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• Andrew Parsonson
European Space Agency member states are scheduled to meet in Rome on Dec. 15 to decide the future of Europe’s human and robotic exploration program. The decision will set the direction for the agency’s exploration agenda as Europe looks beyond the International Space Station.
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European Space Agency member states are scheduled to meet in Rome on Dec. 15 to decide the future of Europe’s human and robotic exploration program. The decision will set the direction for the agency’s exploration agenda as Europe looks beyond the International Space Station.
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At the Seventh Manned Space Symposium in Beijing, China outlined a lunar mission architecture built around two rocket launches, an orbital rendezvous and three spacecraft systems now entering major tests. Hardware for an initial launch-vehicle and spacecraft flight test has reportedly arrived at Wenchang; the plan does not include an Apollo 8- or Artemis II-style mission.
The International Space Station welcomed its first long-term residents on Nov. 2, 2000, when Expedition 1 arrived. The milestone marked the start of the station’s crewed long-duration presence in orbit.
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Four volunteers emerged from a 160-square-meter habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after 378 days simulating life on Mars. The experiment was designed to help prepare for future long-duration crewed missions, with the participants living in isolation in a windowless environment.
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China will conduct a standalone mission of its Lanyue lunar lander, followed by a full-scale uncrewed landing rehearsal, before attempting to put astronauts on the moon before 2030. The test campaign lays out key steps toward the country’s crewed lunar landing goal.
NASA plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028, which would be the first crewed landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. The summary provides no mission, vehicle or schedule details beyond that target year.
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NASA is seeking ideas for commercial missions to reboost or service the Hubble Space Telescope, reviving an effort more than two years after it rejected similar concepts. The agency’s renewed solicitation puts private providers back in consideration for extending the observatory’s operational life.
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