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. [...]

Spaceflight pioneer Aaron Cohen, a former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, died Thursday, Feb. 25, after a lengthy illness. He was 79. Cohen had a 33-year career with NASA. He was a steady hand at the helm of Johnson as NASA recovered from the shuttle Challenger tragedy and returned the space shuttle [...]

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 [...]

NASA’s Space Shuttle Program conducted the final test firing of a reusable solid rocket motor Feb. 25 in Promontory, Utah. The flight support motor, or FSM-17, burned for approximately 123 seconds — the same time each reusable solid rocket motor burns during an actual space shuttle launch. Preliminary indications show all test objectives were met. [...]