Apollo missions

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Astronaut Who Took 'Earthrise' Pic Dies in Plane Crash

Former Apollo 8 crew member William Anders, 90, killed when plane went down in San Juan Islands

(Newser) - William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was...

Apollo 10 Commander Tom Stafford Dead at 93
He Took 'Snoopy' to
Within 9 Miles of the Moon
OBITUARY
Mar 18, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

He Took 'Snoopy' to Within 9 Miles of the Moon

Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford dead at 93

(Newser) - Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, who commanded a dress rehearsal flight for the 1969 moon landing and the first US-Soviet space linkup, died Monday. He was 93. Stafford, a retired Air Force three-star general, took part in four space missions. Before Apollo 10, he flew on two Gemini flights, including the...

Pulled From Apollo 13, He Turned Sadness Into Heroism

Ken Mattingly, who assisted in rescuing his fellow astronauts, died Tuesday at 87

(Newser) - Seventy-two hours before liftoff, astronaut Ken "TK" Mattingly was pulled from Apollo 13. "There has never been anything in Shakespeare or any other publication that could throw a fit or feel sorry for yourself like I did," the astronaut, who'd been exposed to German measles, later...

Moonquakes Traced to a Human-Made Source
Moonquakes
Traced to a
Human-Made
Source
NEW STUDY
Sep 13, 2023 1:05 PM CDT

Moonquakes Traced to a Human-Made Source

Apollo 17 lunar module base 'starts popping off' every lunar morning as it warms, researchers find

(Newser) - Sensors placed on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission listened for vibrations over a period of several months and helped establish four types of moonquakes: those triggered by meteorite impacts; shallow quakes, possibly triggered by shrinkage due to a cooling interior ; deep quakes, tidal in origin ; and thermal...

Buzz Aldrin's Space Memorabilia Sold at Auction

His moon jacket fetched $2.8M

(Newser) - The jacket Buzz Aldrin wore on his historic first mission to the moon's surface in 1969 has been auctioned off to a bidder for nearly $2.8 million. The $2,772,500 paid for the Apollo 11 Inflight Coverall Jacket is the highest for any American space-flown artifact sold...

'Forgotten Astronaut' of First Moon Mission Dies
'Forgotten Astronaut' of
First Moon Mission Dies
OBITUARY
Apr 28, 2021 1:56 PM CDT

'Forgotten Astronaut' of First Moon Mission Dies

Michael Collins piloted command module as Armstong, Aldrin walked on lunar surface

(Newser) - As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon, Michael Collins remained in the Columbia command module for 22 hours, "truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life" whenever the module passed over the moon's far side, he wrote in the...

Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden Dies
Man Who Circled the Moon
Alone in 1971 Has Died
OBITUARY
Mar 19, 2020 3:40 AM CDT

Man Who Circled the Moon Alone in 1971 Has Died

Al Worden was on Apollo 15

(Newser) - Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden, who circled the moon alone in 1971 while his two crewmates test-drove the first lunar rover, died Wednesday at age 88. Worden died in his sleep at a rehab center in Houston following treatment for an infection, says friend and colleague Tom Kallman. "Al...

NASA to Open Moon Rock Samples Sealed 50 Years

Geologists will use new technology on Apollo samples

(Newser) - Inside a locked vault at Johnson Space Center is treasure few have seen and fewer have touched. The restricted lab is home to hundreds of pounds of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts close to a half-century ago. And for the first time in decades, NASA is about to open...

NASA's Moon Mission Gets Most Appropriate Name

Greek moon goddess Artemis gets her due

(Newser) - NASA's next mission to the moon is appropriately named, considering efforts to include the first female lunar walk . The mission is dubbed Artemis, after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of the god Apollo, whose namesake mission propelled 12 US astronauts to the moon from 1969...

NASA Saved Moon Samples for Just This Moment

Samples from final 3 Apollo missions will be studied for the first time

(Newser) - They've never been exposed to Earth's atmosphere, and for nearly five decades, they've sat untouched in storage. Now, NASA will study lunar samples collected during the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions for the first time, the agency announced Monday. The samples from the final three Apollo...

Apollo 12 Astronaut Who Flew to Moon Dies
Apollo 12
Astronaut
Who Flew
to Moon Dies 
OBITUARY
Nov 8, 2017 7:01 AM CST

Apollo 12 Astronaut Who Flew to Moon Dies

Richard Gordon was 'the kind of guy you want when you go to the moon'

(Newser) - Apollo 12 astronaut Richard "Dick" F. Gordon Jr., one of a dozen men who flew around the moon but didn't land there, has died, NASA said. He was 88. Gordon was a test pilot when he was chosen for NASA's third group of astronauts in 1963. He...

Traveling in Deep Space Is Bad for Your Heart

Apollo astronauts are much more likely to die of cardiovascular disease

(Newser) - Planning a trip to the moon? You might want to think about heart health first. According to a study published in Scientific Reports , travel in deep space dramatically raises the risk of cardiovascular disease. Florida State University researchers looked at America's Apollo astronauts, who are the only people ever...

'Embryo' Planet Plowed Into Earth, Creating Moon —and Stayed

New study suggests Earth is made up of 2 planets that fused in violent collision

(Newser) - Scientists already know that roughly 4.5 billion years ago planet Earth was violently smacked into by another mass —Theia, a so-called "planetary embryo" that was still forming and may have been just as large as Earth. But now UCLA researchers report that the collision was not a...

Alabama Junkyard Scraps Important Piece of NASA History

50-year-old lunar rover prototype was spotted in tiny town

(Newser) - Some deep document diving by Motherboard brings us this story of a massive and massively historical NASA lunar rover prototype and the Alabama junkyard that destroyed it for some reason. Motherboard reports a US Air Force historian was visiting his mother in Blountsville, Alabama—population 1,700—when he spotted...

See the Moon Missions Like Never Before

NASA's Project Apollo Archive shares thousands of high-res photos

(Newser) - We bet we can guess how anyone not entirely convinced that the US put a man on the moon will be spending their day. Kipp Teague has just updated NASA's Project Apollo Archive's Flickr account with 8,400 unprocessed, high-res, never-before-seen photos taken during the Apollo missions from...

Moon May Once Have Hosted Water
 Moon May 
 Once Have 
 Hosted Water 
study says
Feb 18, 2013 12:08 PM CST

Moon May Once Have Hosted Water

Study undermines theories of its creation

(Newser) - Scientists' theories on how the moon developed may not hold water—because it seems that the moon itself once did. That's what researchers are saying after new analysis of Apollo mission moon rocks, the Los Angeles Times reports. The widely-accepted story is that the moon is the result of...

America Bids Farewell to Neil Armstrong

First man on moon praised at DC memorial service

(Newser) - Astronauts, politicians, and members of the public crowded Washington National Cathedral yesterday to say a final farewell to Neil Armstrong, who will be buried at sea today. "He's now slipped the bonds of Earth once again, but what a legacy he left," former Treasury Secretary John Snow...

NASA Flags Still Upright on Moon

...except for Apollo 11's banner

(Newser) - Decades later, America's mark on the moon remains: All but one of the flags left by the Apollo missions are still flying. Scientists reviewed photos taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, sent to study the moon in 2009. The images show shadows revolving throughout the day around the flags'...

Lost Moon Rock Found in Clinton Files

Apollo 17 rock languished in gubernatorial files

(Newser) - In the 1970s, NASA presented a moon rock to all 50 states. Some, including Alaska and New Jersey, have lost theirs. In Arkansas, the rock had been thought lost for more than 30 years until it turned up in the files of former governor Bill Clinton. The rock—presented to...

New Moon Images Show Astronaut Tracks

They also show debris left behind from Apollo missions

(Newser) - NASA today released a batch of high-resolution images of the moon that show close-ups of landing sites from three Apollo missions, reports Space.com . (NASA has labeled and unlabeled versions of the images, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, here .) They show astronauts' footprints, the tracks of their lunar...

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