A Dec. 2 event with the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, featured a live chat with NASA’s Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren from onboard the International Space Station. Kelly and Lindgren answered questions from Texas Representative and Chairperson Lamar Smith and other committee members, about life on the station and the research on the orbital laboratory. Kelly is in the ninth month of his year-long mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to gather biomedical data that will help formulate a human mission to Mars, while Lindgren is preparing to return to Earth Dec. 11 to complete a 141-day mission. Also, Next space station crew preparing for launch, Orion powerhouse ready for testing, Anniversary of Orion’s first flight test, Your planet is changing. We’re on it, and Preparing Earth observation tool for space station.

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A chat with Congress, from space

A Dec. 2 event with the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, featured a live chat with NASA’s Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren from onboard the International Space Station. Kelly and Lindgren answered questions from Texas Representative and Chairperson Lamar Smith and other committee members, about life on the station and the research on the orbital laboratory. Kelly is in the ninth month of his year-long mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to gather biomedical data that will help formulate a human mission to Mars, while Lindgren is preparing to return to Earth Dec. 11 to complete a 141-day mission.

Next space station crew preparing for launch

Pre-launch activities and preparations continue for the next crew headed to the International Space Station. Following traditional ceremonies in Star City, Russia on Nov. 30, NASA’s Tim Kopra and his Expedition 46/47 crewmates — Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and ESA astronaut Tim Peake, headed to Kazakhstan to complete their training. The trio is scheduled to launch to the station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 15 for a six-month mission.

Orion powerhouse ready for testing

A Nov. 30 event at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio featured the full-size test version of the Orion spacecraft’s European Service Module. The module, provided by the European Space Agency, will supply power, in-space propulsion and air and water for astronauts onboard Orion. Engineers will begin evaluations with the test module early next year to ensure it can withstand the rigors of space.

Anniversary of Orion’s first flight test

Dec. 5 is the one-year anniversary of the flight test of Orion – Exploration Flight Test-1. Launched atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Orion completed a two-orbit, 4-and-a-half hour flight to test critical systems before the spacecraft begins carrying astronauts on future missions to an asteroid and on the journey to Mars. Orion will fly next on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). That un-crewed flight will take Orion thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a three-week mission. The SLS, which is currently being developed, is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. The rocket is on track for launch capability readiness by 2018 and engineers are hard at work on completing technical and design reviews for Orion.

Your planet is changing. We’re on it.

The U.S. is one of about 200 countries participating in talks at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties, in Paris. While NASA has no formal role in the talks, the agency’s Earth observing missions continue to provide the best information possible about how our planet is changing, to help policy makers around the world make the best decisions. The conference could lead to an international agreement that would limit carbon dioxide emissions contributing to the rise in global temperature.

Preparing Earth observation tool for space station

Preparations are underway at the Kennedy Space Center to launch NASA’s Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station, or SAGE III on ISS. The instrument, which will be delivered to the space station next year by SpaceX, and mounted to the station’s exterior, belongs to a family of SAGE instruments dating back to the 1970s. The SAGE mission measures Earth’s ozone, aerosols and other atmospheric gases, to help us better understand and protect the atmosphere. SAGE III on ISS will take advantage of the space station’s orbital path to maximize the scientific value of its observations.

And that’s what’s up this week @NASA.