Fly me to the moon: Japanese billionaire Maezawa seeks girlfriend for SpaceX voyage

TOKYO - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's search for a girlfriend to join him on a voyage around the moon will be the subject of a new documentary program, in the latest attention-grabbing stunt by the entrepreneur.

44-year-old Maezawa, who sold his online fashion retailer Zozo Inc to SoftBank Group Corp, is seeking single females aged over 20 for the show, which will be shown on streaming service AbemaTV.

"As feelings of loneliness and emptiness slowly begin to surge upon me, there's one thing that I think about: continuing to love one woman," wrote Maezawa on a website for applicants.

"I want to find a 'life partner'. With that future partner of mine, I want to shout our love and world peace from outer space," continued Maezawa, who is due to fly around the moon in 2023 as the first private passenger with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Maezawa, who recently split up from actress girlfriend Ayame Goriki, 27, has said he plans to take artists on the flight to inspire works based on the experience, in a project he dubbed Dear Moon.

The documentary, titled "Full Moon Lovers", will stream on AbemaTV, which is backed by online ad agency CyberAgent and broadcaster TV Asahi and targets a younger audience that is turning away from traditional TV.

Applicants must "be interested in going into space and able to participate in the preparation for it" and "be someone who wishes for world peace", the website states.

Applications close on Jan. 17 and Maezawa will select his partner by the end of March.

The documentary is the latest high-profile move by the billionaire, who is also giving away $9 million to his Twitter followers to try and spark debate in Japan about the merits of the idea of basic income. 

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NASA satellite finds crashed Indian Moon lander

WASHINGTON - A NASA satellite orbiting the Moon has found India's Vikram lander which crashed on the lunar surface in September, the US space agency said Monday.

NASA released an image taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that showed the site of the spacecraft's impact (September 6 in India and September 7 in the US) and associated debris field, with parts scattered over almost two dozen locations spanning several kilometers.

In a statement, NASA said it released a mosaic image of the site on September 26, inviting the public to search it for signs of the lander.

It added that a person named Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with a positive identification of debris -- with the first piece found about 750 meters northwest of the main crash site.

Blasting off in July, emerging Asian giant India had hoped with its Chandrayaan-2 ("Moon Vehicle 2") mission to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and regional rival China to make a successful Moon landing, and the first on the lunar south pole.

The main spacecraft, which remains in orbit around the Moon, dropped the unmanned lander Vikram for a descent that would take five days, but the probe went silent just 2.1 kilometers above the surface.

Days after the failed landing, the Indian Space Research Organization said it had located the lander, but hadn't been able to establish communication.

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India joins space race

Students wave Indian national flags as the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2 (Moon Chariot 2), on board the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, launches for the Moon from Sriharikota in the state of Andhra Pradesh on Monday. India's efforts to put a craft on the surface of the Moon, only the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China, is part of its plan to become a leading space power. 

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One giant leap: 50 years ago, humanity's first steps on the Moon

HOUSTON -- "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind": it was with these words that Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon 50 years ago, an occasion celebrated by space enthusiasts globally Saturday.

The era-defining event was watched by more than half a billion people around the world, and represented one of humanity's greatest achievements.

In the US, its 50th anniversary has revived public enthusiasm for crewed space flight, as NASA charts out new missions to the Moon and on to Mars.

At 4:18 p.m. ET on July 20, 1969, the lunar module carrying Armstrong and crewmate Buzz Aldrin touched down on the Sea of Tranquility, following a four-day journey.

NASA replayed the original CBS footage online. 

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed," Armstrong said.

A little over six hours later, at 10:56 p.m. ET, Armstrong stepped on the lunar surface and uttered his immortal words -- which he later said he thought about during the flight and prior to exiting Eagle.

Aldrin followed about 20 minutes later, exclaiming: "Magnificent desolation."

The pair spent about two-and-a-half hours on the surface, carrying out scientific experiments and collecting samples. 

"We had the problem of the five-year-old boy in a candy store," Armstrong would later go on to say. "There are just too many interesting things to do."

In Houston on Saturday night, thousands of space enthusiasts descended upon the visitor area of the NASA Johnson Space Center for a countdown to the "Moonversary," and watched a giant screen that replayed the iconic moments, before fireworks lit up the sky.

NASA has been in overdrive for several weeks to mark the anniversary, with exhibits and events around the country, including projecting the giant Saturn V rocket and clips from the mission on the Washington Monument.

"Looking back, landing on the moon wasn't just our job, it was a historic opportunity to prove to the world America's can-do spirit," Aldrin, 89, tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech from Cape Canaveral, from where Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins, the third crew member, took off.

All three men were born in 1930, and Armstrong died in 2012.

"Apollo 11 is the only event in the 20th century that stands a chance of being widely remembered in the 30th century," Pence said.

NASA has declared its intention to return to the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis program -- the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology -- and this time place the first woman on its surface.

It plans to establish a lunar orbiting platform, called a "Gateway," studying how living organisms react to the radiation and microgravity of a deep space environment over a long period, as it looks ahead to a crewed Mars mission in the 2030s.

Experts doubt that the space agency can meet its current goals on time. None of the key elements -- the rocket, crew capsule, lander, or orbital station -- are yet ready.

Pence used the occasion to announce that the Orion crew capsule had now been assembled, "a critical milestone."

According to a release by maker Lockheed Martin, it needs several months more of testing before it is delivered for launch processing in early 2020.

'I've been there!'

In an interview with Fox News, Aldrin lamented the lack of progress in human space exploration since the Apollo program, which ended in 1972.

He also called for global cooperation to achieve humanity's next steps on the Moon and Mars.

"It would not be at all helpful to be competing for the Moon or Mars, that's very wasteful," he said.

Collins too is keen for crewed missions sooner rather than later, and has advocated for the US to go "direct to Mars" rather than returning to the Moon first.

Asked on Saturday if he thinks much about the events of 50 years ago, he told Fox News: "Not very often."

"I lead a quiet life. I'll be walking along down my street at night, when it's starting to get dark and I sense something over my right shoulder and I look up and see that little silver sliver up there and think, 'Oh that's the Moon! I've been there!'"

Uncertain future

The White House, meanwhile, issued a statement announcing it was "committed to reestablishing our Nation's dominance and leadership in space for centuries to come."

Both presidents George HW Bush and his son George W. Bush made similar promises but financial constraints stopped their vision from being realized. 

The future of Artemis rests therefore on the willingness of Congress to substantially increase NASA's current budget of $21 billion -- and possibly on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

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50 years after Apollo 11

People look at an image of the Saturn V rocket, which launched the Apollo 11 astronauts into space, as it is projected onto the side of the Washington Monument in Washington, U.S. on Wednesday. The world marks the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to land the moon on July 20,1969, with crew members Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. 

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'One giant leap': US marks Apollo mission 50 years on

CAPE CANAVERAL - Fifty years after a mighty rocket set off from Florida carrying the first humans to the Moon, a veteran of the Apollo 11 crew returned to its fabled launch pad Tuesday to commemorate "one giant leap" that became a defining moment in human history.

"We crew felt the weight of the world on our shoulders, we knew that everyone would be looking at us, friend or foe," command module pilot Michael Collins said from the Kennedy Space Center.

He and Buzz Aldrin, who piloted the module that landed on the Moon's surface, are the two surviving members from the mission that would change the way humanity saw its place in the universe.

Their commander Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, died in 2012 aged 82.

The spacecraft took 4 days to reach the Moon, before the module known as the "Eagle" -- whence the iconic phrase "the Eagle has landed" -- touched the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. 

Armstrong emerged a few hours later, descending to the foot of the ladder, as he uttered the immortal line: "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."

Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia, their only means of returning to Earth.

"I always think of a flight to the Moon as being a long and fragile daisy chain of events," the 88-year-old said at launch pad 39A, at the first of many events planned across the week.

These include the return of Armstrong's suit to the Air and Space Museum in Washington after more than a decade of restoration work.

The Washington Monument will be lit up between July 16 and 18 with a life-size, 363-foot (111-meter) projection of the colossal Saturn V rocket built by ex-Nazi Wernher Von Braun.

Collins described how the mission was broken into discrete goals such as breaking free of the Earth's gravity or slowing down for lunar orbit.

"The flight was a question of being under tension, worrying about what's coming next. What do I have to do now to keep this daisy chain intact?"

Unlike Collins, Aldrin has remained relatively elusive and did not participate at Tuesday's launchpad event. 

Aging but active on Twitter, and often seen in stars-and-stripes socks or ties, the 89-year-old has faced health scares and family feuds, culminating in a court case over finances, which was settled in March.

He is the second of 12 men to have set foot on the Moon, only four of whom are still alive.

COFFEE AND MUSIC 

Collins has been fielding questions for half a century about whether he felt lonely or left out.

"I was always asked wasn't I the loneliest person in the whole lonely history of the whole lonely solar system when I was by myself in that lonely orbit?" he said. "And the answer was 'No, I felt fine!'

"I would enjoy a perfectly enjoyable hot coffee, I had music if I wanted to. Good old Command Module Columbia had every facility that I needed, and it was plenty big and I really enjoyed my time by myself instead of being terribly lonely."

He added that he was offered the chance to be commander of Apollo 17, but turned it down because he did not want to spend another three years on the road, away from his wife and young children.

FIRST MAN, BEST SPOKESMAN? 

After the astronauts returned to Earth, they spent weeks in quarantine in case they had been infected by mysterious space illnesses (they had not), before embarking on a global tour.

Collins said that despite being an introvert, Armstrong was the best spokesman among the crew, making audiences feel like they had been along for the ride.

"He was very intelligent, he had an extremely wide background of knowledge, scientific knowledge, historical knowledge."

Neither the United States nor any other country has managed to return a human to the Moon since 1972, the year of the final Apollo mission.

President George H.W. Bush promised to do so in 1989, as did his son president George W. Bush in 2004, while pledging to also march forward to Mars.

But they both ran up against a Congress that wasn't inclined to fund the adventures, while the tide of public opinion had also turned since president John F. Kennedy roused the nation to action in the 1960s.

For his part, President Donald Trump has relaunched the race to re-conquer the Moon -- this time with the first woman -- and to journey onwards to Mars. 

But the deadlines (2024 and 2033 respectively) appear unrealistic and have caused turbulence within the space agency. 

Last week, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine fired his head of human space exploration, likely over disagreements over the Moon ultimatum. 

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India calls off Moon mission launch 56 minutes before blast-off

SRIHARIKOTA, India - India on Monday dramatically scrapped the launch of a rocket that was aiming to land a probe on the Moon less than one hour before blast-off because of a "technical" problem.

India wants the Chandrayaan-2 -- or Moon Chariot 2 -- mission to make it only the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China to land a craft on the lunar surface.

Countdown at the Satish Dhawan Space Center was halted 56 minutes and 24 seconds before the planned liftoff at 2:51 am (2121 GMT Sunday).

"A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at T-56 minute," the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Twitter.

"As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later."

Officials at the space center on an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state said the problem was in the launch vehicle system.

ISRO had announced one hour before launch that the filling of liquid hydrogen fuel had been completed.

The agency did not say when a new launch could be held.

Low-cost flyer

Attention on the Indian mission had increased as the launch was to be carried out just five days before the 50th anniversary of American Neil Armstrong's history-changing walk on the Moon.

India had spent about $140 million on preparations for Chandrayaan-2 and had hailed the mission as one of the cheapest ever.

A landing on the Moon had been scheduled for September 6.

By comparison, the United States spent about $25 billion -- the equivalent of more than $100 billion in current prices -- on 15 Apollo missions in the 1960s and 70s.

Almost all of Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, lander and rover were designed and made in India.

India had prepared its most powerful rocket, the GSLV Mk III, to carry the 2.4-tonne orbiter. The orbiter was to keep circling the Moon for about one year taking pictures of the surface and sending back information on the atmosphere.

The orbiter was to carry the 1.4-tonne lander Vikram -- which in turn was to take the 27-kilogram (60-pound) rover Pragyan -- to a high plain between two craters on the lunar South Pole.

The solar-powered rover can travel up to 500 meters (yards) and was expected to keep sending back images and data for one lunar day, the equivalent of 14 Earth days.

Pragyan will be looking for signs of water and analyse lunar rocks and soil.

India's first lunar mission in 2008 -- Chandrayaan-1 -- did not land on the Moon, but carried out a search for water using radars.

A soft landing on the Moon would be a huge leap forward in India's space program. National pride is at stake as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed that a manned mission into space will be launched by 2022.

India also has ambitions to land a probe on Mars. In 2014, India became only the fourth nation to put a satellite into orbit around the Red Planet.

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NASA dubs 2024 Moon mission 'Artemis,' asks for $1.6B

WASHINGTON -- NASA's next mission to the Moon will be called Artemis, the US space agency announced Monday, though it's still looking for the money to make the journey happen by its accelerated 2024 deadline.

In March, US President Donald Trump's administration moved the date for the next American lunar mission up by four years from its original goal of 2028 while pledging to get a female astronaut to the Moon's surface for the first time.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters the agency would need an additional $1.6 billion to pay for the new ground and space vehicles needed to meet the deadline.

"This additional investment, I want to be clear, is a downpayment on NASA's efforts to land humans on the Moon by 2024," he said.

Bridenstine said the mission was named Artemis after the Greek mythological goddess of the Moon and twin sister to Apollo, namesake of the program that sent 12 American astronauts to the Moon between 1969 and 1972.

NASA's total annual budget is approximately $21.5 billion, and in the 2019 fiscal year, the agency spent about $4.5 billion on developing the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy rocket and a new lunar orbital mini-station, three elements essential to the Artemis mission.

But many experts and lawmakers are concerned that NASA cannot meet the accelerated deadline, especially given the major delays in development of the SLS, which is being built by aerospace giant Boeing.

Asked how much the new mission would cost in total, Bridenstine demurred, telling a reporter: "I would love to tell you that."

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Billionaire Bezos unveils moon lander mockup, touts Blue Origin's lunar goals

WASHINGTON - Billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, founder of rocket company Blue Origin, unveiled on Thursday a mockup of a lunar lander spacecraft and discussed missions to the moon in a strategy tailored to the US government's renewed push to establish a lunar outpost in just 5 years.

Bezos, the world's richest man and also chief executive and founder of Amazon.com, told a rare media event in Washington that the lander, named Blue Moon, could deliver payloads to the moon's surface and deploy payloads during journey to Moon.

US Vice President Mike Pence in March called on NASA to build a space platform in lunar orbit and put American astronauts on the moon's south pole by 2024 "by any means necessary," 4 years earlier than previously planned.

"I love this," Bezos said of Pence's timeline. "We can help meet that timeline but only because we started 3 years ago. It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay."

During his hour-long presentation at Washington's convention center, Bezos waved his arm and a black drape behind him dropped to reveal the two-story-tall unmanned lander mockup, which he said can deploy up to 4 smaller rovers and shoot out satellites to orbit the moon.

"This is an incredible vehicle and it's going to the moon," he added.

Bezos unveiled a model of one of the proposed rovers, which was roughly the size of a golf cart. Bezos also presented a new rocket engine called BE-7, which can blast 10,000 pounds (4,535 kg) of thrust.

Privately held Blue Origin, based in Kent, Washington, is developing its New Shepard rocket for short space tourism trips and a heavy-lift launch rocket called New Glenn for satellite launch contracts. It is aiming to deliver the New Glenn rocket by 2021, while launching humans in a suborbital flight later this year atop its rocket-and-capsule New Shepard.

Blue Origin has also previously discussed a human outpost on the moon.

NASA has already set its sights on the moon's south pole, a region believed to hold enough recoverable ice water for use in synthesizing additional rocket fuel as well as for drinking water.

Bezos, who has talked about his broader vision of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space, has been intent on moving Blue Origin closer to commercialization.

His announcement came about 2 months before the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, and he began his presentation with video of that event.

Bezos spoke of the importance of future human colonization of space and mentioned 2 important issues: reducing launch costs and using resources already in space.

"One of the most important things we know about the moon today is that there's water there," Bezos said. "It's in the form of ice. It's in the permanently shadowed craters on the poles of the moon."

His vision is shared by other billionaire-backed private space ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX and aerospace incumbents like United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin.

While Bezos is angling to become a leading player in space exploration and win business from the US government, he has been the target of repeated criticism from President Donald Trump, who has referred to him as Jeff "Bozo." Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which Trump has frequently targeted in his broadsides about "fake news."

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Total lunar eclipse woos sky watchers

WASHINGTON - An unusual set of celestial circumstances came together over Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday for sky watchers in Europe, Africa and the Americas, where the moon was fully obscured before lighting up again with a faint red glow.

In the streets of Mexico City, Los Angeles and Paris and in the Moroccan desert, moon gazers turned to the sky to observe the phenomenon, around midnight in the Americas, and shortly before dawn in Europe and Africa.

The eclipse lasted about three hours: during the first hour the full moon was gradually swallowed up by the shadow of the Earth, then an hour of total eclipse where it was not invisible but instead appeared tinted in hues of red, orange and pink, followed finally by its full reemergence, bright and shining. 

The full Moon appeared bigger than normal because it was closer to the Earth -- about 222,000 miles (358,000 kilometers) away -- earning it the nickname "super Moon."

Other monikers include a "Wolf Moon," a traditional way of coining an eclipse in the month of January, and a "Blood Moon" because of its rusty, red color. Hence the name for this year's event: a "super blood wolf Moon."

At its peak, where night skies were clear of clouds, Venus and Jupiter shone brightly in the night sky. 

Not everyone was fortunate: in London, for example, astronomy enthusiasts hopes were dashed by a cloudy night. 

WHY RED?

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears red because the light of the Sun no longer directly illuminates it, since Earth is passing in between the Moon and Sun.

"The color is due to Rayleigh scattering -- where the Sun's blue light is scattered off molecules in Earth's atmosphere -- which also happens at sunsets," explained the Royal Astronomical Society of Britain. 

"The Sun's red light is scattered much less by air, and is bent by Earth's atmosphere in a process called refraction, traveling all the way through it to light up the Moon's surface."

LAST ECLIPSE

Total or partial lunar eclipses happen at least twice a year on average, Florent Deleflie, an astronomer at the Observatory of Paris-PSL told AFP. It's just that they are not visible everywhere.

It's a rare event when a total lunar eclipse is visible on so many parts of the Earth's land mass, as is the case Monday.

Europeans last saw a total lunar eclipse in July 2018. The next chance for a glimpse at a lunar eclipse will be in 2022, but the entire continent won't be able to see the totality of a lunar eclipse again until 2029.

North Americans may get their next glimpse of a blood moon in 2021 along the West coast and 2022 on the East coast.

ico-ksh/ia/wdb

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China launches probe to explore dark side of Moon - Xinhua

BEIJING - China on Saturday launched a first probe ever to explore the dark side of the Moon, marking another milestone in its ambitious space program, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The probe, the Chang'e-4, is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon, according to Xinhua. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the Moon, but none has landed on it.

The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate that it orbits our planet, so the far side is never visible from Earth.

Advancing China's space program has been a priority of its leaders, with President Xi Jinping calling for China to establish itself as a space power.

At 2:23 a.m., a Long March-3B rocket, carrying the probe including a lander and a rover, blasted off from the satellite launch center Xichang in southwest China, Xinhua said.

The tasks of the Chang'e-4 probe include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and land forms, detecting the mineral composition, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon, Xinhua quoted the China National Space Administration as saying.

China aims to catch up with Russia and the United States to become a major space power by 2030. It is planning to launch construction of its own manned space station next year.

However, while China has insisted its ambitions are purely peaceful, the US Defense Department has accused it of pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets during a crisis.

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Japanese billionaire businessman is SpaceX's first Moon tourist

HAWTHORNE, United States - A Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon, Yusaku Maezawa, will be the first man to fly on a monster SpaceX rocket around the Moon as early as 2023, and he plans to bring 6 to 8 artists along.

Maezawa, 42, will be the first lunar traveler since the last US Apollo mission in 1972. He paid an unspecified amount of money for the privilege.

"Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the Moon," Maezawa said at SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory in Hawthorne, California, in the middle of metropolitan Los Angeles, late Monday.

"This is my lifelong dream."

Maezawa is chief executive of Japan's largest online fashion mall, and is the 18th richest person in Japan with a fortune of $3 billion, according to the business magazine Forbes.

Maezawa's other hobby is amassing valuable works of modern art and last year, he announced the acquisition of a Jean-Michel Basquiat masterpiece worth $110.5 million.

His love of art led him to decide to invite artists to come along for the trip, he said.

"I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon," Maezawa said.

"They will be asked to create something after they return to Earth. These masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us."

Until now, Americans are the only ones who have left Earth's orbit. A total of 24 NASA astronauts -- all white men -- voyaged to the Moon during the Apollo era of the 1960s and '70s. Twelve walked on the lunar surface.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American businessman who in 2001 paid some $20 million to fly on a Russian spaceship to the International Space Station.

FREE FOR ARTISTS

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described Maezawa as the "bravest" and "best adventurer."

"He stepped forward," Musk added. "We are honored that he chose us."

Musk said he would not reveal the price Maezawa paid for the Moon trip, but said it would be "free for the artists."

"This is dangerous, to be clear. This is no walk in the park," Musk cautioned.

"When you are pushing the frontier, it is not a sure thing. There is a chance something could go wrong."

The ride will take place aboard a Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which may not be ready for human flight for five years at least, Musk said.

The BFR was first announced in 2016, and was touted as the most powerful rocket in history, even more potent than the Saturn V Moon rocket that launched the Apollo missions five decades ago.

Last year, Musk said the BFR's admittedly "ambitious" goal was to make a test flight to Mars in 2022, followed by a crewed flight to the Red Planet in 2024.

'MULTI-PLANETARY SPECIES'

This isn't the first time Musk has vowed to send tourists around the Moon. Last year, he said two paying tourists would circle the Moon in 2018, but those plans that did not materialize.

Musk showed off designs of the 118-meter (129 yards) long BFR, which will consist of a first stage with engines and fuel systems, and a second stage with the spacecraft where the passengers will ride.

Like SpaceX's existing rockets, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, the first stage can detach from the rest of the rocket and return to Earth for an upright landing.

The spacecraft will continue on toward the Moon, powered by its own engines.

The BFR spacecraft's shape is reminiscent of the space shuttle, the bus-like US spaceships that carried astronauts to space 135 times from 1981 to 2011.

Musk has said he wants the BFR's vessel to be able to hold around 100 people, and that the launch system could one day be used to colonize the Moon and Mars in order to make humans a "multi-planetary" species.

Whatever the details, SpaceX is touting an experience considerably more ambitious than space tourism plans under development by other private companies.

Virgin Galactic, founded by British tycoon Richard Branson, and billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's rocket company Blue Origin, are working on trips to the edge of space that could offer tourists a chance at weightlessness for 10 minutes or so.

Virgin's trip will cost about $250,000. Blue Origin's price has not been revealed.

Russian and Chinese companies are also working on space tourism plans.

HUMAN FLIGHT TO SPACE

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla Motors, has drawn attention in recent months over his erratic behavior.

He has alleged that a cave diver in Thailand who helped rescue stranded boys was a "pedo," smoked what appeared to be marijuana on a comedian's podcast, spooked Tesla investors with comments about the future of the electric car maker, and admitted to exhaustion and use of the sleeping pill Ambien.

But so far this year, his space firm has also kept up a schedule outpaced only by the Chinese government, making 15 launches with its Falcon 9 rocket.

Next year, SpaceX -- which has received billions in NASA funding to ferry supplies to the ISS and build a crew vehicle -- hopes to become the first private company to send astronauts to the space station.

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Rare 'super blood blue moon' visible on Jan 31

MIAMI - A cosmic event not seen in 36 years -- a rare "super blood blue moon" -- may be glimpsed January 31 in parts of western North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia.

The event is causing a buzz because it combines three unusual lunar events -- an extra big super moon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse.

"It's an astronomical trifecta," said Kelly Beatty, a senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine.

A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a month. Typically, a blue moon happens every two years and eight months.

This full moon is also the third in a series of "supermoons," which happen when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit.

This point, called the perigee, makes the moon appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter.

During the eclipse, the moon will glide into Earth's shadow, gradually turning the white disk of light to orange or red.

"That red light you see is sunlight that has skimmed and bent through Earth's atmosphere and continued on through space to the moon," said Alan MacRobert of Sky and Telescope magazine.

"In other words, it's from all the sunrises and sunsets that ring the world at the moment."

The alignment of the sun, moon and Earth will last one hour and 16 minutes, visible before dawn across the western United States and Canada.

Those in the Middle East, Asia, eastern Russia, Australia and New Zealand should look for it in the evening, as the moon rises.

Unlike a solar eclipse, this lunar eclipse can be safely viewed without protective eyewear.

HOW RARE? 

"We've had a lot of supermoons and we've had lunar eclipses, but it's rare that it also happens to be a blue moon," said Jason Aufdenberg, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's campus in Daytona Beach, Florida.

"All three of these cycles lining up is what makes this unusual," he added.

"It's just a wonder to behold."

According to Sky and Telescope magazine, "the last time a complete lunar cover-up took place on the second full moon of the month was December 30, 1982, at least as reckoned by local time in Europe, Africa, and western Asia -- locations where the event could be seen."

That event also occurred at the moon's orbital perigee, making it an extra bright supermoon.

Aufdenberg said that by his calculations, the last time a supermoon, blue moon and total lunar eclipse all together were visible from the eastern United States was on May 31, 1844.

According to Sky and Telescope, the last blue moon total lunar eclipse visible from North America happened on March 31, 1866.

"But on that date the moon was near apogee, its most distant point from Earth," it said.

Lunar eclipses during a supermoon happen rather regularly. The last one was in September 2015.

Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year.

Supermoons can happen 4 to 6 times a year.

The next supermoon lunar eclipse visible throughout all of the United States will be January 21, 2019 -- though that one will not be a blue moon.

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NASA: 'Super blue blood moon' to shine in January 2018

Rare lunar events will mark the entry of 2018 as two supermoons are set to shine on the first and last evenings of January, with the finale expected to have an "extra special" red glow, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on its website.

A "supermoon" is a full moon that appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the usual full moon. It appears when the moon orbits closest to Earth during its full phase.

The "wolf moon" or the first full moon of the year will be a supermoon, NASA said. It follows the opener of the supermoon "trilogy"- as NASA put it - which was seen in early December.

"You almost feel as though you could reach out, grab the glowing orb, and drop it into your coffee cup," NASA said.

But moon-gazing will be twice the fun in the grand finale by the end of January, when a very rare "super blue blood moon" will appear.

"Sometimes the celestial rhythms sync up just right to wow us," NASA said.

A "super blue blood moon" is a "supermoon", a "blood moon", and a "blue moon" all happening in one night.

A blue moon is the second full moon in a month, while a blood moon is seen when a full moon temporarily turns red during a total lunar eclipse.

"The January 31st supermoon will feature a total lunar eclipse, with totality viewable from western North America across the Pacific to Eastern Asia," NASA said.

"The Moon will lose its brightness and take on an eerie, fainter-than-normal glow from the scant sunlight that makes its way through Earth’s atmosphere," NASA added.

The space agency said it would be best to view to natural phenomenon when the moon rises or sets over the horizon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Total solar eclipse seen in U.S.

Emotional sky-gazers on the U.S. West Coast cheered and applauded Monday as the Sun briefly vanished behind the Moon -- a rare total solar eclipse that will stretch across North America for the first time in nearly a century.

Eclipse chasers and amateur star watchers alike converged in cities along the path of totality, a 70-mile (113-kilometer) wide path running through 14 US states, where the Moon will block out all light from the Sun.

Festivals, rooftop parties, weddings, camping trips and astronomy meet-ups popped up nationwide for what NASA expects will be the most heavily photographed and documented eclipse in modern times, thanks to the era of social media.

At about 1605 GMT, eclipse fans in Lincoln Beach, Oregon were the first to witness the partial phase of the eclipse.

More than 100,000 people have gathered in Madras, Oregon, typically a town of 7,000 for what experts described as perfect viewing conditions.

Totality began at 1716 GMT over Oregon and will end roughly 90 minutes later at 1848 GMT over Charleston, South Carolina.

In Los Angeles, "oohs and aahs" emanated from the crowd of thousands of people gathered at the Griffith Observatory in the hills above the city as the partial eclipse began.

Many hiked to the site to avoid massive traffic jams. Some watchers had fashioned their own pinhole projectors out of cardboard and scotch tape.

In Mexico, where there was a partial eclipse, astronomy buffs set up telescopes fitted with special sun filters in parks and squares in various cities.

"Put down your smartphone and experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically, rather than just through the screen," advised prominent US astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Telescopes and smartphones

In the US capital, where 81 percent totality will occur, eclipse watchers flocked to the National Air and Space Museum, where solar telescopes were set up for the occasion. The National Zoo staged a viewing party, and national parks across the country organized programs for children.

In downtown Charleston, the last point in the path of totality, crowds of tourists -- some in special eclipse T-shirts and star-printed trousers -- made their way to the bustling East Coast city's storied waterfront to stake out a prime spot.

"It is very exciting," said Kwayera Davis, 34, an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston who was setting up telescopes in a waterfront park.

"Here we will get to see it because we are off on the water, with the shadow going off into the Atlantic."

One bar had installed outdoor speakers which blasted Bonnie Tyler's mega-hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- which she was to sing on a cruise ship on Monday.

"I am really pumped up about it," said t-shirt vendor Jan Dahouas, who is from Atlanta, Georgia.

"I hear it is supposed to be really moving."

President Donald Trump was expected to watch the partial eclipse from the White House with his wife Melania, his office said.

Many people who have seen eclipses in the past describe the experience as an emotional one, as the sky goes black, birds return to their nests and the air chills.

"It is such an incredible, sensory-overload kind of event," eclipse-chaser Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist, told AFP of the first total solar eclipse he saw in the United States back in 1970.

'We're ready!'

Experts warn that looking directly at an eclipse can cause permanent eye damage.

"The damage can really be permanent and right smack in the center of their vision," said Vincent Jerome Giovinazzo, director of ophthalmology at Staten Island University Hospital, Northwell Health.

The only safe time to look at it is for those within the path of totality -- and only during the brief moments when the Sun is completely blocked.

Everyone else should use proper solar eyeglasses, which are far darker than regular ones, or make a pinhole projector to see the eclipse while avoiding the glare of the Sun.

Cloudy weather and thunderstorms threatened to dash viewers' hopes in some places, including Charleston.

But so far, it was sunny in South Carolina.

Some of the clearest views were expected along the West Coast and in the Midwest.

Scientists plan to study the eclipse to learn more about the super-hot corona, or outer edge of the Sun.

Astronauts orbiting the Earth aboard the International Space Station are also planning to document the eclipse, and will get to see it three times.

"My first solar eclipse from space... We're ready!" wrote Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli on Twitter.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Heads up: 'Supermoon' to appear on Monday

MANILA -- On Monday, Filipinos can get a glimpse of the so-called "supermoon" as it reaches its closest point during its orbit around the Earth in 68 years.

According to state weather bureau PAGASA, the moon will reach the perigee or its closest point to Earth at 7:21 p.m., almost two hours and 31 minutes before going full moon at 9:52 p.m.

This will be the closest perigee since January 26, 1948. The moon won’t be seen this close to Earth again until November 26, 2034.

"This year’s supermoon is one of the closest and biggest in 68 years and it won’t happen again until 2034," PAGASA said in its advisory.

PAGASA explained that the "supermoon" is a modern astrological term coined by Richard Nole.

It is defined as “a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90% of its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit" and is called a Perigee Full Moon, or one that is closer to Earth than average, in astronomy.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a supermoon can be as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than an apogee full moon.

However, a 30 percent difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds or the competing glare of urban lights.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: Supermoon sightings all over the world

The total "supermoon" lunar eclipse treated sky-watchers around the world when the shadow of Earth cast a reddish glow on the moon, the result of rare combination of an eclipse with the closest full moon of the year.

The astronomical event occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit, making it appear much larger and brighter than usual. (Reuters)

Mobile users can view the desktop version of the slideshow here.

The Moon, appears next to a statue on the Alexander III bridge in Paris. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: 'Blood moon' rises

WASHINGTON - Stargazers in the Americas and Asia were treated to a lunar eclipse Wednesday, a celestial show that bathed the moon in red to create a "blood moon."

During the total lunar eclipse, which lasted several hours, the Earth passed between the sun and the moon.

The moon reflected sunlight scattered in the Earth's atmosphere and took on a red hue.

The early phase of the eclipse began at 0800 GMT, or 4:00 am, on the east coast of the United States, and will continue until sunrise.

In Hong Kong, the eclipse started shortly after moonrise at 1000 GMT or 6:00 pm local time, with the total eclipse phase emerging half an hour later and lasting for around an hour before moving to a partial eclipse.

Free viewing locations were set up on a harborside promenade by the Hong Kong Space Museum for the public to observe the various phases on astronomy telescopes.

In Tokyo's Roppongi fashion and entertainment district, enthusiasts were planning to perform yoga exercises under the blood moon. Many others had climbed atop the city's skyscrapers to view the sky.

On Australia's east coast, a live video feed set up by the Sydney Observatory was pointing to cloud cover less than an hour ahead of the moon's move into Earth's shadow.

In New Zealand, the moon will be close to its highest point in the sky, according to Auckland's Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, holding out hope of a view of the spectacle unobstructed by buildings.

Sky watchers are also able to see the phenomenon live via NASA's robotic telescope service, Slooh.

NASA's lunar experts answered questions ahead of the celestial event via live web chat from 0700 GMT.

"NASA moon experts will be up all night on October 8 to answer your questions," the space agency said.

The eclipse is the second of four total lunar eclipses, starting with a first "blood moon" on April 15, in a series astronomers call a tetrad.

The next two total lunar eclipses will be on April 4 and September 28 of next year.

The last time a tetrad took place was in 2003-2004, with the next predicted for 2032-2033. In total, the 21st century will see eight tetrads.

Amateur astronomists in Africa or Europe are out of luck, NASA said, as the event will not be visible in those regions.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Lunar Halo causes stir online, so what is it?

The phenomenon is called a Lunar Halo or 22° halo where there is an incredible circle around the moon. This happens when there are ice particles in the air around the moon’s surface.


Lunar halos are caused by the refraction, reflection and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within the thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. As lights passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystal, it is bent at a 22 degree angle (thus the 22° halo), creating a halo 22 degrees in radius.

Did you get that? Me neither. Anyways, although they are beautiful to look at, folklore has been associating the lunar halo to indicate bad weather or strong atmospheric conditions. They are believed to warn of strong rains that are on the way.

Also, legends says if you count the number of stars inside the lunar halo, that’s the number of days before it will rain.

source: scoopboy.com