Last Friday evening, NASA's Artemis II mission came to an exciting end as the Orion spacecraft splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. The mission marked the first time in 53 years that astronauts have traveled around the moon. Its success brings NASA one step closer to its goal of sending humans to the moon again.
Posts tagged as “space”
On Monday, the crew of NASA's Artemis II mission became the first humans to go behind the moon in over 50 years. The four astronauts on the mission are now on their way home, after traveling farther away from Earth than anyone ever has before. The spaceship is expected to splash down on Friday.
NASA is preparing for a historic space launch that could take astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972. The flight, called Artemis II, is a key step in NASA's plan to return to the moon. The launch is scheduled for 6:24 p.m. tonight, New York time.
This week marks 25 years of humans living in space. On November 2, 2000, three astronauts became the first full-time workers at the International Space Station. Since then, the ISS has never been empty.
When a fireball fell through the sky in the southeastern United States on June 26, it caught the attention of people across seven states. It was a meteor breaking up as it fell through the Earth's atmosphere. A small part of the space rock tore through a house in Georgia. Scientists now say the meteorite is older than the Earth.
On Monday, the aerospace company Blue Origin launched its spacecraft RSS Kármán Line on a ten minute trip into space. The spaceship carried the first all-female crew to go into space since Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo mission in 1963.
On Sunday, a company called Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to make a perfect landing on the moon. Firefly is working with NASA, and its spacecraft, Blue Ghost, is carrying out several experiments for the space agency.
This week, people all over the world will have a chance to see an unusual sight in the evening sky – a "planetary parade" of the seven other planets in our Solar System. The next time seven planets will appear at one time like this won't be until 2040.
For the first time ever, a satellite made partly out of wood has been launched into space. The project is a test to see if wood could be a good building material for space. If the experiment works out, wooden satellites could someday help lower pollution in space.
On Sunday, SpaceX launched its Starship rocket for the fifth time. The real excitement came when the 20-story-tall booster rocket returned to the launch site and was caught in mid-air by two giant metal arms.
Last Thursday, astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission completed a record-setting spacewalk. It was the first spacewalk ever managed by private companies instead of a government. The mission could mark an important shift in the way humans explore space.