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

UFO Slingshots From Moon- Earth is 3 sec, 3-28-2026, UAP Paranormal Sighting Breaking news.

Date of sighting: March 28, 2026

Location of sighting: Redmond, Washington, USA

Source: email report to scwaring @yahoo.com

 

This was in my email this morning and it's just amazing evidence that aliens use the same science we learn in school. You see, this UFO slingshot itself around the moon to get to earth in just seconds. But thats not all. Many glowing objects have been recorded daily worldwide of craft coming to Earth at remarkable speeds. This means they are coming back to Earth...because they know...the truth is about to be revealed to all humanity within a few months. The time is now.

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

UFO Slingshots From Moon- Earth is 3 sec, 3-28-2026, UAP Paranormal Alien Sighting Breaking news.

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

Lawmakers Set 2026 Deadline for Secret UFO Footage Release

Deadline issued for UFO videos as Congress warns of 'very real threat' to US

• READ MORE: NASA scientist backs evidence of non-human intelligence in Earth's skies

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Lawmakers have set a strict deadline for federal agencies to hand over secret UFO videos as officials warn the unidentified objects could threaten US forces.

Republican Rep Anna Paulina Luna penned a letter to the US Secretary of War requesting 46 specific Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) videos, telling Pete Hegseth to deliver them no later than April 14, 2026.

The requested footage includes dozens of military-recorded encounters showing spherical, cigar-shaped and Tic Tac-like objects spotted over war zones, oceans and sensitive airspace around the world.

Some clips reportedly captured UAP formations near Iran and Syria, incidents near US bases and airports and even a 2023 shootdown over Lake Huron.

Lawmakers said the footage could reveal patterns of activity near sensitive military sites and help determine whether the objects pose a national security risk.

'The lack of disclosure regarding the very real threat posed by UAPs in and around US restricted airspace is concerning,' Luna said in a statement.

'The Task Force has found responses from AARO, when questioned about UAP sightings and provided data, [to be] less than adequate.

'The presence of UAPs in and around the sensitive airspaces of US military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness.'

One of the videos requested was 'Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds' captured in 2020. The footage was leaked by Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp last year 

She chairs a House Federal Secrets Task Force focused on investigating UAPs, declassifying federal records and protecting whistleblowers.

The threats extend beyond mysterious sightings, pointing to the danger unidentified objects pose when they appear near restricted airspace, military bases and active training zones.

Officials fear the craft could be conducting surveillance, testing US defenses or interfering with aircraft operations, raising concerns about both pilot safety and national security readiness.

Luna released the letter on Wednesday, saying: 'The continued lack of transparency surrounding these anomalies and the potential national security threat they pose is troubling.'

She added that the Task Force held a hearing on September 9, 2025, to discuss those concerns.

'Whistleblowers informed the Task Force that AARO possesses additional video records of potential UAP sightings,' she wrote.

'To continue its investigation, the Task Force requests certain video files related to UAP sightings.'

Anna Paulina Luna chairs a House Federal Secrets Task Force focused on investigating UAP, declassifying federal records and protecting whistleblowers

Some clips reportedly captured UAP formations near Iran and Syria, incidents near US bases and airports and even a 2023 shootdown over Lake Huron (stock)

The requested footage reportedly shows spherical objects weaving through clouds, hovering over open water and repeatedly appearing near US warships and submarines.

Several clips were captured by fighter jets, surveillance aircraft and drones operating in regions such as the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and the East China Sea.

In multiple cases, more than one object was tracked moving at high speeds at the same time, raising concerns about possible coordinated activity near sensitive military operations.

One of the requests: 'Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds, 11/23/20,' is a video reportedly showing a massive disc weaving in and out of cloud cover.

Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, who leaked parts of the clip, said the footage was recorded by government personnel over the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in November 2020.

The object was spotted during a reconnaissance mission by a high-altitude Air Force platform.

Luna's deadline comes after President Donald Trump ordered the release of government files relating to UAPs and extraterrestrials on February 19. 

Speaking at an event for the Department of War’s 'Arsenal of Freedom' tour in February, Hegseth said he intends to find out if aliens really exist, and the American people will learn the truth at the same time.

Although he admitted he never envisioned being the person put in charge of potentially revealing alien life to the world, Hegseth declared that the Department of War would fully comply with the president's orders.

'I did not have that on my bingo card at all,' Hegseth said.

'We've got our people working on it right now. I don't want to oversell how much time it will take, right? We're digging in. We're going to be in full compliance with that executive order, eager to provide that for the president.'

Hegseth didn't have an estimate of how long it would take for the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to release every piece of information on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), which have been widely reported throughout the US since the 1940s.

Asked if he believes aliens exist, Hegseth replied: 'We'll see. I get to do the review and find out along with all of you.'

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

NASA’s chief has revealed a shocking new outlook on extraterrestrial life, saying Mars could hold proof that we are not alone.

Jared Isaacman sat down with conservative political commentator Benny Johnson, where he said: 'If we can get to Mars and bring samples back, I put it at a better 90 percent chance that we could prove there was some microbial life on Mars.'

Isaacman, NASA’s newly appointed administrator, argued that with roughly two trillion galaxies in the universe, each packed with countless stars and planets, it seems unlikely that Earth is the only world to host life.

'I would say there could be life everywhere. It doesn't mean it looks like us. It doesn't mean it has the tentacles you have in movies,' he added. 

The admission came ahead of the historic Artemis II launch scheduled for today, which will mark NASA's return to the moon in more than 50 years.

NASA reports an 80 percent chance of favorable weather, as the crew prepares for the mission that will see them launch inside the Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

'8.8 million pounds of thrust are gonna send four astronauts farther into space than we’ve ever sent humans before, faster than humans have ever traveled around the moon, back safely to Earth, and set up for subsequent missions to follow,' Isaacman said. 'We are going back to the moon.'

The mission will see NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen conduct a 10-day lunar flyby.

Jared Isaacman sat down with conservative political commentator Benny Johnson , where he said there is a 90 percent chance there was life on Mars

Isaacman explained that the mission will begin in low Earth orbit before moving into a higher orbit, where engineers will spend the first 24 hours confirming the spacecraft is operating correctly. 

Astronauts will remain close enough to return quickly during this phase. 

Once the vehicle performs a translunar injection burn, it will head past the moon, use its gravity to swing back toward Earth, and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the US West Coast about 10 days later. 

'Hopefully, we have learned enough about that vehicle to set us up for Artemis III in 2027,' said Isaacman.

'Again, that’s where we are going to test the Orion spacecraft with the landers into Earth orbit. And then in 2028, before President Trump’s term, Artemis IV is going to put American boots back on the surface of the moon.'

While Isaacman believes life could exist outside of Earth, he has continually stated that he has not seen any classified files or historic documentation to support that aliens have visited our planet. 

In response to Trump's order to release all government files relating to UFOs and extraterrestrial life on February 19, NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said: 'We continue to make all NASA data publicly available and welcome public participation using our data.

'As the NASA Administrator has said, there are certainly things he's come across in the job that he can't explain… but they relate more to unnecessarily costly programs than they do to extraterrestrial life.'

Isaacman, however, noted that the previous life on Mars would likely be microbial life

In 2025, acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced the discovery of microbial life on the Martian surface.

Read More

• Further than ANY human has ever gone before: Explore how Nasa will 'slingshot' first African-American to the moon tonight in immersive Deep Dive 

He said a sample collected by the Perseverance rover has been declared the 'clearest sign of life' on the Red Planet. 

NASA's Associate Administrator Nicky Fox said: 'This is the kind of signature that we would see that was made by something biological.'

Specifically, researchers have been looking at unusual spots and seed-like shapes in ancient Martian rocks that might point to the existence of tiny life forms in the distant past.

These features, nicknamed 'poppy seeds' and 'leopard spots,' were spotted in mud-like rocks in Neretva Vallis, part of the Jezero crater, where a river existed billions of years ago.

Scientist Joel Hurowitz revealed how these tiny signatures found in the crater pointed to the existence of life on Mars long before most organisms emerged on Earth.

Although the findings have been discussed for months, Hurowitz noted that scientists needed to gather more data from Neretva Vallis and confirm the results with other researchers before releasing the conclusion that this could be Martian life.

'We are here to say this is exciting, and we want to share that news. This could be very real,' Duffy continued.

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

This is the moment the BBC's science editor was left in tears during NASA's Artemis II lift-off. 

The spacecraft, which will take four astronauts to the moon for the first time in over 50 years, took off from the Kennedy Space Centre yesterday evening. 

Its mammoth 285,000-mile (1.1 million km) round trip will transport crew to the dark side of the moon before slingshotting back to Earth.

The BBC's Science Editor, Rebecca Morelle joined hundreds of other spectators in Florida to witness the historic launch. 

As Artemis II's booster ignitions activated, sending large plumes of smoke billowing across the launch pad, the excitable reporter can be heard saying 'oh my goodness' and repeatedly clapping.

The rocket then blasts off into the sky to thunderous cheers from crowds gathered at the Kennedy Space Centre.

'Oh my goodness that is spectacular,' a visibly emotional Ms Morelle said. 

'It's not just want you see and you hear as the rocket lifts off. You can feel the force of it through your body. This is the most powerful rocket that NASA has ever built.' 

The BBC's Science Editor, Rebecca Morelle (pictured) joined hundreds of other spectators in Florida to witness the historic launch

Artemis II officially launched yesterday evening on its mammoth round trip to the dark side of the moon before returning to Earth 

The roaring engines of the massive spacecraft then interrupt Ms Morelle as it commences its journey towards the stars.

She struggles to be heard over the thunderous noise as she looks over her shoulder at the rocket in wonder. 

Artemis II will take American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen farther into space than any human has ever gone before.

They will break the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. 

Four minutes into the historic journey, Artemis II crossed the boundary into space with no issues and a clear view of their target destination. 

Mr Wiseman, the mission commander, said: 'We have a beautiful moonrise. We're headed right at it!'

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman reported that Artemis II suffered a temporary communications problem after launch and was dealing with a 'controller issue' with the toilet on board the Orion capsule. 

However, these have now been fixed and the space agency has declared the spacecraft ready for its trip to the moon. 

From left to right: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch

Just after 6pm in the US, Mr Wiseman declared 'Full send,' as he and his crewmates sat atop NASA’s towering rocket, confirming they were ready for launch.

Orion crew capsule: Key specs

• Unlike the Space Shuttle or ISS, Orion is designed to go far beyond Earth's orbit
• It can support four astronauts for up to 21 days
• It has a built¿in escape rocket that can pull the crew away from danger during launch
• It has the largest heat shield ever built for a human spacecraft
• The astronauts will live in about 330 cubic feet of space ¿ roughly the size of two minivans
• To get some shut¿eye, crew members will strap sleeping bags to the wall
• It has a mini gym onboard, equipped with a compact flywheel exercise device
• It will take astronauts father from Earth than any humans have travelled since the Apollo missions

From mission control, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson delivered an emotional message to the crew, telling them they carried 'the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of this generation.'

'Good luck. Godspeed, Artemis II. Let’s go,' she said, following the final launch checks. 

The crew will spend the first one to two days conducting extensive systems checks.

These include testing Orion's life-support, propulsion, navigation and communications systems to ensure the spacecraft is ​ready to head into deep space.

Once checkouts are complete, Orion’s propulsion system will perform ​a critical engine burn known as translunar injection, sending the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory ‌toward ⁠the moon.

It will take three to four days for the Artemis II crew to reach the moon, with the Orion spacecraft projected to enter what NASA calls the moon’s sphere of influence on day five.

This is the point at which lunar gravity overtakes Earth’s pull and begins guiding the spacecraft toward its destination.

Day six is likely to be historic for NASA and the rest of humanity, as Artemis II conducts its lunar flyby and travels to the dark side of the moon.

The spacecraft will not only reach a point farther from Earth than any previous crewed mission, but NASA confirmed that the astronauts will be able to see a lunar eclipse - when the moon blocks out the sun. 

After looping around the moon, the Orion craft will begin its return journey, leaving the moon’s gravitational influence and heading back toward Earth.

It will take another four days to return, which the astronauts will fill by conducting key safety demonstrations, including testing procedures designed to shield the crew from dangerous solar radiation from solar flares. The crew will also practice manually steering the spacecraft.

Read More

• NASA fans are shocked to see an astronaut typing his PIN into his tablet on the Artemis II moon launch live stream - as one jokes 'command module getting open-sourced!' 

As Orion approaches Earth, it will separate key components before plunging into the ⁠atmosphere ​at speeds of about 25,000 miles per hour (40,233 kph). Testing ​the capsule’s heat shield during high-energy re-entry is one of the mission’s primary objectives.

The spacecraft is expected to splash down ​in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams will retrieve the crew.

Parachutes will deploy to slow the spacecraft before it splashes down, bringing the landmark mission to an end. 

Artemis III, NASA's next space mission, is set to launch in 2027 and will see two astronauts land on the surface of the moon and stay there for about a week.  This will be the first time man has set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. 

Artemis II: Key facts 

Launch date: NASA initially identified three possible launch windows for Artemis II: From February 6 to February 11, from March 6 to March 11, and from April 1 to April 6. The space agency is now targeting the April window. 

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: 685,000 miles (1.1 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

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

Chilling two final words of Challenger pilot before disaster killed all astronauts on board

When the pilot confirmed his insturction to mission control with the words, “go throttle up”. It sounded like another routine mission was unfolding -until it didn't.

BY Edward Easton

The failed launch was one of the biggest disasters of its kind in history

 (Image: The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images)

On the morning of January 28, 1986, millions of people across the globe sat glued to their TVs, excited to watch the Space Shuttle Challenger prepared for lift-off.

At first, everything went according to plan. Challenger shot into the sky, with Commander Francis Scobee calmly confirming his instructions from mission control with the words, “go throttle up”. It sounded like another routine mission was unfolding. Until it didn't. Just three seconds later, came the final transmission from inside the cockpit.

Pilot Michael Smith uttered only two words, but they showed him to be a man who realised something was very, very wrong. - “uh oh”. Moments later, the shuttle was engulfed in fire and tore apart in the sky just 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board.

The launch looked pretty ordinary at first, but things quickly turned south.

(Image: MPI/Getty Images)

From the ground, it looked like an enormous explosion, a violent fireball that appeared to instantly destroy the spacecraft. For decades, that was the version many people believed: that the crew were killed immediately.

But years later, deeply unsettling details emerged that painted a far more disturbing picture.

Challenger did not explode in the traditional sense. A failure in a booster designed to seal fuel leaks caused scorching gases to escape, weakening the external fuel tank. As the shuttle climbed, the structure failed, triggering a massive fireball that ripped the vehicle apart.

Crucially, the crew compartment did not disintegrate straight away.

None of the craft's crew survived

(Image: AFP)

Instead, it is believed to have broken free pretty much intact, continuing to rise for around 25 seconds before beginning its long fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

Investigators later revealed that several of the astronauts’ personal air packs had been switched on, a process that could only be done manually.

That discovery raised the horrifying possibility that at least some of the crew were alive and conscious after the initial breakup, fully aware that they were falling helplessly back to Earth.

NASA maintained that a sudden loss of cabin pressure may have caused the astronauts to lose consciousness quickly. But experts noted that the physical evidence inside the crew module did not fully support that explanation, leaving the exact final moments unclear.

What is certain is that the impact with the ocean was unsurvivable.

The crew compartment slammed into the sea at immense speed, bringing the nightmare to a brutal end.

The remains of the astronauts were later recovered from the ocean floor, though details of their final moments were never publicly disclosed.

{ https://www.mirror.co.uk/  }

High nickel concentrations in Martian bedrock point to potential biosignatures

by Krystal Kasal, Phys.org

In 2024, NASA's Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants of ancient Martian life.

Nickel as a biosignature

Although nickel is not typically thought of as a major component of human life, it is important in many microbial metabolism functions. For example, nickel is a requirement for the Wood-Ljungdahl (W-L) pathway—an ancient, energy-efficient anaerobic process utilized by bacteria and archaea to fix carbon dioxide. The reverse of this process also requires nickel and has been observed in some species of sulfate-reducing bacteria, for the decomposition of organic matter.

"In particular, Ni is an essential component of enzymes used by methanogenic archaea and many bacterial species. Ni is vital to the metabolism of methanogenic organisms, such that a decrease in the Ni content of Earth's oceans in the Archean is hypothesized to have caused a collapse in atmospheric methane preceding the Great Oxidation Event," explain the study authors.

Furthermore, most of a planet's nickel is expected to be in its core. So, higher concentrations on or near the surface are typically unexpected, unless deposited there through other means. Researchers can use information from surrounding rocks to determine more about the origin, such as whether the nickel likely came from volcanic, meteoritic, or other sources.

Unexpected nickel concentrations in Neretva Vallis

Samples picked up by Perseverance showed nickel concentrations of up to 1.1 wt.% in Neretva Vallis, representing the highest-ever nickel concentrations detected in Martian bedrock. Nickel was detected at 0.12 wt.% or higher in 32 out of the 126 distinct rock targets analyzed by Perseverance's remote Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. The team notes that many of these samples were near iron-rich rocks, which they say indicates the presence of nickel in an iron-bearing phase. Scans also identified nickel rich regions in veins of magnesium sulfate.

"There are few processes capable of enriching Ni to the extreme levels seen in Neretva Vallis and any such explanation must also be consistent with the bulk geochemistry and geologic context of Neretva Vallis sedimentary rocks. In particular, the observation that Ni is found concentrated in dispersed Fe-sulfides and diagenetic sulfates within Mg poor mudstones must be considered," the study authors write.

Although the team is still uncertain of the exact origins of these nickel-rich regions, they say that the geochemistry and textures resemble ancient Earth rocks where life first emerged. They say that sedimentary Fe-sulfides on Earth, similar to those found in certain regions of Neretva Vallis, are believed to form by microbial sulfate reduction in the presence of Fe-bearing minerals.

The researchers say that the thermochemical reduction of sulfate at high temperatures is another possible explanation, but there is no evidence for the metamorphism or burial to the depths required for thermochemical sulfate reduction, and that the hydrated sulfate minerals and clays there indicate low-temperature processes. The authors note that previous findings of organic matter and iron-sulfides spurred the designation of a "potential biosignature" for the same reason.

They explain, "The results of our investigation of sedimentary rocks derived from Noachian (~4.1-3.7 Gya) materials in the Jezero watershed invite comparisons with an early Earth environment and a terrestrial biosphere that developed around the same time as these rocks. While the observations presented in this work do not necessarily imply that the distribution of Ni is related to a biological process, the presence of strong enrichments suggests it was bioavailable.

"As an element essential to the earliest known forms of life on Earth, and a particularly scarce trace metal, the elevated concentrations of Ni in the Beaver Falls workspace—co-located with organic matter—offers an intriguing hint of past organic driven redox processes on Mars."

Non-biological possibilities

The instruments available on Perseverance cannot perform the detailed isotopic or trace metal analyses needed to confirm origins or biological links, so the origins of nickel in Neretva Vallis remain uncertain. However, the study authors do present some non-biological possibilities as well.

The team says that the nickel may have been delivered by a meteorite, then dissolved and redistributed by water flowing through the region at the time. They say another possibility is that nickel accumulated from intense chemical weathering of an ultramafic protolith—a type of igneous or sedimentary rock, primarily composed of iron and magnesium-rich minerals, but also nickel.

The researchers plan on further analysis when the collected rock samples are brought back to Earth. They say this could clarify the source and significance of nickel enrichment, potentially revealing more about Mars' history and its potential for ancient life.

Publication details

• H. T. Manelski et al, Strong nickel enrichment co-located with redox-organic interactions in Neretva Vallis, Mars, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-70081-3

• Journal information: Nature Communications 

{ https://phys.org/space-news/ }

Artemis II launches Nasa astronauts to the moon for first time in 53 years

 Josh Milton

A pretty nail-biting 10 seconds (Picture: Nasa/Reuters)

And we have liftoff. Humanity is about to be reunited with the moon for the first time in 53 years as Artemis II finally took flight yesterday.

Crowds cheered as a spacecraft named Integrity and a minivan-sized capsule soared into the clear skies above Florida at 6.35pm local time.

The mission will bring Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen from Launch Pad 39 at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center to another celestial body.

‘Full-send,’ said Wiseman, clearing the way for the launch.

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson replied: ‘You take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of this generation.

‘Good luck. Godspeed, Artemis II. Let’s go.’

The craft soared from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (Picture: Reuters)

Artemis II is made up of the Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule perched on top (Picture: Reuters)

(L-R) Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and commander Reid Wiseman earlier today (Picture: Getty Images)

This is the first time anyone will travel this far from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The goal of the 620,000-mile-long round-trip is to test life-support and other systems – the toilet included – inside the Orion.

If all goes to plan, the next mission in the 21st-century equivalent of the Apollo programme could send humans to the lunar south pole by 2028.

Artemis II just launched – what now?

Artemis II was slated for earlier this year but was delayed due to hiccups during dress rehearsals.

Yet these were a good thing, Libby Jackson, who worked in Mission Control for a module on the International Space Station, tells Metro.

‘Until you have got all the way down to zero, it might not happen,’ she says of the 10-second countdown to launch.

‘You don’t believe it until you get into those final seconds.’

The head of space at the Science Museum in London adds that, as nail-biting as the countdown was, it’s just the start of the 10-day mission.

‘It’s 10 minutes up into space. That all has to go to plan, right? You want the crew to be safe. You want the rocket to work well.’

One of the things that has gone right so far is the unfolding of Orion’s solar arrays. Jackson says: ‘If you don’t deploy the solar panels, you have no mission, because you need the power.’

Don’t get too attached to the 2,600,000kg orange rocket, though. The core stage, crammed with engines, is already somewhere in the Atlantic.

At nearly 1,381 miles above the surface, the upper stage of the rocket fired to shove the Orion into an elliptical orbit around Earth so it won’t fall back.

This will set the record for the farthest that people have travelled from Earth while still swinging around the planet.

But that record will only last about 13 hours, when the second stage will fire once again on the rocket’s second lap around the planet tomorrow.

The Orion is where the four spacefarers will spend the next 10 days (Picture: PA)

This will push the crew into what Nasa calls ‘high-Earth orbit’, or about 43,730 miles above your head, before the second stage is discarded.

From then on, it’ll just be four people floating inside the Orion.

On April 6, the spacecraft will swoop around the moon’s far side, also called the dark side, so astronauts can observe parts of the lunar surface never seen by humans before.

Just a day later, the team will return to Earth by using the moon’s gravity to fling itself, a process called ‘free return’, which will take four days.

The Orion will smash into the Earth’s rough atmosphere at about 25,000mph, withstanding temperatures of 2,760°C, and splash down just off the coast of San Diego on April 10.

The crew’s destination is our nearest celestial neighbour (Picture: AP)

‘If everyone has done their homework, they will go into space, go to the moon and just come back,’ Jackson says.

‘But everything has been well prepared and well checked out and well tested. No one launches a mission expecting it to fail.’

Why are we bothering to go to the moon?

Compared to discussions about migrating to Mars or discovering life on faraway worlds, visiting our closest neighbour might sound mundane.

But there’s a great deal we don’t know about this big grey rock – including how it even formed, which could help us understand how we came to be.

Dr Megan Argo, a reader in astrophysics at the University of Lancashire, tells Metro: ‘The moon has fascinated humans for thousands of years, appearing constant yet ever-changing in our skies and helping track time and seasons.

‘Every culture has developed its own stories and traditions around it.’

Unlike the Earth, where ocean currents and earthquakes can sweep away our history, the moon is a history book.

‘This means its rocks and potential water deposits act as an archive, offering insights into planetary formation that we simply can’t access on Earth,’ Dr Argo says.

By getting up close to the moon, space officials can think of ways to get people even further into the cosmos.

Not only for months-long stays on the moon in bases powered by nuclear energy, but also for journeying to Mars.

‘One of the points of the Artemis programme is to learn how to live and work on another planet through your body,’ Jackson says.

MORE: 

• What did Neil Armstrong ‘steal’ from the moon?

MORE: 

• Historic Artemis II launch upstaged by ‘legendary’ kid swearing live on TV

MORE: 

• The Full Mora reveals uncomfortable truths — your star sign’s tarot horoscope

RELATED

Artemis 2 BLASTS OFF into space taking astronauts to the Moon for the first lunar voyage in 53 years

{ https://metro.co.uk/ }

Scientists Investigating Whether Object NASA Is Approaching Is Core of Destroyed Planet

NASA / Futurism

Scientists have long been intrigued by an enormous potato-shaped asteroid, dubbed 16 Psyche, that they suspect to be teeming with metal — and therefore potentially worth a ludicrous amount of money to future asteroid mining operations.

The 173-mile object, which orbits the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, features two enormous crater-like depressions, which researchers say could be closely related to its still largely unknown origin story.

In a new paper published in the journal JGR Planets, an international team of researchers tried to get to the bottom of one of the key questions regarding 16 Psyche that remains unanswered. Is it a core of a planetesimal, a billions-of-years-old building block of a planet, in which case it would have a “large metallic core buried under rocks,” or is it a “homogeneous mixture of iron and rock?”

Put differently, could 16 Psyche be the ancient exposed remains of a planetary core whose crust and mantle were blown off, or is it a separate primordial lump of far less dense and potentially riddled-with-holes rock that either started out metal-rich or became blended with metal after colliding with other asteroids?

While the latest paper doesn’t necessarily exclude any of these possibilities — its simulations support both hypotheses — the goal was to know what to look out for once NASA’s mission to the space rock, which launched in October 2023, arrives roughly three and a half years from now.

Once there, the spacecraft could finally allow us to solve the mystery surrounding 16 Psyche’s history once and for all. As Universe Today points out, 16 Psyche’s size makes it far more approachable than the thousands of miles we’d have to drill into the Earth. (So far, we’ve only made it around 0.2 percent of the way to our own planet’s center.)

For their paper, the researchers took into consideration 16 Psyche’s unusual dented shape, previous findings that concluded it may be teeming with metal material, and its porosity.

“Large impact basins or craters excavate deep into the asteroid, which gives clues about what its interior is made of,” said first author and University of Arizona doctoral candidate Namya Baijal in a statement. “By simulating the formation of one of its largest craters, we were able to make testable predictions for Psyche’s overall composition when the spacecraft arrives.”

“One of our main findings was that the porosity — the amount of empty space inside the asteroid — plays a significant role in how these craters form,” she added. “Porosity is often ignored because it’s difficult to include in models, but our simulations show it can strongly affect the impact process and shape of craters left behind.”

“When the spacecraft arrives at Psyche in a few years, the geochemists, geologists and modelers on the team will all be looking at the same object and trying to interpret what we see,” said Asphaug.

“This work gives us a head start,” he added.

More on Psyche: 

• NASA Spacecraft Runs Into Thruster Trouble En Route to Zillion-Dollar Asteroid

RELATED VIDEOS

{ https://futurism.com/category/space }

The 1975 Lumberton UFO Wave: Police Across North Carolina Report a Silent V-Shaped Craft

More than 30 law enforcement officers reported a silent, V-shaped craft during a multi-day wave of sightings across southeastern North Carolina.

Alejandro Rojas

In the early morning hours of April 3, 1975, shortly after a violent thunderstorm swept through southeastern North Carolina, police officers in the town of Lumberton began reporting something unusual in the sky.

At first, it appeared to be a strange light near a local water tower. But within minutes, multiple officers on patrol began describing the same object—seen from different locations across the town.

What followed over the next several days would become one of the most unusual law-enforcement UFO cases in the region. According to reports later compiled by investigators with the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), more than thirty law enforcement officers across a seven-county area reported observing a large, silent craft between April 3 and April 9, 1975.

Despite being miles apart, witnesses consistently described the same object: a V-shaped craft lined with red and red-green lights, sometimes accompanied by bright white spotlights, maneuvering silently across the night sky.

The First Police Sightings

The first reports came shortly after 1:45 a.m. on April 3, when three Lumberton patrolmen—Phil Stanton, P.H. Atkinson, and Neil McCormick—noticed a strange light near a water tower behind Lumberton High School while patrolling near Highways 211 and 101.

Officer Atkinson initially assumed the object might be a helicopter. But as the officers watched, the light moved across the sky in a wide arc. When they drove toward Fayetteville Road to get a closer look, the object abruptly vanished from view.

Atkinson later described the light moving across the sky before suddenly disappearing. As he recalled in later interviews, “It just went out.”

Within minutes, other officers began calling in similar sightings from different parts of the area.

As reports began pouring into the Robeson County Sheriff’s Department, dispatchers noticed something striking: witnesses who were miles apart described the same configuration of lights and the same unusual flight behavior.

The object was typically described as V-shaped or triangular, with rows of colored lights along its edges and one or more bright white beams that resembled spotlights.

Even more puzzling to observers was what they did not hear.

Despite appearing to fly at relatively low altitude and, in some cases, directly overhead, the craft was consistently described as completely silent. One officer reportedly remarked that the object passed overhead “without a sound.”

A Multi-County Wave

Over the next several nights, reports spread beyond Lumberton itself.

Officers and residents across seven counties in southeastern North Carolina reported seeing the same unusual craft moving across the region. In many cases, officers who responded to civilian reports observed the object themselves.

Investigators later noted that witnesses consistently described similar characteristics, including a large V-shaped craft, rows of red and red-green lights, bright white spotlights directed toward the ground, sudden turns and hovering movements, and the absence of any audible engine or rotor noise.

These similarities appeared in reports from witnesses who often had no contact with each other at the time of observation.

Key Events During the Sightings Wave

• April 3, ~1:45 a.m. – Three Lumberton police officers observe a strange light moving near a water tower behind Lumberton High School.
• Soon after, additional officers across the area began reporting a similarly described object moving through the sky.
• Following nights (April 3–9) – Sightings are reported across multiple counties in southeastern North Carolina. Officers sometimes respond to civilian calls and then observe the object themselves.
• Early April – A United Press International (UPI) story about the sightings circulates nationally, drawing attention from journalists and UFO investigators.
• Shortly afterward, reporter and investigator Lee Speigel travels to the region to interview witnesses and examine the case firsthand.

Speigel’s Investigation — and His Own Sighting

When journalist and UFO investigator Lee Speigel first learned of the Lumberton sightings through a UPI news release, he initially assumed the case might have a conventional explanation.

Accompanied by a reporter from the National Star, Speigel traveled to North Carolina to investigate the reports personally. Flying into Fayetteville, about forty miles north of Lumberton, he looked down at the landscape where the sightings had been occurring.

Artist rendering of Lee’s encounter.

From the air, he could see miles of swamps, rivers, farmland, and forests stretching toward the Atlantic coast—a remote, sparsely populated region.

He approached the case with the expectation that a logical explanation would likely emerge once he spoke with witnesses and examined the circumstances. But during his visit, Speigel himself reported witnessing the object.

While observing the sky with local officers during the investigation, he saw what appeared to be the same unusual craft reported throughout the region. The object moved silently across the sky, displaying multiple lights and a shape that appeared structured rather than star-like.

According to his account, the craft maneuvered in ways that seemed inconsistent with ordinary aircraft. Watching the object move through the sky, Spiegel later wrote, made it far more difficult to dismiss the officers’ reports as simple misidentifications.

What had begun as a journalistic investigation had unexpectedly placed him among the witnesses.

Watch Speigel discuss his encounter at this link.

An Unresolved Case

The sightings eventually drew the attention of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the astronomer who had served as scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book and who later founded the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).

Researchers working with CUFOS, including investigator Jennie Zeidman, compiled witness interviews, timelines, maps, and news coverage into what became known as The Lumberton Report.

Despite the large number of witnesses and the consistency of their descriptions, no definitive explanation was identified.

Possible explanations, including helicopters, aircraft, or astronomical objects, were considered, but none appeared to fully account for the reported characteristics, particularly the silent operation and abrupt maneuverability described by observers.

Nearly fifty years later, the Lumberton sightings remain a relatively little-known but notable case in UFO research—one involving dozens of trained law enforcement witnesses reporting the same unusual craft across multiple counties over several nights.

As with many UFO cases from the era before widespread video recording and satellite tracking, the evidence ultimately rests on eyewitness testimony. Yet the consistency of those accounts and the involvement of so many police officers continue to make the 1975 Lumberton UFO wave one of the more intriguing law-enforcement UFO cases in the historical record.

• Special thanks to David Marler of the National UFO Historical Records Center for providing the Lumberton Report, news clippings, and other documents, and to Lee Spiegel for providing his report and information about his personal encounter.

{ https://openminds.tv/category/articles/ufo-sighting-reports/ }