Space, NASA and Science News

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• 🚀 NASA abruptly rejiggered its Artemis program, adding a lunar lander test flight in Earth orbit for 2027 before a Moon landing in 2028. Go deeper.

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A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red on Tuesday across several continents

NEW YORK (AP) — A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse — and there won’t be another until late 2028.

https://apnews.com/article/total-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon-2dd5f67f5f7a6fa0f9b248ad6cade9cf?

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🌒 1 for the road: Eclipse alert

Graphic: NASA A total lunar eclipse will turn the Moon blood red early tomorrow, Axios Seattle's Christine Clarridge reports. The partial eclipse phase begins at 4:50 a.m. ET, with the Earth's shadow appearing to take a "bite" out of the Moon. Totality follows starting at 6:04 a.m. ET. The eclipse will be viewable nationwide. But West Coasters will see more of the show, weather permitting. ☀️🌎🌖 In a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun, casting a shadow on the Moon. How to watch ...

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Photos of a blood-red moon and total lunar eclipse

The full moon in March, sometimes called the worm moon, coincides with a lunar eclipse that brings a blood-red color in many parts of the world.

https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/total-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon-b20ee3da55e4f7544e2488dd19f91527?

• 🌒 Early risers across America were treated to a total lunar eclipse in the hours today, clouds permitting. Aug. 12 brings the next big Moon event: a solar eclipse, with totality visible from Greenland, Spain and more. More photos.

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Practicing Planetary Defense

NASA reported yesterday that it deliberately changed an asteroid’s orbit around the sun for the first time—a feat that could one day divert a space rock from slamming into Earth. Scientists launched a spacecraft in 2021 toward two asteroids that orbit the sun together: Didymos and its smaller counterpart, Dimorphos (see spacecraft footage). Observations from around the world now confirm that the spacecraft's impact—combined with aftershocks from roughly 35 million pounds of ejected rock and dust—cut the duo's time travel around the sun by 0.15 seconds. While the change seems small, experts say a tiny defection adds up over decades, potentially making the difference between an interplanetary object hitting or missing Earth. (Neither Didymos nor Dimorphos has ever posed a risk to Earth.) The largest asteroid impact recorded in modern history exploded over Siberia in 1908 with the power of roughly 185 Hiroshima bombs. Learn more about what's known as the Tunguska event here.   ps:I guess they don't believe in a God that watches over this world!! And he will destroy it when he's ready!!

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Moon mission

Crews at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are rolling out the Artemis II rocket to the launch pad as they prepare it for liftoff as early as April 1. The high-stakes mission will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon — without landing — marking NASA's first crewed trip beyond low-Earth orbit in decades. But the push comes amid mounting urgency: China's state-run space program is rapidly advancing toward a crewed lunar landing by 2030, intensifying a new space race and increasing the pressure on the US to keep pace.

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Newly discovered photos show astronaut Neil Armstrong after the Gemini 8 emergency

NEW YORK (AP) — Sixty years after Neil Armstrong barely survived an emergency in orbit around Earth on Gemini 8, never-before-seen photos of his heroic return have been donated to the Ohio museum that bears his name.

https://apnews.com/article/neil-armstrong-museum-gemini-8-4fb53a2c8b4735c6262313edd7a63348?

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🚀 NASA plans to commit $20 billion over the next seven years to develop a lunar base with the goal of achieving an "enduring human presence on the Moon." Check out the plans.

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NASA Webb, Hubble Share Most Comprehensive View of Saturn to Date

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to capture new views of Saturn, revealing the planet in strikingly different ways. Observing in complementary wavelengths of light, the two space observatories provide scientists with a richer, more layered understanding of the gas giant’s atmosphere.

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-hubble-share-most-comprehensive-view-of-saturn-to-date/?

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🚀 Historic week: Artemis window opens

NASA is going back to the moon for the first time in 53 years. The Artemis II mission, with four astronauts aboard, won't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it's the first step toward future landings, AP reports.

• The launch window from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., opens Wednesday. There are also chances to launch over the following five days.

🧑‍🚀 Meet the astronauts — none of whom was alive for the Apollo era (left to right in photo above):

• Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian to fly around the moon.
• Christina Koch, the mission specialist, holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, at 328 days.
• Victor Glover, the pilot, already spent six months on the International Space Station and will be the first person of color to leave low-Earth orbit.
• Commander Reid Wiseman is a widower and solo parent with two teenage daughters at home.

Take flight: Official site.

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Apollo vs. Artemis: What to know about NASA’s return to the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time.

https://apnews.com/article/nasa-moon-apollo-artemis-astronauts-c3bb9888b75e67574a1b66e643b87621?

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Artemis II mission

NASA appears to be on the cusp of sending a crew to the moon for the first time since the 1970s. The current target for Artemis II's liftoff is a two-hour launch window that opens at 6:24 p.m. ET today. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will board the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System rocket and accelerate to space from zero to 500 miles per hour in just two seconds. A few hours later, Orion will separate from the rocket, giving the crew a chance to pilot the spacecraft manually. During the 10-day mission, the astronauts will loop around the moon — but they won't touch down on the lunar surface. Here's why the landing will have to wait.

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Live updates: Artemis II fuels up for NASA’s historic return to the moon

Launch preparations have begun for the Artemis II mission. NASA’s planned lunar fly-around by four astronauts would be the first moon trip in 53 years. The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with a two-hour launch window beginning at 6:24 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be on board. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

WATCH: Meet the crew behind NASA's latest mission to the moon NASA is shooting for the moon. A guide to the Artemis II mission Apollo’s impatient old-timers are rooting for NASA’s return to the moon with Artemis II launch

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Back to the Moon

Artemis II sits on pad 39B at Florida's Kennedy Space Center yesterday. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Just a few hours remain in the countdown for Artemis II, NASA's mission to return astronauts to lunar orbit for the first time since the Apollo era, Alex Fitzpatrick writes. The agency's new Moon hopes and dreams are sitting on pad 39B at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, in the form of a 322-foot-tall rocket set to launch four astronauts on a 10-day flyby of Earth's nearest celestial companion. 👨🏿‍🚀 The mission — a "dress rehearsal" for a lunar landing, like Apollo 8 and 10, decades ago — will set several space milestones. NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch will become the first person of color and woman, respectively, to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Canada's Jeremy Hansen will become the first non-American to voyage beyond that mark. Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images ⏱️ The two-hour launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET. If needed, the next window opens tomorrow at 7:22 p.m. ET. 🔧 The Artemis II "stack" — that's the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket plus the Orion spacecraft — had to be rolled back into its hangar in late February to fix technical issues. The SLS is a NASA-led Boeing/Northrop Grumman/United Launch Alliance/Aerojet Rocketdyne endeavor. Orion is a Lockheed Martin/Airbus Defense and Space effort. Graphic: NASA 🌖 NASA once planned a Moon landing with Artemis III, but recently rejiggered its schedule. Artemis III will now involve testing one or both of SpaceX and Blue Origin's lunar lander vehicles in low Earth orbit. A Moon landing is targeted for Artemis IV in 2028. 🏗️ NASA eventually hopes to return to the Moon annually, if not more often, with the ambitious goal of building a lunar base. But first: A quick visit to check out the cosmic neighborhood before getting into the real estate market. Go deeper ... Watch live.

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Artemis launch

NASA’s Artemis II mission is expected to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida this evening, carrying four astronauts on a historic and risky journey around the moon. The launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET. Follow live updates. ▶️ Crew plays cards before heading to launch pad 👀 Watch the historic launch on CNN All Access 📧 Sign up for the Countdown newsletter and get updates in your inbox Highlights: Artemis II astronauts reach orbit on historic mission to the moon https://apnews.com/live/artemis-ii-launch-nasa-moon-rocket?

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🚀 Humanity heads back to Moon

People watch yesterday's NASA Artemis II rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville, Fla. Photo: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images NASA's Artemis II Moon mission successfully launched from Florida's John F. Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. ET, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports. Why it matters: Artemis II's planned crewed lunar flyby is set to mark the closest humanity has come to the Moon since the Apollo days. It's also a key step toward NASA's grand ambition to return human boots to lunar soil and the Trump administration's dreams of a permanent Moon base. 📸 Keep an eye on astronaut Christina Koch's Instagram during the 10-day mission around the Moon and back. Check out the flight plan. Photo: Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images Above: Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch head to the launchpad. Quick bios. Five minutes into the flight, Commander Reid Wiseman said from the capsule: "We have a beautiful moonrise. We're headed right at it." More photos.

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Astronauts blast off on NASA’s first moon voyage in decades Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years. Read more.

Why this matters: All of NASA’s moon plans — a surge in launches over the next several years leading to a sustainable moon base for astronauts assisted by robotic rovers and drones — hinge on Artemis II going well. It’s been more than three years since Artemis I, the only other time NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion capsule have soared. With no one aboard, the Artemis I capsule lacked life-support equipment and other crew essentials like a water dispenser and toilet. These systems are now making their space debut on Artemis II, ratcheting up the risk.     “On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told the crew right before liftoff. “Good luck, Godspeed Artemis II. Let’s go.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Photos of the mission   WATCH: The rocket lifts off   🚀 Artemis II underwent a "perigee raise burn" today, NASA says — a maneuver that places the spacecraft "into a stable high Earth orbit that aligns with its path to the Moon." Next up: Tonight's "translunar injection burn," sending it out of Earth orbit and headed Moonward. Get the latest.   Artemis II astronauts rocket toward the moon after spending a day around Earth CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo. https://apnews.com/article/nasa-artemis-astronauts-moon-6ef3f195b4d4f8abcbfa908cacea6da6?

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🚀 Artemis astronauts fire engines for Moon

The Artemis crew — from left, Canadian Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover — joined a video conference from the Moon's orbit yesterday. Image: NASA via AP NASA's Artemis II astronauts are hurtling toward the Moon — and next week's lunar flyby will be the first in generations. Why it matters: The space agency says the mission could lay the groundwork for a Moon base and sustained lunar living. 🌕 The spacecraft fired its engines last night for a course that'll put it into lunar orbit sometime Monday. It's the first time humans have been Moon-bound since the Apollo program half a century ago. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said: "Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of." Get the latest.

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📸 "Spaceship Earth"

Photo: Reid Wiseman/NASA NASA posted one of the first photos taken by Artemis II's crew, capturing "Spaceship Earth" in all its blue-and-white marble glory. In the photo: Two auroras (top right and bottom left), plus "zodiacal light" in the bottom right. (That's sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust.) Venus also makes an appearance, as the bright dot to the lower-right of Earth. 🧑‍🚀 Artemis II is now Moon-bound. A six-hour lunar orbit is set for Monday. ☀️ 🌖 🚀 Newly added to the plan: A solar eclipse, with the Sun hidden behind the Moon from the crew's perspective. NASA calls it an "opportunity for them to look for flashes of light from meteoroids striking the Moon's surface, dust lofting above the edge of the Moon, and deep space targets, including planets." Mission updates ... Live tracker. Artemis II astronauts closer to moon than Earth amid toilet malfunction The Artemis II crew are now closer to the moon than the Earth, Nasa has said, as the four astronauts completed the third day of their flight to the moon. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/03/artemis-ii-astronauts-rocket-towards-the-moon-after-breaking-free-of-earths-orbit?

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🚀 Artemis II behind the scenes

Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images Artemis II controllers yesterday in the White Flight Control Room at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images The dream workstation of Axios publisher Nicholas Johnston. The latest on Artemis II.

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Walking on the Moon

The Apollo program, 101 The Apollo program was an American space initiative in the 1960s and early 1970s to land humans on the moon, the first successful attempt in history. Named after the Greek god associated with the sun, the program cost over $200B in today’s dollars, launched 11 crewed missions, and saw 12 American astronauts walk on the moon (see numbers).   Launched July 16, 1969, the crew of Apollo 11—Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins—landed on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility July 20 (using a guidance system with less computing power than a modern smartphone). Roughly 650 million people watched as the pair stepped out on the moon as Armstrong famously declared: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Watch it here. Numerous everyday technologies originated or advanced in the program, including cordless tools, scratch-resistant lenses, freeze-dried foods, and early medical scans. Memory foam, created for aircraft crash protection, is now used in bedding and protective gear. Culturally, the program inspired a surge in interest in science and engineering. ... Read our full explainer on the program here.   Also, check out ...  > The weirdest things astronauts left on the moon. (Read) > Experience the moon landing minute by minute. (More) > Today's space missions focus on establishing a permanent lunar outpost. (Listen) > What a lunar base could look like. (Watch)   It’s time for Artemis II to break Apollo 13’s distance record. What to know about the moon flyby HOUSTON (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts are already the champions of a fresh new era of lunar exploration. Now it’s time to set a new distance record. https://apnews.com/article/nasa-artemis-moon-flyby-astronauts-e470e962d028d1a4b811cbf31cdacd90?

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Artemis II breaks Apollo 13’s distance record with daring moon flyby that included a solar eclipse

HOUSTON (AP) — After traveling deeper into space than any other humans, the Artemis II astronauts pointed their moonship toward home Monday night, wrapping up a lunar cruise that revealed views of the far side never beheld by eyes until now.

https://apnews.com/article/artemis-moon-nasa-lunar-flyby-fac19b4b1676af2717adafa992f32be4?

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👩‍🚀 Where no one has gone before

The Moon as seen from Artemis II as it nears lunar orbit. Photo: NASA

The four astronauts aboard Artemis II's Orion spacecraft have officially traveled the farthest from Earth any humans have gone before, Alex Fitzpatrick reports. They broke Apollo 13's 248,655-mile record, set over 50 years ago on that ill-fated ship's emergency flight home. Upon crossing that mark, Artemis II mission commander Reid Wiseman named a lunar crater "Carroll" — for his wife, who passed away from cancer in 2020. 🚀 The lunar quartet has farther to go yet. They'll reach their maximum distance (252,760 miles) just after 7 p.m. ET tonight. 🔭 When this hits your inbox, Artemis II will be starting its seven-hour lunar flyby. At 6:44 p.m. ET, the crew will enter a 40-minute radio blackout on the dark side of the Moon. (Cue Pink Floyd!) They will later witness a solar eclipse as the Moon blocks the Sun from their view. 🌎 Also planned: A chance to shoot a new version of "Earthrise" — perhaps the Apollo era's most famous photo not taken on the Moon itself. Go deeper ... Watch live.

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🌒 Latest pic: Amazing Moon

In this fully illuminated view of the Moon, the near side (the hemisphere we see from Earth), is seen on the right, identifiable by dark splotches that cover its surface, as viewed by the Artemis crew yesterday. Photo: NASA via Reuters Artemis II set a new human spaceflight record last night, with the four astronauts aboard traveling 252,756 miles from the rest of us here on Earth, Alex Fitzpatrick writes. The Orion spacecraft got within about 4,000 miles of the Moon, giving the crew the first chance to observe the lunar surface with human eyes from orbit in over half a century. 📡 An expected radio blackout on the far side of the Moon left the quartet truly alone in the deep blackness of space for about 40 minutes. The crew spotted meteors and impact flashes from space rocks hitting the lunar surface. ☀️ The four astronauts were also treated to a solar eclipse nearly an hour long, letting them see the solar corona, stars and Earthshine (reflected light from Earth). NASA pilot Victor Glover said on the agency's live broadcast: "Earthshine is very distinct, and it creates quite an impressive visual illusion." 🌖🚀🌎 What's next: The Artemis crew will continue collecting lunar data and observations even as Orion swings Earthbound. The four are expected to splash down Friday evening in the waters off San Diego. Weather could always change those plans. Watch a video.

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📸 Pics to go: "Earthrise," reborn

Photo: NASA Images from Artemis II's lunar flyby are coming in — and they're absolute stunners. Above, Earth sets behind the Moon, with Australia and Oceania visible. It's a modern version of "Earthrise," an iconic photo snapped by Apollo 8's Bill Anders on Christmas Eve nearly 60 years ago. 🚀 🌖 ☀️ Below, the Moon blocked the Sun during a solar eclipse from the crew's POV. Photo: NASA More flyby pics.