Episode Details

Today's topics:

NASA Artemis II rocket rollback - NASA rolled back the Artemis II rocket to fix a helium flow issue in the upper stage, pushing the lunar mission from March to April 2026. This delay affects the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.

SpaceX Falcon 9 record breaking flight - SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster B1067 completed its record-breaking 33rd flight on February 21, continuing the company's work toward certifying boosters for 40 flights each. The mission deployed 28 Starlink satellites to orbit.

Moon occults Pleiades cluster tonight - Tonight on February 23, the waxing crescent moon will pass through the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, with some fainter stars being occulted or hidden by the lunar disk. The event is visible for several hours from North America.

Six planet alignment this week - A rare alignment of six planets will be visible in the evening sky this week, with February 28 being the optimal viewing date. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune will all appear above the horizon, though some require binoculars or telescopes.

Aurora displays over Arctic regions - A minor geomagnetic storm painted the skies over Iceland and eastern Canada with vivid aurora displays on February 16, captured by NASA's Suomi NPP satellite. The G1-level storm produced green and red auroras visible at high northern latitudes.