This Week at NASA – Mercury Transit, Dragon Return and More

The planet Mercury’s transit of the sun on May 9 provided an opportunity for sky-watchers throughout the U.S. to witness a rare celestial event that happens only about 13 times a century.
Mercury’s transit, as it passed between Earth and the sun, made it appear as a small dark dot against the face of the sun. NASA’s coverage of the event included a televised roundtable of NASA science experts discussing the exceptional opportunity presented to learn more about the atmospheric makeup of our solar system’s smallest planet. Mercury’s next transit of the sun occurs in 2019. But, those of us in the U.S. have a big celestial event to look forward to even before that – a total solar eclipse, on August 21 of 2017. Also, Kepler Confirms More Than 1,200 New Planets, Dragon Leaves ISS with Science, Canadian Wildfires Seen from Space, Two Martian Years for Curiosity, and Vehicle Assembly Building Platforms.