OTD in 1961, Alan Shepard became the 1st American & 2nd human to cross a widely-accepted boundary of space during the suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight. He landed ~300 miles downrange 15 minutes after liftoff. I wish I could get that kind on time on my Boston-Philly trips of the same distance.

Thousands of new Artemis II photos! Amaze amaze amaze! Check them out in this neat viewer/poll and help determine which ones will grace the header of millions of articles for the next decade. #artemisII

The pole came out pretty good. If you look closely you'll see that it's actually the skeleton of our Xmas tree.

The episode of The Simpsons where Marge reveals she used to paint portraits of Ringo Starr aired 35 years ago. The flashback within the episode takes us back to ~1968, a 23-year jump. The Simpsons episode is now 1.5x further in our past than Beatlemania was at the time of the episode.

It's a cross-quarter day! Today marks the halfway point between the vernal equinox and the northern solstice. I hope you're making good progress on your spring cleaning task list, northern hemisphere friends!

I'm so excited to see Steve in Boston this week!

I love studies linking infrasound to paranormal nonsense. You can't hear it, but it does stress you out!

I was going to wish JRTI a very fond farewell, but it looks like a career change rather than a retirement. I'll still say the line: It belongs in a museum!

Here's a really cool & easy night sky observing treat for those on the USA's Eastern Seaboard. The waxing gibbous Moon will pass in front of a bright star, Regulus, the night of April 25th. You need to look up times for your specific area to see the cool part: when the star suddenly winks out.

Don't forget to duck today as 2013 GM3, an asteroid the size of a small tractor-trailer, passes by Earth just inside the orbit of the Moon.

What struck me most about Artemis II was how casual and cool both the crew and ground controllers sounded for the whole ten-day flight. They both sounded like they were genuinely having fun, in addition to practicing every checklist and maneuver until they could read them out in their sleep.

It took until Mission Day 7, but the clouds finally cleared in Boston and I got my first view of the Moon since the Artemis II crew lifted off last week.

In 1980s North Carolina, there was a little girl with the famous Apollo 8 Earthrise photo on her wall. Today that little girl, Christina Koch, becomes the first woman to watch an Earthrise in person when the #artemisII mission slingshots around the Moon.

Today's #artemisII wake up message included a greeting from Apollo veteran Jim Lovell, welcoming the crew to his "old neighborhood." His advice for today's historic flyby? Don't forget to enjoy the view.

Checking the #artemisII livestream every few minutes this morning, and you can *feel* the Moon getting closer. Happy new human distance record day!

The #artemisII astronauts got a wake-up message from Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke today. Chills!

So amazing to see the #artemisII crew relaxed and enjoying their downlink chats with the media while on their way out to swing around the Moon.

Speaking with the press, it seems the main complaint from the #artemisII crew is that the cabin feels a little chilly. Victor Glover can't wait to put his knit cap back on. Artemis III better bring the heavy-duty sleeping bags.

I know people are coming into #artemisII from so many different places, but as someone who has been anticipating and talking about humans headed back to the Moon for almost two decades...it's surreal. It's really happening.

I am wondering if the #artemisII crew have plans for any kind of ceremony to mark the occasion when the Orion capsule reaches its furthest distance from Earth. With future Artemis missions to the surface that might not need the same type of trajectory, this new record could stand for decades

Turned on the #artemisII feed this morning just in time to hear Christina Koch radio Houston, ask about the timeline for wake-up music, and say goodnight. Sleep tight crew!

They're on their way! #artemisII #nasa

We're back in! T-4 minutes!

HOLD HOLD HOLD Fairly common for rocket launches, so let's wait to see how long to troubleshoot #nasa #artemisII

The #ArtemisII crew aren't going just a bit farther than we have since 1972. They will be one *thousand* times farther from Earth than the #iss For scale, imagine Earth as Connecticut and our furthest spaceflight in 54 years as a trip 5 miles past the border. Today's crew is headed to Denver #nasa

Today, we go back to the Moon. The 322-foot SLS rocket is now filling with fuel. We're less than ten hours away from the first steps that will lead to the next giant leap for Earthlings.

It's confirmed that the Artemis II crew are at the Astronaut Beach House with their families tonight, a tradition that dates back to the early days of spaceflight. #artmemis #nasa

Today's poll was go, and NASA is actively counting down to the Artemis II launch Wednesday evening! It's happening, people! #artemis #nasa

The #artemis astronauts are taking questions from their ongoing quarantine ahead of their planned Wednesday launch around the Moon!

As laughably implausible as sending a nuclear-propelled mission to Mars as soon as the late 2028 window is, the idea of three little helicopter musketeers popping out of a parachuting backshell IS. SO. UNBELIEVABLY. COOL. #nasa #ignition

New JWST image dropped: what if Saturn was a cosmic skee-ball? #nasa #ignition #JWST

Great, so NASA is going to take a page out of the U.S. Healthcare playbook and use an A.I. calendar manager to determine which legacy missions to deny operations budget and kill. #nasa #ignition

From the NASA Ignition press event: So the ISS is going to grow (by adding new modules) and then split like an amoeba before its fiery crash back to Earth. Its "offspring" will be a brand new LEO space station. #nasa #ignition