Are We There Yet?

Dr. Sian Proctor was one of four civilians to head to space last year thanks to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The mission called Inspiration 4 sent the crew on a three-day orbital trip and back.

Dr. Sian Proctor was one of four civilians to head to space last year thanks to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The mission called Inspiration 4 sent the crew on a three-day orbital trip and back.

NASA’s Perseverance rover is celebrating one year on Mars. The robot explorer arrived last year after a seven month journey from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It’s on the hunt for evidence of ancient life on Mars and is tasked with selecting and preparing samples of Martian rocks to send back to Earth.

NASA’s Perseverance rover is celebrating one year on Mars. The robot explorer arrived last year after a seven month journey from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It’s on the hunt for evidence of ancient life on Mars and is tasked with selecting and preparing samples of Martian rocks to send back to Earth.

NASA’s Orion space capsule will soon head on a mission to the moon and back, launching from Kennedy Space Center later this year. There won’t be a crew on board, but there will be a familiar voice. Lockheed Martin partnered with Amazon to install Alexa voice assistance on the capsule.

Engineers are also installing video conferencing tools from WebEx. It’s part of an effort to make astronauts traveling some 250,000 miles away from Earth feel more connected to the crew and their families while they’re away. We’ll talk with Lockheed Martin’s Rob Chambers about the project.

Then, before Orion can launch to space, its rocket must first go through a dress rehearsal. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is set for a critical test next month. We’ll talk with Jeremy Graeber, assistant launch director for Artemis I, about SLS’s wet dress rehearsal ahead of its first launch sending Orion to the moon.

NASA’s Orion space capsule will soon head on a mission to the moon and back, launching from Kennedy Space Center later this year. There won’t be a crew on board, but there will be a familiar voice. Lockheed Martin partnered with Amazon to install Alexa voice assistance on the capsule.

NASA’s Orion space capsule will soon head on a mission to the moon and back, launching from Kennedy Space Center later this year. There won’t be a crew on board, but there will be a familiar voice. Lockheed Martin partnered with Amazon to install Alexa voice assistance on the capsule.

This past year, all eyes have been on NASA’s Perseverance rover as it explores Mars during its first year on the red planet. But a robotic explorer that landed there nearly a decade ago has made a curious finding -- carbon.

Specifically, the Curiosity rover found a type of carbon that, here on Earth, is associated with biological processes. So does that mean this carbon is evidence of life on Mars? We’ll speak with University of Florida astrobiologist Dr. Amy Williams about the findings and the efforts to figure out where this carbon could have possibly originated.

Then, the James Webb Space Telescope has made it to its final destination and successfully unfolded and deployed all of its parts. But the scientists who will use the telescope for the first time still have nearly 5 months to wait before the observatory begins collecting data. We’ll speak with Florida Space ftp://[email protected]/AWTYep308_MarsCarbonJWSTScience.mp3 Dr. Noami Pinilla-Alonso about her plans for the telescope and why scientists have to wait so long to start looking at the stars.

This past year, all eyes have been on NASA’s Perseverance rover as it explores Mars during its first year on the red planet. But a robotic explorer that landed there nearly a decade ago has made a curious finding -- carbon.

This past year, all eyes have been on NASA’s Perseverance rover as it explores Mars during its first year on the red planet. But a robotic explorer that landed there nearly a decade ago has made a curious finding -- carbon.