EL PAÍS

When the USSR won the race to the Moon, although they missed a note in ‘The Internationale’

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 04 May 2026 15:22:10 +0000

[Excerpt from the book Robots hacia la luna by science writer Rafael Clemente, in which he recounts in detail the incredible history of lunar exploration]

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From ‘Apollo 8′ to ‘Artemis 2′: Six decades after the first flight to the Moon, the space race is no longer the same

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Everything is ready for the launch of the first crewed mission to the Moon in 50 years on April 1, NASA announced on March 12. For those who followed the adventure of the first flights to Earth’s satellite, it is impossible to avoid comparisons between Apollo 8, the first expedition to orbit the Moon in 1968, and the imminent Artemis 2. Nearly six decades later, preparations are underway for a new lunar tussle, but the geopolitical circumstances are very different. Today, Russian competition is nonexistent (that of China is another matter), and the sense of a “space race” has vanished. And with it, the pioneering epic that characterized Apollo 8.

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Another Starship in flames: Why are Elon Musk’s rockets exploding?

Rafael Clemente — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 12:04:22 +0000

The explosion of Starship 36 during a static fire test is a new setback for SpaceX, adding to three previous failures. It not only jeopardizes its plans to deploy the entire Starlink constellation (consisting of 12,000 satellites, of which half have already been launched), but also impacts the program to return astronauts to the Moon.

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Jared Isaacman, Elon Musk’s man at the head of NASA: Is the Martian revolution coming?

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 13:50:19 +0000

The nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump heralds significant changes at the space agency, which has just decided to continue with the current design of the next manned missions to the Moon, despite delays. Although the real decision on the Artemis program will be in the hands of the new head, provided that Isaacman’s nomination is finally endorsed by the Senate.

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New Russian anti-satellite weapon revives fears of nuclear conflict in space

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 15:34:29 +0000

On February 14, Michael Turner, chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement warning of “a serious threat to national security.” Shortly afterward, the White House confirmed its suspicions that Russia was developing a high-powered anti-satellite weapon. The word nuclear was not used, but it was implicit in the statement.

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Elon Musk’s plans to go to Mars... within two years

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:06:14 +0000

There are few public figures who provoke as much controversy as Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. His outlandish statements, extravagant lifestyle and political interference make him seem like a James Bond baddie bent on conquering – and perhaps destroying – the world.

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A chain of Mars exploration catastrophes: When NASA confused the metric with the imperial system

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 04:05:00 +0000

The 1990s were a disastrous decade for Mars exploration projects. Out of seven attempts, only two were successful. And the apparent ease of Viking 1 and 2 — a pair of NASA landers and orbiters — hid a more difficult reality: landing on the red planet was much more difficult than it seemed. In the first 50 years of exploring Mars, almost half of the vehicles sent there crashed or stopped working.

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The submarine that tapped the Soviets’ phone

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:17:58 +0000

During the Cold War, numerous espionage missions were carried out by submarines. Some of these episodes could form part of the plot of a James Bond movie, but the details surrounding them are still shrouded in military secrecy. Only a few have come to light, such as Operation Ivy Bells in the 1970s. In a nutshell, the idea consisted of nothing less than tapping a telephone cable linking the Soviet submarine fleet headquarters in Vladivostok with the Pacific Fleet’s base at Petropavlovsk. History attributes the original idea to Captain James Bradley, who was serving as undersea warfare director at the Office of Naval Intelligence. Legend has it — or perhaps it was reality — that he had the inspiration one sleepless night alone in his office at the Pentagon, when he realized that there had to be a rapid communication channel between the command and the operational bases. Although radio transmissions were undoubtedly used, they were more sensitive to intrusion (satellites capable of picking them up were beginning to come into use); a simple cable seemed much more secure.

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How to crash a football-field-sized habitable spacecraft into Earth

Rafael Clemente — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 04:05:00 +0000

Everything that goes up must come down, and the International Space Station (ISS) is no exception. NASA has awarded SpaceX the project to build the vehicle that will be used to bring it down in a few years, perhaps as early as 2030.

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Will NASA astronauts or Chinese taikonauts live in lunar caves?

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:59:14 +0000

A team of Italian astronomers from the University of Trento has just published a detailed analysis of a lunar cave. Specifically, a radar study of the entrance and first sections of a gallery that may extend 100 meters below the surface. Strictly speaking, lunar caves are not a new discovery. Half a century ago, Verne Oberbeck, a planetary scientist hired by NASA, theorized about their existence. The first was located in 2009, thanks to images sent by the Japanese probe Kaguya. Later, other satellites, especially the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have been adding more to the catalog. Today, more than 200 are known.

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Helium-3: Mining the fuel of the future on the Moon

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 12 May 2024 03:40:00 +0000

Why go back to the Moon? The question was posed more than half a century ago and is once again being asked as the Americans and the Chinese prepare to return to the Earth’s only natural satellite. The two superpowers are doing it this time with the intention of staying for longer periods than the brief visits made by astronauts in the 1960s and 1970s, and the geopolitical interest in this race is indisputable.

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China unveils plans to send ‘taikonauts’ to the moon from 2030 onward

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:20:17 +0000

The Chinese Space Agency has made its plans for a moon landing public. If everything works out as they hope, it will happen in the 2030s, although it is not clear when. At present, NASA expects to do so in September 2026, but the delays so far suggest that it will probably be postponed a bit longer. There is a possibility that, in the future, we will see a repeat of the 1960s space race between the United States and the USSR. In recent years, China placed three devices on the surface of the moon and last Wednesday they successfully launched the Queqiao-2 satellite as a spearhead to improve communication from Earth and support upcoming missions to the moon’s far side and south pole.

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Success or failure? Almost out of battery, two frozen spacecraft landed sideways on the moon

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 16:09:27 +0000

It is taking a lot of effort to land on the moon again after doing so over a half century ago. Of the last six attempts, only one — the Indian probe Chandrayaan-3 — was successful. For one reason or another, the other efforts cannot be considered successes. But have they been disasters?

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Why is it so difficult to land on the moon?

Rafael Clemente — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 16:52:57 +0000

Japan’s recent lunar landing, becoming the fifth nation to complete a soft landing after India last August, showcased the challenges of returning to the moon. The moon lacks air, of course, making parachute deployment impossible. Only rocket engines can be used, requiring precise adjustments to achieve a near-zero speed touchdown. Landing on the moon is a complex task that requires radar and laser measurements to monitor altitude and carefully manage fuel consumption. The objective is to avoid premature depletion while ensuring a safe landing without any horizontal displacement. And the delicate onboard instruments must be protected from potential damage upon impact.

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Skylab 4: 50 years since the first ‘mutiny’ aboard a spacecraft

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 19:32:31 +0000

There have been at least two cases of rebellion by astronaut crews in the history of space exploration. The first happened in 1968 during the Apollo 7 mission. Commander Wally Schirra had come down with a cold and fever, and his congested sinuses led him to ignore the reentry protocol. Schirra and the crew chose not to wear their helmets, fearing ruptured eardrums due to the pressure change. The second incident happened during the Skylab 4 mission (1973-1974), which was the final tour aboard the NASA space laboratory.

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An eternal lunar library for aliens to discover

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 20:30:42 +0000

On April 11, 2019, the Beresheet lunar lander crashed on the Moon’s Mare Serenitatis plain. It was a privately built space probe that wanted to follow in the footsteps of the United States, Russia and China, but luck was not on its side that day. A gyroscope failure caused software malfunctions, causing the engine to shut off 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) above the Moon’s surface. Although it managed to restart, the Beresheet ultimately crashed on the Moon at a speed of approximately 700 kilometers per hour (435 mph).

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SpaceX ‘Starship’ launch: The keys to Elon Musk’s second attempt

Rafael Clemente — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:21:01 +0000

The second Starship launch attempt is imminent, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced that it has granted SpaceX authorization to test-fly its mega rocket. Elon Musk’s company will attempt to achieve liftoff on Saturday November 18 during a twenty-minute launch window that opens at 7:00 CT at the SpaceX base in Boca Chica, Texas, where the rocket is already waiting on its launch pad.

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Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has water, CO₂ and fascinating possibilities

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:52:30 +0000

Observations from the James Webb telescope suggest the presence of CO₂ on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. It is covered by a thick layer of ice under which there could be a global ocean.

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China defeats Elon Musk in the race for the first methane-fueled space rocket

Rafael Clemente, Francisco Doménech — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:58:30 +0000

SpaceX is progressing toward a new Starship launch, following a static ignition test of its engines on Friday. This time, its Super Heavy booster’s 33 engines did ignite, although two of them shut down prematurely. Success in this on-the-ground technical maneuver is essential for the U.S. space company to try to put its super rocket into orbit again. Elon Musk has said on X (formerly Twitter) that such a flight will happen soon, despite the fact that federal authorization for the launch is still pending. Last week, new details emerged about the damage caused to the environment and wildlife by the previous attempt to launch Starship in the protected natural space around SpaceX’s base.

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Why does the prime meridian pass through Greenwich?

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:13:28 +0000

For centuries, the problem of determining the position of a ship on the high seas was a difficult one, although latitude and longitude pose two very different difficulties. Latitude is measured with respect to a very clear reference point: the Equator. On the other hand, for longitude there is no specific starting point, since all meridians are the same.

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New space race reignites the epic of lunar probes half a century later

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 12:46:01 +0000

After a 47-year hiatus in its lunar exploration program, Russia is about to return to the Earth’s satellite. The newly-launched probe is number 25 in the Luna historic series of spacecraft, which gave the now-defunct Soviet Union some of its greatest successes in the early years of the space race.

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A guide for aliens: how to interpret the messages sent from Earth in the Pioneer and Voyager space probes

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 16:26:44 +0000

NASA has just re-established contact with the Voyager 2 probe, after two weeks of silence. Launched in 1977, it carries a message for aliens – something that has received a lot of attention in recent days, after statements by a whistleblower in the US Congress assured the public that the Pentagon is hiding “non-human remains” of extraterrestrial origin.

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NASA picks up ‘heartbeat’ of deep-space probe ‘Voyager 2′ and is confident contact can be regained

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 15:28:53 +0000

Voyager 2 is not lost in interstellar space, NASA announced Tuesday. The U.S. space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) confirmed on Twitter that it has detected faint radio signals from the venerable probe — “something like listening to the heartbeat of the spacecraft” — and that this confirms it remains in good condition and is emitting information from beyond the Solar System. The problem is that this information is no longer reaching Earth correctly, due to a human error that occurred two weeks ago.

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‘Starship’ explosion: NASA on alert over launch pad destruction as Artemis faces delays

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 09:59:23 +0000

As SpaceX quality systems engineer said after the historic launch of Elon Musk’s Starship: “Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.” The rest of the objectives in the company’s first test flight of the 120-meter rocket were secondary. SpaceX’s biggest fear was that the vehicle would collapse on its launch ramp. It had happened before: in July 1969, at the height of the space race, the USSR launched its second N-1, the rocket developed to carry a Russian cosmonaut to the Moon. Just 10 seconds after liftoff, nearly all 30 first-stage engines were shut down and the vehicle plunged back onto its launch pad. The explosion completely destroyed the N-1, and it took a year and a half to rebuild it.

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Why did ‘Starship’ explode? The reasons behind the failed launch of Elon Musk’s rocket

Rafael Clemente — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 14:12:30 +0000

The long-awaited launch of the huge Starship rocket ended in an explosion over the Gulf of Mexico, but SpaceX considers it a learning experience rather than a failure. It was an initial test flight and more will follow. The failure occurred during the stage separation process. The first stage separated successfully after the critical max-q point, where aerodynamic pressure intensifies, stressing the rocket inordinately. The rocket achieved this, although six of its 33 engines shut down shortly after liftoff, which shows the capacity and resilience of the spacecraft.

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NASA’s plans for the end of the ISS: private space stations and hotels with an Earth view

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 13:41:42 +0000

When the time comes to do away with the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has no plans to replace it. The agency has just declared its intention to cede future developments to private companies and reserve for itself the role of a mere user of what is known as Commercial Destinations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

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The telescope with which NASA intends to search for new worlds

Rafael Clemente — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:05:10 +0000

More than 5,000 exoplanets are known. Among them, almost three hundred meet the conditions to support some form of life: being rocky bodies (not gaseous) that orbit a star that is not wildly active at a distance suitable for its temperature to allow for the existence of liquid water.

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Space exploration: Artemis I’s forgotten passengers

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:24:40 +0000

Despite being unmanned, NASA’s Orion capsule is monopolizing the attention of those who follow space exploration, especially through its spectacular views of the Moon. As soon as the last stage of the rocket was shut down, with the capsule already en route to the Moon, 10 small satellites acting as passengers on the trip were ejected.

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‘Houston, we have a new record’: ‘Orion’ goes further than any other spacecraft designed to carry astronauts

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 09:38:07 +0000

“Houston, we have a new record.” With this historically meaningful expression, NASA announced on social media that its Orion capsule has just broken the distance record for a human-rated spacecraft, that is, one capable of transporting astronauts. For now, the Orion’s crew is made up of three mannequins that have been instrumented to detect radiation and acceleration. There are also a couple of stuffed animals and hundreds of Snoopy pins on board. The previous distance record was held by Apollo 13 which, after sustaining serious damage from an explosion on board, had to follow a hastily calculated trajectory to return home. As NASA explains: “Orion was designed to take humans further into space than ever before and bring them back to Earth safely.”

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Inside NASA’s Artemis mission: Three mannequins, 25 days and a Greek goddess replica

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 19:08:33 +0000

On November 16, after months of delays, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its partners successfully launched the first spaceflight of the ambitious Artemis program, a robotic and human exploration program to reestablish a human presence on the Moon. Here are the mission highlights.

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NASA’s DART probe creates man-made ‘comet’ behind target asteroid Dimorphos

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 11:06:55 +0000

Among the thousands of asteroids that revolve around the Sun, there is something for everyone. As large as minor planets (Ceres – designated a dwarf planet – Pallas, and Vesta) or minute; solitary or accompanied by tiny satellites; solid or simple accumulations of loose fragments. But there is probably only one that is accompanied by something resembling a comet, with a 10,000-kilometer (6,213-mile) tail wagging in the solar wind, and which furthermore is of artificial origin, caused by the hand of mankind.

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Juno spacecraft to fly by Jupiter’s icy moon Europa

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 09:22:38 +0000

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is about to receive a new visit from Earth. NASA’s spacecraft Juno, which has been orbiting the gigantic planet since July 2016, will perform a close flyby on Thursday at 5.36am EDT (9.36 UCT). The last time a spacecraft visited Europa was 22 years ago, when NASA’s Galileo spacecraft captured a series of images of the moon.

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How will we know if NASA’s DART probe succeeded in changing the course of an asteroid?

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:33:33 +0000

A few minutes after 23.00 UCT on Monday, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe crashed into its target, a small asteroid called Dimorphos, almost exactly according to schedule. At the speed of a bullet fired from a .44 Magnum, against a rock measuring 160 meters in diameter, 11 million kilometers from Earth, DART hit the bullseye.

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James Webb Telescope rediscovers Earendel, the farthest known star in the universe

Rafael Clemente — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 14:31:59 +0000

Although the new James Webb Space Telescope has made headlines with its recent images of deep space, its predecessor, the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, is still operational and prompting new discoveries, for example, the March observation of Earendel, the farthest known star in the universe.

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Five men in socks and a happy driver: How the CIA ‘borrowed’ a Soviet rocket

Rafael Clemente — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 10:15:00 +0000

Among the many unimaginable episodes that transpired during the Cold War, few can top the time when the CIA kidnapped (they prefer the term “borrowed”) a Russian rocket. The operation, worthy of a James Bond movie, took place in 1959, but the agency did not release the information until forty years later, as part of its “Historical Review” program. Despite all the years that have passed, the official report does not reveal any details about who, where and when the mission was carried out.

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The incredible story about how the CIA retrieved a Soviet submarine

Rafael Clemente — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 16:09:18 +0000

In the early hours of March 11 and 12 of 1968, hydrophones located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean detected two underwater explosions. They were able to establish the origins and cause: about two thousand kilometers southeast of the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, a submarine had just suffered a terrible catastrophe

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James Webb space telescope: Where are the cosmic objects captured in the first images?

Rafael Clemente — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:15:21 +0000

The James Webb space telescope can only observe 40% of the sky. It is the size of a tennis court, and moving it to point in a different direction is very difficult. Before it is moved, it must keep its back to the Sun. Its equipment must always be kept at a very low temperature, meaning it cannot be pointed at any site at any time. What it can do is rotate a complete turn on its axis to observe objects that are towards the north or south pole.

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James Webb space telescope: A guide to the first full-color image

Nuño Domínguez , Rafael Clemente — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 11:56:42 +0000

US President Joe Biden revealed on Monday the first full-color image taken by the James Webb space telescope, the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. “Today is a historic day,” said Biden, during a ceremony at the White House on Monday evening. “These images are going to remind the world that America can do big things. And they’ll remind the American people, especially our children, that there’s nothing beyond our capacity – nothing beyond our capacity.”

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NASA’s plan to return to the Moon–and stay

Rafael Clemente — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 01:26:01 +0000

At the end of 2017, coinciding with the 45th anniversary of the last flight of the Apollo program to the Moon, former US President Donald Trump signed a presidential directive that urged NASA to renew its efforts to return to the Moon as soon as possible. He did not set a date, but just a year later, former Vice President Mike Pence did: 2024. He was presumably counting on an eventual re-election of Trump, who would attempt to repeat John F. Kennedy’s achievement from half a century earlier. But the deadline was too tight. NASA had neither the right ship nor the right rocket, nor a concrete plan of how to do it. The Apollo program had been conceived essentially as a gesture for national prestige, with limited scientific ambitions. A return to the Moon would be an exploration mission with broader objectives than just planting the ceremonial flags. Thus was born the Artemis program, NASA’s plan to reconquer the Moon.

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What civilian satellites are revealing about the war in Ukraine

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 01:28:55 +0000

The photographs showing the armored convoys advancing towards Kyiv were taken by civilian satellites, not military ones. The latter have vastly superior technology and their footage has only been publicly revealed on a few rare occasions. One was as a result of espionage, as with the Samuel Loring Morison case in 1984, involving a US government official who leaked classified information to a news publication. Other times, military-grade photographs have been shared to support certain policies (like the images showing alleged hideouts used by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Sudan). Occasionally, “satellite” images have been offered up, but these have always been artificially degraded to conceal their true quality.

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The James Webb opens its eyes for the very first time (and also sends a selfie)

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 11:21:06 +0000

The James Webb Space Telescope has begun the laborious process of calibration, and has already transmitted its first image. Well, in actual fact, its first 1,560 images, because that was the number of photos needed to determine the state of the 18 hexagonal mirrors that make up the main mirror.

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Is space tourism ethical?

Rafael Clemente — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 14:50:00 +0000

The private spaceflight for four tourists, commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman on September 15, has renewed questions about the legitimacy of such trips. In this case, the flight really was for tourists, especially if compared to the space missions of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and business magnate Richard Branson. But the questions remain the same. Not from a legal point of view – everyone has the right to spend their money on whatever they want – but rather from an ethical perspective.

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‘Ingenuity’: a helicopter that will fly over Mars

Rafael Clemente — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 12:48:07 +0000

The Perseverance explorer, which has been on the Jezero crater of Mars for more than a month now, isn’t alone. It took a small helicopter with it, one that goes by the name of Ingenuity. Until now it has been in the storage space of the larger craft, folded up to occupy the smallest space possible and covered to protect it from dust and rocks that were kicked up during landing.

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Yuri Gagarin’s troubled re-entry into Earth

Rafael Clemente — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:13:47 +0000

It has been 60 years since a man first left the Earth to travel in space. That man was Yuri Aleksevevich Gagarin, a name inscribed forever in the annals of human discovery. Gagarin was the perfect candidate, the prototype of the Soviet “new man” in the context of Cold War tension between the world’s two superpowers. A new book by Stephen Walker, Beyond, considers Gagarin’s legacy and that of the NASA astronauts who would become known as the Mercury Seven. It is a work whose master stroke, according to a Times review, is to bring together in one book the two stories of the Soviet and US space programs.

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