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What's New in Lunar & Planetary Science

The CNSA (China) Chang'e 4 lunar farside mission launched successfully, at 2:23 a.m. Beijing time, December 8 (18:23 UT Dec. 7).

The OSIRIS-REx mission successfully arrived within about 20 km of asteroid Bennu at about 17:00 UT (12:00 noon EST) on 3 December. It has made its first flyby of the asteroid, 7 km above the north pole. More...

The NASA InSight mission landed on Mars in the Elysium Planitia region on 26 November at 19:52:59 UT (2:52:59 p.m. EST), returned its first image (with the transparent dust cover still on, as planned), and opened its solar panels. For more information, see the NASA Press Release.

NASA has announced that the landing site for the Mars 2020 Rover will be Jezero Crater, a geologically diverse terrain holding remains of an ancient lake bed and river delta. For more, see the NASA press release.

This Day in Planetary and Lunar Exploration History

1964: San Marco 1, Italian-built satellite, launched on NASA Scout booster by Italian team.
1965: Launch of Gemini 6A Earth orbiting mission carrying Walter Schirra and Tom Stafford.
1970: Venera 7 lands on Venus, becomes the first spacecraft to return data after landing on another planet.
1972: Apollo 17 LM ascent stage intentionally crashed on the Moon.
1984: Launch of Vega 1 Venus lander and Halley's comet flyby.
2013: Yutu rover of the Chang'e 3 mission rolls onto the lunar surface.