Human Spaceflight
How high could I jump on the Moon?
How high could I jump on the Moon? – Miles, age 5, London, United Kingdom If you were lucky enough to go to the Moon, you’d be able to jump six times as high there as you can here on Earth. Try it: jump up and imagine you’re on the Moon. Six times further up …
Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission to ISS scrubs due to LOX leak
Everything had been looking good for a liftoff of the Axiom Mission 4 carrying a quartet of astronauts to the International Space Station last Wednesday, June 11, until SpaceX engineers discovered a liquid oxygen (LOX) fuel leak in the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket upon further review of data from a static fire …
Tiangong station gives China continuous presence in orbit
The International Space Station is not the only place where humans can live in orbit. On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission launched from China’s Gobi Desert carrying three taikonauts – the Chinese word for astronauts. Six hours later, they reached their destination, China’s recently completed space station, called Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace” …
NASA announces Artemis II crew as rocket’s core stage completes assembly
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the crew of four astronauts who will blast off on the historic Artemis II mission – as ‘humanity’s crew’ on humanity’s next epic journey beyond Earth orbit and around the Moon and back for the first time in more than 50 years. The history-making international flight will …
Orion takes a selfie on way to Sunday splashdown
Simultaneously, it whets our appetites with a spectacular astronaut’s eye view of what’s in store the next time Orion flies with a crew of four on the Artemis 2 mission slated for liftoff by late 2024. Orion harnessed the Moon’s gravity, significantly bending its trajectory for a slingshot maneuver back to Earth at a distance …
Orion conducts lunar flyby; captures Earth and Moon in photos
NASA’s new era of Artemis exploration continues gathering momentum as the unpiloted Orion crew capsule successfully completed its outbound powered flyby (OPF) engine burn Monday morning, Nov. 21, and made its closest flyby of the Moon – keeping the human space vehicle and Artemis 1 mission precisely on track for targeting its distant retrograde orbit …
Artemis era is underway as test flight launches to the Moon
The Artemis era of exploration officially opened with the spectacular nighttime blastoff of NASA’s mammoth SLS rocket for the first time on the Artemis 1 mission on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from the Kennedy Space Center on its maiden lunar test flight with the Orion crew capsule. The mission places America back on the path of …
Artemis 1: Here’s what to expect and why it’s important
NASA’s Artemis 1 mission is poised to take a key step toward returning humans to the Moon after a half-century hiatus. The launch was initially scheduled for the morning of Aug. 29, 2022 but was postponed due to an issue with one of the rocket’s engines. NASA rescheduled the launch to Sept. 3, 2022, but …
Hurricane delays launch of Artemis to Nov. 16
While Hurricane Nicole did not cause any significant damage to NASA’s Artemis 1 rocket stack on Thursday, Nov. 10, the program managers have delayed the next launch to no earlier than Wednesday, Nov. 16. That amounts to a two-day delay from the prior target of just past midnight on Nov. 14. NASA decided to leave the …
Who is Artemis? Ancient lunar goddess turned feminist icon
Artemis I will send a rocket without a crew on a monthlong journey around the Moon. The program aims to increase women’s participation in space exploration – 30% of its engineers are women. In addition, the Artemis I mission will carry two mannequins designed to study the effects of radiation on women’s bodies so that …