After an almost five-year journey to Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully settled into orbit around our solar system’s largest planet on July 4 – giving Juno team members yet another reason to celebrate on America’s birthday. In a scenario reminiscent of the Curiosity rover’s triumphant arrival on Mars, Juno became the latest NASA spacecraft to pull off a tricky series of maneuvers to safely arrive at a distant planet. Over the next few months, Juno’s mission and science teams will perform final testing on the spacecraft’s subsystems and science instruments and even collect some preliminary science data. The principal goal of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter – which will advance our understanding about the role giant planets like Jupiter might play in the formation of a solar system – including our own. Also, New Crew Launches to the ISS, NASA Week at Essence Festival, and Survey of Earth’s Atmosphere.

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Juno Enters Jupiter’s Orbit

After an almost five-year journey to Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully settled into orbit around our solar system’s largest planet on July 4 – giving Juno team members yet another reason to celebrate on America’s birthday.

Cheering, Applause, Flight Controller:
“(Applause and cheering) … All stations on Juno Coord, we have the tone for burn cutoff on Delta V. (unintelligible), Juno – welcome to Jupiter.” 

In a scenario reminiscent of the Curiosity rover’s triumphant arrival on Mars, Juno became the latest NASA spacecraft to pull off a tricky series of maneuvers to safely arrive at a distant planet.

Scott Bolton, Juno Principal Investigator:
“NASA did it again … (applause) … that says it all to me. And I am so happy to be part of the team that did that.” 

The orbital insertion required Juno to change direction, increase its rotation rate to help stabilize itself and decrease its speed by more than 1,200 miles per hour.

Geoffrey Yoder, NASA Acting Associate Administrator for Science:
“A mission of this complexity – to accomplish tonight is just truly amazing.” 

Diane Brown, Juno Program Executive:
“The more you know about the mission, you know just how tricky this was, and to have it be flawless – I mean, I really can’t put it into words.”

Over the next few months, Juno’s mission and science teams will perform final testing on the spacecraft’s subsystems and science instruments and even collect some preliminary science data. The principal goal of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter – which will advance our understanding about the role giant planets like Jupiter might play in the formation of a solar system – including our own.

New Crew Launches to the ISS

On July 6 Eastern time, a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan toward the International Space Station. Onboard — NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins and her Expedition 48/49 crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The crew members are scheduled to arrive and enter the space station July 9. They’ll spend about four months contributing to more than 250 experiments in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

NASA Week at Essence Festival

NASA’s Stennis Space Center hosted a celebration of space exploration June 29-July 3 in New Orleans, in conjunction with the 2016 Essence Festival. NASA Week included stage presentations by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and astronaut Victor Glover, and a wide range of other free activities for visitors to learn about NASA’s Journey to Mars, the solar system and beyond, the International Space Station, the economic significance of NASA, the agency’s Earth science missions, and NASA-sponsored education initiatives.

Survey of Earth’s Atmosphere

On July 7, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center invited media to preview the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission that will study greenhouse gases and other particles and gases in the atmosphere. On July 28, NASA’s DC-8 flying laboratory will make a there-and-back trip over the tropics between Palmdale, California and the equator, before heading out for a 26-day journey on July 31. That leg of the mission will cover from the North Pole to New Zealand, over to the tip of South America, and north to the Arctic. Data from the mission will complement satellite observations of ozone, carbon dioxide and other major atmospheric gases. ATom will make detailed measurements of atmospheric chemistry that are difficult or impossible to make from space. Reducing concentrations of these gases could help slow global warming and improve air quality.

And that’s what’s up this week @NASA.