Two weeks after a total solar eclipse wowed skywatchers in southern Europe, a near-total lunar eclipse is set to put on a show Thursday night for people across North and South America. Lunar eclipses occur when Earth slips between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow on the lunar surface. During this week’s…
Image: Nasa The design for Africa2Moon, the African radio telescope selected to fly to the lunar south pole aboard China’s Chang’e-8 mission in 2029, has been published in Nature Astronomy. The paper sets out how the instrument is meant to work – and the mechanism is stranger than the mission summary suggested. The three Bounced…
AI-generated image/Africa2Moon A set of South African-designed spheres is headed for the moon, where they will form what their creators say will be the world’s first radio telescope array on the lunar surface – with Stellenbosch University engineers and students building the electronics that make them work. The Africa2Moon mission, the first all-African space exploration…
SpaceX’s blockbuster listing will be the biggest the world has ever seen. (Graphic by Nicola Mawson with official images) Set to be the biggest listing in the US – and the world – when it makes its debut on the Nasdaq on 12 June, SpaceX is targeting a valuation of close on $2 trillion, in…
NASA has shared an ambitious, preliminary framework for its first three “Moon Base” test flights. Having successfully concluded its crewed Artemis II lunar flyby mission in April, the agency is shifting focus toward establishing a permanent infrastructure on the lunar surface. These upcoming unmanned deployments are designed to evaluate newly contracted lunar landers and rovers…
The voyage of four astronauts to the far side of the moon has given the world a glimpse of America at its best, offering a respite from global despair and displeasure over US-led conflict, tariffs and crumbling global institutions. Through a carefully curated flow of high-quality photos, GoPro videos and other footage from Nasa, the…
The Supreme Court has a lone dissenter, gas prices spike, and the World Cup is missing an icon. Test your knowledge of the week in news, and take last week’s quiz here. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The snap was taken aboard the Orion capsule by its commander, Reid Wiseman, as the crew head towards the Moon.
In the event of an emergency, the U-turn is the fastest way home in the first 36 hours after the TLI. After that it can be just as quick, and often simpler, to stay on course around the Moon and fall back to Earth, Orion programme manager Howard Hu said before the launch.
Nasa’s Artemis II lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Steve Nesius/Reuters Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on Nasa’s Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the US’s boldest step yet towards returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race…
