Announcing a new mission to Saturn’s largest Moon … Launching new missions and landing astronauts … on the same night! And … Restoring the glory to the Apollo Mission Control Room … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

New Frontiers

Just announced, our next destination in the solar system is Saturn’s icy moon Titan, a unique organic world similar to early Earth. The Dragonfly mission will fly, sample and examine sites around Titan to search for the building blocks of life. Dragonfly is expected to launch in 2026 and arrive in 2034, and will fly to dozens of locations on Titan to study the chemistry and processes that could have led to life on Earth.

Dragonfly is part of the New Frontiers program that also brought us missions that explored Jupiter, Pluto and the asteroid Bennu — all part of our ongoing planetary exploration.

Safe Landing for Expedition 59 Crew

NASA Astronaut Anne McClain is back on Earth after more than six months of science and four spacewalks aboard the International Space Station. McClain and her crewmates, Russia’s Oleg Kononenko (ko-no-NYEEN-ko) and Canada’s David Saint-Jacques (da-VEED sahn-ZHOCK) touched down late Monday night in their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan.

Innovating Space Tech

Just a few hours later, four NASA payloads caught a ride on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

The payloads will

• Test greener propellant to fuel our spacecraft
• Discover new ways to navigate in space
• Explore Earth’s atmosphere to improve GPS
• And study the harsh space environment

Honoring the Past

The historic Apollo Mission Operations Control Room – or MOCR (MO-kur) – at our Johnson Space Center in Houston is now restored to its Apollo 11-era appearance, so that future visitors will see the room exactly as it was when an unparalleled team of experts landed the first humans on the Moon 50 years ago.  The effort to restore the National Historic landmark began in 2017 after five years of planning.

You can see more of the MOCR – and some of the Apollo legends who worked there – as part of our live Apollo anniversary show airing on NASA TV and nasa.gov/live at 1 p.m. Eastern on July 19.

KSC Mobile Launcher Possible Cut

Our 380-foot tall mobile launcher has made its last solo trek to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B for final testing. Its next roll to the pad will be with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the launch of Artemis 1. The first in a series of missions, the uncrewed Artemis 1 flight will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system – as we prepare to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually go to Mars.

How Will Your Packages Ship in the Future? 

How will your packages ship…or fly to you… in the future? Flying through downtown Reno, Nevada, we tested Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, capablities. The test focused on operations in higher-density urban areas for future flights such as news gathering and package delivery.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA …