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The Apollo Program aspires to return humans to the moon—and to build humanity's first permanent habitat on its surface. The project involves complex construction plans, including creating roads from moon dust, baking bricks to build habitats, and more.
Twelve Central Illinois residents are asked to share their thoughts on where they were when the first people landed on the Moon. This almost one-hour program is a collaboration of Eastern Illinois University's Booth Library, the EIU Department of History, and WEIU, and it premiered at EIU's Booth Library, January 24, 2019.
Watch, listen to, and relive the excitement of the Apollo 11 lunar landing through this interactive project as experienced minute-by-minute by the courageous crew of Apollo 11 and Mission Control. Hear the give and take and exchange of information between the astronauts and earthbound specialists who sent them to the moon and brought them back home.
Moon phases are caused by the sun's light illuminating different portions of the moon's surface. The moon has a day side and a night side, which change as it rotates. The phases—from new moon to waning crescent—occur as the moon travels through its orbit, with each phase revealing a different amount of the illuminated side. The moon's orbit and Earth's tilt contribute to additional motions and phenomena, such as libration and earthshine. Additionally, the moon can be visible during the day, particularly during the first and last quarter phases. This illustrated article accessibly explains this basic celestial phenomena.
And why is the next cohort headed there? The geological conditions in Flagstaff, Arizona, can easily echo those of the moon, making the area a prime spot to train astronauts. This article explains how scientists crafted these training grounds and why astronomers are drawn to the nearly century-old city.
NASA's Artemis mission—the first to return humans since 1972—aims to explore the moon's water-rich south pole. Finding water is a crucial goal of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent, sustainable human habitat on the moon. NASA also hopes to create a refueling station by using water as a rocket propellant as well as nuclear reactors and solar farms to sustain astronauts. Obviously, significant challenges remain. This article captures the current status of plans to build a lunar base.
Photos taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile in March 2025 captured a blood moon and the Milky Way galaxy within the same field of view. The moon appears red from the bluer parts of its reflected sunlight being scattered by Earth's atmosphere.
On the night of July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped down the lunar module's ladder onto the moon's surface. The broadcast was watched by an estimated 650 million people—about a fifth of the then global population.
The strategy, which runs until 2050, focuses on advancing space science, fostering technological innovation, and exploring habitable planets and extraterrestrial life, beginning with landing astronauts on the moon before 2030.
When planning to land on the moon, knowing the topography matters. This map of the lunar surface was created by using 6 billion measurements from NASA's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, a type of lidar. Check out the technically accurate depths of craters and ancient oceans on our beloved lunar neighbor with this fun, impressive map.
Large mantle structures beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean may be the buried remains of Thea, a large Mars-sized planet that collided with Earth. The theory is supported by isotopic evidence from volcanic and lunar rocks.
