SCIENCE

WASHINGTON — As the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its seventh week in April 2026, America's advanced stealth weapons have proven decisive in degrading Iranian air defenses, missile sites and nuclear infrastructure while minimizing risk to U.S. personnel. From long-range cruise missiles to next-generation aircraft, these systems have allowed precise strikes deep inside contested airspace.

SAN DIEGO — NASA released an iconic image Saturday showing the four Artemis II astronauts standing proudly beside their Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha just hours after a flawless Pacific Ocean splashdown that capped humanity's first crewed lunar voyage in more than half a century.

MONTREAL — Astronomers have identified a distant world that could rewrite understanding of planetary composition: an exoplanet potentially made up of as much as 30 percent water by mass, a staggering fraction that dwarfs Earth's meager water content and suggests a globe-spanning ocean hundreds of kilometers deep with no continents in sight.

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. — SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 25 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit Friday night from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking the reusable booster's 32nd flight and underscoring the company's relentless pace in expanding its global satellite internet constellation.

SAN DIEGO — NASA's Artemis II Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 50 to 60 miles off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT) on Friday, April 10, 2026, safely returning four astronauts from humanity's first crewed lunar voyage in more than 50 years.

SAN DIEGO — NASA's Artemis II astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean off California's coast Friday night, capping a historic 10-day voyage around the Moon that marked humanity's first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century and set a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth.

HOUSTON — Four astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft hurtled toward Earth on Friday, April 10, 2026, capping a groundbreaking 10-day journey around the Moon — the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century — with a high-stakes splashdown expected in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT).

HOUSTON — As NASA's Artemis II astronauts hurtle back toward Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft, the agency on Friday released a video compilation celebrating the "Moon joy" — an intense happiness and excitement unique to lunar missions — that the four-person crew has experienced during humanity's first crewed voyage around the Moon in more than half a century.

HOUSTON — The four astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis II spacecraft were roused from sleep Monday with an upbeat Christian anthem performed by the late gospel singer Mandisa and TobyMac, marking a touching moment on the sixth day of the historic crewed lunar mission as the Orion capsule reached record distances from Earth.

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Elon Musk has long promised that SpaceX's massive Starship could one day whisk passengers from Tokyo to New York in about 30 minutes, turning intercontinental travel into a suborbital hop that skips the jet lag and endless airport lines.

Elon Musk's SpaceX holds a commanding lead in the intensifying rivalry with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, launching more rockets, deploying thousands of satellites and securing key NASA contracts, even as both billionaires pivot aggressively toward lunar ambitions in 2026 amid a broader U.S. push to beat China back to the Moon.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's ballistic missile program continues its relentless pace in 2026, with frequent short-range launches, upgrades to solid-fuel engines for intercontinental systems and a clear focus on survivable, nuclear-capable weapons that can threaten South Korea, Japan and the U.S. mainland.

From roughly 250,000 miles away aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft, Artemis II mission pilot Victor Glover offered an impromptu Easter reflection that has resonated far beyond the lunar orbit, marveling at "the beauty of creation" and reminding Earthlings they inhabit a special "spaceship" crafted for human life amid a vast, mostly empty cosmos.

HOUSTON — NASA's Artemis II mission achieved a landmark moment Monday when its four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft flew farther from Earth than any humans in history, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record while completing a dramatic flyby of the Moon's far side during the first crewed deep-space test flight in more than 50 years.

PHILADELPHIA — A brilliant daytime fireball streaked across the skies over the Philadelphia region and parts of five states Tuesday afternoon, prompting hundreds of eyewitness reports and drawing swift analysis from NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office, which released detailed trajectory data confirming the event as a meteor burning up high in Earth's atmosphere.

Observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered surprising details about TOI-5205 b, a Jupiter-sized "forbidden" exoplanet orbiting a diminutive red dwarf star, revealing an atmosphere significantly poorer in heavy elements than its host star and even our solar system's gas giants.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke directly with the four astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft Monday, offering personal congratulations moments after the Artemis II crew shattered the 56-year-old record for farthest humans have traveled from Earth, in a live call broadcast by the White House that blended presidential praise, national pride and forward-looking space ambitions.

HOUSTON — A simple jar of Nutella hazelnut spread became an unlikely star Monday when it floated gracefully through the cabin of NASA's Orion spacecraft during the live broadcast of the Artemis II mission, drifting past astronauts just minutes before the crew set a new record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth.

FRESNO, Calif. — A brilliant plume of exhaust from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket pierced the twilight sky over Central California on Monday evening, prompting thousands of residents to look up and ask, "What was that?" as the rocket carried another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have reversed key aspects of age-related cognitive decline in older mice by reducing levels of a single protein called FTL1 in the hippocampus, the brain region critical for learning and memory, according to a study that continues to draw attention more than seven months after its publication.

CAMBRIDGE, England — Healx, a leading UK artificial intelligence-powered biotech company, continues to reshape drug discovery for rare diseases in 2026, leveraging advanced machine learning to accelerate treatments for conditions that affect millions but often lack approved therapies.

As NASA's Artemis II crew hurtles toward the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, the four astronauts are preparing for a six-hour lunar flyby on Monday that will offer humanity's first direct human-eye views of previously unseen portions of the lunar far side and specific illuminated terrains never observed by Apollo crews.

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's military modernization drive has equipped the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with some of the most advanced conventional weapons systems in the Indo-Pacific region as of 2026, emphasizing long-range strike, fifth-generation air power and sovereign munitions production to deter potential threats.

NASA's Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight to the vicinity of the Moon in more than half a century, is well underway after a flawless launch on April 1, 2026, sending four astronauts on a 10-day journey aboard the Orion spacecraft to test systems and pave the way for future lunar landings.

SYDNEY — Australia has secured a strong fifth-place position in the latest 2026 global average IQ rankings, posting a national score of 104.45 according to data compiled from more than 1.2 million participants in standardized online intelligence tests conducted throughout 2025.

Highly venomous snakes long associated with Australia's remote arid interior are projected to expand their ranges southward toward densely populated coastal regions, increasing potential encounters with humans in backyards, parks and suburbs along the east coast, according to a major international research project published this week.

Easter Sunday 2026 falls on April 5, bringing together ancient religious traditions, astronomical precision and modern family festivities for Christians across the United States and around the world.

HOUSTON — NASA's Artemis II mission hit a major milestone Thursday as the four-person crew aboard the Orion spacecraft successfully completed the critical translunar injection burn, sending them out of Earth orbit and on a trajectory toward the Moon for the first time in more than five decades.

Four astronauts rocketed away from Earth aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket Wednesday evening, embarking on Artemis II — the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century — on a daring 10-day journey that will take them around the far side of the moon and farther from home than any humans have traveled before.