SpaceX launches astronauts to orbit for the first time and loses a prototype of its Mars-colonizing Starship spacecraft during an engine test, scientists catch the X-rays emitted by a rapidly spinning stellar corpse and the sun might be waking up from its period of low activity. These are some of the top stories this week from Space.com.Â
SpaceX launches its 1st astronauts!Â
On Saturday (May 30), SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission successfully achieved a historic feat in commercial spaceflight. The company’s Crew Dragon crew capsule carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a trip to the International Space Station, making this the first time in nearly a decade that a crewed spacecraft launched to orbit from U.S. soil. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that sent Crew Dragon into orbit also achieved a successful return landing.
Full story: Liftoff! SpaceX launches 1st astronauts for NASA on historic test flight
See Also: SpaceX’s 1st astronaut launch was NASA’s most-watched online event ever
Plus: In photos: SpaceX’s historic Demo-2 test flight with astronauts
SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype blows up just after engine test in Texas.
A dramatic explosion occurred during a recent test of SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype. On May 29, the Starship SN4 prototype erupted in a massive fireball at the commercial spaceflight company’s test facility near Boca Chica, Texas. SN4 is the latest technology pathfinder for the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship spaceship, which SpaceX envisions taking people to and from the moon, Mars and other distant destinations.
Full story: SpaceX’s Starship SN4 prototype explodes after rocket engine test
Hubble data shows an ancient burst of energy pulsed out from the Milky Way’s center.Â
New research suggests that, 3.5 million years ago, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy unleashed a massive amount of energy. The likely culprit of this burst of energy was a large cloud of hydrogen about 100,000 times the mass of the sun. The energy was pervasive enough to illuminate gas in two of the Milky Way’s nearby satellite galaxies. Â
Full story: Ancient explosion in Milky Way’s core lit up gas outside the galaxy
Trump campaign video featuring NASA astronauts is pulled from YouTube.
President Trump’s reelection campaign released a video on Wednesday (June 3) that appeared to violate NASA’s advertising regulations on the depiction of astronauts. One critic is retired NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, the wife of astronaut Doug Hurley, who just launched aboard SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission. Nyberg was depicted in the campaign ad, and she said on Twitter that the use of her and her son’s image in the video, entitled ”Make Space Great Again,” without her consent was “disturbing.” As of Thursday night (June 4), the Trump campaign video has been pulled from YouTube.Â
Full story: Trump campaign pulls ‘Make Space Great Again’ video that may have violated NASA regulations
SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites.Â
On Wednesday (June 3), SpaceX launched another 60 Starlink internet satellites into space, growing the size of the mega-constellation project once more. The Falcon 9 rocket that launched the mini-satellites into orbit had already flown four times before Wednesday, and after its flight it successfully landed back to Earth’s surface.Â
Full story: SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites and lands rocket in dazzling nighttime liftoff
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth at ‘deadliest possible’ angle.Â
The death of the dinosaurs was a stroke of incredibly bad luck, a new study suggests. The asteroid that hurtled towards Earth 66 million years ago, striking the region of what is now the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico and killing all non-avian dinosaurs, hit the planet’s surface at the worst possible angle. This sweet-spot strike maximized the quantity of gas that spewed into the atmosphere, causing a catastrophic change to the global climate, researchers said.Â
Full story: Fiery meteor that doomed the dinosaurs struck at ‘deadliest possible’ angle
Interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg.
The first known interstellar visitor to our solar system is an object called ‘Oumuamua, and its weird movements and odd cigar- or pancake-like shape have been puzzling scientists since its discovery in 2017. A new study proposes that ‘Oumuamua’s oddness may stem from an unusual composition, one rich in hydrogen ice.Â
Full story: Hydrogen ice? Unheard-of composition could explain ‘Oumuamua’s weirdness
The sun unleashes its strongest solar flare since 2017.Â
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory detected the sun’s strongest flare in three years. The sun blasted off a medium-class flare on May 29, and this could be a sign that the sun is becoming active again. Our star undergoes an 11-year cycle of increasing and diminishing activity, and although this solar flare could indicate an end to the star’s current lull in activity, NASA officials say that it takes at least six months of solar observations to know when the new cycle is officially underway.Â
Full story: Sun unleashes biggest flare since 2017. Is our star waking up?
European Space Agency satellites detect a weakening in a magnetic field anomaly.Â
Earth’s magnetic field has a longstanding weak spot called the South Atlantic Anomaly, and this region may be splitting into two weak zones, according to a recent statement from the European Space Agency. The planet’s magnetic field, which is created by the churning of its liquid iron core, is incredibly important to the life forms that live under its protective blanket. In addition to protecting us from harmful cosmic radiation, it’s utilized by GPS technology and compasses.
Full story: ‘Vigorous’ magnetic field oddity spotted over South Atlantic
Scientists catch pulsar X-ray blast.
A research team was able to watch a burst of X-rays thousands of times brighter than the sun coming off a two-body system located 11,000 light-years from Earth. One of these celestial bodies is a superdense pulsar that spins 400 times per second, feeds off its companion star and then emits occasional outbursts of X-rays. The pulsar is the remnant of a star that died in a supernova explosion.
Full story: Pulsar caught binging on star before brilliant x-ray blast
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.Â
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