A just-released video from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft takes viewers on a beautiful flyover of the giant asteroid Vesta. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16sep_vestaflyaround/

NASA is collaborating with award-winning recording artist Mary J. Blige to encourage young women to pursue exciting experiences and career choices by studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). A public service announcement featuring veteran NASA space shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin and Blige debuts this week on NASA TV and the agency’s website at: http://www.nasa.gov. [...]

NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) will conduct a full-scale test of a five-segment, first-stage solid rocket motor at 11:05 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 31. The test at the ATK Aerospace Systems test facility in Promontory, Utah will assess motor performance at low temperatures. The static firing of the solid motor, designated Development Motor-2, will [...]

NASA centers across the nation invite journalists and the public to see and hear about the agency’s contributions to exploring and protecting our home planet during this year’s Earth Day celebrations. A highlight of this year’s activities is a weeklong series of exhibits and talks on the National Mall in Washington. Begun in 1970, Earth [...]

NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate is inviting teams of undergraduate and graduate students throughout the country to participate in the fourth annual Systems Engineering Paper Competition. Participants in the competition will submit a paper on an Exploration Systems mission topic. The deadline to register for the competition is April 16. Papers are due April 23. [...]

NASA and the Italian Space Agency announced a new use for an existing Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) known as “Leonardo.” It will be transformed into a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) for the International Space Station. For nearly a decade, the Italian-built logistic modules have flown inside the payload bays of NASA’s shuttle fleet, successfully [...]

Astronauts orbiting 220 miles above Earth will discuss science and living in space with students from Mueller Aerospace and Engineering Discovery Magnet School in Wichita, Kan., on Tuesday, March 2. The call between the students and International Space Station Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi will take place from 10:35 [...]