Firefly Aerospace's robotic Blue Ghost lander is scheduled to land on the moon on Sunday no earlier than 3:34 a.m. EST (0834 GMT) when it touches down on the vast Sea of Crises (or Mare Crisium). Watch it live here: https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/firefly-blue-ghost-mission-1-lunar-landing/ The $93.3 million Blue... Continue Reading →
Does the Moon ever engulf Mars? Yes, but only in the sense that it moves in front, which happens on rare occasions. This happened just yesterday, though, as seen from some locations in North America and western Africa. This occultation was notable not only... Continue Reading →
Eclipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can nearly align. Then the full and new phases of the Moon, separated by just over 14 days, create a... Continue Reading →
Awkward and angular looking, Apollo 17's lunar module Challenger was designed for flight in the near vacuum of space. Digitally enhanced and reprocessed, this picture taken from Apollo 17's command module America shows Challenger's ascent stage in lunar orbit. Small reaction control thrusters are at... Continue Reading →
NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket core stage is vertical in High Bay 2 on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage arrived on July 23 to... Continue Reading →
Carrying NASA scientific instruments as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander launched on United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket at 2:18 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Peregrine has... Continue Reading →
Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, the history of constant micrometeorite bombardment has blasted away at the rocky surface creating a layer of powdery lunar soil... Continue Reading →
On August 25 Sun and Moon could both be seen in planet Earth's daytime skies. And so could the International Space Station. The ISS crossed the disk of the waning crescent Moon as seen from Shunyi district, Beijing, China at about... Continue Reading →
What's that unusual spot on the Moon? It's the International Space Station. Using precise timing, the Earth-orbiting space platform was photographed in front of a partially lit gibbous Moon last month. The featured composite, taken from Payson, Arizona, USA last month, was intricately composed by combining, in part, many... Continue Reading →
Scents of Science 