What time will SpaceX launch NASA’s Roman Space Telscope on Aug. 30? (Full mission timeline)

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A huge SpaceX rocket is just days away from launching NASA’s next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you’re hoping to watch it live online, you’ll have to get up pretty early on Sunday (Aug. 30) or you’ll miss it. NASA’s Roman Space Telescope, named after the late NASA astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, will launch no earlier than Sunday on a mission to map the galaxy like never before. Liftoff is set for 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) from a NASA pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.…

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NASA’s Artemis II Crew Receives Congressional Space Medal of Honor

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President Donald J. Trump awarded NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on Aug. 28, 2026, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/John Kraus From left to right: NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Donald J. Trump on Aug. 28, 2026, for their service during the Artemis II…

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NASA Awards First Prize in Phase 2 of Agency’s LunaRecycle Challenge 

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team won NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge competition for their project, Composites for Extraterrestrial Recycling By Engineering the Reuse and Upcycling of Zotek (CERBERUZ). Credit: NASA/Savannah Bullard NASA named a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the first prize winner for Phase 2 of the agency’s LunaRecycle Challenge, which focused on developing solutions for reducing waste during missions to the Moon or deep space by recycling common materials, like fabrics, plastics, foam, and metals.  The Composites for Extraterrestrial Recycling By Engineering the Reuse and Upcycling of Zotek (CERBERUZ) team, comprised of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at MIT, received a total of $775,000 in awards.   The technology grinds mixed trash into a fine powder, repurposing materials such as Zotek foam as reinforcement rather than treating it…

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Our choice as one of the best budget telescopes now has 17% off — this telescope deal is worth grabbing fast

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The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is one of the best telescopes for beginner-to-intermediate stargazers who want to view deep-sky objects and appreciate assistance in manually locating the targets. Right now, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is 17% off, down to just $414.99, its cheapest since Prime Day in June. In our Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review, our expert tester Damian Peach awarded it an impressive 4 out of 5-star. Damian noted that it was an exquisite telescope for the beginner and added that the StarSense Explorer telescope…

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The night we nearly saw a ‘blood moon’ (and why I love near-misses in astronomy)

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Stargazers have trigger words — total, bright, peak, maximum, best. But observing the sky is often more interesting when something seems neither one thing nor the other. A case in point was the almost-total partial lunar eclipse we just witnessed. From where I watched, early on Aug. 28, Earth’s shadow reached its maximum across the lunar surface, covering 96.2% of it, as the moon began to sink in the west. A thin part of the lunar surface remained outside the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, and the surface never did…

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President Honors NASA’s Artemis II Crew with Highest US Space Award

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President Donald J. Trump awarded NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on Aug. 28, 2026, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA President Donald J. Trump awarded NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor Friday for their service during the Artemis II mission. He presented the awards during a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson…

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APOD: 2026 August 28 – The Sky Turns Above Paranal

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 28 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. The Sky Turns Above Paranal Explanation: At the latitude of ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, about 25 degrees south, Earth’s rotation moves the planet’s surface eastward at over 1,500 kilometers per hour. And while that’s faster than…

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The Forested Floodplains of Congaree National Park

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Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory The Forested Floodplains of… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search   The OLI on Landsat 9 captured this image of the Congaree River winding through floodplain forests in Congaree National…

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