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News Archive: Dec. 1-31 |
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Instrument to search for dust clumps on way to Pluto
As the first student-built instrument ever selected to fly on a planetary mission, the University of Colorado at Boulder's Student Dust Counter will monitor the density of dust grains in space as NASA's New Horizons buzzes to Pluto and beyond. Launch is set for mid-January.
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Astronomers gain clues about fundamental physics
An international team of astronomers has looked at something very big -- a distant galaxy -- to study the behavior of things very small -- atoms and molecules -- to gain vital clues about the fundamental nature of our entire Universe. The team used the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to test whether the laws of nature have changed over vast spans of cosmic time.
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Saturday will be one second longer than usual -- A "leap second" will be added to the world's clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) Saturday. This corresponds to 6:59:59 p.m. EST, when the extra second will be inserted at the U.S. Naval Observatory. This marks the 23rd leap second to be added to UTC, a uniform time-scale kept by atomic clocks around the world.
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Two stunning pictures show young stellar clusters
Just like Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol takes us on a journey into past, present and future in the time of only one Christmas Eve, two of the European Southern Observatory's telescopes captured various stages in the life of a star in a single image.
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2005 launch year ends with successful Russian flight
The final space launch of 2005 powered off the pad Wednesday night when a Russian Proton M rocket departed Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying an American satellite built to relay broadband communications to specially equipped jetliners flying across the Pacific Ocean.
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Chandra looks back at Earth, sees aurora dance
In an unusual observation, a team of scientists has scanned the northern polar region of Earth with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The results show that the aurora borealis, or "northern lights," also dance in X-ray light, creating changing bright arcs of X-ray energy above the Earth's surface.
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Test satellite for Europe's Galileo system launched
A European navigation spacecraft was shot into space Wednesday morning, signaling the birth of the continent's Galileo satellite system that will give millions of users access to the most precise positioning data on the public market.
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Galaxy's neighboring spiral arm closer than thought
The Perseus spiral arm - the nearest spiral arm in the Milky Way outside the Sun's orbit - lies only half as far from Earth as some previous studies had suggested, according to an international team of astronomers.
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Cassini spacecraft views small worlds of Saturn
Gazing across the ringplane, the Cassini spacecraft spots a Saturn-lit Mimas and the tiny Trojan moon Helene. Only the bright crescent on Mimas' eastern limb is lit by the Sun; the moon's night side is illuminated by Saturnshine, or "greylight" as it is called by imaging scientists.
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A moon with two dark sides
Although it is no longer uncharted land, the origin of the dark territory of Cassini Regio on Saturn's moon Iapetus remains a mystery. Also puzzling is the equatorial ridge that bisects this terrain, and how it fits into the story of the moon's strange brightness dichotomy. The ridge is seen here, curving along the lower left edge of Iapetus.
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Saturn's children
With the icy rings between them in this Cassini picture, Saturn's moons Dione and Tethys each show off the prominent features for which they are known. Dione, beyond the rings, displays wispy fractures that adorn its trailing side. Tethys, on the side of the rings closest to Cassini, shows its large impact basin Odysseus.
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Scientists find 'light echoes' of ancient supernovae
Astronomers have found "light echoes" from three ancient supernovae by detecting their faint, centuries-old light reflected in the clouds of interstellar dust. The finding, published in Nature, means astronomers will, for the first time, be able to study these important but rare events that appeared hundreds to thousands of years ago.
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Russian Proton rocket lofts navigation satellite trio
Three new satellites were launched by Russia on Sunday on the first leg of their mission to rejuvenate the country's system of space-based navigation that is relied upon by a host of military and civilian users.
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A holiday gift from space: Christmas Tree cluster
The signs of the holidays are all around us - wreaths on doors, twinkling lights in windows, and decorated trees in living rooms. Even outer space is joining the year-end celebration with this new image of a star-forming region called the Christmas Tree cluster recently taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
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NASA astronomers spot rare lunar meteor strike
Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have recorded a small but powerful meteoroid strike in the night on the moon's surface. As astronauts prepare for future missions to the moon, the space agency has a need to understand what happens after lunar impacts in order to protect explorers.
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Space station receives 20th Russian-made resupply ship
A Russian Progress cargo freighter arrived at the International Space Station with a safe rendezvous and docking Friday. The linkup with the station's Pirs docking compartment occurred 2:46 p.m. EST (1946 GMT), eight minutes ahead of schedule, as the two craft flew 220 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South America.
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Hubble discovers new rings and moons around Uranus
To the surprise of astronomers, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a pair of new rings around the distant planet Uranus. The largest is twice the diameter of the planet's previously known rings. The new rings are so far away that they are being called Uranus' "second ring system."
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Saturn orbiter Cassini has galactic aspirations
Cassini briefly turned its gaze from Saturn and its rings and moons to marvel at the Carina Nebula, a brilliant region 8,000 light years from our solar system and more than 200 light years across. Nearly every point of light in this image is a star in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
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Study refutes Mars rover discovery of past water
A region of Mars that some planetary scientists believe was once a shallow lakebed and likely habitable for life may not have been so wet after all, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
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Atlas rocket to launch ASTRA 1KR satellite in April
Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 rocket will carry out a commercial satellite deployment mission from Cape Canaveral in April, lofting the European ASTRA 1KR television broadcasting spacecraft into orbit, officials said Wednesday.
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Kosmos rocket launched -- Two Russian government satellites were delivered to space by a Kosmos-3M rocket flown from the country's northern space base on Wednesday, in the midst of a day that included three orbital launches after launch pads around the world were silent for over a month.
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Cargo ship begins flight to the space station
A supply ship bound for the International Space Station roared into orbit Wednesday, promising to give the outpost's two-man crew a delivery of fresh food, clothes, equipment and special holiday gifts just in time for Christmas.
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European Ariane 5 rocket launches on its 25th flight
Two satellites were shot into space by an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday from a South American spaceport to begin missions supporting Indian telecommunications operators and European weather forecasters.
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Partial ingredients for DNA, protein found around star
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of life's most basic ingredients in the dust swirling around a young star. The ingredients - gaseous precursors to DNA and protein - were detected in the star's terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born.
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Bright arc of ice
The searing arc of light seen here is Saturn's icy F ring, seen nearly edge-on. In the background, Rhea is lit by reflected light from Saturn and the rings, with only the slightest sliver of light at its bottom being from direct sunlight.
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Atlas to launch DMSP-18 weather satellite
International Launch Services, a Lockheed Martin joint venture, has received authorization from the U.S. Air Force to proceed with the launch of a military weather satellite on an Atlas 5 vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
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Damage puts first SpaceX rocket launch on hold
The inaugural Falcon 1 rocket suffered structural damage during a launch attempt Monday when its first stage fuel tank was sucked inward from the vacuum created by a faulty pressure valve, technicians' initial investigation has revealed.
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Pulsar racing through space reveals comet-like trail
Scientists have uncovered a new feature in one of the closest pulsars to Earth, the Geminga pulsar. Plowing through space, this dense nugget of a dead star leaves in its wake a comet-like trail of high-energy electrons.
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Modernized GPS satellite declared operational
A joint U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team announced Monday that the first modernized Global Positioning System satellite has been declared fully operational for GPS users around the globe following extensive on-orbit testing of the spacecraft's new military and civilian signals. The craft was launched from the Cape in September.
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Explosion could be black hole swallowing star
Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite have found evidence of a black hole swallowing a neutron star. This rare event created a gamma-ray burst that lasted only for a few milliseconds. However, observations of the lingering afterglow provided evidence of what could have been the demise of a neutron star orbiting a black hole.
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Chandra picture shows hot supernova remains
This image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory of a supernova remnant shows X-rays produced by high-energy particles and multimillion degree gas. In 1006 AD, what was thought to be a "new star" suddenly appeared in the sky and over the course of a few days became brighter than the planet Venus. The supernova of 1006 may have been the brightest supernova on record.
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Pluto spacecraft moved to Atlas assembly building
The Pluto New Horizons probe was delivered to the Atlas 5 rocket's assembly building Saturday morning for mating with its ride to space.
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Extra rocket checks postpone Pluto launch
Launch of the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft is being delayed so engineers can perform precautionary boroscope inspections of the Atlas 5 rocket's first stage fuel tank.
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ONE YEAR AGO: ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES AMC 16
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Record-setting flight to launch from shuttle runway
NASA announced Friday the agency's Kennedy Space Center will be the takeoff site for an attempt to set the record for the longest flight of an aircraft or balloon. Steve Fossett will attempt to fly
solo around the world, non-stop without refueling, in the aircraft designed by Burt Rutan.
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Shuttle leaders decide to remove tank foam ramps
NASA engineers and managers have recommended the removal of a protective foam air deflector from the shuttle's external tank to eliminate a major source of potentially dangerous launch debris, a top agency official said Thursday. While NASA has not given up launching the next flight in May, additional work to implement and certify other changes required by the deflector removal could push the launch to later next summer.
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Old stars and mysterious cosmic explosions linked
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, have the extreme brilliance of a billion billion Suns and occur several times a day. But they are not all created equal. Astronomers have known that two types exist -- long ones that last for tens or hundreds of seconds, and short bursts, which last a few milliseconds to a second. The origin of the short bursts has been shrouded in mystery until now.
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Debris disk could be forming terrestrial planets
Astronomers have found a debris disk around a sun-like star that may be forming or has formed its terrestrial planets. The disk - a probable analog to our asteroid belt - may have begun a solar-system-scale demolition derby, where the rocky remains of failed planets collide chaotically.
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Hot, massive haloes found around most spiral galaxies
Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton observatory have found very hot gaseous halos around a multitude of spiral galaxies similar to our Milky Way galaxy. These 'ghost-like' veils have been suspected for decades but remained elusive until now.
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Earth return of asteroid sampling craft delayed
After weeks of teetering on the brink of being lost in space, officials have given up plans to bring the hard-luck Hayabusa asteroid probe back to Earth in 2007. The Japanese craft had to restart its ion engines by Wednesday to begin the trip home.
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Major discovery in the outer Solar System
Astronomers have discovered an unusual small body orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, in the region astronomers call the Kuiper belt. This new object is twice as far from the Sun as Neptune and is roughly half the size of Pluto. The body, temporarily code-named "Buffy", has a highly unusual orbit which is difficult to explain using previous theories of the formation of the outer Solar System.
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Hubble 'weighs' the companion of Dog Star
For astronomers, it's always been a source of frustration that the nearest white-dwarf star is buried in the glow of the brightest star in the nighttime sky. This burned-out stellar remnant is a faint companion of the brilliant blue-white Dog Star, Sirius, located in the winter constellation Canis Major.
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Surprise auroras on Mars
Auroras similar to Earth's Northern Lights appear to be common on Mars, according to physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, who have analyzed six years' worth of data from the Mars Global Surveyor.
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Maneuver puts MESSENGER on track for Venus
NASA's Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft has successfully fired its large bipropellant thruster for the first time since launch, completing the first of several critical deep space maneuvers that will help the spacecraft reach Mercury orbit. The burn puts the craft on course for a close flyby of Venus next year.
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Pandora on a string
This dramatic image from the Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn's craggy moon Pandora skimming along the F ring's outer edge. Pandora orbits about 620 miles exterior to the ring, but in this view is projected onto the ring. The image reveals the odd shape of this moonlet, which is 52 miles across.
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Seeing double at Saturn
Saturn's sibling moons, Rhea and Dione, pose for the Cassini spacecraft in this view. Even at this distance, it is easy to see that Dione (below) appears to have been geologically active in the more recent past, compared to Rhea (above). Dione's smoother surface and linear depressions mark a contrast with Rhea's cratered terrain.
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Fate of Japan's troubled asteroid probe uncertain
Japanese officials are struggling to fix a horde of problems plaguing the Hayabusa space mission in time to begin its journey back to Earth with or without a package of specimens that were supposed to have been collected from the surface of asteroid Itokawa late last month.
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SpaceX targeting Falcon 1 launch for around Dec. 19
Fresh supplies for the commercially developed Falcon 1 rocket are en route to the tiny launch island in the Pacific, giving Space Exploration Technologies hopes of flying the booster's maiden mission before the holidays.
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Team maps dark matter in startling detail
Clues revealed by the recently sharpened view of the Hubble Space Telescope have allowed astronomers to map the location of invisible "dark matter" in unprecedented detail in two very young galaxy clusters.
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Hubble tracks shockwaves escaping newborn star
Like traffic on a freeway, plasma spewing from the poles of newborn stars moves in clumps that travel at different speeds. When fast-moving particles run into slower material on these cosmic freeways, the resulting "traffic jams" create massive shock waves that travel trillions of miles.
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Rivers on Saturn moon resemble those on Earth
Recent evidence from the Huygens probe of the Cassini mission suggests that Titan, the largest moon orbiting Saturn, is a world where rivers of liquid methane sculpt channels in continents of ice. Surface images even show gravel-sized pieces of water ice that resemble rounded stones lying in a dry riverbed on Earth.
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Shuttle team set to debate removing tank foam ramps
NASA managers plan to meet next week to discuss whether to ship a shuttle external fuel tank to Florida in early February without so-called PAL ramp wind delectors in hopes wind tunnel tests and computer modeling will prove the ramps aren't needed to shield external pressurization lines and a cable tray from aerodynamic buffeting.
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IMAGES: FOAM LOST ON JULY LAUNCH
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Mysterious space shuttle oxygen leak being probed
NASA and contractor engineers are studying data indicating a possible oxygen leak in the shuttle Discovery's aft engine compartment during its return-to-flight mission last July.
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Former shuttle chief talks about new CEV launcher
As expected, shuttle solid-fuel rocket builder Alliant Techsystems - ATK - will be the prime contractor for design and development of the first stage of NASA's next-generation Crew Launch Vehicle, intended to propel astronauts into low-Earth orbit after the space shuttle's retirement in 2010.
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Craters, craters everywhere on Saturn's moon Rhea
A giant mosaic revealing Saturn's moon Rhea in her full glory and craters within craters that cover the scarred face of the icy world's terrain are presented in new images from the Cassini spacecraft's recently encounter.
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Galaxy collisions dominate the local universe
More than half of the largest galaxies in the nearby universe have collided and merged with another galaxy in the past two billion years, according to a Yale astronomer in a study using hundreds of images from two of the deepest sky surveys ever conducted.
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Aura spacecraft peers into Earth's ozone hole
NASA researchers, using data from the agency's Aura satellite, determined the seasonal ozone hole that developed over Antarctica this year is smaller than in previous years.
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Mars rovers continue to explore and amaze
NASA's durable twin Mars rovers have successfully explored the surface of the mysterious red planet for a full Martian year. "The rovers went through all of the Martian seasons and are back to late summer," says the deputy rover project manager. "We're preparing for the challenge of surviving another Martian winter."
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Launch pad rehearsal completed for Pluto mission
Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 rocket returned to its processing hangar from the launch pad Tuesday, ending a successful three-day countdown dress rehearsal and marking the start of the next phase in this time-sensitive pre-launch campaign for NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto.
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Cassini reveals spectacular evidence of an active moon
Jets of fine, icy particles streaming from Saturn's moon Enceladus were captured in recent images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The images provide unambiguous visual evidence that the moon is geologically active.
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Servicing the Hubble:
Shuttle plans refined
Preparations for a shuttle mission to upgrade and repair the Hubble Space Telescope in late 2007 or early 2008 are picking up steam as engineers map out the details of a five-spacewalk flight designed to keep the venerable observatory alive and well through at least 2013.
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U.S. SHOPPERS: 2006 HUBBLE CALENDAR
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An interview with NASA Administrator Mike Griffin
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS Space Consultant William Harwood, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin - he insists on being called Mike - reiterated his strong support for a shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
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When moons align...
In a rare moment, the Cassini spacecraft captured this enduring portrait of a near-alignment of four of Saturn's restless moons. Timing is critical when trying to capture a view of multiple bodies, like this one. All four of the moons seen here were on the far side of the rings from the spacecraft when this image was taken; and about an hour later, all four had disappeared behind Saturn.
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Chandra proves black hole influence is far reaching
Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered evidence of energetic plumes - particles that extend 300,000 light years into a massive cluster of galaxies. The plumes are due to explosive venting from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole, and they provide dramatic new evidence of the influence a black hole can have over intergalactic distances.
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When worlds collide: Forces that produce new galaxies
When galaxies collide -- as our galaxy, the Milky Way, eventually will with the nearby Andromeda galaxy -- what happens to matter that gets spun off in the collision's wake? With help from the Spitzer Space Telescope, Cornell astronomers are beginning to piece together an answer to that question.
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Hubble paints giant mosaic of the Crab Nebula
A new Hubble Space Telescope image - among the largest ever produced with the Earth-orbiting observatory - gives the most detailed view so far of the entire Crab Nebula. The Crab is arguably the single most interesting object, as well as one of the most studied, in all of astronomy.
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Astronomers examine the evolution of a supernova
Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have witnessed a cosmic rite of passage, the transition from a supernova to a supernova remnant, a process that has never seen in much detail until now, leaving it poorly defined.
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SOHO's ten-year triumph in unmasking the Sun
Thanks to one of the most productive spacecraft ever built, scientists are far better acquainted with the star that lights our world and gives us life. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was launched into space atop an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral on December 2, 1995. The tenth anniversary of SOHO's launch is a time for celebration for the ones who conceived, created and still operate this unprecedented solar spacecraft - and who have rescued it from oblivion three times.
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Probe finds evidence for large aquifers on early Mars
Substantial quantities of liquid water must have been stably present in the early history of Mars. The findings of the mapping spectrometer on the European Mars Express orbiter have implications on the climatic history of the planet and the question of its "habitability" at some point in its history.
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First Galileo satellite travels to launch site -- GIOVE A, the first Galileo satellite, departed from ESA's test facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands, bound for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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Read our earlier news archive page.
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The space shuttle program was grounded for 32 months in the painful wake of the 1986 Challenger accident. Americans finally returned to space in September 1988 when shuttle Discovery safely launched for its mission to deploy a NASA communications satellite. Enjoy this post-flight presentation narrated by the astronauts as they show movies and tell the story of the STS-26 mission.
Imagine a space shuttle mission in which the astronaut crew launched two commercial and one military communications spacecraft, then conducted a pair of incredible spacewalks to recover, fix and redeploy a satellite that malfunctioned just four months earlier. The rescue mission was a success, starting with an astronaut making a catch of the spinning satellite with just his gloved-hand. Enjoy this post-flight presentation narrated by the astronauts as they tell the story of shuttle Discovery's August 1985 mission known as STS-51I.
In our continuing look back at the classic days of the space shuttle program, today we show the STS-41D post-flight presentation by the mission's astronauts. The crew narrates this film of home movies and mission highlights from space shuttle Discovery's maiden voyage in August 1984. STS-41D deployed a remarkable three communications satellites -- a new record high -- from Discovery's payload bay, extended and tested a 100-foot solar array wing and even knocked free an icicle from the shuttle's side using the robot arm.
As the title aptly describes, this movie straps you aboard the flight deck for the thunderous liftoff, the re-entry and safe landing of a space shuttle mission. The movie features the rarely heard intercom communications between the crewmembers, including pilot Jim Halsell assisting commander Bob Cabana during the landing.
On Christmas Eve in 1968, a live television broadcast from Apollo 8 offered this message of hope to the people of Earth. The famous transmission occurred as the astronauts orbited the Moon.
The International Space Station receives its 20th Russian Progress cargo ship, bringing the outpost's two-man Expedition 12 crew a delivery of fresh food, clothes, equipment and special holiday gifts just in time for Christmas.
This movie features highlights of the December 23 rendezvous between the Russian Progress 20P vessel and the International Space Station. The footage comes from a camera mounted on the supply ship's nose.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft encountered Comet Wild 2 two years ago, gathering samples of cometary dust for return to Earth. In this Dec. 21 news conference, mission officials and scientists detail the probe's homecoming and planned landing in Utah scheduled for January 15, 2006.
The first robotic space mission to visit the distant planet Pluto and frozen objects in the Kuiper Belt is explained by the project's managers and scientists in this NASA news conference from the agency's Washington headquarters on Dec. 19.
Scientists marvel at the achievements made by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in this produced movie looking at the crown jewel observatory that has served as our window on the universe.
Mercury astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, when he is launched aboard Friendship 7.
International Space Station commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev mark the Thanksgiving holiday in orbit during this downlinked message.
Expedition 12 Soyuz commander Valery Tokarev and station commander Bill McArthur temporarily leave the International Space Station. They undocked their Soyuz capsule from the Pirs module and then redocked the craft to the nearby Zarya module. The move clears Pirs for use as the airlock for an upcoming Russian-based spacewalk.
Check out NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft undergoing thermal blanket installation inside the cleanroom at Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility in preparation for launch in January from the Cape.
A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals billowing mountains of dust ablaze with the fires of stellar youth. The majestic infrared view from Spitzer resembles the iconic "Pillars of Creation" picture taken of the Eagle Nebula in visible light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
This week marks the anniversary of arguably the most daring and complex space shuttle mission. The astronauts successfully launched two satellites and then recovered two others during extraordinary spacewalks by astronauts using jet-propelled backpacks and pure muscle power.
Commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev conduct a 5 1/2-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station, installing a TV camera, doing repair chores and jettisoning a failed science probe.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin goes before the U.S. House of Representative's Science Committee to provide an update on the moon-Mars exploration program, the future of the space shuttle and space station, possible servicing of Hubble, cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope and the agency's aeronautics research.
The Pluto New Horizons spacecraft, destined to become the first robotic probe to visit Pluto and its moon Charon, arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in advance of its January blastoff.
NASA astronauts Bill McArthur and John Phillips chat with Associated Press space reporter Marcia Dunn about life aboard the International Space Station in this live space-to-Earth interview from the Destiny laboratory module on October 5.
In preparation for the West Coast launch of Boeing's next-generation Delta 4 rocket, the two-stage vehicle is rolled out of its horizontal hangar and driven to the Space Launch Complex-6 pad for erection. The nose cone for the NRO payload is then brought to the pad.
Boeing's Delta 4 rocket pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base was renovated in recent years, transforming Space Launch Complex-6 from the West Coast space shuttle launch site into a facility for the next-generation unmanned booster. This collection of footage shows the 1985 launch pad test using NASA's orbiter Enterprise.
The Expedition 11 and Expedition 12 crews, along with space tourist Greg Olsen, hold a live news conference with American and Russian reporters on October 4. (26min 36sec file)
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft safely launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome Friday night with the International Space Station's twelfth resident crew and a paying tourist aboard.
The seven astronauts of space shuttle Discovery's return to flight mission recently gathered for a public celebration of their mission. They narrated an entertaining movie of highlights and personal footage taken during the mission.
The Boeing Delta 2 rocket roars off Cape Canaveral's launch pad 17A carrying the first modernized Global Positioning System satellite for the U.S. Air Force.
NASA unveils the agency's blueprint for building the future spacecraft and launch vehicles needed for mankind's return to the lunar surface in the next decade.