Human-rating is a critical certification process that validates the safety, reliability, and suitability of space systems—including orbiters, launch vehicles, rovers, spacesuits, habitats, and other crewed elements—for human use and interaction. This process ensures that systems are designed not only to protect human life but also to accommodate human needs and effectively integrate human capabilities. Human-rating requires […]...
NASA astronauts Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman will connect with students in Minnesota as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 20, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. Media […]...
This November marks a quarter century of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station, which has served as a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including human missions to the Moon and Mars. To kick off the orbiting laboratory’s silver 25th anniversary countdown, here are a […]...
Former NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough is photographed as he left the airlock hatch during a spacewalk on Jan. 13, 2017. Kimbrough performed nine spacewalks during his three spaceflights. He retired in July 2022. Astronauts conduct spacewalks to perform maintenance on the space station, install new equipment, or deploy science experiments. These activities also inform future missions […]...