Category: Solar System

Our solar system

Boeing Starliner rolls out to launch pad for 1st astronaut flight on May 6 (photos)

NeRD

CAPE CANAVERAL — May the rocket’s Force be with you! An Atlas V rocket rolled out to its launch pad on Saturday (May 4), also Star Wars Day, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station days before its historic first mission with astronauts. Atop the United Launch Alliance booster was Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which will also make its debut flight with humans onboard after launching no earlier than Monday (May 6). The instantaneous launch window opens at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on Tuesday, May 7) and you can watch the…

Read More

The history of the Jedi Order in ‘Star Wars’

NeRD

One of the core pillars of  Star Wars is the Jedi and their mysterious connection to the Force, but we’ve only seen fragments of their illustrious order’s history on the big screen. Watching the Star Wars movies in chronological order, we see them at the height of their power, fall into near extinction, and rise once again. Now, with the new live-action series The Acolyte on Disney Plus, we’re about to learn how the Sith plotted in the shadows against the Jedi prior to the events of The Phantom Menace.…

Read More

Star Wars Day 2024: ‘Star Wars: Tales of the Empire’ premieres today on Disney+

NeRD

May the 4th be with you! Like its animated predecessor, “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi,” that absorbing anthology which first debuted on Disney+ back in October of 2022, a new collection of short animation gems taken from the point-of-view of two characters seduced by dark Imperial influences marches onto the House of Mouse’s streaming platform today as part of the geekiest of holidays, Star Wars Day. Instead of that previous project’s focus on a younger Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku prior to his anointment as a Sith Lord, “Star…

Read More

Virgin Galactic to launch 7th commercial spaceflight on June 8

NeRD

Virgin Galactic will fly again next month, if all goes according to plan. The company announced on Wednesday (May 1) that it’s targeting June 8 for its seventh commercial spaceflight, a suborbital jaunt called, fittingly enough, Galactic 07. It will be Virgin Galactic‘s second spaceflight of the year, after the Galactic 06 mission on Jan. 26, and its 12th overall to date. Related: Virgin Galactic launches researchers to suborbital space on 5th commercial flight (video) Virgin Galactic uses an air-launch system that consists of two vehicles: A carrier aircraft called…

Read More

Does a cosmic ‘glitch’ in gravity challenge Albert Einstein’s greatest theory?

NeRD

There is no denying the awesome predictive power of Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of gravity, general relativity — yet, the theory still has inconsistencies when it comes to calculating its effect on vast distances. And new research suggests these inconsistencies could be the result of a “cosmic glitch” in gravity itself. In the 109 years since it was first formulated, general relativity has remained our finest description of gravity on a galactic scale; time and again, experiments have confirmed its accuracy. This theory has also been used to predict aspects…

Read More

Boeing Starliner spacecraft ‘go’ for 1st astronaut launch on May 6, NASA says

NeRD

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — The new Starliner spacecraft is “go” for its first-ever astronaut launch on Monday (May 6), Boeing and NASA officials announced today (May 3). Barring bad weather or any last-minute technical issues, Starliner was cleared to send two veteran NASA astronauts and former U.S. Navy test pilots to the International Space Station (ISS). On board this mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), will be commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams. The duo are completing last-minute training items and quarantining here at NASA’s Kennedy Space…

Read More

Curious asteroid Selam, spotted by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, is a cosmic toddler

NeRD

When NASA’s Lucy mission passed by the near-Earth asteroid Dinkinesh last November, it discovered that Dinkinesh had a companion — a little moonlet that astronomers soon named Selam. And now, scientists have measured Selam’s age. Their estimate suggests that tiny Selam separated from its larger partner Dinkinesh just 2 to 3 million years ago, making Selam a toddler — by solar system standards, of course. “Finding the ages of asteroids is important to understanding them, and this one is remarkably young when compared to the age of the solar system,…

Read More

Astronauts on the moon could stay fit by running in a Wheel of Death

NeRD

Any human who spends enough time in a low-gravity environment — such as a future habitat on the moon — will experience bodily changes as their muscles atrophy, their bones lose mass and their control over their whole body itself declines. This is why astronauts who spend time beyond Earth’s atmosphere must exercise on their missions. Without physical fitness, they’ll struggle to function on even a basic level when they return to Earth’s gravity. Now, researchers from the University of Milan have devised a new form of exercise to keep…

Read More

Watch live: China launching Chang’e 6 mission to far side of the moon early May 3 (video)

NeRD

China is set to launch its next robotic moon mission on Friday (May 3), and you can watch the action live. A Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e 6 lunar far side sample return mission is scheduled to launch between 5:17 a.m. EDT (0917 GMT) and 6:18 a.m. EDT (1018 GMT) on Friday. The mission will take off from China’s Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the tropical island province of Hainan, off the southeastern coast of mainland China. You can watch the action live here when the time comes,…

Read More

Watch SpaceX’s Crew-8 astronauts move their Dragon at the ISS May 2 to make way for Boeing’s Starliner

NeRD

The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission will move their Dragon capsule to a different port at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday morning (May 2), and you can watch the action live. The Dragon, named Endeavour, is scheduled to undock from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module on Thursday at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT), then autonomously dock with Harmony’s space-facing port at 8:28 a.m. EDT (1228 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA. Coverage will begin at 7:30 a.m. EDT…

Read More