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The next commercial crew mission to the space
station …

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An historic milestone on Mars …

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And a hearing to confirm NASA’s next administrator
… a few of the stories to tell you about

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– This Week at NASA!

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On April 23, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission
to the International Space Station launched

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from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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“And liftoff …”

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The mission is the second crew rotation flight
of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and the

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first with two international partners. The
next day, the Crew-2 astronauts – our Shane

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Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, as well as Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and

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Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency
– safely docked to the space station. They

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are scheduled to spend six months conducting
science and research aboard the orbital outpost.

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On April 19, our Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
made history on the Red Planet.

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“Altimeter data … confirmed that Ingenuity
has performed its’ first flight – the

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first flight of a powered aircraft on another
planet.”

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The first powered, controlled flight on another
planet by an aircraft happened in an area

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on Mars now known as Wright Brothers Field,
so named to recognize the historic connection

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of Ingenuity’s flight to the Wright brothers’
first flight on Earth. Ingenuity rose to an

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altitude of 10 feet, maintained a stable hover
for 30 seconds, and descended back down to

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the Martian surface for a safe touch down.

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“We have done it! This is the first time
I’ve been able to say, ‘We’ve done it.’

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So, beyond this first flight, over the next
coming days we have up to four flights planned,

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and increasingly difficult flights, challenging
flights. And we are going to continually push

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all the way to the limit of this rotorcraft.”

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Ingenuity successfully completed its second
Mars flight on April 22, during which it climbed

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to 16 feet, moved sideways about 7 feet, made
a few additional maneuvers, then headed back

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to the center of the airfield to land.

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Meanwhile, a first for our Perseverance Mars
rover on April 20. A toaster-size experimental

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instrument aboard the rover called, the Mars
Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment

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or MOXIE, was used to convert some of the
Red Planet’s thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere

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into oxygen. The MOXIE technology could lead
to systems capable of isolating and storing

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oxygen on Mars to power rocket launches from
the Red Planet, and possibly provide breathable

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air for astronauts on future surface missions
to Mars.

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On April 21, former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson,
the president’s nominee to be the next NASA

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administrator, appeared before the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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during a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.

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“If you ask me, ‘What is my vision for
the future of NASA?’ It is to continue for

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us to explore the heavens with humans and
with machines. And there is a lot of excitement.”

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If confirmed, Nelson would become NASA’s
14th administrator. Nelson flew aboard the

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space shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist
on the STS-61C mission in 1986.

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On April 22, Earth Day was all about connections
– to our home planet and to each other.

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Powered by the hashtag #ConnectedByEarth,
our Earth Day Virtual Event, April 21-24,

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celebrated Earth and the planet’s more than
7 billion people of diverse backgrounds and

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experiences, who all share a connection. The
free, online event included live panel discussions

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and chats with NASA Earth science experts,
downloadable content, such as coloring pages,

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activity sheets, eBooks, posters and more.