Photo by GREGG NEWTON/AFP via Getty Images NASA has, once again, postponed the Artemis missions that will return humans to the Moon. The Artemis II mission, which will have astronauts orbiting the Moon, had already been pushed from 2024 to September 2025 but is now planned for April 2026. Artemis III, which will return astronauts to the surface of the Moon near its south pole, is now planned to launch the following year in mid-2027. The 10-day Artemis II mission will send four astronauts to the Moon, including Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. The mission won’t include a landing, but it will be the first time astronauts launch aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket inside the Orion crew capsule that will orbit the Moon before returning to Earth with a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. It will follow the uncrewed Artemis I mission that finally launched in November 2022 after years of delays due to technical difficulties and even a few hurricanes. Although Artemis I was a success, investigations into unexpected charring on the Orion capsule’s heat shield, critical to protecting astronauts when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, have contributed to the additional delays. Following extensive analysis, NASA says it has determined that the Orion capsule’s heat shield “did not allow for enough of the gases generated inside a material called Avcoat to escape,” causing some of it to unexpectedly crack and break off during the Artemis I mission, instead of wearing away gradually as it heats up. Despite the charring, temperature sensors indicated the interior of the Orion capsule remained comfortable and safe for astronauts. For Artemis II, NASA engineers have decided the capsule “can keep the crew safe during the planned mission with changes to Orion’s trajectory as it enters Earth’s atmosphere” and are preparing the capsule using the heat shield already attached. “The updates to our mission plans are a positive step toward ensuring we can safely accomplish our objectives at the Moon and develop the technologies and capabilities needed for crewed Mars missions,” said Catherine Koerner, associate administrator Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. However, for the more ambitious Artemis III mission, the agency says it is “implementing enhancements to how heat shields for crewed returns from lunar landing missions are manufactured” based on what it learned from Artemis I.

Anker’s Soundcore Bluetooth Speaker was recalled due to a fire hazard. Anker is recalling its Soundcore and PowerConf Bluetooth Speakers after receiving 33 reports of the speakers’ lithium-ion batteries overheating and, in some instances, emitting smoke or causing small fires. The affected models — A3102016, A3302011 and A3302031 — were sold exclusively on Amazon in 2023 and cost between $28 and $130, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Approximately 69,000 speakers were sold in the US, and an additional 9,764 were sold i Canada. Anker and Amazon have contacted all known purchasers, according to the CPSC. The affected speakers can be identified by an SN code that is printed on the underside of the speakers. To check whether your devices were affected, type the SN code on Anker’s website. Anker said it will offer free replacement speakers to those affected. Consumers who own the recalled speakers are advised to stop using them immediately, power them off, and disconnect them from chargers or other external power sources.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf defended the agency's role in addressing the country's obesity epidemic as he was grilled by senators over FDA regulation of the food and beverage industry on Thursday. The hearing of the Senate Committee on...

A strong earthquake was felt widely across Northern California on Thursday and authorities issued a tsunami warning.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, ahead of his meeting Thursday with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the leaders of the planned Department of Government Efficiency, said there will be a "lot of change" coming in the new Congress to make the government work better.

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President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to name a new prime minister in the coming days to prevent France from sliding deeper into political turmoil after Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote.In an address to the nation seeking to...

President Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter Biden was "appropriate" and should also be afforded to President-elect Donald Trump, says Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

About 15 demonstrators, including former U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, were at Capitol Hill on Thursday to protest a new bathroom policy that requires single-sex facilities to be used by the biological sex.