A Hong Kong astronaut will join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching on Sunday, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the moon.
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.
Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 22: Busy moons around Jupiter The Moon passes 0.08° south of Regulus at 3 A.M. EDT. A few hours later, First Quarter Moon occurs at 7:11 A.M. EDT. First Quarter Moon offers some great targets for lunar observers. Plus, the greatContinue reading “The Sky Today on Saturday, May 23: View Vallis Alpes” The post The Sky Today on Saturday, May 23: Continue ReadingThe Sky Today on Saturday, May 23: View Vallis Alpes
SpaceX scrubbed the planned launch of its Starship-Super Heavy rocket on the Flight 12 mission on May 21, 2026. Image: Spaceflight Now Update May 21, 8:03 p.m. EDT (0003 UTC): SpaceX scrubbed the mission after dipping in and out of multiple holds at T-minus 40 seconds. SpaceX stood down from its first attempt to launch the third generation of its Starship rocket Thursday, May 21, from its company town in southern Texas, called Starbase. The Continue ReadingLaunch preview: SpaceX tries again for first launch of its Starship Version 3 rocket
SpaceX’s first Starship Version 3 rocket takes off from Pad 2 at Starbase during the Flight 12 mission on May 22, 2026. Image: SpaceX SpaceX launched a revamped Super Heavy-Starship rocket Friday on an “epic” flight to test more powerful engines, enhanced control systems and a host of other upgrades needed to streamline operations and improve safety and reliability. One of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 methane-fueled Raptor 3 engines shut down early during the Continue ReadingMusk praises “epic” Super Heavy-Starship launch
You’re on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you’ve been tasked with establishing the first self-sustaining food crop on a Martian settlement. You’re nervous because you’re using a new type of fungi called beneficial fungi, which you’re told will help enhance Martian regolith, enabling it to be used for growing crops. You were privately told that doing this will not only get a high school named after you, but you will successfully feed future settlers without the need to bring food from Earth. But you really only care about having your name on a high school.
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship V3 rocket got off to a glorious start for its first test flight, and although not all of its engines fired fully according to plan, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the mission “scored a goal for humanity.”
No dust, no way to cool a collapsing gas cloud. No way to cool it, no stars. No dust, no first rung on the ladder from grain to pebble to planet. The substance I spent two articles complaining about turns out to be the substance that makes me possible.
SpaceX’s Starship V3, the most powerful rocket ever built, just roared off its launch pad in a spectacular show of power and technology. Continue ReadingSpaceX just launched Starship V3 — its most powerful megarocket yet — into space for the 1st time in spectacular Flight 12 test (video)
NASA’S Juno spacecraft images Jupiter’s tiny moon of Thebe in a recent close approach.
When the solar system formed, a disk of gas and dust orbited the young sun. Over the course of millions of years, the dust gradually clumped together to form kilometer-sized chunks known as planetesimals. Some grew into planets, while the rest are considered to be the precursors of today’s asteroids. Researchers assume that this development did not proceed in a linear fashion, with different stages of planetesimal development occurring simultaneously, and not every region of the disk offering favorable “starting conditions” for planetesimals.
Expert tester Jase Parnell-Brookes rated the Nikon 12×25 Binoculars with a flawless review and was impressed with the image stabilization, their small, lightweight and pocketable versatility that makes them perfect for on-the-go stargazing. Continue Reading‘Once you try these, you won’t want anything else’— Our binoculars expert rated these as the best small binoculars they’d ever tested. Now at their best price of the year
Planetary nebula are created when a dying star sheds it outer layers. The gas is lit up by the star and all the gorgeous, changing detail is exposed. NGC 1514, the Crystal Ball Nebula, is about 1500 light years away and contains a binary pair in its center. The orbits and winds from the stars create the Crystal Ball’s beautiful form.
“The spacesuits are like real spacesuits! They’re so complicated and much heavier than you’d ever expect.” Continue Reading‘For All Mankind’s’ Ruby Cruz and Ines Asserson on wearing those ‘clunky’ cool spacesuits and training with a Green Beret (interview)
A collaborative research team has revealed the long-overlooked carbon storage potential of coral reef ecosystems and how reef-dwelling fish, corals, and surface sediments jointly shape reef carbon reservoirs. The paper is published in the journal Advanced Science. The team was led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ-CAS) and the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (GML).
Elon Musk’s SpaceX will attempt another launch of its mammoth Starship rocket Friday, after the previous evening’s try was called off over technical issues.
A sharp-eyed satellite captured an amazing photo of SpaceX’s first Starship V3 megarocket on the pad Thursday (May 21), just before it was supposed to lift off. Continue ReadingStarship V3 from space: Satellite snaps amazing photo of SpaceX megarocket on the pad
Life on Earth relies on energy from astrophysical sources. But what if the astrophysical source isn’t a star, but a supermassive black hole and its active galactic nuclei? Life needs shelter from their powerful energy, and the only shelter is distance. New research shows that SMBH and their AGN could strip away exoplanet atmospheres and destroy their ozone at vast distances.
Long before the full moon rises, shifting sunlight transforms the lunar surface into one of the sky’s best telescope targets. Continue ReadingDon’t wait for the full moon: Here’s when the moon looks best through a telescope
This is part of an even-larger “restructuring” at NASA. Continue ReadingShakeup at JPL? Control over iconic NASA center could change for 1st time in nearly 100 years
