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For more information, contact Joel W. Sills, Langley Research Center, joel.w.sills@nasa.gov.

Download PDF here

Chip resistors are widely used in NASA projects, yet cases of alumina substrate cracking during environmental testing are rare. Two instances of thick-film chip resistor cracking were observed during thermal cycling after vibration, with fractures occurring across the short axis due to bending. Failure analyses ruled out defective lots and fatigue, identifying board flexure, component orientation, excessive solder, and mounting stresses as contributing factors. The bulletin recommends careful component placement, finite element analysis, controlled solder fillet height, thorough inspection, and functional thermal shock testing to mitigate flexure-induced cracking risks in ceramic body components on printed circuit boards.

Background
The NESC noted historical lack of reported cases of chip resistors’ alumina substrate cracking during vibration and thermal cycling, although chip resistors are ubiquitous across NASA projects. Two instances of thick film chip resistor body cracking were observed during environmental acceptance testing on printed circuit board assemblies. Both failures occurred during thermal cycling after vibration testing, exhibiting intermittent open circuit failures at hot dwell temperatures that recovered at room temperature. Transverse fracture occurred at the mid-span of each resistor, running parallel to the terminations. The two resistors were installed in similar locations near the edge of the boards on two identical boards. Cracks in failed resistors were along the short axis of the resistor due to apparent bending of the resistors, Figure 1. Resistors showed no signs of pre-existing defects.

Causal Relationships Initial theories pointed to vibration-induced damage of potentially defective resistors since both resistors came from the same production lot. However, the resistor lot not only meets the requirements of procurement specification MIL-PRF-55342 but additional tests were performed and did not reveal any direct evidence of a defective resistor lot. There was no evidence of an elevated risk of defective resistors within the production lot.

Failure Analyses
Independent failure analyses concluded that the cracked chip resistors were due to bending/tensile failures. There was no clear-cut root cause or visible defect identifying a crack initiation site. Both resistors exhibited a single, straight crack across the short axis (perpendicular to the long axis), indicating a bending/tensile failure without twisting.

The damage signatures are not consistent with cyclic fatigue, likely ruling out fatigue failure during vibration. In addition, NESC independent optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Figure 2, of both resistors did not identify any clear flaw locations for fatigue damage initiation and progression; therefore, the possibility of defective resistors as well as fatigue vibration as the root cause becomes unlikely.

Cause Conclusions
No direct root cause was identified, but contributing factors leading to increased design consideration needed for large footprint ceramic components located near the edges of a printed circuit board that can lead to stress cracks due to manufacturing or installation bow/twist of the printed circuit board include:

• Location of the relatively large resistors (case size 2512) next to the edge of the board with resistor’s long axis parallel to the card edge, increasing susceptibility to board flexure-induced damage.
• Excessive solder that extended to the top pads on the resistor terminations.
• Excessive bending moments or loads resulting from board bow/twist.
• Hard mounting the board to a rigid frame, which can store and amplify these bow/twist stresses.
• Suboptimal fastener torquing patterns, which may concentrate mounting stresses specifically at the resistor locations.

Guidelines for Assembly of Ceramic Body Components to Printed Circuit Boards
The following guidelines are to be considered given the recent experience.

• Component Orientation: Avoid orienting the long axis of large footprint ceramic components parallel to nearby printed circuit board edges to reduce susceptibility to global and local flexure damage.

• Finite Element Analysis: Perform sufficient Finite Element Analysis to demonstrate adequate stress and displacement margins on large components when they must be placed near the edge of the board.

• Solder Joint Fillet Limits: Keep solder off the top surface of terminations. Solder on top creates a rigid joint that transfers printed circuit board flexure directly into the ceramic increasing risk of flexure-induced cracking. Consult the individual parts manufacturers for guidance, as they may place specific limits on solder fillet height.

• Solder Joint Inspection: Inspect physical solder joints or review photographic images of the joints to verify that components have sufficient, but not excessive, solder fillets according to manufacturer limits.

• Functional Thermal Shock Testing: Perform one to three thermal cycles, including a hot-dwell functional test, prior to vibration testing, to document as built component integrity.

References
1. MIL-PRF-55342 Resistor, Chip, Fixed, Film, Nonestablished Reliability, Established Reliability, Space Level
2. MIL-PRF-55342/9 Resistor, Fixed, Film, Chip, Nonestablished Reliability, Established Reliability, Space Level, Style RM2512
3. MIL-STD-202 Method 218 Board Flex

Students across the country will have the opportunity to connect directly with the International Space Station during a live, interactive in-flight call with NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Mark Rober STEM content creator and founder of ClassCrunchLabs Foundation. The event, hosted by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, celebrates National STEM Day by bringing real‑world science, engineering, and exploration into classrooms nationwide.

The Earth-to-space call will begin at 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and will be available to watch on the agency’s flagship YouTube with additional engagement across Learn With NASA channels.

From aboard the space station, Menon will answer questions from students about living and working in microgravity, the path to becoming an astronaut, and the technologies that make human spaceflight possible. Rober, joining from California, will share how curiosity, creativity, and hands‑on problem‑solving shaped his career from NASA engineer to STEM creator.

A look at STEM in action

During the downlink, students will see the space station in real time as Menon demonstrates how everyday activities, from eating to experimenting, change in microgravity. The downlink supports NASA’s broader effort to connect students with authentic STEM experiences to help build technical skills and introduce aerospace careers to students. National STEM Day is an opportunity to recognize the power of hands‑on learning and to inspire the next generation of scientists, technicians, engineers, and innovators who will carry NASA’s exploration goals forward.

A new collaboration to expand STEM access

This downlink also marks the launch of a new collaboration between NASA and the ClassCrunchLabs Foundation. Together, the organizations will work to broaden access to STEM learning experiences for students across the country by aligning NASA’s mission‑driven educational resources with CrunchLabs’ hands‑on engineering content. Through shared programming and outreach, the partnership aims to inspire more learners to engage with science, engineering, and problem‑solving skills that prepare them for future opportunities in the aerospace sector and beyond.

Educators and families are encouraged to tune in and celebrate National STEM Day with an inspiring conversation between a NASA astronaut in orbit and a STEM educator on Earth.

For more information on NASA in-flight calls, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Tropical cyclone activity in the Northwest Pacific Basin has been elevated since April 2026, when Sinlaku surged to super typhoon strength and battered Micronesia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Twenty-five named storms later, the basin still hummed with activity in late October.

When the EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) on the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite captured this image (above) on October 29, 2026, Super Typhoon In-fa churned near the Mariana Islands. At the same time, the remnants of Typhoon Champi approached Alaska amid a parade of storms moving across the Bering Sea. In-fa is the fifth typhoon to affect the Mariana Islands this year.

The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the image of In-fa below on October 30, when the storm was just west of the island chain. In-fa was unusually intense at the time of the image, with a nearly circular shape and large eye—a collection of characteristics that meteorologists use to identify a subset of tropical cyclones known as annular storms. These storms typically lack prominent outer spiral-shaped rainbands—a common feature of standard tropical cyclones—which is why meteorologists have a habit of calling annular storms “doughnuts” or “truck tires.”

Annular storms are rare, accounting for just 4 percent of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific, according to one analysis. Their eyes average about 45 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter, compared to about 25 kilometers for standard tropical cyclones, and the storms typically maintain their strength longer in unfavorable conditions.

In-fa was still a tropical cyclone when EPIC captured the image at the top of the page, but Champi’s leftovers had gone through the process of extratropical transition and become a whole different type of storm as they entered the Bering Sea’s busy storm track. Tropical cyclones are warm-core storms fueled by the heat and moisture of warm ocean water, but extratropical cyclones typically have cold cores and draw energy from temperature contrasts between warm and cold air masses.

Unlike tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones typically develop fronts and huge, spiraling cloud bands shaped like commas. “One of the calling cards of extratropical transitions is the expansion of a storm’s wind field,” said Gary Partyka, a meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s not that the winds necessarily grow stronger, but they cover a much larger area,” he said.

In this case, there likely would still have been a midlatitude storm over the Bering Sea, possibly with large, comma-shaped clouds on October 30, even without Champi’s remnants, he added. “But it looks like Champi became intertwined with and helped intensify that system,” he said.

Champi’s transformation came after a long and destructive tour through the West Pacific, during which the typhoon achieved maximum sustained winds of nearly 300 kilometers (185 miles) per hour, prompting some observers to call it one of the strongest storms of the season.

Despite narrowly skirting Taiwan and Guam, the powerhouse storm brought damaging winds and intense rains to both places, as well as to parts of China and Japan. When the remnants hit Alaska, the state avoided catastrophic damage on the scale of what happened after ex-typhoon Halong struck in October 2025, but some areas did see high winds and heavy rain and snowfall, according to news reports.

Champi is the fourth ex-typhoon to enter Alaskan waters this year, noted University of Alaska Fairbanks meteorologist and climatologist Rick Thoman, following Bang-Lang in August, Dujuan in September, and Choi-wan in early October. The autumns of 1997 and 2015—both very strong El Niño years—had three each, he added. Roughly 60 ex-typhoons have impacted the state since 1970, according to Thoman.

Partyka described 2026 as a “particularly active year” for Pacific tropical cyclones, increasing the chances that Alaska would be affected by storms that have gone through extratropical transitions. The strong El Niño underway in the Pacific is a “likely contributor” to the increased activity, he added.

El Niño is a climate pattern that emerges roughly every two to seven years, marked by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific. In the Northwest Pacific, the phenomenon tends to cause storms to more readily curve northward rather than continuing westward to East Asia and Southeast Asia, some experts say, bringing more storms toward Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using data from DSCOVR EPIC and MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• AccuWeather (2026, October 26) Super Typhoon In-fa is the 5th typhoon to affect the Mariana Islands this year. Accessed November 2, 2026.     
• Camargo, S. & Sobel, A. (2005) Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Intensity and ENSO. Journal of Climate, 18(15), 2996–3006.
• Colorado State University (2026) Real-Time Northwest Pacific Ocean Statistics by Storm for 2026. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• DW (2026, September 23) How El Nino is shaping tropical storms worldwide. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• Fox Weather (2026, October 31) Brewing Super El Niño helps support monster Super Typhoons across the Western Pacific. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• Knaff, T., et al. (2008) Objective Identification of Annnular Hurricanes. Weather and Forecasting, 18, 204-223.
• Knaff, T., et al. (2003) Annular Hurricanes. Weather and Forecasting, 18, 204-223.
• KYUK (2026, October 28) Ex-typhoon Champi tracks toward Bristol Bay, impacts expected across Western Alaska. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• National Weather Service (2026, October 30) Northern Alaska Forecast Discussion. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• National Weather Service (2026, October 29) Marianas Synopsis. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• Plumb & Thoman (2025, November 13) Typhoon Halong hits Alaska. Accessed November 2, 2026.
• Thoman, R. via Bluesky (2026, October 29) Ex-typhoon Champi into the SW Bering Sea Thu AM. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Sixty-five years ago, a bold vision took root in Houston: a NASA center dedicated to human spaceflight. Since its founding, NASA’s Johnson Space Center has helped lead the nation’s human spaceflight program, supporting missions from Project Mercury through Artemis.

Today, Johnson serves as NASA’s Center of Excellence for Human Spaceflight, and its workforce is helping to usher in a Golden Age of innovation and discovery. Johnson is home to America’s astronaut corps, the Mission Control Center, and the teams behind some of humanity’s greatest achievements in space. As NASA’s human spaceflight programs evolve, Johnson remains at the forefront of these efforts.

Houston is home to NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, comprising International Space Station operations and commercial partnerships and destinations in low Earth orbit. For missions beyond low Earth orbit, Johnson houses the Moon Base Program⁠ and Orion Program⁠, while NASA’s Human Health and Performance Directorate⁠ and Human Research Program⁠ work to protect crew health and performance as missions extend farther from Earth.

On May 25, 1961, the center’s story began when President John F. Kennedy gave a speech before a joint session of Congress, committing the nation to achieve the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

NASA’s Space Task Group, in charge of America’s human spaceflight program, was already working on Project Mercury to put astronauts into Earth orbit, but with the additional task of a human lunar landing, it soon outgrew its facilities at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The agency decided it needed a dedicated field center for human spaceflight and on Sept. 19, 1961, after evaluating multiple sites around the country, NASA announced that the new Manned Spacecraft Center would be built near Houston, Texas. The agency established the center on Nov. 1, 1961, and construction began in 1962. In 1973, it officially became NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in honor of President Johnson for his ardent support of America’s space program from its foundation.

Manned Spacecraft Center to Johnson Space Center

The Manned Spacecraft Center officially opened on Nov. 1, 1961, and while construction continued on the Clear Lake site, employees worked in 13 leased buildings in southeast Houston. The design phase took six months and construction of the first buildings took 18 months, with the first employees moving onto the new site in late 1963.

Over the decades, the number of buildings grew, and continues to grow, to meet the demands of new spaceflight programs.

Project Management Building

Construction of the nine-story Project Management Building began on Dec. 5, 1962, and concluded on March 15, 1964. Robert Gilruth, the center’s first director, moved into his office on March 5, 1964, on the top floor of the edifice then known as Building 2. The building swapped numbers with the Public Affairs Building, originally known as Building 1, on June 30, 1974.

Neutral buoyancy spacewalk training

The use of neutral buoyancy for spacewalk training began with the Gemini XII mission in 1966. In 1967, workers installed an above-ground circular pool called the Water Immersion Facility for astronaut training that supported Apollo and pre-Shuttle spacewalk training.. To accommodate the larger size of the space shuttle payload bay, spacewalk training moved to the Weightless Environment Training Facility iin 1980. Astronauts used it for nearly all shuttle spacewalk training until 1997, when the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in the Sonny Carter Training Center entered operations for both shuttle and space station training, as well as testing future space suits and lunar surface activities. 

Lunar Receiving Laboratory (Building 37)

To prevent any back contamination from any possible lunar microorganisms, NASA designed the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Building 37. Construction began in August 1966, with the first employees moving into their offices in June 1967. The astronauts from Apollo 11, 12, and 14 completed their three-week postflight quarantine in the lab, and scientists in the various laboratories studied the lunar samples all the Apollo missions returned.

Following the Apollo program, Life Sciences division and laboratories moved into the building until they relocated in 2017. Following demolition of Building 37, the Lunar Receiving Park, dedicated in 2026, honors the history of the laboratory.

Spacecraft mockup training facilities (Building 9)

Construction of Building 9 began in December 1965 and finished in March 1967. The building initially housed the Technical Services Facility. In April 1969, workers converted a portion of the building to include a mock lunar surface scene, complete with a mockup of a Lunar Module, used by Apollo 11 astronauts. To support the space shuttle program, workers completed an addition that housed the Mockup and Integration Laboratory in September 1974. Astronauts for all 135 shuttle missions used the mockups for training. An extension on the northwest side of thebuilding begun in 1986 and completed in 1988. It received mockups of Space Station Freedom and later of the International Space Station, and the building was renamed the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. Today, the facility also houses training mockups of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, commercial mockups, and the Active Response Gravity Offload System, known as ARGOS. 

Mission Simulation and Training Facility (Building 5)

Construction of Building 5, the Mission Simulation and Training Facility completed inApril 1965 and began supporting missions beginning with Gemini IV in June 1965. The building originally contained the Gemini spacecraft simulator and a Gemini translation and docking simulator. Apollo program simulators, including a command module and lunar module simulator, began arriving in December 1965. From 1967 and 1978, astronauts used the Water Immersion Facility for spacewalk training. In the early 1970s, the building also housed full-scale, high-fidelity trainers and simulators of Skylab’s components, which all nine Skylab astronauts used for mission training. In the late 1970s, the facility underwent major renovations to support the space shuttle program, with the addition of fixed base and motion base simulators. The Space Station Training Facility addition, completed in 1991, supported first Space Station Freedom and now International Space Station crew training, and also contains Orion and Starliner simulators.  

Mission Control Center

Construction of Building 30 housing the Mission Control Center began in June 1963 and finished in November 1964, with technicians installing the real-time computer in April 1964 and the first employees moving in two months later. The center initially housed two mission operations control rooms to support Gemini and Apollo missions and simulations. By January 1965, the center monitored the uncrewed Gemini 2 mission and the crewed Gemini 3 mission in a flight following mode.  

In June 1965, Houston had full control of Gemini IV and has controlled each of NASA’s human space flight missions ever since. The control center received a major upgrade to its computer systems in the mid-1970s to support upcoming space shuttle flights. On April 4, 2011, the building was renamed the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center, in honor of the man who created the concepts still in use today in human spaceflight control. The control center continues to support the space station around the clock as well as Artemis missions taking humans back to the Moon. 

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