2023 marks a new year for NASA. From receiving an asteroid sample to launching the Psyche spacecraft, the US space agency has achieved various milestones. As the year draws to a close, we've compiled a list of NASA's top 10 achievements.
NASA's Top 10 Achievements in 2023:
1. This year NASA astronaut Frank Rubio reached the historic milestone of becoming the first American to spend more than a year in space, demonstrating NASA's commitment to long-term human space exploration.
2. OSIRIS-REx successfully deposited a Bennu asteroid sample in the Utah desert, providing insights into ancient building blocks on Earth.
3. The Psyche asteroid spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
4. NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew by the inner edge of the main asteroid belt of its first target, asteroid Dinginesh, and the first images are now online.
5. On October 14, an annular eclipse will be visible in the United States, Mexico and many other areas. NASA actively participated in the event. They launched three Black Brand IX sounding rockets to probe the ionosphere, the electrically charged atmospheric layer.
6. NASA is partnering with DARPA on the DRACO program, with the goal of testing a nuclear-powered rocket by 2027, demonstrating commitment to advanced space propulsion.
7. The James Webb Space Telescope, a marvel of space observation, marked a year that changed science, revealing distant galaxies and solving mysteries of the early universe. Its contributions were too numerous to list.
8. Before the end of the year, the space station crew completed 12 spacewalks for upgrades and maintenance to the orbiting observatory. NASA astronauts have been persistent in installing International Space Station Rollout Solar Arrays (IROSA) to increase power generation.
9. NASA marked the 25th anniversary of International Space Station operations this year, while promoting the growth of the commercial space economy and developing partnerships for the development of commercial space stations.
10. NASA also made progress on the Artemis program this year, working diligently to achieve the historic milestone of landing the first woman and first man on the Moon. In 2023, NASA released the crew for the Artemis II mission, the first Artemis mission in which astronauts would orbit the Moon and return to Earth.
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