Technologies
NASA Is Sending Astronauts to Circle the Moon in February 2026: What to Know
The astronauts won’t be landing or picking up moon rocks during their 10-day mission.
It’s been more than 50 years since astronauts last went to the moon, and yet few NASA missions stir the kind of excitement that the Apollo program once did. But now, NASA has new moon plans. The upcoming Artemis II mission, scheduled for February, will be the closest humanity has come to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. And it’ll be setting the stage for another moon landing.
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On Tuesday, NASA announced details of the upcoming mission, which will send four astronauts around the moon and back again.Â
Artemis II: The Plan
The Artemis II launch window opens Feb. 5, 2026, and lasts up to eight days. That means the mission will launch on Feb. 5 at the earliest and Feb. 13 at the latest.Â
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will crew Artemis II. Wiseman, Glover and Koch are all Americans, and Hansen will be the first Canadian ever to travel to the moon.
NASA will use the same systems it did during the uncrewed Artemis I flight test in 2022. The launch will use NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which was developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and the United Launch Alliance.
 After launch, the Orion spacecraft will perform a series of maneuvers to raise its orbit around Earth. NASA says that Orion will be 46,000 miles away from Earth during this time. For reference, the International Space Station orbits at around 250 miles above our planet.Â
Orion will orbit Earth twice before separating from the upper stage of the Space Launch System rocket. From there, manual controls will be engaged and the crew will be on its way to the moon. After a few days, the crew will overshoot the moon by about 4,700 miles, giving the crew a rare glimpse of the Earth and the moon at the same time, with the moon in the foreground.Â
After the overshoot, the crew will begin its return home. NASA refers to this as a free ride, as the crew essentially just has to wait for gravity to pull Orion back to Earth. The trip will take 10 days in total.Â
We’ll have to wait until 2027 for a moon landing
By the time the Artemis II crew circles the moon, it will have been 54 years since NASA’s final Apollo mission sent astronauts to the moon in December 1972.Â
During that 12-day mission, the Apollo 17 crew landed on the moon, collected space rocks and investigated potential volcanic activity. The mission was famous for being the first to include a civilian scientist, geologist Harrison Schmitt.Â
The Artemis II crew will come closer to the moon than any human has since the Apollo 17 mission, but they won’t land on the moon’s surface. Instead, they will fly around it.Â
The Artemis II mission serves as a test flight to see how well the Space Launch System rocket and Orion perform. The mission will also test and observe the spacecraft to ensure it works as expected. Think of Artemis II as a dress rehearsal for a follow-up mission, Artemis III, which will include a crewed moon landing.
Artemis III is planned for 2027. If it stays on schedule, it will be the mission that puts humans back on the moon for the first time in 55 years. The crew plans to touch down in one of 13 planned landing sites, including the previously untouched south pole of the moon.Â
Technologies
Passengers and crew foil co-pilot’s apparent attempt to crash FlyDubai flight to Israel
One of the pilots on a FlyDubai flight headed for Israel stabbed the second pilot, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On-duty flight crew and passengers managed to foil a pilot’s apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight, after reports emerged of a fight in the cockpit.
The incident on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv happened when a co-pilot stabbed a pilot, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised the victim’s quick thinking.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X.
FZ1073 was diverted to the Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia, the airline said, after being successfully secured and diverted by flight crew.
FlyDubai in a statement said that an “altercation” occurred on the flight deck of the plane, but did not mention a stabbing.
However, the airline added that the underlying reasons and motives for the clash is currently unknown, urging all parties to refrain from speculation.
The injured pilot was identified by Netanyahu as Indian national Smit Machchhar. No details have been released on the identity of the attacker, except that he was being interrogated by Saudi authorities.
The Indian embassy in Riyadh said on X that Machchhar is in a hospital in Tabuk, and is reported to be in stable condition.
The Israeli Prime Minister also identified the passenger who broke into the cockpit as Yaniv Hayun, calling him a “hero” and adding he deserved “a global medal of honor.”
Flight data from tracking site FlightRadar24 showed that the plane had experienced extreme altitude fluctuations before broadcasting a “general emergency” squawk code.
FZ1073 had dropped from over 14,000 feet in just 29 seconds, and FlightRadar24 also added that vertical speeds ranging from approximately -30,000 to +10,000 feet per minute were observed from the transponder data.
For context, vertical speeds during normal operations rarely exceed plus or minus 4,000 feet per minute, it added.
Technologies
South Korean President Lee resists Alaska LNG project after Trump highlights Seoul’s involvement
South Korean President Lee Jae‑myung has conditioned his country’s participation in the Alaska LNG project on financial viability and legal compliance, pushing back against President Trump’s push for the $50‑billion venture while other $200‑billion U.S. investments move forward.
South Korea’s $200 billion investment in the United States, which President Donald Trump said would transform America “for generations,” is not yet finalized in full.
The South Korean investment blueprint includes nuclear power plants, a natural‑gas power facility in Texas, and potentially the long‑planned Alaska liquefied natural gas project.
Trump posted on Truth Social late Wednesday that the two nations had agreed to move forward on the Alaska LNG venture, estimating its value at $50 billion. This prompted a response from South Korean President Lee Jae‑myung, who stressed that participation in some projects remains tied to commercial considerations.
In an X post Thursday local time, Lee said that involvement in the Alaska LNG project hinges on its financial viability and legal compliance. He added that investments in nuclear power plants would also require a plant‑by‑plant assessment of commercial feasibility.
The US‑South Korea joint statement Wednesday also noted that work on the project is contingent on “commercial reasonableness,” without detailing allocations toward the venture.
The Alaska LNG project aims to move natural gas roughly 1,300 km (800 miles) from fields on Alaska’s North Slope to the state’s southern region, where it would be liquefied for export to markets including Asia, according to Yonhap. The initiative has long faced scrutiny over its economics, given the substantial upfront capital required.
Industry Minister Kim Jung‑kwan labeled it “high‑risk” last year and said participation would be challenging unless the project could generate sufficient cash flow.
Overall, the investment package allocates $22.3 billion for a 6,472‑megawatt natural‑gas power plant in Encinal, Texas, which will supply electricity to nearby data centers. The venture will be led by developer Related Cos. and U.S. power provider NextEra Energy.
Trump said the investments would turn South Korea’s commitments into “huge construction projects” and create “tens of thousands of American jobs.”
“These are massive energy projects, adding power capacity in the United States,” Trump remarked. “This is new construction, new manufacturing, and great jobs for American workers.”
The two countries said they would seek to broaden Korean firms’ involvement in the Texas project across equipment supply, engineering, construction, and long‑term operations and maintenance. The U.S. also plans to give Korean companies opportunities to supply equipment, including turbines, for similar projects domestically.
Another $120 billion has been earmarked for plans to build eight large‑scale nuclear reactors in the United States. Of that sum, $100 billion is designated for construction costs and $20 billion for contingency reserves.
The nuclear accord was signed by both governments as well as Westinghouse Electric, Korea Electric Power Corp., and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. The plan also calls for Korean firms to pursue a potential significant minority stake in Westinghouse, with terms subject to commercial negotiations.
Technologies
Washington’s big crypto bill is stuck. The SEC is pushing ahead anyway
The SEC has proposed new rules that would make it easier for investment advisers and regulated funds to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of clients.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules that would make it easier for investment advisers and regulated funds to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of clients, as U.S. regulators push ahead with writing crypto rules after a sweeping legislation stalled in Congress.
The proposal, announced Thursday stateside, would establish a tailored framework governing how registered investment advisers, investment companies and business development companies hold custody of crypto assets.
The changes are aimed at modernizing decades-old custody requirements and removing regulatory barriers that the SEC says have limited advisers’ ability to offer crypto-related investments.
Under the proposed rules, crypto assets could be held in self-custody under “certain circumstances,” while state trust companies could also serve as custodians for crypto assets belonging to clients and regulated funds.
The changes could also give regulated funds greater scope to offer investors crypto-related investment strategies, according to the SEC.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said existing regulations had failed to keep pace with the rapid expansion of digital assets, which have grown into a multi-trillion-dollar market.
“Today’s proposal would provide a clear regulatory framework for the custody of crypto assets, giving investment advisers and funds a compliant pathway where none existed before,” Atkins said.
The proposal comes as U.S. regulators push ahead with building out a crypto rulebook under their existing authority after the Clarity Act, a sweeping crypto market structure bill, stalled in the Senate in September.
That marks another step in the SEC’s broader effort to rewrite the U.S. regulatory framework for digital assets under Atkins, and will be open for public comment for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
With broader crypto legislation stalling in Congress, regulators are exerting their existing powers to address individual parts of the market, said Jeff Ko, chief analyst at blockchain infrastructure service provider ViaBTC.
“What we’re increasingly seeing is the SEC using the authority it already has to solve individual bottlenecks one by one, issuance, tokenization, trading exemptions and now custody,” he told CNBC via email.
The regulatory push also comes as crypto markets show signs of renewed momentum following a volatile start to the year. Bitcoin has rebounded over 40% from its July low, as improving risk appetite have helped revive demand for digital assets.
The recovery follows a prolonged downturn from late 2025 into the first half of 2026.
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