Asteroid Day is an official United Nations day of education and awareness that aims to inspire the world about asteroids – their role in the formation of our universe, how we can use their resources in the future, how asteroids can pave the way for future exploration and finally how we can protect our planet from asteroid impacts.

Learn more here

This full-stress test of the Orion spacecraft’s Launch Abort System will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A critical milestone for human missions to the Moon, this test of the Orion spacecraft’s Launch Abort System will show that it can carry a crew to safety in case of an emergency during launch.

This celebrates when the day when the earth is furthest from the sun. The distance between them is 152,104,285 km.

Saturn will be at its closest approach to Earth. Saturn will be observable in the constellation Sagittarius. It will be visible from 22:30 – 03:30, reaching its highest point in the sky at around 01:00. This positioning happens when Saturn is almost directly opposite the Sun in the sky. At around about the same time, it also makes its closest approach to the Earth making it appear at its brightest and largest.

Recorded exactly one month before the first moon landing on the 20th June 1969 and then released on the 11th July 1969, 5 days prior to the launch of Apollo 11. This iconic song was sung and recorded by Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013; becoming the first music video shot in space. Watch Chris in action here!

This Partial Lunar Eclipse will begin at 21:15 and last for 4 hours with its maximum eclipse at 22:30. The Moon should be about half-covered by the Earth’s shadow at maximum eclipse. The Moon will be close to the horizon so for a good view make sure you have a good view to the Southeast.

On July 16, 1969, the huge, 110m tall Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 11 mission from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:32 a.m. EDT (2:32pm BST). Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft were astronauts Neil Armstrong, the commander; Michael Collins, the command module pilot; and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the USA’ first lunar landing mission.

Bluedot 2019 is celebrating fifty years since the Moon Landings this July with a four-day spectacular combining music, science, cosmic culture and more beneath the Lovell Telescope. The first wave of headliners has been revealed – featuring Lovell Stage performances from Kraftwerk 3-D, New Order and Hot Chip, ground-breaking sets from the Grammy-nominated likes of Jon Hopkins and Tokimonsta, science and culture talks from Liz Bonnin, Helen Pankhurst, Jim Al-Khalili and Tom Shakespeare. To get tickets click here.

Image courtesy of www.discoverthebluedot.com

Space Exploration Day is observed on the day the first man walked on the Moon. However it is about more than just the Moon landings though and is intended to pay tribute to the incredible achievements in the space industry and spark the space exploration efforts of the future.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon while Command Module Pilot Mike Collins orbited overhead.
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Delta Aquarids is a meteor shower that can produce up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by comets Marsden and Kracht. Around the 28 July will be the peak of the shower as the Moon will be a waning to a New Moon. however it will be officially active from July 12 to August 23. The best time to view this shower is after midnight and before dawn, at roughly 3am BST. This shower will overlap in early august with the Perseid meteor shower as well.

This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky.

July 14 – August 24

The Perseids is considered one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862. The Perseids frequently leave long trails of light behind them as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere and are know for fireballs as well. Fireballs are explosions of light and colour that can last longer and brighter than usual meteor streaks. This is because fireballs originate from larger chunks of debris from the comet.

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made the first-ever flyby of Neptune on Aug. 25, 1989, passing the ice giant and its moon Triton in quick succession.

This package contains dehydrated bacon bars, which were freeze-dried for ease of packaging and storage during flight. It was flown on the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. Since it was not used, it was brought back to Earth. Most space food was easily reconstituted by the astronaut with a water probe which dispensed one half ounce of hot or cold water as required, each time the trigger button was pressed. These bars did not require rehydration and could be eaten straight from the package.

Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the Moon. Bacon cubes were among the meals stored in the lunar module. And it worked out that meal A, the first scheduled meal to be eaten on the Moon, consisted of bacon squares, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, pineapple grapefruit drink and coffee. They ate history’s first meal on Moon slightly ahead of schedule after landing at the Sea of Tranquility.

NASA and industry partners are targeting the return of human spaceflight from Florida’s Space Coast. These flight tests will prove the space systems meet NASA’s requirements for certification to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. For this uncrewed flight test, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.