ORION IS ABOUT TO BUZZ THE MOON: NASA's Orion spacecraft is about to fly by the Moon only 79 km above the lunar surface. The slingshot maneuver on Monday, Dec. 5th, will propel the spacecraft toward a hot return to Earth on Dec. 11th. Live coverage begins Monday at 9 am EST on NASA TV.
SOLAR ACTIVITY ON THE EASTERN LIMB: New sunspot AR3157 doesn't look like much, but it is very active, almost constantly hurling plumes of plasma into space. This interest-compressed movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows 12 hours of action on Dec. 3rd:
Magnetically, sunspot AR3157 is connected to nearby sunspot AR3156. If one goes off, it could trigger an explosion in the other, boosting the odds of a significant flare. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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TAIKONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH: Three Chinese astronauts ("taikonauts") returned to Earth on Sunday, Dec 4th, following a six-month mission on China's newly-completed Tiangong space station. Amateur astronomer Gao Xing photographed the fiery reentry of their capsule from Nanshan Mountain in Xinjiang, China:
"I made a video which captured both the Chinese Space Station and the Shenzhou-14 return capsule," says Xing. "The capsule carrying astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xu Zhe had already separated from the Service Module. The said Service Module can be seen trailing behind and already broken into thousands of pieces stretched over a distance of several hundred of kilometers."
Not long after Xing took this picture, the capsule landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous region. Staff from the Chinese space agency declared the entire mission, which began on June 5th, a "complete success", according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
The mission was indeed significant. The three astronauts oversaw the final assembly of Tiangong, and they handed control of the space station to a new crew of 3 who arrived Nov. 29th onboard Shenzhou-15. This event therefore marks the beginning of China's permanent habitation of Earth orbit.
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GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.
These unique gifts have floated above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out. Don't forget to enter coupon code "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% holiday discount.
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All sales support hands-on STEM education
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