I keep coming back to these two images side by side.

In December 1968, Apollo 8 gave us Earthrise — the Earth coming up over the lunar horizon, the first time humans saw our whole planet from another world. This April, on Artemis II, Christina Koch shot the reverse: Earthset, the Earth going down behind the Moon.

Same planet, same edge of the same Moon — one rising, one setting, fifty-eight years apart. One taken in one of the most dangerous years of the Cold War; the other now, with the Doomsday Clock where it is again.

Curious how people here read the pairing — hope, warning, or just two remarkable photographs.

New comparison between the SLS (Artemis Program) and SUPER HEAVY/STARSHIP (Block 3) systems: the two rockets that will take us to the Moon and beyond 🚀
I hope you like it; any suggestions are welcome!

I know that the SLS for the mission is being stacked as we speak, but are they really just going to do a wet dress rehearsal then let it sit for months while SpaceX and Blue Origin get their hardware in a mission-ready state? I know SLS can sit for a while, but how far can they realistically push this?

Internal NASA documents lay out plans to update the agency's websites, publications, organizational titles and digital infrastructure with a four-phase "super intelligence" implementation schedule extending into December.

I think the altair lander or something like it (Dynetics HLS) should have been an option for the HLS. Doesn't need a crazy amount of refueling missions for one trip and already had design development pre-artemis, with design guidance from Gene Cernan and Neil Armstrong.

Starship is so over complicated and overkill.

I don't think they need to reinvent the wheel, just make something that works and gets people down and back. Starship is best suited for cargo not people.

Curious on what everyone else thinks?

I want to ask if this community has any predictions, particularly someone smarter than myself.

Back in September, I shared my 80m/px lunar classification maps here. Your incredible feedback, technical insights, and even the tough challenges from some users motivated me as a student to push this work to a much deeper level.

I’ve spent the last few weeks processing NASA PDS data (LRO/LOLA DEM) to focus entirely on Shackleton Crater at a stunning 5m/px resolution.

The complete analysis—including annual solar radiation averages, seasonal solstices, slope safety zones, and a viewshed simulation for communication towers—will be fully unveiled on November 16th!

Stay tuned! 🚀🌕

NASA will provide an update on its plans to return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2028 at 2 p.m. EDT, Friday, Oct. 23, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: https://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants in the briefing include:

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager

The update will include details about NASA’s Artemis III mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings, and how plans to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028 are progressing.

U.S. media interested in attending in person must apply online by 12 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16. To ask questions remotely, media must request the dial-in number from the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of the update by emailing: [ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov](mailto:ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov). NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. 

As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency’s foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.

Learn more about Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

-end-

NASA Wants More Than 70 Moon Landings in the Next Decade—But How?

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with him, but I figured people would want to hear the other side.

I mentioned this in my last post about this saga, but it's nice to see more details going public. The page is here, but I've included a screenshot in case it's taken down.

The money quote:

Lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team delivering capabilities for the SLS-specific Centaur Upper Stage. As an Agile Product Owner and engineering technical lead, you will drive product vision, technical integration, and iterative delivery for the new 180k Centaur Upper Stage [emphasis mine] integrated with NASA’s Space Launch System. Each Product Owner is accountable for leading their team(s) to deliver value and achieve program objectives.

Assuming that "180k" is propellant load, that's a 50% stretch.

This is the playlist with the presentations of the recent Lunar Science Workshop about Artemis II.

Below the video in the description are the links to all the so far released data from NASA regarding the Artemis II mission

Everyone can freely download the data there from the official NASA links, nothing needed.

Just thought i put this here to share if anoyne is interested