Tag: Moon

Wait, What? Superstitions Black People Have Passed Down From Generations

Photo: Javier Zayas Photography (Getty Images) On April 8, a total solar eclipse will pass over North America, beginning at various times depending on your state and time zone, with the moon completely blocking out the sun for around 4 minutes. Science attributes this phenomenon to our planet’s orbit around the sun and rotation. However, […]

Read More

Odysseus Spacecraft Lands on Moon, First Time for U.S. Since 1972

For the first time in a half-century, an American-built spacecraft has landed on the moon. The robotic lander was the first U.S. vehicle on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, the closing chapter in humanity’s astonishing achievement of sending people to the moon and bringing them all back alive. That is a feat that […]

Read More

Live Video: Watch SpaceX Launch Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander

Another month, another day, another try at the moon. A robotic lunar lander launched in the early morning hours of Thursday, one day after a technical glitch postponed the first launch attempt. If all goes well, it will become the first American spacecraft to set down softly on the moon’s surface since the Apollo 17 […]

Read More

SpaceX to Launch Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander: How to Watch

Another month, another try at the moon. A robotic lunar lander is scheduled to launch in the early morning hours of Wednesday. If all goes well, it will become the first American spacecraft to set down softly on the moon’s surface since the Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972. It is also the latest private […]

Read More

It Started as Winter Break. It Ended With a Doomed Moon Mission.

A gaggle of students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh traveled to Florida last month during their winter break. The students, many of them studying to be engineers and scientists, went there to watch a rocket launch that would send a small 4.8-pound robotic rover that they had helped build on its journey to the […]

Read More

Japan Explains How It Made an Upside-Down Moon Landing

Japan became the fifth nation to land on the moon on Saturday, but its spacecraft ended up in an awkward position, with its engine nozzle pointed up toward space. By design, the Japanese spacecraft, known as Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, was supposed to land on its side, a strategy to avoid tipping […]

Read More

Japan Achieves a Soft Lunar Landing, but Its Life on the Moon May Be Short

A Japanese robotic spacecraft successfully set down on the moon on Friday — but its solar panels were not generating power, which will cut the length of time it will be able to operate to a few hours. With this achievement, Japan is now the fifth country to send a spacecraft that made a soft […]

Read More

Astrobotic’s Peregrine Moon Lander Burns Up in Earth’s Atmosphere

A spacecraft that was headed to the surface of the moon has ended up back at Earth instead, burning up in the planet’s atmosphere on Thursday afternoon. Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh announced in a post on the social network X that it lost communication with its Peregrine moon lander at 3:50 p.m. Eastern time, which […]

Read More

Moon Lander Malfunctions After Launch, Raising Questions for NASA

The first NASA-financed commercial mission to send a robotic spacecraft to the surface of the moon will most likely not be able to make it there. The lunar lander, named Peregrine and built by Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, encountered problems shortly after it lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch of […]

Read More

First Flight of the Vulcan Rocket Sends an American Lander Toward the Moon

A brand-new rocket lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla., sending a robotic spacecraft toward the surface of the moon. No American spacecraft has made a soft landing on the moon since 1972. For United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the successful launch of the Vulcan Centaur rocket […]

Read More

Vulcan Rocket Prepares for First Launch With Moon Lander Mission

A brand-new American rocket is on a launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and for the first time in more than 50 years, an American spacecraft will be headed toward the surface of the moon. The rocket is called Vulcan, and it was built by the company United Launch Alliance. Here’s what you need to know […]

Read More

A Stunning Eclipse, a Moon Race and Other Space Events in 2024

Crucial Events on the Path Back to the Moon NASA wants to put American astronauts on the moon’s surface in the years ahead with the Artemis III mission. Before that can happen, though, many things have to go right, and two of the most important are scheduled for 2024. The first is the Artemis II […]

Read More

Japan targeting Jan. 19 for nation’s 1st-ever moon landing

Japan will make moon-exploration history in the middle of next month, if all goes to plan. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced today (Dec. 5) that it’s targeting Jan. 19 for the lunar landing of its robotic SLIM (“Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”) spacecraft. The newly revealed plan calls for SLIM to begin its […]

Read More

China’s Chang’e 5 moon samples, beyond NASA’s reach for years, are finally available to US scientists

NASA has greenlit space agency-funded researchers to apply for access to China’s lunar samples returned to Earth via that country’s Chang’e-5 moon mission. In December 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission rocketed back to Earth 3.8 pounds (1,731 grams) of lunar rocks and soil from its Oceanus Procellarum exploration site on the near side of the […]

Read More

Canada soars into space with new moon and ISS astronaut missions

MONTREAL, CANADA — Freezing rain and foggy air couldn’t dampen the Canadian space spirit. “Whoops” and cheers filled the glass-ringed Canadian Space Agency (CSA) lobby in Longueuil on Nov. 22 as an excited audience glimpsed astronauts Jenni Gibbons and Josh Kurtryk, clad in classic blue flight suits, emerging from a hallway. Already, it was worth […]

Read More