Artemis 1’s Orion spacecraft sees Earth setting behind moon (video)

A mesmerizing new video shows Earth setting behind our moon as a spacecraft flies in the vicinity. Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA’s Artemis program, launched early Wednesday morning (Nov. 16). All milestones after launch atop the huge Space Launch System rocket have been checked off so far, including a crucial engine burn of the uncrewed Orion spacecraft at the moon on Monday (Nov. 21). NASA carried the engine burn live and also livestreamed footage of Orion flying near the moon when a signal from the capsule was available. “You are seeing the…

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NASA’s CAPSTONE cubesat reaches final orbit around the moon

NASA’s tiny CAPSTONE spacecraft has settled into its final lunar orbit, shifting into the operational phase of its pioneering moon mission. CAPSTONE, which is about the size of a microwave oven, arrived at the moon on Nov. 13, becoming the first cubesat ever to do so. The probe soon performed two engine burns to refine its orbit and has now embarked on its six-month mission at the moon, NASA officials announced on Monday (Nov. 21) That mission centers on validating the presumed stability of a lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit, a…

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NASA ‘giddy’ over amazing moon views from Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft

NASA officials say Artemis 1 mission teams are “giddy” after witnessing how well their Orion spacecraft has been performing so far on its way towards lunar orbit. Artemis 1 launched at 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 GMT) on Nov. 16, blasting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a spectacular display of the sheer power of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The Orion spacecraft reached Earth orbit shortly after, and then at 87 minutes after launch performed a so-called Trans Lunar Injection burn to send it hurtling towards the…

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NASA’s Artemis 1 mission launched 10 cubesats. Here’s how they’re doing

Some of the Artemis 1 mission’s cubesats are thriving after launching on a moon mission on Nov. 16, but a handful are struggling in deep space. Artemis 1, the first flight of the Artemis program, launched early in Wednesday morning (Nov. 16). NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket successfully sent an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a journey to the moon, along with a clutch of cubesats aiming to perform various science missions in deep space. As of Nov. 18, NASA officials confirmed ArgoMoon, Biosentinel, Equuleus, LunaH-Map, and OMOTENASHI were all operational, although OMOTENASHI is experiencing…

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Astronomers spot small space rock just hours before it drops meteorites over Canada

A small space rock was detected just a few hours before hitting Earth’s atmosphere and landing in Canada’s Lake Ontario on Saturday (Nov. 19).  The mini-asteroid, less than 3 feet (1 meter) wide, was spotted by astronomer David Rankin at Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, according to SpaceWeather.com (opens in new tab). Subsequent observations by other astronomers confirmed that the rock, coming from the direction of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, was on a collision course with Earth.  Only three hours after the first…

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