• The Artemis II Mission is Underway

    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…

  • Space Stories: Stories from Apollo 8, Dealing with Space Weather, and a Militarized Moon

    Here are some recent stories related to the upcoming Artemis II launch. —Associated Press: “Apollo vs. Artemis: What to Know about NASA’s Return to the Moon“ NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time. As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanity’s first trip to the moon in…

  • Astronomy Question: Do You Know Your Moon?

    Multiple Choice: Which statement below is NOT TRUE about the Moon? A. Lunar dust smells like a chemical solvent.B. Some craters on the Moon are colder than the surface of Pluto.C. The Moon has an atmosphere.D. The Moon orbits the Sun rather than the Earth. Take a guess and then check your answer by going to…

  • Sci-Fi Quote: William Shatner Defends Starfleet Academy

    “Star Trek exists in more than one world. It exists in the fantasy of science fiction – weird and wonderful things that play unimaginable possibilities of exploration and human endeavor. But it also exists in the fantasy of human beings, the perfection of human beings, the exploration that human beings have made since the dawn…

  • Television: Starfleet Academy to End After Two Seasons

    Nothing gold can stay, Robert Frost once wrote. Just enjoy it while it is here. And so it goes with Star Trek as well. The new television series Starfleet Academy will last for only two seasons and then disappear. While I had originally thought that promising a second season before the first one aired was…

  • Space Quote: Is the Commercial Sector Ready for its Own Space Station?

    “We expected a launch market that was going to take off. We expected tourism to take off. We expected the ability to do research and technology development on the International Space Station, bring it back to Earth and mass produce it…We’re not seeing any of those three things.” –Statement by Joel Montalbano, NASA’s acting associate…

  • Pic of the Week: Multiple Views of Saturn

    This week’s images of Saturn from 2024 were just released by NASA. They show the planet in a variety of ways, depending on the telescope and instruments being used. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) and Hubble Space Telescope each have their own unique abilities that can bring the distant gas giant to…

  • NASA Changes the Mileposts, Again

    It is hard to keep up with the space program these days, between potential budget cuts last year, the recent changes to the Artemis III mission, and now the changes this week by the new NASA administrator. So what is the latest? Let’s start with the Moon mission in today’s post. According to a new…

  • Television: Season Five of For All Mankind

    If you thought last season of For All Mankind was hair-raising with the disasters and battles on Mars, wait until you see what happens this season. This trailer from Apple TV gives you a taste of the drama coming to your television on March 27th. We see the return of many of our favorite characters…

  • Space Stories: The Fate of Juno, the End of a NASA Probe, and “Extragalactic Archeology”

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —Ars Technica: “A Mission NASA Might Kill is Still Returning Fascinating Science from Jupiter“ Jupiter’s colossal storms generate lightning flashes at least 100 times more powerful than those on Earth, according to scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The findings were published March 20 in the journal AGU…