2026 #lunar 🌙 missions

• #Astrobotic’s #Griffin lander is scheduled for July 2026, will carry #Astrolab’s FLEX rover
• #IntuitiveMachines' third #NovaC mission in the second half of the year will carry payloads for #NASA, #ESA, and #KASI
• #BlueOrigin's first lunar landing with its #BlueMoon #Mark1 craft
• #Firefly's #BlueGhost Mission 2 in November will carry five payloads to the lunar surface
• #China is planning a #ChangE 7 landing near the lunar south pole

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/01/space-science-2026-preview/

#Moon

#Starship issues are the need for many refuelings ⛽ and its height, making it difficult to land on uneven terrain. #NASA does not need Starship's incredible capability, it needs fewer than 10 tons for initial human 🧑‍🚀 missions.
#BlueOrigin's #Mark1 lander is scheduled to launch in early 📆 2026. It will be the largest vehicle to ever land on the #Moon. A modified version could land #humans on the Moon 🌙 this decade https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/how-america-fell-behind-china-in-the-lunar-space-race-and-how-it-can-catch-back-up

#MoonLander #HumanSpaceflight

Y'know, Hopper is often mentioned as "oh, you know, there was another woman who also did computers and math back in the day", but holy crap, how come nobody ever talks just exactly about what she did?

The #Mark1 is pretty fascinating. It was an electromechanical machine! Half moving gears! Half flashing diodes! And Hopper's writing is very readable. It's like discovering the missing link between Babbage's engines and the Eniac, I'm thrilled to be reading this:

https://inversethought.com/jordi/mark1.pdf