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: Thirteen years after NASA's Mars rover Opportunity surpassed the Apollo 17 lunar roving vehicle and 12 years after it rolled by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2, the solar system has a new record holder for the distance driven on another world. Perseverance roved past Opportunity's 28.10 miles (45.22 km) on Sunday (Oct. 11). Still the most recent rover to arrive on the Red Planet, the key to Perseverance's quick pace is its self-driving system.
: After succumbing to a harsh winter, what remains of one of the Artemis Moon Trees is for sale. Trunk cross sections and fragments, as well as branches and needles are available as displays from Mini Museum. The $29 to $199 presentations preserve the wood from a young giant sequoia that was grown from one of the hundreds of seeds flown to the moon aboard NASA's Artemis I uncrewed mission, November to December 2022.
: As the United States Mint winds down its semiquincentennial program, director Paul Hollis used social media to point out another reason that the dual-dated 1776-2026 nickel, dime, quarters and half dollar share an additional distinction. Earlier this year, one of each spent 30 days on the International Space Station. The eight pieces are now among just the pocketful of U.S. coins flown in space, following a NASA restriction in 1972.
: He led the room when astronauts first departed for the moon, helped bring a crippled spacecraft back to Earth and devised new procedures for ops on a space station. NASA Apollo and Skylab flight director Milt Windler died on Thursday (Oct. 1) at 94. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his part in saving Apollo 13, Maroon Flight also worked Mercury and Gemini recoveries and later helped develop the Canadarm.
: The American Space Museum's next space memorabilia sale includes two separately consigned lots that when matched together form one potentially highly-valued artifact. The "coverall" jacket and pants that were made for Neil Armstrong to train in or be held as a spare are identical to those worn by the Apollo 11 commander during the moon landing mission. The set has been estimated to bring in as much as $1.275 million.
: For the four months spanning November 2025 and February of this year, a refrigerator-size satellite thought it was a commercial space station. Vast's Haven Demo mission served as a testbed for the technologies and systems needed for its inaugural Haven-1 module. Now that the demo is over, the company is selling segments cut from leftover structural panels that have been embedded in acrylic as limited edition displays.
: SpaceX's Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station set a Dragon rendezvous record by docking to the orbiting outpost in under eight hours after its launch. The quick arrival was mostly thanks to orbital mechanics, but a little bit of luck may have chipped in, too. "Lucky," a crocheted golden dragon that served as both the astronauts' zero-gravity indicator and an homage to Apollo 13, helped in keeping any triskaidekaphobia to a minimum.
: Among Wernher von Braun's lasting legacies are NASA's Saturn V rocket, the National Space Society, U.S. Space Camp and... Walt Disney's first character created specifically for television. Along with physicist Heinz Haber and science writer Willy Ley, the German rocket scientist inspired the styling of renowned expert and worldwide authority Ludwig von Drake. For 65 years, von Drake has helped explain the world around us.
: Now three months back from a secret trip to the International Space Station, Astronaut Pikachu was out at ESA's (European Space Agency) Headquarters in Paris on Saturday (Sep. 19) to launch a new Pokémon collaboration. Timed to overlap with World Space Week in October, a new traveling exhibition, Pokémon GO activation and merch drop feature the characters to engage and inform the public about ESA's efforts to explore space.
: Whether it "kicked off" or "launched" NASA's NFL Inspiration Tour is a matter of perspective, but the flyover of Acrisure Stadium on Sunday (Sep. 13) was the first time the agency deployed its astronaut training jets for an aerial demonstration over a football game. The T-38 supersonic aircraft flew above the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons, while a moon rock and other NASA exhibits were on display for fans to see.
: There is an irony to how NASA's first space shuttle got its name. It is not, as some suggest, that the efforts by Star Trek fans only resulted in christening an orbiter that did not launch into space. To the contrary, it has ensured OV-101 "Enterprise" will forever go places — in the Star Trek universe. Fifty years after rolling out, here is a look at where Enterprise has landed on board the USS Enterprise and on other ships across the decades.
: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover are hanging up their spacesuits but not their access badges. The Artemis II commander and pilot have become the agency's first crew members to join its emeritus program, continuing to help in training and advising future Artemis crews, while also being eligible to pursue work opportunities outside of NASA. Wiseman and Glover made the move as their Artemis II post-flight ended.
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