March 4-10, 2024 / Vol 43, No 10 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Next-Gen NASA Astronaut Class to Graduate Under Artemis Program

NASA Astronaut Group 23 is set to receive astronaut wings at March 5 graduation ceremony being held at Johnson Space Center in Houston TX. Nicknamed ‘The Flies’, Group 23 consists of 5 women and 7 men, 10 of whom are USA citizens and 2 hailing from the UAE: Nichole Ayers (Colorado), Marcos Berríos (Puerto Rico), Christina Birch (Arizona), Deniz Burnham (Alaska), Luke Delaney (Florida), Jack Hathaway (Connecticut), Anil Menon (Minnesota), Christopher Williams (Maryland), Jessica Wittner (California) and Nora Al Matrooshi & Mohammed Al Mulla (UAE). Originally scheduled to begin training in 2021, the selection process saw 12,000+ applicants vie for the opportunity to work in space. The Flies have studied spaceflight together at JSC Astronaut Training Facility since 2022. A live Q&A will follow the 10:30 EST ceremony at 11:45, which will be live streamed on NASA+ and NASA TV. These new Astronauts will add to the 38 active NASA Astronauts that are available for flight assignments. Next up to fly as part of SpaceX Crew-8 mission for NASA are Michael Barrett, Jeannette Epps and Matthew Dominick on a 6-month mission to the International Space Station. The 3 NASA Astronauts chosen for the first USA trip around the Moon (Artemis 2 NET September 2025) are Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman. (Image Credits: NASA, SpaceX)

MONDAY 

☆ Mar 4 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 seven-member crew working with airlock configurations after experimental robotic arm activities, continue to maintenance spacesuits; 5 docked spacecraft are Soyuz MS-24, SpaceX Dragon crew Endurance, NG Cygnus-20 (S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson), Progress 86 and 87 resupply ships.

☆ Mar 4 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 17 three-member crew planned to return in April; about 150 in-orbit science research and application projects have been implemented aboard TSS so far; Shenzhou 18 and 19 crews have been selected and continue training (not yet announced).

★ Mar 4 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Transporter 10, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 rocket to launch Transporter-10 mission to sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers; launch opens 12:04 EST.

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

1st Independent Moon Lander Odysseus Sleeps as Intuitive Machines Analyzes Data and Hopes for Reactivation

The 6-day nominal IM-1 mission has paused for lunar night after operating on the lunar surface despite 11 mission critical challenges, including a safety switch oversight which prevented the laser rangefinder aboard the Nova-C class lander from being activated, resulting in an off-nominal landing performed with IMU and optical algorithmic-based navigation. Despite these adversities, Intuitive Machines has provided all 6 NASA and 5 private payloads with some level of data from the surface of the Moon and in-transit (the exception being Embry‑Riddle EagleCam, which was eventually deployed 4-m from Odysseus on the lunar surface, but failed to connect to the lander via WiFi), including images from the International Lunar Observatory Association precursor mission ILO-X (which carried Space Calendar First Lunar Broadcast Edition, and is planning its flagship ILO-1 to Malapert Mountain), pictured above. Resting within an unnamed 1-km diameter crater ~10km east of Malapert A crater (80.13°S, 1.44°E) at a ~30° angle (including 12° slope), the Odysseus craft, described as a “plucky lander” by NASA TO-2/IM Project Scientist Susan Lederer, will await noontime of the next lunar day (around March 20) to receive a reactivation command by ground controllers at IM mission control. Intuitive Machines’ next mission IM-2 will target Shackleton Connecting Ridge for delivery of Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1 during 10-day mission, test wireless LTE communications developed for the Moon by Nokia, deploy the µNova hopper with 25km range, and feature an improved high-gain antennae for improved lunar broadcasting bandwidth. (Image Credits: International Lunar Observatory Association)

● Mar 4-5 — NASA, Washington DC: Planetary Advisory Committee (PAC) 2024 Meeting.

☆ Mar 4 — Aten Asteroid 2024 CK8: Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)

TUESDAY

● Mar 5 — NASA, Johnson Space Center, Online / Houston TX: Graduation ceremony for the next generation of Artemis astronaut candidates; begins 10:30.

o Mar 5-6 — Aircraft Interiors Middle East (AIME), Dubai: Aviation Week MRO Middle East.

WEDNESDAY 

● Mar 6 — CASA Moon, SSERVI, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, LPI, Albuquerque NM: CASA Moon Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series: Building Beyond Earth: Pioneering the Future with Additive Manufacturing in Space Habitats; by Maryam Hojati, University of New Mexico, 11:00 MST.

THURSDAY 

★ Mar 7 — Juno, Perijove 59 / 58th Science Flyby, Jupiter Orbit: NASA craft to perform Jupiter flyby during Perijove 59, its 59th close flyby of Jupiter and 58th science flyby with instruments turned on.

● Mar 7 — 2024 USA State of the Union Address, Washington DC: USA President Biden to give speech to Congress addressing wide range of issues, perhaps advocating for climate change research and Artemis Moon, Mars and Beyond advancements and funding.