Tag: Space Exploration

Ireland’s lost Apollo 11 moon rock traced from basement to fire in documents

NeRD

New details about the small pieces of the moon gifted by the United States to Ireland in 1970 have now been unearthed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Apollo 11 lunar samples, themselves. The four moon pebbles, which were embedded in a single lucite ball and mounted to a wooden podium together with a small flag of Ireland that was flown on NASA’s first lunar landing, was one of 135 such goodwill presentations that the U.S. made to foreign countries following the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Additional…

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NASA’s Orion crew capsule had heat shield issues during Artemis 1 − an aerospace expert weighs in (op-ed)

NeRD

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Marcos Fernandexz Tous is a professor of aerospace technology at the University of North Dakota. Off the coast of Baja California in December 2022, sun sparkled over the rippling sea as waves sloshed around the USS Portland dock ship. Navy officials on the deck scrutinized the sky in search of a sign. The glow appeared suddenly. A tiny spot at first, it gradually grew to a round circle falling at…

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Watch India launch 2 satellites on a space docking test flight on Dec. 30 (video)

NeRD

India will launch an ambitious space docking test flight on Monday (Dec. 30) that could set the stage for a future mission to the moon. The India Space Research Organisation will launch the two small satellites of its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) atop an Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Monday. Liftoff is set for 11:28 a.m. EST (9:58 p.m. IST, 1628 GMT) from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. You can watch the SpaDeX mission launch live online via ISRO’s YouTube livestream, which is expected to begin at 11…

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Watch SpaceX launch its last Falcon 9 rocket of 2024 overnight tonight

NeRD

SpaceX is preparing to launch its last mission of the year and you can watch it live. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 21 Starlink broadband internet satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, is poised to lift off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday (Dec. 30). The 3.5-hour launch window opens at 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT). A live webcast of Monday’s mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch on SpaceX’s website and on the social…

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Rocket launch today: Is there a rocket launch and what time?

NeRD

Dec. 28: SpaceX launching 2 rockets today (Image credit: Astranis) SpaceX is planning two rocket launches in the next 12 hours, one from California and the other from Florida. The first launch is a Falcon 9 rocket launching Saturday, Dec. 28, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:48 p.m. PST (8:48 EST, 0148 GMT). You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff. This mission, called Starlink 11-3, will launch 22 new Starlink…

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Watch SpaceX attempt to launch 4 Astranis satellites for the 2nd time tonight after abort

NeRD

SpaceX will make a new attempt to launch a miniature fleet of communications satellites overnight tonight and you’ll be able to watch it live online. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four “MicroGEO” satellites for the company Astranis from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is set for 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT) on Sunday. You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff. The midnight launch will mark SpaceX’s second attempt to…

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Astronauts on ISS beam holiday cheer to Earth for Christmas (video)

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Space Station Astronauts Deliver a Christmas Message for 2024 – YouTube Watch On Surrounded by floating candy canes and a makeshift snowman made out of stowage bags, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station gathered together to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone back on Earth. Expedition 72 commander Sunita “Suni” Williams, sporting a pair of festive reindeer antlers, joined fellow NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague to share some holiday cheer from their home away from home, 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the planet. “It’s…

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Piece of Apollo 11 spacecraft ‘lands’ in moon meteorite-lined wedding ring

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For better or for worse, a small part of the Apollo 11 spacecraft will now be Jon Mesick’s to have and to hold for all the days of his life. The strip of golden thermal polyimide tape, which made the trip to the moon with the first astronauts to land there in 1969, is now the centerpiece of Mesick’s custom wedding band made by the Honest Hands Rings Company of Morrison, Colorado. The ring, which also incorporates lunar meteorite, is the focus of a newly posted online video that highlights…

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ULA wants to upgrade Vulcan Centaur rocket into a ‘space interceptor’ to defend satellites

NeRD

United Launch Alliance (ULA) envisions its new, powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket as playing a key role in defending satellites from potential threats in space. Centaur, the upper stage of the Vulcan Centaur, is designed for orbit. During the recent Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said that Centaur could be upgraded to function in a defensive capacity in orbit. If an adversary were to endanger U.S. Space Force assets, the Centaur could operate as a “space interceptor” that could act fast to provide defense. “What I’ve been…

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NASA delays Artemis missions again. What could this mean for the moon, Mars and space leadership?

NeRD

NASA’s first two crewed Artemis moon missions have been pushed back to 2026 and 2027, respectively, and the move could have big ramifications for the agency’s Artemis program and competition with China for leadership in space. Artemis 2, which will send a crew of three Americans and a Canadian astronaut around the moon, was due to launch in September 2025. The mission has now been moved back to April 2026, NASA announced on Dec. 5. Artemis 3 — which is set to put humans on the surface of our nearest…

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