Tag: Space
Neil Armstrong’s restored Apollo 11 spacesuit goes on display
The spacesuit that Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong wore for that one small step on the moon is back on display in mint condition. The suit had been out of view and needed to be restored before it was put on display at the Air and Space Museum in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP) On hand for the…
What if Apollo 11 had ended in disaster?
Apollo 11 was an unprecedented mission, meaning there was always the possibility that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would not make it back from the moon’s surface. A speech was prepared for then-US president Richard Nixon, penned by White House speechwriter Bill Safire on July 18 1969. Fortunately, the mission was a success, meaning…
Returning to moon is waste of money, says BBC’s Apollo 11 presenter
Going back to the moon is a waste of money, according to the presenter behind the BBC’s coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing 50 years ago. Science historian James Burke said he does not believe there is much political desire to put humans on the lunar surface once again due to the high costs…
Glasgow-built supercomputer satellites blast into orbit
Glasgow-built satellites which could revolutionise how data is downloaded from space have been sent into orbit around Earth after blasting off on a Russian rocket on Friday morning. A pair of supercomputer satellites belonging to US data and aerospace firm Spire Global were built by its team based in Glasgow, with the aim of optimising…
Amateur astronomers help Ministry of Defence track space objects
A group of volunteer astronomers are helping the Ministry of Defence monitor objects as small as freezers in space as it becomes increasingly congested. Members of the Basingstoke Astronomical Society (BAS) have been exploring whether a low-cost network of cameras could improve experts’ situational awareness. The Hampshire-based group offered to help after hearing about the…
NASA restores Mission Control 50 years after Apollo 11
NASA has held a grand reopening of its Mission Control room from the Apollo days after it was meticulously restored to the way it looked 50 years ago. The site at Johnson Space Centre in Houston was last used for space shuttle flights in the 1990s, and has been recreated down to the carpeting, wallpaper,…
NASA to open moon rock samples sealed since Apollo missions
NASA is to open some pristine samples of moon rocks and dirt which have been stored for decades after being collected by Apollo astronauts. Hundreds of pounds of moon rocks are locked up at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, and lab workers are preparing to give some of the samples to scientists for study. Nine…
NASA Mars Rover detects methane. Could it be sign of life?
A NASA Mars rover has detected its largest amount of methane yet, which could be an early indication of life on the Red Planet. The gas is commonly associated with living things back on Earth, though it can also be created through interactions between rocks and water. However, the American space agency’s Curiosity Rover is…
NASA captures closest image yet of Bennu asteroid
US space agency NASA has captured its closest and most-detailed image yet of Bennu, a 78 billion kilogram asteroid which makes a close approach to Earth every six years. It is the second time the spacecraft has put itself into orbit around the asteroid, snapping a shot at a distance of 0.4 miles from the…
NASA makes Star Trek joke after finding ‘dune footprint’ on Mars
NASA scientists tweeted a Star Trek joke after a photo was captured of a “dune footprint” on the surface of Mars that looks similar to the Starfleet insignia from the hit sci-fi TV show. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) took images of a series of the chevron shapes in the Hellas Planitia area of the…
