Category: The Moon

Our moon

Listen live today as NASA, Boeing discuss Starliner return, spacewalk issues

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NASA and Boeing will discuss their next plans and a possible landing schedule for the first Starliner spacecraft mission with astronauts later today (June 28), and you can listen in live. Boeing Starliner launched on June 5 for what was supposed to be a 10-day mission, but the test effort with astronauts needed extra time to address helium leaks and thruster issues uncovered during the June 6 docking with the International Space Station (ISS). The team will provide an update to reporters at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), which you…

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16 best places to see the 2026 total solar eclipse

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On Aug. 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse will be visible from within a broad path sweeping from remote Russian Siberia to eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon drifts in front of the sun while it’s slightly larger in apparent size so that the moon completely covers the sun’s disk. Peaking at 2 minutes, 18 seconds, the Aug. 12, 2026, total solar eclipse will be the first time mainland Europe has experienced totality in the 21st century. Related: What’s the difference…

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The moon on Earth: Astrobotic unveils ‘proving ground’ for future lunar missions

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Astrobotic has unveiled a lunar testing ground to help prepare for a range of coming moon missions. The roughly 330-by-330-foot (100 by 100 meters) Lunar Surface Proving Ground (LSPG) in Mojave, California, is a high-fidelity 3D test field that replicates conditions on the moon. The LSPG, modeled using Astrobotic’s LunaRay tools, simulates lunar topography and the extreme lighting conditions at the lunar south pole. It will be used for testing precision lunar landing technologies, such as LiDAR scanners, as well as driving rovers and other robotic systems. “Our Lunar Surface…

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NASA astronaut gives tips to Baseball Hall of Fame from ISS (video)

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Curveballs could be even tougher to hit in space than they are here on Earth.  International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Jeanette Epps says baseballs could have more spin in space, based on her NASA experience. She shared gameplay tips live with the Baseball Hall of Fame, during a live conversation on Tuesday (June 25). “The biggest difference is that we just don’t have gravity, so everything floats, but you can swing a bat as hard as you can swing it,” Epps said during the conversation, which was broadcast on NASA…

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ISS astronauts take shelter in Boeing Starliner and other return spacecraft after June 26 satellite breakup

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Nine astronauts on the space station briefly moved to their docked return spacecraft late Wednesday (June 26) as a satellite broke up in low Earth orbit. The Expedition 71 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) went to their three spacecraft, including Boeing Starliner, shortly after 9 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT), according to a brief NASA update on X, formerly known as Twitter. As the ISS follows a time zone identical to GMT, according to the European Space Agency, the astronauts were likely in their sleep period when the incident…

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Take a deep dive into UFO history in ‘After the Flying Saucers Came’ by Greg Eghigian (exclusive)

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Providing an academic lens through which to view the huge interest and hysteria surrounding unidentified flying objects since pilot Kenneth A. Arnold witnessed what he called “flying disks or saucers” while cruising past Mt. Rainier on June 24,1947, a new book titled “After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon” has just been released from Oxford University Press. Author Greg Eghigian is a professor of history and bioethics at Penn State University who spent nearly a decade delving into the subject of UFOs for this project,…

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What happened to China’s Chang’e 6 lander on the moon’s far side?

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China’s Chang’e 6 mission has successfully delivered to Earth the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon. But what became of the lander that collected the lunar material? Chang’e 6 launched on May 3. The mission consisted of four spacecraft — an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle and reentry capsule. The lander touched down in Apollo crater on June 1, with the main task of scooping and drilling for unique samples from the lunar far side and loading them into the ascender to be blasted into lunar orbit.  The…

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Watch GOES-U weather satellite float above a brightly shining Earth in stunning video from space

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The launch of NOAA’s powerful new GOES-U weather satellite did not disappoint. The satellite took off on Tuesday (June 25) atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in a picture-perfect launch under a clear blue sky at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch marked the 10th launch of Falcon Heavy, and lofted the fourth and final member of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-R series of weather spacecraft. Four and a half hours after take off, Falcon Heavy’s second stage deployed GOES-U into space…

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Sprites from space! Astronaut photographs rare red lightning phenomenon from ISS

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An astronaut captured an elusive glimpse of red lightning from space. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick imaged the rare red sprite phenomenon from the International Space Station earlier in the year, which may build on earlier studies of the lightning type on the orbiting complex. “Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa. One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite,” NASA astronaut Dominick wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday (June 20).  “A rare event.…

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Marvel superheroes battle bloodthirsty Xenomorphs in new ‘Alien’ variant covers

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We’ll soon get some tastes of the unique brand of horrors coming in Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić’s “Aliens vs. Avengers” crossover miniseries, which will be released in August. Marvel has unleashed the wicked extraterrestrial creatures from the “Alien” franchise onto five variant covers, which will roll out weekly in July and August. Not only is this an explosion of “Alien”-related offerings form Marvel to heat up the summer, but it also coincides with the arrival of director Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” movie on Aug. 16, 2024, which is the…

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