From its introduction into the Navy in the late 1800s, baseball became a phenomenon that U.S. sailors — many of whom were Major League pros — helped to spread around the world.

Source: www.war.gov

The Space Force structure is unique. While it is a separate and distinct branch of the armed services, it is organized under the Department of the Air Force.

Source: www.war.gov

From Revolutionary War battlefields to today’s frontlines, the Purple Heart has served as a recognition of sacrifice and heroism. How well do you know the history behind America’s oldest military medal?

Source: www.war.gov

Undefeated in battle, the USS Constitution is more than 200 years old and still afloat. Can you emerge victorious in a quiz on this venerable Ship of State?

Source: www.war.gov

Meet Boston’s only undefeated team: the crew aboard Old Ironsides! Step aboard the oldest and toughest warship in all seven seas, which doubles as a living — and floating — museum.

Source: www.war.gov

The department helped make another “Mission: Impossible” possible. Military expertise, feedback and equipment provided authenticity to make the magic of Hollywood feel real.

Source: www.war.gov

Thousands of American service personnel are missing from previous conflicts and the Defense POW/MIA Agency remains relentless in its mission to provide the fullest possible accounting to their families and the nation, until they’re home.

Source: www.war.gov

The triad, along with assigned forces, provide 24/7 deterrence to prevent catastrophic actions from our adversaries and they stand ready, if necessary, to deliver a decisive response, anywhere, anytime.

Source: www.war.gov

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator

Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

After Curiosity’s 14 years on the surface, Mars continues to surprise. Both of our workspaces this week contained features unlike quite anything we have seen in the past — broad, shallow pits (like the one in the image above) dotted across the bedrock. Pits are not uncommon — when resistant nodules or pebbles weather out of their host rock, they leave behind a void. But the pits of this week were much broader and shallower than past features and were not accompanied by obvious objects that were once in the pits. MAHLI and Mastcam were particularly interested in these features, acquiring stereo mosaics of them and tightly overlapping image sets that can be turned into a digital elevation model of their structure. They were a welcome new puzzle into the processes that have affected this particular section of rocks in the stratigraphy of Mount Sharp. 

The “typical” bedrock was anything but boring. Mastcam imaged and ChemCam rastered across complex packages of layers with changes in texture and structure over short vertical differences. These might be evidence of changes in depositional conditions captured in close proximity to one another. ChemCam, MAHLI, and APXS analyzed gray, rough, resistant layers that differed from the host bedrock, likely indicative of a different chemistry. ChemCam studied one of the gray float rocks (like the small, loose pebble in the image above) that have been scattered variably across our workspaces, to try to understand the origins of these stones. Farther afield, the “Cordillera” butte continued to garner attention, with a comprehensive Mastcam mosaic covering its entire visible face, and more focused ChemCam RMI mosaics aimed at specific horizons. The “Tolhuaca” and “Potosí” buttes, which are farther south down “Valle Grande,” were also targets, with ChemCam looking for potential crossbedding and assessing the mineralogy of dark material capping Potosí. 

Our environmental science team members were just as busy, planning REMS, Mastcam, and Navcam activities at a higher-than-usual cadence to monitor a potential regional dust storm. They found by the end of the week, however, that the storm appeared to be dissipating. 

We managed to accomplish all of this despite having lost one of our planning days due to a lost downlink. 

Source: science.nasa.gov

NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station.

The unpiloted Progress 96 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 12:15 p.m. EDT (9:15 p.m. Baikonur time), Wednesday, Sept. 9, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA’s live launch coverage will begin at 12 p.m.

After a two-day trip to the space station, Progress will dock autonomously to the Poisk module’s space-facing port at 2:37 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11. NASA’s arrival coverage will begin at 1:45 p.m.

NASA will stream these events live through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

The spacecraft will remain docked to the orbiting laboratory for about five months before departing to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, where it will harmlessly burn up over the Pacific Ocean.

Before Progress 96 arrives, the Progress 94 spacecraft will undock from the space station at approximately 11:18 a.m., Monday, Sept. 7, for its departure and planned destructive re-entry. NASA will not stream coverage of Progress 94 undocking.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
[email protected] / [email protected]

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
[email protected]

Source: www.nasa.gov