Hooray!
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Posts Tagged ‘NASA’
Welcome Home, Explorers!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, inspiration, NASA, space exploration on April 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
It’s That Time!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, Earth, moon, NASA, science, space, space exploration on April 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Today is the day, folks, when our friendly neighborhood astronauts make their (hopefully trouble-free) return to our home planet.
As we wait for splashdown, anticipated to be just after 8pm EDT tonight, here is an interactive look at What’s Inside NASA’s Mission Control.
And to save you from tracking down one of the many (many) space-themed Artemis links I’ve put up over the past couple of days, you can watch tonight’s homecoming here starting at 6:30pm EDT!
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Comes Home (Official Broadcast) | NASA+
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Road Trip!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, inspiration, moon stuff, NASA, science, space on April 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A quick update from the solar system’s coolest road trip: the Artemis II mission just set a new distance record, going farther into space than the Apollo 13 astronauts did in 1970.
Artemis II astronauts share their first images from the historic mission | CNN
“There was a moment about an hour ago where Mission Control Houston reoriented our spacecraft as the sun was setting behind the Earth. And I don’t know what we all expected to see at that moment, but you could see the entire globe, from pole to pole. You could see Africa, Europe, and if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights. It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks.” — mission commander Reid Wiseman
Check out NASA’s Artemis II image repository on Flickr for more shots from space.
What else are our friendly neighborhood explorers up to? Oh, you know, today they’re just doing a quick flyby of the Moon!
How cool is that?
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We Have Liftoff!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, NASA, space on April 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Artemis II Orion spacecraft has launched, and the mission is underway!
There is also a livestream from Orion itself (claustrophobes need not apply), but availability is spotty due to bandwidth and popularity. Because space!
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Fingers Crossed!
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, inspiration, NASA, science, space, space exploration on April 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
NASA’s Artemis II mission is (as of right now!) still a go. Here’s a site with a countdown to launch and a tracker for when it happens.
Artemis II Mission Tracker | Live Orion 3D Timeline
And here’s a video on the mission in case you didn’t get enough background material yesterday.
And here are a couple of Artemis-themed games to play, just for fun: Artemis Game Hub
Just over six hours now if all goes well. Fingers crossed!
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Artemis II, Take II
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, moon, NASA, science, space, spaceflight on March 31, 2026| 1 Comment »
The countdown has begun! Tomorrow is the first April launch date for the Artemis II flight. (If the weather or tech doesn’t cooperate, the mission will be pushed forward, so the next couple of days could be interesting!)
NASA’s Artemis II Launch Mission Countdown Begins – NASA
The countdown for NASA’s Artemis II test flight is underway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with members of the launch team arriving at their consoles inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center. The onsite countdown clock started ticking down at 4:44 p.m. EDT to a targeted launch time of 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1.
Who will be in that shiny new rocket, you ask?
Meet the first Artemis crew flying to the moon since the Apollo era
The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience. This first Artemis crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian, products of a more diversified astronaut corps.
Speaking of the comparison to Apollo, what else is different, how are they similar, is that an excellent graphic showing time and trajectory (yes!) and more:
Apollo vs. Artemis: What to know about NASA’s moon missions | AP News
Let’s revisit: Why are we doing this again?
Artemis II: Why is Nasa sending people back to the Moon?
There’s still prestige in being the first to plant your flag in the lunar dust. But now it really matters where you plant it.
(In short: resources, scientific and technological discovery, and did we mention resources?)
We can all follow NASA’s feed, but there’s another option for tracking the flight:
When Artemis II launches to the Moon, we’ll be able to track it on our smartphones. Here’s how
NASA has announced that Artemis II’s journey around the Moon will be available to track online and via a downloadable app called Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW).
And here’s what it will be like inside Firing Room 1 a.k.a. Mission Control:
The NASA mission control masterminds who will keep the Artemis II astronauts safe
…who has the Artemis II astronauts’ backs as they make the 10-day, roughly 685,000-mile journey around the moon, aboard a rocket and spacecraft that haven’t carried humans before? And what does it take to work in the high-stakes, behind-the-scenes roles that keep astronauts safe and the mission on track?
Because astronauts are just the most visible part of what it takes to get a project like this off the ground. Here’s to the engineers, adventurers, and dreamers too!
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Snowy Equinox
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, astronomy, NASA, puzzle, Spring, vernal equinox on March 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Happy Spring Equinox, everyone! (I say with some amusement, as a plow removes the latest storm’s worth of snow out front!)
This is a great image of the celestial equator, from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. (And just for fun, here it is as an online jigsaw puzzle🙂
And here’s a quick article and video with the essentials on the vernal equinox: March equinox 2026: Here’s all you need to know
The March equinox – aka the vernal equinox – marks the sun’s crossing above Earth’s equator, moving from south to north. Earth’s tilt on its axis is what causes this northward shift of the sun’s path across our sky at this time of year. Earth’s tilt is now bringing spring and summer to the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, the March equinox marks the beginning of autumn – and a shift toward winter – in the Southern Hemisphere.
I did spot a lovely V of Canada Geese a couple of days ago, and hopefully we’ll see more signs of spring soon!
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Sad but Happy
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, astronomy, NASA, science, space on February 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Sadly, the Artemis II moon mission has been pushed back again, and the new launch window now won’t happen until April at the earliest. Pesky helium flow issues!
Happily, this week we can entertain ourselves with a planetary conjunction!
APOD: 2026 February 24 – Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House
Look up this week and see a whole bunch of planets. Just after sunset, looking west (mostly), planets Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter will all be visible to the unaided eye simultaneously.
Mercury Completes the Planetary Parade at Dusk
Seeing all the naked eye planets at once is set to become a rarity in coming years.
Here’s hoping the skies are clear where you are!
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You’ve Reached Artemis, Please Hold…
Posted in Entertainment, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, Artemis, full-moon, inspiration, movies, NASA, science on February 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Sadly, NASA’s Artemis mission launch has run into some issues (hydrogen leaks bad!) and will be delayed until at least March.
NASA Conducts Artemis II Fuel Test, Eyes March for Launch Opportunity
That said, safer is better, so you do what you need to do, NASA. (Maybe rehiring some of the folks who were let go last year might help? Just saying.)
What do we hope to see when the mission does launch? This site has a nice explainer.
The flight path of Artemis 2, step by step
And for more on the long-term goals, see this in-depth article: How Artemis will land humans on the Moon.
As we wait to hear more from the launchpad, here’s something fun I ran across the other day that may help keep you entertained:
We asked former astronauts about their favorite space movies, and this is what they said
I mean, I’m more The Martian and Galaxy Quest than 2001, but that’s me. So many good movies!
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If We Look
Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, full-moon, NASA, science, space, Thoughts, unexpected joys on February 1, 2026| 8 Comments »
We’ve lived in this house for years but this morning I discovered something new. Some confluence of sun angle, time of day and positioning meant that the lampshade in the kitchen reflected a rainbow-colored series of textured light onto the ceiling. It was both joyful and unexpected, reminding me that there is beauty everywhere.
If I look.
Speaking of reflected light, there’s a full moon tonight.
Tonight’s moon is known by many names, including the Wolf Moon, Cold Moon, and Snow Moon. We may finally have clear skies tonight, too, and I’m looking forward to looking up.
Snow Moon: Full Moon in February 2026
February’s Full Snow Moon reaches peak illumination at 5:09 P.M. EST on Sunday, February 1. Step outside after dusk to see the Full Moon in all of its glory!
Since we’re here, I’ll share a link that led to a flurry of conversation in my family.
1969 Apollo 11 First steps on the Moon (16mm footage)
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard touched down on the surface of the Moon 4 days, 6 hours, and 45 minutes after having launched from Cape Canaveral. At 02:56:15 GMT, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another celestial body.
My parents were remembering where they were when it happened (at the next-door neighbor’s in Michigan, because they didn’t have a television), and what it felt like to watch the landing. Uplifting.
And looking ahead, NASA’s first crewed mission around the moon in over half a century will be happening soon.
Something to look forward to!
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