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2024

The Marshall Star Archive

The Marshall Star is published online every Wednesday by the Office of Communications at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For earlier editions, please send email to: Marshall.Star@msfc.nasa.gov.

2023 Marshall Star Year-In-Review

January 10, 2024

January 2024

Several guest speakers took to the stage Jan. 11 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to share how Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy impacted them personally, as well as how others can continue his legacy by being like King today. Pictured here, from left, are Tora Henry, director of Marshall’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity; Kenny Anderson, director of Huntsville City’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Jacquelyn Gates Shipe, CEO of Global Ties Alabama; Darell Ezell, social scientist, professor, administrator, and corporate strategist; Bryan Samuel, vice president of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the University of Alabama in Huntsville; and Larry Leopard, associate center director, technical, at Marshall.

January 17

Artist rendition of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer

January 24

a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 27 in the background as seen across an empty field

January 31

February 2024

Pelfrey talks during a 2023 all-hands meeting at Marshall.

February 7

This artist's illustration shows a cross-section of the supermassive black hole and surrounding material in the center of our galaxy.

February 14

Marshall Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, far right, talks to reporters during his first media event since accepting the director position. The event was held Feb. 15 in the lobby of Building 4221.

February 21

February 28

March 2024

On Feb. 22, NASA science instruments and technology on board Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, landed on the Moon’s South Pole region. This image retrieved from the lander on Tuesday, Feb. 27, captures Odysseus’ landing strut during landing, as it performed its primary task, absorbing first contact with the lunar surface.

March 6

Students from middle and high schools in the Montgomery area visit a series of exhibits featuring many NASA programs managed at Marshall. The displays were part of Alabama Space Day, celebrated March 5 at the state Capitol in Montgomery.

March 13

NASA technologist Les Johnson, on stage, discusses how the solar sail can use solar propulsion to travel farther in space than anyone has traveled before during an exhibit held March 12 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

March 20

David Brock, small business specialist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, talks to attendees at the 37th Small Business Alliance meeting March 21.

March 27

2023 Michoud Assembly Facility Year-In-Review

March 8, 2024

This photo shows how technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans install the RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon.

April 2024

Joe Matus, an engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, captured this image of the total solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

April 3

Visitors to Russellville, Arkansas, gather to view the total solar eclipse April 8. NASA heliophysics and communication experts traveled to Russellville to engage and educate tourists and residents about the eclipse. Russellville experienced a total eclipse for 4 minutes, 12 seconds.

April 10

A total solar eclipse is seen from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

April 17

April 24

May 2024

May 1

The Starliner flag flies outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center.

May 8

Astronaut Victor Glover, far right, and Bill Hill, second from right, director of safety and mission assurance at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center join Marshall honorees for a photo op at the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Ceremony on May 4 in Orlando, Florida. Honoree awards recognize civil servants and industry partners for outstanding work and dedication to astronaut safety. From left, Cody Goodman, David Starrett, John Ivester, Lisa Hughes, Greg Snell, Megan Vansant, Megan Hines, Karl Nelson, Les Johnson, Shawn Reagan, Hill, and Glover. Marshall honorees also include Maggie Freeman, who was unable to attend the awards event.

May 15

NASA astronaut Josh Cassada and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey lead students from area schools across the Louisiana State Capitol grounds to attend a series of panel discussions as part of Louisiana Space Day 2024.

May 22

Marshall Deputy Director Rae Ann Meyer, second from right, responds to an audience question during a question-and-answer panel the May 20 all-hands meeting. At left, Lance D. Davis, Marshall’s public affairs and news chief, moderates the panel, while Pelfrey, center left, and Larry Leopard, Marshall’s associate director, technical, far right, listen in.

May 29

June 2024

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, left, addresses an audience of academic and industry stakeholders at the 29th annual Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit in Nashville on May 30.

June 5

Marshall’s CCP team members support the CFT launch from inside the Huntsville Operations Support Center on June 5.

June 12

The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville. With the Terra Engineering team at the awards ceremony are from left, Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University president; Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Marshall Space Flight center director; NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, and Majed El-Dweik, Alabama A&M University’s vice president of Research & Economic Development.

June 18

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, second from left, presented Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, third from left, with an Artemis I Certificate of Appreciation during NASA in the Park on June 22 at Huntsville’s Big Spring Park East. They are joined by Larry Leopard, Marshall associate director, technical, far left, and Rae Ann Meyer, Marshall deputy director.

June 26

July 2024

L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), is a molecular cloud that harbors a protostar. It resides about 460 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. The more diffuse blue light and the filamentary structures in the image come from organic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the red at the center of this image is an energized, thick layer of gases and dust that surrounds the protostar. The region in between, which shows up in white, is a mixture of PAHs, ionized gas, and other molecules. This image includes filters representing 7.7 microns light as blue, 12.8 microns light as green, and 18 microns light as red.

July 3

The Artemis II Core Stage moves from final assembly to the VAB at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in preparation for delivery to Kennedy Spaceflight Center later this month. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

July 10

The core stage of the Artemis Space Launch System being loaded on a covered barge. The stage is a large cylinder shape with the engines facing toward the camera on two yellow transporters that are guiding the stage into a covered grey container in the background. The body of the cylinder is mostly an orange color and white around the bottom. The four engines on the bottom are covered with red material.

July 17

An artist’s illustration depicting NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in flight, with a vivid star field behind it. Chandra’s solar panels are deployed and its camera “eye” open on the cosmos.

July 24

After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Once inside, SLS will be prepared for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II launch.

July 31

August 2024

A man and women look at a piece of hardware

August 7

Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and mission management team chair, discusses Artemis I challenges during the Shared Experiences Forum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 8. The event was part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands safety initiative and held in Activities Building 4316.

August 14

NASA Chief Financial Officer Margaret Vo Schaus speaks to audience members and honorees Aug. 15 during the 2023 Agency/Center Honor Awards at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Activities Building 4316. In all, 332 Marshall team members were awarded this year for their outstanding work and dedication to furthering the NASA mission, along with 97 teams.

August 21

The Artemis II Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is transported to the waiting Pegasus barge at Marshall Space Flight Center in preparation for delivery to Kennedy Space Center. Image credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon & Michael DeMocker

August 28

September 2024

The core stage engine section of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis IV is loaded onto the agency’s Pegasus barge at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Aug. 28. The core stage hardware will be moved NASA’s to Kennedy’s Space Systems Processing Facility for outfitting.

September 4

This is an artist's depiction of a pair of active black holes at the heart of two merging galaxies. They are both surrounded by an accretion disk of hot gas. Some of the material is ejected along the spin axis of each black hole. Confined by powerful magnetic fields, the jets blaze across space at nearly the speed of light as devastating beams of energy.

September 11

NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin, center left, joins team members at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a Climate and Science Town Hall on Sept. 17 in Activities Building 4316. Calvin took part in a question-and-answer session during her visit that was live streamed agencywide. Joining her in the session were, from left, Rahul Ramachandran, research scientist and senior data science strategist for the Science Research and Project Division at Marshall; Marshall Earth Science Branch Chief Andrew Molthan; Marshall Chief Scientist Renee Weber; Marshall Center Director Joseph Pelfrey; and Marshall Science and Technology Office Manager Julie Bassler, who moderated the panel.

September 18

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, bottom right, welcomes attendees to the 38th meeting of the Marshall Small Business Alliance on Sept. 19.

September 25

October 2024

NASA astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei talks about his time in space aboard the International Space Station.

October 2

Category 5 Hurricane Milton, packing winds of 175 miles per hour, is viewed in the Gulf of Mexico from the space station as it orbited overhead.

October 9

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft launches off the coast of Florida, with blue skies and ocean in the background.

October 16

An illustration of a black hole with a dark circle surrounded by light discs.

October 23

A group of Marshall team members gather below the development test article for the universal stage adapter that will be used on the second variant of SLS, called Block 1B. The universal stage adapter is located inside one of the high bays in building 4619. The universal stage adapter will connect the Orion spacecraft to the SLS exploration upper stage. With the exploration upper stage, which will be powered by four RL10-C3 engines, SLS will be capable of lifting more than 105 metric tons (231,000 pounds) from Earth’s surface. This extra mass capability enables SLS to send multiple large payloads to the Moon on the same launch.

October 30