Science News Roundup: Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit unveiled at Smithsonian; Apollo 11 astronaut returns to launchpad

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

SpaceX astronaut mission looking 'increasingly difficult' in 2019: executive

As Elon Musk's SpaceX closes in on the possible cause of a fiery explosion in April that destroyed one of its astronaut capsules, a company executive said on Monday its plan to launch humans into space this year looked "increasingly difficult." One of the space company's Crew Dragon capsules exploded on a test stand at a Florida Air Force station moments before firing eight emergency abort thrusters designed to propel an on-board crew to safety in the event of a failure.

Robots to install telescopes to peer into cosmos from the moon

As the United States races to put humans back on the moon for the first time in nearly 50 years, a NASA-funded lab in Colorado aims to send robots there to deploy telescopes that will look far into our galaxy, remotely operated by orbiting astronauts. The radio telescopes, to be planted on the far side of the moon, are among a plethora of projects underway by the U.S. space agency, private companies and other nations that will transform the moonscape in the coming decade.

Apollo 11 astronaut returns to launchpad where first humans lifted off for the moon

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins returned to the launch pad Tuesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where he flew to the moon 50 years ago along with the late Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. "Wonderful feeling to be back at launch pad 39A," Collins, the command module pilot for Apollo 11, said in an interview on the pad with Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, himself a veteran of four space shuttle launches and a former shuttle commander.

Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit unveiled at Smithsonian

The spacesuit astronaut Neil Armstrong wore during his mission to the moon went on public display for the first time in 13 years on Tuesday, at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum exactly 50 years to the day when Apollo 11 launched into space. Armstrong's son Rick unveiled the suit along with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who recalled how the country was deeply divided in the late 1960s but came together in pride when Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

India's second lunar mission delayed due to 'technical snag': ISRO

India's space agency said it delayed the launch of its second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, in the early hours of Monday due to a "technical snag" which was observed less than an hour before the scheduled liftoff. "A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at T-56 minute," the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said in a tweet https://twitter.com/isro/status/1150512237045379072. "As a measure of abundant precaution, Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today."

On the menu soon: lab-grown steak for eco-conscious diners

Diners in some upmarket restaurants will soon be able to tuck into a laboratory-grown steak, thanks to an Israeli startup that seeks to tap into consumer concerns about health, the environment, and animal welfare. While lab-grown hamburgers and chicken are already in development around the world, Israel's Aleph Farms claims to be the first company to have developed steak in a laboratory and is in talks with some high-end restaurants in the United States, Europe, and Asia to have it on the market in 2021.

Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon, recalls 'magnificent desolation'

Fifty years after their history-making voyage to the moon, Buzz Aldrin recalls the first moments of the Apollo 11 launch being so smooth that he and his two crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Mike Collins, were unsure precisely when they left the ground. He remembers the white-knuckle descent to the moon's dusty surface in the four-legged lunar module Eagle, as Armstrong took manual control of the landing craft to pilot it to a safe touchdown, just seconds from running out of fuel.

Also Read: Gorillas form complex societies just like humans: Study