Online auction to raise funds for scholarships, of items such as mementos from NASA Astronauts. Charity Navigator gives Astronaut Scholarship Foundation 99% / 4-star rating.
Today marks 25 full years / start to 26th year of continuous Human occupation of ISS; first component Zarya launched Nov 20, 1998, occupation began Nov 2, 2000.
In April 1972, George Robert Carruthers, PhD (1939-2020) visited NASA Manned Space Center in Houston and watched as astronaut John Young positioned a gold-plated far ultraviolet camera / spectrograph on the Moon. The instrument, Carruthers's invention, was the first astronomical observatory on the lunar surface, landing in the Descartes Highlands […]
Appearing to radiate from constellation Gemini, shower can produce 80-130 meteors per hour; bright, medium-slow meteors (35 km/sec), few leave persistent trains; peak 00:00 UTC (Dec 13, 14:00 HST).
Appearing to radiate from β star of Ursa Minor, Ursids are associated with comet 8P/Tuttle, they offer medium speed (33 km/sec), mostly faint with a few fireballs, 9-10 per hour, visible in northern Hemisphere 1 day before Last Quarter Moon; peak 14:00 UTC (00:00 HST).
NASA Astronauts Bob Crippen and Chris Ferguson will share personal highlights, stories and special moments of these historic flights, 45 years after STS-1 and 15 years after STS-135, at gala to raise funds for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. At Marriott West Palm Beach. Only 38 individual tickets are available, and […]
Asteroid 98943 Torifune Flyby: JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission to flyby S-type asteroid 98943 Torifune this month and rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031, after returning samples from (162173) Ryugu to Earth in 2020.
Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3) Rendezvous: China asteroid sample return mission, to arrive at Kamo’oalewa today to collect at least 100 grams via anchoring-drilling, hover-sampling and touch-and-go techniques; planned to depart Apr 24, 2027 and return to Earth Nov 29, 2027.
ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform its second flyby of Earth this month, arriving at Jupiter in 2031.
Campbell was first appointed in September 2020. She was reappointed for an additional year, 14 Sep 2025 - 14 Sep 2026. It is rare that a President of the Canadian Space Agency serves longer than a one-year term, and Campbell becomes only the third to complete a full five-year term. Past […]
CNSA attempts to land its Chang’E-7 lander near Shackleton Crater, Moon South Pole region; craft launched with Relay Satellite, Orbiter, Lander (Rashid-2 from UAE), Rover, Mini-Flying Probe; lander has national science payloads as well as 6 international instruments integrated: from Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, and the International Lunar […]
NET Nov — BepiColombo, Hermocentric Orbit Insertion at Mercury, Mercury Orbit: European Space Agency / JAXA Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) expected to reach Mercury, achieve polar orbit and spacecraft separation; will map planet, investigate magnetosphere.
China Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission planned to depart Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3) today and return to Earth with least 100 grams of sample, to enter Earth atmosphere on Nov 29, 2027.