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• Jeff Foust
Nearly a year after launch, NASA’s two ESCAPADE smallsats have completed flybys of Earth and are now headed toward Mars. The milestone marks the spacecraft’s departure from Earth after the flybys, advancing the mission toward its destination.
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Nearly a year after launch, NASA’s two ESCAPADE smallsats have completed flybys of Earth and are now headed toward Mars. The milestone marks the spacecraft’s departure from Earth after the flybys, advancing the mission toward its destination.
Four volunteers completed NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) mission on Oct. 31, concluding a 378-day simulated Mars mission. The effort was led by US Air Force test pilot Ross Elder and focused on crew health and performance in an exploration-mission analog.
On Nov. 9, 1967, NASA launched a Saturn V rocket for the first time, sending the uncrewed Apollo 4 mission into space. The flight marked the debut of the launch vehicle that would carry astronauts on later Apollo missions.
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Studies using James Webb Space Telescope observations offer two possible clues to how black holes became massive in the early universe. Five ancient star clusters could have formed black holes up to 2,700 times the Sun’s mass, while another proposal suggests mysterious Little Red Dots may host primordial black holes dating to the Big Bang.
Researchers at Washington University studied how Martian dust interacts with spacesuit-material swatches carried by NASA’s Perseverance rover. The work highlights a planning challenge for future crewed missions: accounting for dust exposure and its effects on both astronauts and the materials they rely on.
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Blue Origin has shifted New Glenn’s planned return to flight from December 2026 to January 2027 while rebuilding Launch Complex 36 after a ground-testing accident. Separately, Boeing has moved NASA’s Artemis III core stage into Kennedy Space Center’s High Bay 3 for final stacking, integration and testing ahead of the mission’s planned 2027 launch.
NASA has opened applications for its next astronaut class as the agency prepares to return Americans to the moon, establish a long-term lunar presence and lay groundwork for crewed Mars missions. The announcement coincided with a $10 billion contract program intended to support future lunar cargo deliveries.
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