China Lands Chang’e 6 on the Far Side of the Moon

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Image (Credit): The Chang’e 6 stacked in the clean room here on Earth before its successful launch to the Moon. (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)

Yesterday, China successfully landed on the Moon again, this time on the far side with its Chang’e 6 mission. The probe is now in the unexplored South Pole region where it can study the lunar surface.

If all goes well, collected samples from this area will be returned to Earth for additional study. The Chang’e-6 mission includes an orbiter, a returner, a lander and an ascender.

China already returned a lunar sample successfully back in 2020 as part of its Chang’e 5 mission.

You can watch a video of the lunar landing here.

You can also read more about the mission at this China National Space Administration (CNSA) site.

Boeing Starliner Stalled Again

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Image (Credit): The Starliner awaiting launch, should it ever happen. (NASA)

Nothing to report about the Boeing Starliner, again. This time it was a computer glitch that stopped the countdown earlier today only a few minutes before the planned launch.

While a launch tomorrow was initially proposed, Boeing stating:

NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are forgoing a Starliner Crew Flight Test launch attempt Sunday, June 2, to give the team additional time to assess a ground support equipment issue at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida.

The launch of the crewed capsule towards the International Space Station will be delayed until at least the middle of next week.

After years of waiting, I guess we should not be surprised. However, we can be disappointed. Boeing has a long list of accomplishments in the space industry. We are at the edge of the next great space race. This is no time to stumble.

Progress 88 Resupply Mission Approaches ISS

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Image (Credit): The Progress 85 cargo craft after undocking from International Space Station on Feb. 12. (NASA)

Yesterday saw another successful resupply launch towards the International Space Station (ISS). The Russian Progress 88 uncrewed spacecraft attached to a Soyuz rocket left Kazakhstan early Thursday morning. It will dock with the ISS Saturday morning (which you can watch on NASA TV).

These missions have become so routine that you generally see few if any stories about such missions. That is a sign of an efficient system. The residents on the ISS like boring efficiency as long as it gets them the supplies they need.

Stay tuned for a little more drama when the Boeing Starliner heads to the ISS tomorrow.

Pic of the Week: The Dorado Group

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Image (Credit): The Dorado group in the southern hemisphere. (ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA)

This week’s image was captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope. Launched last summer to create a 3D map of the universe, it has been pretty busy sending back some impressive images. This particular image shows the Dorado group of galaxies, one of the richest group of galaxies in the southern hemisphere. The grouping of approximately 70 galaxies is about 62 million light-years away.

Space Stories: OSIRIS-APEX Survives Sun Flyby, Nearby Exoplanet May Be Habitable, and More Rogue Planets Rolling About

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Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NASA: “NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Unscathed After Searing Pass of Sun“

Mission engineers were confident NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft could weather its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024. Their models had predicted that, despite traveling 25 million miles closer to the heat of the Sun than it was originally designed to, OSIRIS-APEX and its components would remain safe. The mission team confirmed that the spacecraft indeed had come out of the experience unscathed after downloading stored telemetry data in mid-March. The team also tested OSIRIS-APEX’s instruments in early April, once the spacecraft was far enough from the Sun to return to normal operations. 

—USA Today: “NASA Discovers Potentially Habitable Exoplanet 40 Light Years from Earth“

NASA announced the discovery of a planet 40 light years from Earth that orbits every 12.8 days and is possibly even habitable. Gliese 12 b is a “super Earth exoplanet” that is nearly the same size as Earth or slightly smaller, according to a NASA news release. Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system, NASA’s website says. “We’ve found the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world located to date,” Masayuki Kuzuhara, a project assistant professor at the Astrobiology Center in Tokyo, said in a statement. “Although we don’t yet know whether it possesses an atmosphere, we’ve been thinking of it as an exo-Venus, with similar size and energy received from its star as our planetary neighbor in the solar system.”

—Phys.org: “Starless and Forever Alone: More ‘Rogue’ Planets Discovered“

The Euclid space telescope has discovered seven more rogue planets, shining a light on the dark and lonely worlds floating freely through the universe untethered to any star. Without being bound to a star, as the Earth is to the sun, there are no days or years on these planets, which languish in perpetual night. Yet scientists believe there is a chance they could be able to host life—and estimate there may be trillions dotted throughout the Milky Way.