Month: June 2022

This fresh Hubble Space Telescope image looks like a gassy disaster unfolding deep in space. The image shows the galaxy NGC 3718, which NASA officials say is a “highly disturbed spiral,” meaning its formation was disrupted. As the galaxy gets into the gravitational well from the neighboring galaxy NGC 3729, that galactic interaction pulls NGC 3718 into an S-shaped warp. The galaxies are separated by 150,000 light-years, with NGC 3729 not shown in this view from the Hubble Space Telescope. “Hubble’s view of this portion of NGC 3718 shows the sinuous,…

Russian cosmonaut Valery Ryumin, who launched on four space station missions including the final U.S. space shuttle flight to dock with the former Mir outpost, has died. He was 82. Ryumin’s death on Monday (opens in new tab) (June 6) was confirmed by the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos in a statement (opens in new tab). “We have lost a comrade and a friend,” said Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos. “This is an irreparable loss for all of us. I express my deepest condolences to the family and friends…

Beginning just after midnight Monday (June 6), technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida are scheduled to begin transporting the agency’s huge Artemis 1 moon rocket to its launch pad for a crucial countdown rehearsal.  Artemis 1, the first launch for NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, will send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the moon and back. NASA officials have voiced hope that Artemis 1 will lift off as soon as August, but the SLS and Orion must first complete a series of fueling and simulated…

For many of us, the past two years have delivered a lesson in not taking things for granted. The chaos of the pandemic disrupted relationships, trade and the privileges we often enjoy without a second thought.  As a resolute chaser of celestial spectacles, I’ve spent my career traveling to witness some of the greatest sights in the sky. Indeed, I’ve been fortunate enough to check off practically every entry on the astronomical bucket list thanks to the convenience of the global travel network. Only when it ground to a halt…

China’s Tiangong space station has just welcomed its third set of visitors. China’s three-person Shenzhou 14 mission arrived at Tianhe, the core module of the under-construction Tiangong, early Sunday morning (June 5), about six hours after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The capsule docked to the Earth-facing port of Tianhe at 5:42 a.m. EDT (0942 GMT), according to a Weibo post from the China Manned Space Agency (opens in new tab). The three Shenzhou 14 crewmembers — commander Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai…