The Artemis II crew has already etched its place in spaceflight history with a lunar flyby, extraordinary views of the Moon and a trove of mission data. But for NASA, the moment that matters most in the ten-day voyage still lies ahead: bringing the astronauts safely home. Earlier this week, Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Jeremy Hansen, travelled farther from Earth than any humans before them. The mission is widely seen as a pivotal step toward future crewed landings on the Moon…

Humanity’s next chapter in deep space is edging into view as the four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission cross into the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence, riding a trajectory that will soon carry them above the shadowed lunar far side and place them farther from Earth than any people have ever travelled. The Artemis II crew, aboard their Orion capsule since lifting off from Florida last week, are expected to wake at about 10.50am ET (3.05pm Irish time) for the mission’s sixth day in flight. At 7:05pm ET (12.05am…

The Moon was looming larger outside NASA’s Orion capsule on Saturday as the crew of Artemis II entered the third day of a mission billed as a crucial step toward putting humans back on the lunar surface later this decade. NASA said the four-member Artemis crew has now crossed the halfway mark between Earth and the Moon as Orion presses on toward its scheduled lunar flyby. "We're halfway there," the space agency posted on social media. NASA also published the first images captured from inside Orion, among them a striking…

World logs fifth hottest February as atmospheric rivers drench western Europe, Copernicus reports The world registered its fifth hottest February on record as extreme rainfall and widespread flooding inundated parts of western and southern Europe, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitor. Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above pre-industrial levels, defined as 1850-1900, underscoring the persistent heat that is shaping weather extremes worldwide. Europe’s picture was split between temperature and…

Climate alarms are sounding — but the world is not answering fast enough When António Guterres warned delegates in Geneva this week that the planet is being pushed “to the brink,” he was not only recounting a litany of scientific milestones — every one of the last ten years the hottest on record, ocean heat breaking records, and ecosystems collapsing — he was issuing a practical plea: invest in the systems that give people time to get out of harm’s way. The United Nations secretary-general framed an urgent, solvable part…

Adolfo Urso, the Italian Minister responsible for Business and Made in Italy, observes attentively during a question-and-answer session in Rome’s lower house on September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo - Grab your Licensing Rights. Italy has plans to revive a once-dormant space center in Kenya for launching Earth observation satellites in the next few years, shared the nation’s industry minister on Sunday. Urso stated, "We aim to breathe new life into this facility, launching low-orbit micro-satellites to…

Three days now after the eruption of Nyiragongo, violent repeated earthquakes continue to shake Goma. A building has also partially collapsed this Tuesday, May 25 in the morning. A crack a few centimeters wide but several hundred meters long divided the land in the western part of the city. A climate of panic continues to reign in place.…

The release of Sophie Pétronin and Soumaïla Cissé completes an operation whose underside remains unclear. Prior to the release on the weekend of October 3 and 4, by the new Malian authorities, a significant number of prisoners - more than 200 years old, according to an al-Qaeda news agency - were presented by Malian officials as well as jihadists. Was the release of the jihadists as a bargaining chip…