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NASA IS MIMICKING
THE MOON

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we hang with prospective NASA moonwalkers, search for the blood-sucking chupacabras, capture a mosaic of the doomed Titanic … and follow a legendary Lion King actress’s circle of life.

A picture of two people in space suits in a field

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAN WINTERS

Who are the next moonwalkers? NASA hasn’t yet named the astronauts who could bounce on the moon’s surface as soon as 2025, but the agency has been putting prospective lunar walkers through nighttime tests of equipment and scientific reporting.

The agency aims to send people to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan said goodbye in December 1972. “God willing,’’ he said on that final moonwalk, “we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

Read the full story here.

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Portraits of two people in space suits

Moonwalkers in training: Above, left to right, astronaut Zena Cardman and Drew Feustel photographed during training in Arizona last month. At top, the two are among astronauts, engineers, and scientists conducting a nighttime analog mission in conditions that mimic the harsh terrain of the moon. Read more.

STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING

A picture of tiny fish coming out of a bigger fish's mouth

PHOTOGRAPH BY JANE BURTON, NATUREPL.COM

They’re good parents—but they sometimes eat their young (Pictured above, a cichild mom spits out wayward babies)

How tiny Roman artifacts tell big stories about the empire. Related: Nero’s cunning, strategic mom, Agrippina.

Why we lie: The science behind our deceptive ways

WWII love letters help daughter find her missing father

Titanic images reveal a meticulous mosaic of the doomed vessel

Tastes like bacon: Is it time to start eating algae?

The Rorschach test is more accurate than you think

Are these the world’s happiest places?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A woman in costume performs in front of an audience

PHOTOGRAPH BY WAYNE LAWRENCE

It means no worries: Broadway’s The Lion King has won six Tony awards, eight Drama Desk awards and even a Grammy—and actress Lindiwe Dlamini has been there for all of it. She joined the cast on day one and has clocked around 9,000 Hakuna Matata-filled shows. As the longest-performing actress on the hit show, celebrating its 25th anniversary next week, Diamini is still rooted to her community in South Africa and supports young artists there, Nat Geo Explorer Tara Roberts reports.

Related: The real Lion King

25 YEARS OF THE KING

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A picture of a field with hay bales with a rainbow in the sky

PHOTOGRAPH BY @MICHAELGEORGE

Double rainbow? Driving to the Scottish coast, photographer Michael George hadn’t expected the heavy clouds to part, nor to be gifted with a rainbow—or was it two? If you look closely over the autumn fields of Berwickshire, George tells us, “you can see a pumpkin patch behind the village church.”

Related: Why you’ll never have to toss a pumpkin in the trash again
And: Was Scotland’s legendary Great Wood real?

THE NIGHT SKIES

An illustration of the moon and several constellations in the sky

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS

Post-eclipse: You’d think after Tuesday’s total lunar eclipse that the Earth’s satellite would steer clear of celestial competition. But tonight the waning gibbous moon is just above the bright orange star Aldebaran, and the next two nights it will sidle near Mars. By late Sunday, the moon will appear near the twin stars of Gemini, separated by less than 2 degrees from the yellow-hued star Pollux. — Andrew Fazekas

THE RACE TO MARS

LAST GLIMPSE

A pictures of carvings into stone walls

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN OVERCAST, ALAMY

Does this animal suck blood? On the trail of the chupacabra, a legendary devil dog that strikes terror in Puerto Rico and elsewhere, we discover a deeper story on the Taíno people, many of whom died or were killed after the Caribbean land’s colonization by the Spanish. (Pictured above, dozens of petroglyphs line the walls of Cueva del Indio, a place that the Indigenous people once used for spiritual gatherings.)

Related: Restoring a people nearly ‘erased’ by history

BEWARE THE CHUPA!

We asked, you answered: Thanks to all of you who wrote in with your first election experiences. They included Virginia Anderle, who simply walked downstairs in her University of Wisconsin dorm to cast her first ballot. “I have voted every year since and am 85 years old now,” she writes. “I would never miss voting in an election.”

This newsletter has been curated and edited by Jen Tse, Sydney Combs, David Beard, and Heather Kim. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.

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