Aviation and space

Okanagan resident Debra Ceravelo grabbed this photo of the planetary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn Dec. 20, 2020. (Submitted)

South Okanagan astrophotographer captures out-of-this-world shot from Anarchist Mountain

A Western News reader snapped a photo of the rare celestial event

 

The Canadarm 2 reaches out to capture the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and prepare it to be pulled into its port on the International Space Station, Friday, April 17, 2015. The Canadian Space Agency has awarded a contract worth $22.8 million to MDA to develop Canadarm3. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO, NASA, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Canadian Space Agency awards Canadarm3 contract worth $22.8M

MDA says the project will be a third-generation artificial intelligence-based robotic system

 

A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon capsule attached, lift’s off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A Sunday Nov. 15, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts are beginning a mission to the international Space Station. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

VIDEO: SpaceX capsule with 4 astronauts reaches space station

Three Americans and one Japanese astronaut will remain at the lab until their replacements arrive

 

Lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin carries a seismic experiments package in his left hand and the Laser Ranging Retroreflector to the deployment area on the surface of the moon at Tranquility Base, July 20, 1969. Canada has signed on to the Artemis Accords, a U.S.-led effort to establish global guidelines, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO-NASA, Neil Armstrong

Canada joins U.S.-led Artemis Accords to send human explorers back to Moon and beyond

Canada has signed on to Artemis for the next 20 year

Lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin carries a seismic experiments package in his left hand and the Laser Ranging Retroreflector to the deployment area on the surface of the moon at Tranquility Base, July 20, 1969. Canada has signed on to the Artemis Accords, a U.S.-led effort to establish global guidelines, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO-NASA, Neil Armstrong
In this Aug. 13, 1965 photo provided by the San Diego Air and Space Museum, technicians work on an Atlas Centaur 7 rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA’s leading asteroid expert, Paul Chodas, speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is formally known, is actually a Centaur upper rocket stage that propelled NASA’s Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded. (Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection/San Diego Air and Space Museum via AP)

Fake asteroid? NASA expert IDs mystery object as old rocket

A telescope in Hawaii last month discovered the mystery object heading our way

In this Aug. 13, 1965 photo provided by the San Diego Air and Space Museum, technicians work on an Atlas Centaur 7 rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA’s leading asteroid expert, Paul Chodas, speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is formally known, is actually a Centaur upper rocket stage that propelled NASA’s Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded. (Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection/San Diego Air and Space Museum via AP)
Mars will appear orange and distinct in the night sky this month. (Damian Peach photo)

Mars jumps out from the night sky across B.C.

Mars is the brightest it’s been in 15 years this October

Mars will appear orange and distinct in the night sky this month. (Damian Peach photo)
Photographer Bill Bujaki captured the Neowise Comet as it streaked towards a horizon illuminated by the aurora borealis in the early morning hours of July 13. (Bill Bujaki Photo)

Salmon Arm photographer captures comet, northern lights in same frame

Neowise comet and aurora borealis put on a show for Bill Bujaki in July

Photographer Bill Bujaki captured the Neowise Comet as it streaked towards a horizon illuminated by the aurora borealis in the early morning hours of July 13. (Bill Bujaki Photo)
This photo provided by NASA shows from left, astronauts Bob Behnken, Chris Cassidy and Doug Hurley during an interview on the International Space Station on Friday, July 31, 2020. Behnken and Hurley are scheduled to leave the International Space Station in a SpaceX capsule on Saturday and splashdown off the coast of Florida on Sunday. (NASA via AP)

SpaceX capsule and NASA crew make 1st splashdown in 45 years

The astronauts’ ride back to Earth was fast, bumpy and hot, at least on the outside

This photo provided by NASA shows from left, astronauts Bob Behnken, Chris Cassidy and Doug Hurley during an interview on the International Space Station on Friday, July 31, 2020. Behnken and Hurley are scheduled to leave the International Space Station in a SpaceX capsule on Saturday and splashdown off the coast of Florida on Sunday. (NASA via AP)
No, this isn’t a view of the surface of Mars, although it may resemble some earlier visions of the red planet. The image shows the Highland Valley Copper mine, near Logan Lake, B.C. (John Arendt - Summerland Review)

COLUMN: Longing to return to a world that never was

What we know of Mars today is nothing like the depictions of the planet in earlier times

No, this isn’t a view of the surface of Mars, although it may resemble some earlier visions of the red planet. The image shows the Highland Valley Copper mine, near Logan Lake, B.C. (John Arendt - Summerland Review)
Rare comet NEOWISE and aurora lights captured in Okanagan

Rare comet NEOWISE and aurora lights captured in Okanagan

The image was captured over Big Horn Lake near Kelowna with a Pixel 4XL android phone

Rare comet NEOWISE and aurora lights captured in Okanagan
Craig Mackay on the list of people waiting to visit the final frontier through the world’s first commercial space flight program, Virgin Galactic. (Contributed)

Shuswap adrenaline junkie in line for Virgin Galactic space flight

Salmon Arm man believes trip will be the thrill-seeking pinnacle

Craig Mackay on the list of people waiting to visit the final frontier through the world’s first commercial space flight program, Virgin Galactic. (Contributed)
Ian Preston and Flor Zamudio were driving home from Penticton to their Naramata residence when they noticed something unusual in the sky over Okanagan Lake. (Jon Ross photo)

VIDEO: Okanagan couple claim to see UFO near Naramata

Flashing, flying object over Okanagan Lake spotted in Naramata and caught on video.

Ian Preston and Flor Zamudio were driving home from Penticton to their Naramata residence when they noticed something unusual in the sky over Okanagan Lake. (Jon Ross photo)