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ISS astronauts are getting new laptops

2026-04-21T17:56:01-04:00

Astronaut Chris Williams and the rest of the Expedition 74 crew are getting new laptops. | Photo: NASA

Even astronauts need to level up their laptops once in a while - including the crew of Expedition 74 on board the ISS, which NASA announced last week is in the process of some computer upgrades. According to NASA, the crew met on Friday to review plans to "first replace network servers then activate their new, more powerful laptop computers." In a statement to The Verge, NASA spokesperson Joshua Finch confirmed the new laptops the astronauts will be using: "The International Space Station Program has selected the HP ZBook G9 Mobile Workstation as the next laptop for the space station."

Astronaut Chris Williams unpacked computer hardware on the ISS on April 15th. | Photo: NASA' data-portal-copyright='Photo: NASA'> Astronaut Jessica Meir is one of the Expedition 74 astronauts getting a laptop upgrade. | Photo: NASA' data-portal-copyright='Photo: NASA'>

According to HP, the custom ZBook Fury G9 …

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How to watch the Artemis II astronauts return to Earth

2026-04-10T16:09:42-04:00

The Artemis II crew – (from left) Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Pilot Victor Glover, and Commander Reid Wiseman – pause for a group photo inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images) | NASA via Getty Images

The Orion capsule, carrying Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, is expected to land back to Earth after a nine-day mission that set a record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from our planet.

After making a high-speed re-entry through the atmosphere, the capsule is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego at approximately 5:07PM PT / 8:07PM ET. Navy recovery crews will bring the astronauts to the USS John P. Murtha for medical checks before they helicopter back to land.

Re-entry is unquestionably the riskiest pa …

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Interior design at 25,000 mph

2026-04-10T09:04:50-04:00

(April 6, 2026) – Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the Moon, as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft. | Image: NASA

As the Artemis II astronauts prepare for the most dramatic and potentially dangerous part of their mission - reentry into Earth's atmosphere - the eyes of the world will be on the Orion capsule and the people inside it. Getting glimpses into the capsule during the mission, the public has been able to observe the features of the astronaut's lives, from the screens where they receive messages from Earth to the bathroom they use and how it was fixed when it broke.

Every single piece of technology in the Orion capsule has been designed not just to withstand the epic G-forces of launch and landing, but also to optimize for human interfacing. And …

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NASA’s Artemis II mission to fly around the far side of the Moon

2026-04-20T03:25:57-04:00

In this handout image provided by NASA, Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on the second day into the Artemis II mission on April 3rd, 2026. | Photo: NASA via Getty Images

Humans haven’t set foot on the Moon since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Now, the space agency is racing to get back to the lunar surface under the umbrella of its Artemis program — a nod to the Greek goddess and twin sister of Apollo, whose name was given to NASA’s first program to send humans to the Moon.

The program has been plagued by years of delays, development mishaps, and billions of dollars in budget overruns, but the mission is unquestionably ambitious. The goal of Artemis is to create a sustainable presence near the Moon, instead of just sending humans to plant flags and make footprints. The agency also aims to send the first woman to the Moon through the Artemis program.

Artemis I successfully completed its uncrewed mission in 2022. On April 2nd, 2026, Artemis II launched from Kennedy Space Center carrying four astronauts in its Orion capsule to travel around the Moon before returning to Earth in 10 days’ time. They’ll test out the hardware and systems that could soon see humans standing on the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years in the Artemis IV mission scheduled for 2028.

Artemis II astronauts break a record, name a crater

2026-04-06T16:46:40-04:00

Artemis II is capturing images of the far side of the Moon, partially visible here, which can’t be seen from Earth. | Image: NASA

A few minutes before 2PM ET on Monday, the crew of Artemis II broke a record set 56 years ago by the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission - at over 248,655 miles, they have now traveled farther from Earth than any humans before them. They marked the occasion with a crater naming ceremony that left the whole crew embracing each other in lunar orbit.

To commemorate the Artemis II mission, the astronauts announced their suggestion to rename certain features on the Moon to honor the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, as well as commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll. pic.twitter.com/ejfhnItDo8
- NASA (@NASA) April 6, 2026

The Artemis II crew prop …

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The Artemis II astronauts will set a new distance record from Earth today

2026-04-06T12:18:18-04:00

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman looks back at Earth from one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows. | Image: NASA

On April 15th, 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert set a distance record when Apollo 13 traveled 248,655 miles from Earth. Nearly 56 years later, the crew of Artemis II is expected to break that record by several thousand miles when the Orion spacecraft reaches a maximum distance of 252,757 miles away from Earth later today as it completes its flight around the far side of the Moon.

NASA's coverage of the lunar flyby begins at 1PM ET today if you want to follow along at home, while the astronauts are expected to set the new distance record from Earth at 1:56PM ET. The trip around the far side of the Moon will take about six hours …

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NASA did eventually solve Artemis II’s Outlook glitch

2026-04-03T18:59:19-04:00

NASA’s Artemis II rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. | Photo: Joe Raedle via Getty Images

On Thursday, during Artemis II's journey to the Moon, commander Reid Wiseman ran into a tech issue some of us back on Earth can relate to: Microsoft Outlook wasn't working. In a conversation captured in NASA's Artemis livestream and shared on Bluesky, Wiseman reported to Mission Control: "I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working."

To take care of the issue, Mission Control had to remotely access Wiseman's personal computing device (PCD), a Microsoft Surface Pro. During a press conference on Thursday, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling said NASA had fixed the issue, stating, "This is not uncommon …

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The Artemis Moon base project is legally dubious

2026-04-05T12:03:09-04:00

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft rest on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 31, 2026, ahead of the crewed lunar mission. | Image: AFP via Getty Images

With NASA planning to launch four astronauts on Wednesday on its Artemis II mission, the race to return to the Moon is back on. The current mission will see astronauts aboard the Orion capsule travel around the Moon before returning to Earth in 10 days' time. They'll be testing out the hardware and systems that could soon see Americans standing on the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years in the Artemis IV mission scheduled for 2028. NASA isn't ready to land people on the Moon just yet, but that's the aim for the next five years: to not only get people onto the Moon but establish a lengthy human presence on its surface.

That's NASA' …

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NASA wants to put a $20 billion base on the Moon

2026-04-05T12:02:54-04:00

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. | AFP via Getty Images

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has big plans for the future of the agency, including the construction of a $20 billion lunar base that he said will establish an "enduring presence" on the Moon. Isaacman announced the news during NASA's Ignition event on Tuesday, where he also described goals to launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars, as reported earlier by the New York Times.

As a result of plans to establish a base on the Moon, NASA announced that it's pausing its Gateway project "in its current form," which would've launched a space station orbiting the Moon. Instead, NASA plans to "shift focus to infrastructure that enables susta …

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NASA is pushing back its plans for a Moon landing

2026-02-27T18:11:40-05:00

NASA announced at a press conference on Friday that it's delaying its plans for a Moon landing until Artemis IV in 2028. The Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2027, was originally going to attempt to land on the Moon but will now be a test flight instead. NASA also says it's "increasing its cadence of missions," including adding a second test flight in 2027 and aiming for "at least one surface landing every year thereafter," including the Artemis IV landing.

The overhaul to the Artemis launch schedule follows a report from NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) earlier this month that highlighted serious safety risks with NASA's p …

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