Space.com
• Robert Z. Pearlman
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed the International Space Station’s eighth and final roll-out solar array during a seven-hour spacewalk, completing an upgrade begun more than five years ago. The arrays are intended to sustain the orbiting laboratory’s power supply through its planned retirement in 2030.
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NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk installed the International Space Station’s eighth and final roll-out solar array during a seven-hour spacewalk, completing an upgrade begun more than five years ago. The arrays are intended to sustain the orbiting laboratory’s power supply through its planned retirement in 2030.
Victor Glover, an Artemis II astronaut, says traveling to the moon changed how he sees Earth, human connection and the wonder available closer to home. His reflections put the mission’s value in personal perspective, beyond the technical achievement of sending astronauts toward the moon.
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NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins made history as commander of her mission to the International Space Station. Her appointment brings renewed attention to diversity in astronaut leadership and to who gets represented in the next generation of human spaceflight.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk are scheduled to install the International Space Station’s final roll-out solar array during a spacewalk on Nov. 5. The Houston flight-control team approved the excursion, which will advance work to modernize the orbital laboratory’s power system.
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Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space program and chief designer of its lunar exploration program, unveiled an official statement on Nov. 3 detailing plans for a crewed Moon mission. The announcement puts China’s human lunar exploration objectives on the record, but the report provides no mission timeline or technical details.
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As Americans wrapped up voting, President Donald Trump called for “a permanent presence by American citizens” in outer space and urged its development. The remarks signal a political emphasis on sustained human activity beyond Earth, but the article provides no program details, timetable or funding commitments.
NASA Human Landing System engineers describe Artemis III test articles and docking operations intended to support future crewed lunar landings. Separately, University of Alabama in Huntsville students and researchers report three rocket-motor firings on a prototype landing pad designed to make lunar operations safer.
NASA’s Artemis IV mission could rely on SpaceX’s Starship as its lunar lander, but the vehicle’s scale and propellant needs make the mission architecture complex. The number of refueling launches required—and how they would be distributed between two separate orbits—remains unknown.
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