ULA to launch final Delta Heavy IV rocket today. Watch live | Space Quiz! How long is a Martian year? | Tragic Baltimore bridge collapse aftermath seen from space
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The era of Delta Heavy IV is coming to an end. For the last 64 years, United Launch Alliance's (ULA's) heavy-lift rocket has led an impressive career lofting large payloads into space. However, on Tuesday (March 28), the rocket will lift off one last time when it launches from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch window opens at 1:40 p.m. ET (1740 GMT).
Maxar Technologies captured satellite images of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which was struck by a giant cargo ship early on Tuesday (March 26). Most of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) long bridge crumbled within minutes, sending people and vehicles into the icy waters of the Patapsco River.
New NASA astronaut Andre Douglas used to study the sun's behavior for a living. This puts Douglas, who passed basic NASA astronaut training on March 5, in the perfect position to talk about the total solar eclipse 2024 that will sweep across the United States on April 8.
In our guide, we've rounded up the best solar viewing kit ahead of the 2024 solar eclipse, on April 8. With the specialist equipment highlighted below, you can view this upcoming extraordinary event safely and confidently. Below, you'll find a range of solar glasses, telescopes, binoculars and solar filters to make up the best solar viewing kits so you have an enjoyable experience when viewing the total solar eclipse.
"This closer view, the result of over 21 hours of dedication, not only highlights the nebula's vivid beauty but also the awe it inspires, bridging the cosmic with the personal," said amateur astrophotographer Rod Prazeres.
It's hard to beat an in-person launch experience - especially if you're watching in Mission Control, the literal hub of NASA's human spaceflight program. Reporters and flight directors gathered here at NASA's Johnson Space Center on Thursday (March 21) at a big control room screen to watch SpaceX launch its 30th robotic cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida. Happily, it was a flawless liftoff.
Astronomers have been surprised by a "gold rush" of new galaxies, racking up 49 discoveries in just 3 hours. The gas-rich galaxies were uncovered by a team using the MeerKAT radio telescope located in South Africa. They have been dubbed the "forty-niners," a callback to the nickname given to the thousands of gold miners who flocked to California during the state's Gold Rush, which peaked in 1849. The nickname is now carried by the San Francisco 49ers American football team.
Mars methane is hard to trace, but a solution might be on the way. An early-stage airplane concept called MAGGIE will soon kick off a nine-month NASA-funded study to explore its feasibility for soaring over Mars. It won't go to the Red Planet any time soon, if ever, but there's a clear science need for more flying vehicles on Mars.
Joining the recent slate of sophisticated science fiction films and TV series like Netflix's "3 Body Problem," "Spaceman" or "I.S.S.," and psychological puzzle-box mazes like Apple TV+'s "Constellation," "The Signal" is a surprising new German-language mystery-thriller that has recently docked on Netflix, and it's an exceptionally classy Euro production well worth a weekend watch.
Artemis astronauts will carry plants to the moon in 2026 | Space Quiz! Which of these can cause disturbances in Earth's magnetic field? | 'Apollo: When We Went the Moon' Intrepid Museum exhibit
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The first astronauts to land on the moon in more than half a century will set up a lunar mini-greenhouse, if all goes according to plan. NASA has selected the first three science experiments to be deployed by astronauts on the moon's surface on the Artemis 3 mission in 2026. Among them is LEAF ("Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora"), which will study how space crops fare in the exotic lunar environment.
Given it was navy ships that recovered the Apollo crews and spacecraft after splashing down from the moon, it is appropriate that the largest temporary exhibit ever hosted by the Intrepid - a converted aircraft carrier - is themed to the first lunar landings.
The total solar eclipse on April 8 will be viewed by an awful lot of people: 43.8 million people live in the path of totality, and that number doesn't include those traveling to the path to witness the spectacular event. The path of the last total solar eclipse, on April 20, 2023, by contrast, was home to just 389,000 people.
For the total solar eclipse on April 8, many people will strive to be within the path of totality, where the sun's face will be completely blocked by the moon's shadow. But even if you're within this path, it doesn't guarantee you'll have clear skies on eclipse day. So what happens if it's cloudy where you are on April 8? Will you notice anything as the moon's shadow sweeps over you?
Not to be left out of the eclipse action, the Worm Moon was marked by a slightly less dramatic lunar eclipse. The moon slipped into the Earth's outer shadow, the penumbra, late Sunday night, early Monday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its second RLV Landing Experiment (RLV-LEX-02) on March 22, the agency announced. The mission is part of a plan to make access to space more affordable.
(NASA / SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams / helioviewer.org)
The sun erupted on March 22 at 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 GMT on March 23) with a powerful X-class solar flare and unleashed a barrage of super-hot plasma towards Earth in what is known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). The energetic onslaught hit our planet at 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 GMT) on Sunday, March 24, sparking a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, the strongest solar storm since 2017.
Andreas Mogensen was impressed by how smooth a landing it was. The first European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut (and first non-American) to serve as a pilot on a U.S. commercial crew spacecraft, Mogensen and his SpaceX Crew-7 crewmates returned to Earth after a 197-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on March 12. Mogensen, speaking at his crew's first post-flight news conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday (March 25), likened their splashdown to "plopping into the water" of a swimming pool while wearing a life vest.
The Euclid "dark universe" probe's ailing vision has been restored after an experimental deicing campaign successfully evaporated ice from the telescope's mirrors, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Tuesday (March 26).
"There's no such thing as monsters, only creatures you haven't met yet," declares the regenerated Time Lord in new trailer for "Doctor Who's" upcoming temporal jaunts. Prepare for a wholly reimagined dimension of wibbly wobbly, time wimey adventures when "Doctor Who" kicks off its full 14th season at a new home on Disney+ following November's 60th anniversary and December's Christmas Special with two new episodes launching on May 10 in the U.S. on May 11 in the U.K.
