Fun fact: many of the prettiest photos taken by robotic spacecraft were similarly framed ahead of time by humans using simulators of view geometry to pick when the spacecraft should shoot the photo. Case in point: this photo of Europa over Jupiter from New Horizons science.nasa.gov/image-detail...

Re-upping this: The path to the Artemis program ultimately spans six presidential administrations (Bush, two Obamas, two Trumps, and one Biden). It's a pretty huge team effort across roughly two decades (and counting), that also includes multiple international partners.

It’s all happening SW San Diego #Artemis #Integrity

Humanity did that. Science did that. Publicly-funded research did that. Excellent universities did that. Diversity did that. International cooperation did that. Artemis II is a perfect example of what we can do at our best. Welcome home, Integrity crew!

My husband, repeatedly: “How can they do this? How can it be so precise??” SCIENCE. Publicly funded science.

Now that they’re safe on the ground we.. ocean, I can make a joke OMG ARTEMIS IS IN TROUBLE WE’RE GETTING REPORTS OF A GIANT CAT BATTING THEM OUT OF THE SKY OH THE HUMANITY

NASA failed to predict the real splashdown risk.

… will ICE let Mission Specialist Jermey Hansen of the CSA onto the USN recovery vessel? (sorry)

Doing an exterior survey

#artemis SPLASHDOWN! Integrity is safe coms with crew perfect. 4 green astronauts (metaphorically and in terms of status)

magnificent. a perfect descent! 1m to splashdown

the capsule and the four astronauts are currently reentering the atmosphere and due to plasma build up around the capsule they are prevented from communicating with a mission Control for 6min. reentry interface. #artemis #blackout

Yooo Whaaat?! Long live WiFi controlled GoPros! #Artemis

Command Module Integrity separate a few minutes ago. here’s a view from the #Artemis 2 capsule. 16 min to splashdown

hey oceania! look up and wave! #artemis 2 is coming home. the integrity capsule is separating from orion in about 30 minutes

did reid wiseman just refer to astronauts as ‘operators’ during the press conference with jared isaacman? along with christine koch referring the flight controls testing as ‘driving’, it’s a bit sad to hear flying and piloting being reduced in the tasks of what contemporary astronauts do. #artemis

everyone’s in this image! if you're in Aotearoa New Zealand, look towards the western horizon, where the moon is setting and wave at #artemis! Orion is now heading into 40 minutes in loss-of-signal (with the Moon between Orion and Earth)

here’s to the lunar flyby. Earthrise to Earthset from the dark side of the moon… closest approach takes place in about 11 hours. NASA begins live coverage in about 5 hours… mission events and broadcast times at www.nasa.gov/missions/art...

‘Payment expected within seven days’: New Zealand doctor invoices US embassy for rising petrol costs

First Woman to go to the moon. First far-space plumber. Toilet crisis averted thanks to Christina Koch: what a legend 🤩 The radio stations I've spoken to so far this morning about #Artemis are very taken with the whole loo-saga 😂 #FlyMeToTheMoon ℹ️: www.space.com/space-explor...

quick reminder that you can watch unedited live footage of #Artemis here www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rwf... … the astronauts are about to go to sleep. but Houston & Christina Koch have recently discussed how to troubleshoot the Integrity capsule’s toilet… #houstonwevehadaproblem

the only ballistic action this planet needs… #gointegrity #goartemis

shout out to all the @NASA socialists that i used to follow on ex-twitter… everyone suddenly showed up here… wait, did something happen recently?! (i gotta say @esa.int mightabeen at the start of that curve upward in interest here).

gooo Intrepid, gooo #Artemis! what a launch! now that the solar array is open, perigee raise maneuver burn was at the right time… it looks like NASA has a *current* crewed lunar mission! TLI tomorrow! (this great catch by @catherineq.bsky.social is of Orion separating from the Core stage)

If you'd like to follow along with the #Artemis II launch, NASA has a live blog here: www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio... and you can watch the official broadcast on the NASA site here: plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-vi... or on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/live/Tf_UjBM...

… so how do you watch the launch of Artemis II anyhoo? tune in from ~5:30am NZT… for the 2 hour launch window that opens at 11:24am. 80% chance of favourable weather! www.nasa.gov/ways-to-watch/

here’s to the Wellington GP who, outraged by the US attacks on Iran, is issuing fuel vouchers to their patients and invoicing the US embassy to recoup costs archive.is/DzWGh

they’re not landing, but the first humans to venture beyond the Van Allen belts since 1972 will be doing plenty of discovery… of physiological changes within themselves… & not to mention gazing out the window… Artemis II’s launch window opens tomorrow 11:24am NZT www.nature.com/articles/d41...

1/ The US attempted to send several Iran-bound bombers to an Italian air base without prior authorisation and was refused permission by the Italian government while the aircraft were in flight. The news comes a day after Spain disclosed it was refusing US military overflights. ⬇️

This thread links a bunch of my actual publications on this aspect of AI as a permission structure for this political and economic program. Share with your friends and bosses! Fun for all! bsky.app/profile/sonj...

The fuel crisis will test a LOT of long-held assumptions about transport, starting with demand & supply: NZ car travel is reportedly down by 20% already. 📉 Matt Lowrie looks at the government's response so far, and asks: what else should we be considering? www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2026/03/30/i...

Current mood.

“The real divide is not between the left and the rest of the country, but between people grounded in reality and people who have immersed themselves in the American right’s warped, extremist media universe.” www.liberalcurrents.com/fakery-is-th...

The global food system is systemically fragile in the same way that the global financial system was before the 2008 crash. If it goes it down, we’re looking, as complex societies, at a potential termination event. This week's column. Please read it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It cannot be repeated enough that we need to rapidly decarbonise our economy, particularly transport. This has benefits for climate change as well as energy resilience. Policy support for more buses, trains, ferries; protected cycleways; safe walking; e-bikes; e-cars; e-trucks.

… my earlier question has been highlighted as a bit naive or too general. absolutely it is! sometimes overarching questions are needed when you want to find out what people think unprompted… before focussing the conversation further. so go on… humour me : )

What are the biggest challenges we face in New Zealand? Political perspectives aside, & if unlimited finances were available… What material or social improvements would you create to make things just a bit better for people & land in a long or short term future?

A year ago, ministers met to consider tightening NZ’s pay equity law. Their decisions went further than officials had advised, hardening the policy to the point some groups were cut out from ever making a claim. Why? And on what evidence? They won’t show us. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

thread has been tracking the development of this crisis for over a month.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

Can’t say Muslims. Can’t say mosques. Can’t say white supremacism. A coward who is scared of his own base and overpowered by his own bigotry. In the month of Ramadan too. Disgusted.

don’t spread unconfirmed rumours on social media.

we’re about 5 years since the first community covid isolations. in that early phase, many were inspired by cities that might become platforms for alternate human behaviour. thing is; the netherlands experienced similar situations during the 1973 OPEC energy crisis www.theguardian.com/cities/galle...

Important issues in play here -- the stories told about MethaneSAT don't add up. (And they should add up to the $30M in public money that was poured into it) And the people who won't tell us what happened play a key role in deciding what missions can launch from New Zealand soil.

why didn’t lux flakes resign? because his advisors reminded him he could defer and deflect…

You know, since the first modern oil crisis in the 70s it feels like we shouldn't have quadrupled down on oil dependency and car required living

🚨The most important graph in the world has another year of data, and it doesn't look good!🚨 NASA CERES satellites measure how much sunlight Earth absorbs and how much heat is radiated back to space. The difference is heat accumulation, which has more than tripled!

This infantilization over past years about “doomscrolling”, and “not seeping into despair” is so... You need to feel uncomfortable. The ignorance is bliss mentality that brown people can watch their own innocents being killed, but you got to take a mental health break every time from reading news?