On April 1, Artemis II's Orion spacecraft blasted off into space for a trip around the Moon. Inside were four astronauts and an adorable stuffed toy named Rise. The tiny plush had a simple, but important job — to float when the spacecraft reached zero gravity. This gave the crew an easy, visual signal that it was safe to unbuckle their seatbelts.
Read news articleNASA is taking the next step toward returning humans to the Moon with the Artemis II mission. Sometime during the first week of April 2026, the Orion spacecraft will carry four astronauts on a journey around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. The flight will test Orion and its systems for future missions that aim to land astronauts on the lunar surface again. The last time astronauts walked on the Moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Read news articleA tiny traveler has joined Earth in its journey around the Sun. The object, named 2025 PN7, is a quasi-moon, an asteroid whose orbit closely matches Earth’s. This makes it look like it follows our planet. The quasi-moon's discovery, revealed on October 22, 2025, offers scientists a rare chance to study near-Earth asteroids.
Read news articleUranus and Neptune are often called "ice giants." This is based on the theory that they were made from materials that easily freeze in space, like water and ammonia. However, this label does not come from direct observations, since no spacecraft has visited the two giants since Voyager 2 in the 1980s. Instead, it is drawn from computer models built using the planets’ sizes, masses, densities, and gravity fields. Now, a new study by scientists at the University of Zurich is challenging this idea. It suggests that the two planets may contain more rock than ice.
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