The first full moon of 2026 rises this weekend and it just so happens to be one of only three supermoons this year.
What You Need To Know
The ‘Wolf Moon’ rises this weekend
It will one of only three supermoons this year
Saturday evening will be the best time to see it across the U.S.
January’s full moon, called the ‘Wolf Moon’, will brighten the night sky throughout this weekend. It technically will peak at 5:03 a.m. ET Saturday morning, but the best time to see it will be after it rises above the horizon that evening.
The ‘Wolf Moon’ also happens to be a supermoon this year. This occurs when the moon is closer to earth (parigee) so it appears larger and brighter than normal. You’ll have to wait until November to see the next supermoon.
Visibility looks good across the Central U.S. Saturday evening, but clouds could be an issue on the opposite coasts.
Potential cloud coverage Saturday evening across the U.S. (weathermodels.com)
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the full moon gets its name due to it being a time you can hear the call of wolves. Though we know that happens year-round, the vocal calls of wolves can be haunting during the winter months.
Other names given by various Native American tribes include Cold Moon (Cree), Center Moon (Assiniboin), and Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin).
The next full moon will be the Full Snow Moon which will occur on Sunday, February 1st.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
The first full moon of 2026 rises this weekend and it just so happens to be one of only three supermoons this year.
What You Need To Know
The ‘Wolf Moon’ rises this weekend
It will one of only three supermoons this year
Saturday evening will be the best time to see it across the U.S.
January’s full moon, called the ‘Wolf Moon’, will brighten the night sky throughout this weekend. It technically will peak at 5:03 a.m. ET Saturday morning, but the best time to see it will be after it rises above the horizon that evening.
The ‘Wolf Moon’ also happens to be a supermoon this year. This occurs when the moon is closer to earth (parigee) so it appears larger and brighter than normal. You’ll have to wait until November to see the next supermoon.
Visibility looks good across the Central U.S. Saturday evening, but clouds could be an issue on the opposite coasts.
Potential cloud coverage Saturday evening across the U.S. (weathermodels.com)
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the full moon gets its name due to it being a time you can hear the call of wolves. Though we know that happens year-round, the vocal calls of wolves can be haunting during the winter months.
Other names given by various Native American tribes include Cold Moon (Cree), Center Moon (Assiniboin), and Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin).
The next full moon will be the Full Snow Moon which will occur on Sunday, February 1st.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
The first full moon of 2026 rises this weekend and it just so happens to be one of only three supermoons this year.
What You Need To Know
The ‘Wolf Moon’ rises this weekend
It will one of only three supermoons this year
Saturday evening will be the best time to see it across the U.S.
January’s full moon, called the ‘Wolf Moon’, will brighten the night sky throughout this weekend. It technically will peak at 5:03 a.m. ET Saturday morning, but the best time to see it will be after it rises above the horizon that evening.
The ‘Wolf Moon’ also happens to be a supermoon this year. This occurs when the moon is closer to earth (parigee) so it appears larger and brighter than normal. You’ll have to wait until November to see the next supermoon.
Visibility looks good across the Central U.S. Saturday evening, but clouds could be an issue on the opposite coasts.
Potential cloud coverage Saturday evening across the U.S. (weathermodels.com)
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the full moon gets its name due to it being a time you can hear the call of wolves. Though we know that happens year-round, the vocal calls of wolves can be haunting during the winter months.
Other names given by various Native American tribes include Cold Moon (Cree), Center Moon (Assiniboin), and Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin).
The next full moon will be the Full Snow Moon which will occur on Sunday, February 1st.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
The first full moon of 2026 rises this weekend and it just so happens to be one of only three supermoons this year.
What You Need To Know
The ‘Wolf Moon’ rises this weekend
It will one of only three supermoons this year
Saturday evening will be the best time to see it across the U.S.
January’s full moon, called the ‘Wolf Moon’, will brighten the night sky throughout this weekend. It technically will peak at 5:03 a.m. ET Saturday morning, but the best time to see it will be after it rises above the horizon that evening.
The ‘Wolf Moon’ also happens to be a supermoon this year. This occurs when the moon is closer to earth (parigee) so it appears larger and brighter than normal. You’ll have to wait until November to see the next supermoon.
Visibility looks good across the Central U.S. Saturday evening, but clouds could be an issue on the opposite coasts.
Potential cloud coverage Saturday evening across the U.S. (weathermodels.com)
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the full moon gets its name due to it being a time you can hear the call of wolves. Though we know that happens year-round, the vocal calls of wolves can be haunting during the winter months.
Other names given by various Native American tribes include Cold Moon (Cree), Center Moon (Assiniboin), and Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin).
The next full moon will be the Full Snow Moon which will occur on Sunday, February 1st.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Space Coast saw a record number of launches of 109 for 2025. That shattered the previous tally of 93 last year.
As for the future, 45th Space Launch Delta Commander Brian Chatman said the current record could be broken soon.
What You Need To Know
The Space Coast saw a record number of launches of 109 for 2025
That shattered the previous tally of 93 last year
With more companies taking to the skies, there are plans for more launch pads to be activated in the new year
The number of launches could eventually reach 300 a year by 2035
“I think we’re going to break a hundred again next year; it’s going to be great, somewhere between 100 and 120 right now for calendar year 2026,” Chatman said.
In addition to players like SpaceX with more Falcon 9 launches, and the company’s Starship planned for a 2026 Space Coast launch, NASA’s Artemis II mission is cued up for a potential February mission.
Blue Origin is also prepping for its second New Glenn heavy-lift rocket launch.
Smaller rising stars like Relativity, Stoke, Vaya and Phantom Space are gearing up for launches in the coming year.
With more companies taking to the skies, there are plans for more launch pads to be activated in the new year. Six of them are currently operational at Kennedy Space Center and elsewhere in Cape Canaveral.
“We have worked very tightly with the launch service providers, the different government agencies here at Cape Canaveral, and with Kennedy Space Center, to identify and maximize those efficiencies, to minimize the logistical challenges and constraints that will come in with that ops tempo,” Chatman said.
The number of launches could eventually reach 300 per year by 2035.
Kicking off the year’s cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years as well as a caravan of robotic lunar landers including Jeff Bezos’ new supersized Blue Moon. A supermoon looms on Jan. 3 and an astronomical blue moon is on the books for May.
The sun will also generate buzz with a ring-of-fire eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the top of the world in August. Expect more auroras in unexpected places, though perhaps not as frequently as the past couple years.
And that comet that strayed into our turf from another star? While still visible with powerful backyard telescopes, the recently discovered comet known as 3I/Atlas is fading by the day after swinging past Earth in December. Jupiter is next on its dance card in March. Once the icy outsider departs our solar system a decade from now, it will be back where it belongs in interstellar space.
It’s our third known interstellar visitor. Scientists anticipate more.
“I can’t believe it’s taken this long to find three,” said NASA’s Paul Chodas, who’s been on the lookout since the 1980s. And with ever better technology, “the chance of catching another interstellar visitor will increase.”
Here’s a rundown on what the universe has in store for us in 2026:
Next stop, moon
NASA’s upcoming moonshot commander Reid Wiseman said there’s a good chance he and his crew will be the first to lay eyeballs on large swaths of the lunar far side that were missed by the Apollo astronauts a half-century ago. Their observations could be a boon for geologists, he noted, and other experts picking future landing sites.
Launching early in the year, the three Americans and one Canadian will zip past the moon, do a U-turn behind it, then hustle straight back to Earth to close out their 10-day mission. No stopping for a moonwalk — the boot prints will be left by the next crew in NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program.
More robotic moon landings are on the books by China as well as U.S. companies. Early in the year, Amazon founder Bezos is looking for his Blue Origin rocket company to launch a prototype of the lunar lander it’s designing for NASA’s astronauts. This Blue Moon demo will stand 26 feet (8 meters), taller than what delivered Apollo’s 12 moonwalkers to the lunar surface. The Blue Moon version for crew will be almost double that height.
Back for another stab at the moon, Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are also targeting 2026 landings with scientific gear. The only private entity to nail a lunar landing, Firefly Aerospace, will aim for the moon’s far side in 2026.
China is targeting the south polar region in the new year, sending a rover as well as a so-called hopper to jump into permanently shadowed craters in search of ice.
Eclipses
The cosmos pulls out all the stops with a total solar eclipse on Aug. 12 that will begin in the Arctic and cross over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Totality will last two minutes and 18 seconds as the moon moves directly between Earth and the sun to blot out the latter. By contrast, the total solar eclipse in 2027 will offer a whopping 6 1/2 minutes of totality and pass over more countries.
For 2026, the warm-up act will be a ring-of-fire eclipse in the Antarctic on Feb. 17, with only a few research stations in prime viewing position. South Africa and southernmost Chile and Argentina will have partial viewing. A total lunar eclipse will follow two weeks after February’s ring of fire, with a partial lunar eclipse closing out the action at the end of August.
Shallow cumulus clouds tend to disappear early on in a solar eclipse. Scientists think they now know why.
Parading planets
Six of the solar system’s eight planets will prance across the sky in a must-see lineup around Feb. 28. A nearly full moon is even getting into the act, appearing alongside Jupiter. Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or telescopes. But Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible with the naked eye shortly after sunset, weather permitting, though Mercury and Venus will be low on the horizon.
Mars will be the lone no-show. The good news is that the red planet will join a six-planet parade in August, with Venus the holdout.
Supermoons
Three supermoons will lighten up the night skies in 2026, the stunning result when a full moon inches closer to Earth than usual as it orbits in a not-quite-perfect circle. Appearing bigger and brighter, supermoons are a perennial crowd pleaser requiring no equipment, only your eyes.
The year’s first supermoon in January coincides with a meteor shower, but the moonlight likely will obscure the dimmer fireballs. The second supermoon of 2026 won’t occur until Nov. 24, with the third — the year’s final and closest supermoon — occurring the night of Dec. 23 into Dec. 24. This Christmas Eve supermoon will pass within 221,668 miles (356,740 kilometers) of Earth.
Northern and southern lights
The sun is expected to churn out more eruptions in 2026 that could lead to geomagnetic storms here on Earth, giving rise to stunning aurora. Solar action should start to ease, however, with the 11-year solar cycle finally on the downslide.
Space weather forecasters like Rob Steenburgh at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can’t wait to tap into all the solar wind measurements coming soon from an observatory launched in the fall.
“2026 will be an exciting year for space weather enthusiasts,” he said in an email, with this new spacecraft and others helping scientists “better understand our nearest star and forecast its impacts.”
The Northern lights, also called an aurora borealis, are moving waves of lights seen in the night sky.
Kicking off the year’s cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years as well as a caravan of robotic lunar landers including Jeff Bezos’ new supersized Blue Moon. A supermoon looms on Jan. 3 and an astronomical blue moon is on the books for May.
The sun will also generate buzz with a ring-of-fire eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the top of the world in August. Expect more auroras in unexpected places, though perhaps not as frequently as the past couple years.
And that comet that strayed into our turf from another star? While still visible with powerful backyard telescopes, the recently discovered comet known as 3I/Atlas is fading by the day after swinging past Earth in December. Jupiter is next on its dance card in March. Once the icy outsider departs our solar system a decade from now, it will be back where it belongs in interstellar space.
It’s our third known interstellar visitor. Scientists anticipate more.
“I can’t believe it’s taken this long to find three,” said NASA’s Paul Chodas, who’s been on the lookout since the 1980s. And with ever better technology, “the chance of catching another interstellar visitor will increase.”
Here’s a rundown on what the universe has in store for us in 2026:
Next stop, moon
NASA’s upcoming moonshot commander Reid Wiseman said there’s a good chance he and his crew will be the first to lay eyeballs on large swaths of the lunar far side that were missed by the Apollo astronauts a half-century ago. Their observations could be a boon for geologists, he noted, and other experts picking future landing sites.
Launching early in the year, the three Americans and one Canadian will zip past the moon, do a U-turn behind it, then hustle straight back to Earth to close out their 10-day mission. No stopping for a moonwalk — the boot prints will be left by the next crew in NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program.
More robotic moon landings are on the books by China as well as U.S. companies. Early in the year, Amazon founder Bezos is looking for his Blue Origin rocket company to launch a prototype of the lunar lander it’s designing for NASA’s astronauts. This Blue Moon demo will stand 26 feet (8 meters), taller than what delivered Apollo’s 12 moonwalkers to the lunar surface. The Blue Moon version for crew will be almost double that height.
Back for another stab at the moon, Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are also targeting 2026 landings with scientific gear. The only private entity to nail a lunar landing, Firefly Aerospace, will aim for the moon’s far side in 2026.
China is targeting the south polar region in the new year, sending a rover as well as a so-called hopper to jump into permanently shadowed craters in search of ice.
Eclipses
The cosmos pulls out all the stops with a total solar eclipse on Aug. 12 that will begin in the Arctic and cross over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Totality will last two minutes and 18 seconds as the moon moves directly between Earth and the sun to blot out the latter. By contrast, the total solar eclipse in 2027 will offer a whopping 6 1/2 minutes of totality and pass over more countries.
For 2026, the warm-up act will be a ring-of-fire eclipse in the Antarctic on Feb. 17, with only a few research stations in prime viewing position. South Africa and southernmost Chile and Argentina will have partial viewing. A total lunar eclipse will follow two weeks after February’s ring of fire, with a partial lunar eclipse closing out the action at the end of August.
Shallow cumulus clouds tend to disappear early on in a solar eclipse. Scientists think they now know why.
Parading planets
Six of the solar system’s eight planets will prance across the sky in a must-see lineup around Feb. 28. A nearly full moon is even getting into the act, appearing alongside Jupiter. Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or telescopes. But Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible with the naked eye shortly after sunset, weather permitting, though Mercury and Venus will be low on the horizon.
Mars will be the lone no-show. The good news is that the red planet will join a six-planet parade in August, with Venus the holdout.
Supermoons
Three supermoons will lighten up the night skies in 2026, the stunning result when a full moon inches closer to Earth than usual as it orbits in a not-quite-perfect circle. Appearing bigger and brighter, supermoons are a perennial crowd pleaser requiring no equipment, only your eyes.
The year’s first supermoon in January coincides with a meteor shower, but the moonlight likely will obscure the dimmer fireballs. The second supermoon of 2026 won’t occur until Nov. 24, with the third — the year’s final and closest supermoon — occurring the night of Dec. 23 into Dec. 24. This Christmas Eve supermoon will pass within 221,668 miles (356,740 kilometers) of Earth.
Northern and southern lights
The sun is expected to churn out more eruptions in 2026 that could lead to geomagnetic storms here on Earth, giving rise to stunning aurora. Solar action should start to ease, however, with the 11-year solar cycle finally on the downslide.
Space weather forecasters like Rob Steenburgh at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can’t wait to tap into all the solar wind measurements coming soon from an observatory launched in the fall.
“2026 will be an exciting year for space weather enthusiasts,” he said in an email, with this new spacecraft and others helping scientists “better understand our nearest star and forecast its impacts.”
The Northern lights, also called an aurora borealis, are moving waves of lights seen in the night sky.
STARTS RIGHT NOW. AND SPLASHDOWN. CREW NINE BACK ON EARTH. BACK ON EARTH. BREAKING AS WE COME ON THE AIR AT SEVEN. WE JUST HEARD IT. HAVE SPLASHDOWN. NEEDHAM NATICK. SONNY WILLIAMS AND FELLOW ASTRONAUT BUTCH WILMORE ARE FINALLY BACK ON EARTH. MONTHS AND MONTHS AND MONTHS AFTER. ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED. AND TAKE A LOOK AT THIS. THIS IS NEW VIDEO INTO US JUST FROM A FEW MINUTES AGO. THAT IS SONNY WILLIAMS BEING HELPED FROM THE CAPSULE ONTO HER FEET ON THE SALVAGE SHIP THAT EIGHT DAY MISSION FINALLY COMING TO AN END AFTER 286 DAYS. THANKS FOR JOINING US TONIGHT, EVERYONE. I’M ED HARDING AND I’M MARIA STEPHANOS. WE DO HAVE TEAM COVERAGE OF THIS LANDING. SONNY’S NEEDHAM NEIGHBORS WATCHING ALL OF IT. LET’S BEGIN WITH OUR DANAE BUCCI OUTSIDE OF THE SUNITA WILLIAMS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. IN THE SENSE OF PRIDE NEEDHAM FEELS FOR SONNY WILLIAMS IS EVIDENT, AND EVERYONE IS LOOKING FORWARD TO HER SAFE RETURN HOME. WE’RE BOTH VERY, VERY EXCITED TO HAVE HER BACK ON HER SAFELY. SONNY WILLIAMS HAS BEEN IN SPACE SO LONG, HER MOTHER, BONNIE PANDYA AND HER OLDER SISTER DEENA ARE ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR HER RETURN. I FEEL LIKE, YOU KNOW, WE’RE A VERY ADAPTABLE AND WE WERE LIKE, GETTING USED TO SEEING HER EVERY WEEK ON THE SPACE STATION. IT’S BEEN AN UNEXPECTED NINE MONTH OUTER SPACE MISSION FOR THE NEEDHAM NATIVE. MY FAMILY MIGHT MAY BE A LITTLE UPSET, MAYBE A LITTLE CONCERNED, BUT USUALLY ASTRONAUT FAMILIES KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AND KNOW THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT COULD HAPPEN. THINGS GO WRONG ON ALMOST EVERY MISSION. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT SONNY IS LIKELY GOING THROUGH. MORE THAN RETIRED ASTRONAUT CHARLES CAMARDA, AND YOU’RE JUST ANTICIPATING SEEING YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR FRIENDS AND TELLING ALL THOSE GREAT STORIES. HE WORKED ALONGSIDE SONNY AND HER PARTNER BUTCH WILMORE FOR YEARS. BUTCH AND SONNY ARE THE TWO MOST POSITIVE PEOPLE IN THE ASTRONAUT OFFICE. THEY’RE ALWAYS SMILING. THEY’RE SO EXPERIENCED, THEY’RE PROS. BUT BEING IN SPACE FOR NINE MONTHS CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE BODY. THE HEART DOESN’T HAVE TO PUSH AGAINST GRAVITY, SO THE HEART GETS WEAKER. MUSCULOSKELETAL CHANGES, SO THE BONES BECOME WEAKER IN SPACE. DOCTOR LUCA PIZZA IS ON MASS GENERAL SPACE MEDICINE DIVISION. HE SAYS AS SOON AS SONNY AND HER PARTNER, BUTCH LAND OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA, THE TWO WILL BE MET WITH A TEAM OF DOCTORS. SO THE BODY’S GOTTEN USED TO NOT PUMPING THE BLOOD SO HARD IT’S GOTTEN USED TO NOT HOLDING THE BODY UP AGAINST GRAVITY. IT’S GOT TO RELEARN ALL THOSE THINGS. DOCTOR SAYS IT WILL TAKE MONTHS FOR BOTH BUTCH AND SONNY’S BODIES TO ACCLIMATE BACK TO EARTH. WE’RE LIVE IN NEEDHAM DANAE BUCCI WCVB, NEWSCENTER FIVE. AND A WATCH PARTY IS STILL GOING ON AT THIS HOUR. RIGHT AT SONNY’S HOMETOWN OF NEEDHAM. PEOPLE THERE CHEERED. WE COULD HEAR THEM FROM HERE. SO EXCITED TO HAVE THE WILLIAMS BACK HOME. OUR SONNY WILLIAMS BACK HOME. OUR JOHN ATWATER CONTINUES TONIGHT LIVE AT THE COMMON ROOM. JOHN AND MARIA. YEAH, SO MANY ROUNDS OF CHEERING TONIGHT. THE LATEST JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO WHEN WE SAW SONNY WILLIAMS EMERGE FROM THAT CAPSULE ABOUT AN HOUR AFTER SPLASHDOWN. SO IT’S BEEN A LOT OF EXCITEMENT HERE. YOU CAN SEE DOZENS OF PEOPLE HERE STILL AT THE COMMON ROOM TONIGHT. THEY ALL CAME HERE TO EXPERIENCE THIS TOGETHER BECAUSE, WOW, IT HAS BEEN JUST A NINE MONTH ODYSSEY FOR THESE ASTRONAUTS UP THERE IN SPACE, ONLY SUPPOSED TO BE UP THERE FOR EIGHT DAYS, BUT IT TOOK A LOT LONGER TO GET THEM HOME. WHILE THEY ARE HOME TONIGHT. AND YOU CAN SEE ALL THE CHEERING HERE IN THE COMMON ROOM HERE IN NEEDHAM SONNY WILLIAMS HOMETOWN. WE SPOKE WITH A KINDERGARTEN TEACHER OVER AT SUNITA WILLIAMS ELEMENTARY. SHE AND HER STUDENTS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THIS JOURNEY, AND SHE IS SO RELIEVED. TONIGHT. I WENT TO HER FIRST TWO LAUNCH ATTEMPTS THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT, AND I DIDN’T GET TO GO TO THE LAST ONE WHERE SHE DID GO UP. BUT I’VE BEEN WATCHING AND FOLLOWING MY CLASS WATCHES AND FOLLOWS. THEY WERE SO EXCITED TODAY AND NOW I’M LIKE OVER THE TOP, OVER THE MOON AND SO EXCITED. I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’S BACK. CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’S BACK AFTER SO LONG. THERE WERE TEARS IN THAT TEACHER’S EYES BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THIS JOURNEY. THE SCHOOL REALLY ALL OF NEEDHAM SONNY WILLIAMS, OF COURSE IN CONTACT WITH THE STUDENTS HERE IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND THEY ARE JUST LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT DAY WHEN SONNY COMES BACK HERE TO NEEDHAM FOR A
The year in space: Here are the top space stories of 2025
From private space tourism to secret moons to new images of our very old observable universe, 2025 was an exciting year in space. The privatization of space travel continued apace, with companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin making strides this year. Despite privatization and looming funding cuts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its various projects and endeavors still managed to surprise us and expand our knowledge of our solar system. Check out the 10 best space stories from the past year:No. 1 — The space saga of Butch and SuniWithout a doubt, the space story that filled the most airtime this year was the tale of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. In June 2024, the pair signed on for a NASA mission to conduct a crew flight test of Boeing’s Starliner craft, which had previously only been used for uncrewed tests between Earth and the International Space Station. The mission was meant to last eight days — but ended up lasting more than nine months. The stranded astronauts became space celebrities and brought renewed attention to spaceflight during a time when space travel has morphed into a blend of public-private partnerships. The astronauts were eventually brought home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 vessel in March, marking a success for SpaceX but a blow to Boeing in the private space race.Watch video of Williams and Wilmore splashing down back to Earth in the video player above.No. 2 — Perseverance finds possible hints of ancient life on MarsNASA’s Perseverance rover has been roaming the Martian surface and collecting samples since 2021. But in the summer of 2024, the rover collected rock samples from a dried riverbed near the Jezero Crater with “leopard spots.” This year, scientists said those spots could suggest the existence of ancient microbial life on the red planet. “All we can say is one of the possible explanations is microbial life, but there could be other ways to make this set of features that we see,” a researcher told The Associated Press.However, this story is not over. More testing is needed to confirm what the samples contain, meaning they need to be retrieved from Mars and brought back to labs on Earth. A Mars Sample Return trip was hopefully scheduled for the early 2030s, but various factors, including President Donald Trump’s reorganized budget plan for NASA, mean that the return expedition is on hold indefinitely. For now, Perseverance and a potential secret to ancient life sit waiting in a rocky Martian desert.No. 3 — NASA probe takes closest-ever images of sunThe Parker Solar Probe, the fastest human-made object in the universe, is on a mission to “touch the Sun” — and it’s getting pretty close. In December 2024, the probe made its closest pass yet of the solar atmosphere, traveling at a speed of 430,000 mph. On Jan. 1, 2025, it sent back the closest images of the Sun ever captured, specifically of solar wind approximately 3.8 million miles from the surface.No. 4 — NASA’s Webb telescope discovers new moon orbiting UranusIt’s not every day you find a new moon. Using NASA’s Webb space telescope, a team from the Southwest Research Institute studying the rings and moons of Uranus made a stunning discovery — a small moon, only about 6 miles wide, had been “hiding” close to the seventh planet this whole time. The discovery joins the planet’s 28 existing moons, designated S/2025 U1. However, all of Uranus’ moons are named after characters from the works of either William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope, so it will have a colorful literary name in no time.No. 5 — Third-ever interstellar object tears through our solar systemThe astronomical talk of the town this year was definitely 3I/ATLAS. First spotted by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, the comet started as a rapidly moving dot appearing in the sky. After NASA and the European Space Agency retraced its steps, it was confirmed that the comet was actually from outside our solar system — only the third known such object. While it was only briefly close to Earth near the end of this year, astronomers stole a few glances while they could. 3I/ATLAS is currently tracing its long path out of and away from our solar system — so long and farewell.No. 6 — Space tourism, or Katy Perry in spaceSpace tourism also had quite a year in 2025. In April, pop star Katy Perry and TV personality Gayle King boarded Blue Origin’s New Shepherd rocket with an all-female crew, a first for space travel. The technicality here is that New Shepherd is a reusable rocket, capable of vertical takeoffs and landings, designed to deliver tourists past the Karman Line, which is defined as the edge of space. It is also where you begin to experience weightlessness in atmospheric travel. Perry was reportedly so moved by the experience of entering the thermosphere that she couldn’t help singing “What A Wonderful World.” In other news, Blue Origin also recently sent the first paraplegic person into space, and SpaceX’s Fram2 mission saw four space tourists make a three-day trip around Earth’s poles.No. 7 — A nuclear reactor on the moon? It’s less crazy than it soundsActing NASA Administrator Sean Duffy made headlines earlier this year with an ambitious announcement concerning NASA’s wishes to put a nuclear reactor on Earth’s moon in the near future. While it does sound like the setup for a supervillain’s lair, the plan is actually quite practical. The name of the game in space exploration in the 21st century has become about repetition and reliability — typified by the reusable rockets favored by private space companies. NASA’s upcoming moon mission, Artemis III, will require a lot of fuel and power, especially if NASA wants to eventually station astronauts there. Add in the fact that China and Russia have announced a joint space venture to place a nuclear reactor on the moon. Before long, the international powers will be in a new space race. The moon is also becoming a critical juncture in the effort to reach Mars — the rocky satellite’s low gravity would make space missions easier. In that way, stating a goal of putting a nuclear reactor on the moon is the first step to reaching Mars, another stated goal of NASA. And for a country — and a species — that put a man on the moon only 56 years ago, anything might be possible.No. 8 — India, Poland and Hungary: Welcome to the ISSIt was a celebration on the International Space Station this summer when three astronauts from countries never before represented on the space station arrived. The last time anyone from India, Poland or Hungary traveled to orbit was in the 1970s and ‘80s, with the Soviet Space Program. While each of these countries have their own space programs, these true newcomers to the ISS came via Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that charters flights to the station. Axiom is also positioning itself as a potential replacement for the ISS when it is retired and decommissioned in 2030, carving out a niche in the private space race.No. 9 — ‘Cosmic treasure chest’: Say hello to the Vera C. Rubin ObservatoryThe summer of 2025 saw the debut of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the largest camera ever built, located on a mountaintop in Chile. According to the acting director of the National Science Foundation, the telescope “will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined.” That’s quite a claim, but Rubin already has the legwork to back it up — as part of its debut, it spotted 2,104 never-before-seen asteroids. The observatory also released a dramatic video showing the scale of its capability: the cosmic pan displays about 10 million galaxies in the camera’s wide view, which is only 0.05% of the 20 billion galaxies the observatory will map over 10 years.No. 10 — Space is now a battlefieldAside from international cooperation and discovery, space has also become a new frontier for something else: warfare. In the Russia/Ukraine war this past year, Ukraine accused Russian operators of hijacking a crucial satellite, replacing its broadcast with film of Russian military parades. More recently, there has been chatter of a Russian anti-satellite weapon, which one U.S. representative likened to “the Cuban Missile Crisis in space.”
From private space tourism to secret moons to new images of our very old observable universe, 2025 was an exciting year in space. The privatization of space travel continued apace, with companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin making strides this year. Despite privatization and looming funding cuts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its various projects and endeavors still managed to surprise us and expand our knowledge of our solar system. Check out the 10 best space stories from the past year:
No. 1 — The space saga of Butch and Suni
NASA/AP via CNN Newsource
Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose on the International Space Station.
Without a doubt, the space story that filled the most airtime this year was the tale of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. In June 2024, the pair signed on for a NASA mission to conduct a crew flight test of Boeing’s Starliner craft, which had previously only been used for uncrewed tests between Earth and the International Space Station. The mission was meant to last eight days — but ended up lasting more than nine months. The stranded astronauts became space celebrities and brought renewed attention to spaceflight during a time when space travel has morphed into a blend of public-private partnerships. The astronauts were eventually brought home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 vessel in March, marking a success for SpaceX but a blow to Boeing in the private space race.
Watch video of Williams and Wilmore splashing down back to Earth in the video player above.
No. 2 — Perseverance finds possible hints of ancient life on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been roaming the Martian surface and collecting samples since 2021. But in the summer of 2024, the rover collected rock samples from a dried riverbed near the Jezero Crater with “leopard spots.” This year, scientists said those spots could suggest the existence of ancient microbial life on the red planet. “All we can say is one of the possible explanations is microbial life, but there could be other ways to make this set of features that we see,” a researcher told The Associated Press.
However, this story is not over. More testing is needed to confirm what the samples contain, meaning they need to be retrieved from Mars and brought back to labs on Earth. A Mars Sample Return trip was hopefully scheduled for the early 2030s, but various factors, including President Donald Trump’s reorganized budget plan for NASA, mean that the return expedition is on hold indefinitely. For now, Perseverance and a potential secret to ancient life sit waiting in a rocky Martian desert.
No. 3 — NASA probe takes closest-ever images of sun
The Parker Solar Probe, the fastest human-made object in the universe, is on a mission to “touch the Sun” — and it’s getting pretty close. In December 2024, the probe made its closest pass yet of the solar atmosphere, traveling at a speed of 430,000 mph. On Jan. 1, 2025, it sent back the closest images of the Sun ever captured, specifically of solar wind approximately 3.8 million miles from the surface.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. El Moutamid (SwRI), M. Hedman (University of Idaho)
This Near Infrared Camera image shows the moon, designated S/2025 U1, as well as 13 of the 28 other known moons orbiting the planet.
It’s not every day you find a new moon. Using NASA’s Webb space telescope, a team from the Southwest Research Institute studying the rings and moons of Uranus made a stunning discovery — a small moon, only about 6 miles wide, had been “hiding” close to the seventh planet this whole time. The discovery joins the planet’s 28 existing moons, designated S/2025 U1. However, all of Uranus’ moons are named after characters from the works of either William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope, so it will have a colorful literary name in no time.
No. 5 — Third-ever interstellar object tears through our solar system
NASA/ESA/David Jewitt (UCLA) via CNN Newsource
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21.
The astronomical talk of the town this year was definitely 3I/ATLAS. First spotted by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, the comet started as a rapidly moving dot appearing in the sky. After NASA and the European Space Agency retraced its steps, it was confirmed that the comet was actually from outside our solar system — only the third known such object. While it was only briefly close to Earth near the end of this year, astronomers stole a few glances while they could. 3I/ATLAS is currently tracing its long path out of and away from our solar system — so long and farewell.
No. 6 — Space tourism, or Katy Perry in space
Blue Origin via CNN
The all-female crew of Blue Origin’s New Shepherd.
Space tourism also had quite a year in 2025. In April, pop star Katy Perry and TV personality Gayle King boarded Blue Origin’s New Shepherd rocket with an all-female crew, a first for space travel. The technicality here is that New Shepherd is a reusable rocket, capable of vertical takeoffs and landings, designed to deliver tourists past the Karman Line, which is defined as the edge of space. It is also where you begin to experience weightlessness in atmospheric travel. Perry was reportedly so moved by the experience of entering the thermosphere that she couldn’t help singing “What A Wonderful World.” In other news, Blue Origin also recently sent the first paraplegic person into space, and SpaceX’s Fram2 mission saw four space tourists make a three-day trip around Earth’s poles.
No. 7 — A nuclear reactor on the moon? It’s less crazy than it sounds
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy made headlines earlier this year with an ambitious announcement concerning NASA’s wishes to put a nuclear reactor on Earth’s moon in the near future. While it does sound like the setup for a supervillain’s lair, the plan is actually quite practical. The name of the game in space exploration in the 21st century has become about repetition and reliability — typified by the reusable rockets favored by private space companies. NASA’s upcoming moon mission, Artemis III, will require a lot of fuel and power, especially if NASA wants to eventually station astronauts there. Add in the fact that China and Russia have announced a joint space venture to place a nuclear reactor on the moon.
Before long, the international powers will be in a new space race. The moon is also becoming a critical juncture in the effort to reach Mars — the rocky satellite’s low gravity would make space missions easier. In that way, stating a goal of putting a nuclear reactor on the moon is the first step to reaching Mars, another stated goal of NASA. And for a country — and a species — that put a man on the moon only 56 years ago, anything might be possible.
No. 8 — India, Poland and Hungary: Welcome to the ISS
It was a celebration on the International Space Station this summer when three astronauts from countries never before represented on the space station arrived. The last time anyone from India, Poland or Hungary traveled to orbit was in the 1970s and ‘80s, with the Soviet Space Program. While each of these countries have their own space programs, these true newcomers to the ISS came via Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that charters flights to the station. Axiom is also positioning itself as a potential replacement for the ISS when it is retired and decommissioned in 2030, carving out a niche in the private space race.
No. 9 — ‘Cosmic treasure chest’: Say hello to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory via CNN Newsource
This composite image combines 678 separate images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to show faint details like clouds of gas and dust in the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula.
The summer of 2025 saw the debut of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the largest camera ever built, located on a mountaintop in Chile. According to the acting director of the National Science Foundation, the telescope “will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined.” That’s quite a claim, but Rubin already has the legwork to back it up — as part of its debut, it spotted 2,104 never-before-seen asteroids. The observatory also released a dramatic video showing the scale of its capability: the cosmic pan displays about 10 million galaxies in the camera’s wide view, which is only 0.05% of the 20 billion galaxies the observatory will map over 10 years.
No. 10 — Space is now a battlefield
Aside from international cooperation and discovery, space has also become a new frontier for something else: warfare. In the Russia/Ukraine war this past year, Ukraine accused Russian operators of hijacking a crucial satellite, replacing its broadcast with film of Russian military parades. More recently, there has been chatter of a Russian anti-satellite weapon, which one U.S. representative likened to “the Cuban Missile Crisis in space.”
TEXAS — According to documents reviewed by The New York Times, the Trump administration is considering a land swap with SpaceX that would see Elon Musk’s company receiving over 700 acres of wildlife refuge in exchange for some of the company’s land approximately 20 miles away.
The land will be used to expand SpaceX’s operations in Cameron County, including rocket launch and production.
Opponents say that SpaceX’s use of the land could damage areas that are home to endangered species and Civil War-era artifacts. The company has already been the target of several environmentally based lawsuits regarding ecological damage near its launch sites.
The agreement would give SpaceX 775 acres of land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which is a sanctuary for endangered species such as the ocelot and the jaguarundi. The land is also part of the Palmito Ranch Battlefield, home to the last land battle of the Civil War.
In exchange, the government would receive 692 acres of land in Cameron County about 20 miles away, which would be added to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say that the swap would be a net positive for conservation.
This is not the first time that SpaceX and the government have attempted a land swap, with a deal in place to trade nearly 43 acres in Boca Chica State Park in 2024. However, the company pulled out of the swap with no explanation of why.
Land swaps of this nature, regardless of the political party in charge, are not uncommon. However, such exchanges are usually much smaller in nature.
There is no word on whether SpaceX will be required to take steps to protect the affected wildlife habitats or cultural artifacts in the acquired area.
NATIONWIDE — United Launch Alliance CEO and President Tory Bruno has resigned, according to officials on Monday.
What You Need To Know
Under Tory Bruno, the Colorado-based ULA has seen a number of achievements, such as the successful launch of the company’s new Vulcan rocket in 2024
In a press release to the media, Robert Lightfoot said that Bruno “resigned to pursue another opportunity. We are grateful for Tory’s service to ULA and the country, and we thank him for his leadership.”
Lightfoot is the CEO of Lockheed Martin Space.
Spectrum News has reached out to Bruno on X — which he is known to answer questions directed to him — and has not yet heard back.
ULA is a joint Lockheed Martin and Boeing business venture.
While under Bruno, ULA was able to secure the contract to launch Amazon’s Leo internet satellites.
However, ULA saw a decrease in rocket launches over the last few years and battling with competitor SpaceX for commercial and national contracts.
Bruno has had a long career, including working at Lockheed Martin in 1984 and also being the vice president and general manager of FBM and ICBM, according to a ULA bio.
Lightfoot closed the press release by saying that effective immediately, John Elbon was named as ULA’s interim CEO.
Four astronauts in training to fly around the moon early next year strapped into their Orion spacecraft this weekend for a dress rehearsal countdown in a major milestone toward launch.
Based on repeated stops and starts seen on NASA’s countdown clock, the complex test originally planned for late November, ran into problems at various points on Saturday. NASA provided no details, but Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman said that overall, the test went well.
The Artemis 2 astronauts head for their Space Launch System rocket Saturday for a practice countdown to rehearse launch day procedures before a flight around the moon early next year. Left to right: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA crewmates Christina Koch, Victor Glover and mission commander Reid Wiseman.
NASA
“Extremely successful day in our spacecraft #Integrity,” Wiseman said in a post on X. “Did everything go perfectly? Absolutely not. But this vehicle and our team showed us they’re up to the challenge. Launch is getting very close.”
Launch is tentatively targeted for early February, but the schedule is extremely tight and the flight may slip to early March. No decisions are expected until after the first of next year.
In any case, Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, wearing bright orange pressure suits, strapped into their Orion capsule using the same procedures they’ll follow on launch day.
Such “countdown demonstration tests” have traditionally taken place shortly before launch with the rocket and crew ship already on the launch pad. But for Saturday’s test, the astronauts boarded their spacecraft atop NASA’s huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
The Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule, inside a protective launch shroud, and its escape rocket are visible amid service platforms inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Unseen is the 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket the crew capsule is mounted atop. The Artemis 2 crew strapped into the Orion Saturday for a dress rehearsal countdown.
NASA
Over the course of the exercise, the astronauts and the launch control team worked through the same countdown procedures they will follow on launch day, ending less than a minute before the clocks would normally hit zero.
Five launch opportunities are available in February when the moon and Earth are in the proper relative positions. The first such opportunity comes on Feb. 6. To make that date, the SLS rocket and Orion would have to be rolled from the assembly building to pad 39B in mid January, setting the stage for a critical fueling test that must go well before NASA can proceed to launch.
Given the amount of work remaining to complete preparations, sources say NASA may opt to delay the flight to early March.
Whenever it takes off, the flight plan calls for the Orion and its crew to spend 25 hours in an elliptical orbit around Earth to test spacecraft life support, propulsion and navigation systems.
The crew plans to fly in close proximity to the SLS rocket’s upper stage to test the Orion’s maneuvering systems and rendezvous procedures that will be needed for eventual moon landing missions.
An uncrewed Orion carried out a similar loop around the moon during the Artemis 1 mission in November 2022. But the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft was not equipped with a full life support system and it did not carry out thruster firings like those needed for a rendezvous.
Once the testing is complete, the Artemis 2 Orion will leave Earth orbit on a “free return” trajectory that will carry the crew around the moon and back to a Pacific Ocean splashdown. The ship will not go into orbit around the moon.
But Artemis 2 will still be the first piloted trip back to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, carrying Wiseman and his crewmates farther from Earth than any other humans have ever traveled.
Artemis 2 astronauts Victor Glover (foreground) and commander Reid Wiseman suit up before strapping into their Orion capsule for a practice countdown. Not seen are crewmates Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
NASA
The flight will set the stage for Artemis 3, carrying yet-to-be-named astronauts to the surface of the moon near the lunar south pole, NASA hopes, in 2028.
The Artemis 3 flight originally was planned for 2024, a target set during the first Trump administration. But the mission has been repeatedly delayed by processing problems, slowdowns during the COVID pandemic, Super Heavy-Starship testing and work to develop the lunar lander, known by NASA as the Human Landing System, or HLS.
The current 2028 target was set in the past few weeks when it became apparent the space agency would not be ready in time for the most recent previous target of 2027.
China also plans to land its own “taikonauts” on the moon by 2030, creating a new space race of sorts, one that NASA vows to win.
In a space-age milestone, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a wheelchair-using engineer and handicap advocate to the edge of space Saturday, a 10-minute trip that allowed her to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness more than 65 miles above Earth.
Michaela Benthaus, a German aerospace engineer who suffered a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain biking accident, joined a retired SpaceX manager and four entrepreneurs for the up-and-down flight to a point just above the so-called “boundary” of space.
“It was the coolest experience!” she said after landing, joking about turning upside down in weightlessness. “I didn’t only like the view and the microgravity, but I also liked the going up. That was so cool, every stage of going up.”
German aerospace engineer and handicap advocate Michaela Benthaus greets well wishers and Blue Origin support personnel moments after being carried from the New Shepard spacecraft.
Blue Origin webcast
Benthaus was assisted during training and inside the Blue Origin capsule by Hans Koenigsmann, a former SpaceX manager and engineer who was instrumental in the development of that company’s workhorse Falcon family of rockets.
A fellow German by birth and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Koenigsmann helped arrange Benthaus’ flight after meeting her last year.
“I met Hans the first time online,” Benthaus said in a Blue Origin interview. “I just asked him, like, you know, you worked for so long for SpaceX, do you think that people like me can be astronauts?
“Then he reached out to Blue Origin and told me oh, Blue actually is very excited about it. Okay, I have my doubts on it, but let’s see. Thankfully it turned out we can do it. So Hans and me (ended) up flying as a team,” Benthaus continued.
Koenigsmann said Benthaus “basically inspired me to do this. It’s her drive that kind of convinced me I should do that, too, and to just experience something that I’ve seen from the outside for a long time.”
The New Shepard spacecraft blasts off from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site.
Blue Origin webcast
Benthaus was able to make her own way from her wheelchair into the New Shepard capsule before launch, scooting along a bench extending from the hatch that was provided by Blue Origin. Koenigsmann was strapped in nearby to offer assistance during the flight if needed.
Running two days late because of last-minute technical issues, the countdown ticked smoothly to zero Saturday and the New Shepard blasted off from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch pad at 9:15 a.m. EST.
Accelerating straight up into a mostly clear sky, the capsule’s single-stage booster reached a velocity of nearly three times the speed of sound before its hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine shut down about two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
At that point, the New Shepard capsule was released to continue coasting upward on its own, and the crew, now weightless, was free to briefly unstrap and float about the cabin.
Benthaus’ legs were strapped together to keep them in place, but she, too, was free to enjoy the thrill of weightlessness as the New Shepard coasted up to a peak altitude of slightly more than 65 miles, well above the 62-mile-high point where aerodynamic forces no longer have any effect.
At that altitude, the “sky” is deep black and Earth’s horizon is sharply curved. Passengers are able to take in the view through the largest windows ever flown in space.
“Oh, my God,” one passenger could be heard exclaiming over the capsule’s radio.
“Incredible,” another said.
Falling back into the lower atmosphere, the crew was warned to get back in their seats to strap in before the onset of atmospheric deceleration. Maximum deceleration subjects New Shepard crews to about five times the normal pull of gravity.
The booster, meanwhile, followed a similar trajectory, falling tail first back toward the launch site. Nearing the ground, the BE-3 engine re-ignited, landing legs deployed and the rocket settled to an on-target touchdown on a concrete pad near the launch gantry.
The reusable New Shepard booster executed an on-target landing after propelling the New Shepard capsule out of the lower atmosphere.
Blue Origin webcast
The New Shepard came down under three large parachutes, landing in a cloud of dust near the booster and its launch pad. Blue Origin support personnel quickly reached the spacecraft to help the crew exit.
The New Shepard capsule touched down about 10-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
Blue Origin webcase
Joining Benthaus and Koenigsmann aboard the New Shepard were physicist-investor Joey Hyde, entrepreneur Neal Milch, adventurer Jason Stansell and Adonis Pouroulis, a South African entrepreneur and mining engineer.
All six waved, smiling broadly as they climbed out of the capsule one at a time. Benthaus was last out, carried from the spacecraft by Koenigsmann and a member of Blue Origin’s recovery team to a nearby wheelchair.
“You should never give up on your dreams, right?,” she said after landing. “I just feel very lucky, and I’m very grateful to Blue and Hans and everyone who said yes to this journey.”
Blue Origin does not publicly disclose the cost of a New Shepard seat, but the price is thought to be upwards of $500,000 each. How Benthaus’ seat was financed was not revealed.
The Blue Origin NS-37 passengers, posing for a photo on the launch pad gantry. Left to right: Joey Hyde, Adonis Pouroulis, Hans Koenigsmann, Michaela Benthaus, Jason Stansell and Neal Milch.
Blue Origin
Saturday’s launch marked Blue Origin’s 16th New Shepard flight with passengers aboard since Bezos, his brother and two others blasted off on the first such flight in July 2021. Including Saturday’s flight, Blue Origin has now launched 92 men and women to space, including six who have flown twice.
While Benthaus was the first person with a significant physical handicap to fly in space, European Space Agency astronaut John McFall, who has a prosthetic leg, has been cleared for selection to a future flight to the International Space Station.
Benthaus said before launch the reaction to her flight aboard the New Shepard was mostly positive, saying she hopes more handicapped people might make their way to space.
The big question for NASA and other space agencies and private companies is not so much whether handicapped astronauts can carry out their duties in the weightless environment of space. It’s more about how they can handle an emergency that might require a speedy exit from their spacecraft, either on the ground or in space.
In an interview with CNN, Benthaus said “we’re thinking more and more about long-duration space missions; some of us want to go to the Mars in the future.”
“That’s a very long journey. And, yes, people can get a disability on the way. People can have a stroke or break their leg or get a spinal cord injury.”
In the end, she said, “people with disabilities actually bring value to a crew. … You develop a very special resilience.”
FLORIDA — This weekend is special for space enthusiasts. Not only is it the winter solstice, but we’ll also be seeing the peak of the Ursid meteor shower.
For most people, the winter solstice is just the shortest day of the year. But there’s a little more science behind it.
Former NASA rocket scientist and Tampa Bay area native Kevin DeBruin explains what makes both the winter solstice and the Ursid meteor shower unique, and what to expect on our Space Coast for 2026.
Watch the interview by clicking the video player above.
German engineer becomes first wheelchair user launched into space – CBS News
Watch CBS News
A German aerospace engineer made history Saturday, becoming the first wheelchair user to go into space when she took a 10-minute trip aboard a Blue Origin rocket.
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his $117 billion proposal for Florida’s next fiscal year budget.
This includes hundreds of millions of dollars going towards improving the Space Coast, which brings in about $9 billion to the state annually.
What You Need To Know
Space Florida is set to receive $17.5 million for operation costs from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year
One of the recommendations is to use $5 million for wastewater capacity along the Space Coast
Environmentalist groups like the Marine Resource Council want to see better infrastructure in place to uphold the growth and protect the Indian River Lagoon
Space Florida says it’s looking forward to working with state and local partners to come up with the best solutions it can
That recommendation includes money for organizations like Space Florida, as well as about $5 million to go towards wastewater capacity.
But as the industry grows, and more and more launches lift off from our Space Coast. So does concern from environmentalists for Florida’s waterways, particularly the Indian River Lagoon.
Gov. DeSantis’ budget proposal includes $93 million through the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) spaceport improvement program, and would set aside $17.5 million into the operating budget of Space Florida.
“The focus of the funding is to really engage and continue to engage prospective aerospace companies and similar efforts across research and development, as well to really just accelerate the amount of activity we have going on,” explained Space Florida President and CEO Rob Long.
Space Florida serves as the state’s finance and development authority tasked with helping the aerospace industry grow.
“The new funding and everything is going to continue to do that and really allow us to accelerate and really put Florida at number one in all of the categories when it comes to the aerospace industry,” Long said.
But an important piece of this for aerospace funding is using $5 million in startup funding to Space Florida in order to work alongside state agencies and establish additional wastewater capacity for Florida’s commercial launch providers.
It comes as some Brevard County residents have raised concerns about a draft permit renewal for Blue Origin.
This would allow the company to dump 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day into the Indian River Lagoon.
“I do think there’s some restoration work that needs to be done, and there is water quality work that needs to be done with the Blue Origin discharges, just like all of them,” said Marine Resources Council Executive Director Dr. Laura Wilson.
The Marine Resource Council is a nonprofit tasked with serving, protecting and restoring the health of the Indian River Lagoon.
And while she wants to see the continued growth of the aerospace industry and wants to work with Space Coast corporations, she feels the use of public funds would be more helpful in the hands of local municipalities.
“We have spills, we have breaking pipes, we have old infrastructure and a very rapidly growing population that’s going to continue growing,” Wilson said. “And we need to do a better job of looking to the future with our infrastructure rather than just reacting to the present.”
Wilson said she wants to see actual work behind stormwater infrastructure, low-impact development, green stormwater infrastructure and how the land can be developed responsibly to mimic natural processes as opposed to concreting everything over and plopping in a pond.
Spectrum News 13 also asked Space Florida about how it hopes to use the funding specifically for wastewater capacity, and it said it’s looking forward to working with state and local partners to come up with the best solutions they can.
TEXAS — After having to scrub its initial launch date on Thursday, Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard NS-37 mission from its Launch Site One pad in West Texas on Saturday morning.
The launch had been rescheduled earlier in the week after Blue Origin’s launch team “observed an issue with built-in checks prior to flight,” Tabitha Lipkin, of Blue Origin’s communications team, said.
The mission sent up six new astronauts into space going beyond the Kármán line, the internationally established edge of space at 62 miles/100 kilometers above Earth’s surface.
Blue Origin released the mission patch prior to the launch, which includes a nod to each of the travelers.
According to the Blue Origin website, a few of the symbols embedded include:
The DNA symbolizes the importance and impact of science to Neal Milch.
The hippo represents Michaela (Michi) Benthaus’ favorite animal. Her plush hippo, which comforted her in the hospital after an accident, will join her in space. The tennis ball symbolizes another of Michi’s competitive passions. She is set to be the first wheelchair-bound person in space.
A baobab tree, iconic to South Africa, represents Adonis Pouroulis’ roots.
A spiral galaxy symbolizes Joey Hyde’s astrophysics research.
A dog-bone shape, stars in the crew capsule windows representing the number 201 and “K” are in all memoriam of Jason Stansell’s brother.
The shards are intended to illustrate Blue Origin’s commitment to breaking down the barriers to accessing space, including cost, nationality and ability.
The New Shepard spacecraft, named for pioneering Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard who was the first American in space, is a fully reusable, suborbital rocket system that takes passengers on an 11-minute journey to the Kármán line.
An immigration judge will decide in the coming days whether to temporarily release an immigrant rights activist after a Friday bail hearing that was delayed when authorities tried to block media access to the courtroom.
Attorneys representing Jeanette Vizguerra told the judge, Brea Burgie, that government lawyers had provided no evidence that Vizguerra posed a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Vizguerra, a nationally renowned activist, has been in the Aurora detention center since her March arrest, and her attorneys reiterated their allegations Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intentionally targeted Vizguerra because of her public profile and advocacy. They asked Burgie to release Vizguerra, who was born in Mexico and does not have proper legal status, on bail while the rest of her immigration case proceeds.
“Detention is not justified,” said Laura Lichter, one of Vizguerra’s lawyers.
Shana Martin, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, argued that Vizguerra should continue to be detained indefinitely because, Martin said, she was both dangerous and a flight risk. Martin pointed to Vizguerra’s criminal conviction for using a fake Social Security card so she could work, as well as to traffic violations, as evidence that she “shows a lack of respect for authority.”
One of Vizguerra’s daughters recently joined the Air Force, and Vizguerra applied for a form of legal status based on her daughter’s military service. Martin said that application has been denied — something Lichter said was news to Vizguerra and her lawyers.
Lichter said after the hearing that she’d never seen that type of application denied in a case like Vizguerra’s. She told Burgie that the denial was “fantastic evidence” of the government’s bias against her client.
CIting the extreme complexity of the case, Burgie said she would issue a written decision on whether to grant bail to Vizguerra at a later date. The Denver judge appeared remotely in the Aurora detention center’s hearing room.
As Vizguerra waited in a hallway outside the courtroom, she blew a kiss to family members and waved to supporters.
The hearing came two days after a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal officials to provide Vizguerra with a bail hearing before Christmas.
Proceedings were delayed Friday morning after personnel at the detention center, which is privately run by the Geo Group, told reporters and supporters that they couldn’t enter the courtroom. It’s typically open to observers, family members of detainees and journalists who provide photo ID and go through a security checkpoint.
Earlier Friday morning, a Denver Post reporter was waiting for an escort to the courtroom when a Geo Group lieutenant approached and asked what courtroom he was visiting. When the reporter said he was there to watch the Vizguerra hearing, the lieutenant told him the courtroom was full and escorted him back to the lobby.
Juan Baltazar, the facility’s warden, later told reporters that they wouldn’t be allowed into the courtroom “partially” because of space constraints, as well as because of unspecified “safety and security” concerns.
Geo personnel also closed and locked a gate leading into the facility, with an armed guard later controlling access. The gate was not closed on several earlier visits by The Post earlier this fall. Guards on Friday were dressed entirely in black, a change from their standard blue shirts.
Baltazar said ICE officials had called and verbally ordered Geo personnel to allow in only lawyers, family and witnesses. He said the limitations were put into place “because of the attention (this case) is getting.”
When Lichter pressed him about what safety or security risk was posed by reporters, Baltazar said questions would have to be directed to ICE.
“Everybody has a boss,” he said.
After continued prodding by Lichter, facility personnel eventually relented and allowed in several reporters, along with a handful of Vizguerra’s supporters.
Messages sent to Steve Kotecki, Denver’s ICE spokesman, and to a regional ICE representative were not immediately returned.
An interstellar comet first spotted passing through our solar system in July is beginning its departure from our corner of the universe — but first it will fly by Earth, and scientists are capturing stunning new images during its approach.Related video above: Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032Known as 3I/ATLAS, the comet will make its closest pass by us on Friday, coming within about 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet, but on the other side of the sun. For reference, the sun’s distance from Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).Comet 3I/ATLAS won’t be visible to the naked eye and the optimal viewing window, which opened in November, has passed. Those hoping to glimpse it will need an 8-inch (20-centimeter) telescope or larger, according to EarthSky.The Virtual Telescope Project will share a livestream of the comet at 4:00 a.m. UTC on Saturday, or 11 p.m. ET Friday, after cloudy weather prevented a Thursday night streaming opportunity, said Gianluca Masi, astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project.The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for a few more months before exiting our solar system, according to NASA.Astronomers have closely tracked the comet since its initial discovery over the summer in the hopes of uncovering details about its origin outside of our solar system as well as its composition. Multiple missions have observed the object in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths of light — and recently, scientists captured their first glimpses in X-rays to and discovered new details. The ingredients of an interstellar cometComets are like dirty snowballs left over from the formation of solar systems.A comet’s nucleus is its solid core, made of ice, dust and rocks. When comets travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and dust, which creates their signature tails.Astronomers are interested in capturing as many observations of the comet as they can because as it nears the sun, material releasing from the object could reveal more about its composition — and the star system where it originated.“When it gets closest to the sun, you get the most holistic view of the nucleus possible,” Seligman said. “One of the main things driving most cometary scientists is, what is the composition of the volatiles? It shows you the initial primordial material that it formed from.”Scientists have used powerful tools, such as the Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes, along with a multitude of space-based missions, such as SPHEREx, to study the comet.The SPHEREx and Webb observations detected carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and water ice releasing from the comet as it neared the sun, according to the ESA.Preliminary estimates indicate that the interstellar comet is 3 billion to 11 billion years old, according to a study coauthored by Seligman and Aster Taylor, a doctoral student and Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow at the University of Michigan, in August. For reference, our solar system is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.Carbon dioxide turns directly from a solid into a gas in response to temperature changes much more easily than most elements — which means the comet has likely never been close to another star before its brush with the sun, Seligman said.All eyes on 3I/ATLASThe interstellar comet faded from the view of ground-based telescopes in October, but it remained in sight for missions such as PUNCH, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, and SOHO, or the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The object also made its closest approach of Mars on October 3, coming within 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet — and the spacecraft orbiting it.While the government shutdown has prevented data sharing from any NASA missions that have observed the comet since October 1, the ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter attempted to capture views of 3I/ATLAS in October.The cameras aboard those missions are designed to study the relatively close, bright surface of Mars, but ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter managed to observe the comet as a fuzzy white dot.“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the orbiter’s camera, said in a statement, noting the comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times “fainter than our usual target.”ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, will also attempt to observe 3I/ATLAS in November using multiple instruments despite the comet being farther from the spacecraft than it was when observed by the Mars orbiters. But astronomers don’t expect to receive the observations until February due to the rate at which the spacecraft is sending data back to Earth.“We’ve got several more months to observe it,” Seligman said. “And there’s going to be amazing science that comes out.”X-raying an interstellar visitorComets that originate in our solar system emit X-rays, but astronomers have long wondered whether interstellar comets behave the same.Although previous attempts to find out were made as two other interstellar comets passed through our solar system in 2017 and 2019, no X-rays were detected.But that all changed with 3I/ATLAS.Japan’s X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, observed 3I/ATLAS for 17 hours in late November with its Xtend telescope. The instrument captured X-rays fanning out to a distance of 248,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from the comet’s solid core, or nucleus, which could be a result of clouds of gas around the object, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. But more observations are needed to confirm the finding.X-rays can originate from interactions between gases given off by the comet — such as water vapor, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide — and the continuous stream of charged particles releasing from the sun called solar wind. Comets, which are a combination of ice, rock, dust and gas, heat up as they approach stars like the sun, causing them to sublimate materials. XRISM detected signatures of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen near the comet’s nucleus. The European Space Agency’s X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton also observed the interstellar comet on December 3 for about 20 hours using its most sensitive camera. A dramatic image released by the agency shows the red X-ray glow of the comet.The X-ray observations, combined with others across various wavelengths of light, could reveal what the comet is made of — and just how similar or different the object is from those in our own solar system.
An interstellar comet first spotted passing through our solar system in July is beginning its departure from our corner of the universe — but first it will fly by Earth, and scientists are capturing stunning new images during its approach.
Related video above: Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032
Known as 3I/ATLAS, the comet will make its closest pass by us on Friday, coming within about 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet, but on the other side of the sun. For reference, the sun’s distance from Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
Comet 3I/ATLAS won’t be visible to the naked eye and the optimal viewing window, which opened in November, has passed. Those hoping to glimpse it will need an 8-inch (20-centimeter) telescope or larger, according to EarthSky.
The Virtual Telescope Project will share a livestream of the comet at 4:00 a.m. UTC on Saturday, or 11 p.m. ET Friday, after cloudy weather prevented a Thursday night streaming opportunity, said Gianluca Masi, astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project.
The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for a few more months before exiting our solar system, according to NASA.
NASA/ESA/David Jewitt (UCLA) via CNN Newsource
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21.
NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory), J. DePasquale (STScI) via AP
This image, provided by NASA, shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on Nov. 30, 2025, about 178 million miles from Earth.
Astronomers have closely tracked the comet since its initial discovery over the summer in the hopes of uncovering details about its origin outside of our solar system as well as its composition. Multiple missions have observed the object in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths of light — and recently, scientists captured their first glimpses in X-rays to and discovered new details.
The ingredients of an interstellar comet
Comets are like dirty snowballs left over from the formation of solar systems.
A comet’s nucleus is its solid core, made of ice, dust and rocks. When comets travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and dust, which creates their signature tails.
Astronomers are interested in capturing as many observations of the comet as they can because as it nears the sun, material releasing from the object could reveal more about its composition — and the star system where it originated.
“When it gets closest to the sun, you get the most holistic view of the nucleus possible,” Seligman said. “One of the main things driving most cometary scientists is, what is the composition of the volatiles? It shows you the initial primordial material that it formed from.”
Scientists have used powerful tools, such as the Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes, along with a multitude of space-based missions, such as SPHEREx, to study the comet.
Gianluca Masi
This photo provided by Gianluca Masi shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it streaks through space, 190 million miles from Earth, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, seen from Manciano, Italy.
The SPHEREx and Webb observations detected carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and water ice releasing from the comet as it neared the sun, according to the ESA.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the interstellar comet is 3 billion to 11 billion years old, according to a study coauthored by Seligman and Aster Taylor, a doctoral student and Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow at the University of Michigan, in August. For reference, our solar system is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.
Carbon dioxide turns directly from a solid into a gas in response to temperature changes much more easily than most elements — which means the comet has likely never been close to another star before its brush with the sun, Seligman said.
All eyes on 3I/ATLAS
The interstellar comet faded from the view of ground-based telescopes in October, but it remained in sight for missions such as PUNCH, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, and SOHO, or the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The object also made its closest approach of Mars on October 3, coming within 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet — and the spacecraft orbiting it.
While the government shutdown has prevented data sharing from any NASA missions that have observed the comet since October 1, the ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter attempted to capture views of 3I/ATLAS in October.
The cameras aboard those missions are designed to study the relatively close, bright surface of Mars, but ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter managed to observe the comet as a fuzzy white dot.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This diagram shows the trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. It made its closest approach to the Sun in October.
“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the orbiter’s camera, said in a statement, noting the comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times “fainter than our usual target.”
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, will also attempt to observe 3I/ATLAS in November using multiple instruments despite the comet being farther from the spacecraft than it was when observed by the Mars orbiters. But astronomers don’t expect to receive the observations until February due to the rate at which the spacecraft is sending data back to Earth.
“We’ve got several more months to observe it,” Seligman said. “And there’s going to be amazing science that comes out.”
X-raying an interstellar visitor
Comets that originate in our solar system emit X-rays, but astronomers have long wondered whether interstellar comets behave the same.
Although previous attempts to find out were made as two other interstellar comets passed through our solar system in 2017 and 2019, no X-rays were detected.
But that all changed with 3I/ATLAS.
Japan’s X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, observed 3I/ATLAS for 17 hours in late November with its Xtend telescope. The instrument captured X-rays fanning out to a distance of 248,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from the comet’s solid core, or nucleus, which could be a result of clouds of gas around the object, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. But more observations are needed to confirm the finding.
JAXA/ESA via CNN Newsource
XRISM captured an image of comet 3I/ATLAS in X-ray light.
X-rays can originate from interactions between gases given off by the comet — such as water vapor, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide — and the continuous stream of charged particles releasing from the sun called solar wind. Comets, which are a combination of ice, rock, dust and gas, heat up as they approach stars like the sun, causing them to sublimate materials. XRISM detected signatures of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen near the comet’s nucleus.
ESA/XMM-Newton/C. Lisse; S. Cabot & the XMM ISO Team via CNN Newsource
The XMM-Newton observatory spotted a red X-ray glow around the interstellar comet on Dec. 3.
The European Space Agency’s X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton also observed the interstellar comet on December 3 for about 20 hours using its most sensitive camera. A dramatic image released by the agency shows the red X-ray glow of the comet.
The X-ray observations, combined with others across various wavelengths of light, could reveal what the comet is made of — and just how similar or different the object is from those in our own solar system.
The last meteor shower of 2025, the Ursid meteor shower, arrives each year around the winter solstice. While it isn’t as impressive as the recent Geminid shower, it’s still worth seeing.
What You Need To Know
The Ursid meteor shower peaks in the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 22
The average number of meteors per hour is 5-10. On rare occasions, there have been bursts near 100
The Ursid meteor shower originates from the debris trail of Comet 8P/Tuttle
What causes most meteor showers?
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through debris left over from a comet or asteroid. This debris material is usually no bigger than a large grain of sand. When these particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, leaving bright, sometimes colorful streaks of light in the night sky.
In the case of the Ursids, the debris trail is left over from Comet 8P/Tuttle. This comet was first discovered in 1790 by Pierre Mechain from Paris, France. Later, in 1858, Horace Tuttle of Harvard University rediscovered the comet when its orbit took it back through the solar system.
When and where to meet watch
The Ursids range from Dec. 13 to 24. The peak arrives on the evening of December 21st through dawn. Make sure you dress warmly and find a dark location, away from lights. A country area is ideal. Allow your eyes to adjust to the night sky, which takes up to 30 minutes. The best time to watch the sky is from around 1 a.m. EST until dawn.
All annual meteor showers have a radiant point from which they originate. With the Ursids, they radiate from the area of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. (Big Dipper & Little Dipper). More specifically, from the star Kochab in the Little Dipper constellation. Look for the Big Dipper and the star Kochab well to the north-northeast.
Keep in mind, you don’t need to look directly at the radiant point (near the star Kochab in the Little Dipper); looking about 30 to 40 degrees away often yields longer, more impressive meteor trails across the sky.
Here is the cloud forecast across the nation during the peak viewing time:
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
The last meteor shower of 2025, the Ursid meteor shower, arrives each year around the winter solstice. While it isn’t as impressive as the recent Geminid shower, it’s still worth seeing.
What You Need To Know
The Ursid meteor shower peaks in the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 22
The average number of meteors per hour is 5-10. On rare occasions, there have been bursts near 100
The Ursid meteor shower originates from the debris trail of Comet 8P/Tuttle
What causes most meteor showers?
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through debris left over from a comet or asteroid. This debris material is usually no bigger than a large grain of sand. When these particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, leaving bright, sometimes colorful streaks of light in the night sky.
In the case of the Ursids, the debris trail is left over from Comet 8P/Tuttle. This comet was first discovered in 1790 by Pierre Mechain from Paris, France. Later, in 1858, Horace Tuttle of Harvard University rediscovered the comet when its orbit took it back through the solar system.
When and where to meet watch
The Ursids range from Dec. 13 to 24. The peak arrives on the evening of December 21st through dawn. Make sure you dress warmly and find a dark location, away from lights. A country area is ideal. Allow your eyes to adjust to the night sky, which takes up to 30 minutes. The best time to watch the sky is from around 1 a.m. EST until dawn.
All annual meteor showers have a radiant point from which they originate. With the Ursids, they radiate from the area of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. (Big Dipper & Little Dipper). More specifically, from the star Kochab in the Little Dipper constellation. Look for the Big Dipper and the star Kochab well to the north-northeast.
Keep in mind, you don’t need to look directly at the radiant point (near the star Kochab in the Little Dipper); looking about 30 to 40 degrees away often yields longer, more impressive meteor trails across the sky.
Here is the cloud forecast across the nation during the peak viewing time:
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
