Earth's Moon

This view of the Earth’s crest over the lunar horizon was taken on July 29, 1971, during the Apollo 15 lunar landing mission. Astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden, and James Irwin launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Saturn V launch vehicle. Designed to explore the Moon over longer periods, greater ranges, and […]

Posted August 13, 2024

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover)

NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover

As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover.

Posted August 10, 2024

Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program

Centennial Challenges

Centennial Challenges News

Earth's Moon

Mars

Marshall Space Flight Center

Prizes, Challenges & Crowdsourcing News

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA Invites Media, Public to Attend Deep Space Food Challenge Finale

NASA invites the media and public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16. In 2019, NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) started the Deep Space Food […]

Posted August 2, 2024

Earth's Moon

Ranger 7

Ranger 7 Snaps the Moon

On July 31, 1964, the Ranger 7 spacecraft took this photo, the first image of the Moon taken by a United States spacecraft. 17 minutes later, it crashed into the Moon on the northern rim of the Sea of Clouds as intended. The 4,316 images sent back helped identify safe Moon landing sites for Apollo […]

Posted July 31, 2024

Artemis

Earth's Moon

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lunar Discovery & Exploration Program

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Planetary Science Division

Science Mission Directorate

The Solar System

NASA, JAXA Bounce Laser Beam Between Moon’s Surface and Lunar Orbit

NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) has twice transmitted a laser pulse to a cookie-sized retroreflector aboard JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) SLIM lander on the Moon and received a return signal.

Posted July 29, 2024

Gateway Space Station

Artemis

Earth's Moon

Gateway Program

Johnson Space Center

Earth to Gateway: Electric Field Tests Enhance Lunar Communication

Learn how engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center are using electric field testing to optimize communications for the Gateway space station that will support Artemis exploration of the Moon.

Posted July 29, 2024

Apollo 11

Buzz Aldrin

Earth's Moon

Explorers on the Moon: Apollo 11 Landing

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon in the lunar module “Eagle.” Afterward, Aldrin posed for this photo, taken by Armstrong, beside the United States flag. The Apollo 11 mission’s main goal was to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. The crew also conducted scientific […]

Posted July 19, 2024

Earth Science

Earth

Earth Science Division

Earth's Moon

GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment)

GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA-Funded Studies Explain How Climate Is Changing Earth’s Rotation

Researchers used more than 120 years of data to decipher how melting ice, dwindling groundwater, and rising seas are nudging the planet’s spin axis and lengthening days. Days on Earth are growing slightly longer, and that change is accelerating. The reason is connected to the same mechanisms that also have caused the planet’s axis to […]

Posted July 19, 2024