HOUSTON (AP) — With the moon looming ever larger, the Artemis II astronauts raced to set a new distance record Monday from Earth on a lunar fly-around promising magnificent views of the far side never seen before by eye. The six-hour flyby is the highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo…
On April 4, 2026, NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon. The Artemis II astronauts – Wiseman and fellow NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut…
NASA released the first photos of Earth taken by the crew of Artemis II on Friday, hours after the mission left Earth’s orbit. The first photo, taken by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, shows the entire planet, and both the Northern and Southern lights are visible over the poles. Zodiacal light, created by sunlight reflecting…
NASA’s mission management team cleared the Orion capsule and its three-man, one-woman crew for a critical rocket firing Thursday evening to break out of Earth orbit and head for the moon. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen spent their first…
Located 700 kilometers (440 miles) east of Madagascar, Réunion Island is the product of a long-lived mantle hotspot on the floor of the Indian Ocean. The island first emerged above the ocean’s surface about 2 million years ago. It remains active today, with frequent eruptions from Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the…
A new analysis of isotopic signatures across planets and meteorite parent bodies suggests our home world formed entirely from inner solar system material, challenging long-standing theories of distant origins. An artist’s impression of the asteroid 2025 MN45. Image credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA / P. Marenfeld. “Our calculations…
This animation shows how, following a massive earthquake off Russia on July 29, 2025, GUARDIAN flagged an incoming wave west of Hawaii some 32 minutes before it made landfall and was detected by tide gauges (shown in blue). Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide…
Whether it qualifies as a “superbloom” is in the eye of the beholder, but there is no doubt that California’s Carrizo Plain and the neighboring mountain ranges were awash with color as wildflowers put on their annual show in spring 2026. Landsat satellites began to show the early signs of color in February. By early…
By tracing magnetic signals preserved in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia, geoscientists have found the oldest direct evidence yet that parts of the planet’s outer shell were shifting across the globe, pushing the origins of plate motion deep into Earth’s early history. Hadean Earth. Image credit: Alec Brenner. “There has been a huge range of…
The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this rare, relatively clear image of Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines, on Feb. 26, 2026. The natural-color scene is overlaid with infrared observations to highlight the lava’s heat signature. On that day, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) reported volcanic earthquakes, rockfalls, and hot clouds of ash…
