Heena Sharma Blog

  NASA has completed a crucial hot fire test of the core stage of Space Launch System (SLS) rocket which is designed to power future Moon missions under the agency's Artemis programme. The successful test is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back to Earth, paving the way for future Artemis missions with astronauts, NASA said on Thursday. The team will use data from the tests to validate the core stage design for flight. "The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and during today's test the core stage of the rocket generated more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust within seven seconds," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jerzy said in a statement. "The SLS is an incredible feat of engineering and the only rocket capable of powering America's next-generation missions that will place the first woman and the next man on the Moon....

  NASA has named the 18 astronauts half of them women who will train for its Artemis moon-landing programme. The first woman and next man on the moon will come from this elite group. Vice President Mike Pence introduced the astronauts on Wednesday at the close of his final meeting as chairman of the National Space Council. The announcement was made at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre, beneath one of only three remaining Saturn V moon rockets from the 1960s and 1970s Apollo programme. My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who will carry us back to the moon and beyond, the Artemis generation, Pence told the small crowd, seated several feet apart from one another. Five of the astronauts the only ones in attendance walked onto the stage, waving and wearing masks. Read More  

Even fifty years after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon, there are people who still insist that it never happened and that it was a hoax perpetrated by the US government. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Mission landed two men on the Moon. Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin piloted the lunar module, which detached from the spacecraft and landed on the Moon's surface. Their commander, Neil Armstrong, became the first man on the Moon. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 82. However, conspiracy theories that claimed that the moon landing was faked and that it was all a Hollywood-like cinematic production shot on Earth have been doing the rounds for decades. The Associated Press recently listed the most common claims and the counters to them: 1) Claim: In the photos from the Moon, the American flag looks like it's flapping in the wind. That would be impossible because there's no air up on the Moon. Fact: Instead of letting the American f...

The Moon has always served as an inspiration for humanity, and there are many potential benefits for further exploration of our planet’s rocky satellite . But we need to establish guidelines to prevent unethical behaviour on the Moon, particularly regarding the use of natural resources and off-planet labour. How humans should interact with space and celestial objects is central to the emerging field of space ethics. It’s something I’ve been involved with since 2015, when I taught my first class on consent for the use of celestial objects at Yale University’s Summer Bioethics Institute. As we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing , here are five things we need to reflect on regarding ethical considerations for various future uses of the Moon. 1) Human settlement on the Moon Some people believe establishing human settlements on the Moon – and other bodies – may help lessen the environmental burden of overpopulation on Earth. While the practical issu...

“ How about that package out of your sleeve? Get that?” is certainly not the most famous phrase uttered by a human while on the Moon. And the items nestled in a small packet that astronaut Buzz Aldrin had stowed in the pocket just below the shoulder of his extravehicular mobility unit were certainly not mission critical. They were sentimental objects, intended to be left on the Moon purely for symbolic and commemorative purposes. Apollo 15 astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin left a commemorative plaque on the Moon in memory of 14 NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts. The tiny, man-like object represents the figure of a fallen astronaut/cosmonaut. NASAMore than one hundred sites You may be surprised to learn that a partial catalog of human-made objects on the Moon fills more than 20 single-spaced pages. There are more than a hundred sites on the Moon with evidence of human activity. The sites contain materials from the European Space Agency, Japan, India, Russia, China...