What a difference a few years can make, and yet how annoying they can be at the same time.
This week, as NASA celebrates the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, we here at Space.com are marking a milestone: it’s our 25th birthday!
To celebrate, this week we’re bringing you a series of retrospective features to explore how the past 25 years have changed space exploration, astronomy, and more. And please Join us on July 17th for our virtual panel “The Next 25 Years of Space Exploration – To the Moon, Mars and Beyond,” where we discuss what awaits us all in space. We hope you enjoy it.
See more 25th anniversary features:
Check out our list of Space.com 25th Anniversary Week Featured Stories in our hub linked here!
A lot has certainly happened in space (and on Earth) over the past quarter century. In 1999, we had one type of reusable spacecraft – NASA’s Space Shuttle – and today we have more, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket (currently launched after a second stage failure last week, but they’ll likely be back), Blue Origin New Shepard, Virgin Galactic Space Shuttle Two and Boeing Starliner. In fact, Virgin Galactic has already flown its last SpaceShiptoUnit to make way for a new Delta class that can fly further into sub-orbital space starting around 2026 and soon the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser spacecraft.
And even since the 20th anniversary of 2019, there have been other improvements. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, once a boondoggle of delays and cost overruns that narrowly avoided cancellation, has not only been launched in 2021 but has grown, revealing a deeper look at the universe than ever before. (Did you see the latest penguin photo last week? Cute.) That same year, NASA landed a second nuclear vehicle on Mars — the Perseverance rover — which has assembled what may be the first Mars sample the agency will return to Earth (eventually) .
Here are 3 free NASA Apollo 11 anniversary posters (and Space.com, too!)
China also launched its own Tiangong Space Station in 2021 and built a second crew base in orbit after the International Space Station. There’s a bit of symmetry there for Space.com. When we first launched in 1999, there were also two space stations: the fledgling ISS with only two modules (Zaria and Unity); and Russia’s Mir Space Station, which was removed from orbit two years later in March 2001 . And as it was then, one of today’s two space stations is nearing the end of its life — the ISS is scheduled to go into orbit in the 2030s as NASA expects commercial space stations from Sierra Nevada, Vast and others.
But I really thought we’d be back on the moon by now.
Five years ago, NASA’s plan aimed to return astronauts to the moon by That’s now, and still. Now the agency’s Artemis program hopes to land its first astronaut at the moon’s South Pole, no earlier than 2026 at the latest, and that’s if the current schedule and funding holds up. Those delays were certainly frustrating and there is still uncertainty ahead because (and forgive me for being a little political for a minute) we in the US are in the midst of a presidential election that, depending on who wins, could potentially lead to a shift in national (and NASA) priorities ).
But despite the delays, it feels like returning to the moon is finally a matter of “when,” not “if,” which it has been for decades. NASA’s new big rocket, the Space Launch System, will finally send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the moon in 2022. And SpaceX’s private giant starship, chosen by NASA to actually land Artemis astronauts on the moon, has made four test flights and has more on the way.
I watched that first Starship test in April 2022. It was as impressive to see — the Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket — as it was explosive (yes, that one didn’t make it). There’s also more epic lore ahead, too. Even this year, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is heading to Jupiter to study the icy moon up close. (Fun fact: Space.com’s first story was about Europa’s buried icy ocean.)
So, I think there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming years. And there’s a lot to be thankful for, too.
I’ve had the pleasure of writing about space for Space.com for nearly 23 years, first as an intern and eventually as staff, and I thank my lucky stars that I get to share that cosmic adventure with you, dear readers . But I’m so thankful for you Space fans out there who come to Space.com everyday for something amazing. I hope we can continue to provide the space overhaul you are looking for for the next 25 years and beyond.
sincerely,
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief of Space.com
#amazing #years #Space.com #letter #editor