Bill Nelson

Photo: Win McNamee (Getty Images)Elon Musk is destroying Twitter and Twitter is destroying Elon Musk’s life and fortune. Now that the man himself has publicly agreed to switch horses midstream, who will be the next CEO of Twitter?“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday. “After that, I will just run the software and servers teams.” The confirmation came more than a day after the Tesla CEO ran a Twitter poll asking if users want him to step down. Of the…

Orion’s view of the Moon on December 5, the 20th day of the mission.Photo: NASANASA’s Artemis 1 mission concluded with Orion’s immaculate splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday. Seemingly a billion years—and most assuredly a few billion dollars—in the making, the mission ended far too quickly for space junkies like me. But in those short few weeks, it managed to nail all its primary objectives. Artemis 1 was strictly meant as a demonstration mission, a way for NASA to test its new SLS megarocket and Orion…

A view of NASA’s Orion spacecraft shortly after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, December 11, 2022. Photo: NASAA fully intact and toasty-hot Orion spacecraft came home on Sunday from its trip around the Moon, splashing down off the coast of Baja, California. The historic mission ended as it began, with a fiery trip through Earth’s atmosphere, and with NASA pulling off one daring accomplishment after another. Similar to the other phases of this impressive 25.5-day mission, the uncrewed capsule’s reentry,…

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he spoke to SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell and was told not to worry about owner Elon Musk’s politicization on Twitter.Photo: Joe Raedle (Getty Images)Billionaire Elon Musk owns SpaceX, one of the most important private partners the U.S. has for its ongoing space endeavors. Musk also owns Twitter, one of the world’s most important platforms for online discourse. Unfortunately, the world’s richest man is also becoming one of the world’s most polarizing figures thanks to the shitshow the blue…

Elon Musk ‘s acquisition of Twitter Inc. won’t be a distraction for SpaceX, NASA said it was told by a senior executive at the rocket company. Bill Nelson, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s administrator, said Sunday that he had asked SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell if the social-media platform Mr. Musk purchased for $44 billion would divert from the rocket company’s mission. “She assured me that it would not…

An illustration of the human lunar lander on the surface of the Moon.Illustration: Blue OriginBlue Origin is once again making a pitch to build a lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis program. The space company is partnering with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Astrobotic Technology, Honeybee Robotics, and Draper in hopes of building a second lander, Blue Origin announced on Tuesday.Earlier this year, NASA formally announced its intention to procurea second lunar lander for its Artemis program, so it comes as little surprise to learn…

Artist’s depiction of Orion during reentry.Image: NASAThe Artemis 1 mission is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the hard part is over. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft, currently on its way home from the Moon, must still survive a harrowing reentry through Earth’s atmosphere if it’s to perform a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NASA is hoping that a new technique, known as a skip reentry, will assist the capsule during the final leg of its long and historic journey.Orion is on course to arrive back at Earth…

Rescuers recovering debris, which the Philippine Space Agency said has markings of the Long March 5B Chinese rocket that was launched on July 24, after it was found in waters off Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro province, Philippines, on Aug. 2, 2022.Photo: Philippine Coast Guard (AP)According to Philippines military officials, China’s coast guard forcibly blocked a Philippine naval boat on Sunday as it was towing suspected rocket debris from the South China Sea to the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, the Associated Press…

Artist’s depiction of Orion traveling past the Moon, with an Earthrise in the background. Illustration: NASANASA’s Space Launch System blasted off on Wednesday, sending the uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a 25-day journey to the Moon and back. Orion should reach its destination early next week, at which time it’ll perform some intricate orbital acrobatics and set a number of spacefaring records in the process.We’re in day two of Artemis 1, and the mission appears to be going well. SLS lit up the Florida sky early Wednesday…

An illustration of SpaceX’s Starship human lander design.Illustration: SpaceXNASA recently added a new Moon landing to its Artemis plans and it needs a specialized human landing system to carry it out. To virtually no one’s surprise, NASA chose SpaceX to develop this second lunar lander. NASA awarded SpaceX a contract modification known as Option B, which calls for tweaks to the company’s initial Starship lunar lander, the space agency announced this week. The Option B contract is worth around $1.15 billion.“With…