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Watch asteroid 2023 BU pass close by Earth today in this free webcast

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Update for 2:45 pm ET: The Virtual Telescope Project’s webcast of asteroid 2023 BU is now scheduled for 3:15 pm. EST (2015 GMT) due to clouds. 

A newly discovered asteroid will come very close to Earth this week. 

Asteroid 2023 BU measures between 12 and 28 feet wide (3.8 to 8.5 meters), and was just discovered on Saturday (Jan. 21) by astronomer Gennadiy Borisov at the MARGO Observatory in Crimea. When it passes by Earth at its closest on Thursday (Jan. 26) at 4:17 p.m. EST (2117 GMT), the space rock will be within less than 3% of the average Earth-moon distance at an altitude of just 2,178 miles (3,506 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. 

For comparison, most geostationary satellites orbit at an attitude of around 22,200 miles (35,800 km). 

Most asteroids aren’t bright enough to be seen without a powerful telescope; luckily, you can watch asteroid 2023 BU make its close encounter with our planet thanks to the Virtual Telescope Project. Astronomer Gianluca Masi will be hosting a free livestream of the asteroid’s pass on the project’s website (opens in new tab) or YouTube channel (opens in new tab) on Thursday (Jan. 26) starting at 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT) after a short delay due to clouds at the project’s Ceccano, Italy observing site.

Related: Asteroids: Fun facts and information about these space rocks

The asteroid is currently in the Ursa Major constellation. Due to its small size, asteroid 2023 BU is fairly dim at magnitude 19.15, but it might be visible through a powerful telescope operated by a seasoned skywatcher. 

Luckily for those of us who aren’t veteran asteroid chasers, the Virtual Telescope Project will stream the whole thing. “Asteroid 2023 BU will have an extremely close, but safe, encounter with us, coming [within] less than 10,000 km from the Earth’s center, about 25% of the geostationary satellites’ distance,” writes Masi on the project’s website (opens in new tab).

An illustration of the orbits of asteroid 2023 BU and Earth showing the asteroid at perigee on Jan. 26. (Image credit: TheSkyLive.com)

Asteroid 2023 BU is known as an Apollo-type asteroid, which means its orbit crosses that of Earth but spends most of its time well outside the path of our planet, according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (opens in new tab), which is based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. 2023 BU orbits the sun every 425 days and will not pass close to our planet again until Dec. 6, 2036.

While asteroid 2023 BU will pass extremely close to Earth, it is not categorized as potentially hazardous. That’s because its small size means it would likely break up and incinerate in Earth’s atmosphere. 

Hoping to catch a glimpse of asteroid 2023 BU? Our guides on the best telescopes and best binoculars might help you get started on the path to right optics. You can also check out our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to get started.

Editor’s Note: If you manage to catch a photo of asteroid 2023 BU and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab). 



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See the conjunction of Venus and Saturn in free webcast on Jan. 22

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During the evening of Sunday (Jan. 22) the solar system planets Saturn and Venus will meet up in the night sky making a close approach. Luckily, skywatchers who don’t want to brave the bitter cold of January can watch the encounter from the comfort of their homes.

The Virtual Telescope Project will stream the close-approach and the arrangement, known as a “conjunction,” between Venus, the second planet from the sun, and Saturn, the solar system’s second-largest planet. The livestream will begin while the two planets will be separated by less than half a degree, which is less than the angular size of the full moon, and is equivalent to half the width of a finger at arm’s length.

The Virtual Telescope Project’s livestream of the conjunction of Venus and Saturn will begin at 1:30 pm EST (1830 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 22) and will be available to watch online for free courtesy of the project’s website (opens in new tab) or YouTube channel (opens in new tab).

Related: What time is the conjunction of Venus and Saturn on Sunday (Jan. 22)?

Both Saturn and Venus are visible to the naked eye in the night sky, but there is a massive difference between the brightness of the two. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon and during the conjunction will be at magnitude -3.9. Saturn, famous for the rings which encircle it, will be at magnitude 0.7 during the conjunction. (Negative numbers indicate bright objects in the sky.)

That means Saturn will be 100 times fainter than Venus during the conjunction according to Virtual Telescope Project head and astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. Masi will be observing the conjunction between Venus and Saturn from Ceccano, Italy.

An illustration of the evening sky on Jan. 22 depicting the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

During the conjunction, the two planets will be close enough in the night sky to be resolved with a telescope. Skywatchers will also be able to observe the conjunction with binoculars or with the naked eye, though Saturn may be difficult to spot without assistance from an instrument.

Conditions for viewing the spectacle should be favorable, weather permitting, as the the moon will only be a 2% illuminated crescent the day following January’s new moon on Saturday (Jan. 21). 

An illustration of the night sky on Jan. 22 showing the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

According to In the Sky (opens in new tab), from New York City the conjunction between Venus and Saturn will become visible in the constellation of Capricorn at around 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 GMT) at around 14 degrees over the horizon to the southwest. The planets will set around two hours after the sun at 6:48 p.m. EST (2348 GMT).

The conjunction of these planets marks the beginning of the evening apparition of Venus. According to Space.com’s Joe Rao, the evening apparition of Venus will see it literally soar high into the heavens by late spring during which time the already bright planet will more than double its brightness.

As Venus rises above the horizon, during this period Saturn will lower in the night sky each subsequent night, disappearing into the twilight as it does so. This is leading to Saturn’s solar conjunction on Feb. 16th, 2023.

If you’re hoping to observe the conjunction between Saturn and Venus for yourself, our guides for the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to take some photos of the conjunction, see our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.

Editor’s Note: If you snap the conjunction between Saturn and Venus, and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com. This story was updated on Jan. 22 to include the new start time for this livestream and to include its YouTube video feed.

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See Saturn shine at its best for 2022 in free webcast tonight

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The ringed planet Saturn is often hailed as the jewel of the solar system and you have a chance to see why in a free webcast tonight. 

Saturn, which has the most dazzling rings of all the planets in the solar system, reaches a point in its orbit called opposition tonight (Aug. 14) that marks its closest and brightest appearance in the night sky this year. To celebrate, the online Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast live views of Saturn from a telescope in Ceccano, Italy. Weather permitting, the webcast will begin at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). It will appear on this page at start time, but you can also watch directly on the Virtual Telescope Project website (opens in new tab), too.

“As the lunar cycle progresses, Saturn and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening as Earth moves around the sun,” NASA wrote (opens in new tab) in an August skywatching guide. “Saturn will be at its closest and brightest for the year on Aug. 14, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise.”

Related: The brightest planets of the August 2022 night sky

When Saturn is at opposition, it is in a point in its orbit that is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. It’s also at its closest point for the year, which in 2022 is about 823 million miles (1.32 billion kilometers). 

According to Space.com’s skywatching columnist Joe Rao, Saturn is currently shining at a magnitude of +0.3, which is a bit brighter than Procyon, the eighth brightest star in the night sky. The planet is visible in the southeastern sky. 

Weather permitting, you can see the planet Saturn at its best for 2022 on Aug. 14, 2022, in a free Virtual Telescope Project webcast. (Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project)

Saturn isn’t the only planet you can see in tonight’s sky. Jupiter and the moon will also put on a show, NASA has said.

“On Sunday night into Monday morning, Aug. 14 to 15, 2022, Jupiter will appear to the left of the waning gibbous moon. The pair will rise above the eastern horizon at 9:58 p.m. EDT with Jupiter about 6 degrees to the left of the moon,” NASA wrote in its guide. (Your closed fist held out at arm’s length covers about 10 degrees of the sky.)

An illustration showing Saturn at opposition in the night sky of August 14, 2022. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“The moon will reach its highest in the sky for the night Monday morning at 4:02 a.m. with Jupiter about 4 degrees above the moon, and morning twilight will begin a little more than an hour later at 5:19 a.m.” NASA added.

Are you looking for a telescope or binoculars to observe Saturn, Jupiter or the moon? Our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals now are a great place to start. Our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help you find equipment to capture the next skywatching sight like a pro. 

This sky map shows where Jupiter and the moon will be in the southwestern sky in the evening of Aug. 14, 2022. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

Editor’s note: If you snap an amazing photo of Saturn or any other night-sky sight and you’d like to share it with Space.com for a story or image gallery, send images, comments and location information to spacephotos@space.com.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in new tab) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).



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SpaceX set for first Moon launch [webcast]

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No earlier than (NET) 7:08 pm EDT (23:08 UTC), August 4th, a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station LC-40 pad as part of the company’s 34th launch of 2022.

Carrying the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft, the mission will be SpaceX’s first direct launch to the Moon and could also make South Korea one of just a handful of countries that have successfully entered orbit around a planetary body other than Earth.

SpaceX has assigned former Falcon Heavy booster B1052 to its first Moon launch. After debuting in April 2019 and supporting another Falcon Heavy launch in June, the former ‘side booster’ sat dormant for almost 1000 days as virtually every payload contracted to launch on the most powerful operational rocket ran into months or even years of delays. Eventually, SpaceX gave up waiting and converted the vehicle into a Falcon 9 booster, and Falcon 9 B1052 debuted on January 31st, 2022. KPLO will be its sixth launch overall and fourth mission as a Falcon 9.

Already fitted with an expendable upper stage, B1052 prepares for its first launch as a Falcon 9 booster. (Richard Angle)
B1052 ahead of its sixth flight and SpaceX’s first direct launch to the Moon. (SpaceX)

Technically, KPLO won’t be the first payload SpaceX has helped launch to the Moon. That distinction is held by Israel’s Beresheet Moon lander, which launched as a rideshare payload on an otherwise ordinary Falcon 9 geostationary communications satellite mission in 2019. The spacecraft’s landing was unsuccessful but it did enter a stable orbit around the Moon before things went wrong.

Instead of launching the satellite as a rideshare payload to an Earth orbit, KPLO (also known as Danuri) will be the only spacecraft aboard Falcon 9, and the SpaceX rocket will directly send the orbiter on a type of trans-lunar injection (TLI) trajectory known as a Ballistic Lunar Transfer. A BLT is much slower than some alternative TLI trajectories, but it trades speed for exceptional efficiency, making the launch easier for Falcon 9 and ultimately giving the orbiter more useful time around the Moon by requiring less propellant to enter orbit.

If all goes to plan, KPLO – weighing about 678 kilograms (~1500 lb) at liftoff – will complete several trajectory correction burns and eventually enter orbit around the Moon in mid-December. Outfitted with several cameras, a networking experiment, and a few scientific instruments, the spacecraft’s main purpose is to scout for a flat, debris-free area for a future Korean Moon lander.

South Korea’s Danuri Moon orbiter. (KARI)

That unnamed follow-on mission will be even more domestic, as South Korea intends to launch it with its own Nuri rocket. After falling just shy of success during its first orbital launch attempt in October 2021, Nuri successfully reached orbit during its second launch attempt in June 2022.

KPLO is one of up to six launches planned around the world on August 4th, including two Chinese missions, a ULA launch on the US East Coast, a Rocket Lab mission out of New Zealand, and Blue Origin’s latest suborbital tourist launch. Barring delays, KPLO will be the last launch of the day. SpaceX’s official webcast will likely begin around 6:55 pm EDT (22:50 UTC).

SpaceX set for first Moon launch [webcast]








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You can watch an asteroid zoom safely by Earth in a live webcast today

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A huge asteroid will safely fly by Earth today (March 3), and you can watch it live online. 

The Virtual Telescope Project is planning to stream live telescope views of the asteroid 138971 (2001 CB21) during its approach. The space rock is technically classified as “potentially hazardous”, but there’s no need to worry. The asteroid will pass by at the equivalent of nearly 13 times the average Earth-moon distance (3 million miles, or 4.9 million kilometers), according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

Asteroid 2001 CB21 measures between 1,800 feet (560 meters) and 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) in diameter, according to CNEOS. That’s about as big as Chicago’s Navy Pier.

The Virtual Telescope Project’s event starts at 10 p.m. EST (0300 GMT Thursday, March 4). Typically the project uses a telescope based near Rome, run by founder Gianluca Masi. “The potentially hazardous asteroid (138971) 2001 CB21 will have a relatively close and obviously safe flyby with our planet,” Masi said in a statement. “The Virtual Telescope Project will show it to you live, online: join us from the comfort of your home!”

Related: The greatest asteroid missions of all time!

The Virtual Telescope Project captured this view of asteroid 138971 (2001 CB21) ahead of a March 4, 2022 flyby. (Image credit: Virtual Telescope Project)

If you’re looking for a telescope or binoculars to spot asteroids like this one, check out our guide for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals available now. Our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help you pick the best imaging gear.

NASA keeps its eyes peeled for asteroids using a network of partner telescopes as well as space observations, coordinated through the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The agency has found no imminent threats yet, but it continues the search to be proactive.

The agency also tests out asteroid defense technologies (not that we need them yet) such as one that will arrive at an asteroid moon very shortly. In late September or early October 2022, the 1,210-pound (550 kilograms) DART spacecraft will slam into a small asteroid named Dimorphos, changing this space rock’s orbit around its larger companion, Didymos. 

Overall we know of around 750,000 asteroids, but the vast majority don’t come anywhere near Earth. Scientists have identified more than 27,000 near-Earth asteroids, with new ones spotted constantly. 

Potentially hazardous asteroids are classified as those space rocks over a certain brightness (implying a certain size, although the correlation isn’t perfect) that come within 4.65 million miles (7.48 million km) of Earth. (The distance is one-twentieth of the average distance between Earth and the sun.)

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 



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SpaceX set for third Starlink launch in a row [webcast]

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Update: SpaceX says that a Falcon 9 rocket is on track Starlink 4-11 from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) no earlier than (NET) 9:12 am PST (17:12 UTC) on Friday, February 25th. The mission will be the third of five back-to-back Starlink launches planned in February and March 2022.

In lieu of commercial missions that are ready to fly, SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets are currently scheduled to launch at least five batches of Starlink satellites in a row.

The streak won’t break the company’s record of seven back-to-back Starlink launches but it does highlight one beneficial side-effect of SpaceX’s relentless pursuit of vertical integration – the ability to create its own launch demand. Just shy of two full months into 2022, SpaceX has launched seven times – three for paying customers and four for Starlink. Before February is over, the company is scheduled to launch at least one more batch of Starlink satellites for a total of eight launches in the first two months of the year.

Up next, SpaceX is scheduled to launch Starlink 4-11 out of its California-based Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) SLC-4E facilities no earlier than (NET) 9:08 am PST (17:08 UTC), Friday, February 25th. Drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) departed the Port of Long Beach for the mission on February 22nd and is headed around 640 kilometers (~400 mi) southeast to a booster landing area just off the coast of Baja California. Falcon 9 booster B1063 is scheduled to support the mission – its fourth launch overall and first since it helped launch NASA’s DART asteroid redirection spacecraft into interplanetary space in November 2021.

Up next, another Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch Starlink 4-9 as early as “mid-morning” EST on Thursday, March 3rd from its Kennedy Space Center LC-39A pad. Booster B1060 is reportedly scheduled to support the mission and will become the third SpaceX first stage to singlehandedly support eleven orbital-class launches if it does. Starlink 4-9 could be the pad’s last mission for a few weeks to give SpaceX enough time to convert its rocket transporter/erector for the March 30th launch of Axiom-1, which will send four private astronauts to the International Space Station.

Finally, SpaceX plans to launch Starlink 4-10 NET Tuesday, March 8th from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) Launch Complex 40 (LC-40). It’s likely that SpaceX will launch at least one more Starlink mission next month but a firm date has yet to be settled on. All told, including Starlink 4-7 (February 3rd) and Starlink 4-8 (February 21st), SpaceX is on track to launch at least five Starlink missions in a row, hopefully placing around 240 satellites (~200 after losing most of Starlink 4-7 to a “geomagnetic storm”) in orbit in less than five weeks.

Falcon 9 B1063 is about a day away from its fourth launch. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Falcon 9 B1060 could launch for the eleventh time less than a week later. (SpaceX)

More a sign of a lack of commercial missions ready for flight than anything else, SpaceX’s record for uninterrupted Starlink missions – set from February to April 2021 – is seven launches. Technically, SpaceX actually managed 12 Starlink launches between February and March, with just one commercial mission – Crew-2 – separating the lot. Barring surprises, SpaceX is thankfully unlikely to be hit by a similar streak in 2022.

There’s a chance that SpaceX will launch a batch of three O3B mPower satellites for SES next month. At a minimum, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a trio of Dragon missions over the next two or so months, beginning with Ax-1 NET March 30th. Another Crew Dragon is scheduled to launch Crew-4 for NASA on April 15th, followed by Cargo Dragon 2’s CRS-25 space station resupply mission as early as May 1st. Excluding Starlink missions and on top of the three commercial launches SpaceX has already completed this year, there are as many as 38 more commercial Falcon launches tentatively scheduled before the end of 2022.

SpaceX set for third Starlink launch in a row [webcast]








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You can see the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster on a collision course with the moon in a live webcast today

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See the SpaceX booster?

If you spot SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster in a telescope before it hits the moon, let us know! Send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com. 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster will crash into the lunar surface in March, and you can track the rogue rocket as it nears the moon. 

The upper stage booster is part of a Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX launched in February 2015 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The rocket carried the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, which is a joint effort led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. 

However, after completing its mission, the upper stage was so high that it didn’t have enough fuel to return to Earth and has been in an uncontrolled orbit (due to competing gravitational forces of the Earth, moon and sun) for the last seven years. Now, satellite trackers show that the rocket will slam into the far side of the moon on March 4. 

The Rome-based Virtual Telescope Project is offering free, live webcasts today (Feb. 7) and tomorrow (Feb. 8), during which they will track the Falcon 9 booster on its trajectory to the moon. The webcasts are available online, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). NOTE: The live webcast is dependent on weather, so this schedule could change.

Related: See the evolution of SpaceX rockets in pictures

Artist’s illustration of the DSCOVR satellite attached to its SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage shortly after launch in February 2015. The Falcon 9 stage will crash into the moon on March 4. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The rocket booster is expected to crash into the moon at 7:25 a.m. EDT (1225 GMT) on March 4, according to a statement from the Virtual Telescope Project. However, since the impact will occur on the moon’s farside, it won’t be visible from Earth. 

“About one month earlier, it will be visible from Earth for the last time and we will show it live to the world,” Gianluca Masi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project, said in the statement. “On 8 Feb., in particular, [the rocket booster] will be at its brightest and closest to our planet, moving very fast across the stars.”

Amateur astronomers can also track the rocket’s crash course using Unistellar’s Ephemeris tracker, which allows viewers to select a target and pinpoint its position in the night sky based on the viewer’s location and the date of observation. Using this data, skywatchers can then properly point their telescopes at the Falcon 9 rocket, which will be visible as a sudden burst between Feb. 7 and Feb. 9, according to Unistellar. 

While this unintended lunar collision won’t be visible from Earth, the hope is that moon-orbiting spacecraft such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and India’s Chandrayaan-2 will be able to study the resulting crater or any subsurface material gets ejected from the impact. 

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 



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Watch NASA announce its next astronaut class in this webcast replay

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Editor’s note: NASA on Monday announced the 10 newest astronauts to join its space corps in a ceremony at Ellington Field in Houston near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. You can watch a replay of the announcement above. Our full story on the announcement will be posted shortly. 

In the meantime, NASA’s new astronaut class includes four women and six men. They are: 

  • Nichole Ayers, 32, major, U.S. Air Force, of Colorado;
  • Marcos Berríos, 37, major, U.S. Air Forceof  Guaynabo, Puerto Rico;
  • Christina Birch, 35, biochemist, of Gilbert, Arizona; 
  • Deniz Burnham, 36, lieutenant, U.S. Navy, of Wasilla, Alaska;
  • Luke Delaney, 42, major, retired, U.S. Marine Corps, of Debary, Florida;
  • Andre Douglas, 35, mechanical/electrical/computer engineer, of Virginia;
  • Jack Hathaway, 39, commander, U.S. Navy, of Connecticut;
  • Anil Menon, 45, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, of Minneapolis, Minnesota;
  • Christopher Williams, 38, physicist, of Potomac, Maryland;
  • Jessica Wittner, 38, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy, of California.

NASA announced its 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class on Dec. 6, 2021. The 10 candidates, pictured here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are: U.S. Air Force Maj. Nichole Ayers, Christopher Williams, U.S. Marine Corps Maj. (retired.) Luke Delaney, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jessica Wittner, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Anil Menon, U.S. Air Force Maj. Marcos Berríos, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, U.S. Navy Lt. Deniz Burnham, and Andre Douglas. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA is ready to announce its next batch of astronaut candidates, and you can watch the event live.

The agency will announce the 2021 astronaut class today (Nov. 6) at 12:30 p.m. EST (0530 GMT). The event will run live on NASA Television, NASA social media channels, the NASA app and also here at Space.com.

More than 12,000 U.S. citizens applied in 2020 to become an astronaut of the “Artemis Generation”, or what NASA has termed the astronauts expected to participate in the Artemis program for moon missions and the planned lunar Gateway space station. Moonbound astronauts will fly on the Orion spacecraft and Deep Space Launch system that will have their first uncrewed moon mission together no earlier than February 2022.

The first Artemis crewed mission (in lunar orbit) is expected in 2024 and the first landing mission in 2025. Existing agency astronauts termed the “Artemis Team” will get those first seats, though, along with an unidentified Canadian who will fly on the 2024 Artemis II orbital mission under an agreement with the Canadian Space Agency.

Related: How To Become An Astronaut

The 2021 astronaut class could be among the crew members of Artemis moon missions, NASA says. (Image credit: NASA)

While the new class would be eligible for Artemis assignments eventually, it’s unclear if they will reach the International Space Station — even though NASA’s announcement says the new astronaut candidates would qualify for full astronaut status and flight assignment to the orbiting complex after two years of training. 

Since the new class would receive flight assignments no earlier than 2024, that pegs the timing in the same year as the current retirement date for the ISS. Even after being assigned to a flight, the astronauts’ mission training would take another couple of years — meaning the earliest the new class could get to the orbiting complex would be around 2026. 

That said, NASA hopes to extend the ISS retirement date to 2028 or even 2030, and just revealed a bunch of commercial space station designs that the 2021 class may one day visit in the coming decade or so.

Related: How NASA’s Artemis moon landing with astronauts works

The new astronaut candidates will report to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston in January 2022, where they will begin their two-year qualification cycle in aspects such as the Russian language, spacewalking skills, teamwork in isolated conditions, piloting high-performance aircraft and learning spacecraft systems.

NASA’s last astronaut class of 2017, nicknamed the Turtles, included 12 U.S. individuals split pretty evenly among male and female candidates; several international astronaut candidates also joined their respective country’s corps at that time. 

The graduation ceremony for the Turtles took place in January 2020, minus NASA astronaut candidate Robb Kulin, who resigned partway through the training.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

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Watch live tonight: Join Slooh’s live webcast of asteroid Apophis flyby

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Video courtesy of Slooh. Visit Slooh.com to snap and share your own photos from this live event, and interact with our hosts and guests, and personally control Slooh’s telescopes.

The Slooh online observatory will broadcast live views of the near-Earth asteroid Apophis as it makes a close but safe flyby of our planet today (March 5) at 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT on Saturday). Slooh’s webcast will feature images of Apophis from Slooh’s remotely operated observatories in Chile and the Canary Islands. 

“We’ll be tracking Apophis most of the night,” Slooh’s chief astronomical officer Paul Cox told Space.com. “I’ll be hosting the live star party, and our guests are Bob Berman and Dr. Mike Shaw. We’ll be discussing Apophis, the risks near-Earth objects pose to Earth, our historic coverage of Apophis, and Slooh’s legacy tracking these near-Earth asteroid passes since 2008.”

You can watch the webcast live in the window above, courtesy of Slooh, and Slooh members can view it at Slooh.com. Non-members can sign up for a free 7-day membership trial here.

Editor’s note: If you snap an amazing night sky photo and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or photo gallery, send comments and images to spacephotos@space.com. 

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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