Fly Me To The Moon is an upcoming comedy-drama from Columbia Pictures and Apple that goes behind the scenes of NASA trying to improve its image while preparing for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. A trailer makes it seem like a lighthearted, fun time at the movies, though conspiracy theorists may have a field day with one of the key plot points.
Scarlett Johansson plays Kelly Jones, a PR expert who NASA brings in to improve public perception ahead of the launch. Along with butting heads with launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) and turning the crew into global celebrities, Kelly is handed a particularly difficult task: to secretly create a fake version of the Moon landing, just in case the mission goes sideways.
The rest of the cast, which includes Woody Harrelson, looks solid too. For one thing, the delightful Jim Rash (Community) plays the very much not Stanley Kubrick director of the phony Moon landing. The movie’s director is Greg Berlanti, who was behind Love, Simon and a string of DC Comics TV shows.
Fly Me To The Moon will arrive in theaters on July 14, almost 55 years to the day after .
Missing the eclipse? Here are two videos to show the wonder of the moon- including the restored Moonwalk.
Only part of the country will see a full eclipse, but it doesn’t mean people haven’t immersed themselves in the rare happening. Roughly 32 million people in the US live in the totality path, with officials predicting another 5 million people will travel to catch the moments. Krispy Kreme has even come out with an eclipse donut! But for most people, it is either a non event or it will spoiled by work, weather or something else. For the moon uber-fan – there is almost something better. And for a true, once in mankind moment, the restored first human steps on the moon.
After thousands of years of people seeing the moon and making wild guesses about it, science won and man touched the moon. In 1969 the American spaceflight Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the lunar crust. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Eagle on July 20at 20:17 UTC with Armstrong becoming the first person to step onto the Moon’s surface six hours and 39 minutes later. The filming of this has been restored and released.
The next video is NASA showing how incredible the moon looks on 4K resolution. The footage was captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft tasked with recording the different sides of the moon and capturing the satellite in all its glory.
This footage was recorded in 2011, when the spacecraft was launched on a mission called the Tour of the Moon, where the camera visits a lot of interesting sites in order to show the different features of lunar terrain. The footage was recently released with a voice over and 4K resolution, so people would make popcorn, watch this with their friends and scream every five seconds about how trippy and weird space is.
The tour shows the viewer the different sides of the moon, including the parts that are facing the Earth, which can be seen through a telescope, and the areas that can only be seen from space. It also includes digital elevation models, which show how the terrain is made up.
The guy who narrates the video explains the different parts of the moon and informs you on interesting things, such as a part of the moon that features some of the coldest weather ever reported.
Three companies are vying for the opportunity to send their own lunar vehicle to the moon to support NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. The this week that it’s chosen Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to develop their lunar terrain vehicles (LTV) in a feasibility study over the next year. After that, only one is expected to be selected for a demonstration mission, in which the vehicle will be completed and sent to the moon for performance and safety tests. NASA is planning to use the LTV starting with the Artemis V crew that’s projected to launch in early 2030.
The LTV that eventually heads to the moon’s south pole needs to function as both a crewed and uncrewed vehicle, serving sometimes as a mode of transportation for astronauts and other times as a remotely operated explorer. NASA says it’ll contract the chosen vehicle for lunar services through 2039, with all the task orders relating to the LTV amounting to a potential value of up to $4.6 billion. The selected company will also be able to use its LTV for commercial activities in its down time.
Lunar Outpost
Astrolab
Intuitive Machines, which will be developing an LTV called the Moon Racer, has already bagged multiple contracts with NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, and , Odysseus, to the moon to achieve . Venturi Astrolab will be developing a vehicle it’s dubbed Flex, while Lunar Outpost will be working on an LTV called Lunar Dawn. All must be able to support a crew of two astronauts and withstand the extreme conditions of the lunar south pole.
“We will use the LTV to travel to locations we might not otherwise be able to reach on foot, increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries,” said Jacob Bleacher, a chief exploration scientist at NASA.
Weather Update, April 7, 4:00 AM ET: The weather forecast in the story below still largely holds, but things are more unsettled in the southern US, with forecasts now calling for thunderstorms from Dallas up to Indianapolis. So, keep that potential danger in mind (and keep an eye on forecasts) when making eclipse plans.
Elsewhere, the best chance of good viewing along the path of totality is still in northeastern parts of the US (Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT), along with southeast Canada (Niagara Falls and Montreal), according to Accuweather. In the Midwest (Cleveland), there’s a higher chance of rain than before (58 percent), but no storms currently predicted.
Original story continues below
On April 8, a solar eclipse will darken the skies. This is a rare astronomical event: The last North American total solar eclipse was on August 21, 2017, and there won’t be another on visible on the continent until 2044. The path of totality — where the sun will be fully blocked by the moon — covers over 30 million people in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Those lucky folks may see the sun’s corona and a “diamond ring” — both dramatic sights. Other regions will experience partial eclipses, with the level depending on how close you are to totality. Watching the moon eat into the sun, even a bit, is still a spectacular sight.
So, which cities and regions will experience totality, and when? What’s the weather forecast in those areas? And if you do have a clear view, how can you safely watch and record the event?
Where in the US will you experience the solar eclipse totality, and when?
The good news is that many major centers are in the 100-mile-wide band of totality, so millions of people will be able to see a full solar eclipse. It follows a northeast path, so Mexico’s Pacific coast will get the first views in Mazatlan starting at around 10:57 AM PDT (total eclipse starting at 12:07 PDT), followed by the city of Torreón (all times local).
The total eclipse moves into the United states at 12:10 PM CDT (Eagle Pass, Texas), then hits Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas — three out of five of the most populous Texas cities. From there, it moves into Little Rock, Arkansas, followed by select parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana (including Indianapolis).
NASA
Ohio cities Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland get the full show, followed by Erie, Pennsylvania, then Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse in New York along with Maine. Canada is in on the fun too, with parts of southern Ontario (Hamilton, Niagara Falls) and Quebec (Montreal) getting the totality, along with New Brunswick, PEI and finally, Bonavista, Labrador at 4:03 PM NDT (Newfoundland Time).
If you’re elsewhere on the continent and can’t travel, know that the closer you are to the band of totality, the more the sun will be obscured by the moon (this map shows how much of the eclipse you’ll get depending where you are on the continent).
An impressive list of major centers are within 200 miles of totality, so they’ll get a 90 percent or better eclipse (Houston, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, New York, Boston).
Anyone in the US south, midwest and northeast should get a decent spectacle, as will folks in Canada’s southeast and Atlantic coast. Even if you’re not in those regions, you might still see (and can capture) a mini eclipse.
How long with the 2024 solar eclipse last?
From the beginning when the moon first starts to cover the sun (partial eclipse) until the end when the two bodies part ways is a good long time – up to two hours and forty minutes in Dallas, and 2:18 in Caribou, Maine.
However, totality itself is brief, with the duration dependent on how close you are to the center of the totality band and the time of day. It’s at just under four minutes in Dallas, less than three minutes in Presque Island, Maine and a mere minute and 12 seconds in Montreal. As such, you’ll need to be ready and hope that the skies are clear during that brief window.
What’s the weather forecast in my area?
It’s still early for an accurate forecast, but a week is enough to get a general idea by region. Suffice to say, April isn’t the ideal month for clear skies. That said, an eclipse can still be visible through light cloud cover, and even if it’s thick, the sky will grow dramatically dark.
Unfortunately, the odds of precipitation are indeed above average across most of the band of the eclipse. Forecasts predict that the chances for clear skies are better the farther northeast you live, the opposite of historical trends.
To wit, Dallas has showers forecast throughout the day (58 percent), which would mean continuous cloud cover and no clear view if that holds. That improves a bit when you get to Indianapolis (partly cloudy, 24 percent chance of rain), with things better still in Buffalo, New York (partly cloudy, 11 percent).
Things are looking good right now in Montreal, though, with mostly sunny skies and only a 9 percent chance of rain, and the same goes for Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Niagara Falls also figures to have decent weather during the eclipse (mostly sunny, 18 percent) and is in the path of totality, which has led to the city declaring a state of emergency out of caution. Officials estimate that a million people could pour into the area, creating potentially dangerous crowds.
How can I watch the solar eclipse at home?
Staring at the sun is obviously dangerous for your vision, and doing so during an eclipse can be just as harmful. Even though you may not feel discomfort immediately, you may damage your eyes via an affliction called solar retinopathy. That can lead to serious consequences like eye pain, blind spots, blurred vision and more.
American Astronomical Society
To view it safely, you must purchase a pair of approved solar eclipse glasses based on an international safety standard called ISO 12312-2 (regular sunglasses won’t do). That dictates the maximum luminous transmittance, along with the range of permissible wavelength transmittance (UVA, UVB and infrared).
There’s certainly still time to grab a pair if you don’t have them already. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has many recommendations for manufacturers and vendors, both online and at retail chains.
Warby Parker, for one, is offering free glasses (limit two per person while supplies last). You can also find them at Staples, Lowes and Walmart, or online at B&H and multiple science and astronomy stores.
The AAS advises against searching for the lowest price on Amazon or eBay, however, in case you get a bad knock off. “Before you buy a solar viewer or filter online, we recommend that you make sure that (1) the seller is identified on the site and (2) the seller is listed on this page,” it says on its Solar Eclipse Across America site.
How to watch the solar eclipse safely without glasses
Canadian Space Agency
It’s possible to view an eclipse without glasses via indirect means, as well. The simplest way is by punching a small round hole in a piece of thick paper or cardboard, then positioning it so the sun shines through the hole onto the ground or a flat surface (you can also attach a piece of foil with a hole, as NASA shows here). That will project an image of the Sun’s disc, letting you see the eclipse in real time.
The same pinhole principle would let you use anything with perforated holes, like a colander, projecting dozens of tiny eclipses on a surface. Trees can do the same thing, casting weird leaf shadows with little solar eclipse chunks out of them.
Benjamin Seigh/Wikimedia
For a bit better experience, you can build a crude box projector. With that, the sun shines through a hole in tin foil onto a white card, and you can look through a larger hole at the card, with the sun behind you. The Canadian Space Agency explains exactly how to make that.
Never, ever view an eclipse directly through a pair of binoculars or a telescope, as that’s a guaranteed way to damage your eyes. That said, you can use a pair of binoculars or a telescope to project the sun onto a piece of paper, as shown in this video.
How to take photos or video of the solar eclipse
Unfortunately, you can’t just point your smartphone or camera at the sun to record the eclipse, as the brightness will overwhelm the sensor and ruin the image (and possibly damage the sensor). Luckily, you can shield your camera just as you do your eyes.
The cheapest way to do that is to buy an extra set of eclipse glasses, then cut out an eyepiece from one and tape it over the smartphone (or other camera) lens. That will reduce the light levels enough to see detail in the sun throughout the partial eclipse and totality.
You can also purchase dedicated smartphone solar filters like the VisiSolar Photo Filter, which are designed for cameras and not direct viewing. Another choice is the Solar Snap Eclipse App Kit, which also offers an app that aids in photographing the eclipsed sun. It’s advisable to also wear solar glasses when setting up your smartphone or camera to protect your eyes.
If you’re shooting the eclipse with a dedicated mirrorless or DSLR camera, you’ll need either a mylar, 16-stop ND (neutral density) or hydrogen alpha solar filter. Again, do not look directly into a DSLR’s optical viewfinder at the sun if the lens doesn’t have one of those filters attached (the electronic viewfinder on a mirrorless camera is safe).
To photograph the eclipse with a smartphone, turn the flash off and put the camera into ultrawide or wide mode so it stays in frame. Do NOT look directly at the sun to line up your camera if you’re not wearing solar eclipse glasses.
Don’t use the digital zoom to try to make the eclipse bigger, as you’ll lose resolution (you can zoom in later in your photo editing app). Once focus is set on the sun, use your smartphone’s focus lock feature so that it doesn’t “hunt” for focus and blur the eclipse.
During totality, the “diamond ring” effect only lasts a split second, so use the burst mode of your camera or you’ll likely miss the shot. And try to capture RAW (rather than JPEG) images to keep the maximum detail possible for later editing. Some iPhone and Android smartphones have RAW capability built-in, if not, you can use a third-party app.
If you decide to capture video, you’ll need a filter as well, of course. But you should also use a tripod, as shooting handheld will induce blur and result in a shaky video. Even a cheap tripod will do the trick, along with a simple smartphone holder. Capture the highest resolution you can (4K or even 8K) at the highest quality possible. You’ll also capture any cheering, shouting, etc. — a precious souvenir you can look back on again and again.
More resources
There are plenty of government and private sites with more information about the eclipse, starting with the AAS’s eclipse site, detailing things like eye safety, imaging, resources and even a totality app — an “interactive map that shows what you’ll see at any location in North America for the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024.”
In other anecdotes, onlookers have reported birds that stop singing, crickets that stopped chirping, or bees that return to their hive, reduce their foraging, or suspend their flight during total darkness. But there are also studies that deny that some of these behaviors occur or can be attributed to the eclipse.
Therefore, NASA scientists plan not only to systematize observations but also to document what people hear and see under the shadow of the moon.
“The Great North American Eclipse”
NASA has created the Eclipse Soundscapes citizen science project to collect the experiences of volunteers. It was inspired by a study conducted nearly 100 years ago by William M. Wheeler and a team of collaborators. At that time, the Boston Natural History Society invited citizens, park rangers, and naturalists to report on the activities of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, and fish during the summer eclipse of 1932. They collected nearly 500 reports. In their final report they note that some animals exhibited nocturnal behaviors such as returning to their nests and hives or making nighttime vocalizations.
The current NASA study will add observations made during the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023 and the total solar eclipse of April 8. The latter will be visible first in Mexico in Mazatlan, then in Nazas, Torreon, Monclova, and Piedras Negras. These localities will be located directly in the umbra of the eclipse and, therefore, their inhabitants will perceive it as total. In nearby regions it will be experienced as a partial eclipse, with less darkness. It will then enter the United States through Texas, passing through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Finally, it will travel across Canada from southern Ontario and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. Astronomical estimates point to the Mexican port of Mazatlan as the best place to observe the 2024 event, which will experience totality at about 11:07 am local time.
A sparrow experiencing a partial solar eclipse in Jize Country, Hebei Province, China, June 21, 2020.Future Publishing/Getty Images
How You Can Help
In the United States, 30 million people live in the area where the eclipse will be perceived as total. If you add in the Mexican and Canadian public, the potential for collecting experiences is immense. That’s what NASA wants to take advantage of.
The project foresees several levels of volunteering: apprentice, observer, data collector, data analyst, and facilitator.
NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock.Related video above: Odysseus becomes first U.S. lander to touch down on the moon in over 50 yearsIt’s not quite a time zone like those on Earth, but an entire frame of time reference for the moon. Because there’s less gravity on the moon, time there moves a tad quicker — 58.7 microseconds every day — compared to Earth. So the White House on Tuesday instructed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other U.S. agencies to work with international agencies to come up with a new moon-centric time reference system.”An atomic clock on the moon will tick at a different rate than a clock on Earth,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s top communications and navigation official. “It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the moon or Mars, that each one gets its own heartbeat.”So everything on the moon will operate on the speeded-up moon time, Coggins said.The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon, they wore watches, but timing wasn’t as precise and critical as it is now with GPS, satellites and intricate computer and communications systems, he said. Those microseconds matter when high-tech systems interact, he said.Last year, the European Space Agency said Earth needs to come up with a unified time for the moon, where a day lasts 29.5 Earth days.The International Space Station, being in low Earth orbit, will continue to use coordinated universal time or UTC. But just where the new space time kicks in is something that NASA has to figure out. Even Earth’s time speeds up and slows down, requiring leap seconds.Unlike on Earth, the moon will not have daylight saving time, Coggins said.The White House wants NASA to come up with a preliminary idea by the end of the year and have a final plan by the end of 2026.NASA is aiming to send astronauts around the moon in September 2025 and land people there a year later.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock.
Related video above: Odysseus becomes first U.S. lander to touch down on the moon in over 50 years
It’s not quite a time zone like those on Earth, but an entire frame of time reference for the moon. Because there’s less gravity on the moon, time there moves a tad quicker — 58.7 microseconds every day — compared to Earth. So the White House on Tuesday instructed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other U.S. agencies to work with international agencies to come up with a new moon-centric time reference system.
“An atomic clock on the moon will tick at a different rate than a clock on Earth,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s top communications and navigation official. “It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the moon or Mars, that each one gets its own heartbeat.”
So everything on the moon will operate on the speeded-up moon time, Coggins said.
The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon, they wore watches, but timing wasn’t as precise and critical as it is now with GPS, satellites and intricate computer and communications systems, he said. Those microseconds matter when high-tech systems interact, he said.
Last year, the European Space Agency said Earth needs to come up with a unified time for the moon, where a day lasts 29.5 Earth days.
The International Space Station, being in low Earth orbit, will continue to use coordinated universal time or UTC. But just where the new space time kicks in is something that NASA has to figure out. Even Earth’s time speeds up and slows down, requiring leap seconds.
Unlike on Earth, the moon will not have daylight saving time, Coggins said.
The White House wants NASA to come up with a preliminary idea by the end of the year and have a final plan by the end of 2026.
NASA is aiming to send astronauts around the moon in September 2025 and land people there a year later.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the roof of Alejandro Otero’s home, and NASA is on the case.
In all likelihood, this nearly 2-pound object came from the International Space Station. Otero said it tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida.
Otero wasn’t home at the time, but his son was there. A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time (19:34 UTC) on March 8. That’s an important piece of information because it is a close match for the time—2:29 pm EST (19:29 UTC)—that US Space Command recorded the reentry of a piece of space debris from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida.
This space junk consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS, attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to come back to Earth in a controlled manner. But a series of delays meant this cargo pallet missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry.
Otero’s likely encounter with space debris was first reported by WINK News, the CBS affiliate for southwest Florida. Since then, NASA has recovered the debris from the homeowner, according to Josh Finch, an agency spokesperson.
Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will analyze the object “as soon as possible to determine its origin,” Finch told Ars. “More information will be available once the analysis is complete.”
Ars reported on this reentry when it happened on March 8, noting that most of the material from the batteries and the cargo carrier would have likely burned up as they plunged through the atmosphere. Temperatures would have reached several thousand degrees, vaporizing most of the material before it could reach the ground.
The entire pallet, including the nine disused batteries from the space station’s power system, had a mass of more than 2.6 metric tons (5,800 pounds), according to NASA. Size-wise, it was about twice as tall as a standard kitchen refrigerator. It’s important to note that objects of this mass, or larger, regularly fall to Earth on guided trajectories, but they’re usually failed satellites or spent rocket stages left in orbit after completing their missions.
In a post on X, Otero said he is waiting for communication from “the responsible agencies” to resolve the cost of damages to his home.
If the object is owned by NASA, Otero or his insurance company could make a claim against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, according to Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi.
“It gets more interesting if this material is discovered to be not originally from the United States,” she told Ars. “If it is a human-made space object which was launched into space by another country, which caused damage on Earth, that country would be absolutely liable to the homeowner for the damage caused.”
This could be an issue in this case. The batteries were owned by NASA, but they were attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan’s space agency.
How This Happened
At the time of the March 8 reentry, a NASA spokesperson at the Johnson Space Center in Houston said the space agency “conducted a thorough debris analysis assessment on the pallet and has determined it will harmlessly reenter the Earth’s atmosphere.” This was, by far, the most massive object ever tossed overboard from the International Space Station. “We do not expect any portion to have survived reentry,” NASA said.
Research from other space experts, however, did not match NASA’s statement. The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center, says a “general rule of thumb” is that 20 to 40 percent of the mass of a large object will reach the ground. The exact percentage depends on the design of the object, but these nickel-hydrogen batteries were made of metals with relatively high density.
A rare and massive comet with a devilish nickname is set to pass by Earth for the first time in 71 years and may be visible during the highly anticipated April 8 total solar eclipse, according to NASA.
Officially named comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, the cryovolcanic comet is known as the “devil comet” due to its formation of two “horns” made up of ice and gas and periodic explosions.
Comets are made up of dust, frozen gases, ice and rocks bound together following the formation of the solar system, NASA says.
The devil comet is heading for its next perihelion passage, when it will reach its closest point to the sun and shine the brightest, on April 21, according to NASA. The agency says this astronomical event coincides with the April 8 total solar eclipse in North America, which will shadow parts of the United States from Texas to Maine when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth.
In the abrupt absence of sunlight during totality, NASA said skywatchers will have a view of the vast sky, dark enough to observe stars, planets and perhaps 12P/Pons-Brooks as it travels through the solar system.
“Comet 12P’s April 21 perihelion passage will be only two weeks after the April 8 total solar eclipse, putting the comet in planet Earth’s sky along with a totally eclipsed sun,” the agency said.
Continuing its route through the solar system, 12P/Pons-Brooks will make its closest approach to Earth on June 2, offering another opportunity to see the devil comet, however, its distance from the sun will make it less visible than during the eclipse, experts previously told ABC News.
Likened to Halley’s comet, which has an orbit of 76 years around the sun, 12P/Pons-Brooks is a short-period comet, meaning one that has an orbital period of between 20 and 200 years. The devil comet travels on an orbital period of 71 years and was last seen in 1954.
Scientists have estimated the devil comet has a diameter of at least 17 kilometers, or 10.5 miles, according to the American Astronomical Society.
The comet’s periodic explosions or “outbursts” make it brighter, easier to spot with telescopes and, in some cases, “something people can see from their backyard,” Dr. Theodore Kareta, a postdoctoral researcher at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, previously told ABC News.
12P/Pons-Brooks experienced a major outburst in July 2023, when it suddenly became 100 times brighter, and continued to have periodic explosions on Oct. 5, Nov. 1, Nov. 14, Dec. 14 and Jan. 18, 2023, respectively, according to Space.com.
“These outbursts … [have] brought this object from being dim enough that you can only really see it with big professional telescopes to, in a couple of cases, something people can see from their backyard,” Kareta said.
“There aren’t that many comets that have outbursts, these sudden increases in brightness, that are so strong, and even fewer that have them a couple of times during one orbit. It seems like Pons-Brooks … is just really active,” he continued.
Dr. Eliot Herman, a retired professor at the University of Arizona and an amateur astronomer who has captured images of 12P/Pons-Brooks with a remote telescope, encourages viewers to keep an eye out for the devil comet in the coming months.
“People have historically looked up at the sky since people first became self-aware, and being amazed at the events that occur above us is something that goes back far before civilization,” he previously told ABC News. “The events in the sky touches all, I think, in a very historic way. The universe is a big place and a lot of amazing things are occurring all around us. It’s worth getting out there and just looking at it and be awestruck.”
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – SpaceX put its Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast on hold Wednesday night, but it’s not known why.
The launch was expected to send another batch of 23 Starlink satellites into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The launch was moved to Thursday starting at 7:04 p.m., which was the backup opportunity.
Shortly before Thursday’s scheduled launch time, the company placed the launch on another hold. No information has yet been provided about why that is.
SpaceX was counting down to launch at 9:39 p.m. on Wednesday when it suddenly went into a countdown hold. Then the live feed went to a SpaceX screen. No word on why the countdown hold happened then, either.
The weather is actually better for a launch on Thursday, according to the forecast for the 45th Space Wing. The forecast is 95% go for launch.
This is set to be the 19th flight for the first-stage booster used in this mission. It has previously been used to launch GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8, and 11 other Starlink missions.
When the rocket launches, the first stage is expected to separate and return to Earth, landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
NASA asks you to ponder the question and solve a space mystery in a new tabletop role-playing game that combines the adventure and fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons with space, science and history.
The Lost Universe, a game for four to seven players, is now free to download on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope website.
Your party is a group of scientists for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where you work in a world where the Hubble never existed, and neither do the scientific advances that stem from the telescope.
Then, suddenly, you’re pulled to the rogue planet Exlaris, transferred into the bodies of characters you create for the game, and you are tasked with figuring out why this planet’s greatest minds are disappearing — and what really happened to the Hubble Telescope.
The Lost Universe is a module, which you can adapt to play with any tabletop role-playing game system, such as Dungeons and Dragons. You explore the cities of Exlaris, accomplish tasks, talk to the planet’s residents to uncover information, fight enemies and along the way learn about the science of studying the stars.
The game is designed to fit in a single 3 to 4-hour campaign session.
Like countless others, Dr. Ohad Shemmer is making plans to watch the total solar eclipse that will briefly turn afternoon into night in Dallas on April 8. Oddly enough, considering he’s an associate professor in the physics department at the University of North Texas who focuses on astronomy, he’s not doing for it science. He just wants to catch the show.
Weather permitting, it’s going to be quite a spectacle.
At 12:23 p.m. that day in Dallas, according to NASA, the moon’s path will take it between the Earth and the sun, gradually dimming its light until 1:40 p.m. That’s when the moon will completely obscure the sun and totality will begin, plunging us into darkness for four minutes until the moon passes on. A partial eclipse will continue until 3:02 p.m.
“When I come to the eclipse, I’m more of a spectator,” Shemmer says. “This time, I’m here for the fun.”
The prof is not slacking off, though. With the advent of satellites and massive radio telescopes, “There’s not a whole lot of science you can do” during a total eclipse today, Shemmer says.
One of the last major pieces of science involved in the observation of a total eclipse was the Eddington experiment in 1919. British astronomers Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington organized expeditions to South America and Africa to photograph starlight visible near the sun during totality. They were able to measure how much the starlight was deflected by the sun’s gravity, proving calculations made by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity.
In the science world, that was a BFD that helped make Einstein a household name.
But minus the science, what drives an astronomer such as Shemmer, who has seen total eclipses in Africa, Turkey and Wyoming, to chase the path of an eclipse?
As an educator, Shemmer likes to teach by analogy. One Sunday in early February, he says, he was unable to park at his house because of parties at his neighbors’ homes. “Some people were playing football, I heard,” he says, referring to the Super Bowl. He’s not a fan. But a total eclipse? “To me, that’s the real Super Bowl,” Shemmer says.
The last total eclipse visible in Texas was in 1878, and the next one that will be visible in Dallas won’t come for another 300 years. Sadly, for Cowboys fans, Shemmer’s Super Bowl analogy might hit a little too close to the bone.
Shemmer’s not alone in his desire to see the eclipse. We asked Visit Dallas, the city’s convention bureau, what sort of uptick in visitors Dallas can expect during the eclipse.
“Predictions for this can be a bit tricky,” Visit Dallas’ director of communications, Zane Harrington, replied by email. “So while we don’t have exact estimates on the anticipated number of visitors or occupancy, we asked our national mobile vendor, Placer, to create a measurement for Nashville during the 2017 eclipse to create a solid estimate of increased activity during the eclipse (since Nashville was the largest city in the direct path at this time).
“When comparing the entire city to the week before and after the eclipse, Nashville saw a 35% bump above expected visitation levels. When focused on visitors beyond 50 miles, the bump was almost 70% above expected without the eclipse.”
Traci Mayer with the Hotel Association of North Texas told the Observer that local hotels are reporting a surge of interest in bookings for April 7–8, with some properties already sold out.
“We do think it will be a big impact on our hotels and the region,” she wrote.
The solar event is also affecting airlines. The Dallas Morning News reported: “Round-trip airfare to DFW International Airport from any U.S. airport is averaging anywhere from $258 to $407 for April 5 to April 8. At Dallas Love Field, round-trip airfare for the same timeframe averages $645 to $1,126.”
That may sound a bit pricey to see four minutes of darkness, but Shemmer enthusiastically assures us there’s more to it than that: When totality comes, the air feels a little chillier, a breeze might kick up, animals stir and the people around you react with awe. “Just look around and join the feeling,” he suggests. “… Admire nature like art.”
He also suggests you have backup plans with multiple possible viewing locations in the event of partly cloudy skies. Luckily, Dallas is prepared with many hotels and locations planning eclipse-themed events. Those at the Perot Museum of Science and Nature, Dallas Arboretum and Frontiers of Flight Museum are booked up, but several downtown hotels are offering viewing parties from their rooftops. Below is a partial list of other likely spots to catch the show. Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, looking at the eclipse without proper eye protection is a likely way to damage your vision. Find out about how to safely view the eclipse from NASA.
Dallas is a prime spot to see April’s total solar eclipse, but pray for sunny weather. The next one in this area won’t come for about 300 years.
NASA
Mesquite Solar Rodeo
The city of Mesquite is hosting a three-day celebration presented by Canadian Solar, a solar technology and renewable energy company. (The city boasts it will see 4 minutes and 8 seconds of totality, the longest period in Dallas-Fort Worth and a full 17 second longer than downtown Dallas.) But don’t go just for those extra seconds of darkness. The Solar Rodeo weekend kicks off on Saturday with a downtown farmers market, a rodeo parade downtown starting at 10 a.m. and a free street dance and block party at 100 W. Front St. from 6 to 11 p.m. At 1 p.m. Sunday, a screening of a documentary about eclipses will take place at Russell Planetarium, 2501 Memorial Blvd.; a solar roller disco happens from 2 to 5 p.m. at Broadway Skateland, 3022 Moon Drive; and a Tejano Fest with music from Grupo Siggno, Grupo Metal, Gary Hobbs and more is at Mesquite Arena, 1818 Rodeo Drive. Whew. Finally, on Monday, April 8, the city is home to five watch parties: downtown, Paschall Park, Opal Lawrence Historical Park, Mesquite Arts Center and Dallas College’s Eastfield campus. Most events are free and offer free viewing glasses while supplies last, or you can find them at the Mesquite Visitor Center, 111 S. Broad St. See a full schedule at thesolarrodeo.com.
Downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas Inc. is also making a full weekend of it. Friday, April 5, brings the third annual Video Art Night in conjunction with AURORA at Pegasus Plaza, 1500 Main St. The free event includes live jazz, a DJ, a cash bar and “a curated video art program that merges art, technology and the public realm.” The Downtown Dallas Art Festival takes place at multiple locations, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, April 6, and 10 a.m to 6 p.m., Sunday, April 7. On Monday, April 8, DDI joins with the Morning News to throw an eclipse watch party from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. in Main Street Garden, 1902 Main St. (Editor’s note: After publication, a helpful reader sent us some images from Google Earth that show Main Street Park to be in the shadow of the Statler Hotel at the time of totality, so you might plan on wandering away from this party for a bit. You won’t have to go far.)
The Lunar Light: Discovery
In addition to its regularly scheduled mixed-reality missions on the moon that let patrons experience a virtual trip to the moon, the organization is hosting a free eclipse party from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at 5835 LBJ Freeway, at the old Valley View Mall location.
Samuell Farm
The Dallas park’s Totality Dallas: A Total Eclipse Festival offers a full weekend of activities, including overnight camping, daily recreation and educational activities inspired by the eclipse, and an eclipse store where you can get glasses to view the eclipse safely. Camping passes are $100–$250, and day passes to the park are $5. It’s located at 100 U.S. 80, Mesquite.
Sun, Moon, and You
With 92,100 seats and no roof, the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park is an ideal place to view the eclipse, so NASA has teamed with the National Science Foundation and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) to put on a free eclipse celebration. Sun, Moon, and You will include talks from scientists and astronomers along with space explorer characters from the PBS show Ready, Jet, Go. There will also be tents from STEM-related organizations, where you can participate in activities and hands-on experiments.
Total Eclipse of the Arts
The AT&T Performing Arts Center is offering a free eclipse viewing event beginning at 11:30 a.m. with music from The Revelers Hall Band, Corina Grove and DJ Jet Jaguar. It all happens at Sammons Park, 2403 Flora St.
Total Eclipse of the Park
This daylong event in Addison Circle Park includes yoga in the park, live music, food trucks and more. The park is at 4970 Addison Circle, Addison.
Historic Grapevine
Come to downtown Grapevine for a celebration that includes themed music throughout the Historic Main Street District and photos with costumed galactic characters. Several bars and restaurants in the district are creating special eclipse-themed drinks and dishes, and Grapevine is offering a VIP experience in Peace Plaza, where stargazers get front-row seats to live, themed music, food and drink at Harvest Hall and a swag bag loaded with $275 worth of eclipse souvenirs. Tickets are, naturally, $275.
NASA’s Voyager 1 probe departed Earth almost 47 years ago, and now it may be nearing the end of its life.
Voyager 1, recognizable in photos and artistic renderings by its iconic radio dish and long antennae, was launched in 1977 to study the solar system and interstellar space. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 exited the solar system’s heliosphere—the region around the sun where its solar winds are strongest—and officially left the solar system to begin its voyage in interstellar space. According to NASA, the probe is currently over 162 astronomical units (AU), or 15 billion miles, from Earth, making it the most distant human-made object ever launched.
Now, Voyager’s communication system is failing, and scientists aren’t sure how much longer the probe will last.
Since last November, the probe has been sending garbled binary messages that don’t make any sense. “It basically stopped talking to us in a coherent manner,” Voyager 1’s project manager Suzanne Dodd told NPR. Dodd said the communication issue is a “serious problem.”
It’s no surprise to scientists that Voyager 1’s aging computer systems are reaching the end of their life. Astonishingly, NPR reports that the computing power of Voyager’s systems is less than that of a modern car’s key fob. “It’s remarkable that [the Voyager probes] keep flying, and that they’ve flown for 46-plus years,” Dodd said.
Scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab are currently seeing if they can fix Voyager’s communication problem. However, the probe is only expected to last for another few years. After that, it will lifelessly coast through the interstellar medium.
Voyager 1 isn’t just a probe—it’s a symbol of hope
Voyager 1 famously carries a gold-plated record, which holds sounds from Earth, greetings from world leaders, and scientific information for any aliens who might one day encounter the probe. Chances of actual alien contact are pretty slim, but the probe and its payload have long been seen as a symbol of exploration and goodwill toward any neighbors we might have in the galaxy.
Voyager 1’s photos have become powerful symbols, too. The probe did flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn’s moon Titan before leaving the solar system. Its most famous photo, though, is the Pale Blue Dot that astronomer Carl Sagan masterminded. Voyager took that photo in 1990, when it turned its camera around to take one last photo of the Earth before its departure from the solar system. The Earth appears as a tiny speck in a yellow band of light.
(NASA, via Wikimedia Commons)
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest,” Sagan wrote in his 1994 book, Pale Blue Dot. “But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives …. every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Voyager 1, no matter how much longer it lasts, is a poignant reminder of the hopes and dreams all collected on that little mote of dust.
(via NPR, featured image: Voyager 1 and CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Julia Glassman (she/her) holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been covering feminism and media since 2007. As a staff writer for The Mary Sue, Julia covers Marvel movies, folk horror, sci fi and fantasy, film and TV, comics, and all things witchy. Under the pen name Asa West, she’s the author of the popular zine ‘Five Principles of Green Witchcraft’ (Gods & Radicals Press). You can check out more of her writing at <a href=”https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/”>https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/.</a>
November 11-15, 1966 – Serves as the commander of Gemini 12, with pilot Buzz Aldrin.
December 21-27, 1968 – Along with crewmen Borman and William Anders, Lovell serves as command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon.
April 11-17, 1970 – Serves as commander of Apollo 13 with crew John Swigert and Fred Haise. An explosion two days into the flight causes the mission to be aborted, and the remaining time is spent working towards returning to Earth safely.
April 18, 1970 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
November 2011 –An Apollo 13 checklist that Lovell used for calculations sells at auction for $388,375. After the sale, NASA questions whether Lovell had the right to sell the checklist.
January 2012 – NASA Chief Charles Bolden meets with Lovell and other astronauts to discuss to work out the issue of artifact ownership. No agreement is reached.
September 2012 – President Barack Obama signs a bill into law giving NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts full ownership rights to the artifacts they collected from their missions.
Europa, one of Jupiter’s 95 moons, generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Monday.
It’s enough oxygen to keep a million humans breathing each day, but it’s substantially less than scientists previously believed existed, researchers said. The amount of oxygen could impact the moon’s underground ocean, which is thought to contain twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Europa, the sixth-closest moon to Jupiter, is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, according to NASA. Like Earth, Europa is believed to have a rocky mantle and an iron core.
The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, show Europa’s producing around 26 pounds of oxygen every second. Scientists previously estimated that the moon could be producing more than 2,000 pounds of oxygen every second.
The newest estimate was made based on the amount of hydrogen being released from Europa’s surface. The data was gathered by NASA’s space probe Juno, which flew by Europa in 2022.
“Juno brought a new capability to directly measure the composition of charged particles shed from Europa’s atmosphere, and we couldn’t wait to further peek behind the curtain of this exciting water world,” lead author James Szalay of Princeton University said. “But what we didn’t realize is that Juno’s observations would give us such a tight constraint on the amount of oxygen produced in Europa’s icy surface.”
Though the planet has oxygen, it wouldn’t necessarily be a safe place for humans — and not just because of a lack of breathable air.
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The question of human exploration at Europa is a very complex one,” Szalay said in an email. “The radiation is extremely intense at Europa and estimates suggest an astronaut within a space suit would not be able to survive more than a day on the surface solely due to this intense radiation. So they’d probably have even bigger problems than oxygen in such an environment.”
NASA’s Juno, launched in 2011, has been probing Jupiter since 2016.
“Determining the amount of water – and therefore oxygen – in the gas giant is important not only for understanding how the planet formed, but also how heavy elements were transferred across the solar system,” according to NASA’s Juno mission. “These heavy elements were crucial for the existence of rocky planets like Earth – and life.”
“Since Jupiter is the best example of a gas giant that we have, learning its history will help us understand the hundreds of giant planets we’ve discovered orbiting other stars,” the mission added.
NASA plans to launch Europa Clipper on Oct. 10, 2024, to conduct “detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter’s moon Europa and investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.”
The space agency says that Europa “may be the most promising place in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth.”
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
American astronauts aren’t heading back to the moon just yet. NASA’s pricey Artemis mission is facing technical challenges. The space agency is now working with both SpaceX and Blue Origin.
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Less than 24 hours after launching a crew of four on a flight to the International Space Station, SpaceX launched 53 commercial satellites from California on Monday, including an innovative methane emissions monitor built by a nonprofit, then fired off 23 more of its own Starlink satellites from Florida.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Sunday night from the Kennedy Space Center, kicking off a 28-hour flight to deliver three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the orbiting laboratory.
With the Crew Dragon on course for docking at 3 a.m. EST Tuesday, another Falcon 9 blasted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 5:05 p.m. EST Monday and climbed away to the south toward an orbit around Earth’s poles.
A Falcon 9 blasts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles carrying 53 “rideshare” payloads bound for polar orbit.
SpaceX
On board were 53 small satellites owned by a variety of vendors booked on SpaceX’s 10th “rideshare” mission, flights intended to give smaller operators an opportunity to launch relatively modest payloads and satellites at relatively low cost. SpaceX charges $300,000 to launch a 110-pound payload and $6,000 for each additional pound.
One of the satellites launched Monday — MethaneSAT — was developed by a subsidiary of the Environmental Defense Fund to measure methane emissions across wide swaths of land and sea using a high-resolution infrared instrument. The idea is to identify previously undetected releases from oil and gas operations and other sources. It is the first such satellite to be built by a nonprofit organization.
“Everybody thought it was crazy,” Steven Hamburg, EDF chief scientist and MethaneSAT project leader, was quoted by The New York Times. “I thought it was crazy, to be honest.”
But the group managed to raise $88 million from a variety of donors, including the government of New Zealand and the Bezos Earth Fund, to get the washing machine-size satellite built.
“MethaneSAT’s superpower is the ability to precisely measure methane levels with high resolution over wide areas, including smaller, diffuse sources that account for most emissions in many regions,” Hamburg said in a statement. “Knowing how much methane is coming from where and how the rates are changing is essential” for climate modeling.
The rideshare satellites were released from the Falcon 9’s second stage as planned over the course of about an hour and 40 minutes, with MethaneSat the last to be released.
Another Falcon 9 blasted off in dense fog from Cape Canaveral, boosting 23 more Starlink internet relay satellites into orbit. A long-range tracking camera captured the surrealistic exhaust plume from the rocket’s nine first stage engines as it climbed out of the lower atmosphere.
Pete Carstens/Spaceflight Now
Before the Transporter 10 deployments were complete, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:56 p.m., sending 23 more Starlink broadband relay stations into space and boosting the total launched to date to 5,942.
The first stage used for the rideshare mission, making its fifth flight, flew itself back to an on-target landing at Vandenberg after boosting the upper stage and payloads out of the lower atmosphere. The Starlink booster landed on an off-shore droneship. SpaceX has now successfully carried out 281 first stage recoveries, the last 207 in a row.
With the Starlink flight, SpaceX launched three Falcon 9s within 20 hours and two within just one hour and 51 minutes, a new record for the California rocket builder. The company plans to launch more than 140 Falcon-family rockets this year.
Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.
NASA still has plenty of cool projects afoot in the real world—did you hear about that asteroid-redirecting test? Or those space-friendly cameras?—but it’s also trying to stir imaginations in fantastically creative ways, too. Enter The Lost Universe, the agency’s first-ever tabletop roleplaying game.
What Will VR Solve, Anyway?
Its first what now? Yes, a TTRPG crafted at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with a gameplay instructional booklet currently available for free download here (plus a Tolkien-esque map); it’s for 4-7 level 7-10 characters, and is touted as being compatible which whichever game system you prefer for gathering parties and venturing forth. Here’s the pitch: “A dark mystery has settled over the city of Aldastron on the rogue planet of Exlaris. Researchers dedicated to studying the cosmos have disappeared, and the Hubble Space Telescope has vanished from Earth’s timeline. Only an ambitious crew of adventurers can uncover what was lost. Are you up to the challenge?”
There’s an educational element lurking here—“take on a classic villain (while also using and learning science skills!) as you overcome challenges and embark on an exciting quest to unlock more knowledge about our universe”—which feels both obvious as well as something that cleverly exploits the Venn diagram encompassing “TTRPG fans” and “science lovers.” Which is to say, a lot of folks!
NASA shared a video for added excitement, which you can see below. Will you be blasting off to The Lost Universe?
Welcome to The Lost Universe: NASA’s First Tabletop Role-playing Game
First, a report on barricades and battles on the Texas border. Then, a look at why Beaufort banned five books from school libraries. And, a report on the challenges NASA faces going back to the moon.
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A small robotic lander built by a private company and carrying a scientific payload for NASA touched down near the south pole of the moon 11 days ago… and promptly tipped over on its side. Even so, it’s the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years.
NASA has a much more ambitious lunar program – called Artemis – which aims to send people back to the moon, to establish an outpost at the south pole, and to push on from there to Mars.
We previewed Artemis here in 2021, but there are significant questions now about the program’s costs and its timetable. In January NASA announced its new target for a manned landing – late 2026 – a year later than planned. but as we discovered, even that may be unrealistic.
When Artemis I soared into space in November of 2022, it was the beginning of a nearly flawless mission. In its first test flight, NASA’s new space launch system rocket sent an empty Orion crew capsule on a 1.4 million mile flyby of the moon before a picture-perfect return to Earth.
The next flight – Artemis II – meant to carry four astronauts on a lunar flyby – was supposed to launch this year, and then a year later Artemis III would land the first woman and first person of color on the moon. It’s not working out quite that way.
George Scott: I think it is safe to say, without significant reductions in cost, better cost controls, better planning, this Artemis program on its current trajectory is not sustainable.
George Scott is NASA’s acting inspector general. Don’t be misled by the ‘acting’; he’s been a top agency watchdog for more than five years. While NASA’s engineers have their heads in the stars, it’s his job to bring them back to Earth, particularly when it comes to costs.
George Scott is NASA’s acting inspector general.
60 Minutes
George Scott: Right now, we’re– we’re estimating that per launch– the Artemis campaign will cost $4.2 billion per launch.
Bill Whitaker: Per launch?
George Scott: Per launch. That’s an incredible amount of money per launch. A lot of that hardware is just going to end up in the ocean, never to be used again.
Bill Whitaker: The– inspector general for NASA says that the costs for the Artemis program are simply unsustainable. Is he wrong?
Jim Free: We didn’t necessarily agree with their conclusions. We, we feel like we’ve taken an affordable path to do these missions.
Jim Free is NASA’s associate administrator, and directly in charge of Artemis. We met him at historic Launch Pad 39b, from which both Apollo and Artemis rockets have flown.
Jim Free: We believe that the rocket we have is best matched for the mission and frankly the only one in the world that can take crews to the moon.
But as George Scott said, most components of that SLS rocket end up in the ocean; they’re not reusable. And with the goal of building an outpost on the moon, Artemis will need a lot of those $4.2 billion rockets!
Bill Whitaker: It’s going to take launch after launch after launch to get all that stuff up there.
Jim Free: Yes. So the number of launches is daunting. But it’s– it’s hard to get people to the moon.
When America sent Neil Armstrong and 11 more astronauts to the moon a half century ago, they got to the lunar surface aboard landers…owned and operated by NASA.
Bill Whitaker: You’re taking a different approach this time than with Apollo. What’s– what’s the difference this time?
Jim Free: The difference is we’re buying it as a service. We’re paying someone to take our crews down and take them up.
Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator, at the historic launch pad 39B.
60 Minutes
That someone is Elon Musk. In 2021, NASA signed a nearly $3 billion contract with his SpaceX to use its new Starship mega-rocket as the lunar lander for the first Artemis astronauts.
SpaceX is preparing for its third Starship launch atop its enormous super-heavy booster. The first two launches both ended in roughly the same way.
Announcer (during SpaceX broadcast): As you can see, the super-heavy booster has just experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
Bill Whitaker: And now you’ve seen some of the perils of relying on SpaceX.
Jim Free: We’ve seen some of the challenges they’ve had on Starship. We need them to launch several times– to give us the confidence that we can put our crews on there.
Bill Whitaker: But right now, as we sit here today, you have no way of getting the astronauts to the surface of the moon because of these problems that SpaceX has faced?
Jim Free: Because they haven’t– they haven’t hit the technical milestones.
SpaceX’s stated plan is to first put its Starship lander into low earth orbit, then launch 10 more starship tankers to pump rocket fuel into the lander in space…
… before sending it onward to meet astronauts in lunar orbit.
Bill Whitaker: And this has never been done before?
Jim Free: There’s been small-scale transfers in orbit, but not of this magnitude.
Bill Whitaker: It just sounds incredibly complicated.
Jim Free: It– it is complicated. There’s no doubt about that. It’s d– you don’t– you just– just launch ten times kind of on a whim.
George Scott: If it’s never been done before, chances are it’s going to take longer than you think to do it, and to do it successfully, and– and prove that technology before we trust putting humans on it. There is a long way to go.
NASA Artemis rocket
NASA
NASA’s contract with SpaceX requires the company to make an un-manned lunar landing with Starship before trying one with astronauts on board. But NASA still says the manned mission can happen in two and a half years.
Bill Whitaker: And that just seems like the time frame we’re talking about, the end of 2026, seems ambitious to say the least.
Jim Free: What we’re doing is ambitious And it’s a great goal to have. To do that–
Bill Whitaker: Is the goal realistic?
Jim Free: I believe it is. I– I believe it is.
Jim Free’s optimism is based on SpaceX’s track record with its smaller Falcon rocket.
Once it got the Falcon up and running, it demonstrated it can launch a lot – 96 times last year alone, with both commercial and government payloads. But so far Starship has yet to reach orbit even once.
Bill Whitaker: Does that concern you, that that’s going to keep pushing that timeline back further–
Jim Free: Of course it absolutely concerns me because we need them to launch multiple times.
SpaceX ignored our multiple requests for an interview or comment. But in an interview with “The Daily Wire” in January, Elon Musk said this:
Elon Musk (in “Daily Wire” interview): We’re hoping to have first humans on the moon in less than 5 years.
Jim Free: My view of that is we have a contract with SpaceX that says they’re going to launch our crew in the end of 2026.
Why does it really matter when we get back to the moon? Here’s why: China has said it plans to send its “taikonauts” to the moon by the end of the decade, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has publicly expressed concern.
Bill Nelson (during 8/8/23 briefing): Naturally, I don’t want China to get to the South Pole first with humans and then say, “This is ours, stay out.”
To ensure that the U.S. will plant its flag first, NASA signed a new $3 billion contract last year with Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, to build another lunar lander. And Jim Free is crystal clear that he sees it as an option if SpaceX Starships keep blowing up.
Jim Free: If we have a problem with one– we– we’ll have another one to rely on. If we have– a dependency on a particular aspect in– in SpaceX or Blue Origin and it doesn’t work out, then we have another lander that can take our crews.
In this battle of the star-gazing billionaires, Bezos’ Blue Origin has far fewer launches than Musk’s SpaceX, and has been far quieter about its ambitions… until now.
John Couluris: So what we’re looking to do is not only get to the moon and back, but make it reliable, and repeatable, and low cost.
Blue Origins’s John Couluris shows Bill Whitaker around Blue Origin’s Florida complex, just next to the Kennedy Space Center.
60 Minutes
John Couluris’s title at Blue Origin is “senior vice president of lunar permanence,” and it says a lot about the company’s ambition.
John Couluris: The landers that Blue Origin’s going to be building are reusable. We’ll launch them to lunar orbit. And we’ll leave them there. And we’ll refuel them in orbit, so that– multiple astronauts can use the same vehicle back and forth.
Our cameras were among the first to be allowed inside Blue Origin’s huge complex in Florida, just next to Kennedy Space Center.
Bill Whitaker: This is where the future is being built.
John Couluris: That’s right. This is the main factory floor for the New Glenn rocket.
New Glenn is Blue Origin’s first heavy lift rocket. Its maiden launch will be sometime this year.
John Couluris: So you can see over here we have three different second stages already in build here.
The first New Glenn is already out at Blue Origin’s launch complex. It’s designed to carry all sorts of payloads, including the lunar lander being built for NASA.
John Couluris: So this is the Mark 1 lander. We call this our small lander.
Bill Whitaker: This is the small one?
John Couluris: Yes.
It’s actually a mock-up of their cargo lander, in Blue Origin’s Florida lobby. John Couluris used to work at SpaceX, and he came over to Blue to help speed things up.
Bill Whitaker: Is there a bit of a space race between you and SpaceX?
John Couluris: So the country needs competition. We need options. Competition brings innovation.
Illustration of a Blue Origin lander
Blue Origin
Bill Whitaker: But you haven’t had anything close to the accomplishments that SpaceX has had at this point, have you?
John Couluris: SpaceX has done some amazing things. And they’ve changed the narrative for access to space. And Blue Origin’s looking to do the same. This lander, we’re expecting to land on the moon between 12 and 16 months from today.
Bill Whitaker: 12 and 16 months from today–
John Couluris: Yes. Yes. And I understand I’m saying that publicly. But that’s what our team is aiming towards.
Bill Whitaker: But that’s for, that’s for the cargo lander. What about humans?
John Couluris: For humans, we’re working with NASA on the Artemis V mission. That’s planned for 2029.
That’s not so different from Elon Musk’s forecast of when SpaceX can land humans back on the moon… even if it doesn’t match NASA’s. Like the Starship, Blue Origin’s lander will require in-space re-fueling, but Couluris insists that it and their rocket will help NASA trim costs.
John Couluris: Our New Glenn vehicle will be– a reusable vehicle from its first mission. That lander for the astronauts is a reusable lander. So now you’re not just taking the equipment and throwing it away. You’re reusing it for the next mission.
Bill Whitaker: You do it again, and again, and again. Is that where the cost savings comes in?
John Couluris: Exactly. We are now building with NASA, the infrastructure to ensure lunar permanency.
Bill Whitaker: You have said that the Artemis program is the beginning, not the end. Tell me, what is the future you see?
Jim Free: I see us landing on Mars. Absolutely see us landing on Mars. But we have to work through the moon to get to mars.
Bill Whitaker: These are magnificent goals, you know, going back to the moon, going to Mars. Do we have the ability to do what we’re dreaming of doing?
George Scott: You know, this is NASA. Right? This agency is destined to continue to do great things. There’s no question about that. What we’re telling the agency is, “Just be more realistic.” There’s nothing wrong with being optimistic. In fact, it’s required. Right? In this business, optimism is required. The question is though, can you also be more realistic?
Produced by Rome Hartman. Associate producer, Sara Kuzmarov. Broadcast associate, Mariah B. Campbell. Edited by Craig Crawford.
Bill Whitaker is an award-winning journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent who has covered major news stories, domestically and across the globe, for more than four decades with CBS News.
