Welcome to this week's NASA update. Our top story: Intuitive Machines successfully landed its Nova-C spacecraft on the Moon, marking a historic achievement for commercial lunar exploration.
On March 6th, the Intuitive Machines 2 mission touched down near Mons Mouton in the Moon's south polar region, delivering NASA science payloads to the lunar surface. This marks the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called it "a giant leap forward for commercial space and a testament to American innovation." The mission aims to study lunar resources and test technologies for future Artemis missions.
In other news, NASA released its fiscal year 2025 budget request, totaling $25.4 billion. Key priorities include advancing the Artemis program, enhancing climate science capabilities, and supporting U.S. space industry development.
The budget allocates $7.6 billion for science missions, including restoring the VERITAS Venus orbiter for a 2031 launch. It also provides $7.6 billion to continue development of systems for human lunar exploration.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center is gearing up for an busy 2025, with over 90 launches planned from Florida's Space Coast. Center Director Janet Petro said, "We have an amazing workforce, and when we join forces with industry and our other government partners, even the sky is no limit to what we can accomplish."
The agency is also changing how it utilizes the International Space Station. NASA plans to transition from permanent crewed access to more flexible mission schedules. This shift aims to free up resources for deep space exploration while still maintaining a robust research program in low Earth orbit.
On the technology front, NASA's quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft completed electromagnetic testing, confirming its systems can operate safely without interference. This moves the project closer to demonstrating quiet supersonic flight over land.
Looking ahead, NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission is set to launch to the International Space Station on March 12th. The four-person crew will conduct hundreds of scientific experiments during their six-month stay.
For more information on these stories and other NASA activities, visit nasa.gov. And don't forget - applications for NASA's next astronaut class open later this year. The future of space exploration could be you!