NASA gets 2 Emmy Awards for interactive programming

Washington: NASA has won two Emmy Awards for interactive programming for its coverage of a Mars mission and the agency's first test of a spacecraft that will help bring crewed launches to the International Space Station back to US soil.

NASA won the awards for the coverage of InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) mission to Mars, including news, web, education, television and social media efforts, and the SpaceX Demonstration Mission-1.

"Congrats to all involved and those who help tell the @NASA story every day!" NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted on Sunday.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the two award nominations for NASA on July 16.

InSight is the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars, using an ultra-sensitive seismometer, a heat-flow probe and other instruments. InSight is managed for NASA by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

NASA's official 2019 Emmy video submission showed how the coordinated effort between NASA and SpaceX brought the historic Demonstration Mission 1 to an audience of millions by combining NASA Television programming with online simulcasts, social media and in-person events.

JPL won the 2018 Emmy Award for the outstanding original interactive programme for its coverage of the Cassini mission's grand finale at Saturn.