Lunar Mission

Amit Kshatriya: The Indian-American scientist behind US' moon mission

From admiring rocket launches as a child growing up in Houston to steering the operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Indian-American scientist Amit Kshatriya has had a stellar innings at the space agency that has set on a mission to land astronauts on the moon. As NASA's Associate Administrator, Wisconsin-born Kshatriya serves as the highest-ranking civil servant at the agency and as a senior advisor to Administrator Jared Isaacman. Kshatriya leads the agency's 10 centre directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He also acts as the agency's Chief Operating Officer. Born to first-generation Indian immigrant parents, Kshatriya holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and a Master of Arts in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. He was born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, but considers Katy, a suburb of Housto

Artemis II astronauts return with splashdown to end record-breaking voyage

Artemis II's astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity's first lunar voyage in more than a half-century. It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon's far side never seen before by human eyes but a total solar eclipse. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere travelling Mach 33 or 33 times the speed of sound a blistering blur not seen since NASA's Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot. The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule's life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft's only other test flight

Artemis II crew reaches 'halfway' mark in return journey to Earth: Nasa

Drawing ever closer to Earth, the Artemis II astronauts tidied up their lunar cruiser for the upcoming "fireball" return and reflected on their historic journey around the moon, describing it as surreal and profound. As the next-to-last day of their flight dawned Thursday, humanity's first lunar explorers in more than half a century were less than 150,000 miles (240,000 kilometres) from home with the odometer clicking down. "We have to get back. There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There are so many more pictures, so many more stories," said pilot Victor Glover, adding that "riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well." Being cut off from all of humanity for nearly an hour while behind the moon was especially "surreal", according to commander Reid Wiseman. "There's a lot that our brains have to process ... and it is a true gift," Wiseman said late Wednesday during the crew's first news conference since before

Artemis II astronauts follow Apollo, name lunar features after loved ones

Lunar love knows no bounds. Now hurtling home from the moon, the Artemis II astronauts took a poignant page from Apollo 8 earlier this week, proposing deeply personal names for a pair of lunar craters. Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew asked permission to name one small, fresh crater after their capsule called Integrity and another after his late wife, Carroll. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen made the request right before Monday's lunar fly-around. Wiseman was too emotional to talk. Carroll Wiseman, a neonatal nurse, died of cancer in 2020. "Just for me personally, that was kind of the pinnacle moment of the mission for me," Wiseman said from space Wednesday night. During Apollo 8 in 1968, astronaut Jim Lovell bestowed his wife's name upon a prominent lunar peak: Mount Marilyn. It was humanity's first trip to the moon and she anxiously awaited his return back home in Houston. The three Americans and one Canadian of Artemis II are the first lunar visitors since Apollo 17 closed

Nasa's Artemis II crew heads back to Earth after record trip around Moon

At their nearest distance to the moon, the Artemis II's Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion capsule came within an estimated 4,067 miles of the lunar surface, according to calculations by Nasa

Nasa's moon-bound astronauts reach stable orbit, begin Artemis II mission

Named after Apollo's twin, Artemis aims for a sustained human presence on the Moon; Nasa plans a $30-billion, decade-long effort to build a lunar base for astronauts to live and work

Artemis II: Nasa's one mission, multiple agendas worth $100 billion

The Apollo program set a precedent that Nasa should strive to have a human spaceflight initiative that drives US space exploration forward

SpaceX to prioritise building 'self-growing city' on Moon, says Musk

Musk's comments echo a Wall Street Journal report on Friday, stating that SpaceX has told investors it would prioritise going to the moon first and attempt a trip to Mars at a later time

Moon gets its own clock: China develops first software for lunar time

Time does not pass at the same speed on Earth and the moon; with lower gravity, lunar clocks run faster by around 56 millionths of a second daily

300+ startups working on satellite manufacture, launch services: Isro chief

Isro chairman V Narayanan credits IN-SPACe for integrating startups into India's space ecosystem; says human lunar mission target set for 2040

Chennai firm to launch world's first all-women lunar mission by 2027

Space Kidz India plans to send a symbolic lunar payload aboard Japan's iSpace mission in 2027, engaging girl students from 108 countries in design and training

Nuclear reactor on the Moon? Nasa's Sean Duffy has an elaborate plan

Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy sees the plan to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon as a new space race, especially given China's and Russia's growing ambitions in space

No more rockets? Space elevator may soon carry astronauts to the Moon

A revolutionary study suggests a lunar space elevator built with current materials, potentially transforming the future of human space travel

Private lander Athena may have fallen over near moon's south pole

A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over. Intuitive Machines said it was uncertain whether its Athena lander was upright near the moon's south pole standing 15 feet (4.7 meters) tall or lying sideways like its first spacecraft from a year ago. Controllers rushed to turn off some of the lander's equipment to conserve power while trying to determine what went wrong. It was the second moon landing this week by a Texas company under NASA's commercial lunar delivery programme. Sunday's touchdown was a complete success. The company's newest Athena lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned. The hourlong descent appeared to go well until the final approach when the laser navigation system began acting up. It took a while for Mission Control to confirm touchdown. We're on the surface, reported mission director and co-founder Tim Crain. A few minutes

Private firm launches Athena lander to moon in latest lunar mission rush

A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon's south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun. Intuitive Machines' lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It's taking a fast track to the moon with a landing on March 6 while hoping to avoid the fate of its predecessor, which tipped over at touchdown. Never before have so many spacecraft angled for the moon's surface all at once. Last month, US and Japanese companies shared a rocket and separately launched landers toward Earth's sidekick. Texas-based Firefly Aerospace should get there first this weekend after a big head start. The two US landers are carrying tens of millions of dollars' worth of experiments for NASA as it prepares to return astronauts to the moon. It's an amazing time. There's so much energy, NASA's science mission chief Nicky Fox told The Associated Press a few hours ahead of th

SpaceX launches two pvt lunar landers towards moon in roundabout journey

In a two-for-one moonshot, SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers Wednesday for US and Japanese companies looking to jumpstart business on Earth's dusty sidekick. The two landers rocketed away in the middle of the night from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre, the latest in a stream of private spacecraft aiming for the moon. They shared the ride to save money, taking separate roundabout routes for the monthslong journey. It's take 2 for the Tokyo-based ispace, whose first lander crashed into the moon two years ago. This time, it has a rover on board with a scoop to gather up lunar dirt for study and plans to test potential food and water sources for future explorers. Lunar newcomer Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is flying 10 experiments for NASA, including a vacuum to gather dirt, a drill to measure the temperature below the surface and a device that could be used by future moonwalkers to keep the sharp, abrasive particles off their spacesuits and equipment. Firefly's Blue Ghost named af

First full Moon of 2025: Will Wolf Moon be visible from India; know details

A rare spectacle of lunar occultation could be observed from a specific location as this event takes place once every 14 years. Here's all you need to know about celestial event

Humans will soon be able to mine on the Moon; four questions to consider

Now is the time to create the rules and regulations that will protect humanity's shared future in space and ensure the Moon remains a symbol and inspiration for generations to come

Chennai-based startup Space Kidz eyes lunar leap with all-women line-up

Space Kidz may become first Indian private firm to crash-land on the moon's surface

Chandrayaan-3 landed on possibly oldest craters of Moon: Researchers

India's lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 possibly landed in one of the oldest craters of the Moon, according to scientists who analysed images from the mission and satellites. The crater was formed during the Nectarian period, which dates back to 3.85 billion years and is one of the oldest time periods in the Moon's history, the team, including researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, said. S Vijayan, an associate professor in the Planetary Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, told PTI, "Chandrayaan-3 landing site is a unique geological setting where no other missions have gone. The images from the mission's Pragyan rover are the first on-site ones of the Moon at this latitude. They reveal how the Moon evolved over time". A crater is formed when an asteroid crashes into the surface of a larger body like a planet or a Moon, and the displaced material is called 'ejecta'. Revealing how the Moon evolved over time