ScientistPankaj: Rocket Lab to launch satellites, recover booster tonight: Watch live

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November 17, 2021

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The Launchpad

Rocket Lab to launch satellites, recover booster tonight: Watch live

(Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab plans to recover a booster after launching two satellites to orbit tonight (Nov. 17), and you can watch the action live. A two-stage Electron rocket topped with two commercial Earth-observation satellites is scheduled to lift off tonight from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site at 8:20 p.m. EST (0120 Nov. 18 GMT). If all goes according to plan, shortly after liftoff, the Electron's first stage will splash down softly in the Pacific Ocean under parachutes, and Rocket Lab teams will fish it out of the sea.

Full Story: Space (11/10)

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars just collected its 3rd sample of the Red Planet (photos)

NASA's Perseverance rover has socked away another Martian sample to send home to Earth. The car-sized Perseverance rover drilled a core sample on Monday (Nov. 15), filling a titanium tube with Red Planet rock for the third time ever.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Elon Musk will give a SpaceX Starship update today and you can watch it live

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, will give an update on his company's progress on its huge new Starship rocket and you can watch it live online. Musk will discuss the SpaceX Starship program at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) during a 30-minute presentation for the National Academies' Space Studies Board and Board of Physics and Astronomy. The two boards are meeting this week to discuss a wide range of space exploration missions, astrophysics and astronomy projects and more.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Spaceflight

Hear how NASA alerted astronauts to incoming space debris after Russian anti-satellite test

(NASA)

Newly released audio shows the quick scramble the Expedition 66 crew undertook to get to safety following an anti-satellite test on Monday (Nov. 15). A Russian impactor was deliberately smashed into a defunct Soviet satellite, Cosmos 1408, causing a cloud of debris that came unexpectedly close to the International Space Station early that morning. The audio features a conversation between NASA astronaut and flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, who is on his second long-term duration flight in space.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Russian anti-satellite missile test was the first of its kind

The Russian Ministry of Defense launched an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile on Monday (Nov. 15), destroying one of its own satellites and creating a cloud of space debris that is threatening astronauts at the International Space Station. While nations including Russia have conducted ASAT tests before, this test was something different. This was Russia's first official intercept with its current ASAT system, known as Nudol.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Next SpaceX NASA crew launch adds rookie astronaut Jessica Watkins

The roster for SpaceX's next crew launch to the International Space Station is complete. NASA announced on Tuesday (Nov. 16) that it would add rookie astronaut Jessica Watkins to the mission, which is dubbed Crew-4. Watkins will join NASA colleagues Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Crew-4 is currently targeting an April 2022 launch for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Technology

Northrop Grumman reveals plans for new astronaut moon buggy

(Northrop Grumman)

NASA will have some options when it decides to select its next moon buggy. Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman announced on Tuesday (Nov. 16) that it's leading a private team designing a crewed Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) for potential use by NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Smithsonian FUTURES exhibit examines space artifacts of the future

A solar sail that tacked into the light, a keyboard used to navigate to the moon and a spacesuit-clad android are among the "artifacts of the future" in the new forward-looking display at America's first national museum. "FUTURES," the Smithsonian's first major building-wide exploration of what is still to come, invites the public to imagine "the many possible futures on the horizon" — including what was once thought and what is now considered to be the future of space exploration.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Skywatching

Beaver Moon lunar eclipse 2021: Here's how to watch it online

(Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

You can watch an ultra-long lunar eclipse online on Friday (Nov. 19) from one of several websites. The Beaver Moon lunar eclipse will start at 1:02 a.m. EST (0602 GMT), and the moon will be 97% covered by Earth's shadow at its peak. The eclipse will end at 6:03 a.m. EST (1203 GMT). While the event will be visible from North and South America, Australia, and parts of Europe and Asia, you can also catch it online if you are clouded out.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

How the Beaver Moon lunar eclipse of Nov. 19 has shades of 1967

Our upcoming lunar eclipse has a direct connection to an eclipse that occurred in the late 1960s.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Entertainment

'The Expanse' dials the space drama up to 11 in new full trailer for Season 6

(Amazon Prime Video)

The first full trailer for Season 6 of "The Expanse" has dropped and it shows an escalating, explosive and costly conflict with Marco Inaros and his growing band of Belter terrorists that call themselves the Free Navy. The sixth and final season of "The Expanse" will premiere on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on Dec. 10 and it picks up with the solar system at war, as Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) continues to launch devastating asteroid attacks on Earth and Mars.

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Why is sci-fi so obsessed with asteroid impact disasters (and how to stop them)?

For longer than science fiction has even existed, humans have been fascinated with (and terrified by) the prospect of space rocks falling to Earth. But why?

Full Story: Space (11/17)

Star Wars

Boba Fett is coming to Fortnite to celebrate 'The Book Of Boba Fett' Star Wars series on Disney Plus

(Epic Games)

It's official: The infamous Han Solo bounty hunter of "Star Wars" is coming to Fortnite. Boba Fett will drop on to the game's island on Dec. 24 at 7 p.m. EST (0000 GMT Dec. 25), game maker Epic Games announced Friday to mark Disney Plus Day for the streaming service Disney Plus, which is offering a subscription deal for the streaming service through Nov. 18 to sign up for $1.99 for a month.

Full Story: Space (11/17)