Tag: Moon
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Trump criticizes NASA over his own administration’s moon program
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION President Donald Trump after signing Space Policy Directive 1 on Dec. 11, 2017, directing NASA to return to the moon. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani In a head-spinning tweet, President Trump blasted NASA on Friday for its plan to return to the moon, a plan set in motion during a…
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With a single tweet, President Trump stirs tumult over NASA’s plans to go to the moon
President Donald Trump shows off a flight jacket he was given after signing a NASA authorization bill into law in 2017. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls) President Donald Trump put the space community on edge today with a tweet that downplayed NASA’s plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2024 as the first step…
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NASA picks three companies to send commercial landers to the moon
Artist’s concept of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. Credit: Astrobotic NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon’s surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon. The three companies are developing commercial lunar…
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NASA picks first commercial ventures to deliver scientific payloads to the moon
An artist’s conception shows a lunar lander with scientific payloads. (NASA Illustration) Update for 6 p.m. PT July 31: One of the commercial ventures selected to deliver science experiments to the moon’s surface, New Jersey-based Orbit Beyond, is bowing out of the first round of deliveries. NASA said Orbit Beyond ran into “internal corporate challenges”…
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NASA chooses Maxar to build keystone module for lunar Gateway station
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Credit: Maxar NASA has selected Maxar Technologies for a $375 million contract to design, build and launch the core element of a mini-space station in orbit around the moon that will double as a deep space research outpost and a staging point for future human expeditions…
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NASA says Maxar will build the first big piece for Gateway station in lunar orbit
An artist’s conception shows the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element with its solar electric propulsion system in action. (Maxar / Business Wire Illustration) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine today announced that the first major component for a future mini-space station in lunar orbit will be provided by Maxar Technologies, formerly known as SSL. “The contractor that…
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India plans July launch of Chandrayaan 2 moon mission
An astronaut on the International Space Station captured this photo of moonrise in 2017. Credit: NASA Indian engineers hope to launch the country’s first robotic lunar lander between July 9 and July 16 on India’s most powerful rocket, the head of the Indian space agency said this week. The robotic Chandrayaan 2 mission will launch…
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NASA’s lunar orbiter spots the smoking hole left behind by Israel’s moon lander
A processed image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken on April 22, highlights the dark smudge and bright impact halo left behind by the Beresheet lunar lander’s impact (NASA / GSFC / ASU Photo) The Israeli-built Beresheet moon lander made history when it went into lunar orbit and descended to the surface — and although…
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NASA taps Blue Origin and 10 other companies to work on moon lander studies and prototypes
An artist’s conception shows a landing system in lunar orbit. (NASA Illustration) It’s almost as if Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos knew what was coming: His Blue Origin space venture is among 11 companies selected by NASA to conduct studies and produce prototypes of spacecraft that could carry astronauts down to the moon’s south polar region…
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White House proposal to tap Pell Grant fund casts a pall over NASA’s moon plans
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, at left, discusses the plan to send astronauts to the moon by 2024 as three of his associate administrators — William Gerstenmaier, Jim Reuter and Thomas Zurbuchen — look on during a town hall at NASA headquarters. (NASA Photo / Joel Kowsky) Will NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the moon…