'God of chaos' asteroid will be visible with the naked eye, NASA says

An illustration shows NASA's OSRIS-APEX spacecraft as it watches the asteroid Apophis zoom past Earth in April 2029. 

(Image credit: Robert Lea/NASA)

A rare asteroid will soon be visible to the naked eye in a rare celestial event, according to astronomers.

Asteroid 99942 Apophis – named after the Egyptian deity of chaos, darkness and fire – is expected to safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029, according to NASA.

NASA - PHOTO: Near-Earth asteroid Apophis is a potentially hazardous asteroid that will safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029.

The asteroid will pass within roughly 20,000 miles of Earth – nearly 12 times closer than the moon's average distance from Earth, and closer than many satellites in geosynchronous orbit – making it one one of the closest approaches ever recorded for an object if its size and a "very rare event," according to NASA.

The approach will be visible to observers on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere, weather permitting, according to NASA. It will be close enough that sky-watchers won't need a telescope or binoculars to see it, astronomers say.

• MORE: Asteroid just flew closer to Earth than many satellites, space agencies say

When Apophis was first discovered in 2004, it was labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid because of the possibility that it could impact Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068, according to NASA.

After closely tracking the asteroid and its orbit using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, astronomers are now confident that there is no risk of Apophis impacting Earth for at least 100 years.

ESA - Science Office - PHOTO: On April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass less than 32,000 km from Earth’s surface.

The Earth's gravitational pull could change the asteroid's orbit around the sun as it passes in 2029, making the orbit slightly larger or the orbital period slightly longer, but the risk of impact with Earth will remain the same, NASA says. Its close passage will also afford astronomers around the world the opportunity to learn more about the asteroid.

• MORE: Astronomers spot 'interstellar object' speeding through solar system

Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god known as Apep. The name was proposed by the astronomers who discovered the asteroid: Roy Tucker, David Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.

NASA/JPL-Caltech and NSF/AUI/GBO - PHOTO: These images of asteroid Apophis were recorded in March 2021 by radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

The asteroid is a relic of the early solar system from about 4.6 billion years ago, made of leftover raw material that was never part of a planet or moon, according to NASA. Though its exact size and shape is unknown, it has a mean diameter of about 1,115 feet and a long axis of at least 1,480 feet.

• MORE: 3I/ATLAS, comet hurtling toward solar system, much bigger than previously thought, astronomers say

Apophis' surface is weathered due to eons of exposure to space weather, including solar wind and cosmic rays, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Observatories around the world and in space will observe the asteroid's historic approach to Earth in order to better understand its physical properties.

Smith Collection/gado via Getty Images - PHOTO: Egyptian Snake-God Apep (Apophis)

NASA has redirected a spacecraft to rendezvous with Apophis shortly after its close approach in 2029, while the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to study it.

When the April 2029 flyby occurs, Apophis will become a member of the "Apollo" group, the family of asteroids that cross Earth's orbit but that themselves have orbits around the sun that are wider than the Earth's, according to the ESA.

{ https://www.yahoo.com/news/ }

Artemis II isn’t the farthest human spaceflight, and it’s not even close

Joseph Shavit

Artist impression of Artemis II: Orion and its European Service Module as they separate from the second stage of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).

(CREDIT: ESA-D. Ducros)

Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission of the Artemis era, sent four astronauts on a sweeping journey around the Moon before bringing them safely back to Earth. The mission carried the crew farther from Earth than any humans had traveled before, using a free-return trajectory that looped around the Moon and set up a fiery return through Earth’s atmosphere. It ended with Orion splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after nearly 11 days in space, closing out a mission designed to test the spacecraft, its life-support systems, and the agency’s readiness for future lunar expeditions.

According to NASA, the mission reached a maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth, passed within about 4,070 miles of the lunar surface, and covered 695,081 miles from launch to splashdown. By the measure of how far humans had ever gotten from home, Artemis II set a new record.

That is not the same record as longest trip.

A simple everyday comparison helps. A former job might have been 20 miles from your house. A new one could sit only 10 miles away. But if the route to the closer job snakes through bad roads and detours, your odometer might still rack up 30 miles. The closer destination becomes the longer drive.

Artemis II trajectory showing the crewed spacecraft’s journey from Earth around the Moon.

(CREDIT: Canadian Space Agency)

That is essentially what happened here.

One kind of distance, not every kind

Artemis II went farther outward than any earlier crewed mission. It headed toward the Moon, looped around it, and came back to Earth. So when NASA describes it as the farthest human spaceflight, the claim holds up, but in a very specific sense. Artemis II set the record for maximum distance from Earth, not for total miles traveled.

That distinction matters because another lunar mission still leads in NASA’s own mileage totals.

Apollo 17, the final crewed Moon landing mission, lasted 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes, according to NASA’s mission page. It spent 75 hours on the lunar surface, completed 75 revolutions, and traveled 1,484,933.8 miles. Artemis II’s published total was 695,081 miles.

By NASA’s own figures, Apollo 17 covered a little more than twice as much ground.

The gap is striking, especially since Artemis II just set the record for getting farthest from Earth. The explanation is less mysterious than it first sounds. Artemis II flew by the Moon. Apollo 17 got there and did much more.

Where Apollo 17 built its lead

Once Apollo 17 reached the Moon, the mission did not simply swing around and head home. It entered lunar operations, circled the Moon again and again, landed, remained on the surface for more than three days, launched back into space, and then returned to Earth.

Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon, is seen here on the lunar surface in December 1972.

(CREDIT: NASA)

NASA’s public mission page does not break that 1.48 million-mile total into a detailed accounting. Still, it provides enough to explain why Apollo 17’s number climbs so much higher than Artemis II’s.

The biggest clue is the 75 revolutions.

A rough geometric estimate helps show the scale. A low orbit around the Moon runs a little more than 7,000 miles per lap. Over 75 revolutions, that alone adds up to more than 500,000 miles. Then come the descent to the surface, the ascent back to orbit, and the other local maneuvers near the Moon.

That estimate is not an official NASA breakdown. It is a back-of-the-envelope way to understand the mission profile. Even so, it points in the same direction as the published totals. Apollo 17 racked up its extra miles because it spent far longer operating in the Moon’s neighborhood.

Artemis II did not.

It went out, looped around, and came back.

A bigger frame changes the leaderboard

There is also another way to think about travel in space, though it is separate from NASA’s official mission-mileage totals.

NASA says Earth sits about 93 million miles from the Sun and takes 365.25 days to complete one orbit.

(CREDIT: Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0)

NASA says Earth sits about 93 million miles from the Sun and takes 365.25 days to complete one orbit. That works out to roughly 1.61 million miles of travel per day around the Sun. By that measure, every crewed mission is also being carried through space by the motion of the Earth-Moon system.

Using that frame, Apollo 17’s 12.58-day mission corresponds to roughly 20.2 million miles of solar-orbit travel. Artemis II’s 10.98-day mission comes out to about 17.6 million miles.

Those are not NASA’s official mission-distance numbers. They are separate calculations based on NASA’s Earth-orbit facts and the length of each mission. They help clarify what NASA’s published totals are measuring, and what they are not.

Apollo 17’s official 1,484,933.8 miles and Artemis II’s official 695,081 miles make the most sense in the Earth-Moon flight frame. If solar motion were part of the official count, both totals would be dramatically larger.

That point cuts both ways. It means solar motion is real, but it does not explain why Apollo 17 beats Artemis II in NASA’s official numbers. That advantage still comes from what Apollo 17 did around the Moon.

The stations run away with it

Once the frame widens to include the Sun, lunar missions stop looking like the mileage champions.

Long-duration space stations take over almost immediately.

The ISS as seen from Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-132, pictured in May 2010.

(CREDIT: Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0)

The reason is simple. If Earth moves about 1.6 million miles per day around the Sun, then any occupied station is also covering that distance day after day, week after week, year after year. On top of that, the station is circling Earth the whole time.

By this method, the International Space Station sits in a category of its own. NASA says the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2, 2000 and travels around Earth at about 17,500 miles per hour. From November 2, 2000 to April 13, 2026, that uninterrupted human presence spans about 9,293 days. Earth’s motion around the Sun over that stretch adds up to about 14.86 billion miles. The station’s own orbit adds about 3.90 billion miles. Together, that comes to roughly 18.76 billion miles traveled while humans were aboard.

Mir also leaves the lunar missions far behind by the same method. NASA says human occupancy resumed in September 1989 and continued without interruption for 10 years, until August 1999. NASA also says Mir traveled at an average speed of 17,885 miles per hour. Over that inhabited stretch, Earth’s motion around the Sun accounts for about 5.84 billion miles, while Mir’s orbit adds another 1.57 billion. Combined, that comes to about 7.41 billion miles.

Even Skylab looks surprisingly strong once the calculation changes. NASA says its three crewed stays lasted 28 days, 59 days, and 84 days. NASA also says Skylab orbited at about 435 kilometers altitude and completed one orbit every 93 minutes. Using solar motion plus Skylab’s own movement around Earth, the three inhabited stays work out to about 56.3 million miles, 118.6 million miles, and 168.9 million miles.

These are estimate-based totals, not official NASA mileage tallies. They combine Earth’s orbit around the Sun with each station’s orbit around Earth, and they count only periods when humans were continuously aboard. That makes them useful for comparison, but not interchangeable with NASA’s official mission-distance figures.

Practical implications

What this really changes is the language around space records.

Artemis II holds the record for the greatest distance from Earth ever reached by humans. Apollo 17, using NASA’s own mission totals, traveled many more miles. In a wider Sun-centered frame, long-occupied stations overwhelm both of them.

That does not shrink Artemis II’s achievement. It sharpens it.

The mission took humans farther from Earth than any mission before it. But farthest from home and longest trip are not the same measurement, and space makes that difference impossible to ignore.

The original story “Artemis II isn’t the farthest human spaceflight, and it’s not even close” is published in The Brighter Side of News.

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It's official! Artemis 2 breaks Apollo 13 distance record - Farthest-ever humans from Earth

{ https://www.yahoo.com/news/ }

Subaru telescope captures comet 3I/ATLAS composition change

by National Institutes of Natural Sciences

The Subaru Telescope observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on January 7, 2026, after it made its closest approach to the sun. By observing colors in the coma around the comet, astronomers could estimate the ratio of carbon dioxide to water. This ratio is much lower than that inferred from earlier observations by space telescopes. These findings suggest that the chemistry of the coma is evolving over time and offers clues to the structure of comet 3I/ATLAS. The work appears in The Astronomical Journal.

Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) has garnered much attention as a comet which originated outside of the solar system. A research group led by Yoshiharu Shinnaka of the Koyama Space Science Institute, Kyoto Sangyo University, used the Subaru Telescope to observe comet 3I/ATLAS after perihelion, the comet's closest approach to the sun. The team applied analytical methods and expertise accumulated through investigations of solar system comets to the data.

From this analysis, the team was able to estimate the ratio of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to water (H₂O) in the coma, the cloud of gas around the nucleus of the comet. Because the gas in the coma comes from the nucleus, the coma composition provides hints to the composition of the nucleus.

Thanks to its notoriety, 3I/ATLAS had already been observed by space telescopes prior to perihelion. The CO₂/H₂O ratio calculated from the Subaru Telescope data was lower than the ratio suggested by the space telescope data. This change is consistent with the idea that the composition of the nucleus's interior differs from that of the exterior, and as 3I/ATLAS heated up during its pass by the sun, gas started to escape from different parts of the nucleus.

Shinnaka comments, "With the full-scale operation of survey telescopes in the coming years, many more interstellar objects are expected to be discovered. By applying the observational and analytical techniques we have developed through studies of solar system comets to interstellar objects, we can now directly compare comets hailing from both inside and outside the solar system and explore differences in their composition and evolution.

"Through studies of such objects, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of how planetesimals and planets formed in a wide variety of stellar systems, including our own solar system."

{ https://phys.org/space-news/ }

Rep. Luna, Lawmakers Demand UFO Videos by April 14

By Sandy Fitzgerald

Lawmakers are giving War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth and other federal agencies until April 14 to turn over dozens of classified UFO videos while warning the unidentified objects could pose a threat to U.S. military operations.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., sent a letter to Hegseth requesting 46 specific Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) videos, and said in a statement that the lack of disclosure "regarding the very real threat" posed by the objects being near U.S. restricted airspace is "concerning," The Daily Mail reported Wednesday. 

"The presence of UAPs in and around the sensitive airspaces of U.S. military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness," Luna said.

Lawmakers are seeking footage of encounters recorded by the military that shows spherical, cigar-shaped, and Tic Tac-like objects observed over war zones, oceans, and restricted airspace.

Some of the clips reportedly show formations near Iran and Syria, incidents near U.S. bases and airports, and a 2023 shootdown over Lake Huron.

The videos could help identify patterns of activity near sensitive sites and assess whether the objects present a national security risk, lawmakers say.

Luna chairs the House Federal Secrets Task Force, which is investigating UAP sightings, declassifying federal records, and working with whistleblowers.

She said the panel has received incomplete responses from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which is tasked with analyzing such incidents.

The letter follows a September 2025 hearing in which whistleblowers told lawmakers that additional UAP video records exist.

Congressional Letter

Among the requested materials is footage labeled "Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds, 11/23/20," reportedly recorded during a reconnaissance mission near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

{ https://www.newsmax.com/ }

Even if you’re hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be spared the everyday problems familiar to every office worker. During the live broadcast of the Artemis II mission, viewers witnessed not only majestic scenery but also a humorous—albeit somewhat stressful—moment: the astronauts’ struggle with Microsoft software.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission commander Reid Wiseman looks out the window of the Orion spacecraft. The Outlook illustration was added to the lower display “as a joke”; in reality, telemetry was displayed there, and the software glitch actually occurred on a Windows-based tablet. Photo: NASA

Attentive social media users, particularly on BlueSky, noticed an unexpected exchange between the crew and Mission Control in Houston. Instead of reporting on orbital parameters, Commander Reid Wiseman was forced to complain about glitches with his email.

About 13 hours into the flight, Wiseman reported, “I see that I have two instances of Microsoft Outlook running, and neither of them is working.” The phrase instantly went viral. Users joked that sending people to the moon is difficult, but making them use Outlook while they’re there is downright cruel.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission commander Reid Wiseman. Photo: NASA

The problem was so serious that specialists on Earth had to connect to the spacecraft’s systems remotely to “resurrect” the email client. An hour later, the problem was resolved, even though the program continued to display an “offline” status—a phenomenon NASA experts described as “expected behavior.”

Why use Windows in space?

To many readers, the presence of ordinary commercial software on board a multibillion-dollar spacecraft may seem strange. However, this is part of the COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) strategy.

A “selfie” of the Orion spacecraft returning to Earth after a lunar flyby as part of the Artemis II mission. Photo: NASA

It is important to understand that Orion’s mission-critical flight systems rely on specialized, radiation-resistant hardware and unique software that has undergone years of testing. However, for everyday tasks—such as checking schedules, writing personal letters to family, or reading instructions—astronauts use standard Windows tablets and laptops. This allows the crew to work in a familiar interface without tying up the resources of the main onboard computers for administrative tasks.

Battle with the toilet

While searching for information about Microsoft Outlook in the broadcast, the researchers stumbled upon another, more physiological problem facing the mission. Almost at the very start of the flight, a warning light indicating a malfunction in the waste disposal system (UWMS) lit up on the control panel.

In this photo, astronaut Christina Koch is illuminated by a screen inside the darkened Orion spacecraft on the third day of the Artemis II mission. To the right, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen looks out one of the windows. Source: NASA

As it turned out later, the urine drain fan jammed two hours after takeoff. In microgravity, this is not merely an inconvenience but a serious technical hazard: without forced airflow, the liquid does not flow into the collection container but instead begins to scatter chaotically throughout the cabin.

Fortunately, one of the astronauts had experience as a maintenance engineer; he managed to reach the mechanism and manually clear the jam. NASA confirmed that the system had resumed operation, but the incident served as yet another reminder that in space, even the slightest fan malfunction can turn a triumphant mission into an ordeal of endurance.

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{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

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1.5 Mile Long UFO Docked In Crater On Earths Moon, UFO Sightings Daily

Date of discovery: April 13, 2026

Location of discovery: Earths Moon

Coordinates: 24.1° S / 127.8° E

NASA source: 

• https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS17-157-23862

 

Hey all, I just found this today, it's 100% new to me. Although I have reported other similar size UFOs years ago, but the NASA coordinates for that one are a bit different, but in the general area close by. I found a 1.5 mile long UFO on Earths moon in an old Apollo 17 NASA archive. The UFO is docked at its nose are upon the edge of the crater and the rest of the ship is floating above the ground. The ship is really large and closely resembles the Star Trek Voyager ship. The material the ship is made of is a whitish shiny white, and as most of you have heard, white UFOs are in the majority in UFO reports worldwide. The UFO is sitting on the edge of Mare Serenitatis, which is an area explored by Apollo 17 and for good reason, who wouldn't want to explore, record data, video, take samples and possibly salvage this 1.5 mile long alien ship full of delicious ET tech? I know I would. 

 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

PS, This UFO coordinates: 24.1° S / 127.8° E 

Back in 2011 I found a bigger one at: 22° S / 128.5° E 

 

See how close they are? There is an alien docking station in this area on the moon. Here is the link to the 2011 post with its photos and NASA source: 

• https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/2011/03/nasa-released-10-km-mothership-in.html

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Egypt's Great Pyramid history shattered as new 'evidence' reveals how the ancient structure was really built

• READ MORE: Long-lost ancient Egyptian technology rewrites the dawn of civilization

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The mystery of how Egypt’s Great Pyramid was built may finally be solved.

For decades, experts have struggled to explain how ancient workers lifted and positioned millions of huge stone blocks - some weighing up to 15 tons - without modern machinery. No written records reveal how they did it.

Now, a new study suggests the Pyramid of Khufu was built using a hidden spiral ramp running inside the structure.

Computer scientist Vicente Luis Rosell Roig believes workers used an ‘edge ramp’ - a sloping path along the pyramid’s outer edges that was gradually covered as each new layer was added.

Instead of relying on massive external ramps, this would have allowed workers to move stones steadily upward, one level at a time.

The scale of the project is staggering. The pyramid stretches around 755 feet along each side of its base and rises to about 481 feet.

Historians estimate it was built from roughly 2.3 million stone blocks - a feat that required extraordinary planning and coordination during Pharaoh Khufu’s reign.

The new model also sheds light on how long the construction may have taken.

The construction of Egypt's Great Pyramid has long baffled archaeologists, with no surviving ancient texts explaining how its massive stone blocks were lifted and assembled so quickly

Simulations suggest blocks could have been placed every four to six minutes - a fast, consistent pace.

At that rate, the pyramid could have been completed in just 14 to 21 years.

When quarrying, transport, and breaks for workers are factored in, the total timeline rises to around 20 to 27 years, in line with existing estimates.

Crucially, the theory could also explain why mysterious empty spaces have been detected inside the pyramid. It suggests parts of the hidden ramp could still be inside.

'Old Kingdom technology precluded iron tools, wheeled heavy transport, and compound pulleys, but allowed copper chisels, water-lubricated sledges, ropes, levers, earthen works, and Nile barges,' Rosell Roig said in a study in NPJ Heritage Science, published in March 2026.

'Accordingly, we bound ramp slope, lane width/clearance, and friction, and evaluate the dispatch headway (time between placing successive blocks) required to satisfy the 20–27-year window, encoding these constraints as model parameters.'

For centuries, experts have debated how ancient builders managed to raise such massive materials with limited technology while maintaining the pyramid's precise geometry.

Many earlier ramp theories struggled to explain how construction could continue efficiently without creating obstacles or requiring vast amounts of additional material.

Now, a new study proposes that the Pyramid of Khufu may have been built using a sophisticated hidden ramp system capable of moving stone blocks every few minutes

Rosell Roig's research aimed to address these challenges by combining multiple forms of analysis into a single system.

According to the study, he built a computer model that simulated how stones were moved and how the structure stayed stable as it rose layer by layer.

At the center of the system is the ramp itself, a gradual path built into the pyramid's outer structure rather than relying on massive external ramps.

Sections of the outer stone layers were temporarily left open to form the upward path, then filled in as work progressed, removing visible evidence of the ramp once construction was complete.

Rosell Roig described this method as 'a helical path formed by omitting and backfilling perimeter courses,' allowing the ramp to rise alongside the structure.

Timing proved to be one of the most important elements of the study. The model calculated that maintaining steady block placement intervals would allow construction to proceed within realistic historical timeframes.

When expanded to include additional logistical steps such as quarrying stone and transporting materials along the Nile, the overall construction window increased but remained consistent with accepted estimates.

Structural stability was another major focus, with staged finite-element analysis used to simulate the pressure created as each new layer of stone was added to the growing monument. 

The results showed that 'stresses and settlements remain within plausible limits for Old Kingdom limestone under self-weight,' indicating the structure could support its own immense mass throughout construction.

The model was also tested against physical observations already detected inside the pyramid. Imaging technology has revealed unexplained internal spaces, and the study found that the proposed ramp geometry corresponds with those features.

This design would have allowed workers to move stone blocks steadily upward without constructing massive external ramps that would have required enormous amounts of additional material

That alignment suggests the voids may not be accidental gaps, but structural elements created as part of the building process.

A key strength of the model is its ability to be tested. Rather than offering an unprovable idea, the research outlines measurable physical markers that archaeologists could investigate.

These include 'falsifiable predictions (edge-fill signatures, corner wear),' referring to specific patterns expected where ramps were filled in or where heavy traffic would have caused repeated wear.

According to Rosell Roig, the model helps solve several long-standing questions about how the pyramid was constructed efficiently without leaving visible traces.

He wrote that the system 'helps reconcile throughput, survey access, and zero-footprint closure,' meaning it allows construction to remain efficient while preserving the pyramid's final appearance.

By combining logistics, geometry and structural modeling into a single framework, the study presents what it describes as a workable construction pathway grounded in measurable constraints.

If future archaeological investigations confirm the predicted physical evidence, the findings could reshape modern understanding of how one of the world's most famous monuments was built, not through brute force alone, but through careful planning, engineering precision and a construction method designed to disappear into the finished structure itself.

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

Footage has revealed the heartwarming moment a recovery crew opened Integrity's hatch, waving and smiling as they greeted NASA's astronauts following their historic moon mission.

The team arrived back on Earth in the early hours of Saturday after completing a 10–day journey that took them 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from home.

Their spacecraft reached blistering speeds of up to 25,000 miles per hour as it burned through the atmosphere.

Parachutes were deployed to slow its descent before it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California.

A recovery team raced to the capsule, with a newly–released video showing them popping open the hatch and climbing inside to greet Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

They could be heard shouting 'welcome home' as they gave fist bumps to the crew, who beamed with joy after returning to Earth.

Commander Wiseman shared the video on social media with the caption: 'Jesse, Steve, Laddy and Vlad…such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000–mile journey.

'Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation.'

Footage has revealed the heartwarming moment a recovery crew opened Integrity's hatch, waving and smiling as they greeted NASA's astronauts following their historic moon mission 

Pilot Victor Glover had a huge smile on his face as he fist–bumped one of the rescue team members

The splashdown marked the end of a 10–day journey that took the crew around the moon and farther than any humans have ever travelled in space.

NASA officials called the Artemis II mission a total success, with the capsule splashing down exactly where the space agency had planned.

Re–entry to Earth's atmosphere began just after 12:30am (UK time) on Saturday morning, with the Orion crew module blasting away from the spacecraft's service module.

The separation exposed the craft's heat shield, which protected the astronauts as they plunged through Earth's atmosphere, experiencing temperatures up to 2,760°C – just under half the surface temperature of the sun.

At this point, mission control lost contact with the spacecraft for six minutes as Orion collided with the upper atmosphere, causing what scientists called a 'plasma buildup.'

Once the radio blackout cleared as planned, Orion successfully deployed its parachutes and safely landed in the Pacific without incident.

A slight communications glitch between the astronauts waiting in the water and the US Navy recovery teams delayed the crew's exit from the craft.

But once flight surgeons were able to board the capsule, they were able to give all four astronauts a clean bill of health.

Delighted viewers said the video had brought them to tears. Pictures: Mission specialist Christina Koch

The video provides a different perspective to this one previously released, which shows the rescue team extracting the astronauts from the capsule

Victor Glover, left, and Christina Koch, right, after successfully splashing down following their historic moon mission

The rescue team could be heard shouting 'four green' as they opened the hatch, indicating that all four astronauts appeared healthy and well.

Delighted viewers have commented on the clip, with one remarking: 'Best unboxing video I've ever seen!'

Another said: 'Look at the astronauts waiting so cutely. And you can tell the recovery crew have the bets vibes!'

And someone else added: '"Welcome home" are actually such beautiful words.'

Once they had been recovered from the Orion module, the crew were examined by doctors on the John P Murtha, the naval vessel that was sent to pick them up.

All four astronauts were able to walk by themselves, in stark contrast to previous long–duration space flights where crew had to be carried by medical personnel.

They were then flown ashore by helicopter and taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to be reunited with their families.

Dr Lori Glaze, NASA's deputy administrator, said her team was 'thrilled' to have the four astronauts home safely.

Shawn Quinn, manager of NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program, added: 'We accomplished what we set out to do. It's good to be NASA, and it's good to be an American today.'

President Donald Trump added his congratulations Friday night and invited the crew to the White House.

'I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon,' he posted on Truth Social. 'We'll be doing it again and then, next step, Mars!'

The Artemis II mission began back on April 1 with a successful launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read More

• Moon mugging! Artemis II commander breaks NASA protocol by STEALING the crew's mascot 

After orbiting Earth the crew set off on a four–day trip to the moon, where they would travel around the dark side and break the decades–old record of Apollo 13 for the farthest distance from Earth humans have ever travelled.

While the Apollo crew travelled 248,655 miles from Earth in 1970, Artemis II reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles on day six of their mission.

While conducting their lunar flyby, the astronauts also named two new craters discovered on the lunar surface – including one Carroll after the late wife of mission commander Wiseman.

Amit Kshatriya, the associate administrator of NASA, said Artemis II was the 'most important human space exploration mission in decades.'

Artemis II: Key facts

Launch date: April 1

Mission objective: To complete a lunar flyby, passing the 'dark side' of the moon and test systems for a future lunar landing.

Total distance to travel: 620,000 miles (one million km)

Mission duration: 10 days 

Estimated total cost: $44billion (£32.5billion)

* NASA Space Launch System rocket: $23.8billion (£17.6billion)

* Orion deep–space spacecraft: $20.4billion (£15billion)

Crew: 

+ Commander Reid Wiseman

+ Pilot Victor Glover

+ Mission Specialist Christina Koch

+ Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen

Mission Stages:

1. Launch from Kennedy Space Centre Launch Pad 39B

2. Manoeuvre in orbit to raise the perigee using the Cryogenic Propulsion Stage

3. Burn to raise apogee using the Cryogenic Propulsion Stage

4. Detach from Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and perform translunar injection

5. Fly to the moon over four days

6. Complete lunar flyby at a maximum altitude of 5,523 miles (8,889 km) above the moon's surface

7. Return to Earth over four days

8. Separate the crew module from the European Service Module and the crew module adapter

9. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean  

Recovery team opens Artemis II hatch as astronauts splash down off San Diego coast

'Welcome home'New video shows recovery team reaching Artemis II crew after splashdown#shorts

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

The sun is tearing an asteroid to pieces, and Earth is now flying through the fallout

by Patrick M. Shober, The Conversation

The sun is tearing a huge asteroid to pieces – and now Earth is flying directly through the fallout, scientists warn

• READ MORE: Huge GREEN fireball streaks across the sky over Britain

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

The sun is tearing a huge asteroid to pieces – and now Earth is flying right through the fallout, a NASA scientist has warned.

Searching through millions of meteor observations, scientists spotted a cluster of 282 shooting stars that seemed to emerge from the same point in space.

According to the researchers, these pieces of rocky debris are the aftermath of a crumbling asteroid, or rock–comet, that got a little too close to the sun.

Now, as our planet sweeps through the rock–comet's cluttered wake, keen stargazers on Earth will be able to spot a brand–new meteor shower lighting up the sky.

Meteor showers occur when Earth moves through a cloud of dust and small rocks littering space, which fall into the atmosphere and burn up with a dazzling flash.

Earth's latest meteor shower, dubbed M2026–A1, will be visible each year from March 16 to April 7.

While it won't be as spectacular as better–known meteor showers, this stunning display gives scientists a unique insight into the doomed rock–comet that created it.

Lead author Dr Patrick Shober, from NASA's Johnson Space Centre, wrote in The Conversation: 'What makes this discovery so exciting is that we are essentially witnessing a hidden asteroid being baked to bits.'

The sun is tearing a huge asteroid to pieces, leaving a wake of debris that Earth is now passing through

Each day, thousands of tiny space rocks fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere to produce glowing meteorites.

As they collide with particles of air at speeds over 15 miles (24 km) per second, their outer layers are instantly vaporised into an electrically charged gas, which glows brightly enough to be seen with the naked eye.

In the solar system, the majority of these sand–sized particles are produced by comets or asteroids breaking up into tiny pieces.

When an icy comet or rocky asteroid starts to crumble – either due to heating, or a collision with another object – scientists say that it has become 'active'.

When astronomers want to track down these active objects, they can either look for the glowing tail that is the tell–tale sign of a comet, or watch for the meteor showers produced by their trail of wreckage.

By carefully examining this small cluster of meteors, Dr Shober has managed to reconstruct their origin.

What makes this meteor shower so unique is that it appears to originate from a rare type of object known as a 'rock–comet'.

Most meteor showers come from comets, which disintegrate as their icy surfaces jump from solid to gas, in a process known as sublimation, as they approach the sun.

The wreckage of the rocky asteroid has created a new annual meteor shower which can be seen emerging from the area around Libra and Virgo between March 26 and April 7

When and where can you see the new meteor shower?

Dates active: March 26 to April 7

Radiant: Between the constellations Libra, Virgo, and Corvus

Asteroids can become active when they are torn apart by the gravitational forces of a nearby planet or spin too fast, but they can also act like comets under certain conditions.

When a dry, rocky asteroid gets extremely close to the sun or faces extreme forces, it can also start to break up into a dusty wake that glows just like a comet's tail.

Dr Shober says: 'Based on how these meteors break apart when they hit our atmosphere, we can tell they are moderately fragile, but tougher than stuff from comets. This finding tells us that intense solar heat is literally cracking the asteroid's surface, baking out trapped gases and causing it to crumble.'

The asteroid's dramatic self–destruction is a product of its 'extreme orbit', plunging almost five times closer to the sun than Earth does.

Read More

• The universe is expanding 'too fast' - and scientists have no idea why 

Dr Shober says that this discovery 'reveals hidden populations of near–Earth asteroids, which is vital information for planetary defence'.

However, although the meteor shower is strong evidence, the parent asteroid remains elusive.

The chances of spotting the relatively dark and fast–moving object from Earth are slim, but Dr Shober is holding out hopes for NASA's NEO Surveyor mission launching in 2027.

He says: 'This space telescope, dedicated to planetary defence and the discovery of dark, hazardous, sun–approaching asteroids, will be the ideal tool for searching for the shower's origin.'

Explained: The difference between an asteroid, meteorite and other space rocks

An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt.

A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system.

A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up.

This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere.

If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite.

Meteors, meteoroids and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets.

For example, if Earth passes through the tail of a comet, much of the debris burns up in the atmosphere, forming a meteor shower.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

One thing the new Gallup data seems to convey is the impact recent U.S. government involvement in the longstanding UFO question has had on public opinion. The presence of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP as the military prefers to call them, were seemingly confirmed with the release of a nine-page preliminary assessment in June by the Navy’s UAP Task Force (UAPTF), which reported 144 cases involving objects of unknown origin observed by military pilots and others that currently remain unexplained.

Most of these incidents were collected following the institution of a formalized reporting mechanism by the Navy in 2019, the same year previous Gallup surveys found more than half of Americans remained skeptical about possible extraterrestrial origins of such objects. In late 2020, the U.S. Air Force followed suit, with the combined Navy and Air Force data constituting the majority of the reports discussed within the Task Force’s assessment delivered to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) at the end of June.

According to the report, additional information is also being provided by several other agencies, including the FAA, who in recent days confirmed in a statement provided to The Debrief its own role in documenting UAP incidents that can be corroborated with radar or other data on behalf of the UAPTF. Notably, the inclusion of data from the FAA would seemingly indicate that some incident reports from civilian pilots are also among the 144 incidents the UAPTF has currently examined.

In the days since the report’s delivery to the ODNI, several news outlets have tried to reign in on the subject’s current widespread appeal. Just days after the delivery of the UAPTF’s preliminary assessment, the New York Post Editorial Board called out most of the recent UFO “news” in advance of the report as clickbait, aimed at cashing in on widespread interest in the subject, rather than contributing anything meaningful to the ongoing discussion.

“Yes, UFOs and ‘little green men’ are fun and have inspired tons of entertaining fiction,” the Post editorial read. “But the US intelligence community was entirely right to dump all over the conspiracy theories and ‘They’re really out there’ nonsense in its report on sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).” Although the Post Editorial Board noted that extraterrestrial sources were not specifically ruled out in the June report, “it also provides zero evidence supporting alien theories.”

More recently, The Guardian noted that people’s current UFO fascination is primarily “rooted in hope,” while elsewhere The Washington Post Magazine argued what it labels the current “UFO mania” simply has to end.

As the recent Gallup data helps show, it’s no wonder UFOs have been on the minds of so many Americans lately. Thanks in large part to the anticipation ahead of the UAPTF report’s delivery to the ODNI, during the first half of 2021 UFOs have seen more consistent, serious media attention than they have in decades. As a byproduct of this, the New York Post correctly notes that many outlets appear to have jumped on the UFO bandwagon in order to claim their share of traffic from all the attention the subject has received. It is a trend that has been slowly building since late 2017, following a New York Times article revealing the existence of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which analyzed aerial phenomena that might pose a challenge to national security.

However, there is something else the recent Gallup data reveals about people’s attitudes toward UFOs. Since 2019, Americans appear not only to have softened their skepticism toward the subject, but also appear more willing to accept the idea that the phenomenon might represent evidence of extraterrestrial technology. In the recent survey, 41% of adults in America now also associate their belief in UFOs with extraterrestrial spacecraft, representing an eight-point rise from 2019 when similar surveys found just 33% of Americans held such views.

And some scientists think this could represent a problem going forward.

Scientists Remain Divided on The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

“In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists must be thoroughly open-minded. And this means a certain amount of encouragement for non-mainstream ideas and techniques,” wrote Peter Vickers, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Science at Durham University in an article for The Conversation.

However, even in a scientific community where open-mindedness toward non-mainstream ideas may occasionally be encouraged, many draw the line when it comes to UFOs.

“I have no doubt that there’s extraterrestrial intelligence,” SETI Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak told CBS in May. “But it’s a different thing to say, ‘And not only are they out there, but they’ve come to visit!’”

For Shostak, a man who has devoted most of his professional career to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the current evidence presented by UFO proponents simply “is not good.”

Although Shostak and many other scientists keep UFOs at arm’s length when it comes to the search for alien life, the extraterrestrial hypothesis (as it has come to be known mainly among UFO proponents) still represents a valid possibility in terms of what the origins of these objects might be.

The problem is that it also carries a lot of historical baggage.

In the years immediately following World War II, it would have been difficult for any reports of advanced, unrecognized aircraft in American skies not to have aroused concern. The appearance of what had first been dubbed “flying saucers” should be remembered in this context: although jokes and jabs about “men from Mars” and space aliens began to appear almost immediately in American newspapers, this had not been the interpretation that warranted attention from the U.S. Air Force. Instead, it was the concern that the Soviets might possess some new technology capable of surveillance, or even future attacks against the United States. 

It didn’t take long to conclude that the objects being observed in U.S. airspace probably didn’t belong to the Soviets. By January 1950, word about a top-secret Air Force “Estimate of the Situation” had become public knowledge thanks to Major Donald E. Keyhoe, a former Marine Corps serviceman and contributor to popular magazines of the period. It was Keyhoe’s 1950 article, “Flying Saucers Are Real,” which not only argued that the objects existed, but that they originated from outer space. Citing examples that included the death of pilot Thomas Mantell, whose plane crashed while pursuing what he and others described as a large metallic disc, and the electrifying story of a large, glowing rocket-like craft seen over Alabama in July 1948 by pilots Clarence S. Chiles and John B. Whitted, Keyhoe drove home the idea that there was simply no better source for these aerial mysteries than outer space.

Major Donald E. Keyhoe, filmed at a Pentagon Press Briefing in Washington DC on July 31, 1952

(National Archives/Public Domain).

By some estimates, his True article from 1950 is still regarded as being one of the most widely read and discussed articles of all time, and in effect, Keyhoe successfully sold this “extraterrestrial hypothesis” to an interested American readership. With Keyhoe’s help, the saucers had finally landed on dimly lit runways within the public imagination, and their alien occupants had now been exposed.

Extraterrestrials, and Other Alternatives

The problem with all this is that there was never anything conclusive as far as evidence in support of this idea. That was true in 1950, and it remains the case more than 70 years after the publication of Keyhoe’s article.

Despite this, many modern proponents seem to conclude that there are no other realistic possibilities, and therefore just like Keyhoe argued, UFOs must be extraterrestrial.

“The United States has the highest military technology in the world. Period. Everyone in the Pentagon down to the floor polishers knows this,” read a quote from Stephen Bassett, executive director of the Paradigm Research Group (PRG) which appeared in one of its newsletters dated June 6, 2021. According to its website, the PRG is an advocacy group that has for years sought to expose government knowledge of “an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race.”

According to Bassett, “there is only one option left to explain not 120 incidents over the past two decades, but thousands of incidents since 1947, and that explanation is extraterrestrial. PERIOD.” Bassett’s statement was in response to a New York Times article published in advance of the delivery of the UAP Task Force’s preliminary assessment to the ODNI in June.

Not all proponents of the study of unusual aerial phenomena are quite so married to the idea that they must have an extraterrestrial source. Dr. David Clarke is a professor of journalism and folklore who acted as a consultant and spokesman for Britain’s National Archives during the period when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) released its records on UFOs. Clarke says that while he would hesitate to link UFO sightings to extraterrestrials, he has found cases in the MoD’s files that left him stumped.

“There are lots and lots of accounts and experiences that I just find utterly baffling, but they aren’t really the ones that are well known,” Clarke says. “If I explained some of these stories, you would never have heard of them before, because no one knows about them. They’re not as media-friendly.”

Clarke published a feature earlier this year in Fortean Times which argued convincingly that many UAP encounters receiving widespread media attention may not be as rock-solid as they are often conveyed. “The idea that military detection of UFOs on radar provides empirical evidence of visitations to Earth by an unknown technology is an attractive one – if it were true,” Clarke wrote in the article.

However, speaking with Dr. Clarke about his research, he stops short of saying that all UFO reports can be easily explained.

“I’m not for one minute trying to suggest that science has got an explanation for everything,” Clarke says, adding that when it comes to UFOs, “I certainly don’t think that at all.”

Clarke says that in addition to reports he has uncovered from his own research at the Ministry of Defence archives, he was particularly intrigued by the conclusions of Project Condign, a secret study of UFOs that the British Government’s Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) conducted between 1997 and 2000. It resulted in a four-volume, 460-page report on the project’s findings, in which its author concluded, “that UAP exist is indisputable… [they] clearly can exhibit aerodynamic characteristics well beyond those of any known aircraft or missile – either manned or unmanned.”

“When I actually read that, and I actually got hold of that report twenty years ago, it was quite a stunning conclusion,” Clarke says. “So here was the guy, the UFO expert at the Ministry of Defence, he was actually saying ‘well, I’ve studied this for thirty years. My conclusion is these things exist.’”

While Project Condign’s conclusions seemed to affirm the MoD’s views about the existence of UFOs, they did not link such aerial phenomena to theories about an extraterrestrial presence on Earth.

“They’re not aliens,” Clarke says of the report’s findings. “They’re not extraterrestrials, but they’re some kind of atmospheric plasma. That was his explanation.”

To Clarke, the fact that Project Condign would leave open the possibility that an as yet unrecognized phenomenon could account for UFOs “was almost like an invitation to scientists to say ‘hey, come and have a look at this data. This guy’s taking it seriously.’” Clarke adds that the report’s author “had access to a lot of secret data that a lot of average atmospheric scientists perhaps wouldn’t be aware of.”

“But no one seems to be interested in that,” he laments. “It’s not showbiz, is it?”

“Atmospheric plasmas aren’t as interesting or as sexy as aliens in spaceships,” Clarke says. “So the media aren’t gonna go with that one.”

The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis: A Scientific Perspective

The legacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis is one that has endured long enough for it to have become ingrained in our culture, and thereby it permeates much of our current thinking about UFOs. The presence of this “ET bias” in the current dialogue creates difficulties for scientists who wish to look objectively at the UFO subject, while also taking the possibility of extraterrestrial visitation seriously without becoming married to it.

Robert Powell, an Executive Board Member and co-founder of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), a group which applies science toward resolving the UFO/UAP question, is clear in pointing out that while the extraterrestrial hypothesis could one day be validated, presently it is still only one possibility.

“A hypothesis is simply that. It’s what theory best fits the facts with what we know today,” Powell says. “It doesn’t mean that we’ve said [a UFO] is an extraterrestrial spaceship.”

Before his work with the SCU, Powell served as Director of Research at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) from 2007-2017 and established the organization’s Science Review Board in 2012. Although he emphasizes that theories about extraterrestrial technologies are only hypothetical, he also says they are a logical approach toward possibly understanding the phenomenon.

“What we’re saying is that the extraterrestrial hypothesis is the best of the hypotheses that we’ve come up with to explain [UAP],” Powell explains, adding that “someone could always come up with better hypotheses, or we get new data that makes us change [our minds].”

While some scientists like Powell see the extraterrestrial hypothesis as being potentially useful as an explanatory model for understanding UAP, others see the problem of categorizing UAP based on our current knowledge of the phenomenon as being nearly impossible at the present time.

“I truly do not know as to how and what to categorize [UAP],” says Ravi Kopparapu, a Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Among his research interests, Kopparapu has been involved in NASA-funded searches for possible technosignatures of alien civilizations in recent years.

“Confirmed UAP completely defy any reasonable imagination that we could have,” Kopparapu told The Debrief in an email. “I would not categorize them, at this point, as technosignatures because there is no evidence that I know of that could indicate that they are from a technological civilization.”

Kopparapu, while interested in the study of UAP, takes issue with those who conclude that since they cannot be easily explained, they must therefore represent extraterrestrial technologies.

“‘What else could they be?’ is not a scientific explanation,” Kopparapu says. “We need hard evidence. And to collect hard evidence, we need a systematic collection of data on UAP, or access to data that may have already been collected.”

Scientists Seek Access to UAP Data

Kopparapu is one of the many scientists who, in recent days, have noted that current efforts to collect information about UAP by the U.S. government will be of little use to scientists if the data remains classified.

“The sky is not classified,” wrote Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb in an article for Scientific American in June, adding that “only government-owned sensors are. By searching for unusual phenomena in the same geographical locations from where the UAP reports came, scientists could clear up the mystery in a transparent analysis of open data.”

“When the UAP report [was delivered] to Congress, it was quite intriguing to me,” Loeb recently told The Debrief, “because it defined some objects as real because they were detected by multiple instruments, so they couldn’t have been a malfunction of a particular camera or a hallucination of a pilot. And at the same time, it suggested that the government doesn’t know the nature of these objects.”

“That’s an unusual admission by the intelligence agencies,” Loeb says, “because they’re getting paid to figure out what flies in our sky. And they admit to Congress that they can’t figure it out.”

“So at that point, it became clear to me that this subject needs to move away from the talking points of politicians and military personnel, and to the realm of science.”

Dr. Avi Loeb

(Image Credit: Kris Snibble. Source: Harvard file photo)

In the days following the arrival of the UAP Task Force’s preliminary report, Loeb announced the launch of The Galileo Project, an effort that he and other astronomers will be undertaking that will attempt to obtain high-resolution imagery and other data related to UAP.

“I cannot stress enough how important it is to have the data available to scientists to know what they are,” Kopparapu told The Debrief. “Without access to proper data, un-substantiated hypotheses and conspiracy theories take the vacuum created by the lack of a science-based hypothesis. I equate this with superstitions we have had over the centuries until science replaced them.”

Although exploring the possibility that some UAP could have extraterrestrial origins is not inherently a conspiracy theory, over the decades there have been countless claims that involve alleged coverups of an extraterrestrial reality by the U.S. government. This, in addition to stories of alien abduction, purported wreckage retrievals of alien craft or technology, and a host of other claims involving extraterrestrial visitation to Earth.

Despite the widespread support they often see from many proponents of unidentified aerial phenomena, the majority of these claims remain unsubstantiated. Even if they were actually true, no conclusive evidence in support of the existence of extraterrestrials or their technologies has ever surfaced that would be capable of satisfying the requirements of science, let alone producing a testable hypothesis.

Despite his concerns about unsubstantiated theories—extraterrestrial or otherwise—which have often lead the UFO/UAP narrative in the past, Kopparapu does not doubt the presence of a genuine phenomenon behind the more credible reports.

“UAP are real and they exist,” Kopparapu says. “Many of them we see in our skies. Some may have perfectly sensible explanations, but not all of them can be explained away. That kind of thinking is not scientific.”

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{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

Four photos snapped by the Artemis II astronauts. Clockwise from left: Earth setting behind the moon; the astronauts wearing solar eclipse glasses; Christina Koch viewing Earth from the Orion capsule; and a rare total solar eclipse viewed from behind the moon.  (Image credit: NASA)

Since its historic April 1 launch from Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Artemis II mission around the moon has delivered a stream of extraordinary moments, from Earth fading into the distance to a rare solar eclipse seen from deep space.

After the crew returned safely to Earth on Friday (April 10), we've collected the most remarkable images from humanity's first journey to the moon since 1972.

1. Artemis II launch

The April 1 launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B signaled the beginning of humanity's first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17. Powered by NASA's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, on only its second flight, Artemis II sent four astronauts on a 10-day, 695,000-mile (1.1 million kilometers) journey. The team's Orion crew capsule, nicknamed Integrity, sits at the top.

In photos: Artemis II's historic launch for the moon

'So much magic': Artemis II shares first images from the far side of the moon, including new 'Earthset' and total eclipse in space

'Trust us; you look amazing': Artemis II crewmembers share first message from space

2. Spaceship Earth

In a mission of firsts, NASA astronaut Christina Koch became the first woman to leave Earth's orbit and travel around the moon. Here she is on April 2, peering out one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows at the delicate blue sphere of Earth. As Artemis II traveled toward the moon, Earth's continents and clouds blurred into a single living world.

3. Earth's dark side

This image of Earth with the sun behind it was taken just after Orion's translunar injection burn on April 2, in which Orion sped out of Earth orbit and toward the moon. Earth became a glowing crescent suspended in darkness, with its night side sitting in shadow, almost entirely hidden from view.

4. Hello, world

Also captured just after Orion's boost toward the moon on April 2, this image contrasts sharply with later views. Here, a longer exposure reveals Earth's unlit side, but several other features make it unique. In addition to being the first image ever to feature auroras at both poles, it includes a crescent Earth, Venus (bottom right) and a smudge of zodiacal light (sunlight reflecting from dust in the solar system's asteroid belt).

5. The terminator

As Orion sped away from Earth on April 3, commander Reid Wiseman took this image of the terminator line, a sharp divide separating night from day on Earth — an everyday phenomenon transformed into a striking view from deep space.

6. A moment with the moon

Seen on April 6 just before lunar flyby observations began, a vast circular scar — the 600-mile-wide (1,000 km) Orientale basin — marks one of the moon's most dramatic impact features. This lava-filled relic of ancient volcanic activity was formed by a colossal impact billions of years ago.

7. Shadows at the edge of a lunar day

On April 6, the crew took this image of the terminator on the moon. It's where low sunlight skims the lunar surface, casting dramatic shadows that exaggerate craters, ridges and mountains — the perfect time to study the moon's rugged terrain. According to pilot Victor Glover, who monitored the terminator line through Orion's window, the craters in front of him were so dark, they looked like "you'd fall straight to the center of the moon if you stepped in some of those."

8. Total solar eclipse

Apollo astronauts saw total solar eclipses on their way to the moon, but the Artemis II crew was the first to witness one from the moon's far side. On April 6, totality lasted an extraordinary 54 minutes from Orion, during which the crew saw the sun's corona,stars and distant planets become visible nearby. It's a vantage point impossible on Earth.

9. Eclipse safety first

Even at the moon, safe solar viewing remains essential. Before and after totality, the four astronauts — Wiseman, Glover, Koch and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — donned the same eclipse glasses distributed for the recent solar eclipses in North America.

10. Integrity comes home

A New Study Narrows the Search for Water on the Moon

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

The Craters that Made Us

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

The Moon Just Got a New Scar

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

A huge green fireball streaked across the sky over Britain last night. 

Doorbell cameras across the UK captured the object at around 00:30 BST. 

'00:26 anyone see that big meteor burn up just now?' North Yorkshire Weather Updates asked on Facebook. 

Hundreds of viewers have replied, with many revealing they mistook it for a rogue firework. 

'I saw that. It was bright green. It was massive. I thought it was a firework at first it seemed so close,' one user replied. 

Another said: 'Yes I saw it walking home in Derbyshire. Looked like a firework the colours it was giving off. Glad I read this...wasnt sure what Id seen.'

And one joked: 'Yep my bathroom lit up I thought I was hallucinating… lol.'

While the fireball may have been slightly alarming, there's a simple explanation – it's a meteor. 

Incredible footage has revealed the moment a huge green fireball streaked across the sky over Britain last night

Keith Spirit captured a photo of the fireball as it zoomed through the skies over Northumberland last night

Videos filmed across the UK show the fireball zooming towards the Earth, before bursting into bright green. 

Thankfully, it then disappeared, suggesting most of it burned up before reaching the ground. 

'Saw that from the M62 and I'm still buzzing! Can't believe how bright it was!' one viewer wrote on Facebook. 

Another said: 'Camera on edge of the moors in Winterburn just caught it.'

And one quipped: 'see we go round the moon and now we have space rocks been thrown at us,' in reference to NASA's Artemis II mission. 

Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides. 

'During the atmospheric entry phase, an impacting object is both slowed and heated by atmospheric friction,' NASA explained. 

'In front of it, a bow shock develops where atmospheric gases are compressed and heated. 

Videos filmed across the UK show the fireball zooming towards the Earth, before bursting into bright green. Thankfully, it then disappeared, suggesting most of it burned up before reaching the ground.

'Some of this energy is radiated to the object causing it to ablate, and in most cases, to break apart. 

'Fragmentation increases the amount of atmosphere intercepted and so enhances ablation and atmospheric braking. 

'The object catastrophically disrupts when the force from the unequal pressures on the front and back sides exceeds its tensile strength.'

Around the world, thousand of fireballs occur daily. 

However, most are unnoticed because they happen over oceans, uninhabited regions, or during the day.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

Hidden 'horned figure' in Trump's Jesus AI-generated image fuels end-times warnings

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A hidden figure spotted in an AI image shared by President Donald Trump has sparked end-times speculation online.

Trump posted the AI-generated artwork on Truth Social, showing himself dressed in red and white robes in a Jesus-like pose, appearing to heal a man as American symbols, including the flag, military personnel and fighter jets, fill the background.

But viewers quickly zeroed in on a shadowy figure high above the scene, which some claimed resembled a winged being with three horns, imagery they linked to biblical prophecy.

The figure appears suspended between soldiers, with what looks like large wings and three horn-like shapes rising from its head.

Social media users likened the imagery to the warning in Daniel 7, which describes a rising ruler who overthrows three kings or kingdoms as he gains power, though the biblical text does not identify which nations those kingdoms represent.

'I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn… and three of the first horns were uprooted before it,' reads Daniel 7:8.

'Three horns subdued in Revelation. That's what WW3 is about, subduing or destroying three kingdoms, it seems,' one user shared.

Trump shared the AI-generated image after attacking Pope Leo, accusing the Church leader of being 'weak on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,' and claimed that 'if I [weren't] in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican.'

The figure appears suspended between soldiers, with what looks like large wings and three horn-like shapes rising from its head

The Book of Daniel is often considered the 'prophetic twin' to the Book of Revelation, as both are major apocalyptic books of the Bible that many believers see as outlining end-time events.

Daniel is viewed as the Old Testament foundation, while Revelation is seen as its New Testament counterpart, using similar imagery, symbols and themes.

Daniel 7 describes a vision of powerful kingdoms rising and falling, symbolized by beasts and horns, before God ultimately judges them and establishes his eternal kingdom.

Specifically, Daniel 7:8 introduces a 'little horn' that rises among others and uproots three kings or kingdoms, imagery many prophecy interpreters associate with the rise of a dominant ruler before the end of the age.

That symbolism quickly became a focal point in online discussions surrounding the image.

Many social media users noted that while Trump himself did not post the AI-generated image on his account, suggesting a social media manager likely did, one person wrote: 'The reference to the antichrist was intentional.'

However, some users insisted that Trump was not portraying himself as the Antichrist but rather as a figure meant to draw attention and division.

According to the interpretation shared online, Trump is portrayed as 'bait,' a deliberately controversial leader who sparks outrage, setting the stage for the arrival of a more deceptive figure.

Trump shared the AI-generated image after attacking Pope Leo, accusing the Church leader of being 'weak on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy, ' and claimed that 'if I [weren't] in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican'

Some posts claimed the true Antichrist will appear as an 'angel of light,' described as charismatic and widely admired, who will seemingly rescue the world from turmoil, a concept the author linked to 2 Corinthians 11:14, which warns that 'Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.'

Regardless, the image has sparked outrage among many Christians, who deemed it 'blasphemy.'

'Equating yourself to Jesus? You'll burn in hell,' one user wrote in response to Trump's post.

'If you call yourself a Christian and you're not outraged by this, you really need to re-evaluate your faith,' another user posted.

Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also criticized the AI-generated image, saying: 'It's more than blasphemy. It's an Antichrist spirit.'

Moments before sharing the image, Trump accused Pope Leo of 'toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.'

He lashed out again at the pontiff on Sunday night, writing on Truth Social: 'I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.'

'Three horns subdued in Revelation. That's what WW3 is about, subduing or destroying three kingdoms, it seems,' one user shared. Pictured is the three-horned figure in the AI-generated image

Trump has described himself as a 'non-denominational Christian.' He has stated he is a 'religious person' who believes in God and has praised the Bible

'I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country,' Trump said.

The President went deeper into his opposition to Pope Leo and the church's stance on several issues, including COVID lockdowns.

'He talks about 'fear' of the Trump Administration but doesn't mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church and all other Christian Organizations had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers and everybody else for holding Church Services, even when going outside and being ten and even twenty feet apart,' Trump wrote.

The President then claimed that Pope Leo 'criticizes the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.'

The outburst followed recent criticism from the Pope over the weekend about the actions of the US military in Iran.

On Saturday, he told worshippers at St Peter's Basilica: 'Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!'

Last week, he criticized the President over his threats against the country when he warned that 'a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.'

The Pope called it a 'truly unacceptable' statement.

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