Return to Tranquility Base in 2010?!

The main campus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Oak Grove, California was experiencing technical difficulties—wildfires approaching the facility. On Sunday, it was closed to employees except for “essential personnel.” The facility is used to develop spacecraft, including Mars rovers. It’s a critical part of NASA’s planetary missions. And it’s being threatened by a very [...]

Years before Pink Floyd recorded anything, the Soviet spacecraft, Luna 3, took the first picture of the darkside of the moon. Groundbreaking Missions. No Photos. Earlier probes did interesting work. Luna 1 performed a number of scientific experiments on its lunar flyby mission in January 1959. For example, it revealed that the moon had no [...]

A few days, India joined a very exclusive club—the club of nations that have landed vehicles on the moon. In the past, only superpowers like the United States, and the (former) Soviet Union could do such things. But here in the 21st century, the moon is more reachable. In 2007, Japan sent a vehicle into [...]