Where are the Chinese in this Moon Race?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): China’s Long March 10 rocket. (South China Morning Post)

Now that Artemis II is well underway as NASA prepares for an eventual crewed landing on the Moon, one might ask where the Chinese are in their own race for the Moon.

The answer is that the Chinese are moving along with their program as well, as noted in a recent Ars Technica article that highlighted China’s test in February of its new reusable booster and crew capsule. The test of the Long March 10 rocket and Mengzhou spacecraft (“dream vessel”) was considered a success, moving China closer to its own lunar mission. The next test will be to put the Mengzhou spacecraft into orbit later this year.

At the same time, the Chinese are testing a lunar lander to bring the taikonauts to the lunar surface.The lunar lander is called Lanyue, which means “embrace ​the moon.”

China is still aiming for a crewed landing on the Moon before 2030, followed by an International Lunar Research Station by 2035. The country is also planning to have a station orbiting the Moon by 2045, similar to the Gateway that NASA has decided to drop from its plans for now. The Chinese orbiting station would assist with scientific work on the Moon as well as a future trip to Mars.

Neither NASA nor China have the luxury of any detours over the next few years as each plans to be the first to return to the surface of the Moon. The current Artemis II mission puts the US in a good position to meet its own goal to land on the Moon before China assuming everything goes as planned with the mission and any technical issues can be easily resolved.

Movie: Dune: Part Three Returns in December 2026

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

With all eyes on the Moon mission, it is worth revisiting the musings of Frank Herbert as he provided one possible path for mankind.

While the Dune: Part Three movie is not set to premiere until December, the first trailer is out to prepare us for what is to come, and it is a powerful two-and-a-half minutes. You can see bits of our favorite characters as well as new ones, including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, and Isaach de Bankolé.

This is a mind-bending, beautifully crafted, yet bleak story about the will to power, where one man leads his followers in a war that killed sixty-one billion humans, sterilized ninety planets, and wiped out the followers of forty religions. From this wisp of a teenager in Dune: Part One, we witness him becoming the whirlwind that darkens the galaxy.

Frank Herbert explained his fears in the introduction to his story story collection Eye:

Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader’s name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question. That’s how 900 people wound up in Guyana drinking poison Kool-Aid. That’s how the U.S. said “Yes, sir, Mister Charismatic John Kennedy!” and found itself embroiled in Vietnam. That’s how Germany said “Sieg Heil!” and murdered more than six million of our fellow human beings.

What Mr. Herbert left for us is an amazing story that continues to live on in the careful work of Denis Villeneuve. He has created a piece of art that not only entertains us but also warns us, like all good story-telling.

One of the comments from someone viewing the trailer was:

[M]y grandfather had the original star wars trilogy, my father had lord of the rings, [I] have dune.

Fortunately, all of us now have all three.

Space Quote: OMB is Just in Time to Ruin the Moon Party

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Planetary Society

“The Planetary Society is deeply disappointed by this budget proposal. The White House’s budgeting office has put forward the same budget cuts to NASA and NASA Science that were rejected by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress last year. This proposal needlessly resurrects an existential threat to U.S. leadership in space science and exploration.”

-Statement from a Planetary Society press release after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its proposed NASA budget for Fiscal Year 2027. The proposal would cut the overall agency budget by 23 percent and reduce the Science Mission Directorate by 47 percent. You may remember a similar attempt at cuts that was later reversed by the Congress. It appears everyone will be playing this game again this year.

Note: The budget picture above may look like a lunar landing, but it is a full-scale crash if allowed to stand. We can call the impact site “Trump Crater” filled with the remains of our space program if it cannot be reversed.

Pic of the Week: The Artemis II Crew

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: NASA

This week’s image shows the Artemis II crew – NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Pilot Victor Glover, NASA Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. It looks like a movie poster, which makes sense given that it is one of the better shows this year and lasts for 10 days.

You can find this poster and many others on the NASA images website.

You can follow the status of the mission on the main NASA page for the duration of the mission (shown below).

Credit: NASA

The Artemis II Mission is Underway

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA’s Artemis II mission lifting off from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The second phase of our return to the Moon, Artemis II, is underway after a successful launch from the Kennedy Space Center earlier today. Three American astronauts as well as one Canadian astronaut will circle the Moon in a 10-day mission to iron out any bugs in the Orion spacecraft.

Here is a day-by-day schedule for the 10-day mission, with a graphic version below (provided on the Planetary Society’s website):

  • Day 1: Over 24 hours in Earth orbit, the astronauts perform a proximity operations demo with the ICPS and make sure various spacecraft systems are working (water, toilet, carbon dioxide removal, communications). The crew sleeps in two four-hour periods.
  • Day 2: Orion engines fire for several minutes, accelerating the spacecraft to escape velocity and sending the crew toward the Moon on their free-return trajectory. The crew also works out on a flywheel and do video calls with people on the ground.
  • Days 3-5: Orion performs three trajectory corrections to fine-tune its approach to the Moon. The crew tests the medical kit and performs a CPR demo. On day 5, they test their spacesuits.
  • Day 6: The crew flies by the Moon, coming within 6,400-9,600 kilometers (4,000-6,000 miles) of its far side. Their maximum distance from Earth is between 370,000-450,000 kilometers (230,000-280,000 miles), depending on their launch date. This may exceed the current human record set by Apollo 13. The crew takes photographs and videos of the Moon’s far side.
  • Days 7-9: Orion performs three trajectory corrections to fine-tune its return to Earth. On day 7, the crew rests off-duty, and on day 8, the crew demonstrates the construction of a radiation shelter construction demo and performs manual piloting tests.
  • Day 10: The crew dons spacesuits and compression garments to prepare for reentry. About 122,000 meters (400,000 feet) above Earth, Orion’s service module separates from the crew module, and Orion reenters Earth’s atmosphere at 40,000 kilometers per hour (25,000 miles per hour). Two drogue parachutes slow Orion to roughly 480 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour). Then, three pilot parachutes, followed by three main parachutes, slow the capsule to 27 kilometers per hour (17 miles per hour). Artemis II splashes down off the coast of San Diego, California.

If you want to track the mission in real time, you can visit this NASA site.

Credit: NASA