Moon | M Thomas Apple Author Page

“Blood Moon” lunar eclipse across the Americas

August 28, 2026
MThomas

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth moves between the sun and the moon and its shadow is cast on to the lunar surface. In Thursday night’s event 96% of the moon will be darkened by the Earth’s shadow at its peak moment. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/27/lunar-eclipse-north-south-america

WordPress has gotten really wonky with the “quotation” formatting, so I hope this one works…

Anyway, I will of course still blog about science in addition to family history and other things I find interesting.

Remembering when I took a writing workshop online a few years ago, and they told me to choose only one genre in order to not confuse readers.

And I still think, nah. I think readers are smart enough to enjoy good writing when they see it. To me, the mark of a good writer is one who can wend and weave between multiple genres. Why limit yourself?

If you don’t like science writing, fine. If you don’t like history, fine. If you don’t like science fiction, fine. If you don’t like random thoughts about life, the universe, and everything…well, then, what on earth are you doing reading my blog? :p

Anyway, enjoy the eclipse if you are able to see it. I’ll keep on writing!

(Also, I really don’t care for this “AI can monetize your blog” BS. I’m not doing this for money. I just like to write. I hope you like reading it!)

Nancy Grace Roman telescope is a GO

June 16, 2026
MThomas

“In the mission’s first five years, it’s expected to unveil more than 100,000 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies,” [Julie McEnery, senior project scientist] said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-roman-space-telescope-launch-fastest-ever-rcna349773

It should be ready for launch in August, to be parked at the L2 Lagrange space near James Webb ((which has been there since 2021).

Two decades in the making. Yet “under budget and ahead of schedule”? Really?

I’m all for discovering tens of thousands of possibly inhabited worlds and learning more about dark energy and dark matter. But I’d also like to see a little more practical tech from NASA. How will this help us settle the solar system and figure out how to visit other systems?

First Hong Konger in space

May 25, 2026
MThomas

Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer and mother of three, serves as the payload scientist in the three-member crew who made their way to China’s Tiangong space station on Sunday night.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7p87r56mgo

Congratulations to her!

But is it really important that she is a “mother of three”? I never see anything about male astronauts being a “father of three.”

Presumably she got sent into space because she qualified for the job, not because she has three children. Sexist reporting like this has to stop.

Artemis II, welcome home. Now let’s go again. And stay.

April 14, 2026
MThomas

“The moon really is its own unique body in the universe. When we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of the Earth, it just reminds us how much we have in common. Everything we need, the Earth provides, and that, in and of itself, is somewhat of a miracle.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/10/artemis-ii-landing-return-moon-mission?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Should have posted this a couple days ago, but better late than never.

Just like this mission. It’s better to delay a mission than scrub it.

And DJT should stop trying to take credit for it. He’s still trying to slash NASA’s budget to practically nothing. Get rid of him already.

More good news like this, please. No more war. Space awaits all of us.

To go farther than anyone before

April 7, 2026
MThomas

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed ahead of the flyby. “It is just unbelievable.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/06/artemis-ii-astronauts-record-moon-earth-distance?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Just like Apollo 8 in 1968.

History does not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.

To boldly go where Tom Hanks has not actually been…

April 2, 2026
MThomas

https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2026/apr/01/artemis-ii-launch-nasa-orion-moon-trip-live-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Live up dates of the Artemis II mission to “cislunar space” (it will not actually land on the Moon but will take four astronauts farther away from Earth than anyone else so far).

And the real reason Class D missions are a complete waste…

March 4, 2026
MThomas

Lunar Trailblazer blazed so hard that NASA completely lost it immediately…

Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft solar panels toward the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun.

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727622/nasa-lunar-trailblazer-moon-new-report-what-went-wrong

It took a year to figure this out.

A year.

To find out that the outsourced company in charge couldn’t even be bothered to test the product. They just happily pocketed $72 million of taxpayer dollars and laughed all the way to the bank.

Another symptom of a nation in decline…

Blood Moon tonight! And..

March 3, 2026
MThomas

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/mar/03/total-lunar-eclipse-tonight-blood-moon-2026-what-time-when-date-march-full-worm-moon-sydney-australia-new-york-america

Lunar eclipse, tonight from 6:30 to 11:00…

Except it still raining here in Japan, and we’ll see nothing.

Rats.

At least we’ll visit JAXA tomorrow…

Here we (don’t) go again, NASA…

February 22, 2026
MThomas

Just one day after NASA said it was eyeing a potential March 6 launch date for the Artemis II lunar mission, the space agency said Saturday that complications with the rocket could delay all launch attempts in March from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/nx-s1-5722339/nasa-artemis-ii-march-launch-delay

Looks like you get what you pay for…

(Btw, WordPress, the “quote” field used to have a separate area where you could put a link to the quote’s source. Where did that go? Nothing like helping the spread of unverified fake news…)

Billions and billions of wasted dollars’ worth of samples…

February 19, 2026
MThomas

NASA’s plans for Mars sample return are effectively cancelled as part of a bill approved by the U.S. Congress, ending efforts to collect Perseverance rover samples that could contain evidence of alien life.

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/nasas-mars-sample-return-is-dead-leaving-china-to-retrieve-signs-of-life-from-the-red-planet

Congratulations, America. You’ve managed to give Mars to China.

But do tell me how this makes America great again…

…and just how ironical the rover’s name is at this point…

And also WordPress, could you please fix the “quotation” block style? It refuses to turn off…

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