NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, set to return humans to the Moon in 2025, might not involve a crewed landing after all, an official said Tuesday. Jim Free, the space agency’s associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, told reporters in a briefing that certain key elements would have to be in place — notably the landing system that is being developed by SpaceX. Should that not be ready on time, “We may end […]
Tag: NASA
NASA back in touch with Voyager 2 after ‘interstellar shout’
WASHINGTON, Aug 4, 2023 (AFP) – NASA has succeeded in re-establishing full contact with Voyager 2 by using its highest-power transmitter to send an “interstellar shout” that righted the distant probe’s antenna orientation, the space agency said Friday. Launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets and serve as a beacon of humanity to the wider universe, it is currently more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) from our planet — well beyond the […]
What will the Artemis Moon base look like?
Colorado Springs, United States By Lucie AUBOURG The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis program, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth. But building a lunar base is no small feat. It will need power generators, vehicles and habitats, and the space industry is racing to meet the technological challenges. “It’s the […]
NASA unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth
Four small rooms, a gym and a lot of red sand — NASA unveils a new Mars-simulation habitat, in which volunteers will live for a year at a time to test what life will be like for future missions to Earth’s neighbor. The facility, created for three planned Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) experiments, is located at the US space agency’s massive research center in Houston, Texas.
Runaway black hole creating trail of new stars: scientists
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | A huge black hole is tearing through space, leaving behind a 200,000-light-year-long trail of newborn stars, space scientists say. The supermassive monster — likely born of a bizarre game of intergalactic billiards — is rampaging through the blackness and plowing into gas clouds in its path. The incredible forces at play mean this gas is being forged into a contrail of new stars, which have been captured on […]
First woman, Black astronaut to make 2024 flight around Moon
by Moisés ÁVILA Agence France-Presse Houston, United States (AFP) NASA unveiled the crew on Monday for its first human mission to the Moon in more than 50 years –- including the first woman and Black man to voyage into deep space. Christina Koch, a NASA astronaut who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, will be a mission specialist on next year’s Artemis II flight around the Moon. NASA’s Victor Glover, […]
NASA to reveal crew for 2024 flight around the Moon
Houston, United States (AFP) NASA is to reveal the names on Monday of the astronauts — three Americans and a Canadian — who will fly around the Moon next year, a prelude to returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time in a half century. The mission, Artemis II, is scheduled to take place in November 2024 with the four-person crew circling the Moon but not landing on it. As part of the […]
Prototype spacesuit for future NASA mission to Moon unveiled
by Mark Felix with Chris Lefkow in Washington Agence France Presse Houston, United States (AFP) — NASA and the private aerospace company Axiom Space unveiled a prototype on Wednesday of the next-generation spacesuit that astronauts will wear on the next walk on the Moon. The suit revealed at an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston features greater flexibility and thermal protection than those worn by the Apollo astronauts who first stepped foot on […]
‘No need to worry’: Odds drop newly-found asteroid will hit Earth
Paris, France | AFP | by Daniel Lawler The chances have plummeted that a newly-discovered asteroid with the potential to wipe out a city will hit Earth on Feb. 14, 2046, the European Space Agency said on Tuesday. The asteroid, which is named 2023 DW and is estimated to be around the size of a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool, was first spotted by a small Chilean observatory on February 26. It swiftly shot to the […]
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission around Moon set for November 2024
Washington, United States (AFP) — NASA is on track to launch a crewed mission around the Moon in November of next year after a successful unmanned test flight, the US space agency said Tuesday. NASA officials provided an update on the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the historic Apollo missions ended in 1972. The first Artemis mission wrapped up in December with an uncrewed Orion […]
NASA capsule Orion splashes down after record-setting lunar voyage
by Lucie AUBOURG Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA’s Orion space capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific on Sunday, completing the Artemis 1 mission — a more than 25-day journey around the Moon with an eye to returning humans there in just a few years. After racing through the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) per hour, the uncrewed capsule floated down to the sea with the […]
NASA’s Orion spaceship slingshots around Moon, heads for home
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA’s Orion spaceship made a close pass of the Moon and used a gravity assist to whip itself back towards Earth on Monday, marking the start of the return journey for the Artemis-1 mission. At its nearest point, the uncrewed capsule flew less than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the surface, testing maneuvers that will be used during later Artemis missions that return humans to the rocky celestial body. Communication […]





