NASA Closes 2025 With Lunar Progress, New Crew Assignments, and Fresh Earth Views

As the year draws to a close, NASA released its final weekly recap highlighting major milestones across the agency's lunar exploration program, crewed spaceflight operations, and Earth science missions.

The update, published December 23 in NASA's regular Minute video series, underscores the breadth of activity heading into 2026 — from hardware progress on the Artemis program to new crew assignments for the International Space Station.

Artemis and Lunar Missions

NASA reported continued progress on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, the cornerstone hardware for the agency's return-to-the-Moon campaign. The Artemis program remains on track for its next crewed mission, with integration and testing milestones met throughout the fourth quarter of 2025.

The agency has emphasized that lessons learned from the Artemis I uncrewed test flight continue to inform design refinements, particularly in the Orion heat shield and life support systems that will protect astronauts during lunar transit.

SpaceX Crew-12 and New Astronaut Assignments

The recap also spotlighted NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission, with astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway among those preparing for upcoming orbital rotations. Meir, a veteran of a previous ISS expedition, will serve as mission specialist, while Hathaway — selected in NASA's 2021 astronaut class — will make his first spaceflight.

International partners ESA and Roscosmos continue to contribute crew members and research payloads, reinforcing the station's role as a multinational laboratory.

Earth Science: Sentinel-6B and Carruthers Observatory

On the Earth observation front, NASA highlighted the Sentinel-6B mission, a joint effort with ESA to monitor global sea level changes with unprecedented precision. The satellite extends a multi-decade record of ocean surface topography data critical for understanding climate change.

Meanwhile, NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory — a new ultraviolet instrument in low Earth orbit — has begun returning data on Earth's extended hydrogen atmosphere, known as the geocorona. The observatory, named after pioneering physicist George Carruthers, is mapping the planet's ultraviolet halo to better understand how the upper atmosphere interacts with solar radiation.

Looking Ahead to 2026

"As we say goodbye to 2025, we're already looking ahead here at NASA, with progress on lunar missions, new crews preparing for orbit, and fresh views of Earth from space," the agency noted in its recap.

The coming year is expected to bring critical milestones including additional Artemis hardware testing, the launch of Crew-12, and first science results from the Carruthers Observatory. NASA's Earth science division also plans expanded collaboration with international partners on climate monitoring missions.

The full NASA Minute video recap is available on NASA's media library and official channels.