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Keeping NASA Flying: Ground Crews Ensure Aircraft Readiness

- NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center maintenance crews keep a diverse fleet mission‑ready for research, chase, support and high‑altitude science flights. - This year Armstrong added two F‑15s and a Pilatus PC‑12 alongside ER‑2s and the X‑59, increasing platform capabilities. - Crews perform continuous checks, fuel, repairs and hardware swaps; teams include crew chiefs, avionics technicians, quality assurance and mechanics. - Maintenance tracks flights, supports unexpected early returns, and adapts to rapid reconfigurations to ensure safe, reliable operations.

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Photo by @anitamonteiro / Unsplash

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NASA-Funded Study Shows Wildfire Smoke’s Hidden Ozone Toll

NASA-Funded Study Shows Wildfire Smoke’s Hidden Ozone Toll

- A NASA-supported study found that over the past decade wildfires have increased ground-level ozone (smog) across much of the contiguous U.S., worsening air quality far from fires. - Nationally, fires offset nearly four years of ozone-control gains; in the Midwest wildfires erased about 5.3 years of progress

A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II

A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II

- An Artemis II crew member photographed Earth from the Orion spacecraft after the translunar injection burn, capturing a full-disk view on April 2, 2026. - The visible hemisphere is lit by moonlight and shows a Sun sliver, green auroras at the poles, fuzzy zodiacal light, and Venus. - High

International Sea Level Satellite Observes El Niño Precursor

International Sea Level Satellite Observes El Niño Precursor

- Sentinel‑6 Michael Freilich altimeter data (Mar–May 2026) show a warm Kelvin wave moving east from the western Pacific to off Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. - By mid‑May sea level there exceeded long‑term averages by ~15 cm, indicating warmer surface water. - Early‑year Kelvin waves