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Your home as far away from home as possible
Wednesday, November 6, 2024: Ever feel like getting away? Like, as far away from Earth as possible? The moon is the furthest any human has ever gone. So, if recent events have you suddenly longing to yeet yourself off the planet for a better life elsewhere, the moon isn't the absolute worst place to aim.
That's exactly what NASA is doing. For the first time since the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 70s, the U.S. space agency is planning to send astronauts back to the moon. With NASA's Artemis Program, the space agency is hoping not only to reignite an era of lunar landings, but to stay on the moon, and in orbit around it, for long-term missions. Enter the Gateway space station. NASA's lunar Gateway will orbit the moon and serve as a waypoint between launching from the Earth and landing on the moon.
Pictured here, Gateway's Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, where astronauts will live and work between excursions to the lunar surface. HALO is being constructed by Northrop Grumman and Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, where it recently completed a major static load test. The module is about the size of a small RV, so if you don't mind some cramped quarters and really want to leave Earth in the rearview mirror, keep your eyes out for the next time NASA opens astronaut applications.
"What matters is that you vote!"
Tuesday, November 5, 2024: "It doesn’t matter if you are sitting, standing, or floating - what matters is that you vote!"
That's what NASA astronaut Nick Hague posted to X this morning, from the International Space Station. All four American astronaut managed to cast their absentee ballots from space, and if they can vote from space, you can sure make it to your polling locations. Today's the day! Go vote!
Read more: How do you vote from space? NASA astronauts cast 2024 election ballots from ISS
Related: Why can't active NASA astronauts endorse US presidential candidates?
Astronaut shoots a shadowy Dragon
Monday, November 4, 2024: NASA astronaut Don Pettit snapped this ghostly photo of SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom docked at the International Space Station. The black-and-white image shows the belly of the Dragon, including windows with filters on board to lessen the bright sun. "I like how the sun shines through the stitching, personifying the composition," Pettit wrote on social media. — Elizabeth Howell
Read more: NASA astronaut snaps spooky photo of SpaceX Dragon capsule from ISS
Martian solar eclipse
Friday, November 1, 2024: NASA's Perseverance Mars rover was treated to a "googly eye" solar eclipse as the planet's moon Phobos passed in front of the sun.
Phobos — one of Mars' two moons, along with the even tinier Deimos — traveled between the Red Planet and the sun on Sept. 30, the 1,285th Martian day of Perseverance's mission. The rover, located on the western wall of Mars' Jezero Crater at the time, captured the eclipse using its powerful Mastcam-Z camera system. — Samantha Mathewson
Read more: Perseverance rover watches 'googly eye' solar eclipse from Mars (video)
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