Science

On its way to and from visiting the Moon, the 33 engines of the ESA’s European Service Module are keeping Orion on track, as explained in this video. The crew has also tested manual piloting and plans another demonstration tonight at about 10:55PM.

The dismantling of the US Forest Service is going to be devastating in a way we can’t yet calculate. USFS manages an enormous amount of land across 44 states and conducts useful public research. No more! The Trump admin has decided we don’t need any of that science and is “reorganizing” the agency to be closer to interests that want to privatize our public lands, while shutting down a ton of research centers. One step closer to a Trump hotel appearing on our sacred public lands.

While thousands of smartphones and cameras were trained on the sky on April 1st capturing the historic launch of Artemis II, Redditor Cambot72 recorded it on a Nintendo 3DS XL. The 0.3-megapixel footage has some retro Apollo vibes, and you can download the original version to watch in 3D if you’ve still got a 3DS.

As Artemis II sends back some wallpaper-worthy photos of the Moon and a solar eclipse, it may have given Samsung some inspiration for its next generation of smartphone cameras.

I’ve been looking for a new desktop wallpaper for a while, and thanks to the Artemis II astronauts I’ve finally found one. NASA’s stunning images of the Earth and the Moon are great for OLED monitors in particular, providing out of this world black levels. Literally.

With their historic lunar flyby complete, the crew of Artemis II are officially on their way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego around 8PM Eastern on Friday. NASA’s next Artemis mission is currently slated for 2027.

The crew of the Artemis II are now on a return trajectory to Earth, with an expected splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07pm local time on Friday, April 10.

After setting a new distance record and going behind the Moon, the Artemis II crew has now gone as far away from Earth as they will during the mission.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen have surpassed Apollo 13’s record for the greatest distance a human mission has traveled away from Earth at over 240,000 miles and counting, and they’ll continue stretching that out until about 7:07PM ET. Right now, they’re beginning to observe the Moon’s surface.

In a recent Optimizer, I wrote about how influencers use viral trends to undermine trust in medical science and profit. Well, here’s an example of the consequences in this STAT op-ed penned by a doctor: people are starting to trust untested peptides peddled online over drugs with decades of evidence.

The streaming giant missed out on the April 1st launch of Artemis II, but will broadcast today’s historic flight around the Moon.

NASA shared this photo taken by the Artemis II crew today, showing the Orientale basin in its entirety for the first time. The far side is also becoming visible as the mission approaches its destination.

Artemis II’s astronauts are carrying iPhones, but it’s not to post on Instagram or check email. They can’t even connect to the internet. They’re mostly there for taking photos and videos. According to the New York Times:

The crew is on track to fly by the Moon on Monday, April 6th, and posting updates along the way, including this stunning pair of photos of the astronauts looking back at Earth. If you want to follow along with every tiny detail, there is a livestream on YouTube.

After liftoff, there was an issue with Outlook running on the mission’s Surface Pro. That left some wondering why NASA was still using such old tech. Well, devices need to be tested and certified. To save money, they went with tech that was already approved. Then the launch date got pushed back… repeatedly. Check out this thread from NASA’s Jason Hutt for the full breakdown.

The New York Times reports that Elon Musk is demanding that “banks, law firms, auditors and other advisers” working on the SpaceX IPO buy subscriptions to Grok, which is technically now under the SpaceX umbrella.

Forget business class. I want the seat a lucky Threads user got on a Southwest flight on Wednesday, with a front-row view of NASA’s Artemis II rocket taking off from the Kennedy Space Center on its journey toward the Moon.

Check out these incredible photos of our planet taken by Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. Amazing.

The Orion spacecraft is now on a course to take four astronauts around the moon in four days time.

Even on NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in forever, the live stream captured astronauts having issues with Outlook (New) and Outlook (classic).

Alongside the beautiful shots I’m seeing across social media, NASA has a photo album for yesterday’s launch that’s well worth checking out even if you tuned into the livestream. The album is hosted on Flickr, making America’s mission to the moon feel even more nostalgic.

That’s according to Reuters sources, but I wonder what it might reveal about Elon Musk’s combination of companies now that papers for a public offering have apparently been filed.

The Financial Times reports that Amazon is in talks with Globalstar about an acquisition to help boost its low Earth orbit satellite business, but Apple’s 20 percent stake in Globalstar is forcing negotiations between the three companies.

You can watch a livestream on NASA’s channel on Twitch or follow along with NASA’s liveblog on its website. The launch is currently expected to happen at 6:35PM ET.

Not because they’re so ugly, it’s because Garmin wearables that track skin temperature during sleep — like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970 — can now feed that data to the FDA-cleared Natural Cycles birth control app to show the wearer’s daily fertility status.

Providing all goes to plan, NASA’s Artemis II mission will launch later today and carry astronauts around the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The launch window is targeted for 6:24PM ET, with the onsite countdown officially underway.

Now we know why Delta Airlines has been holding fast to its sluggish in-flight connectivity providers while seemingly everyone else has jumped into Elon Musk’s lap: it was holding out for Amazon Leo. Amazon’s still busy building out its satellite constellation so we’re talking 2028 before Delta can start offering the service on about 500 domestic aircraft.