NASA stacks moon-bound Artemis 2 rocket: Space photo of the day
On March 23, 2025, technicians working at NASA's Kennedy Space Center mated together major elements of the rocket that will launch the Artemis 2 mission with the first humans to the moon in more than 50 years.
The core stage, which is covered in yellow-orange foam insulation, is the largest component of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, standing 212 feet tall (65 meters). In addition to holding the propellant for its four rear-mounted rocket engines, the core is the backbone of the rocket, supporting the launch vehicle stage adapter, interim cryogenic propulsion stage, Orion stage adapter and the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 2 mission.Standing on either side of the core stage are twin five-segment solid rocket boosters, which were earlier stacked on the same mobile launch platform. Standing 177 feet tall (54 meters), the two boosters will provide the majority of the thrust needed to propel the four Artemis 2 astronauts on their journey around the moon.
From the vantage point of the photo, you are looking up and into High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Floridia.Once the most voluminous building in the world, the VAB was previously used to stack the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket and the space shuttles that flew for 30 years.
The launch vehicle stage adapter will be the next element of the SLS lifted and secured atop the core stage in the coming weeks.Meanwhile, the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module have been stacked and configured for flight and are waiting their move to the VAB from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Once fully assembled, the Orion topped SLS will be rolled out to Launch Complex 39B for testing. The Artemis 2 mission is targeted for launch no earlier than April 2026.
You can read and see more from the stacking of the Artemis 2 core stage and boosters, as well as learn more about NASA's Artemis 2 mission.
You can also follow the latest updates about the Artemis 2 mission here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
iPhone 17 Air — here's where Apple can succeed where Samsung failed
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Samsung intended to start a revolution when it launched the Galaxy S25 Edge not long ago, but the reality is that the phone turned out to be underwhelming. I've been using it for more than two months now, and given my experience with the ultra-thin phone, Apple certainly has the opportunity to steal its thunder with the iPhone 17 Air. It's one of the many new iPhones tipped for reveal at an upcoming rumored Apple September event. The iPhone 17 Air could end up being the most compelling model the company introduces in years. I've been keeping tabs on all the rumors and leaks, so while it's unlikely we'll see dramatic changes between now and its reveal, there are still ways Apple could make it a more compelling thin phone. I know there are areas where we could see compromises, but I'll explain how the iPhone 17 Air could still succeed where the Galaxy S25 Edge failed. Here's how. A single rear camera that just works Since I'm a camera guy, I'm most interested in the cameras rumored to accompany the iPhone 17 Air — or should I say, camera? While I'm a bit forgiving about Apple's decision to give the iPhone 16e a single rear camera, it feels wrong to do it with the iPhone 17 Air. So far, the rumors suggest that it will have a single 48MP camera on the back, which isn't appetizing when you're used to a triple camera setup. This might be an area where I could say the Galaxy S25 Edge is better than the iPhone 17 Air, but Apple can still surprise us. That's because I need to just look back at my 200 photo shootout between the iPhone 16e and Pixel 9a, like the side-by-side shot above. Even though the iPhone 16e narrowly lost, it did impress me for its strong telephoto and dynamic range performances. It's proof of Apple's excellent image processing with its iPhones, so it could do the same for the iPhone 17 Air. Another thing worth pointing out is all the leaked images and renders of the iPhone 17 Air. The back of the phone shows a prominent camera bar that spans one side to the other, which could lead me to suspect that there could be a larger sensor in there — perhaps the same one for the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. If so, that would give it more leverage. The only thing it would lack is an ultrawide, but I wouldn't mind keeping it to just a single camera if its field of view ends up being a smidge wider. Thin phone doesn't have to mean shorter battery life There's no denying that the iPhone 17 Air is going to be a remarkable feat of engineering for a modern device. So far, it looks like it's going to be thinner than the Galaxy S25 Edge with rumors of it being as thin as 5.5mm. In comparison, the S25 Edge measures in at 5.8mm. As I've noted in my Galaxy S25 Edge review, the biggest compromise to designing a thin phone is that battery life is dramatically impacted. A thinner phone means less room for a battery, subsequently resulting in a much shorter battery life. However, Apple could squash any battery drain concerns with the iPhone 17 Air — by looking at what the current iOS 26 beta offers. Apple's latest iPhone software has a ton of features, but one that's overlooked is the new adaptive power mode. I suspect this could be the answer to addressing any anxiety about its battery endurance, by dynamically adjusting the phone's performance to get more juice out of the battery. Plus, I think the A19 Pro chip rumored to power the iPhone 17 Air would be power efficient enough to hopefully make it last longer than the standard iPhone 17. Higher price point doesn't mean paying more I'm hoping that the iPhone 17 Air ends up taking the same $899 price point that the current iPhone 16 Plus holds in Apple's lineup. However, I'm not as optimistic about that given the price of the Galaxy S25 Edge and Galaxy Z Fold 7. There are rumors that the iPhone 17 Air could end up being even more costly than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Hopefully, that's not true because it would have an even tougher time convincing people (myself included). Realistically, Apple could fit the Air in between the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max — which would put it at $1,099, assuming Apple maintains its pricing structure from before. This would put it in direct competition with the Galaxy S25 Edge, but a higher price point still wouldn't make it a dealbreaker. Even though I'm all about the best cheap phones, I would be shocked if there aren't deals for the iPhone 17 Air at launch to bring down its price. Nearly every major carrier will offer some kind of deal because that's been their standard procedure with every major phone release. Take the iPhone 16 Pro Max last year when it dropped down in price to a penny less than a month after its launch. Sure, you'll have to sign off on some sort of phone plan, but the end result was getting a new iPhone on the cheap. This could happen for the iPhone 17 Air, so I'm not too worried about a higher price point. It would only really affect those buying the phone outright. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. More from Tom's Guide iOS 26 public beta 3 has already arrived — here's what's new Right now is the worst time to buy a new iPhone — here's why I've been using apps on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7's cover screen with this download — but I'm not totally in love with it
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Giant 'X' appears over Chile as 2 celestial beams of light cross
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. QUICK FACTS What it is: The luminous band of the Milky Way and the faint glow of zodiacal light Where it is: Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile When it was shared: Aug. 6, 2025 This stunning image from astrophotographer Petr Horálek captures two of the night sky's most glorious sights in one — the glowing heart of the Milky Way and the elusive "zodiacal light." Despite appearing alongside one another, these two streaks of light could not be more different in origin and composition. Astronomers have constructed some of humanity's best telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere to better see the bright core of the Milky Way — dense with stars and nebulae. That core passes through constellations including Scorpius, Sagittarius and Ophiuchus, which are higher in the sky the farther south they're viewed from. This image was taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), located at an altitude of 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) in the Chilean Andes within the southern Atacama Desert. At this height, above the densest and warmest part of Earth's atmosphere, incredibly clear and dark skies are the norm, enabling observers to see not only the bright band of the Milky Way but something less obvious that resides in the solar system — zodiacal light. The biggest visible solar system phenomenon in the night sky, zodiacal light is a faint, diffuse glow in the night sky that casual observers often miss. It consists of sunlight reflecting off dust in our cosmic neighborhood, possibly from passing asteroids and comets or from the leftovers of planet formation. In 2020, a paper also claimed that zodiacal light may be primarily made of dust blown off Mars. Either way, the glow of the solar system is an arresting sight, but hard to see. MORE SPACE PHOTOS —James Webb telescope captures one of the deepest-ever views of the universe —NASA unveils 9 stunning snapshots of the cosmos in X-ray vision —'Fighting dragons' light up little-known constellation in the Southern sky Zodiacal light is at its brightest around the equinoxes and is visible along the ecliptic — the apparent path the sun takes through the sky — as a triangular beam of light on the horizon a few hours before sunrise or after sunset. That timing has led to it being called either the "false dawn" or "false dusk," though its name comes from the fact that it's visible over the 13 constellations that make up the zodiac. Horálek's spectacular image was taken in 2022 when he was an audiovisual ambassador for NOIRLab, which operates CTIO. In the photo, from left to right, are the U.S. Naval Observatory Deep South Telescope, the DIMM1 Seeing Monitor, the Chilean Automatic Supernova Search dome, the UBC Southern Observatory and the Planetary Defense 1.0-meter Telescope. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Sleeping giant' fault beneath Canada could unleash a major earthquake, research suggests
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A major fault in the Yukon, Canada, that has been quiet for at least 12,000 years may be capable of giving off earthquakes of at least magnitude 7.5, new research suggests. Based on the amount of strain the Tintina fault has accumulated over the past 2.6 million years, it is now under an amount of stress that could lead to a large quake within a human lifespan, researchers reported July 15 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The finding may require experts to rethink the earthquake danger in the region, the study authors said. An magnitude 7.5 earthquake would threaten a few small communities within the remote Yukon. But the finding that the Tintina fault may be capable of such a large quake is notable because the fault has been quiet since before the last ice age ended. "Major ancient faults like that can remain as weak zones in the Earth's crust and then focus ongoing tectonic strain," Theron Finley, a geoscientist who conducted the research while earning his doctorate at the University of Victoria in Canada, told Live Science. The Tintina fault is over 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and stretches from northeast British Columbia through the Yukon and into Alaska. On its southern end, it connects to the Rocky Mountain Trench fault, which creates a huge valley through southern Canada and northern Montana. Forty million years ago, during the Eocene epoch, one side of the Tintina fault slid 267 miles (430 km) against the other at a rate of about half an inch (13 millimeters) each year. Today, the fault seems quiet, with only occasional small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 in some sections. However, "there has always been a question of whether it's still a little bit active or still accumulating strain at a slower rate," Finley said. To find out, Finley and his colleagues used high-resolution satellite data and lidar imagery of the Yukon. Lidar is a type of laser measurement that allows for precise imaging of topography while ignoring vegetation — an important tool for an area blanketed with forest. With this imagery, the researchers looked for signs on the surface of ancient earthquakes, such as fault "scarps," where the ground moved sharply upward on one side of the fault. "Those features can be hundreds of kilometers long in some cases, but they're only on the order of a couple meters high or wide, so we need the really high-resolution topographic data," Finley said. The researchers determined the dates of each rumple of the landscape by using traces left by incursions of glaciers, which occurred at known intervals 12,000 years ago, 132,000 years ago, and 2.6 million years ago. They found that over 2.6 million years, the fault's sides moved relative to each other by about 3,300 feet (1,000 m). Over the past 136,000 years, the opposing sides of the fault moved about 250 feet (75 m). It probably took hundreds of earthquakes to accumulate all that movement, Finley said, which translates to between 0.008 and 0.03 inches (0.2 to 0.8 mm) per year. The fault has not had a large earthquake that ruptured the ground surface for at least 12,000 years, according to the study. The researchers estimate that in that period, the fault has accumulated about 20 feet (6 m) of built-up strain — movement that hasn't yet been released in an earthquake. The fault probably breaks at between 3 and 33 feet (1 to 10 m) of strain, Finley said, so it's in the range where it might normally fracture. "It could still be many thousands of years before it reaches the threshold where it ruptures, but we don't know that and it's very hard to predict that," Finley said. Because the fault is active in its Alaska portion, it's not surprising to learn that the Tintina fault could be a sleeping giant, said Peter Haeussler, a geologist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska. He said he was glad to see the evidence emerge."Somebody's finally found evidence for activity on the Tintina fault in the Yukon," Haeussler told Live Science. RELATED STORIES —There's a massive fault hiding under America's tallest mountain —Mystery magma reservoir found in volcanoless region of Alaska —Seattle's massive fault may result from oceanic crust 'unzipping itself' 55 million years ago "It ups the seismic hazard for this neck of the woods a little bit," he added, but not enormously, as the region was already known to be seismically active. The fault runs near Dawson City, Canada, Finley said, which has a population of about 1,600 and would be most threatened by a large quake. There are also mining facilities in the area, as well as a risk of quake-triggered landslides. To better understand the risk, geoscientists will need to excavate trenches in the fault to look for rock layers that show past earthquakes and how often they occurred. "Right now, we just know that many have occurred, but we don't have a sense of how frequently," Finley said. "Is 6 meters a lot of strain, or is it more likely there's a long way to go before another rupture?"
