Space Schedule November 23
Via Space.comNov. 2: Virgin Galactic will fly its fifth commercial suborbital mission, with three passengers aboard its VSS Unity spaceplane. Passengers for the research flight will include an unnamed private astronaut of Franco-Italian nationality; planetary scientist Alan Stern, the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission, and Kellie Gerardi, a science communicator and bioastronautics researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS).
Nov. 5: The Southern Taurids shower, which runs worldwide from Sept. 28 to Dec. 2 annually, will reach its maximum rate of about five meteors per hour on Sunday evening, Nov. 5. Some meteors will appear as the sky darkens on Sunday, but the best viewing time in the Americas will be around midnight before the bright, waning crescent moon enters the eastern sky.
Nov. 7: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), on NASA's CRS-29 mission. A highlight of SpaceX's next science-packed mission includes launching a part of a two-way laser array to test out high-speed communications in low Earth orbit. Delayed from Nov. 5.
Nov. 9: Check the morning weather forecast and then set the alarm for Thursday morning, Nov. 9 to see one of the most spectacular conjunctions of the year. In the eastern sky between 3 a.m. and sunrise, the horns of the pretty crescent moon will shine less than a lunar diameter to the left (or celestial northeast) of the brilliant planet Venus.
Nov. 11: The Northern Taurid meteor shower, which runs worldwide from Oct. 20 to Dec. 10 annually, will reach its maximum overnight on Saturday, Nov. 11 in the Americas.
Nov. 13: The moon will reach its new phase on Monday, Nov. 13 at 4:27 a.m. EST, 1:27 a.m. PST, or 09:27 GMT. At that time new moon will be located in Libra, 2.5 degrees south of the sun.
Nov. 16: Artemis 1 lifted off Nov. 16, 2023, at 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 GMT) from Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. The launch marked the debut of NASA's huge new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and kicked off a 25-day journey to the moon and back for the uncrewed Orion spacecraft.
Nov. 17: The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight! The shower is active between Nov. 3 and Dec. 2. Up to 15 meteors per hour are predicted during the peak of the shower, occurring overnight on Friday, Nov. 17 in the Americas. At that time, Earth will be traversing the densest part of the comet's debris train.
Nov. 27: The November Full Moon, traditionally known as the Beaver Moon or Frost Moon, always shines within or near the stars of Taurus and Aries. The moon will reach its full phase, opposite the sun in the western pre-dawn sky, at 4:16 a.m. EST, 1:16 a.m. PST, or 09:16 GMT.
