Tag: NASA

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Artemis II Completes Historic Translunar Injection, Crew Begins Journey to the Moon

Sam Greenwood

Following a successful launch of the Space Launch System on April 1, 2026, the Artemis II crew has officially left Earth orbit—marking the first time humans have journeyed toward the moon in over 50 years. Despite minor technical hurdles involving ground communications and “off-nominal” hardware issues, the Orion spacecraft is currently on a precise trajectory toward the lunar far side after a successful five-minute and 50-second Translunar Injection burn. Continue reading Artemis II Completes Historic Translunar Injection, Crew Begins Journey to the Moon

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NASA Shifts Focus to Lunar Surface as “Ignition” Strategy Pauses Gateway

Sam Greenwood

NASA has unveiled a sweeping realignment of its exploration goals, pivoting toward an aggressive lunar surface-first strategy. The “Ignition” strategy, detailed in a series of leadership briefings, shifts the focus away from the planned Gateway orbital outpost and toward high-cadence … Continue reading NASA Shifts Focus to Lunar Surface as “Ignition” Strategy Pauses Gateway

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NASA JPL’s Perseverance Mars Rover

Nathan Schneider

On July 30, 2020, an Atlas V 541 launched a new Mars rover, named by Alexander Mather, a seventh grader, as Perseverance. The launch went off without a hitch (unless you count California earthquakes as hitches), and Perseverance in its aeroshell zoomed off towards our red neighbor to collect scientific data about possible life. Seven months later, Perseverance has begun its mission on Mars after a successful landing using a very new system. The landing system had only been used on one prior mission, Curiosity’s mission in 2013. This landing system is the sky crane, a rocket powered crane that … Continue reading NASA JPL’s Perseverance Mars Rover

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Cassini’s Grand Finale

Sam Greenwood

NASA’s Cassini probe will soon be ending its long and historic mission. Over the years, the probe has made many groundbreaking discoveries, including: The probe will begin its final descent following its last flyby of Titan on April 22nd. Cassini will then start a series of orbital maneuvers, with its first dive into the gap between Saturn and its rings occurring on April 26th. Finally, the probe will make its ultimate plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15th. Resources: Continue reading Cassini’s Grand Finale