Meteorite impacts identified as driver of moon’s tenuous atmosphere
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON Reuters) - The NASA astronauts who became the first people to land on the moon's surface in the 1960s and 1970s also discovered a previously unknown lunar characteristic - it has an atmosphere, though quite tenuous. Soil
China lands on moon’s far side in historic sample-retrieval mission
By Liz Lee, Joey Roulette and Joe Brock BEIJING (Reuters) - China landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Sunday, a landmark mission aiming to retrieve the world's first rock and soil samples from the dark
China set to launch high-stakes mission to moon’s ‘hidden’ side
By Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) - China will send a robotic spacecraft in coming days on a round trip to the moon's far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for
The first non-American astronaut on the Moon will be Japanese
Japanese astronaut: The United States is the only country to have taken its astronauts to the Moon. So far, twelve men have walked on lunar soil, but there will be big news in the coming years. The first will bear
White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon
By Joey Roulette and Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday directed NASA to establish a unified standard of time for the moon and other celestial bodies, as the United States aims to set international norms in space
Plans to ship human ashes, drink container to Moon spark legal debate
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An array of unconventional, privately funded plans to exploit the moon, including as a site for human ashes and sports-drink containers, has gathered steam in recent years as NASA pushes to make Earth's natural satellite
In moon race with China, U.S. setbacks test role of private firms
By Joey Roulette, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Ryan Woo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. setbacks this week in the race to the moon with China illustrate the risks of NASA's plans to bet on a new strategy of relying heavily on private
New Vulcan rocket sends privately-built Moon lander to space
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A robotic lander built by a private company was bound for the moon on Monday in an attempt to make the first U.S. lunar soft landing in more than half a century, after launching into
Rock collected by Apollo 17 astronaut in 1972 reveals moon’s age
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 - the last time people walked on the moon - U.S. astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan collected about 243 pounds (110.4 kg) of soil and rock samples