MOON

Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy decided to split gold in the pole vault after finishing in a tie at world championships.

India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole on Wednesday — a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation.

Here are the celestial events visible in the night and morning sky during July.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will accompany fellow agency heads to announce another contract in the creation of a sustainable human landing system — AKA a lunar lander — for the Artemis V moon mission.

About 20,000 eclipse chasers have witnessed a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia’s northwest coast into brief midday darkness under a cloudless sky.

From Artemis to Axiom, we take a look at 5 launches.

NASA’s Orion capsule is back from the moon.

NASA is set to bring its latest update on the Artemis I mission on Monday as the mission is now at its midway point.

Orion, which launched into space atop NASA’s mega rocket over a week ago, is preparing to enter into distant retrograde around the moon Friday afternoon.

NASA's Orion capsule has reached the moon, whipping around the far side and passing within about 80 miles.

A space capsule hurtles toward the moon.

NASA announced on Sunday that the mission management team polled “go” for Orion’s flyby past the moon.

NASA officials hold a news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss what the Orion capsule has next ahead of it.

A pair of dogs gifted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 are now mired in a South Korean political row, with the country’s former president blaming his conservative successor for a lack of support as he gave the animals up.

South Korea’s former defense minister and coast guard chief have been arrested over their alleged involvement in covering up facts and distorting the circumstances surrounding North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 near the rivals’ tense sea border.

Hurricane Ian struck a large swath of Florida on Wednesday, inundating coastal areas with strong winds and high water.

Anne Moon of Moon Golf purchased more than 250 golf bags with individual school logos for every public school in Brevard County.

NASA said the latest hydrogen leak on its Artemis I moon rocket should now be fixed, but mission managers still have to test it and that’s why the launch team needs the additional time.

NASA is replacing leaky seals in its moon rocket at the pad in hopes of launching it on its first test flight by the end of this month.

Axiom Space was chose by NASA to design its moonwalking spacesuit system for the Artemis III mission.

No new launch date has been announced yet as NASA crews try to find a way to stop the leak. The rocket will be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, but it’s not known when.

Fuel leaks forced NASA to scrub its first attempt at launching the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis I mission.

NASA is set to attempt the first flight of its behemoth Space Launch System moon rocket Monday morning from Kennedy Space Center.

Ahead of Monday's Artemis I mission rocket launch, NASA has provided a list of "the ultimate personal tour guide" tips for those planning to watch the historic launch.

The Moon is finally in reach again for humankind. At least that’s the goal for NASA’s Artemis I, which is set for launch from Cape Canaveral on Monday.

A rocket body first spotted by astronomers on a collision course with the moon late last year is what NASA said left a new impact site on the lunar surface almost four months ago.

NASA officials held a teleconference Friday to talk about what’s next for the Artemis I moon mission, forecasting the first flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket no earlier than in late August.

NASA says it has finished testing its huge moon rocket.

NASA has fueled its huge moon rocket for the first time and completed a countdown test despite a fuel line leak.

The Strawberry Supermoon, or June’s full moon, will shine in the night sky through the middle of this week.

The moon, Earth and sun are putting on a show tonight with the first total lunar eclipse visible from Florida in more than three years.

This is going to be cool!

The leaders of the rival Koreas have exchanged letters expressing hope for improved bilateral relations, which have plummeted amid a freeze in nuclear negotiations and North Korea’s accelerating weapons development.

The Biden Administration is requesting $26 billion for NASA in 2023, up $2 billion from the previous year. How much money NASA actually gets will be decided by Congress.

NASA is opening competition for private companies to build the landers for missions that follow.

A Lakeland man scratched his way to $5 million.

NASA is preparing to roll out its Space Launch System rocket this week for a critical test of its engine.

The moon will be hit by a powerful punch.

The moon is about to get walloped by a big piece of space junk.

A piece of a rocket is expected to collide with the moon in a few days.

The February full moon is known as the Snow Moon for obvious reasons as heavy snow typically falls across the country.

A portion of a SpaceX rocket that launched from Cape Canaveral in February 2015 is expected to slam into the moon sometime in the next several weeks, according to reports from several media outlets.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he will pardon his chief conservative rival and predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who is serving a lengthy prison term for bribery and other crimes.

South Korea’s president says he’ll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in again pushed for peace and reconciliation with North Korea, amid recent missile testing on both ends of the peninsula.

Japanese space agency scientists say they plan to bring soil samples back from the Mars region ahead of the United States and China in hopes of finding clues to the planet’s origin and traces of possible life.

The first piece of hardware of the first rocket to fly humans around the moon in decades arrived in Florida this week.

The new audit found that spending on spacesuit development has more than doubled, however, the agency is nowhere near a final product ready for flight.

Jeff Bezos has lost his appeal of NASA's contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX to build its new moon lander.

NASA astronauts Raja Chair and Doug Wheelock explain how commercial missions are paving the way for the return to the moon.

Jeff Bezos is offering to waive $2 billion in payments if NASA selects Blue Origin's human moon lander for the Artemis program.

A "dramatic" surge in high-tide flooding is expected to hit U.S. coastal communities in the next decade, according to a new study by NASA.

A manikin flying onboard NASA’s first Artemis flight around the moon will be named for an electrical engineer who helped the Apollo 13 astronauts survive their perilous spaceflight.

General Motors is teaming up with Lockheed Martin to produce the ultimate off-road, self-driving, electric vehicle _ for the moon.

In the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, the moon will be eclipsed by Earth’s shadow.

The moon is putting on quite a show this week with a total lunar eclipse.

Florida prosecutors have filed a manslaughter charge against a Dunkin’ store employee accused of fatally punching a 77-year-old customer after the employee said the man repeatedly used a racial slur against him.

President Joe Biden says he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in remain “deeply concerned” about the situation with North Korea.

Another private company has picked SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch its moon lander carrying NASA and private research to the lunar surface.

Police say a Dunkin’ store employee fatally punched a 77-year-old customer in Florida after the employee said the man used a racial slur against him.

NASA has selected SpaceX’s Starship spaceship to be the first company to put astronauts back on the moon under the Artemis program.

The United Arab Emirates’ space center announced Wednesday a more ambitious timeline for sending its first rover to the moon.

A Falcon Heavy will launch Astrobotic's Griffin lander in 2023 from Kennedy Space Center.

In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Blue House, South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks on the phone with U.S. President Joe Biden at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, in South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. During their first phone talks since President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed the allies make joint efforts for lasting peace and denuclearization. The two leaders agreed on the need to soon map out a “comprehensive strategy on North Korea if possible,” Moon’s spokesman, Kang Min-seok, said. AdThe U.S., which has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, regularly stages military drills with South Korea. North Korea views such military training and U.S.-led sanctions as proof of American hostility.

The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a hot fire test Jan. 16, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA attributed the automatic shutdown to the strict test limits meant to protect the core stage so it can be used on the first Artemis flight. At this rate, the 212-foot core stage made by Boeing is down to about six “tanks” on its lifespan. President-elect Joe Biden has yet to name who will lead the space agency through a critical time in the ambitious timeline to return to the lunar surface. The outgoing administrator did have some advice for whoever next leads the U.S. space agency, urging the next agency head to keep politics out of space exploration.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during an on-line New Year press conference with local and foreign journalists at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. (Jeon Heon-kyun/Pool Photo via AP)SEOUL – South Korea’s president on Monday urged the incoming Biden administration to build upon the achievements and learn from the failures of President Donald Trump’s diplomatic engagement with North Korea. Biden has accused Trump of chasing the spectacle of summits rather than meaningful curbs on the North’s nuclear capabilities. And while Moon acknowledged that Biden is likely to try a different approach than Trump, he stressed that Biden could still learn from Trump’s successes and failures in dealing with North Korea. “The start of the Biden administration provides a new opportunity to start over talks between North Korea and the United States and also between South and North Korea,” which have stalled amid the stalemate in nuclear negotiations, Moon said.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The mega-rocket even more powerful than the Saturn V is coming together at the Kennedy Space Center and also NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. On the Gulf Coast Saturday, the Space Launch System is scheduled for a major engine test. The rocket is key to NASA’s Artemis program with plans to return humans to the lunar surface by 2024. And by the year 2024, NASA still plans on SLS and Orion sending the first man and next woman to the Moon. Artemis I would become the first launch from KSC launch complex 39B since 2009.

Total Lunar Eclipse (May 26)May’s total lunar eclipse will be the first total lunar eclipse in the Americas in more than two years. In a total lunar eclipse, the moon turns a red, rusty color, often referred to as a blood moon. In Central Florida, it will be a partial lunar eclipse as the Moon will set prior to totality. Partial lunar eclipse (Nov 19)November’s lunar eclipse will be partial, meaning the Earth’s shadow will never fully engulf the Moon, but it’s going to be close. In the pre-dawn hours of the 19th, Central Florida will actually see more of the Moon covered than in May’s total eclipse (partial for Central Florida).

This illustration made available by NASA in April 2020 depicts Artemis astronauts on the Moon. (NASA via AP)A Canadian astronaut will join NASA astronauts on the first crewed mission to the moon in over 50 years, making Canada the second nation to have an astronaut fly around the moon, reports News 6 partner Florida Today. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space, took to Twitter to express his excitement over the historic announcement. “Two Canadian astronauts are going to the Moon! The second flight with a Canadian astronaut would be on a later flight.

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)WENCHANG – China’s latest trip to the moon is another milestone in the Asian powerhouse’s slow but steady ascent to the stars. Future ambitions include a permanent space station and putting people back on the moon more than 50 years after the U.S. did. But even before the latest lunar mission lifted off before dawn Tuesday, a top program official maintained that China isn't competing with anyone. China's space program has at times been seen as recreating achievements attained years ago by others, primarily the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. Subscribe to a weekly newsletter to receive the latest in space news directly to your inbox here.

The lunar Gateway -- a small space station around the moon-- is a key part of NASA’s Artemis program that will provide a location for spacecraft to deploy down to the surface of the moon with astronauts. | Shaq’s mansion discounted by $3M]NASA’s OIG is an independent organization and is performing several audits of the Artemis program. On Tuesday, the OIG released the first in a series examining the Gateway schedule, funding, costs, contract negotiations and technical risks. The PPE is at least 17 months behind its original completion date of December 2022 and HALO is two to five months behind schedule, according to the OIG report. With both of these elements needed for Gateway, the orbiting space station will likely not be in place for the first 2024 astronaut lunar landing.

Scientists say the moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected. Another NASA scientist on the call, Dr. Jacob Bleacher, touched on the importance of water for the agency’s exploration plans. “We confirmed water on the sunlit surface of the Moon for the 1st time using @SOFIAtelescope,” Bridenstine tweeted. “We don’t know yet if we can use it as a resource, but learning about water on the Moon is key for our #Artemis exploration plans.”Earlier, NASA tweeted, “Happy Monday, skygazers! We don’t know yet if we can use it as a resource, but learning about water on the Moon is key for our #Artemis exploration plans.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A semi carrying eggs overturned and caught fire on I-4 in Orlando, prompting officials to close the interstate. I-4 east is closed Wednesday morning just before the exit to eastbound State Road 408. “Units are working to rescue one person in the crash,” Orlando police tweeted, later adding that the driver was conscious and talking. UPDATE: Semi driver is concious and talking after being pulled from the wreckage on I-4 EB at the 408 EB ramp. pic.twitter.com/p2pyl2ax6O — Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) October 14, 2020*** TRAFFIC ALERT ***EB I-4 x Kaley Ave - SHUTDOWN- Overturned Semi .. carrying eggs- EB lanes CLOSEDAlt: Exit at OBT take north to SR-408 pic.twitter.com/sVc5BQMDTk — Trooper Steve (@TrooperSteve_) October 14, 2020

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s new moonshot rules: No fighting and littering. The space agency released a set of guidelines Tuesday for its Artemis moon-landing program, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. Founding members include the U.S., Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The coalition can say, “Look, you’re in this program with the rest of us, but you’re not playing by the same rules,” Bridenstine said. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Jim Bridenstine said if an immediate $3 billion is not appropriated for the Human Landing System, NASA’s goal to get back to the Moon by 2024 would be at risk. The lunar lander only received about 20 percent of full funding in a House spending bill passed in July. “NASA has had a history of seeing programs get developed and then canceled,” Bridenstine testified. “Space has generally always been a very bipartisan effort and that’s encouraging and needed now more so than ever,” Dale Ketcham of Space Florida said. “I just want to thank NASA for their commitment to using the private sector to do things.”

As if 2020 wasn’t eerie enough, this year’s Halloween night will be once in a blue moon. October 2020 Full Moon Schedule:Oct. 1 (The Harvest Moon): This name is given to the first full moon after the autumnal equinox. Oct. 31 (The Hunter’s Moon): This name is typically given because hunters would track and kill prey under the fall moonlight, collecting food before winter. This rare double full moon occurrence would also mean that this Halloween will be a blue moon because it’s the second full moon in one month. This is where the saying “once in a blue moon” comes to play.

Sheikh Mohammed made the announcement Tuesday on Twitter that his country plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024. Already, an Emirati space probe is hurtling through space on its way to Mars while last year it sent its first astronaut to the International Space Station. Sheikh Mohammed said the rover would be named “Rashid,” the same name of his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Sheikh Rashid was one of the original founding rulers of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. ___Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

It’s extremely unusual for a North Korean leader to apologize to South Korea on any issue. South Korean officials condemned what they called an “atrocious act” and pressed North Korea to punish those responsible. According to the North Korean message, North Korean troops first fired blanks after the man found in the North’s waters refused to answer other than saying he’s from South Korea a couple of times. Then, as he made moves to flee, the North Korean troops fired 10 rounds. In 2002, Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un, said he felt “sorry” about a failed 1968 attempt to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee.

Every year, International Observe the Moon Night occurs in September or October when the Moon is around first quarter. Planetarium Director Derek Demeter and planetarium specialist Justin Cirillo will host a virtual sky party on Saturday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics Cape Canaveral chapter is hosting two virtual events beginning on Friday. NASA is also hosting a number of lunar-learning opportunities on the Observe the Moon Night. Next year, International Observe the Moon Night is Oct. 16.

Bye-bye, moon -- The moon is slowly moving away from us. Not only does the Moon influence the oceans' tides, it’s the reason why we only see one side, because the Earth and Moon are so in sync. One of the spacecraft’s main goal was to make a 3D map of the Moon’s surface from lunar orbit to identify potential landing sites and resources. We know the shape of the solid surface of the Moon better than the shape of the solid surface of the Earth. It’s called “the Moon” because people didn’t know about other moons existing until 1610.

NASA announced Thursday that private space company Astrobotic will deliver the agency’s moon rover, VIPER, to the moon’s south pole by end of 2023. Under this initiative, NASA will pay private companies to deliver payloads to the moon to establish a lasting presence on the lunar surface. Prior to landing VIPER on the moon, Astrobotic will land its own lunar lander, Peregrine, as early as next year, under a NASA CLPS contract. The Griffin lunar lander is capable of delivering up to 500 kilograms of mass to the lunar surface, according to a news release. After landing, VIPER will come down from Griffin’s ramp onto the lunar surface and will begin mapping lunar water ice.

A tiny object that has gotten sucked into orbit around Earth is acting as a temporary mini-moon. The object, which is actually an asteroid, is only the second asteroid known to orbit Earth, according to CNN. Kacper Wierzchos and Theodore Pruyne, both researcher specialists for the Catalina Sky Survey, made the discovery on Feb. 15 and posted it to Twitter. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl — Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020Researchers said the asteroid, known as 2020 CD3, is likely between 6.2 feet and 11.4 feet in diameter.