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☆ Meet Apollo, the ‘iPhone’ of humanoid robots
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The design for Apptronik’s latest humanoid robot, named Apollo, was unveiled on Wednesday. Apollo is Apptronik's latest humanoid robot. Rather than highly specialized robots that can only serve one purpose, Apptronik wanted Apollo to be the “iPhone of robots,” Cardenas said. Courtesy ApptronikBefore Apollo, Apptronik focused on what it called a Quick Development humanoid robot. To the moon and beyondApptronik serves as one of NASA’s partners that works on humanoid robot designs.

Persons: Argodesign, Apollo, “, ”, Jeff Cardenas, Bill Stafford, ” Cardenas, Shaun Azimi, NASA’s, Cardenas, Apptronik, Nick Paine, ” Paine, Paine, ” Azimi, Artemis VI, Azimi Organizations: Austin , Texas CNN, Austin, University of Texas, NASA, JSC, DARPA, Space Center, International Locations: Austin , Texas, Houston, Australia, uncrewed, Apptronik

☆ Astronauts are banned from drinking alcohol at work, but this hasn't stopped them sneaking everything from communion wine to cognac into space
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NASA and other space agencies have banned alcohol in space because it can damage equipment. But astronauts have found ways around this and smuggled alcohol onto spacecrafts for decades. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. The space agency has since banned astronauts from drinking 12 hours before they fly. Others would hide alcohol in thick books that were hollowed out by removing the pages inside.

Persons: Daniel G Huot, NASA's, Buzz Aldrin, Aldrin, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Igor Volk Organizations: NASA, Service, NASA's Johnson Space Center, BBC, Guardian, Webster Presbyterian Church, Soyuz, Metro, Russian Locations: Wall, Silicon, Houston, Russia

☆ NASA briefly loses contact with space station after power outage at mission control
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A brief power outage at NASA’s mission control center in Houston caused a voice communications blackout with the International Space Station and forced the space agency to rely on backup systems for the first time. The outage impacted only the first floor of the mission control building, Montalbano said. It did not affect flight controllers, or the rotating crew of NASA employees who constantly monitor the ISS from consoles in the main mission control room . The issue occurred as the mission control center was undergoing some preplanned upgrades to its power systems. He noted the outage marked the first time that NASA has activated the backup control hardware at Johnson Space Center’s Building 30, which is home to mission control.

Persons: CNN —, Joel Montalbano, ”, Montalbano, “, ” Montalbano Organizations: CNN, International Space Station, NASA, Johnson Locations: Houston

☆ NASA runs a tiny, isolated cabin that simulates a year of life on Mars, and for some reason, they put a book about the psychological horrors of cave exploration in it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

What book would you pack if you were isolated in a Mars habitat with three other people for 378 days? The book includes descriptions of "psychological horrors produced by weeks in absolute darkness." Photographed in the Mars Dune Alpha's capsule library was a book titled "Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth," a novel by James Tabor. The living room/dining area inside of CHAPEA's Mars Dune Alpha at the Johnson Space center in Houston, Texas. "Ultimately, this information will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars," Douglas added.

Persons: —, it's, Kelly Haston, Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell —, James Tabor ., Tabor, Bill Stone, Alexander Klimchouk, who've, Jay C, Patrick Lencioni, MARK FELIX, Grace Douglas, Douglas Organizations: NASA, Service, Johnson Space Center, Crew Health, Publishers, Getty Locations: Houston , Texas, Mars, AFP

☆ Remembering Sally Ride: 40th anniversary of her historic spaceflight
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —It has been 40 years since Sally Ride became the first woman from the United States to travel into outer space. She was not open about her personal life, according to former NASA astronaut Steve Hawley, who was married to Ride from 1982 to 1987. However, the educational company she cofounded, Sally Ride Science, revealed more of her personal life in her 2012 obituary, recognizing her longtime partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, after Ride died of pancreatic cancer. NASASherr’s book “Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space” was first published in 2014. A trailblazer’s legacyRide’s ambition and love of knowledge extended far beyond her role as an astronaut, Sherr noted.

Persons: Sally Ride, Steve Hawley, Sally, Tam O’Shaughnessy, Ride, NASA hasn’t, General, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Artemis, NASA's, Lynn Sherr, “, Sherr, ” Sherr, Dale Moore, ”, Billie Jean King, Martin Luther King Jr, ’, King Charles III, Prince of Wales, ‘, Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya, Ride’s, Lyndon B, Johnson, Gloria Steinem, Richard Drew, Tam O'Shaughnessy, Barack Obama, Kevin Dietsch, O’Shaughnessy, Charles Tasnadi, Eileen Collins, NASA’s Koch, Jessica Meir, —, Rob Navias Organizations: CNN, NASA, Sally Ride, NASA’s, Space Center, CAPCOM, Johnson Space Center, ABC News, Ride, Edwards Air Force Base, Stanford University, Stanford Daily, Soviet Union, Girls Club of America, Magazine, White, UPI, Sally Ride Science, University of California, UC San Diego, Poets, State Department, United Nations Locations: United States, Houston, California, Soviet, New York, Washington ,, San Diego, Columbia

☆ NASA researchers will spend a year living in a simulated Mars habitat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bill Stafford/NASAAiming for fidelity has resulted in a habitat that could feasibly built on Mars, Smith adds. MARK FELIX/AFP/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesNASA is attempting to fill in what it calls “Strategic Knowledge Gaps,” that currently make a manned Mars mission too risky. A manned Mars mission will ship food to the planet in advance of humans, which means it will need a long shelf-life. Intended as a location for the emirate to develop technology for an eventual Mars mission, it was also designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, with 3D-printed buildings. Thankfully the crew entering CHAPEA in June will not have to concern themselves with that potentially deadly element of a Mars mission.

☆ Fact Check-Video shows astronaut conducting an experiment in front of a grid background
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The grid is used similarly to graph paper to conduct experiments in space, according to the National Space Centre. The first few seconds of the video shows European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake on the middle screen in the background, in front of a grid background. It shows Peake conducting an experiment with a green ball. “It’s not a chroma key background,” Paul Millington, a representative for the National Space Centre, said in an email to Reuters. The video does not show an astronaut in front of a chroma key background with the purpose of falsifying space travel.

☆ SpaceX Starship launch: Was it really a 'success?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —After the first test launch of a SpaceX Starship rocket — the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed — ended in an eruption of flames over the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the company sought to frame the mission as a success. Within the space industry, Thursday’s Starship test mission wasn’t considered an outright failure, Caleb Henry, director of research at the space research firm Quilty Analytics, said. The SpaceX Starship exploded after launch for a flight test on April 20, 2023. There isn’t just one Starship vehicle that’s spent years in the development pipeline. The SpaceX rocket that flew on Thursday “was really just a bare bones,” Reisman added.

☆ Former fighter pilot to be first Canadian to fly to the moon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OTTAWA, April 3 (Reuters) - NASA on Monday said Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will join a lunar flyby mission expected to take off for the moon in 2024 as part of an expedition that will make the former fighter pilot the first Canadian to explore beyond earth's orbit. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking to reporters in Quebec, said he was extraordinarily excited for Hansen. The mission, Artemis II, will also include the first woman, Christina Koch, and the first African American, Victor Glover, ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission. He served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force between 2004 and 2009, before being picked for an astronaut recruitment program by the Canadian Space Agency. The crew members were announced by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency at an event near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

☆ NASA to announce astronauts chosen for Artemis II lunar flyby mission
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] People gather ahead of an event of NASA to announce the crew of the Artemis II space mission to the moon and back in Houston, Texas, U.S., April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Go NakamuraApril 3 (Reuters) - NASA plans on Monday to introduce the four astronauts for its Artemis II lunar flyby mission, set for launch as early as next year in what would be the first crewed voyage around the moon since the end of the Apollo era more than 50 years ago. The newly introduced crew will include the first Canadian astronaut for a moon mission, as well as three Americans from a pool of 18 NASA astronauts - nine women and nine men - selected for the Artemis program in 2020. They were the last of 12 NASA astronauts who walked on the moon during six Apollo missions starting in 1969 with Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. If Artemis II is a success, NASA plans to follow up a few years later with the programs' first lunar landing of astronauts, one of them a woman, on Artemis III, then continue with additional crewed missions about once a year.

☆ Axiom unveils spacesuits for NASA's upcoming Artemis moon missions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chief Engineer Jim Stein wears the new spacesuit during the Axiom Space Artemis III Lunar Spacesuit event at Space Center Houston in Houston, Texas, on March 15, 2023. "We're pleased that humanity's next steps on the moon are going to be in an Axiom spacesuit," Suffredini added. NASA's Artemis program represents a series of missions with escalating goals. In addition to Axiom, NASA also awarded a contract to Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Raytheon , to build next-generation spacesuits. Under the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services program, NASA expects to provide up to $3.5 billion for spacesuits through 2034.

☆ Unexplained leak from docked Soyuz spacecraft cancels Russian ISS spacewalk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 14 (Reuters) - A routine spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) was called off as it was about to begin after flight controllers noticed a stream of particles spewing from a docked Soyuz spacecraft, a NASA webcast showed. NASA said none of the seven members of the current International Space Station (ISS) crew - three Russian cosmonauts, three U.S. NASA astronauts and a Japanese astronaut - were thought to be in any danger. The spacewalk planned for Wednesday was postponed once before, in late November, because of faulty cooling pumps in the cosmonauts' spacesuits, Navias said. The spacewalk was to be the 12th this year at the ISS and the 257th in the history of the 20-year-old platform. Spacewalks are typically done for space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, according to NASA.

☆ Astronauts explain why nobody has visited the moon in 50 years — and the reasons are depressing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dave Mosher | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The last time a person visited the moon was in December 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission. But those stays during the Apollo program didn't establish a lasting human presence on the moon. Researchers and entrepreneurs have long pushed for the creation of a crewed base on the moon — a lunar space station. But many astronauts and other experts suggest the biggest impediments to making new crewed moon missions a reality are banal and somewhat depressing. During NASA's Apollo program, 12 people landed on the moon.

☆ Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, has signaled her intention to codify new rules for private space activities, but the plan for the executive order has not been reported. The executive order is considered an early step to simplify existing regulations before new rules take shape. Companies like Blue Origin, Axiom Space and others are developing private space stations with unclear procedures for how they can court foreign governments as customers or execute their missions in space. Private space stations like Orbital Reef, which Blue Origin is developing with Boeing and Sierra Space, could be deployed by 2030. White House officials have held several "listening sessions" with space companies since Nov. 14 to discuss what rules the space industry would like to see, according to people familiar with the meetings.

☆ The incredible true story of the time an astronaut played golf on the moon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jack Bantock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

The resulting creation, a Wilson Staff Dyna-Power 6-iron head, was tucked away in Shepard’s space suit for launch, with a few balls hidden in a sock. “Miles and miles and miles,” the jubilant astronaut remarked as the ball sailed out of his view, swallowed by the infinite blackness of space. What does any of that have to do with an astronaut playing golf on the moon? Saunders believed Shepard’s “miles and miles” remark to have been made tongue-in-cheek, an almost instinctive reflex of his hyper-competitive, “fighter-jock” nature. “We always talk about getting to the moon, landing on the moon, returning back to Earth – that’s how we think of the moon,” Odom said.

☆ Photos: See How NASA Trains Its Astronauts to Go to the Moon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Since 1959, more than 350 people have become NASA astronauts. Since NASA announced its first class of astronauts in 1959, more than 350 people have become astronauts. An astronaut nurse takes a blood sample from NASA astronaut John Glenn in 1961. NASAEarly on, NASA used a large machine called a human centrifuge to test gravitational stress on astronauts training to go to the moon for the first time. As more humans ventured into space, NASA began to understand the mental burden of space travel.

The Orion spacecraft shared its first view of Earth more than nine hours after launch Wednesday morning. NASAThe towering, 322-foot-tall (98-meter-tall) Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket lit its engines at 1:47 a.m. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Before the launch was scrubbed on September 3, spectators wait for the NASA Artemis I rocket to launch at the Kennedy Space Center. Brynn Anderson/AP The NASA launch countdown clock was stopped after the launch was delayed on August 29. Throughout the mission, NASA engineers will be keeping a close eye on the spacecraft’s performance.

☆ NASA's Artemis I moon rocket is flying through space for the first time. Meet the mannequins, Snoopy, and 'Shaun the Sheep' dolls along for the ride.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Mannequins and mementos are hitching a ride aboard NASA's Orion capsule — without people. Fitted with more than 5600 sensors, Zohar and Helga will measure the amount of radiation astronauts could be exposed to in future missions. "When it comes to biological effects, different organs have different susceptibility to space radiation. Shaun, of British TV show "Shaun the Sheep" fame, is flying aboard the Artemis I mission in plush doll form. Snoopy will ride in the Orion capsule and serve as a zero gravity indicator.

☆ 12 queer icons to channel this Halloween
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Ellie Rudy | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Without further ado, here is a selection of queer icons and pop culture favorites — in no particular order — whom you can channel for Halloween (a.k.a. For a relatively stress-free Halloween ensemble, throw on a tux, top hat, a pocket square and some fierce red lipstick. To channel Ms. Kahlo this Halloween, you’ll need her signature unibrow (eyeliner or an eyebrow pencil should do the trick), a flower crown, red lipstick, a colorful blouse and a floor-length skirt. For this costume, you’ll need a fedora, a (preferably pastel) dress shirt, a tie matching the hat and, if you’re really feeling the fantasy, a color-coordinated sweater vest. If you dress up as any of these queer icons and pop culture favorites for Halloween, tag @NBCOut on Twitter or Instagram in a costume photo!

☆ Meet Commander Moonikin Campos, the Artemis I mannequin
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Rather than astronauts, a mannequin named Commander Moonikin Campos will helm the Orion spacecraft, with two mannequin torsos called Helga and Zohar along for the ride. The mannequin, sporting the Orion Crew Survival System suit, can collect data on what future human crews might experience. Commander Moonikin Campos will test out a flight suit intended for future astronauts. The developers of AstroRad hope that the vest would allow future Artemis crews to continue performing daily activities despite space weather. Combating space radiationDifferent organs have different susceptibilities to space radiation, said Ramona Gaza, the MARE science team lead at Johnson Space Center.

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