Beresheet, Israel’s first moon mission spacecraft sends back selfie with Earth

Beresheet (which means “Genesis” in Hebrew), Israel’s first Moon mission spacecraft has sent an amazing selfie with Earth in the background today. In the photo, a plaque on the side of moon lander features the flag of Israel and phrases “Am Yisrael Chai” (which means roughly “The Jewish nation lives” or “the people of Israel …

Driving Distances on Mars and the Moon [Out-of-This-World-Records]

This chart, prepared by NASA illustrates comparisons among the driving distances by various wheeled vehicles on the surface of the planetary bodies other than Earth (as of February 13, 2019, only the Moon and Mars). Opportunity rover, which declared dead after record-breaking 15-years on the Martian surface also holds the off-Earth roving distance record after …

LRO spots Chang’e 4 from the Moon orbit

Exciting new images from NASA’s robotic spacecraft Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) which is orbiting the Moon since 2009. China’s lunar lander Chang’e 4 which achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon and its surroundings in the Von Kármán crater can be seen in the images.

Moon Plants: Another historic first by China’s Lunar Lander

Scientists from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) have confirmed that the seedlings taken to the far side of the moon with Chang’e 4 lunar lander have started sprouting. Or to put it another way: this is the first time something has grown on an astronomical body outside of the Earth! Now we have “moon …

Margaret Hamilton, the first software engineer [her code got humans on the moon!]

Margaret Hamilton is not only one of the first software developers, but she also literally created the term “Software Engineering” to describe her work. The code she wrote successfully put humans on the moon for the first time.

China Puts Chang’e 4 Lander on the Far-Side of the Moon!

Today, on January 3, 2019, China’s lunar lander and rover Chang’e 4 achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon in the history of humanity’s space exploration. It’s a space feat no nation or space agency (including NASA) has accomplished until now.

For All Moonkind [Messages of Peace]

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to walk on the moon. After more than ​21 1⁄2 hours on the lunar surface, in addition to the scientific instruments, they left behind an Apollo 1 mission patch (see notes 1) and a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as …