Marina Koren Profile Banner
Marina Koren Profile
Marina Koren

@marinakoren

Followers
23,128
Following
1,800
Media
1,823
Statuses
25,592

Staff writer @theatlantic , covering space and climate change. Unit chair @theatlunion . Repped by @trellislit . Ask me about Space Feels. marina @theatlantic .com

Washington, D.C. / The Milky Way
Joined May 2010
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Pinned Tweet
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
1/ Thread: I'm pretty sure that my beat is not just space exploration, but also Space Feels. Want to feel oddly sad about Earth and the moon growing apart? Here you go:
46
111
511
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
7 years
An elementary school in Utah has ditched Andrew Jackson and will now be named for Mary Jackson, NASA's first black female engineer
110
4K
14K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Who among us has not spiraled out of control recently
122
748
6K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
I have captured the asteroid that was in Earth's vicinity and which you were probably saving for deep space Forgive me it was nearby so small and so cute
31
499
2K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Elon Musk has announced that Juneteenth is now considered a holiday at SpaceX and Tesla, but his followup suggests that it's not a paid holiday, and employees must use their own PTO.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
58
624
2K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
This is the “live laugh love” of space travel
Tweet media one
21
189
2K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Trump now painting a misleading picture of NASA history. "The last administration presided over the closing of the space shuttle." Yes, the last space shuttle flew under Obama, but the program was canceled under George W. Bush.
78
547
2K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Hubble is out with some new pictures of the outer planets and wow, they are just stunning:
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
25
302
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
During a telecon, I asked Jim Bridenstine about Elon Musk's recent opinions on COVID-19. A voice on the line said, "wrong press conference. Move on." I'm told it was Elon. NASA just picked Starship to contribute important technology to the agency's moon return. This is relevant.
179
268
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The SpaceX astronaut capsules so far have been called Endeavour, Resilience, and Endurance. A lovely start. Looking forward to future launches of Anxiety, Depression, and Lethargy.
46
90
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The ISS flew right over us after Inspiration4 launched, which means I've seen 11 spacefarers in the sky tonight. Not bad.
19
58
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Okay, I have fully processed the images JWST showed us today, and I have decided: The Carina Nebula image is maybe the coolest space picture I've ever seen.
Tweet media one
17
130
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
There are so many galaxies in here. So, so many galaxies.
Tweet media one
46
231
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
The phosphine in Venus's atmosphere *could* indicate life, or it could mean a chemical process we haven’t seen before. Scientists have more work to do to. But I hope today's exciting news helps you forget about The Bad Stuff for a minute or two.
32
357
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
6 years
Ladies, if he: -doesn't call home right away -shows zero emotion -moves millions of miles away from you -measures seismic activity -drills 16 feet into the ground He's not your man. He's a Mars lander.
8
279
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
While Bezos is popping champagne, Shatner is tearing up, trying to get words out. "Everybody in the world needs to do this," he says. "Everybody in the world needs to see."
19
72
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
As I was reading the Apollo 11 transcripts, I realized the mission kind of sounded like.. a road trip? The craziest one ever, of course, but—they drank too much coffee, didn't agree on the music, and nearly ran out of gas
18
279
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Imagine looking like Jupiter
Tweet media one
18
101
1K
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
I can't believe I've never seen this before: John Young driving around on the moon during Apollo 16
48
137
936
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The head of Russia's space agency: "If [the U.S.] blocks cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled descent out of orbit and a fall on the United States or"—continued in his next tweet—"Europe?" "The ISS doesn't fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours."
@Rogozin
ROGOZIN
3 years
мусором, коим ваши талантливые бизнесмены загадили околоземную орбиту, производится исключительно двигателями российских грузовых кораблей "Прогресс МС". Если заблокируете сотрудничество с нами, кто спасёт МКС от неуправляемого схода с орбиты и падения на территорию США или...
641
427
1K
82
420
900
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
6 years
Stephen Hawking's daughter Lucy, describing her thoughtful and brilliant father:
Tweet media one
6
314
854
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
You vs. the space telescope she told you not to worry about (at left, Hubble's infrared view. At right, JWST's infrared view of the same spot)
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
11
176
872
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
1 year
This is truly a dream come true! There's no other beat in the universe I'd rather cover. Going somewhere to weep now.
@AAS_Office
American Astronomical Society (AAS)
1 year
Marina Koren is the recipient of the 2023 Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award for distinguished popular writing on planetary sciences for the article “The Existential Wonder of Space” published in The Atlantic.
Tweet media one
4
21
170
66
52
841
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
NASA has confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope is on a boat and on its way to its launch site in French Guiana. Yeehaw!
17
126
778
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
SpaceX's first private crew—Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Chris Sembroski—is in orbit. They're going to have a few amazing days in space.
25
102
777
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
I looked through a telescope for the first time last night. I could see Saturn’s rings, and Jupiter’s bands, and crater walls jutting out of the surface of the moon. Truly amazing!
23
19
791
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
"Why would anyone want to go to low-Earth orbit?" My latest piece explores why Elon Musk hasn't gone to space yet. Of course, only he knows the answer to that, but I did my best:
137
79
759
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
I wrote about the discovery of what could be the most distant galaxy we've ever seen. You're seeing this cosmic tomato as it was just 300 million years after the Big Bang. Important caveats in here, but also lots of wonder about what comes next:
Tweet media one
22
149
784
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Well my entire life has been a lie
16
47
746
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
All of this information blew my mind recently, and I want everyone to share in it with me
27
220
716
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
1 year
"Virtually everywhere in the city 'ended up with a covering of a rather thick, granular, sand grain that just landed on everything.'" @livia_ar reports on the aftermath of the explosive Starship test in South Texas
39
242
702
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
I asked Gerard Bruno, Arianespace’s VP of French Guiana operations, how the rocket is secured. Turns out it’s not! Like, at all. The rocket’s own massive weight holds it down, and it’s heavy enough that it won’t tip over. Everyone on site seems completely fine about this
22
83
706
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
NASA wants everyone to stop calling it "manned" spaceflight. Seriously.
113
204
696
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
6 years
This is the asteroid named after Aretha Franklin, moving across a starry night sky
9
273
672
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
At the #HumansToMars summit today, retired NASA astronaut Leland Melvin says he wasn't scared to go to space. He was more scared, as a Black man, about being stopped by a police officer.
9
209
678
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Mark Kelly is being sworn into the Senate today. Here's my piece on astronauts turned politicians, and here's a great quote from an astronaut who didn't run for office (but maybe should have)
Tweet media one
14
131
680
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
NASA says a spacecraft touched the sun, solar physicists say we crossed into the solar atmosphere, I say.. I say we booped it.
16
64
679
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
1 month
NASA presser happening now. No return date given, still more work to do to make sure the astronauts can get home on Boeing's Starliner. Feels like they're starting to say the quiet part out loud: If it was safe to return Starliner at any point in the last six weeks, Butch and
26
66
657
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
As we approach the historic NASA/SpaceX launch of two astronauts, a friendly reminder about the importance of language in space travel..
21
123
633
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
I didn’t have “spend Christmas Eve dinner with a bunch of scientists and engineers and journalists in French Guiana while the restaurant plays Mariah Carey” on my bingo card for 2021, but I’m so very happy. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday and a successful telescope launch.
6
6
619
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The Ariane 5 rocket, with the most powerful space telescope in history sitting on top
Tweet media one
8
137
614
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
We can’t help attaching our little human feelings to our little space robots. Which is why I wrote this story about the Ingenuity helicopter:
18
125
589
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Bye buddy, hope you find your galaxies
@coastal8049
Scott Tilley 🇺🇦
3 years
#JWST #NASAWebb through a clear but hazy sky ~500000km from Earth. Ten 10s images stacked to make each frame with a 4" SCT at f/6.7.
10
87
546
5
30
595
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
A U.S. congresswoman who grew up drinking from different water fountains than the white people in her town was pepper-sprayed by police in the street yesterday:
6
409
575
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
See this little blue truck? It’s going to haul the rocket to the launchpad, traveling at a maximum speed of 4 kilometers per hour (2.5 miles per hour). Yup, the whole thing!
Tweet media one
17
116
574
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
SpaceX just experienced the biggest explosion yet at its Texas site, where it's testing prototypes for a Mars rocket. A resident who lives nearby—just 2 miles away—said it felt like an earthquake. This is what happens when Elon Musk is your neighbor:
49
204
534
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
"We've nailed it." NASA and Northrop Grumman officials doing a presser now about the successful deployment of JWST's sunshield, which needed to work for all the rest of it to work
10
42
555
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
A reminder that orbital space travel is still risky, and a series of successful missions don't guarantee the next one. As one retired NASA astronaut put it to me: “The shuttle was pretty routine until it blew up.”
49
54
531
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Happy Asteroid Day, everybody
@nathanwpyle
Nathan W Pyle
6 years
saddest thing I’ve drawn
Tweet media one
902
93K
340K
3
59
537
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Good morning from Kourou. This morning we’re watching JWST and its rocket roll out to the launchpad. On the way there now, and the colors of the jungle here are just the richest green
8
65
523
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Our planet under a pandemic: less seismic activity from the rumble of daily life, cleaner air, profoundly quieter cities and oceans, too
26
198
510
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
My cynical take is that Jeff Bezos bringing Wally Funk to space with him is a brilliant PR stunt for Blue Origin. My not-so-cynical take is that this is a real gift, to a real person, who seems lovely and absolutely deserves it.
17
88
517
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
🚨 Astronomers have found a black hole just 1,000 light-years away, which, on cosmic scales, is "almost on our doorstep" 🚨
52
138
507
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Just to really drive this home: The NASA administrator felt compelled to ask SpaceX's president whether Elon's Twitter is going to distract SpaceX from its work for NASA, which includes landing their astronauts on the moon later in this decade.
@SciGuySpace
Eric Berger
2 years
After the briefing, Administrator Bill Nelson told me that he spoke with SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell last weekend. He asked if Twitter/Musk was going to be a distraction to SpaceX and its commitments to NASA. "She said to me in no uncertain terms, 'I assure you it is not.'"
153
199
3K
16
136
510
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Image #1 : The deep field view NASA revealed yesterday. "There's just a sharpness and a clarity we've never had," Jane Rigby, JWST's operations project scientist, says. Looking more than 13 billion years back in time here.
Tweet media one
9
122
493
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The team that released that black hole picture 700 years ago in 2019 have a new, sharper view to share. Quite pretty.
Tweet media one
11
76
498
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Mike was on the Apollo 11 mission. Also, I’d argue, one of the funniest astronauts NASA has ever had. He was 90 years old.
@AstroMCollins
Michael Collins
3 years
Family Statement on Passing of Astronaut Michael Collins
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
2K
10K
41K
10
63
483
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
I wrote about why Elon Musk interrupted me during a press conference and what that means for NASA's partnership with SpaceX
38
127
482
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
At this point I am fully expecting Santa Claus himself to deliver JWST to L2
13
28
494
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.” by @jemelehill
5
36
446
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
6 years
Did a hagfish write this
Tweet media one
4
64
439
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Folks, this is a real, live view of a spaceship on its way home from the moon
Tweet media one
7
75
452
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Couldn't help writing a little teaser ahead of JWST's image release on Tuesday. Astronomers around the world are—how do I put this very seriously and scientifically?—absolutely psyched about this.
12
107
430
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
"Trump has lied repeatedly and brazenly, practically commanding his supporters to mount an uprising, and now they have done as he asked." from @GrahamDavidA
7
161
414
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Trying very hard to pay attention to this NASA presser about the final months of a dust-covered Mars lander but can't stop thinking about this cake they made
Tweet media one
13
34
407
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
1/ A thread about the big exoplanet news that was announced today, which—to be perfectly honest—was challenging for me to parse and report..
9
173
414
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
A truly fascinating story, especially this bit:
Tweet media one
17
52
392
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
"After craft cocktails, funky IPAs, and attempts to acquire an affinity for whiskey neat, maybe nothing tastes better than giving up."
11
73
396
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
1 year
Me trying to explain to my poor editor that the Artemis 2 crew will not enter lunar orbit but that they will circle the moon but they're on a free-return trajectory but they will be in the lunar gravitational sphere of influence
Tweet media one
15
31
404
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Bridenstine introduced Musk soon after my question. For the record, NASA didn't tell reporters he was going to be on the call.
11
31
381
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Hubble launched in 1990, the year I was born, and I can’t remember when I first heard about it or saw one of its images. It was always just *there*. A constant source of wonder, a comfort. Someday, our littlest ones might feel the same way about JWST.
9
55
394
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
My story about a small South Texas community and its loud Mars-spaceship-building neighbor is going to be in this year's Best American Science and Nature Writing. I'm so honored and delighted!
30
60
391
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
A sad day in astronomy. Arecibo has suffered still more damage—its massive instrument platform has collapsed onto its dish, according to the NSF and people in Puerto Rico. They knew it was coming. And this time, there’s no coming back from it:
15
129
379
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
The James Webb space telescope “could really revolutionize the entire field. So we hope pirates don’t take it.”
23
87
372
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
No one: Absolutely no one: Me: I watched a seven-hour spacewalk and wrote a story about it
18
56
372
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Good morning from Kourou again, where it’s nice and rainy. Today we’re spending time in the Guiana Space Center’s control room, which is called Jupiter, and going out to the launchpad. Merry Christmas Eve!
4
58
367
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
Good morning. I’m on my way to NASA’s Goddard center in Maryland, where officials will release more images from JWST today. Yesterday’s dazzling snapshot is only the beginning
Tweet media one
7
46
370
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
NASA's giant space telescope has completed its 16-day, 1,500-mile voyage across the sea. Pirates, you had your chance.
11
60
364
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
6 years
. @brianschatz : "Is it fair to call this an evolution of your views?" @JimBridenstine : "Yes." This is big. Trump's NASA chief just said he's changed his mind on climate change. Background here:
14
124
346
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
The NYT recently ran a story on "how the Soviets won the space race for equality." I dug into that:
28
116
351
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
"I decided to at least learn their names." This is how it starts. @lenikacruz captures perfectly the whirlwind obsession that follows watching just one BTS video:
5
105
326
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
Wrote about SpaceX satellites and what they (and other artificial, bright stuff in the sky) mean for astronomers and the rest of us:
14
191
347
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Unlike Hubble, Webb isn't designed to be fixed by astronauts. But it can be refueled robotically. Zurbuchen says that "once this telescope is deployed, I'm going to put all the effort towards developing that technology, and so within the 10-year lifespan, we can go refuel it."
11
58
350
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
I spend a lot of time looking at pictures of planets and galaxies and star clusters, but this photo, of a president and her government officials in masks, might be the most stunning thing I've seen in a while
11
78
346
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
I talked to the wives of the NASA astronauts launching to space tomorrow. Fun fact: They're also astronauts!
5
102
330
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
2 years
A member of the DART mission told me that she loves doing planetary science, which isn't usually an applied science. But this? Slamming into an asteroid in the name of planetary defense? That's about as applied as it gets:
5
61
336
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Three months later and I still think about eating this
@Claudia_Zahn
Adrenochrome
4 years
This is a rock, not a slice of cheesecake. Red agate and White Opal with Botryodial Chalcedony This specimen from Central Nevada Credit: Chelsea Thompson #Geology #GeologyPage #Nature
Tweet media one
110
538
2K
15
21
336
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
3 years
Take me to Pluto's icy dunes
Tweet media one
7
27
330
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
5 years
"A year ago, an influencer could post a shot with manicured hands on a coffee cup and rake in the likes—but now, people will unfollow." @TaylorLorenz 's latest is so good
11
96
332
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
1 month
We're also hearing NASA being more open about using SpaceX to bring them home, if it really came to that. And they should feel comfortable saying that! That level of transparency might look bad for Boeing, but it's the whole point: the agency wanted two providers for this very
9
16
340
@marinakoren
Marina Koren
4 years
Jupiter trending a day after the Percy rover showed us some new Mars pics is quite the power move
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
7
44
327