pale blue dot
On April 16, 1972, the huge, 363-feet (110.6 meters) tall Apollo 16 (Spacecraft 113/Lunar Module 11/Saturn V SA-511, see notes 1) space vehicle was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 12:54 p.m. EST. Crewed by Commander John W. Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke (see notes 2), and Command Module Pilot …
Continue reading “Apollo 16 Liftoff [Video, April 16, 1972]”
Earth’s phases in the Moon’s sky are exactly the opposite of the Moon’s phases in the Earth’s sky. Is there a full moon? The Earth is dark in the Moon’s sky. It’s half-moon? The Earth is also half. Moon is a slim crescent? Earth is almost full.
As NASA plans to return to the moon, will we be able to see the astronauts on the Moon via a really strong telescope, when they were landed?
On December 7, 1972, the crewmembers of Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon took a photo of Earth from space, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles). This image, with the official NASA designation AS17-148-22727, became known as “The Blue Marble”. It remains one of the most iconic photos of Earth …
Continue reading “Blue Marble: the famous Apollo 17 photograph of Earth from space”
Change-5 represents China’s first mission to return moon samples to Earth, hence marks a major step forward for China’s lunar exploration program. Now, recent analysis suggests that the Moon samples returned from Chang’e-5 tell of recent volcanism.
On April 28, 2021, Michael Collins, Apollo 11 pilot and the “loneliest man ever” died aged 90. Collins flew the Apollo 11 command module Columbia around the Moon in 1969 while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, performed the first crewed landing in history on the lunar surface.
“Houston, we’ve had a problem” (see notes 1 below this post) is the now-famous phrase radioed from Apollo 13 to Mission Control upon the catastrophic explosion that dramatically changed the mission. On the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission, NASA recognizes the triumph of the mission control team and the astronauts and looks at …
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NASA is returning to the Moon under the Artemis program. Today, the space agency published an exciting video and announced the next lunar landing astronaut candidates. One of them will be the first woman on the Moon.
On November 10, 1970, the uncrewed Luna-17 spacecraft launched (see notes 1) and it delivered Lunokhod 1 to the lunar surface on November 17, 1970. Lunokhod 1 was the world’s first automatic self-propelled laboratory, fully controlled from Earth. With Lunokhod 1’s landing on the Moon, a new stage has begun in the exploration of the …
Continue reading “Lunokhod 1: The first lunar rover [November 17, 1970]”
For a long time, the Moon was considered bone dry. And that’s not a surprise since our satellite has no atmosphere that could prevent liquid water from immediately evaporating into space. But what remained hidden from even the eyes of the Moon travelers, discovered by the probes, orbiters, and observers: there are enormous amounts of …
