apollo 11
Latest
Scientists grow plants in soil from the Moon for the first time
The University of Florida researchers only had 12 grams of 'lunar regolith' to work with.
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies at 90
Collins flew Apollo 11's command module around the Moon as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin visited the surface.
Recommended Reading: The race back to the Moon
Dueling superpowers, rival billionaires. Inside the new race to the Moon Jeffrey Kluger, Time SpaceX, Blue Origin and others are in a heated battle to help NASA return the US to the Moon. Time takes an in-depth look at the new space race and the key players fighting for a piece of the prize.
Did Frankenstein go to the Moon?
There's a mystery at the heart of the first Moon landing. And no, it's not whether the whole thing was staged. Instead, historians are wondering whether a small company in Manchester helped NASA design its iconic Apollo 11 spacesuit.
What to watch to celebrate Apollo 11's 50th anniversary
What better way to celebrate the Moon landing than to gather your family around the couch and relive the experience? Even if you weren't lucky enough to see Neil Armstrong plant his feet on the Moon fifty years ago, there are plenty of films and shows that'll let you recapture the magic of that moment. And if you're not eager to honor the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's momentous mission (you monster), it's still worth reminding yourself of what NASA, and mankind writ large, can do under pressure. The planet might be in the midst of a political and environmental meltdown today, but we managed to walk on the Moon once, damnit. It's all a reminder there may be hope for us yet.
NVIDIA revamps Moon landing recreation in time for Apollo 11's 50th
You knew NVIDIA couldn't resist reviving its GPU-based Apollo 11 recreation for the Moon landing's 50th anniversary. Sure enough, the tech firm has updated the demo to take advantage of its RTX ray tracing technology, allowing a more faithful rendition of the moment Buzz Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong to the lunar surface. The biggest improvement, as you might suspect, is the lighting. Real-time raytracing captures how the Sun's rays bounced off the lunar lander and even the spacesuits -- the glowing highlights and varied shadows are closer to what you saw in the TV footage and photos than the slightly dulled look of the 2014 demo.
Time says its AR depiction of Apollo 11 is the 'most accurate' yet
Time is joining Google in marking Apollo 11's 50th anniversary using augmented reality, although this one is decidedly different -- and may be particularly valuable if you're a history buff. The magazine has introduced a Landing on the Moon AR experience in the Time Immersive app for iOS (coming shortly for Android astronauts; the experience is also available in Engadget sister company Yahoo News's app) that lets you relive the landing (complete with audio), explore the lunar surface and even stand next to Neil Armstrong while he plants the flag.
The latest Google Doodle celebrates the Apollo 11 anniversary
Google wouldn't let the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing go by without a Google Doodle. The company released its commemorative video Doodle today. The nearly five-minute animated clip follows Apollo 11 from launch, to the Moon and back, and it's narrated by someone with firsthand knowledge of the mission: Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins.
Apple's latest 'For All Mankind' trailer explains the show's origins
Apple knows the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 is right around the corner, and it's using that as an opportunity to offer a new trailer sharing more about the origins of its alternate history Apple TV+ show For All Mankind. Co-creator Ron Moore, executive producer Maril Davis and advisor Michael Okuda note that they wanted to tap into the "optimistic future" the Apollo program (and the space race at large) promised. It's about tapping into that desire for humanity to "take its place in the universe," and celebrating an era when astronauts held an almost mythic status.
Google recreates Apollo 11's command module with AR
The 50th anniversary of our first successful trip to the moon is fast approaching. And Google, which rarely shies away from marking a significant moment in history, has laid out some of the ways in which it'll celebrate the half-century since Apollo 11 reached the lunar surface.
NASA reopens Apollo mission control in time for Moon landing anniversary
The fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing is rapidly approaching, and NASA is determined to mark it in a fitting way: by restoring the hub of Apollo's operations to its former glory. The agency has reopened Apollo mission control at the Johnson Space Center after a restoration that makes it look like it did in 1969. There's functioning electronics, familiar furniture and other attentions to detail. The New York Times noted that there are even period-appropriate soft drink cans and cigarettes.
Lego is releasing an Apollo 11 Lunar Lander set for its 50th anniversary
The 50th anniversary of the human race's first trip to the moon is fast approaching, and Lego is marking the milestone with a NASA Apollo 11 lunar lander set. It'll be available June 1st for $100.
NASA wants your memories of the Apollo 11 Moon landing
Were you fortunate enough to watch the Apollo 11 Moon landing as it happened, or know someone who did? NASA wants to hear from you. It recently launched a story program that asks the public to submit audio recordings of their Apollo 11 memories in a bid to create an oral history of the event in sync with its 50th anniversary. All you have to do is record a story or interview (shorter ones are preferred, email it and details to a special address (apollostories@mail.nasa.gov) and check your inbox in case NASA wants a follow-up. There are suggested questions if you're not sure what to ask.
Daily Roundup: Google's robotic dog, one-way trips to Mars and more!
In today's Daily Roundup, we marvel over the impressive stabilization abilities of the latest robot from Google-owned Boston Dynamics, get all the details on why people want to go on a one-way trip to Mars and review BlackBerry's latest phone, straight out of 2011. All that and more past the break.
Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82
It's a story that we hoped we'd never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth's Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself -- along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It's still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth's atmosphere, he's still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We'll miss him. [Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]
Amazon's Bezos finds Apollo 11 rocket engines in ocean, contemplates shipping options
Ya' know, there's nothing like a little rocket engine hunting to save oneself from the doldrums of generating billions of dollars in revenue in the private sector. At least that appears to be the case for Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who spearheaded an ocean expedition to find the F-1 engines used in the Apollo 11 mission. Forget newer stuff like the GENIE, Vega and Slytherin's SuperDraco -- the classic F-1 is still the rocket engine that ignites Bezos' proverbial liquid fuel. Having found his prize resting 14,000 feet below the surface via deep sea sonar, Bezos' team is now trying to recover at least one of the engines. Bezos says NASA still retains ownership of the F-1s but he's hoping the agency will allow one of them to be displayed at the Museum of Flight in Amazon's home turf of Seattle if both are successfully retrieved. No word on whether the rocket engines will be delivered via Super Saver Shipping.
Apollo 11 moon mission to be recreated on the web
While the shuttle Endeavour is having a tough time getting off of the launch pad, the Apollo 11 moon mission should proceed as scheduled later this week. Some 40 years after Neil Armstrong and a host of behind-the-scenes workers at NASA made JFK's vision a reality, WeChooseTheMoon.org is being launched to recreate the whole spectacle. Starting a full 90 minutes prior to the 40th anniversary (that's 8:02AM on July 16th), the site will be fully operational, tracking the capsule's route from Earth to the moon. Reportedly, visitors will be able to peek "animated recreations of key events from the four-day mission, including when Apollo 11 first orbits the moon and when the lunar module separates from the command module." If you're one of those who remembers "exactly where you were on that fateful day," you should probably queue up a Google alert and bookmark your browser to relive the whole experience again.
Second Life takes you to the moon (almost)
Tucked away on one side of the Space Frontier Sandbox in Second Life is a reproduction Saturn V , apparently to scale, at rest on the launch-pad and serviced by the customary gantry. The individual pieces are made by different Second Life users, but the combined work is that of one Wicked Quasimodo, who has turned it into a very authentic-seeming launch, flight and (eventually) moon-landing simulation. A HUD object provided on the launch pad provides all the NASA ambience that you'd expect from a detailed simulation. While still a work-in-progress, and with a few little glitches, it remains a very atmospheric experience.
