China is the United States’ “most consequential threat and competitor in space,” leveraging its capabilities “as a tool of diplomacy and influence”, US lawmakers were told at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, as the two countries’ race to the moon intensifies. The US and China are locked in a high-stakes space race, with both nations aiming to put astronauts on the moon in the coming years. While China has set a 2030 target for its first crewed lunar landing, the US’ Artemis programme aims...
A US move to freeze the Lunar Gateway orbiting space station could render Japan’s new technologies redundant – but its space agency is expected to be diplomatic in its response. The gateway project was initially planned as an installation that would orbit the moon as part of the United States’ Artemis programme, which recently made headlines for a record-breaking journey that went deeper into space than anyone had ever flown before. Artemis’ aim is to return astronauts to the moon’s surface for...
Reid Wiseman’s two daughters were in Nasa’s mission control room for the naming of the “Carroll” crater in honour of the commander’s late wife.
The four astronauts flew around the Moon in a nine-day voyage that took them further from Earth than any humans in history.
Four astronauts splashed down in the Pacific after a nine-day voyage that took them further from Earth than any humans.
The four astronauts said they were returning to Earth with "so many more pictures, so many more stories".
As the astronauts pass behind the Moon they will experience a moment of silence and solitude as communication with the Earth is blocked.
They are sipping smoothies, snapping phone pics, dealing with crashed email and fixing broken toilets: astronauts, they are just like us. The four crew members zipping through space towards the moon are carrying out a mission unlike any before it, but they are also still muddling on through life’s mundanities – all while they float around together in a square footage equivalent to two minivans. Mission specialist Christina Koch, the first woman to venture into deep space, said preparing for the...