1. Lunar Obsession
The moon was the biggest space news in 2023, as Russia, India, and a private Japanese company attempted to land on its surface. Only India succeeded in achieving a successful landing, becoming the fourth country to do so. Two American companies, China, and the Japanese space agency are targeting lunar landings, some as early as January. NASA began 2023 with plans to send four astronauts on a planned flight around the moon in late 2024 – three from the United States and a Canadian astronaut. Another crew will actually land, but the timing is not yet determined.
2. Rocket Launches
The largest and most powerful rocket ever built, SpaceX’s Starship, launched twice from South Texas in 2023 and exploded both times, contaminating the Gulf of Mexico. The second test flight lasted twice as long and reached an altitude of 93 miles (150 kilometers). SpaceX hopes to have the empty ship flown around the world before adding satellites and humans. NASA will need Starship to transport the next astronauts to the moon’s surface. Three more rockets are scheduled to make appearances in 2024: United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket with a lunar landing, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, and Europe’s updated Ariane 6 rocket.
3. Asteroid Autumn
NASA described the period from September to November as “Asteroid Autumn.” In September, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft delivered a batch of collected debris from the asteroid Bennu. A few weeks later, the Psyche spacecraft launched on a six-year journey to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. Then in November, the Lucy spacecraft flew by its first asteroid on a busy schedule, discovering a small moon with two globes stuck together. Lab workers in Houston are still trying to open the asteroid sample canister that landed in the Utah desert. So far, 2.5 ounces (70 grams) of black dust and rock chips from Bennu have been removed.
4. Space Tourism
Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson, began flying tourists on short trips to space in 2023, completing five flights for customers in less than five months from New Mexico. A few more flights are planned before the company pauses mid-2024 to develop a spacecraft capable of transporting more people more frequently. Elon Musk’s SpaceX completed its second private journey to the International Space Station and has more chartered flights on the horizon, including the first private spacewalk. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has not launched passengers since its suborbital New Shepard rocket carrying experiments crashed in Texas in 2022.
5. Close Space Shots
The James Webb Space Telescope celebrated its first year of capturing space images with the release of a stunning shot of the closest star-forming region to Earth. It provided a new view of the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a supernova explosion previously imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, and helped discover the oldest black hole yet, a giant formed 470 million years after the Big Bang. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “James Webb keeps doing extraordinary things for us.” The Hubble Space Telescope continues to produce its spectacular images even after 30 years of regaining its vision by astronauts on one of the most exciting shuttle missions.
6. Solar Eclipse
The Americas enjoyed the “ring of fire” solar eclipse in October, a prelude to the upcoming total solar eclipse in April. The sun, moon, and earth aligned to create the “ring of fire” solar eclipse from Oregon to Texas and parts of Central and South America. The moon was too far from Earth to completely block the sun, but it will be at the right distance on April 8. The total solar eclipse will begin in Mexico and move northeast across Texas, Arkansas, the Midwest, upstate New York, New England, and Canada.
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Source: https://apnews.com/article/space-year-moon-asteroids-nasa-0c060d254b8a9dd6cb9d4a94a441481e
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