For the first time ever, two Saudi Arabians are living and working on the International Space Station (ISS). Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi launched to the orbiting lab last Sunday (May 21) on Ax-2 mission, a four-person private mission operated by the Houston company Axiom Space. The duo are just the second and third Saudis to reach space, and Barnawi is the first woman from the kingdom ever to make it to the final frontier. AlQarni, Barnawi and their two Ax-2 crewmates — record-breaking former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the…
Read MoreMonth: May 2023
China’s mysterious space plane released an unidentified ‘object’ in orbit, US intelligence reveals
America’s secret space plane, the Boeing X-37B, is thought to have inspired China to construct a similar craft. (Image credit: Getty) After nine months in orbit, China’s mysterious space plane has landed for the second time, making the nation one of the few entities to successfully launch and recover a reusable spacecraft. “The complete success of this experiment marks a significant breakthrough in our country’s research on reusable spacecraft technology,” Xinhua, a Chinese state media agency, reported earlier this month. However, the Chinese government has released very little additional information…
Read More‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi’ at 40: What it was like seeing Darth Vader’s death scene for the 1st time
My recollection of seeing “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” the day it premiered is dominated by one peculiar memory. It’s etched indelibly into my teen brain as the time when my good buddy Mike Sawyer rudely (but hilariously) blurted out “Tighter, Gomez!” just as Luke removes Darth Vader’s helmet and the Sith’s bald, egg-shaped head is revealed to look exactly like “The Addams Family’s” smooth-skulled crackpot, Uncle Fester, as played by the late great Jackie Coogan. Fans of that classic ’60s TV show will recall that Fester loved to…
Read MoreNASA Sets Coverage for Axiom Mission 2 Departure from Space Station
NASA will provide live coverage of the undocking and departure of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) private astronaut mission from the International Space Station before crew returns to Earth.
Read MorePrivate Japanese moon lander crashed after being confused by a crater
The private Japanese moon lander Hakuto-R crashed in late April during its milestone landing attempt because its onboard altitude sensor got confused by the rim of a lunar crater. Representatives of Tokyo-based company ispace, which built the spacecraft, revealed that the unexpected terrain feature led the lander’s onboard computer to decide that its altitude measurement was wrong and rely instead on a calculation based on its expected altitude at that point in the mission. As a result, the computer was convinced the probe was lower than it actually was, which…
Read MoreNASA’s Artemis moon rocket will cost $6 billion more than planned: report
An independent report looking into the development of NASA’s new moon rocket has found significant cost overruns and delays that could harm the agency’s plans to put astronauts back on the moon. Development of the Space Launch System (SLS) began in November 2011. It had a successful test flight in November 2022, six years after its first targeting a debut launch in late 2016. The SLS megarocket is intended to return humans to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, but increases in costs related to contracts awarded to…
Read MoreNASA Pursues Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services for Artemis Missions
NASA is seeking industry proposals for a next-generation LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) that will allow astronauts to go farther and conduct more science than ever before as they explore the south polar region of the Moon during Artemis missions.
Read MoreNASA to Provide Briefing, Coverage of Spacewalks for Station Upgrades
Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a pair of spacewalks Friday, June 9, and Thursday, June 15, to install two new solar arrays.
Read MoreNew Mexico Students to Hear from NASA Astronauts Aboard Space Station
Students from southern New Mexico schools will have an opportunity to hear from NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Read MoreSpace Station Science Highlights: Week of May 22, 2023
Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of May 22 that included documenting the health effects of an enhanced space diet, examining properties of silicon-germanium crystals, and using code written by students to control computers in space.
Read More