Latest Moon Stories
WASHINGTON, May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Moon Express, Inc., a provider of commercial and scientific missions to the Moon, announced today that it has acquired Next Giant Leap, LLC of Colorado (NGL). The NGL acquisition by Moon Express will leverage and carry forward the substantial work done by NGL supported by its corporate partners, Sierra Nevada Corp., The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT Space Systems Laboratory, Aurora Flight Services, Jolted Media Group, The Center for...
Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com NASA reports that its GRAIL mission has already completed its prime mission, ensuring the twin probes are able to extend their scientific endeavors. The GRAIL mission has gathered details about the internal structure and evolution of the Moon since it arrived at the lunar body back at the end of last year. The spacecraft have been operating around the clock for 89 days since March 8, collecting data covering the entire surface three times. GRAIL used...
Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com [ Watch the Video ] A strawberry moon may sound like a delicious dessert to some, but for astronomers it’s a dish that will fulfill their lunar eclipse appetite next Monday. At 3:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on June 4, the Moon will pass directly behind the Earth, producing the first lunar eclipse of 2012. The eclipse will be visible in North and South America, Australia, eastern parts of Asia, and across the Pacific Ocean. The Strawberry...
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A NASA mission to study the moon from crust to core has completed its prime mission earlier than expected. The mission team of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, with twin probes named Ebb and Flow, is now preparing for extended science operations starting Aug. 30 and continuing through Dec. 3, 2012. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The GRAIL mission has gathered...
Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com NASA announced guidelines established to try and protect lunar historic sites as engineers and scientists aim their sites for the moon. The new guidelines will be taken into account by the X Prize Foundation as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams trying to become the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon. NASA said it recognizes that both nations and the companies have ambitions to reach the moon, so it wanted to develop the...
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and the X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif., announced Thursday the Google Lunar X Prize is recognizing guidelines established by NASA to protect lunar historic sites and preserve ongoing and future science on the moon. The foundation will take the guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon. (Logo:...
In December 2011, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin issued a report stating that more than 500 pieces of moon rocks, meteorites, and other debris from space were either stolen or have been missing since 1970. Now, a Houston lawyer is on a mission to identify and possibly recover many of these rare treasures. The moon rocks he is on the hunt for were brought back to Earth and then subsequently lost after being loaned to scientists, museums and agencies throughout the world. The samples...
This weekend's highly-anticipated supermoon was the featured attraction for thousands of people worldwide, as the once-a-year event caused skygazers and amateur photographers to flock to key viewing sites for a look at the astronomical phenomenon. "With much of the UK swaddled in the traditional bank holiday blanket of rain and even snow clouds, it wasn't the greatest sky watching weekend. However, those fortunate enough to be under clear skies in many countries saw one of the natural...
HARRISBURG, Pa. and DENVER, Colo., May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthAmerica and CafeWell(TM) today announced that participants in the Race to the Moon wellness challenge, sponsored by HealthAmerica, recently passed their target of walking the distance to the moon. At April 30, participants had walked more than 685 million steps, which equates to 302,000 miles. Based on the program's success,a new challenge program was announced today, Return to Earth*, which features new fitness...
The biggest and brightest full moon of the year will occur this weekend. An estimated 16% brighter than normal, this spectacular ‘Supermoon’ will be visible in the night sky on Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT, according NASA. Click here for video. The scientific term for the phenomenon is "perigee moon." Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer than the other...
Latest Moon Reference Libraries
Harrison Schmitt was a NASA astronaut, and is also an American geologist. He was born Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt on July 3, 1935 in Santa Rita, New Mexico. After high school, he went to the California Institute of Technology and received a B.S. degree in science in 1957. He then went to Norway to study geology at the University of Oslo. In 1964, Schmitt earned a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University. After receiving his doctorate, he worked at the U.S. Geological Survey's...
Edgar Mitchell was an American pilot, engineer, and astronaut. He was also the sixth person to have walked on the moon. He was born Edgar Dean Mitchell, D.Sc. on born September 17, 1930 in Hereford, Texas. During his childhood, he was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management in 1952. The following year he joined the US Navy and trained...
James Irwin was an American astronaut, an engineer, and was the eighth person to walk on the moon. He was born James Benson Irwin on March 17, 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He lived a fairly normal childhood and graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1947. He went on to attend the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1951. Following the Naval Academy, he attended the University of Michigan and earned a Master of Science in...
Robert Grant Aitken (December 31, 1864 "“ October 29, 1951) was an American inventor born in Jackson, CA. Aitken worked at the Lick Observatory in California where he systematically studied double stars, measuring their positions and calculating their orbits around one another. He methodically created a large catalog of such stars, which was published in 1932. It was entitled "˜New General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 120 degrees of the North Pole'. It contained orbit information...
Eclipse -- An eclipse occurs when an astronomical body such as a planet, or satellite gets between a source of light (e.g. the Sun) and another body. For instance, Jupiter eclipses its moons when it gets between them and the Sun. -- Lunar eclipses - are where the Earth obscures the Sun, from the Moon's point of view. The Moon moves through the shadow cast by the Earth. This can only happen at full moon. -- Solar eclipses - are where the Moon obscures the Sun, from the Earth's point of...
![Far-Side \"Halo\" blast](/media/gallery/sdo-solar-dynamics-observatory/thumbs/thumbs_farside_c3_halo.jpg "Far-Side \\"Halo\\" blast")
