1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Galaxies...

The Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011. The four reusable orbiters were launched vertically, like conventional rockets, and then landed horizontally on a runway. The program became politically untenable after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 were lost. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft in history. It was designed to be launched vertically, then land horizontally on a runway. The Space Shuttle program was a major part of the United States' space exploration efforts. It began with the development of a space shuttle proposal in 1972, which was approved for production as part of an inter-agency program between NASA and the Department of Defense. The first test flight occurred in 1981 and its first operational flight was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. After a series of delays due to both technical issues and external events like the 1986 Challenger Disaster and 2003 Columbia Accident, it flew on 135 missions from 1981 until its decommissioning in 2011; its final launch being STS-135 by Atlantis on July 8th 2010. In 2011, the United States' Space Shuttle was retired from service after 30 years of service. In the current era of spaceflight, the United States is planning for its next crewed spacecraft Orion and its primary launch vehicle SLS; their first flight is set for 2022 with no crew members onboard followed by a crewed flight in 2023. Orion has been under development since 2004. It was originally planned to be launched atop an Atlas V rocket but has since switched over to being launched by a new SLS rocket under development by NASA as part of its Space Launch System program. The first mission using this new vehicle will be Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby mission before returning them safely back home again via parachute landing system similar to what occurred during the Apollo era. #explorepage #sts #spaceshuttle #nasa #columbia #challenger #discovery #atlantis #endeavour #kennedyspacecenter #stemeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwYMqPuUMc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Tomorrow, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform a “touch and go” maneuver with the asteroid Bennu, with the intent to collect a sample and return it to Earth. As the spacecraft orbited Bennu, a team of 3,600 people, including myself, analyzed 4,500 images to mark every crater, rock, and boulder in order to find the ideal spot for the “TAG”. We made 14 million notations! https://www.facebook.com/OSIRISREx/videos/2826486524306208/?vh=e&extid=0&d=n #bennu #osirisrex #space #tobennuandback @nasa @nasasolarsystem #nasaeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CGjSy_yDuM-/?igshid=10jw6a0fmwa2h

Being a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador has its perks. Not only do I get to talk to kids about space science, but I also get some cool mission shirts! The Perseverance Rover is currently collecting samples of Martian rock and soil. Soon, it will be dropping off some collection tubes at a point called Three Forks Sample Depot. In the near future, the Mars Sample Recovery Mission will pick up the Martian samples and bring them back to Earth for analysis. #explorepage #nasa #perseverance #mars2020 #lifeonmars #marssamplereturn #jpl https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck44siYuh2V/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Imagine a grain of sand on your fingertip at arms length. That is the amount of sky covered in this image! This is the first deep field image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. All of those little smudges are galaxies with billions of stars in them. What we see tomorrow will be absolutely mind blowing! #explorepage #nasa #jwst #telescope #space #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf5EXutOYhx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Exciting weekend! Got signed off on a certification and SpaceX gave me a new hat! #nasa #spacex #space #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CW3WpnslSyR/?utm_medium=tumblr

It’s here! My first children’s book for ages 4-7 is available on Amazon. “Mission, GO!” by Johnathan Brackett is available in Kindle form or paperback. Thanks to friends and family for the encouragement. #space #astronaut #stem #steam #spaceflight #iss #internationalspacestation https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJXR_njF53/?igshid=1gqq80oafbo1b

Jupiter, Europa, and Ganymede - Celestron 127slt mak - 05/20/2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxr6DEgnMN0/?igshid=1h59aw6rt2hg0

Somebody’s got to do it! Happy Star Wars Day! May The Fourth Be With You! #maythe4thbewithyou #starwarsday #nasa #jpl #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/COdI9JcDBej/?igshid=wxfr65xogirz

Finished!!! #lego #nasa #iss #internationalspacestation #solarsystemambassadors https://www.instagram.com/p/CbIIROlu0kJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

Sitting in the Captain’s chair on the USS Yorktown CV-10… This is the ship that recovered the Apollo 8 capsule. #apollo #apollo8 #nasa #yorktown (at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYMtjhdpvyH/?utm_medium=tumblr