6 Great Space Images in December

This video of Taters the cat chasing a laser pointer was beamed by laser from Earth to Psyche, a spacecraft traveling toward the asteroid belt, and then back to Earth. For NASA engineers, it was a successful test of a system to improve communication beyond Earth’s orbit.

This is what tomatoes look like after vanishing on the International Space Station for a year. The astronaut Frank Rubio lost track of the fruits during an experiment. He insisted he hadn’t eaten them. He was exonerated months after returning to Earth when other astronauts found them on the space station.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lofted a military spaceplane into orbit on Dec. 28. Hours later the company launched another rocket. SpaceX flew nearly 100 rockets in 2023. While two prototype Starship rockets exploded during test flights, every other rocket it launched reached orbit.

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter had a 30-day mission when it reached Mars in 2021. Nearly 3 years and 69 flights later, it’s still going. The real Marscopter is staying on the red planet. But the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum added this prototype, which demonstrated the ability to fly in Mars-like conditions, to its collection.

This could be your last good look at Peregrine, a robotic spacecraft built by Astrobotic of Pittsburgh that is heading to the moon on Jan. 8. After launching on the new Vulcan rocket, it aims to reach the lunar surface in late February. Peregrine and at least three other spacecraft could try moon landings in 2024. We’ll report on these and more space events — join us!