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April 11, 2025

/ 2:55 p.m. CT (1955 GMT)

The Dream is [still] Alive

: Every scene shot in space for the 1985 IMAX film "The Dream is Alive" was planned in advance and a first take. "There were no reshoots," said Marsha Ivins, who was filmed on the ground for the giant screen movie but did not make it in. All, that is, except one: the two spacewalkers waving through the shuttle's aft flight deck windows was a surprise, said cinematographer James Neihouse at a Smithsonian event for the film's 40th.

April 8, 2025

/ 11:15 a.m. CT (1615 GMT)

Probe pins

: They've circled Earth, set down on planets, moons and comets, and gone on grand tours of the outer reaches of our solar system before going interstellar. Now, Chop Shop wants to pin them down with your help. The design studio is crowdfunding a set of collectible lapel pins celebrating historic robotic spacecraft. The Voyagers, Cassini, Mars Science Laboratories and Sputnik have been picked for pins; a fifth probe will be decided by public votes.

April 7, 2025

/ 9:00 a.m. CT (1400 GMT)

OBMVxGRC

: Ohio drivers will soon be able to show support for NASA during their daily commute. A new specialty license plate for NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will be offered by the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles beginning Wednesday (April 9). The license plate displays the name of the facility and NASA "meatball" logo, along with the Wright Flyer and the phrase, "The Birthplace of Aviation." NASA will not get money from the plate sales.

April 3, 2025

/ 3:10 p.m. CT (2010 GMT)

To honor 'AII'

: NASA's Artemis II astronauts have debuted the mission patch for their trip around the moon. The insignia has elements that reference the first humans to enter lunar orbit in 1968, as well as the efforts that will come after Artemis II, to establish a presence on the moon and send astronauts to Mars. Crewmates Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen chose to abbreviate Artemis II to AII on the patch as an honor to all.

March 31, 2025

/ 9:10 p.m. CT (0210 GMT Apr 1)

Pole position

: Fram, the world's first vessel to have been used extensively in both Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, including the first to reach the South Pole, is now on another Earth-spanning journey, or at least a part of it is. A segment of the ship's wooden deck, which reached both poles in 1911 and 1926, is now on board Fram2, the first human spaceflight in polar orbit. The crew (and block) are passing over the North or South pole every 46 minutes.

March 25, 2025

/ 12:00 a.m. CT (0500 GMT)

'When the Moon Hits Your Eye'

: How much would an Apollo moon rock be worth if it was made out of cheese? That question, among others, is (indirectly) addressed in "When the Moon Hits Your Eye," the new novel by John Scalzi. Avoiding spoilers, the story unfolds over a complete lunar cycle as a cast of characters ranging from astronauts to churchgoers react to the change. In our interview, Scalzi revealed where to find him as the moon turned into cheese.

April 10, 2025

/ 6:45 p.m. CT (2345 GMT)

Demanding Discovery

: Two Texas senators have introduced legislation that would strip the Smithsonian of the retired space shuttle Discovery and send it to Houston for display. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz filed the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" on Thursday (April 10), which calls for NASA to take back the title and move the winged orbiter from the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to Space Center Houston.

April 8, 2025

/ 1:10 a.m. CT (0610 GMT)

Soyuz MS-27 launches

: Stop us if you have heard this one before: a Navy SEAL, doctor and astronaut launch into space... and that is just one of the crew members aboard Soyuz MS-27. Johnny Kim earned his trident and a medical degree before becoming an astronaut with NASA's 22nd class in 2017. Now, he is on his first spaceflight with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, lifting off on Tuesday (April 8) for the International Space Station.

April 4, 2025

/ 2:00 p.m. CT (1900 GMT)

Rockets, astronauts and ... cats

: What do returning to the moon and space exploration mean to you? That was the question put to student and adult crafters by the Lunar Quilt Block Challenge led by first quilter in space, astronaut Karen Nyberg. The results, now on display at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., are a colorful pair of patchwork blankets depicting astronauts, rockets, capsules and bootprints, as well as, perhaps surprisingly, a few cats.

April 1, 2025

/ 1:15 p.m. CT (1815 GMT)

Polar orbit indicator

: Although it was only briefly seen during SpaceX's live webcast of the launch, the Fram2 mission's zero-gravity indicator was instantly recognizable: a polar bear for the first human spaceflight to fly into polar orbit around Earth. The doll, however, had more to it than being shaped after the arctic carnivore; it also has the image of an emperor penguin embroidered on its chest, as a nod to flying over Antarctica and the South Pole, as well.

March 27, 2025

/ 9:00 a.m. CT (1400 GMT)

FLIGHT jacket

: The astronauts are now not the only group at NASA with a jacket of their own. The flight directors office has designed a coat to help the public recognize them and more importantly, become more familiar with their role. Made by Luna Replicas for past and current flight directors only, the nylon jacket gets its blue and gold colors from the office logo and has a place for a name tag with the wearer's team name and, if desired, flight director number.

March 24, 2025

/ 9:00 a.m. CT (1400 GMT)

Earth to Space

: From a "sky painting" about a spent satellite to an astronaut's tales about walking on the moon, a dance performance inspired by a NASA "hidden figure" to a talk about space food over drinks, the "EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky" festival is set to blast off at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The nation's cultural hub will spend three weeks starting Friday (Mar. 28) looking at how space exploration affects our lives.

Upcoming space events:

Festival [03/28 - 04/13]
Earth to Space
Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

Show [04/11-12]
ShuttleFest IV
Hyatt Place Titusville, Florida

more events

Newly Added Sightings:

[11/07]	Scott Kelly
[07/09]	Ricky Arnold
[06/04]	Leroy Chiao

more sightings