Spacecraft are vehicles designed to leave Earth’s atmosphere and travel through space, including satellites that orbit our planet, robots sent out into outer space, and vehicles used by astronauts traveling to the Moon. Armstrong descended the ladder from Columbia into Eagle and made history when he set foot onto the lunar surface for the first…
An interplanetary mission to the Moon requires being able to escape Earth’s gravity well, which requires a very large rocket and is therefore very costly. NASA’s planned round-the-moon mission Artemis, scheduled for 2024, will use their Space Launch System megarocket and be led by four astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen…
Most adults are familiar with the Apollo missions, yet this documentary takes viewers behind-the-scenes to witness both triumphs and tragedies associated with them. Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Tom Jennings used 500 hours of footage, 800 hours of audio, and 10,000 photos to piece this narrative together. Poppy Northcutt, a technical engineer from Cleveland who…
On Tuesday morning, astronomy enthusiasts from Asia, Australia and North America witnessed the Moon slowly become darker until its full eclipse became visible; otherwise known as a blood moon. This event would mark the last total lunar eclipse until 2025. An appearance of a blood moon occurs when direct sunlight is blocked and its light…
On July 24, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin successfully descended to the Moon, taking photographs, collecting specimens from rocks and soil samples, installing a laser-ranging reflector and passive seismograph (a moonquake detector), as well as speaking with President Nixon. But their descent was far from uneventful – during a powered descent an alarm went off that…
Orion is the spacecraft designed to transport astronauts between Earth, the International Space Station, lunar orbit and Mars. It was specifically developed with safety, durability and affordability in mind. Orion will launch on top of a Space Launch System rocket and feature an escape tower to protect astronauts during reentry. When Orion returns to Earth,…
Today’s lunar eclipse will give rise to what some are calling a “blood moon.” Actually it is just a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses occur whenever Earth passes between the sun and moon and casts its shadow onto it, or when there is a total lunar eclipse with a supermoon. A blood moon occurs when this…
An international mission to Neptune and Triton has long been overdue; such an expedition could shed more light on what these ice giants represent. Like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are ice giants; planets with only trace amounts of hydrogen or helium present. But unlike Jupiter, their orbital periods are short enough for missions to Uranus…
This week will see the Moon turn red during a lunar eclipse – known as a Blood Moon and unrelated to any strange prophecies or predictions. Today marks one of four total lunar eclipses within two years – an astronomical phenomenon known as a lunar tetrad – occurring over that period. May and October eclipses…
