Jeremy Hansen is a Canadian space astronaut scheduled to fly around the moon. Hansen the mission specialist aboard Artemis 2, is expected to start his 10-day mission in November 2024. Flying with Hansen on the moon mission will be three NASA astronauts: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch. Artemis 2 will be the first spaceflight for Hansen, who is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut. But Hansen is highly experienced in other matters. His career experience includes piloting fighter jets for NORAD, mentoring an astronaut…
Read MoreMonth: April 2023
Underwater spacewalks recreate the ‘moon’ in a giant NASA pool (photos)
Before walking on the moon, future astronauts may go for a swim. The famed Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston has trained hundreds of spacewalkers since 1992. All International Space Station crews spend many hours by simulated space modules in the large, indoor pool of water. There, they gradually get used to floating, turning screws, mounting hardware and other activities — all within reach of trained safety divers. But with NASA now aiming to put astronauts on the moon, a part of the underwater facility…
Read MoreWhat time is SpaceX’s 1st Starship and Super Heavy launch on April 17?
SpaceX is counting down to its first ever launch of the world’s biggest rocket, its towering Starship vehicle, on April 17, but exactly when the rocket will fly depends on several factors. The first combined Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster are currently scheduled to launch from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas no earlier than Monday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). It will be 7 a.m. local time. But whether SpaceX actually targets that time or opts to wait until later in the window remains to be…
Read MoreHours before NASA’s Artemis 2 moon crew reveal, I saw a neat slice of space history
HOUSTON — On a humming museum floor, I came face-to-face with a NASA astronaut in the shadow of the moon. I was next to an image of Jessica Watkins, who in 2022 completed the first long-duration mission by a Black woman astronaut. (She flew on SpaceX’s Crew-4 flight to the International Space Station.) Watkins’ face adorned the front of a new Artemis program exhibit I swooped in to visit on April 2. Overhead was a ginormous moon model, complete with craters. I was pumped. In less than 24 hours, I…
Read MoreInternational Dark Sky Week 2023 begins today to combat the light pollution crisis
Light pollution from a variety of sources, both on the ground and in orbit, is threatening the night sky at an alarming rate. According to one recent study, the world is currently seeing an average increase of 9.6% in the brightness of the sky. This means that whereas 18 years ago, skywatchers would see an average of 250 stars in the night sky; today, only 100 would be visible. The International Dark Sky Association (opens in new tab) hopes to raise awareness about the growing light pollution crisis with International…
Read MoreGrab the Celestron Travel Scope 70 for under $100
You can grab the Celestron Travel Scope 70 telescope for under $100 when you apply the coupon on Amazon, so if you’re looking for a bargain telescope suitable for beginner astronomers, this could be it. Applying the coupon means you save $15 (opens in new tab), which might not sound like a lot but it does take the total cost under $100. For that price, a telescope is a relatively low risk purchase given the quality on offer from Celestron models. This is a pretty good option for a budget…
Read MoreSpaceX will try to launch 1st Starship orbital flight on April 17
A rainbow arcs behind SpaceX’s stacked Starship vehicle at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas. SpaceX posted this photo on Twitter on April 11, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX via Twitter) It’s official: SpaceX will try to launch the first orbital test mission of its huge Starship vehicle on Monday (April 17). SpaceX has been targeting Monday for the Starship flight for the past week or so. That plan was tentative, however, as the company still needed to secure a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It’s…
Read MoreNo asteroid impacts needed: Newborn Earth made its own water, study suggests
Contrary to a popular theory that icy comets or asteroids delivered water to a dry newborn Earth, the planet itself may have produced its earliest water supply, a new study suggests. This water would have stemmed from chemical interactions between an atmosphere rich in hydrogen, which researchers think enveloped the young Earth, and massive oceans of magma on the planet’s surface. In these conditions, “water forms as a natural byproduct of all the chemistry that takes place,” study co-author Anat Shahar, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in…
Read MoreNASA to Participate in Space Symposium, Discuss Moon to Mars
NASA leadership and other experts will participate in the Space Foundation’s 38th Annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the agency will air two NASA events.
Read MoreHow do we know how far away and early in the universe galaxies are?
Since it started delivering its first results in July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been supplying stunning images of the universe that include observations of the most distant and early galaxies we’ve ever seen. But how do we know that they really are so old? Recently, it was confirmed that the JWST had indeed observed four of the most distant and thus earliest galaxies known to date, which existed when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was no more than around 350 million years old. And the James Webb…
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