Bringing the excitement of NASA science into the nation’s community colleges.

Join NCCN as a (select type below)

Registering as a CCI, you will gain access to a suite of curated NASA resources, recent missions, citizen science activities, etc... all chosen with introductory college astronomy students in mind. Search through our database of resources to find just the right ones for your class.

Who knows -- you might even score a visit from a NASA SME!

SME registrants can share their expertise through presentations, data sets, videos or even reach out to visit a classroom.

The sky's the limit -- it's up to each SME on what they want to provide.

Come join us!

By registering for Resource Access, you will receive news, updates and information about the NCCN project.

If you are a community college instructor (CCI), or a NASA subject matter expert (SME) click on the adjacent box to find out how to get involved.

Thank you for your interest and consideration!

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What is the NCCN Project ?

NASA Community College Network

The SETI Institute’s NASA Community College Network (NCCN) is a major initiative to bring NASA Subject Matter Experts (SME), research findings, and science resources into the nation’s community college system. NCCN is a constituent team of the Science Activation program, part of NASA’s Science Mission Directive (SMD).

Guided by needs assessments of both community college instructors (CCIs) and SMEs to engage in outreach, NCCN will consist of three key engagement deliverables:

1) To broker direct partnerships between NASA science subject matter experts and community college instructors teaching astronomy, space science and related courses.

2) To provide a set of high-quality, curated, audience-appropriate NASA resources created with or by NASA scientists to support their outreach and engagement and implemented by the community college instructor.

3) To provide professional development and training for both groups:

a) Community college instructors: we want to support or extend their knowledge of NASA science or research topics and help them communicate new or more engaging concepts to their students.

b) NASA subject matter experts: we want to help them engage effectively with the instructors and students at community colleges. For scientists new to outreach, we want to help them understand community college audiences and how best to work with them.

NCCN is funded by NASA SMD Cooperative Agreement 80NSSC21M0009

News & Events

Fri, Jul 31, 2026

NCCN Meeting & Events Calendar

View upcoming NCCN Meetings & Industry Events on our NCCN Calendar of Events

CCI & SME Collaborative Meetings: On hiatus for the summer -- we'll reconvene on August 5th/6th.

Thu, Jul 30, 2026

Viking 1: 50 Years on Mars

Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became the first spacecraft to successfully land and operate on Mars, transforming our understanding of the Red Planet and launching a new era of planetary exploration. Today, sophisticated robotic explorers like Curiosity and Perseverance continue that legacy, searching for signs of ancient habitability and preparing the way for future human missions. Join host Dr. Simon Steel and planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee as they explore the remarkable history of Mars rovers and landers—from Viking, Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance to the next generation of robotic explorers being developed for Mars, the Moon, and beyond. Watch here.

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Mon, Jul 27, 2026

Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the northern hemisphere. The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24. They reach a strong maximum on August 12 or 13, depending on the year.

Learn more at the American Meteor Society or the Natural History Museum

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Tue, Jun 09, 2026

Artemis III Crew Announced

NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, and NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio take a photo together on June 9, 2026. The four were announced as the Artemis III crew.

NASA’s Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit will test integrated operations between the Orion spacecraft and one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin respectively.

Artemis II Launch

NASA Astronauts returns to space !

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launches on the Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft. The quartet launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

Likely Saturn-Mass Planet Imaged by NASA Webb

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have captured compelling evidence of a planet with a mass similar to Saturn orbiting the young nearby star TWA 7. If confirmed, this would represent Webb’s first direct image discovery of a planet, and the lightest planet ever seen with this technique outside the solar system.

Link to NASA Press Release

Fri, Mar 14, 2025

Lunar Eclipse from the Moon

As we had hoped, the Blue Ghost lander on the Moon captured images of the lunar eclipse last night FROM THE MOON.

From the Moon, the Earth covered the Sun during the eclipse. Here you see the Sun just starting to emerge again from behind the Earth as the eclipse drew to a close.

The private company that landed Blue Ghost hopes to release other eclipse images soon, but we wanted to share this historic first release with you as soon as it came out.

Things may be crazy here on Earth, but it might be a bit reassuring for your students to know that the cycles of the solar system continue on in a predictable way.

Mon, Dec 16, 2024

NASA’s Webb Finds Planet-Forming Disks Lived Longer in Early Universe

In 2003, Hubble provided evidence of a massive planet around a very old star, almost as old as the universe. Such stars possess only small amounts of heavier elements that are the building blocks of planets. This implied that some planet formation happened when our universe was very young, and those planets had time to form and grow big inside their primordial disks, even bigger than Jupiter. But how? This was puzzling.

For more information, click here for the NASA article.

Mon, Oct 14, 2024

Europa Clipper Launch - Signal Acquired !!

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft — designed to explore its namesake, Jupiter’s moon Europa — launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Monday at 12:06 p.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The event streamed live on NASA’s website.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches the Europa Clipper mission October 14 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to study one of Jupiter's moons, which could hold the ingredients for life. (Photo credit: Joe Skipper/Reuters)