Science - Thursday, May 21, 2026

The giant rocket was scheduled to lift off on Thursday after a seven-month pause. SpaceX could try again as soon as Friday.

Media are invited to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Wednesday, June 17, to view Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket, carrying a Katalyst robotic spacecraft that will attempt to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft, called LINK, will launch on Pegasus in June to rendezvous with Swift […]

The United States participated in an Artemis Accords workshop in Lima, Peru, last week, following a new wave of nations committing to safe and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Leading up to the event, six countries, including Latvia, Jordan, Morocco, Malta, Ireland, and Paraguay, joined the growing coalition of Artemis Accords signatories […]

The Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly hasn’t been seen in the wild since 2022. The caterpillar was the last individual in human care.

Organizations interested in launching CubeSats on future Artemis missions should respond to NASA’s request for information (RFI) by Monday, June 1, for initial consideration. “The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and the Artemis missions provide great opportunities for teams to conduct important, science and technology investigations that contribute to the expansion of human space exploration,” said […]

Eating too much junk food early in life may rewire the brain in ways that last into adulthood, even after switching to a healthier diet. Scientists found that high-fat, high-sugar diets changed feeding behavior and disrupted appetite-control regions in the brain. Excitingly, certain gut-friendly bacteria and prebiotic fibers appeared to help undo some of the damage.

When people disappeared from the landscape, as they did during the pandemic, wild animals changed how they used space and resources, scientists found.

On May 21, ground controllers powered down NASA’s AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) instrument, bringing the data collection phase of the mission to a successful and scheduled end, surpassing its planned two-year mission. Installed on the exterior of the International Space Station since November 2023, AWE studied atmospheric gravity waves, which are giant ripples in the […]

NASA’s historic Artemis II mission coverage, which connected global audiences to watch the first humans to travel around the Moon in more than half a century, is among the agency’s video productions recognized with four 2026 Telly Awards. “President Trump’s leadership in establishing the Artemis program reignited America’s bold vision for space exploration and set […]

The biggest episodes of the past have altered the course of human events, according to researchers. An emerging one is drawing historic comparisons.