Operating the Air Sampler

Katrine Gorham of the University of California, Irvine, operates the Whole Air Sampler inside NASA’s DC-8 research aircraft during a flight on April 12, 2008. Credit: NASA/Eric James

NASA science is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate’s Heliophysics Research Program; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft missions such as New Horizons;and researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs.