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
- 1967
- Launch of Mariner 5 flyby mission to Venus.
- 1975
- Launch of Venera 10 lander to Venus, second spacecraft to return pictures of surface.
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- NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams
- Curator: Dr. David R. Williams
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- Last updated: 30 November 2018