

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in February – moving the observatory a step\h
closer to being ready for launch in October.\h\h

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Engineers confirmed Webb’s internal\h
electronics are working as intended,\h\h

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and that the spacecraft and its four scientific\h
instruments can send and receive data through the\h\h

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same network they will use in space. Webb will\h
solve mysteries in our solar system, look to\h\h

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distant worlds around other stars, and investigate\h
the origins of our universe and our place in it.

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, we have\h
updated our annual feature recognizing the most\h\h

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recent women who have conducted science\h
aboard the International Space Station.\h\h

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It’s available online at go.nasa.gov/womeninspace.\h\h

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The women featured are among the 65 women\h
overall, as of March 2021, who have flown\h\h

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in space as cosmonauts, astronauts, payload\h
specialists, and space station participants.

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The next phase of testing in our Advanced Air\h
Mobility (AAM) National Campaign this month,\h\h

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uses a helicopter, as a stand-in advanced air\h
mobility vehicle, flying various maneuvers at our\h\h

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Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.\h
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration\h\h

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are working together to create a new air\h
transportation system that could support\h\h

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passenger and cargo transportation in urban,\h
suburban, rural, and regional environments. Data\h\h

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from these flights will be used to help develop\h
operational procedures for that new system.