NASA Logo

Suggested Searches

  • Climate Change
  • Expedition 64
  • Mars perseverance
  • SpaceX Crew-2
  • International Space Station
  • View All Topics A-Z

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

On February 20th, 2024, Antarctic sea ice officially reached its minimum extent for the year.This cycle of growth and melting occurs every year, with the ice reaching its smallest size during the southern hemisphere's summer.

Antarctic Sea Ice Near Historic Lows; Arctic Ice Continues Decline

NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health

Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health

  • Search All NASA Missions
  • A to Z List of Missions
  • Upcoming Launches and Landings
  • Spaceships and Rockets
  • Communicating with Missions
  • James Webb Space Telescope
  • Hubble Space Telescope
  • Why Go to Space
  • Astronauts Home
  • Commercial Space
  • Destinations
  • Living in Space
  • Explore Earth Science
  • Earth, Our Planet
  • Earth Science in Action
  • Earth Multimedia
  • Earth Science Researchers
  • Pluto & Dwarf Planets
  • Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
  • The Kuiper Belt
  • The Oort Cloud
  • Skywatching
  • The Search for Life in the Universe
  • Black Holes
  • The Big Bang
  • Dark Energy & Dark Matter
  • Earth Science
  • Planetary Science
  • Astrophysics & Space Science
  • The Sun & Heliophysics
  • Biological & Physical Sciences
  • Lunar Science
  • Citizen Science
  • Astromaterials
  • Aeronautics Research
  • Human Space Travel Research
  • Science in the Air
  • NASA Aircraft
  • Flight Innovation
  • Supersonic Flight
  • Air Traffic Solutions
  • Green Aviation Tech
  • Drones & You
  • Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
  • Space Travel Technology
  • Technology Living in Space
  • Manufacturing and Materials
  • Science Instruments
  • For Kids and Students
  • For Educators
  • For Colleges and Universities
  • For Professionals
  • Science for Everyone
  • Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
  • STEM Engagement at NASA
  • NASA's Impacts
  • Centers and Facilities
  • Directorates
  • Organizations
  • People of NASA
  • Internships
  • Our History
  • Doing Business with NASA
  • Get Involved
  • Aeronáutica
  • Ciencias Terrestres
  • Sistema Solar
  • All NASA News
  • Video Series on NASA+
  • Newsletters
  • Social Media
  • Media Resources
  • Upcoming Launches & Landings
  • Virtual Events
  • Sounds and Ringtones
  • Interactives
  • STEM Multimedia

IXPE Operations Update

IXPE Operations Update

A top-down view of the OSIRIS-REx Touch-and-Go-Sample-Acquisition-Mechanism (TAGSAM) head with the lid removed, revealing the remainder of the asteroid sample inside. The TAGSAM is round, metallic silver, and looks like three concentric circles. The outermost circle has eight triangular metal ridges. The second ring is covered in deep gray, rocky dust particles and small rocks, with silver bolts peeking through the dust. The central circle has three metal bars, crossing in a star pattern.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Awarded Collier Trophy

Amendment 6: New Horizons data now in scope for B.4 Heliophysics Guest Investigator Open

Amendment 6: New Horizons data now in scope for B.4 Heliophysics Guest Investigator Open

image of an astronaut posing next to 3D printer aboard the space station

Optical Fiber Production

Key adapters for the first crewed Artemis missions are manufactured at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The cone-shaped payload adapter, left, will debut on the Block 1B configuration of the SLS rocket beginning with Artemis IV, while the Orion stage adapters, right, will be used for Artemis II and Artemis III.

Payload Adapter Testing: A Key Step for Artemis IV Rocket’s Success

Infographic showing to order of events for the Artemis II proximity operations demonstration

Key Test Drive of Orion on NASA’s Artemis II to Aid Future Missions

Photo of Honolulu, Oaho, Hawaii, pictured from Diamond Head

NASA Analysis Sees Spike in 2023 Global Sea Level Due to El Niño

people watching a partial eclipse

Five Tips from NASA for Photographing a Total Solar Eclipse

Hubble Sees New Star Proclaiming Presence with Cosmic Lightshow

Hubble Sees New Star Proclaiming Presence with Cosmic Lightshow

Hubble Spots the Spider Galaxy

Hubble Spots the Spider Galaxy

NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts

NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts

A.23 Terrestrial Hydrology POC Change

A.23 Terrestrial Hydrology POC Change

New NASA Software Simulates Science Missions for Observing Terrestrial Freshwater

New NASA Software Simulates Science Missions for Observing Terrestrial Freshwater

Gateways to Blueskies. 2023 Theme: Clean Aviation Energy

University Teams Selected as Finalists to Envision New Aviation Responses to Natural Disasters 

nasa foreign travel

NASA Armstrong Updates 1960s Concept to Study Giant Planets

Illustration showing several future aircraft concepts flying over a mid-sized city with a handful of skyscrapers.

ARMD Solicitations

David Woerner

David Woerner

Lazurite's ArthroFree Wireless Camera System on a table, held by a person wearing surgical gloves.

Tech Today: Cutting the Knee Surgery Cord

false color map of moon surface with colors showing height of craters, mountains

NASA, Industry Improve Lidars for Exploration, Science

Teams prepare for a playoff match at the L.A. regional FIRST Robotics Competition in El Segundo on March 17.

Student-Built Robots Clash at Competition Supported by NASA-JPL

A screenshot of an applications submitted to the ADC by a group of students. There is a low-poly rover in the middle of the picture, following a yellow line on a computer generated moon. There is some UI in the top left and right corner with various positional information.

NASA Challenge Invites Artemis Generation Coders to Johnson Space Center

Findings from the Field: Students and Professionals Connect at Research Symposium

Findings from the Field: Students and Professionals Connect at Research Symposium

nasa foreign travel

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Awarded Robert Goddard Memorial Trophy

Professor with students at Oakwood University

Partnerships that Prepare for Success: The Research Institution Perspective on the M-STTR Initiative

Astronaut Marcos Berrios

Astronauta de la NASA Marcos Berríos

image of an experiment facility installed in the exterior of the space station

Resultados científicos revolucionarios en la estación espacial de 2023

NASA astronauts (from left) Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara, both Expedition 70 Flight Engineers, partner together removing and replacing components inside the Cold Atom Lab aboard the International Space Station. The space physics device enables observations of atoms chilled to temperatures near absolute zero allowing scientists to study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics not possible on Earth.

Logros de la NASA en la estación espacial en 2023

The traveler.

  • Toggle List View
  • Toggle Grid View

NASA’s Traveler: NASA’s Guide To Black Hole Safety

Have you ever thought about visiting a black hole? We sure hope not. However, if you’re absolutely convinced that a black hole is your ideal vacation spot, watch this video […]

NASA’s Traveler: NASA’s Guide to Near-light-speed Travel

Nasa’s traveler: field guide to basic black holes.

If you’re looking to find some black holes, it’s always helpful to know exactly what you’re looking for! To get started on your black hole hunt, first watch this handy […]

NASA’s Traveler: Field Guide to Fancy Black Holes

Once you’ve gotten the hang of basic black holes, you might want to search for some fancier ones. That’s great! But, before you do, refer to this convenient chapter to […]

NASA’s Traveler: Field Guide to Social Black Holes

Watching black holes by themselves is fun, but what about ones that like being more social? Some black holes really LOVE to dance with other objects in the universe. Learn […]

NASA’s Traveler: Field Guide to Social Supermassive Black Holes

It’s not just smaller black holes that have all the fun – really, really massive black holes also enjoy being the center of attention! Watch this chapter to learn more […]

NASA’s Traveler: Field Guide to Black Hole Records

Even though you’ve learned about basic black holes, and fancy black holes, and social black holes, and giant black holes, there are always stranger things out there! In this final […]

NASA’s Traveler: Guide to Visiting a Gamma-Ray Burst

Are you looking for a new vacation spot? Perhaps one with spectacular fireworks? While gamma-ray bursts produce brilliant displays of light across the entire spectrum, we cannot recommend visiting one.

  • Page Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024
  • Responsible NASA Official: Rebecca Sirmons

USE NID 9700.2, Travel INSTEAD

Appendix a: fmr nasa federal travel regulations supplement (nftrs).

A.1 The following appendix addresses matters for which NASA has authority or responsibility to set specific policy or establish specific procedures that apply only to NASA and matters not covered by the FTR.

CHAPTER 301 - TEMPORARY DUTY (TDY) TRAVEL ALLOWANCES

Subchapter A - Introduction

Part 301-2 - General Rules

Subchapter B - Allowable Travel Expenses

Subpart A - General

Non CPP Approval

Subpart B - Common Carrier Transportation

Airline Accommodations

Subpart D - Privately Owned Vehicle (POV)

Subpart E - Special Conveyances

Taxicabs, Shuttle Services, or Other Courtesy Transportation

Part 301-11 - Per Diem Expenses

Subpart A - General Rules

Subpart C - Reduced Per Diem

Subpart D - Actual Expense

Subpart E - Income Tax Reimbursement Allowance (ITRA), Tax Years 1993 and 1993

Subpart F - Income Tax Reimbursement Allowance (ITRA), Tax Years 1995 and Thereafter

Part 301-12 - Miscellaneous Expenses

Part 301-30 - Emergency Travel

Part 301 -32 - Invitational Travel

Part 301-33 - Witnesses or Jurors

Part 301 -34 - Travel on Cost-Sharing Arrangements

Subchapter C - Arranging for Travel Services, Paying Travel Expenses, and Claiming Reimbursement

Part 301 -50 - Arranging for Travel Services

Part 301-51 - Paying Travel Expenses

Part 301 -52 - Claiming Reimbursement

Part 301-53 - Using Promotional Materials and Frequent Traveler Programs

Subchapter D - Agency Responsibilities

Part 301 -71 - Agency Travel Accounting Requirements

Subpart B - Travel Authorization

Subpart D - Accounting for Travel Advances

Part 301 -74 - Conference Planning

Subpart B - Travel Expenses

CHAPTER 302 - RELOCATION ALLOWANCES

Part 302-6 - Allowances for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Expenses (TQSE)

Subpart B - Actual TQSE Method of Reimbursement

CHAPTER 303 - PAYMENT OF EXPENSES CONNECTED WITH THE DEATH OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES

Subpart D - Transportation of Immediate Family Members, Baggage, and Household Goods

Subpart E - Preparation and Transportation Expenses for Remains of Immediate Family Members

CHAPTER 304 - PAYMENT FROM A NON-FEDERAL SOURCE FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES

Part 304-1 - Acceptance of Payment from a Non-Federal Source for Travel Expenses

Non CPP Approval:

Travel to Permanent Duty Station

Subpart E - Income Tax Reimbursement Allowance (ITRA), Tax Years 1993 and 1994

Part 301-34 - Travel on Cost-Sharing Arrangements

Part 301-51 - Paying Travel Expenses Subpart A - General

Part 301-52 Claiming Reimbursement

NASA Sponsored Conferences

Non-NASA Sponsored Conferences

Part 302-6 - Allowances for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Expenses Subpart A - General Rules

CHAPTER 303 - PAYMENT OF EXPENSES CONNECTED WITH THE DEATH OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES Subpart D - Transportation of Immediate Family Members, Baggage, and Household Goods

Part 304-1 Acceptance of Payment from a Non-Federal Source for Travel Expenses

NASA's Excel version of the SF-326-Semiannual Report of Payments Accepted From a Non-Federal Source shall be used by Centers to report payments received from non-Federal sources. This report applies to all payments that are more than $250 per event.

NASA SPONSORED CONFERENCE - APPROVAL TO CONDUCT

Estimate based on $240/day/person

Site recommendation and supporting rationale:

PRESCRIBED MAXIMUM PER DIEM RATES FOR CONUS For the Continental United States (CONUS) per diem rates, see applicable FTR Per Diem Bulletins, issued periodically and available on the Internet at http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem.

PRESCRIBED MAXIMUM PER DIEM RATES FOR OCONUS Maximum rates of per diem allowances for travel in foreign areas are established by the Secretary of State and apply to all U.S. Government employees and contractors. Applicable rates are available on the Internet at http://www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm.

ALLOCATION TABLE FOR PREPAID M&IE DEDUCTIONS OUTSIDE CONUS MI&E rates for localities in foreign areas and for localities in non-foreign areas shall be allocated as shown in Appendix B to Chapter 301 of the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR).

DISTRIBUTION : NODIS

This document is obsolete and is no longer used. check the nodis library to access the current version: http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov.

NASA Logo

  • What's new in ROSES this year? How does it differ from prior ROSES?
  • What to do when ROSES and the Guidebook disagree?
  • I missed the deadline for the notice of intent (NOI), may I still propose?
  • Letters of support from facilities that aren't under your control.
  • The Two-Step proposal submission process.
  • Why is my program officer bugging me about 'costing' funds by the end of the fiscal year?
  • I heard that it was OK to use a smaller font in the figure captions and tables, is that true?
  • Are you redacting budgets again this year?
  • Questions about the Science PI
  • How do I get a No-Cost Extension (NCE) on my grant?
  • When is my annual progress report due, and what should it look like?
  • What about the final report for my grant? What does that look like and to whom should I send it?
  • How do you find reviewers for proposals? May I be a reviewer? Does NASA pay people to do this?
  • I have a foreign Co-investigator, can this person be supported via a NASA grant?
  • I am switching to a new university in the fall but I have grants that I hold here that are already in progress, what should I do?
  • Can a company make a profit from a grant?
  • Questions about grant.gov
  • Questions and recommendations about making your proposal PDF
  • May I include in my ROSES proposal a link to my web page for more information for the benefit of the reviewers? What about reprints or preprints, may I include those as an appendix to my proposal?
  • The NSSC keeps asking me for more budget detail. How much budget detail to I have to provide?
  • When should I designate a team member as a collaborator vs. a Co-Investigator?
  • Questions about travel?
  • Questions about leave for family and medical reasons?
  • "Work Package" (ISFM) / directed work vs. participating on ROSES proposals
  • Guidance on archiving manuscripts in NASA PubSpace (PubMed Central)
  • Questions regarding overlap and duplication of proposals
  • Under what conditions may a grantee direct charge a computer to a grant? There used to be some rule that this was allowed if the computer was used only for the grant.
  • Questions about citizen science
  • When do I need to get prior approval, e.g., to purchase a piece of equipment or make a (significant) change to my project?
  • Link to NASA Grants Policy and Compliance FAQ
  • Export-Controlled Material (e.g., ITAR, EAR) in Proposals
  • Does SMD have any rules about the use of LLMs like ChatGPT?

1. What's new in ROSES-2024? How does it differ from prior ROSES?

ROSES-2024 may be found at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2024 starting on February 14, 2024. The following significant changes occurred since last year's ROSES solicitation:

  • Currently, SMD does not prohibit the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, or professional human writers in the preparation of proposals or required award reports. In general, though, SMD discourages the unacknowledged inclusion of any content in proposal materials or award reports that is not the creative product of the proposal team. NASA holds proposers and award recipients responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of their proposal submission and award reports, including content developed with the assistance of Generative AI tools or professional human writers. Any material contained in proposals or in reports to NASA that is not the product of the team must be cited in the references section, e.g., either the name of the professional writer and a statement describing to which portions of the document they contributed or, if AI is used, the name of the program, version number, the date and time, and a statement on how the Generative AI was used. For more information see  https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/#faq-32 .
  • TBDs are longer in ROSES-24. Our longstanding practice of very short, e.g., one paragraph TBD placeholders were not very informative to those who were not already familiar with the program so, where possible, the TBD placeholders are longer. Perhaps an extreme example, the TBD placeholder for the graduate student research opportunity ROSES-24 F.5 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) is 24 pages long; it’s basically the full text, except for the "Ancillary information" which are Appendices/FAQs. The motivation to provide what is essentially draft text is strong in that case because it's one of the programs that will change to Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) for the first time in ROSES-24. FINESST proposals have non-standard sections (e.g., Research Readiness Statement, Mentorship plan) so having the word out that it will be DAPR gives potential proposers more time to prepare.
  • Last year, by amendment subsection (ii) "Collision Avoidance / Conjunction Assessment Requirements" was added to Section VIII(b) of the ROSES Summary of solicitation. This new requirement applies only to investigations for which all three bullets at the top of Section VIII(b)ii the ROSES Summary of Solicitation are true (i.e., Free fliers, orbital or beyond, owned, developed, or operated by NASA or a contractor)
  • The use of Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) continues and increases. We estimate that in ROSES-2024, more than 30 program elements will employ DAPR. Any program element that that uses DAPR will say so clearly in the program element text and provide instructions on how to prepare proposals for DAPR. See https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-review for more information on DAPR.
  • Inclusion Plan pilot program: ROSES-2024 will continue the uniform and consistent approach to inclusion plan requirements, placing the instructions in Section IV(e)ii of the Summary of Solicitation . We estimate that more than a dozen programs in ROSES-2024 will require an Inclusion Plan. Inclusion plans will not contribute to the adjectival ratings or selection recommendations. Any program element that that requires an inclusion plan will say so clearly in the program element text.
  • We anticipate that the 2024 version of The NASA Proposer’s Guide will soon be posted at https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocfo/gpc/regulations_and_guidance . Assuming it's released in advance of the first ROSES-24 due date, the 2024 version of the Guidebook will be the one that applies to all ROSES-2024 proposals. Until then, refer to the 2023 version.
  • F.2 Topical Workshops, Symposia, and Conferences (TWSC) became a stand-alone solicitation separate from ROSES in the summer of 2023, see NNH24ZDA002N .

Other things of note:

  • The restrictions involving China persist, please see https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/prc-faq-roses/
  • The NSPIRES cover pages now provide more configurable rows in Section F for listing separately funded Co-Is at government labs and subawards, see https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/how-to-guide/nspires-cslabor/
  • At the time of release of ROSES-2024 2 CFR 200 is currently hosted here . Changes to 2 CFR 200 are anticipated in the coming year. When that occurs, ROSES will be updated as needed.
  • National security presidential memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) on national security strategy for U.S. government supported R&D means that proposers (and reviewers) will almost certainly have to provide additional biographical information once the requirements have been finalized. For more information see the NSPM-33 implementation guidance [pdf] .

There have been changes to the program elements within ROSES:

In Appendix A (Earth Science), new program elements include: 1) A.21 Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Science Team 2) A.31 Earth Science Imaging/Sounding Data Analysis from Earth Observing System to Earth System Observatory, that combines what was previously Terra/Aqua/S-NPP/JPSS, 3) A.32 that combines the previously separately solicited Precipitation Measurements Mission and Cloudsat/CALIPSO science team, and 4) A.59 New or Modified GLOBE Protocols. Some programs in Appendix A strongly encourage proposers to use the Earth Science standard templates for the Table of Work Effort and Current and Pending Support at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/templates-for-earth-science-division-appendix-a-roses-proposals .

In Appendix B (Heliophysics), this year one program element, B.15 Heliophysics Innovation in Technology and Science, accepts proposals at any time without any preliminary statement such as a Notice of Intent. Proposals will be evaluated quarterly. most program elements use a "binding" two-step proposal submission process, see Section IV(b)vii. Proposers are strongly encouraged to use the standard Heliophysics template for the Current and Pending Support and the Open Science and Data Management plan, see https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/templates-heliophysic-division-appendix-b-roses-proposals .

In Appendix C (Planetary Science) the new program element is C.25 Lunar Mapping Program and Precursor Science Investigations for Europa is returning as C.22. C.4 PDART and C.11 DDAP now place the Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP) in a separate two-page section, following the ROSES default. C.11 Discovery Data Analysis (DDAP) does not request budgets with the proposal, just cost category (small, medium, or large); budgets will be requested later for selectable proposals. C.12 PICASSO will be implementing DAPR for the first time in ROSES-24. All proposals to Appendix C are strongly encouraged to use the planetary science template for Table of Personnel and Work Effort and proposals requiring an OSDMP are strongly encouraged to use the PSD OSDMP template. Both templates may be downloaded from: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/templates-planetary-science-division-appendix-c-roses-proposals . Additionally, to increase clarity and accessibility, information pertaining to the majority of the programs in Appendix C has been moved into C.1 Planetary Science Research Program Overview. Proposers are advised to read C.1 in its entirety to ensure that they have the necessary information to be compliant with their proposal submission. Additionally, to increase clarity and accessibility, information pertaining to the majority of the programs in Appendix C has been moved into C.1 Planetary Science Research Program Overview. Proposers are advised to read C.1 in its entirety to ensure that they have the necessary information to be compliant with their proposal submission.

In Appendix D (Astrophysics), two new TBD program elements that may be solicited this year include D.18, Euclid General Investigator (GI) program and D.19 Astrophysics Habitable Worlds Observatory System Technologies. The latter is related to but distinct from ROSES-2023 D.19 Critical Technologies for Large Telescopes , which has proposals due April 3, 2024. In a change from prior years, D.2 ADAP does not request budgets with the proposal, just cost category (small, medium, or large); budgets will be requested later for selectable proposals.

In Appendix E (Biological and Physical Sciences), the Decadal Survey released in the Summer of 2023 has resulted in some changes. At the time of release of ROSES, NASA plans that at least two program elements will evaluate proposals using DAPR. Space Biology plans to solicit animal and plant research as two separate program elements and, other than E.8 Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI), the details of the other programs will depend on the BPS response to the recently released decadal survey. PSI will be released in the fall.

Appendix F (Cross-Division) the new program element is Economic, Social and Policy Analyses of Lunar Surface Sustainability in F.21. There are several other changes: Supplement for Scientific Software Platforms has been merged into F.8 Supplement for Open-Source Science. Transform to Open-Science Training has been retired, but requests for development of training material may be submitted to F.14 High Priority Open-Source Science. F.3 Exoplanets Research now places the OSDMP in a separate two-page section, following the ROSES default.

Keeping Track of Changes to ROSES:

ROSES has ~100 active program elements in any given year and many start as drafts or TBD placeholders and final text and due dates are released later in the year. Sometimes unanticipated programs are added, and corrections and clarifications of existing program elements are not unusual. To learn of the addition of new program elements and all amendments to this NRA, proposers may:

  • Subscribe to the SMD mailing lists (by logging in at https://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and checking the appropriate boxes under "Account Management" and "Email Subscriptions").
  • Get automatic updates of due dates using the ROSES-2024 due date Google calendar. Instructions will be available shortly after release at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/library-and-useful-links (link from the words due date calendar).
  • Check the ROSES-2024 Blog at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2024/

A note about ROSES overlap: This FAQ is about ROSES-2024, which was released February 14, 2024, but the first (full/Step-2) proposal due dates are not until May. In the meantime, ROSES-2023 is still open, the last ROSES-23 due dates are still to come, which can cause some confusion. If you follow the link to ROSES-24 B.16 Heliophysics Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning-Ready Data and are surprised that the due date is a year away or if you can’t find A.67 Earth Action: Supporting Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) in ROSES-2024, that’s cause you are looking at the wrong ROSES, A.67 CRC (due early May 2024) is in ROSES-23. Make sure that you are looking at the right Table of Due Dates, check the year at the top, e.g., https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2023table3 is for ROSES-23 and https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2024table3 is for ROSES-24 .

Finally, if you are looking for the FAQ for ROSES-2023 (e.g., because you are preparing a proposal for one of the ROSES-2023 program elements due in early calendar 2024) you may view the archived ROSES-2023 FAQ at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/archived-2023-faq/ .

2. The NASA Guidebook for proposers and ROSES don’t agree about everything, what should proposers do when the solicitation is inconsistent with or contradicts the guidebook?

Both the guidebook itself (in the preface) and the ROSES Summary of Solicitation subsection I(g) note that the solicitation takes precedence over the Guidebook for Proposers . Moreover, ROSES adds that individual program elements take precedence over the Summary of Solicitation . The NASA Guidebook for Proposers is an Agency document that we (in SMD) don’t control. We try to make them consistent but sometimes ROSES is released prior to the guidebook, so we don’t know exactly what the guidebook will say, and sometimes they differ for a good reason (like redaction). Please follow the instructions in the program element. If the program element is silent on something, then the rules in ROSES apply. If ROSES is silent then the rules in the guidebook apply.

3. I missed the deadline for the notice of intent (NOI), may I still propose?

The Notice of Intent (NOI) to propose is a brief summary of the planned work by the prospective PI that may be submitted by an individual, it doesn't require that the organization approve or submit in NSPIRES (as opposed to a Step-1 proposal). Usually, an NOI is merely desirable, not required, so if you miss the deadline you can usually still send in your NOI via email to the program officer and still submit your final full proposal later. However, for a few programs an NOI is a required prerequisite for submission of a full proposal. For example, D.3 Astrophysics Research and Analysis and D.7 Strategic Astrophysics Technology require the submission of the NOI. For those program elements where the NOI is mandatory, that will be stated clearly in the program element and in the Tables 2 and 3 of ROSES that list the due dates there will be a parenthetical (mandatory) below the due date. Where NOIs are mandatory proposers should presume that the due dates will be enforced just as they are for proposal due dates. For more information about NOIs vs Step-1 (and Phase-1) proposals see Section IV(b) of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation, subsections vi, vii and viii.

4. Under what circumstances do I need a letters of support for a resource or facility?

We were thinking primarily of a situation where a proposer wants to use a resource that is not a standard facility, e.g., an expensive microscope in someone else's lab where there is no reason to expect that the PI would necessarily be given free access, because the person who runs that instrument is not a named Co-Investigator. ROSES no longer requires that a facility or resource be under the "control" of a team member. For any facility required for the proposed effort, the proposal must state which team member has "access" (e.g., as the result of a standard arrangement whereby anyone may sign out the instrument and pay by the hour). If no team member has access, then the proposal must include a letter of resource support from the facility or resource confirming that it is available for the proposed use during the proposed period.

In the case of a large shared telescope facility with a standard procedure for acquiring time it is probably adequate to simply write, for example, "I have been awarded four consecutive nights in late June on the IRTF", but if it were me I would include the email from the telescope if I had one. Often, at the time of proposal submission, the proposer has no guarantee of access to the telescope, in which case they should simply reassure the reviewers that they are likely to get the time and/or that the success of the proposal does not hinge on that time being awarded. Even if your proposal really depends on having that observing time, if the science is meritorious and getting the time of the telescope reasonable the NASA program officer could recommend the award contingent on the observing time. If the TAC awards you the time between submission and decision feel free to let the program officer know. They cannot tell the panel, but the knowledge may inform the decision of the selecting official.

5. The Two-Step proposal submission process

For some ROSES calls the NOI is replaced by a Step-1 proposal. A Step-1 proposal is a prerequisite to submit a full (Step-2) proposal, i.e., you must have submitted a Step-1 proposal or you cannot submit a full proposal later. Whereas an NOI may be submitted by a proposer alone, a Step-1 proposal must be submitted by an institution i.e., by the "AOR" for NSPIRES. All Proposals to Heliophysics (Appendix B), many Planetary Science (Appendix C) and a few others (A.2 LCLUC, E.3 XRP and E.4 HW) use the 2-Step submission process. In some cases the Step-1 proposal will be just a few lines of text entered into a box on the NSPIRES cover pages for NASA to plan the review, but in other cases the Step-1 proposal will be an uploaded PDF file a few pages long and will be evaluated. Your first indication which program elements require a Step-1 proposal will be those for which it says "(Step-1)" and "(Step-2)" in the tables of due dates. Of course, whether a Step-1 proposal is required and what goes in it and whether team members can be changed between Step-1 and Step-2 proposals will be described in the text of the program element. For goodness sake read the call for proposals! For more information about the 2-Step process see Section IV(b)vii of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation and read the PDF documents on how to submit a Step-1 proposal that will appear under other documents on the NSPIRES page of the program element to which you are proposing and in the SARA Library .

In the nonbinding two-step process which is most common in ROSES, Step-1 proposals are "encouraged" or "discouraged" but either way the Step-2 proposal may still be submitted. For the nonbinding process, only in rare cases, e.g., where the Step-1 proposal was not compliant or may not be funded due to policy, would a Step-1 proposal be declined, preventing the submission of a Step-2 proposal.

For program elements that use the nonbinding two-step process in which Step-1 proposals are merely "discouraged" (and thus a Step-2 may be submitted anyway):

  • Peer reviewers of Step-2 proposals are never told whether the Step-1 was encouraged or not, so as not to bias them.
  • There is some evidence that proposals that were discouraged at Step-1 don’t do as well at Step-2 as those that were encouraged. For example, for H-GI in ROSES-2013 none of the proposals that were discouraged at Step-1 were selected at Step-2 and for HSR in ROSES-2014 those that were discouraged at Step-1 were half has likely to be selected at Step-2.
  • the proposer may not have polished the Step-1 because they didn’t have the time or it wasn’t required to do so,
  • the idea may not have been fully formulated at the time of the Step-1, but was later,
  • the Step-1 may have been too brief to evaluate properly,
  • proposers may have adjusted based on the discouragement at Step-1.

6. Why is my program officer bugging me about 'costing' funds by the end of the fiscal year?

If you have a grant you are used to the idea that your $ are good until the end date, and it doesn't matter when they arrive or how long they sit as long as they are spent by the end date. However, it looks bad to the congress if NASA has funds that are not spent by the end of the year. Here are the implications:

  • You will get your money, we promise.
  • When your progress report arrives that normally triggers the deliver of your next year of funds. Your program officer may check to see how much of last year's funds you have spent. If you have spent little or no funds from last year then your program officer may send you an email suggesting that the delivery of the next year of funds be put off until the year when you will actually spend them. In extreme cases, where nothing was spent in year 1, this may mean that the second year funds will skip a year; this year's funds are delayed until next year and so on. The result is that the last year's funds will arrive a year later than originally planned: your original grant that was 100K, 100K, and 100K has become 100K, 0 K, 100K, and 100K. Even in less extreme cases, it may be that part of the year 2 funds may be pushed off into year 4 e.g., 100K, 50 K, 100K, and 50K.
  • If you feel that this is a mistake or are confident that you will really spend all of last year's funds and all of this year's funds by the end of the calendar year then reply to your program officer and let them know.
  • What do you need to do? If some or all of your funds are being pushed out till the end of the award then make sure that you write an email to nssc-contactcenter with your grant number in the subject line and ask for a no-cost extension.

7. I heard that it was OK to use a smaller font in the figure captions and tables, is that true?

No. The body text and captions must be no more than 15 characters per horizontal inch (including spaces) but the rules for text in figures and tables are more relaxed because we want to permit proposers to be able to insert figures or tables from elsewhere without having to recreate them, whereas captions are always under the control of the proposer. Also, text may not have more than 5.5 lines per vertical inch and expository text necessary for the proposal may not be located solely in figures, tables, or their captions.

8. Are you redacting budgets again this year?

Yes, the budget rules set in ROSES-2016 haven’t changed since then. See Section IV(b)iii of the ROSES summary of solicitation for this year’s description. Often, peer reviewers evaluate cost reasonableness of ROSES proposals, but SMD has been told to redact certain salaries, fringe and overhead from peer reviewer versions of proposals. In an attempt to balance NASA’s need to have all budget details, while redacting the peer review versions of ROSES proposals, SMD asks proposers to hide salary, fringe, overhead and totals from peer reviewers by omitting them from the main proposal PDF (only). Proposers still need to provide salaries, fringe, overhead, and totals to NASA only, via the NSPIRES cover page budget and a separately uploaded "Total Budget" file, which we will not share with peer reviewers. What follows is the longer version of this story.

Unless otherwise stated in the program element, there are three parts to the budgets of a (full or Step-2) ROSES proposal:

First, the NSPIRES cover pages. All costs, including salaries, fringe, and overhead of NASA civil servants, must be included in the web cover page budget. This is true both for proposals from NASA labs and also proposal from external organizations with NASA civil servant Co-Is. This is a change from a few years ago when NASA civil servant costs were hidden. If you have NASA Co-Investigators (not from your organization) they must provide you with their full and total costs to include in the cover pages, probably in Section F lines 8 or 9. (BTW, the funds to NASA centers will still be sent directly from NASA, and not as a subaward through your org). Note that reviewers will not be able to see the salary and overhead numbers that you enter in the NSPIRES cover pages, but program officers will. You will too if you look at the proposal after submission. Don’t freak out, you are not seeing the redacted version for the reviewers, you are seeing the program officer’s version. See http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/how-to-guide/nspires-CSlabor/ for more information including screen captures and details on how to handle sub awards and Co-Is at government labs.

Second, The budget information in the main proposal document. The proposal itself must contain budget justification and details for reviewers. These must address the costs of things (e.g., equipment, materials, and supplies) and travel, but not the cost of people. No salaries or benefits for any participant or overhead for any organization should be listed or mentioned in the body of the proposal, nor should you give a total. Budgets for all subawards (or government labs) presented in the main proposal document should be treated the same way as the budget for your own institution, i.e., do not give salary, benefits, overhead or totals. Do list and rationalize all costs other than salary/benefits and overhead costs for all subawards the budget details and justification. Don’t give totals for the subwards or Co-I awards for those at Government labs. All proposals must include the Summary of Work effort (outside of the budget, see Table 1 of the ROSES summary of solicitation ) that lists the time of all participants. See See Section IV(b)iii of the ROSES summary of solicitation for a simple example table of work effort and the Planetary Division templates web page for a more detailed example of one of these tables you are expected to use if you are responding to a program element in Appendix C of ROSES. In any case, the proposed time of the participants, but not the costs of the time, will be seen by peer reviewers. Peer reviewers will see and evaluate the costs of things and travel and evaluate whether the level of effort is appropriate.

Third, you will separately upload the "Total Budget" PDF with a full budget consistent with the numbers you entered in the NSPIRES cover pages and, if needed, providing greater detail. This "Total Budget" includes everything, salary, fringe, benefits for all participants and overhead from all types of organizations, including NASA civil servants. It should contain any needed justification for the salary and overhead and overhead rates. This "Total Budget" PDF document will not be shown to reviewers. If you have Co-Is at other organizations tell them to provide you with a detailed budget and just stick that right into your "Total Budget" PDF. If you Co-I is at a NASA center invite them to phase their budget by fiscal year. See the bottom of the page at http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/how-to-guide/nspires-CSlabor/ for how to upload the "Total Budget" PDF.

9. What does the "Science PI" designation mean for eligibility and for any section, like the CV, for which the length is contingent on whether or not the person is the PI?

When a proposal from a US organization has (in NSPIRES) a person assigned the role "Co-I/Science PI" then that person will be understood by NASA to be in charge of the scientific direction of the proposed work. This role is typically used in cases where the proposing organization does not permit that individual to formally serve as a PI, e.g., a postdoctoral fellow or soft $ scientist at an organization where only a civil servant or a professor may be PI. Such prohibitions or restrictions on who may serve as PI originate with and are wholly in the hands of the proposing organization; NASA, NSPIRES and ROSES rules do not impose such restrictions. NSPIRES merely provides the "Co-I/Science PI" role as a work around.

Because the Co-I/Science PI is understood by NASA to be in charge of the scientific direction of the proposed work, the proposing organization should understand the implications of granting this role. While awards are made to organizations and not individuals, when a PI moves, the organization nearly always relinquishes a research award that resulted from a proposal authored by the PI, or at least the part of the award that the PI was doing (that is, funds may remain to continue to support a Co-I still at the old organization). In as much as there is an expectation that a normal PI is likely to take a research award with them if that person moves to a new organization, there is exactly the same expectation for a person assigned the role "Co-I/Science PI" in NSPIRES.

Similarly, any extra requirements or allowances for a PI (e.g., an extra page for the CV of the PI) are presumed to go to the person given the role "Co-I/Science PI" in NSPIRES.

10. How do I get a No-Cost Extension (NCE) on my grant?

Put in a request at https://www.nssc.nasa.gov/nocostextension . If its your first No-Cost Extension (NCE) then that’s it. If its not your first then you will need concurrence from your technical officer (whom you can find here ). If you are at a NASA center then you just write to your technical officer. If you are at a non-NASA US government lab with an interagency award from NASA then you may be able to get an NCE depending on whether the award is assisted or unassisted. Write to your technical officer but also cc [email protected] .

11. When is my annual progress report due, and what should it look like?

If you have a grant (i.e., if you are at a university or a non-profit) you will get an email from the NSSC approximately two months before your annual progress report is due, asking you to send your progress report to NSSC-grant-report at mail.nasa.gov and to your program officer. If you are at a NASA center (including JPL) or another government lab (i.e., funded by an interagency agreement) the default is that your progress report be sent to your program officer 30 days in advance of the end of the fiscal year. A progress report must include the following:

  • A statement that this is an annual progress report.
  • Title of the grant.
  • Name of the principal investigator.
  • Period covered by the report.
  • Name and address of the recipient's institution.
  • Grant number.
  • A few pages summarizing the accomplishments from the past year compared to what was proposed. Include any changes in personnel or direction of the research, if applicable.
  • Provide a list of abstracts, papers, patents, presentations, reports, or other delivered products that might serve as measures of productivity. Of course, all publications must acknowledge NASA support, including the name of the program, and the specific award number(s). As accepted manuscript versions of peer reviewed publications must be archived in NASA PubSpace , so provide the ID that indicates submission.
  • Provide a list of any datasets or code archived. Please note any significant differences from what was proposed in the Data Management Plan or Software Development Plan.

12. What about the final report for my grant? What does that look like and to whom should I send it?

Send your final report to your program office and to [email protected] . The final report is high level summary of research or summary of work performed under the grant. There is no minimum or maximum length restrictions. The final report can follow the same format as the progress reports, it just needs to cover the entire period of performance of the award. On closeout of an award Technology reports should go to [email protected] . For more information about closeout please see the NASA Award Closeout Training at https://youtu.be/IRuxuWEyUDk?si=eTtAoX2AbUVBKDjK

13. How do you find reviewers for proposals? May I be a reviewer? Does NASA pay people to do this

NASA often recruits those who have been funded in the past as reviewers for proposals. We beg, beseech, implore, and entreat you all to review proposals each year. The health of the system rests on the quality of peer review, so we need YOU to review proposals. If you have not been asked to serve on a review panel recently and would like to volunteer to be considered, visit our volunteer reviewer page every couple/few months to see what kind of reviewers we are seeking. We provide a trivial honorarium to those who serve on review panels but, in general, external reviewers get only our thanks.

14. Can foreign team members be supported via a NASA grant?

Short plain English answer: NASA funds research at US institutions and foreign agencies pay for research at foreign institutions. Thus the rules focus on the institution, not the individual. If your institution hires this foreign investigator, then you can pay him/her while they are in your employ. If the foreign investigator does not have a position at a US institution, then NASA funds cannot be used to support them, not even for travel.

The longer answer more official version of this may be found in the NASA Guidebook for Proposers , Section 3.2 "Submission Requirements and Restrictions” which reads in part: "NASA’s policy welcomes the opportunity to conduct research with non-U.S. organizations on a cooperative, no-exchange-of-funds basis. Although Co-Is or collaborators employed by non-U.S. organizations may be identified as part of a proposal submitted by a U.S. organization, NASA funding may not support research efforts by non-U.S. organizations, collaborators or subcontracts at any level, including travel by foreign investigators. The direct purchase of supplies and/or services, which do not constitute research, from non-U.S. sources by U.S. award recipients is permitted." This derives from 1835.016-70 "Foreign participation under broad agency announcements", which may be found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/NFS.pdf#page=273 .

15. I am switching to a new university in the fall but I have grants that I hold here that are already in progress, what should I do?

If you have a grant already in progress that needs to be transferred to the new institution then please contact your program officer as soon as possible. If you have a grant pending then let your program officer know even if you are not certain when you are moving to the new institution (we will keep your secret). If you change organizations in between Step-1 and Step-2 proposals, please immediately get an NSPIRES Affiliation with your new organization and update your contact information and contact the point of contact listed at the bottom of your program element in the summary table of key information and cc [email protected] and [email protected] . Bottom line: it is really hard to get money back once it has been sent to the first institution.

Technically, grants belong to institutions not PIs. Since the grant belongs to the old institution, we have to get the old institution to agree in writing to give up the grant. Then, the new institution has to submit a proposal with a budget because they are getting a new grant, and this grant requires a proposal. The new proposal should be identical to the old proposal but with a budget and signature from the new institution for the work remaining. Finally the program officer must justify the acceptance of what is in effect an 'unsolicited' proposal from the new institution. Any grants you submit before you move should be submitted from the new institution if at all possible. If that cannot be done, the PI and the new institution should both send letters to the program officer stating that the research will be done at the new institution.

16. Can a company make a profit from a grant?

Any organization may propose to ROSES, including a for-profit. Rarely ROSES program elements solicit work that results in a contract, and that may include profit. However, the default for ROSES is federal assistance (e.g., grants). On a grant NASA will not allow for profit. However, NASA will continue to pay management fees that are allowable costs within the guidelines established in OMB Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR Chapter I, Chapter II, Parts 200, 215, 220, 225, and 230). A flat rate applied to all costs of the grant should be included in indirect rate costs. One possible scenario where a management fee might be considered allowable is if it were a direct cost for an employee or subcontractor with a stated level of effort to manage a number of subawards.

17. Questions about grants.gov

You are very welcome to submit your proposal via Grants.gov. We post all of the solicitations that we possibly can on Grants.gov so those who prefer that interface can use it. Don’t worry if you have heard about “transcription”; no change is made to your proposal only to the blah blah header information. However, please take note of the following requirements and differences between grants.gov and NSPIRES:

  • Prior to submission of proposals in Appendix A and Appendix D it is common for proposers to submit a notice of intent to propose (an NOI). Since grants.gov doesn't do that, you are encouraged to submit your NOI via NSPIRES
  • Proposers via Grants.gov must download the "application instruction" document, in addition to the "application package" as this contains information about the new data management plan as well as important requirements about, for example, China and ITAR.
  • NSPIRES enforces our 4000-character limit on the abstract. Grants.gov, which will let you put in a longer abstract, but it will get cut off when its ingested into NSPIRES, so make sure you are well under the 4000 character limit.
  • Team members on a proposal submitted via NSPIRES must confirm participation on each proposal electronically and if they have more than one institutional affiliation can choose via which institution they receive the funds. We like this so we can do automatic conflict of interest checking. Since there is no way you to do this on grants.gov you will have to include letters of commitment for your team members and all team members must be registered in NSPIRES and we will do the team members confirmation step for them so that the proposal can go into our peer review system where conflict of interest data will be generated.
  • Those who propose via grants.gov you may not be able to add a new section to accommodate the new requirement in the guidebook for proposers and ROSES for a table of personnel and work effort outside of the budget section. Please just insert this at the front of the current and pending section.
  • When preparing a Grants.gov application package you are working offline and they do not track who downloads the application packages. Check for alerts regarding downtimes.

18. We have some recommendations regarding the format of your proposal PDF to decrease the likelihood of errors that prevent submission or review of your proposal.

When a proposal is submitted, NSPIRES must create a single file with cover page information and (for NASA only) budget information so the NSPIRES help folks have some Guidelines about formatting your PDF at: https://nspires.nasaprs.com/tutorials/PDF_Guidelines.pdf .

Here's the gist:

(1) ensure that your PDF file is unlocked and that edit permission is enabled (2) ensure that all fonts are embedded in the PDF file and that only Type 1 or TrueType fonts are used. (3) In addition, we recommend that you should convert your PDF file to a Postscript file, and then create new PDF file from your Postscript file. This will fix any embedded images that sometimes cause the PDF file to be incompatible. (4) If you are converting a Word Document into a PDF file in a PC, make sure that the ISO compliant PDF check box is check in the Options menu.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact the NSPIRES Help Desk at 202-479-9376 from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm EST, Monday through Friday, or send us an email at [email protected] .

19. May I include in my ROSES proposal a link to my web page for more information for the benefit of the reviewers? What about reprints or preprints, may I include those as an appendix to my proposal?

Proposals should include references to published papers and other products to demonstrate, for example, that the methodology has passed peer review, but proposals may not require reviewers read them to get details essential for peer review. Anything needed to understand and assess the proposal must be in the proposal. The situation is the same with URLs, i.e., it's fine to point to a web page for additional information or context just as one would cite a paper, but don't assume that the reviewer will follow it, so no essential information may be relegated to a web page.

Reprints and/or preprints may not be appended to a proposal. Any information in those reprints and/or preprints essential for the evaluation of the proposal must be accommodated within the page-limited Scientific/Technical/Management Section of the proposal. All information and material necessary for an informed peer review of the proposal must be included within the proposal in a manner that is compliant with the proposal page limit and permitted appendices. References to unpublished manuscripts should be avoided.

20. The NSSC keeps asking me for more budget detail. How much budget detail to I have to provide?

The bad news is that sometimes the folks at the NSSC are going to ask you for more budget detail, (please be patient with them, its their job as procurement officers). The good news is that we have come to agreement with them on a reasonable level of budget detail, and examples are provided below for the things that most commonly trigger a request for more info. A) Publication costs : $2250 assuming $36 per Figure and or Table and $340 per 3500 words (see https://journals.aas.org/article-charges-and-copyright/ ) B) Travel costs : 1 domestic conference = $1555. Airfare ~ $500; hotel ~$750 for 5 days; M&IE ~ $305 @ $61/day see http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem Obviously, its best if you know where you are going and use the actual cost, but we recognize that you may not know where you are going years in advance. You will note that they don’t require a quote, but they want to know what you used to get your numbers (i.e.., the “basis of estimate”). Thus, you can tell them from whom you got the quote and when, or give the web site, or you can assume the costs are the same last year (with inflation). If you do something unusual, like go to Antarctica, or spend many times more than they have come to expect, then they will question you. But if the amount you have budgeted passes the common sense test, then they should not bug you anymore.

21. I’d like to add a team member who will be doing significant work on the project, but who doesn't need any funding. Would she be a Co-I, or a Collaborator? Funding is a factor, since collaborators are unfunded, but that's not the entirety of what determines if a team member is a Collaborator or a Co-I. The guidebook defines a Co-I in part as "…a critical “partner” for the conduct of the investigation through the contribution of unique expertise and/or capabilities…and may or may not receive funding through the award" vs. a collaborator who provides a "focused but unfunded contribution for a specific task". I have seen proposals viewed critically because someone is signed up to perform an essential role, but the person is merely a collaborator not a Co-I so the panelists questioned how committed that person really was to the effort.

22. Questions about travel?

In general, domestic allowable travel costs both for government travelers and for grantees is that found at http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem . If there no hotels available at per diem then if your organization has an "acceptable" written travel policy then that seems to allow you to charge those costs to the grant even though they are in excess of the normal per diem. I confess that I don't know what makes an organization's written travel policy "acceptable", but NASA can authorize the extra expense, see the GSA per diem FAQ #18 . I have done this on more than one occasion . When traveling outside of the USA grantees are generally subject to the Fly America Act, which requires grantees to use U.S. Airlines when they are available. However, our grantees, always eager to stretch their dollar often want to use a local carrier if it's cheaper. It turns out that thanks to our "Open Skies Agreements" our grantees may fly on foreign airlines if the cost is the same or less, when flying to or within certain countries. At the time of the writing of this FAQ these agreements cover the EU, Switzerland, Australia, and Japan. For more information and the latest updates please see http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/103191 . Remember, if you are planning to travel outside of the USA and the trip was not in your original proposal, concurrence from NASA is required. Yes, travel to Canada and Mexico are considered "foreign" travel. Finally, some grantees are aware that NASA civil servants with whom they work have a special limit on days off associated with work travel. The NASA civil servants may not take off more days than they are working, i.e., if they fly to Europe for a mission team meeting that lasts three days, they can add at most three days of vacation, even if it were to decrease the cost of the ticket. This rule does not apply to researchers on NASA Grants. This aspect of grantee travel is governed by their organization's travel policy.

23. Questions about leave for family and medical reasons?

We strive to manage our grants in a family-friendly manner that permits a balance between work and personal life, see https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/work-life-balance .

NASA policy allows grantee-initiated first time no-cost extensions (NCEs) of up to 12 months. Grantees may use the form at https://www.nssc.nasa.gov/nocostextension to request NCEs. PIs at Government labs should contact their program officer directly.

A PI may either designate another person to conduct work while the PI is out or may put the grant on hold. We accommodate all reasonable requests from the PI or Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) to "rephase" ROSES awards (reschedule when the funds will be delivered). This is designed to accommodate a PI’s need to take off time for family or medical leave (for example but not limited to maternity or paternity leave, to care for family, or deal with health issues) but the PI need not disclose the reason. NASA reserves the right to assess the qualifications and capabilities of anyone designated to conduct work on a NASA grant in the absence of the PI.

In the case of contracts, delaying and or rephasing will be permitted as long as it does not compromise previously agreed upon project goals, timelines, or deliverables associated with a NASA requirement described in the contract (e.g., flight hardware for a NASA mission).

In any case, whatever kind of award you have, please don’t hesitate to contact your program officer to arrange this.

24. How do you want proposer to handle proposals that involve scientists at NASA centers when the work to be conducted by the center scientist is related to "work package" (a.k.a. ISFM or directed) funding? I am a NASA civil servant who has been invited to be on a Step-1 proposal for the extension/continuation of a project on which I have participated previously. In the past I would have happily agreed and asked for a modest amount of funding. But, since this related to directed work, I don’t know. Should I be asking for funds on this proposal or use the funding that has already been sent to my team or what?

First, NASA civil servants: please note that you shouldn’t assume that a directed "Work Package" will automatically cover you for all research, even on a related topic. Please always communicate with your program officer . The terms of some of these allow for /require that one have time covered through other work, either competitively awarded ROSES proposals (for work that wouldn’t meet the ISFM requirements), mission work, or other NASA duties.

In this particular case, since the work is related but does not overlap with what the civil servant is already funded to do, we merely need to ask two key questions:

  • Will you be providing major intellectual input to the proposed work?
  • If the answers are (1) Yes, (2) No, then you need to request some support in the proposal as a funded Co-I.
  • If the answers are (1) Yes, (2) Yes, then you serve as an unfunded Co-I and will need a letter stating that you seek no funding because you’re already fully-funded.
  • If the answers are (1) No, (2) No, then you shouldn’t request support as a Co-I but serve as a collaborator.
  • If the answers are (1) No, (2) Yes, then you shouldn’t request support as a Co-I but serve as a collaborator.

25. The award says that the final manuscript should be submitted to PubMed Central. Would you be able to please provide guidance on this process?

Yes, all awards from NASA now require that as accepted manuscript versions of peer-reviewed publications that result from ROSES awards must be uploaded into NASA’s part of the PubMed Central (PMC) repository called NASA PubSpace . It is my understanding that NASA Civil Servant authors and papers authored by contractors at NASA centers will use their normal DAA (1676) approval process and their manuscripts will be automatically uploaded for them. NASA Civil Servants and (most) on-site contractors will do the 1676 via https://strives.nasa.gov/ . Grantees (and those funded by cooperative agreements) submit their as accepted manuscripts via https://sti.nasa.gov/submit-to-pubspace , and JPL uses their "Unlimited Release System". Need help? STI Information Desk = https://sti.nasa.gov/contact-us

26. Regarding overlap and duplication of proposals:

We recognize that only a minority of proposals submitted will be selected, so many researchers must submit more than one proposal per year, often on related subjects or using related methods. However, as stated in Section I(f) of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation, some Appendices and/or program elements in ROSES limit submissions of duplicate proposals or limit the number of proposals that maybe submitted to a program element with the same PI. The first limitation on submission bars "multiple" proposals to a given program element. Some program elements in Appendix B (Heliophysics), e.g., B.2 H-SR, do not allow an individual to be the PI on more than one proposal to those program elements. In such cases, the first proposal identifying a particular PI will be evaluated, but any subsequent proposal to the same program element that identifies the same PI will not be evaluated or considered. Please read the program element carefully because individual program elements may also have additional special restrictions e.g., B.2 H-SR also says: "Proposals addressing the magnetospheres or the ionospheres of other planets are permitted, but must not duplicate proposals to other programs." Speaking of bans on duplication, Planetary Science will not accept duplicate proposals submitted to any of its program elements. See C.1, the Planetary Science Research Program Overview for what is meant by "duplicate" and to what programs are covered. Those proposing to No Due Date (NoDD) programs are very strongly encouraged to read the updated version of the planetary science duplicate proposal rules, which now take into account the fact that proposals to NoDD programs may be submitted at anytime. See the NoDD informational document and any NoDD FAQs that will be posted at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/NoDD and on the NSPIRES page of any NoDD program.

Such restrictions in ROSES generally apply only to ROSES, the Appendix (Division) or only to the individual program element so unless otherwise noted, these do not apply to other solicitations, like FINESST, so a PI could legitimately have overlapping FINESST and ROSES proposals in the running at the same time. However, even when there are no limits on the number of proposals or overlap or duplication, one may not be funded more than once for the same work. Thus, if you are to perform the same task on more than one award you must alert the funding agency as soon as you are aware that both have been funded. Proposals that overlap with previously submitted proposals still under consideration should acknowledge, e.g., in the budget justification, that funds have been requested twice for whatever it is and, if both are selected, the org/PI will inform the program managers so that budget negotiations/adjustments may ensue.

27. Under what conditions may a grantee direct charge a computer to a grant? There used to be some rule that this was allowed if the computer was used only for the grant.

Computers are allowable and that old rule no longer applies. The uniform guidance, specifically § 200.453 Materials and supplies costs, including costs of computing devices says: "In the specific case of computing devices, charging as direct costs is allowable for devices that are essential and allocable, but not solely dedicated, to the performance of a Federal award." I read "but not" to mean "need not be" solely dedicated to the grant, rather than requiring that it be used for another purpose. So, the test for peer reviewers will be: Is this essential for the proposed research?

28. Regarding Citizen Science and ROSES proposals

SMD continues a long-standing policy of allowing citizen science as an approach in any ROSES proposal and Section 1(i) of the ROSES summary of solicitation links to an SMD policy and other citizen science resources. In addition, in some years ROSES has specific program elements directed at citizen science. For example, Earth Science solicits its "Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program" every few years (next anticipated in ROSES-2024) and the rest of SMD solicited for citizen science via the cross-division "Citizen Science Seed Funding Program" (See program element F.9). For more information about Citizen Science please see the fact sheet on Citizen Science for researchers at https://science.nasa.gov/science-pink/s3fs-public/atoms/files/CitSci_For_Researchers%20%20-%20%20Read-Only.pdf

29. When do I need to get prior approval, e.g., to purchase a piece of equipment or make a (significant) change to my project?

Significant changes to (e.g., the budget of) your project must be approved by the grant officer at the NSSC, but if the change involves something technical, like a significant change in direction, especially that would involve moving funds from one category to another (like from salary to equipment) write first to your technical officer to get an email from them saying it's OK and then follow up with the NSSC at NSSC-Grant-Administration [email protected] . For a full listing of when you need approval (not just for NASA but for many govt Agencies) see https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/fedrtc/appendix_a.pdf .

30. Link to NASA Grants Policy and Compliance FAQ:

https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocfo/gpc/faq

31. Export-Controlled Material in Proposals

Under U.S. law and regulations, spacecraft and their specifically designed, modified, or configured systems, components, and parts are generally either considered "Defense Articles" on the United States Munitions List and are, therefore, subject to the provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR parts 120–130; or otherwise controlled under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), 15 CFR parts 730–774, issued by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security under laws relating to the control of certain exports, reexports, and activities.

The NSPIRES electronic cover page for all proposals includes mandatory Program Specific Data (PSD) questions regarding the presence of export-controlled information in the proposal. Failure to answer these PSD questions will prevent a proposal’s submission. While inclusion of export-controlled material in proposals is not prohibited, proposers are advised that the inclusion of such material in proposals may complicate NASA’s ability to evaluate proposals, as NASA may employ the services of those who are not U.S. persons to review proposals submitted in response to this AO. In order to enable proper evaluation of proposals, any export-controlled information subject to ITAR or EAR must be marked with a notice to that effect.

If the proposal contains export-controlled material, the material shall be presented in a red font or enclosed in a red-bordered box, and the following statement shall be prominently displayed on a cover page on the front page of the uploaded proposal document.

  • “The information (data) contained in [insert page numbers or other identification] of this proposal is (are) subject to U.S. export laws and regulations. It is furnished to the Government with the understanding that it will not be exported without the prior approval of the proposer under the terms of an applicable export license or technical assistance agreement. The identified information (data) is (are) printed in a red font and figure(s) and table(s) containing the identified information (data) is (are) placed in a red-bordered box.”

Note that it is the proposer’s responsibility to determine whether any proposal information is subject to the provisions of ITAR or EAR. Information about U.S. export regulations is available at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/ and at https://www.bis.doc.gov/ .

32. Does SMD have any rules about the use of LLMs like ChatGPT?

Currently, SMD does not prohibit the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, or professional human writers in the preparation of proposals or required award reports. In general, though, SMD discourages the unacknowledged inclusion of any content in proposal materials or award reports that is not the creative product of the proposal team. NASA holds proposers and award recipients responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of their proposal submission and award reports, including content developed with the assistance of Generative AI tools or professional human writers.

NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 1920.1A, "Scientific and Research Integrity" addresses fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing or performing NASA-funded research, or in reporting results funded by NASA. At present, Generative AI tools may create these research misconduct risks, and proposers and awardees are responsible for ensuring the integrity of their proposal and reporting of research results.

Additionally, SMD notes that anything given to a Generative AI tool as a prompt will often be stored and may be used by others who use that Generative AI system in the future. Proposers should consider carefully any information used to prompt a Generative AI keeping in mind that this information may aid a potential competitor. Proposal material that is subject to the restrictions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) must not be uploaded to a website accessible to non-US persons.  

Any material contained in SMD proposals or in reports of NASA-funded research results that is not the product of the proposal or awarded team must be acknowledged. If Generative AI is used in the preparation of SMD proposals or progress reporting to NASA, then that use shall be cited in the references section. The citation shall include (1) the name of the program used, (2) the version number of the Generative AI used, (3) the date and time the Generative AI was used to generate proposal text, and (4) a statement on how the Generative AI was used. If a professional human writer contributed to any of the material in a proposal or report, then they must be cited in the references section. The citation shall include (1) the name of the writer, and (2) a statement describing to which portions of the document they contributed.

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

nasa foreign travel

Perseverance Rover

nasa foreign travel

Parker Solar Probe

nasa foreign travel

4 astronauts launch to space, land at International Space Station: Meet the crew

The Crew-8 astronauts: Alexander Grebenkin, Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps wave to media as they head to the launch pad Sunday, March 3 2024.

Four astronauts launched into space on Sunday and have landed at the International Space Station that will become their home for the next several months.

SpaceX's Falcon rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the four astronauts on the Dragon spacecraft. They include Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps from NASA and Alexander Grebenkin from Russia.

NASA confirmed the new crew entered the space station just before 4 a.m. EST on Tuesday and will replace a crew that have been there since August from the U.S., Denmark, Japan and Russia.

The new crew will stay on board the ISS for six months, and will oversee the arrival of Boeing's Starliner capsule with test pilots in late April, and the Sierra Space's Dream Chaser in mini shuttle after.

Here's what to know about the astronauts who have landed at the ISS.

Can astronauts vote from space? How the International Space Station becomes a polling place

Matthew Dominick

The commander of the mission, Matthew Dominick joined NASA's Astronaut Candidate Class in 2017. A Colorado native, he was commissioned for flight training and designated as a Naval Aviator in 2007 and has more than 1,600 hours of flight time.

Michael Barratt

Michael Barratt is the mission's pilot, and was selected from NASA in 2000. Prior to the current mission, Barratt has spent 212 days in space across two spaceflights.

A doctor, Barratt was born in Vancouver, Washington and is the oldest full-time astronaut to fly in space. He will turn 65 in April. He is the only crew member who has been to space before.

Jeanette Epps

The mission specialist, Jeanette Epps is the second Black woman to be part of a long-term mission to the ISS. She was selected in 2009 as an astronaut by NASA.

Prior to liftoff, Epps said she is especially proud to be a role model for Black girls, demonstrating that spaceflight “is an option for them, that this is not just for other people.”

Born in Syracuse, New York, she worked for the Ford Motor Company and the CIA before becoming an astronaut.

Alexander Grebenkin

Joining the three NASA astronauts is Alexander Grebenkin, a Roscosmos cosmonaut mission specialist. Before he became a cosmonaut, Grebenkin served in the technical and operational units of the Russian Armed Forces' Air Force.

What is the International Space Station?

Designed and operated thanks to a global partnership of space agencies, the International Space Station has been home to crews of astronauts, cosmonauts and plenty of others since November 2000, NASA  says .

More than 260 spacefarers from 20 countries have visited to the International Space Station,  including 163 from the United States  alone, according to the U.S. space agency.

Crew members who live and conduct scientific experiment aboard the space station orbit Earth 16 times a day. The orbital outpost is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window, according to  NASA .

How long does it take to get to the International Space Station?

Depending on where the ISS is in Earth's orbit, NASA says spacecraft can arrive at the space station as soon as four hours to three days after launching from Earth.

How many people are aboard the International Space Station?

Four astronauts joined the seven people aboard the International Space Station early Tuesday morning. Those 11 will be aboard the space station together for a few days until four of the earlier crew members − Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa and Konstantin Borisov − return to Earth, NASA says. After they return, there will again be seven people aboard the ISS.

Other astronauts aboard include Loral O’Hara, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chubb.

Contributing: Associated Press.

  • Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

NASA Is Recruiting a New Class of Astronauts

Victor Glover, a nine-year veteran of the astronaut corps who will fly around the moon in 2025, said the search for excellence and diversity were not mutually exclusive.

Victor Glover wearing a blue astronaut jumpsuit.

By Kenneth Chang and Emma Goldberg

The reporters interviewed a NASA official and an astronaut in The Times’s newsroom for this article.

Do you dream of leaving the planet?

NASA is looking for its next group of astronauts, and you have until April 2 to make a pitch for yourself .

“Typically, it’s a very popular application,” April Jordan, NASA’s astronaut selection manager, said.

The odds that you will be chosen are slim. The last time NASA put out a call for applications, in 2020, more than 12,000 people applied.

It took the agency a year and a half to go through the applications. NASA selected just 10 of the hopefuls, or 0.083 percent. That makes Harvard’s 3.5 percent acceptance rate among high school applicants appear bountiful.

“So when I say ‘popular,’” Ms. Jordan said, “it’s probably an understatement.”

Ms. Jordan is on a media tour to spread the word that “ the right stuff ” for being an astronaut in 2024 is not the same as what it was in the 1960s, when astronauts were all white men, almost all from the military.

Joining her on that tour, which included a stop at The New York Times, was Victor Glover, a nine-year veteran of the astronaut corps who offered a glimpse into how he made it through the rigorous selection process.

To become a NASA astronaut today, you have to be a U.S. citizen and you must pass the astronaut physical exam.

NASA does set a fairly high bar for education — a master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, followed by at least three years of related professional experience.

Beyond that, the agency tries to keep an open mind. (There is no age limit, for example, or a requirement for 20/20 vision.)

“We want the group of astronaut candidates that we select to be reflective of the nation that they’re representing,” Ms. Jordan said.

Take, for example, Mr. Glover.

In some aspects, he fits the historical archetype. Before NASA, he was a Navy aviator and trained as a test pilot.

He is also breaking historical barriers.

In 2020, he became the first Black astronaut to serve as a crew member on the International Space Station after 20 years of astronauts living there. In 2025, he will become the first Black astronaut to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission .

To stand out in NASA’s competitive application process, Mr. Glover knew he would need more than a strong résumé. He was particularly set on landing a good joke.

The night before one of Mr. Glover’s interviews at NASA for the 2013 class, he was asked to write an essay. The title: “Girls Like Astronauts.”

“They’re sitting in this room all day listening to all these dry answers,” he recalled thinking. “I’m going to try to make them laugh.”

The essay pivoted from a punchline to poignancy, reflecting on the ways he has tried to inspire his four daughters. He also decided to be vulnerable during the interview, sharing a “bone-headed” moment when he risked nearly hitting the water during an air show demonstration.

“You have to be able to share that information with the interview panel when you come in, because you’re inevitably going to fail at something,” Ms. Jordan said. “And so there’s a humbleness that you have to bring in even if you’ve achieved great things.”

As part of the application process, Mr. Glover wrote a limerick that concluded: “This is all dizzying to me, because I gave so much blood and pee.”

Mr. Glover set his sights on going to outer space as a child, when he saw his classmates moved to tears by the Challenger disaster.

His space ambition deepened years later when he heard a speech from Pam Melroy, a former space shuttle commander. Ms. Melroy, now NASA’s deputy administrator, recounted how her crew had scrambled to fix a damaged solar array on the International Space Station.

“I thought, ‘Wow, she just talked about something really technical, really logistically challenging,’” Mr. Glover said. “But the emotion in it was about the people.”

He realized, then, that just as astronauts need technical ability, they also need something that is more difficult to teach: social skills.

“You’re going to live in this tin can with somebody for six months,” he said of a stay on the space station. “We’re almost picking family members.”

Mr. Glover proudly points to the diversity of backgrounds among current astronauts. “If you compare our office to the country’s demographics, we match the country very well,” he said.

Indeed, the diversity within NASA outpaces that of the private sector in some aspects. The percentage of Black astronauts is higher than the percentage of Black people in the broader science and technology work force, Mr. Glover said.

That is the direct result of NASA’s sustained efforts over a couple of decades to recruit astronauts beyond the traditional archetype, he said.

“Our office looks the way it looks because of this intentionality, and thinking about our biases and how it may affect who we hire,” he said. “I think that’s a huge victory.”

But Mr. Glover acknowledged that diversity as a hiring goal was becoming increasingly fraught .

Critics include Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs SpaceX, the rocket company that NASA relies on to transport cargo and astronauts — like Mr. Glover — to the International Space Station. NASA has also hired SpaceX to land astronauts on the moon .

“His perspective on some things is a little disturbing,” Mr. Glover said of Mr. Musk.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment by Mr. Musk.

Mr. Musk has repeatedly called for the end of programs that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I. “D.E.I. is just another word for racism,” he posted in January on X, the social media network that he owns.

Mr. Glover said he had just listened to a contentious interview that Don Lemon , a former CNN anchor, recently conducted with Mr. Musk. “My mom sent it to me and she goes, ‘Does he remember you rode in his spaceship?’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Ma, he probably remembers very vividly.’ He’s a great intellect, but he probably just doesn’t care.”

People ask him how he feels about becoming the first Black person to go on a lunar mission next year when Artemis II will swing around the moon without landing.

“Actually, I’m sad,” Mr. Glover said. “It’s 2025, and I’m going to be the first? Come on.”

He recounted the story of Ed Dwight , the only Black Air Force pilot in the 1960s who met the restrictive requirements that NASA had for astronauts then. But Mr. Dwight was never selected.

“Ed Dwight could have done this in the ’60s,” Mr. Glover said. “How much better would our country be if he actually got the chance? Society wasn’t ready. It’s not him. He was ready.”

While Mr. Glover has heard some of the pushback to D.E.I. initiatives, he feels firmly that seeking diversity is not about lowering standards and accepting less qualified candidates. “I think it should just be excellence,” he said. “As long as you don’t equate whiteness or maleness with excellence, then we’re good. We’re speaking the same language.”

Many applicants are drawn by the potential glory of being the first astronauts to walk on Mars, an accomplishment that NASA is aiming for in the 2030s.

But Mr. Glover said they should also contemplate the sacrifices that they and their families might have to make along the way.

“The trip to Mars is six to nine months,” he said. “You’re going to be away from familiar for more than a year, one to three years. Are you really ready for that?”

Kenneth Chang , a science reporter at The Times, covers NASA and the solar system, and research closer to Earth. More about Kenneth Chang

Emma Goldberg is a business reporter covering workplace culture and the ways work is evolving in a time of social and technological change. More about Emma Goldberg

What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

Keep track of things going on in our solar system and all around the universe..

Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other 2024 event  that’s out of this world with  our space and astronomy calendar .

A new set of computer simulations, which take into account the effects of stars moving past our solar system, has effectively made it harder to predict Earth’s future and reconstruct its past.

Dante Lauretta, the planetary scientist who led the OSIRIS-REx mission to retrieve a handful of space dust , discusses his next final frontier.

A nova named T Coronae Borealis lit up the night about 80 years ago. Astronomers say it’s expected to put on another show  in the coming months.

Voyager 1, the 46-year-old first craft in interstellar space which flew by Jupiter and Saturn in its youth, may have gone dark .

Is Pluto a planet? And what is a planet, anyway? Test your knowledge here .

New NASA astronauts celebrate moon missions, private space stations as they get ready for liftoff (exclusive)

"We're going to take the things we've seen in Hollywood and try to make that a reality."

a bunch of astronauts in flight suits standing in front of a huge rocket and pointing at the sky

A nervous Jack Hathaway had one last obstacle to overcome before becoming a NASA astronaut candidate: finding the time to hear the news.

Hathaway was awaiting a call in 2021 from NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman , then chief of the astronaut office, to hear if he could also join the agency. But Hathaway was on the carrier ship USS Truman, far at sea and flying with Strike Fighter Squadron 81. So the U.S. Navy commander and pilot kept missing the crucial call, he told Space.com.

"Finally, at the end of the afternoon, he sent me an email," Hathaway said on March 5. Hathaway finished his daily piloting duties, read his emails and scurried to a ready room to use an open line, which is "you know, a group area." Unluckily, the moment Wiseman told Hathaway the carrier pilot would need to start packing for NASA training, a group of officers walked by on patrol and saw an excited Hathaway silently putting his hands on his head.

The officers knew Hathaway, who graduated from astronaut candidate training this month, all too well: they were "paddles," the people responsible for grading every Navy aviator's carrier landing. "They watched my reaction," Hathaway recounted, "and they immediately walked down the length of the ship to talk to all the other ready rooms. They told everyone they saw. So I was not successful, keeping it a secret."

Related:   NASA graduates new astronaut class as it begins recruiting for more

Hathaway and 11 other astronaut candidates — 10 from NASA and two from the United Arab Emirates — finished 2.5 years of basic training this month and are eligible for future missions. 

They have a rich array of spaceflight possibilities to enjoy: possible  moon  or lunar space station flights for the  Artemis program , months-long missions on the  International Space Station (ISS) and missions to future commercial space stations  that are in development. 

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

To be sure, the process will not be obstacle-free: the first two planned Artemis crewed missions were delayed in January due to technical gremlins, and NASA is facing a smaller budget in fiscal year 2025 that may further affect mission planning. But the new astronauts feel energy, and optimism, when looking on a longer timescale of a decade or more.

"There's just so much to be excited about," Hathaway said. "There's a lot of hard work that the whole team is going to have to do. The whole thing is just such a cool time to be part of the [astronaut] office. You're coming into the office with all the commercial partners doing lunar landings and lunar missions, and the opportunity to have multiple commercial partners building lunar landers and human landing systems. I'm just really excited about this."

Related: Get to the choppa! Artemis 2 moon astronauts practice splashdown with U.S. Navy (images, video)

four white jets fly above a large orange rocket standing on a launch pad

New astronaut and U.S. Navy lieutenant commander Jessica Wittner, an aviation machinist by training, said she is excited for how her past "tinkering around the garage" will help with several spacecraft programs. 

The aging ISS will need more maintenance work, and commercial stations will need attention when they come online in the 2030s. Meanwhile, every experiment she works on in space or on the ground will require people who are comfortable with being "really hands-on with the equipment." One of her first tasks after graduation will also be working on new spacesuits for astronauts.

"It's an incredibly busy time to be part of NASA, and to be part of the space industry just in general. And I think that the astronauts are going to continue to play a large part in that industry," she said, pointing to the flight experience they can bring to different engineering teams and companies looking to expand their own low Earth orbit experience for future commercial space stations. 

an astronaut in flight suit reaching for the nose cone of a plane

As people fly to a variety of environments, both lunar and orbital, flight surgeon and new astronaut Anil Menon said there will be new medical conditions to manage along the way. Companies like Axiom Space are also now flying civilians to the ISS, presenting a wider range of people (medically speaking) than you typically would see in the NASA astronaut group. 

"I think that opens up doors for learning, for all of us," Menon told Space.com. "When we go to the moon, when we go to Mars , when we think generations down — we'd like that to be everybody being able to fly and participate in the space program . . . (but) we need to start learning about how different people react when they get up there. This is the first step in that direction."

Related: Europe's new astronaut class features 2 women and a paralympian trauma surgeon

an astronaut leaning over while wearing a spacesuit and helmet

Artemis is the big program on the immediate horizon for the new astronauts. Artemis 2 's four astronauts have been named and are deep in training for their 2025 round-the-moon mission. Artemis 3 has not yet named its crew for landing on the moon no earlier than 2026, leaving a slight chance for the new astronauts to join. Artemis 4 and beyond, not to mention missions to NASA's planned Gateway lunar space station, are stronger possibilities for the new astronaut group.

"What excites me is that it's new. I've always been fascinated with new things; I like to develop things," new NASA astronaut Andre Douglas told Space.com about Artemis. Douglas, in fact, always has learning opportunities in his mind for career moves. That's why he left the Coast Guard to join the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as an engineer prior to signing up for NASA.

an astronaut in a spacesuit inside a large warehouse

"I needed to solve new problems and tackle new challenges, because I really believe in pushing ourselves, in understanding what is our true potential — both me as an individual and within all of us as a species," he said. "Going to the moon, and then going to Mars, that just blows my mind. We're going to take the things we've seen in Hollywood and try to make that a reality. So instead of fearing the unknown, let's try to tackle it. That's kind of my motto."

When asked what excites him about the Artemis program , naval aviator and new astronaut Jack Delaney quipped, "What isn't exciting?" But the retired U.S. Marine major said that, as a pilot, he's interested in learning how to manage power during a tricky moon landing, which was a difficult task for the military pilots of the Apollo program in the 1960s and early '70s as well.

"You can't put unlimited amount of power on a vehicle," he said. "So what instrumentation do you put on there, to effectively [and] basically on the moon avoid obstacles while landing at the south pole, where the sunlight is at such a low angle?"

—  US must beat China back to the moon, Congress tells NASA  

 — Astronauts won't walk on the moon until 2026 after NASA delays next 2 Artemis missions

 — 55 years after Apollo 8's Christmas at the moon, a new Artemis crew readies for launch (exclusive)

Thinking over the "dark pockets" and "visual illusions" the deep polar shadows would bring, Delaney emphasized that success must come from a "human in the loop to make real-time decisions" with a capable spacecraft "outfitted with the appropriate instrumentation." These are all matters, he added, "I'm interested in getting involved in, and starting to make choices for our long-term presence there."

New astronaut and medical physicist Christopher Williams emphasized that his team is ready to go to the moon, and to use their skills to get there. "It just gives me goosebumps that some of the folks that I walked across the stage with today, I think, are going to be on the moon," he told Space.com. "We're not only growing, but adding to our portfolio, getting beyond low Earth orbit. I think it connects with a lot of people in terms of exploration and getting out there."

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

Artemis 2 moon astronauts celebrate engine test for future lunar missions (video)

NASA beefing up SLS moon rocket for its Artemis program

How are extreme "blue supergiant" stars born? Astronomers may finally know

Most Popular

By Rebecca Sohn March 26, 2024

By Robert Lea March 26, 2024

By Daisy Dobrijevic March 26, 2024

By Andrew Jones March 26, 2024

By Mike Wall March 25, 2024

By Jacob York March 25, 2024

By Daisy Dobrijevic March 25, 2024

By Alexander Cox March 25, 2024

By Jeff Spry March 25, 2024

  • 2 Euclid 'dark universe' telescope's vision restored by deicing campaign
  • 3 April 8 total solar eclipse could bring uptick in fatal car crashes, scientists caution
  • 4 Watch 'Doctor Who' visit the Victorian Era and the age of dinosaurs in new Season 14 trailer (video)
  • 5 'Apollo: When We Went the Moon' exhibit lands at NYC's Intrepid Museum

nasa foreign travel

Longtime NASA leader George W.S. Abbey, described as ‘father of modern spaceflight,’ has died at 91

G eorge W.S. Abbey, an influential NASA leader whose career spanned from Apollo to the International Space Station, died Sunday night. He was 91 years old.

Abbey was on the team that earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom for bringing home astronauts on the troubled Apollo 13 mission. He led the selection of NASA’s first astronaut class to include women and people of color. And he was crucial in negotiations that led to the U.S. and Russia collaborating on the International Space Station.

Abbey was director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston from 1996 to 2001.

DEDICATION: NASA’s Johnson Space Center renames Rocket Park after former director George W.S. Abbey

He died at the Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital after an illness. He was surrounded by family.

“He has been called the father of modern spaceflight, but we called him Dad, Grampa and Uncle George,” Abbey’s family said in a statement. “He was a quiet man, brilliant, humble and very private. The world will be so much emptier without him.”

Abbey was born in Seattle in 1932 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1954. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a helicopter pilot and engineer — and worked on an Air Force spaceplane program — before being assigned to NASA and moving to Houston in 1964. He became a NASA civil servant three years later.

During the agency’s moon program, Abbey helped investigate the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts on the launch pad. He helped implement spacecraft design changes that led to 13 Saturn V rocket launches and six crewed moon landings.

The Apollo 8 mission, in particular, stood out to Abbey.

“That was a very emotional moment when we left Earth’s orbit and actually went on our way to the moon the first time,” Abbey previously told the Houston Chronicle of the mission where three astronauts circled the moon.

During the Apollo 13 mission, Abbey was technical assistant to the director of the Johnson Space Center (originally called the Manned Spacecraft Center) when the spacecraft’s oxygen tank exploded. The crew didn’t land on the moon as originally planned, but they were safely returned to Earth.

His daughter Joyce B.K. Abbey remembers her father worked around the clock and felt grateful they got the crew home. But he didn’t specifically talk about his role. Instead of highlighting his own accomplishments at NASA, Abbey preferred to talk about his heroes and friends, she said.

She’s learned a lot about her dad through other people. Joyce B.K. Abbey works at the Johnson Space Center writing case studies on NASA moments that were unusual, spectacular or near disastrous. She captures lessons learned by the agency for use now and in the future.

“Almost everybody I’ve interviewed will stop me at one point and say, ‘Let me tell you a story about your dad,’ ” she said. “Sometimes they’re hysterical. Sometimes they’re so inspirational. So many people said how grateful they were for the opportunities he gave them in their careers at Johnson and in aerospace.”

The Apollo program was just the start of Abbey’s time at NASA. 

Abbey became director of flight operations at Johnson as the space shuttle prepared for its first mission. In that role, he led selection for the first group of space shuttle astronauts, which included six women, three Black men and one Asian man. 

He’d later move to Washington, D.C., working in the agency’s headquarters and on the National Space Council, before returning to Houston as deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in 1994. He became its director two years later and oversaw space shuttle launches and the first elements of the International Space Station reaching Earth’s orbit.

“Many people feel that we would not have the International Space Station flying today had it not been for his role as a leader in bringing all of the teams together; bringing the engineering teams, bringing the program teams together,” Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche previously told the Chronicle. “We fondly refer to meetings that he would have on Saturday as GASR. And that was in honor of George Abbey Saturday Review.”

He even brought longhorn cattle back to the Johnson Space Center as an agricultural education facility. He saw it as an opportunity to promote STEM education while honoring the Johnson Space Center’s past as a ranch.

“He was a huge history buff,” his daughter said, “huge fan of history and also Texas.”

Abbey left NASA in 2003 to focus on space policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He also helped develop charter schools and other educational institutions.

Abbey worked hard but also knew the importance of celebrating. He supported a parade during International Heritage Day, employee softball games, fajita parties and an annual chili cookoff that Abbey started and for which he was a longtime judge.

“All those things allowed the employees to blow off some steam, to celebrate, because they worked really, really hard,” Joyce B.K. Abbey said.

The Johnson Space Center dedicated Rocket Park, home to one of the world’s three Saturn V rockets on display, to Abbey in 2021. It’s now named the George W.S. Abbey Rocket Park. 

“One thing that all of us kids knew is how much our nation’s space program meant to him and how dedicated he was to advancing human spaceflight and doing the right thing,” Joyce B.K. Abbey said. “He took his decisions very seriously. He knew what was on the line, and I know he’d pray every morning to make the right decision and to be guided.” 

Outside of his professional accomplishments, Abbey’s family said he was a man of deep faith. He was fond of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, classic cars, Celtic music, fine wines and friendships.

Even as adults, his family would gather for Sunday dinners. One of their favorite recipes came from Abbey’s mother — they call it “Nanny’s Concoction” — and Joyce B.K. Abbey is now the keeper of this recipe.

Abbey is survived by five children, eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

His family is planning a future interment of his ashes at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash., so Abbey can be with two of his brothers. They’re also working with the Johnson Space Center to hold a service for him, and a tree will be planted in his memory as Abbey started the Johnson Space Center’s Memorial Grove.

Houston

IMAGES

  1. rocket launch rocket take off nasa space travel 4k Phone HD Wallpaper

    nasa foreign travel

  2. 14 Awesome Space Tourism Travel Posters from NASA (Gallery)

    nasa foreign travel

  3. NASA Announces First Crew for Commercial Space Travel

    nasa foreign travel

  4. Nasa at 60: Amazing photos of space exploration released from archives

    nasa foreign travel

  5. NASA Unveils New Spaceship for Deep Space Exploration

    nasa foreign travel

  6. APOD: 2008 March 5

    nasa foreign travel

COMMENTS

  1. Travel

    Please consult the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), NPR 9710.1, and NPR 9750.1. Please call the NSSC Contact Center at 1-877-NSSC-123 (1-877-677-2123) for additional information. The NSSC provides travel reimbursement services for all authorized Agency travel including: domestic, foreign, local, ETDY, and Change of Station (COS).

  2. PDF NASA Interim Directive for Travel NPR 9700

    § 301-2.6 Is a travel authorization required for travel beyond 50 miles when per diem will not be authorized since the official travel is 12 hours or less? § 301-2.7 Who has responsibility for monitoring foreign travel policy at NASA Headquarters? § 301-2.8 What forms must be submitted for foreign travel?

  3. NPR 9710.1

    7.1 Foreign Travel Overview. 7.1.1 The Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) is responsible for review and coordination of all foreign travel by NASA personnel (see NPD 9710.1). OIIR has delegated most review and final approval of Center foreign travel to the NASA Centers. OIIR will coordinate, review, and approve all ...

  4. PDF NASA NPR 2810.2 Interim Directive

    and unregistered from the NASA user's device prior to travel. g. NASA Users shall only use OCIO WCS-provided Loaner Devices when on travel to or from Russia or a country on the DCL. These devices are configured with enhanced security standards to mitigate technical and operational risks of international travel to these countries. i.

  5. Oiir

    FORIEGN TRAVEL INFORMATION. Manditory Personal Security Training. You must have completed the Mandatory Personal Security Training for Extended TDY Overseas (more than 30 days cumulative in a calendar year). In accordance with Department of State Cable (STATE 066580) dated March 24, 2004 which requires that the Chief of Mission (COM) ensure ...

  6. PDF Simple Foreign Travel Process for NASA Travelers

    4. NSSC audits Travel Voucher and receipts prior to disbursement once all necessary documentation is obtained, and the voucher is approved by the Fund Certifier. 5. Travel Voucher is routed to Center Management for approval. 6. NSSC disburses Travel Voucher and submits to Treasury for payment. 7. You are notified via e-mail that payment has ...

  7. NPR 9710.1

    NASA Procedural Requirements: NPR 9710.1 Effective Date: June 20, 2018 Expiration Date: June 20, 2024: ... 7.2 Authorization and Approval of Foreign Travel 7.3 Foreign Training 7.4 Passport and Documentation Requirements 7.5 Returning from Foreign Travel Chapter 8. Travel Under Special Circumstances.

  8. Space Travel Technology

    Space Travel. The path to the Moon, Mars, and beyond requires technologies to get us where we need to go quickly, safely and efficiently. Space travel includes launch and in-space propulsion systems, cryogenic fluid management, and thermal management, as well as navigation and landing systems to get our supplies, equipment, and robotic or human ...

  9. The Traveler

    International Space Station welcomes biological and physical science experiments. article 2 days ago. ... NASA's Guide to Near-light-speed Travel. Black Holes. 00:01:08. NASA's Traveler: Field Guide to Basic Black Holes ... NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through ...

  10. Space Travel News

    Article. NASA Seeks Students to Imagine Nuclear-Powered Space Missions. 1 min read. The third Power to Explore Student Challenge from NASA is underway. The writing challenge invites K-12 students in the United…. Article. NASA Improves GIANT Optical Navigation Technology for Future Missions. 4 min read.

  11. NASA Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR)

    OIIR also directs NASA's international relations; negotiates cooperative and reimbursable agreements with foreign space partners; provides management oversight and staff support of NASA's advisory committees, commissions and panels; and manages the NASA Export Control Program and foreign travel by NASA employees.

  12. Reimbursable Travel Under the GSA Travel Regulations

    Under 31 U.S.C. § 1353, the travel authorizing official must determine, in advance of the travel, that payment is: 1) for travel related to the employee's official duties; 2) for attendance at a meeting or similar function, and. 3) from a non-Federal source that is not disqualified on conflict of interest grounds.

  13. NPR 2810.2

    NASA travelers shall only access, from outside the U.S. and its territories, any NASA IT information or systems, through: (1) Authorized secure access to NASA's internal systems, networks, and data from a NASA IT device authorized for international travel, using access guidance provided by the Center OCIO. (2) Access to systems, networks, and ...

  14. Office of International and Interagency Relations Mission

    The mission of the Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) is to provide executive leadership and coordination for all NASA international and interagency activities and partnerships, and for policy interactions between NASA and other U.S. Executive Branch offices and agencies. OIIR Organization about Office of International and ...

  15. OIIR Export Control and Interagency Liaison Division (ECILD)

    ECILD provides leadership of NASA's activities involving the United Nations, management of the NASA International Exchange Visitor Program (J-1 visa), support to the NATO Research and Technology Board and military detailees to NASA, including the astronaut corps, as well as coordination of certain NASA foreign travel and coordination of NASA ...

  16. NPR 9700.1

    The Office of External Relations (OER) is responsible for review and coordination of all foreign travel by NASA personnel (see NPD 9701.1). With the exception of Astronaut travel, OER has delegated review and final approval of all Center foreign travel to the NASA Centers. OER will review and approve all astronaut travel.

  17. DOC Detail Foreign Travel Process

    Detail Foreign Travel Process The following steps detail the foreign travel process: 1. Submit and receive an approved Travel Authorization via Concur Government ... Submit a travel voucher via CGE within five (5) working days after completion of travel. a. If you encounter problems completing your voucher in CGE, please contact your Center ...

  18. PDF Travel Voucher Preparation

    • Travelers are required to use the Government travel charge card for all official travel expenses unless you have an exemption (41 CFR 301-51.1 and 41 CFR 301-51.2) • Travel vouchers must be submitted within 5 working days after completion of trip or every days if on continuous travel status (41 CFR 301-52.7)

  19. FAQs

    Remember, if you are planning to travel outside of the USA and the trip was not in your original proposal, concurrence from NASA is required. Yes, travel to Canada and Mexico are considered "foreign" travel. Finally, some grantees are aware that NASA civil servants with whom they work have a special limit on days off associated with work travel.

  20. PDF International Travel Guidance—Mobile Devices i January 2022

    Physically inspect your travel devices. Wipe and reload your travel devices. Upon completion of international travel, the employee should return the mobile device, any portable media (e.g., SD card), and device passcodes to the device-issuing office as soon as possible, i.e., upon return to the office.

  21. PDF Foreign Travel Coordinators (Updated: 04/04/2018)

    www.nasa.gov . Foreign Travel Coordinators (Updated: 04/04/2018) Center Name Phone Fax Email ARC Gabriel Lozano 650-604-4450 650-604-1957 [email protected]. AFRC ... [email protected] SSC NONE N/A N/A N/A . Title: DESIGNATED COUNTRIES Author: cjackson Created Date:

  22. NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 lands 4 astronauts on the ISS: What to know

    NASA confirmed the new crew entered the space station just before 4 a.m. EST on Tuesday and will replace a crew that have been there since August from the U.S., Denmark, Japan and Russia.

  23. NASA Is Recruiting a New Class of Astronauts

    Critics include Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs SpaceX, the rocket company that NASA relies on to transport cargo and astronauts — like Mr. Glover — to the International Space Station.

  24. NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test

    NASA leadership and Boeing officials discuss flight test readiness, objectives, and priorities ahead of the Starliner spacecraft's first crewed flight to the International Space Station. The flight test, currently scheduled to launch early May, will transport Wilmore and Williams to the orbiting laboratory for a planned stay of up to two weeks.

  25. New NASA astronauts celebrate moon missions, private space stations as

    Astronauts and then-astronaut candidates from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency pose for a photograph in front of NASA's Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile ...

  26. Longtime NASA leader George W.S. Abbey, described as 'father of ...

    George W.S. Abbey, an influential NASA leader whose career spanned from Apollo to the International Space Station, died Sunday night. He was 91 years old. Abbey was on the team that earned the ...