Cislunar • Civil • Moon

Artemis I Splashes Down

Artemis I is complete. At 12:40pm ET yesterday, the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, marking the end of its 26-day, 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon and back again. By all accounts, the first mission in NASA’s grand return to the Moon went smoothly. SLS, the agency’s long-awaited (and over-budget) Moon rocket launched on…

Cislunar • Moon • Parallax • Q&A

Lessons from Artemis: A Q&A with Former NASA Astronaut Jim Reilly

NASA’s triumphant return to the Moon has begun.  Right now, Artemis I is coming to an end, as the Orion capsule hurtles back from lunar orbit for a planned splashdown this weekend. Over the next few years, NASA is planning to lay the groundwork to prepare for long-haul trips to Mars. There’s a lot of…

Civil • Moon • Technology

Blue Origin- and Dynetics-led Teams Vie to Build Second NASA Lander

In the latest round of lunar Human Landing Systems (HLS), we have a National Team 2.0—along with another group of bidders—vying to build a second vehicle that would take American astronauts to the Moon.  The big change? Blue and Northrop Grumman have parted ways in their bid.  How we got here: a brief timeline  Bidding…