Tag - moon

 
 

MOON

Japan’s push into space-based solar power could reshape the future of global energy and position the country ahead of the U.S. and China in the next phase of the space race.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 31, 2026
A space race the Land of the Rising Sun is winning
Japan takes the lead in space-based solar power exploration.
Astronauts Zhu Yangzhu (right), Zhang Zhiyuan (center), and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, wave during a see-off ceremony before taking part in the Shenzhou-23 spaceflight mission to China's Tiangong space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 25, 2026
China launches crewed space flight as part of moon ambitions
A key experiment will be one of the crew staying for a year in orbit to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity as part of China’s preparations for future lunar missions.
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket launches from the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2026
It’s up to SpaceX and Blue Origin to stick the moon landing
NASA is betting on SpaceX and Blue Origin to build lunar landers for the Artemis III mission next year, paving the way for the first mission back to the moon since 1972.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 19, 2026
Blue Origin launches rocket with used booster for first time
The novel recycling approach comes amid fierce competition between Bezos’s firm and fellow tech titan Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has also recovered a booster.
A young boy wearing an astronaut costume cheers next to a woman waving a flag as they watch a live broadcast of the return of the Artemis II crew members to Earth at the San Diego Air and Space Museum during a watch party for the crew's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, in San Diego on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Artemis II lunar mission draws flood of conspiracy theories
Hashtags such as “fake space” and “fake NASA” have gained traction online since NASA’s lunar fly-by sent astronauts farther from Earth than any human before.
Crowds watch the Artemis II Orion capsule splash down off the coast of San Diego at the Air and Space Museum on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2026
‘Howl at the moon’: NASA’s bid to boost space enthusiasm
From social media posts clipped from livestreamed events with the astronauts to an extraordinary portfolio of photos, viewers caught an eyeful of Artemis II.
The Artemis II crew take a selfie midway through their lunar observation period on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2026
Artemis II’s awe reminds us of science’s fragility and importance
Artemis II is a desperately needed reminder of the magic that can happen when humans come together to realize a lofty goal.
This handout picture released on Wednesday by NASA shows a view of the moon, including the Orientale basin and the dark lava plains visible, as seen from the Orion spacecraft on Monday.
WORLD
Apr 9, 2026
NASA’s lunar success sharpens focus on China’s 2030 crewed landing goal
Four U.S. astronauts on the Artemis II mission this week flew past the moon’s shadowed far side, traveling deeper into space than any humans before.
A view of the moon backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse, as photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft's solar arrays during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the moon on Tuesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 8, 2026
‘Screams of delight’: Artemis crew flying home to thrilled NASA scientists
Of note was their stunning shot of an Earthset, the moment when Earth drops below the rugged lunar horizon.
The moon is seen as the Artemis II mission's Orion spacecraft approaches its furthest distance from Earth, in this screen shot taken from livestreamed video.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 7, 2026
Artemis II moon crew flies farther than humans have ever gone before
The six-hour flyby, which swooped to ​within 6,550 km of the lunar surface, came six days into the world’s first voyage of astronauts to the vicinity of the moon.
The Artemis II crewed lunar mission lifts off from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 1.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 6, 2026
On NASA’s moon mission, the biggest headache has been the toilet
Getting the complicated piece of equipment, known as the Universal Waste Management System, to work properly during the flight has become a recurring issue.
NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels toward the moon on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2026
Artemis astronauts preparing for historic lunar flyby
The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence.”
This screen shot from a live broadcast shows NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch (left), NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover (second left), Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (second right) and NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel toward the moon in the Orion spacecraft on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2026
Artemis astronauts more than halfway to moon, putting Earth in rearview
NASA’s online dashboard showed Saturday that the Orion spacecraft was more than 229,000 kilometers from Earth.
NASA's Artemis II rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, carrying four astronauts on the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2026
Is NASA’s moon mission the end for legacy space firms?
The future belongs to the producers of reusable rockets, led by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin scrambling to catch up.
NASA's Artemis II mission to fly by the moon, comprising of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
NASA’s moon mission tests aerospace old guard as SpaceX and Blue Origin hover
The mission is a key test of whether the agency’s traditional contractor-built systems can remain viable in a rapidly shifting space industry.
NASA’s Artemis II mission to fly by the moon, comprising of the Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 2, 2026
NASA astronauts reach safe orbit in historic moon mission
The launch kicked off a landmark journey that will take them closer to the lunar surface than anyone has been in more than 50 years.
People photograph NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, on Pad 39B ahead of the Artemis II mission launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 30, 2026
Why is NASA spending $100 billion to return to the moon? Depends on who you ask.
It could be a race with China, sustainability, or simply that the lunar surface is the next logical place for NASA to showcase its technological progress.
A model of lunar lander "Resilience," operated by ispace, is displayed at a venue where ispace employees monitored the company's attempt to land on the moon, in Tokyo, on June 6.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2026
Japan’s Ispace delays NASA-sponsored moon landing to 2030
The announcement highlights a murky outlook for the venture, as the U.S. revamps missions with commercial and international partners to send ​astronauts to the moon before China.
Chickpeas grown in a mixture that included lunar soil simulant inside a climate-controlled growth chamber at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 6, 2026
With lunar missions looming, scientists grow chickpeas in ‘moon dirt’
The development marks a step toward enabling astronauts on long-term moon missions to produce their own food.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman speaks about the Artemis program at a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 28, 2026
NASA announces overhaul of Artemis lunar program amid technical delays
NASA on Friday abruptly said it was shaking up its Artemis lunar program that has suffered multiple delays in recent years, a bid to ensure Americans can return to the moon's surface by 2028.

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