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What's New in Lunar & Planetary Science

The ispace Resilience lunar lander mission was scheduled to land on the Moon on 05 June 2025 at 19:17 UT (3:17 p.m. EDT, 4:17 a.m. 06 June JST) in Mare Frigoris. Ground controllers lost communication shortly before the landing. It is assumed the spacecraft crashed on the surface. For more, see the ispace news release.

Cosmos 482, a failed Soviet Venus probe launched in 1972 but left stranded in an elliptical Earth orbit that has slowly been decaying, re-entered the atmosphere on 10 May at 6:24 UT. Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it may have survived re-entry, but it would have landed in the Indian Ocean.

The Lucy mission flew within about 960 km of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on 20 April 2025 with closest approach at 17:51 UT (1:51 p.m. EDT). For images from the flyby and more information, see the Lucy news release.

This Day in Planetary and Lunar Exploration History

1958: First launch of a spherical rocket motor with spin stabilization, from Wallops Island.
1962: Starfish Prime, at 400 km the highest altitude large nuclear blast ever, creates temporary radiation belt.