NASA's Flexible Levitation on Track (FLOAT) project, which aims to create the first lunar rail system using magnetic robots to transport cargo on the Moon with minimal dust wear, has moved to the second phase of the Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
The first manned test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station is postponed again due to a technical problem with the oxygen valve on the Atlas V rocket.
Today, on May 7, people who love space and are fascinated by the mysterious world of celestial bodies can join the International Planetarium Day. The date of the celebration was chosen in honor of the fact that on May 7, 1924, the first planetarium in the modern sense of the word in Munich started its work on a permanent basis.
China has launched the Chang'e-6 probe to return rock and soil samples from the ancient South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the Moon, the first such mission in the world.
NASA is abandoning its existing $11 billion plan to collect and return soil samples from Mars by 2040 due to high costs and delays. The US National Aerospace Agency is looking for new innovative and cheaper approaches.
The White House has instructed NASA to establish a single time standard called Coordinated Lunar Time (CLT) for the Moon and other celestial bodies by 2026 to provide an accurate time reference for lunar missions amid growing activity in lunar exploration.
The United States landed the first spacecraft on the moon in 50 years, and during the descent, the Odyssey spacecraft experienced navigation problems that required 11 hours of engineer work to resolve.
SpaceX has launched the first private lunar rover called Odysseus, built by Intuitive Machines, which is scheduled to land on the moon on February 22.