Author: MOST. JESMIN AKTER

The giant explosion of a Blue Origin rocket on Thursday evening is a major setback not only for Jeff Bezos’ space company but also for NASA, as it could delay efforts to land astronauts on the moon and begin construction of a base on the lunar surface.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The company must now reckon with the loss of one of its few New Glenn rockets, the destruction of its only operational launch pad for those rockets, and what could be months or years of investigation and delays before the…

NASA on Tuesday announced plans for three uncrewed missions to the moon later this year that will serve as early steps toward the goal of building a permanent base on the lunar surface.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.During these missions — all robotic flights — NASA aims to scout locations at the moon’s south pole, gather scientific data, test technologies and prepare for the return of its astronauts to the lunar surface.“We are not jumping right into the glass dome moon base,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Tuesday in a news…

An issue with a valve caused the contents of a chemical storage tank in Garden Grove, California, to overheat, prompting fears of a possible disaster that threatened to expose residents to toxic plumes and destroy buildings.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Since Thursday, Southern California officials — with help from state and federal agencies — have tried to avert what they feared could have become one of the worst chemical incidents in California history. The emergency also meant thousands of concerned residents in the city southeast of Los Angeles were ordered to…

While they are in the Arctic, the whales typically feed for four to six months, Stewart said. Then, for the next six to eight months, they largely fast. That means the Arctic feeding grounds are their most important source of food. Why food is less available in the region is complex, and scientists are still untangling it. What they know, according to Stewart, is that the system used to work like this: Algae would grow on the bottom of sea ice, then fall to the seafloor as the sea ice melted. The algae would dissolve and fertilize a productive seafloor,…

A man was arrested in Connecticut this week after officials in Virginia say new evidence links him to the murder and rape of a woman 40 years ago. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Roberta Walls was 22 years old when she was raped and murdered in Virginia Beach on May 15, 1986, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department. A preliminary investigation at the time showed she had been stabbed multiple times in addition to being sexually assaulted. Police have worked tirelessly over the years attempting to find the person responsible…

SpaceX is set to launch a new prototype of its Starship megarocket — the system NASA may use to land astronauts back to the moon — on a key test flight Thursday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The test will be the 12th such flight for Starship but the first launch of the new third-generation Starship, dubbed V3, which is bigger, more powerful and a step closer to being fully reusable.The rocket is scheduled to lift off from a new launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility on the southern tip of Texas during a…

After testing soil from about 1% of the homes burned down in the Eaton Fire, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said residents should feel assured that most properties cleared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers don’t have hazardous amounts of lead. At least one outside scientist is skeptical. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,400 homes and structures in the Altadena area in January 2025 and sent smoke containing lead, arsenic and asbestos into the air and to settle nearby. Lead is a potent neurotoxin associated with…

By the time the American surgeon who contracted Ebola in Congo was flown to Germany for treatment Tuesday, he was barely able to stand on his own, according to two leaders of the Christian missionary group where he worked.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Dr. Scott Myhre, the East and Central Africa area director for the group, called Serge, described the scene as Dr. Peter Stafford departed. “There were people in full — we call it PPE — the personal protective equipment, and they’re completely covered, and he’s hanging on them barely…

The Virtual Telescope Project, a website run by Italy’s Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory that broadcasts views from several telescopes, is streaming the flyby live online.Many asteroids smaller than this one frequently pass by the planet unnoticed, while some others streak through Earth’s atmosphere as bright fireballs in the sky.The famous Chelyabinsk meteor is the largest space rock known to have entered Earth’s atmosphere in recent history. It exploded in the atmosphere above Russia in 2013, raining fragments of rock over the Chelyabinsk district and causing broken windows and damage around the city and its surrounding areas. That explosion, caused by friction…

SpaceX plans to launch an updated version of its Starship megarocket — a new prototype of the system that NASA hopes will carry its astronauts to the moon in two years — on a critical test flight Tuesday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The stakes for Starship, and by extension for Elon Musk’s rocket company, have perhaps never been higher. SpaceX is developing Starship as part of NASA’s Artemis program and racing against its rival, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, to build a lunar lander for NASA to use in 2028, when it…