Tag: Moon
-
Rocket Lab sends Electron rocket into orbit, marking milestone for moon mission
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from its launch pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab’s two-stage Electron rocket successfully reached Earth orbit and deployed satellites for the first time today, raising hopes for far more ambitious missions to the moon. Today’s mission, which went up from Rocket Lab’s launch complex on…
-
Year in space: Look back at 2017’s black sun … look forward to 2018’s bright moon
Eclipse watchers turned Aug. 21’s event into a party at Kerry Park in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) The first total solar eclipse to go across America from coast to coast in 99 years has to rank as the top space story of 2017. But where do you go from there?…
-
Year In Review, 2017 (Part 1): Sun and Moon illuminate science returns
Like most years, 2017 saw numerous scientific advancements and discoveries throughout the solar system and beyond, most of which passed public attention with little fanfare for these discoveries that are helping to shape and build not only our knowledge of our solar system but also how to navigate the space around Earth in the safest…
-
President Trump makes moon missions NASA’s near-term goal
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION President Trump shows off a new national space policy directive he signed Monday at the White House, putting NASA’s focus on returning astronauts to the moon as a precursor to eventual Mars flights. Standing to Trump’s left, just behind the president’s signature, is Harrison Schmitt, one of the…
-
Moon, Mars and jobs: Trump puts his spin on space policy, with details to come
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt gives an astronaut figurine to President Donald Trump after the signing of Space Policy Directive 1. Among the onlookers at far right are Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the U.S. record for cumulative time spent in space. A sample of lunar rock collected…
-
‘Tis the season … for a holiday supermoon
An image of the moon taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in two halves to illustrate the difference between the apparent size of a supermoon (left) and a “micromoon” (right). Supermoon Sunday is at hand, and although some may scoff, the supermoon concept provides a good excuse to take a close look at…
-
Moon vs. Mars and asteroids: Watch space advocates debate where we should go
Moon Express chairman Naveen Jain gestures during a debate with Planetary Resources’ Chris Lewicki and space policy analyst John Logsdon, at right. The Economist’s deputy editor, Tom Standage, stands in as moderator at left. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) SpaceX founder Elon Musk has famously said he’d like to die on Mars — “just not on…
-
Richard Gordon, Gemini and Apollo astronaut, dies at 88
Dick Gordon is photographed during a debriefing in the quarantine van aboard the USS Hornet, following the end of the Apollo 12 mission on Nov. 26, 1969. Credit: NASA Richard “Dick” Gordon, a Navy test pilot-turned-astronaut who pioneered spacewalking procedures and orbited the moon, died at his home this week in California. He was 88.…
-
Godspeed, Dick Gordon: Seattle-born Apollo 12 astronaut passes away at 88
Dick Gordon was command module pilot for Apollo 12 in 1969. (NASA Photo) The first Seattle-born astronaut to fly in space, Dick Gordon, passed away on Monday at his home in California at the age of 88, NASA and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation reported. He flew into orbit in 1966 as pilot for the Gemini 11 mission.…
-
ULA and Bigelow expand association with lunar depot plan
United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace have updated their future plans via an agreement to launch a B330 module on a Vulcan rocket to an eventual home in Low Lunar Orbit. Set with a target date of 2022, the “Lunar Depot” could become a precursor to a Deep Space Gateway that NASA is interested…