ScientistPankaj: Space & Physics: NASA's next moon mission is almost ready to launch

Friday, January 23, 2026

Space & Physics: NASA's next moon mission is almost ready to launch

January 22 — This week, check out our deep dive into the quest to see the universe's first stars—and this explainer about why, regardless of where we look in cosmic history, we never see green stars. We're also ramping up our coverage of NASA's historic Artemis II mission, the first human return to the moon in more than 50 years, which could launch early next month. Stay tuned for more soon—and keep looking up!

Thoughts? Questions? Let me know via e-mail (lbillings@sciam.com), X or Bluesky.

—Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

Image from JWST of a massive galaxy cluster called WHL0137-08

When will we see the universe's first stars?

The James Webb Space Telescope should soon be able to spot the first generation of stars in space

José María Diego Rodríguez

Light flash flare effect of glittering sun or star

For Stars, It's Not Easy Being Green

Stars emit lots of green light, but our eyes don't let us see them that way

Phil Plait

Immerse yourself in the universe of science in 2026 with a subscription to Scientific American.

A photoillustration of a colorful triptych of the same image of a space rocket in pink and yellow, natural colors, and green and blue

NASA's historic Artemis II moon mission is almost ready to launch

On Friday NASA laid out the time line for Artemis II, humanity's first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years

Lee Billings

An illustration showing the trajectory of a piece of space debris as it falls through the atmosphere over the western U.S. Color-coded contour lines denote the strength of associated shock waves from the supersonic flight of the debris.

Sonic booms can protect Earth from dangerous space junk

Scientists are using technology developed to study earthquakes to address an out-of-this-world risk

Lee Billings

NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 crew returns to Ellington Field's Guppy Hangar in Houston on January 16, 2026. From left to right is Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui.

Crew-11 astronauts reflect on ISS medical evacuation and future of human spaceflight

At a press conference, former ISS commander Mike Fincke said Crew-11's evacuation of the space station left him feeling more confident about human space exploration

Claire Cameron

Astronomers Spot Mysterious Bar-Shaped Cloud of Iron Inside an Iconic Nebula

A distinctive nebula inside the constellation Lyra holds a never-before-seen cloud of iron atoms—and researchers aren't sure why

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

This is a gif animation made up of false-colour images taken by ESA's Proba-3 mission and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Against a dark background, the Sun's disc is shown in dark orange, as captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. A thin halo of yellow light surrounds the Sun, giving it a luminous outline against the dark background of space. This yellow outline shows the Sun's inner corona, as captured by Proba-3. Also in yellow, three solar prominence eruptions are visible, resembling bright yellow wave-like outburst extending outwards from the Sun. First, we can see a smaller one in the top right corner, followed by a larger one in the top left and a third one in the bottom right. The whole animation lasts about 4 seconds and plays in a loop.

Watch three solar prominences erupt in epic video

A European spacecraft caught rare footage of three successive prominences popping off the sun

Meghan Bartels

Fully stacked rocket for the Artemis II mission rolling out to the launch pad

NASA's Artemis II mission to the moon is inching toward launch

NASA rolled out the fully stacked Artemis II rocket and Orion capsule on Saturday, embarking on a four-mile journey to the launch pad

Claire Cameron

A colorful close-up of whorls and tendrils of gas and dust in the Helix Nebula

New JWST images reveal Helix Nebula's knots with stunning clarity

A fresh look at the Helix Nebula captures new details of the cycle of stellar life and death

Joseph Howlett

NASA Space Exploration Insignia at the John F Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral Florida

NASA quietly ends financial support for planetary science groups

The U.S. space agency will quit funding several independent science advisory groups this year

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

conceptual illustration to accompany a poem about E=Mc2

Poem: 'E = mc²'

Science in meter and verse

Elaine Mintzer

What We're Reading

All sorts of interesting flags and artifacts will fly to the moon on Artemis II | Ars Technica
How to cut an infinitely large pancake into as many pieces as possible. | The New York Times
Iran's authorities failed to jam Starlink, a lifeline for its people | Supercluster