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Commemorating an historic event
for human spaceflight …

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“We choose to go to the moon …”

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An update on plans for Artemis I …

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And what our Perseverance
rover is up to on Mars …

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a few of the stories
to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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On Sept. 12, NASA and Rice University

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commemorated
the 60th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s

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historic speech at Rice in 1962.

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In that speech, the President recommitted
the nation to the goal

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he had proposed to Congress in May 1961
of landing astronauts on the Moon

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before the end of the decade
and returning them safely to Earth.

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As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
pointed out during the keynote address

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at the event, the President’s

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speech helped advance our leadership
in human spaceflight back then,

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and it continues to inspire us today
as we work to send humans

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back to the Moon and, eventually to Mars
as part of our Artemis program.

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60 years ago,
President Kennedy put wind in our sails

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on the new sea of space exploration
and that mission is never-ending.

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It’s a mission about science

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and the advancement of the human spirit
to expand what is possible.

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A cryogenic demonstration test
for our uncrewed Artemis I

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flight test is now targeted
for no earlier than Wednesday, Sept. 21.

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Meanwhile,
the agency has requested a Sept. 27

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launch opportunity for the Space
Launch System, or SLS rocket and

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Orion spacecraft, with a potential backup
opportunity of

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Oct. 2 under review.

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During the cryogenic demonstration, teams
will load super cold liquid oxygen

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and liquid hydrogen into the core stage
and interim cryogenic propulsion

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stage of the SLS to confirm
that a hydrogen leak has been fixed.

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Artemis I is the first integrated
flight test with the SLS and Orion.

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The mission will send Orion
beyond the Moon and return

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the spacecraft back to Earth.

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NASA’s
Perseverance rover is collecting samples

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and analyzing the composition of rocks
at an ancient river delta

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located in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater,
an area long considered by scientists

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to be a top prospect for finding signs
of possible ancient microscopic life.

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In its analysis of a sample from a rock
named Wildcat Ridge, the rover’s SHERLOC

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instrument registered the most abundant
organic detections on the mission to date.

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Further conclusions
about what is contained in this

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sample will have to wait until it’s
returned to Earth for in-depth study

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as part of the Mars
Sample Return campaign,

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an international collaboration
led by NASA and the European Space Agency.

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Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen,

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the associate administrator
for our Science Mission Directorate,

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is planning to leave the agency
at the end of 2022.

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His six years at NASA
have included some of the agency’s

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most inspirational moments, from sending
the first spacecraft to touch the Sun,

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to launching and sharing the first images
from the James Webb Space Telescope,

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to landing the Perseverance rover on Mars
along with the Ingenuity helicopter

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that went on to make the first powered,
controlled flight on another planet.

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The agency is conducting a nationwide
search and open competition

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for a new associate administrator.

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The team at our Armstrong Flight Research
Center recently completed a flight series

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called CarpetDIEM which tested
state-of-the-art ground recording stations

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designed to hear and record the unique
sounds that will be generated

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during future supersonic flights by NASA’s
X-59 aircraft.

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The X-59’s goal is to reduce the intensity

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of sonic booms,
which are heard when an aircraft flies

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faster than the speed of sound,
to a quiet sonic “thump”.

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When the X-59 flies, NASA
will record the sonic thumps

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as part of the effort
to validate its quiet supersonic design.