In the 1960s art world, illusion was a dirty word. The old tradition of a painting as a window onto imaginary realities seemed beyond exhausted — just more proof of painting’s death. Abstract painting was tolerated, especially if big and flatly painted so that it was undeniably an object. Magic and poetry were banished. “What […]
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When my ship pulled into port in Sydney, Australia, on my second deployment, I found a bookstore and bought a star-chart and a guidebook to the Southern Hemisphere. I thought of my high school teacher Mike Pakenham, who told us in an elective astronomy course that we should all witness the beauty of the Southern […]
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India’s first moon lander, which fell silent as it headed toward the lunar surface on Friday, has been located from orbit, the country’s space agency says. That has created hope that it might be revived. If it did indeed land in working condition, that would be an impressive feat. In the history of spaceflight, robotic […]
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NEW DELHI — A day after India lost contact with a robotic spacecraft that was launched toward the moon’s South Pole, the chairman of the country’s space agency said on Sunday that the lander had been detected on the moon’s surface. K. Sivan, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, told national news outlets […]
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After a journey from Earth to lunar orbit that took nearly six weeks, India will try to land on the moon’s surface. With Chandrayaan-2, the country hopes to become the fourth in the world to complete a lunar landing, after the Soviet, American and Chinese space programs. Here’s what you need to know about the […]
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BANGALORE, India — India is within reach of the moon. Weeks after the Chandrayaan-2 mission blasted off, its robotic Vikram lander will attempt a touchdown early on Saturday. If the mission is successful, India will become only the fourth nation to land on the moon, after the United States, Russia and China. Around the world, […]
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When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it may not be amore at all, but a ghostly white barn owl about to kill and eat you. If you’re a vole, that is. Voles are a favorite meal for barn owls, which come in two shades, reddish brown and white. When the […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday authorized the creation of the United States Space Command, citing the need for a centralized unit to protect American interests in what he called “the next war-fighting domain.” He described the command as a precursor to the Space Force, a sixth branch of the military that he has promised […]
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A highly engaged group of conspiracy theorists can override a fact-based endeavor’s internet ads. This was a lesson that Benedict Redgrove, a photographer, said he took away from his recent attempt to advertise his space photo project on Facebook and Instagram. Another lesson was that flat earthers and lunar landing deniers can be difficult to […]
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By any measure, the summer of ’69 was, as the kids say today, “a lot.” June had the Stonewall riots, a landmark moment in the modern gay rights movement. July, the moon landing. August, the grisly Manson murders, followed by the endless mud of Woodstock. These events have been fodder for countless songs, movies, university […]
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Last fall, Neil Armstrong’s two sons began a round of media appearances to promote a venture that would make them millions of dollars: a series of auctions of about 3,000 mementos from their father’s moon mission and NASA career. “One Giant Sale” was CNBC’s headline, playing on the astronaut’s famous line, as Mark and Rick […]
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You’re reading In Her Words, where women rule the headlines. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Let me know what you think at dearmaya@nytimes.com. “My wish would be, all the photos in the future, there will always be women.” — JoAnn Morgan, the only woman in NASA’s firing room for the […]
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The chutes popped open and they splashed down in the Pacific. They’d been to the moon. Now — 50 years ago Wednesday — they’d returned to Earth. Floating upside down in the command module, its exterior blackened from the flames of re-entry, they waited for the capsule to right itself. “It was over,” Buzz Aldrin […]
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Christopher C. Kraft Jr., the legendary founder of NASA’s mission control, who directed America’s first piloted orbital flights, oversaw the Apollo 11 lunar landing and was director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, died on Monday in Houston, two days after the 50th anniversary of that historic moment on the moon. He was 95. […]
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CHENNAI, India — The rocket is on the launchpad. The countdown has begun — again. India was all set on Monday for Take 2 of its historic moon launch, Chandrayaan-2, scheduled for 2:43 p.m. India time. Last week, Indian rocket scientists abruptly called off the uncrewed moon mission less than an hour before liftoff. They […]
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[Read all Times reporting on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. | Sign up for the weekly Science Times email.] A Chinese philosopher once said that exploration was a form of play. So it is fitting that the early artifacts of the Apollo moon landings, the grandest feat of exploration ever attempted, […]
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Expectations of Growth Despite No Visibility Rating: Dark We’re initiating coverage of the Moon with a cautiously optimistic view. Many investors are skeptical that we’ll see any sign of the Moon at all. Though past performance is never a guarantee of future results, historical indicators suggest that it is likely not only to appear, but […]
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Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device: Via Apple Podcasts | Via RadioPublic | Via Stitcher There are two stories from the 1960s that America likes to tell about itself — the civil rights movement and the space race. We look at the brief moment when the two collided. [For an exclusive […]
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ImageBuzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon after he stepped off this ladder on July 20, 1969. CreditNeil Armstrong/SSPL, via Getty Images The most famous shoe print in the world is not on this world at all. It’s on the moon, probably still there in the gray dust. On July 20, 1969, […]
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No one who was alive then can forget the sights and sounds of that weekend in 1969. The drawling voices of “Houston” guiding the lunar module gingerly into its assigned parking place on the face of the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin floating with each step, like kids in one of those aptly named […]
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