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Honoring the Legacy of Jim Lovell Commander of Apollo 13 and Spaceflight Pioneer

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NASA

Honoring the Legacy of Jim Lovell Commander of Apollo 13 and Spaceflight Pioneer

Space Center Houston joins the space exploration community in mourning the loss and celebrating the extraordinary life of former astronaut Captain Jim Lovell, who passed away at age 97. Lovell’s contributions to the U.S. space program are monumental. Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1962, he served on four pivotal space missions and played a key role in shaping the future of human spaceflight. He was a backup pilot for Gemini 4, a backup commander for Gemini 9, and a backup commander to Neil Armstrong for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. On December 4, 1965, Lovell and Frank Borman launched aboard Gemini 7, completing a 330-hour mission that included the first successful rendezvous of two manned, maneuverable spacecraft in orbit, a milestone that helped make future Moo...

Bad weather for Falcon 9 booster recovery prevents launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceX

Bad weather for Falcon 9 booster recovery prevents launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites – Spaceflight Now

Poor weather in the booster recovery zone caused a scrub of the KF-02 mission, preventing the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a fourth time in as many days. Image: SpaceX via livestream Update Aug. 10, 9:30 a.m. EDT: Poor weather in the booster recovery zone scrubs KF-02 launch; now targeting Monday, Aug. 11. For a fourth time in as many days, SpaceX was unable to launch 24 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet service from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Technical issues with the Falcon 9 rocket prevented launches on Thursday and Friday and poor weather stymied launch attempts on Saturday and Sunday. “Just want to make everyone aware that we have no-go conditions on recovery weather,” the SpaceX launch director said about 1.5 minutes ahead of the planned liftoff. “W...

Canada Pledges $15 Million for Climate Adaptation in Hindu Kush Himalayan Region – State of the Planet

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Science

Canada Pledges $15 Million for Climate Adaptation in Hindu Kush Himalayan Region – State of the Planet

Early this year, Canada pledged CA$15 million toward climate adaptation projects in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It has teamed up with the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Nepal-based NGO. This contribution is a clear instance of climate adaptation finance—that is, funding toward projects that will help reduce vulnerability to climate change. The project, which will run over five years, is composed of three parts that will address separate but related issues: (1) water scarcity, (2) the resiliency of women and Indigenous communities and (3) the upscaling and spread of similar adaptation projects globally. The Himalayas in Nepal, part of the region where ICIMOD operates. Credit: “Nepal Himalayan Adventure 2012” by Frontierofficial, CC BY 2.0 The Hi...

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Astronomy

August Night Sky 2025 – Astronotes

Can you believe we are in August already? Let’s hope for another sunny heatwave and some clear skies for stargazing. Read below to know what to look out for this month! Sturgeon Moon Mark your calendars! The next full Moon will grace the skies on 9th August at 8:55am (UK time). This month’s Moon is traditionally known as the Sturgeon Moon, a name rooted from North American tradition. It has also been known as the Swan Flight Moon, Red Moon and Grain Moon. The name comes from the giant lake sturgeon, a prehistoric-looking fish that once thrived in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. These freshwater giants were most easily caught in late summer and were a vital food source for Native American communities in the region. While once plentiful, sturgeon are now a much rarer sight due to overf...

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UFOs

AARO Deputy Director Misstates Facts

To Whom It May Concern, In two recent interviews, former All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) Deputy Director Timothy Phillips stated that AARO will address select reports of incidents involving UFOs and nuclear weapons in a forthcoming historical report. According to Phillips, AARO determined that a “cascading transformer failure” triggered by an “electrical storm”, and not UFO activity, led to the March 1967 shutdown of a 10-missile “flight” of nuclear-armed Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. Conversely, a 6 June 2025 Wall Street Journal story, citing AARO officials, states that an unannounced Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) test caused the shutdown. However, official u...