Science news Roundup: India's moon mission lifts off; Milky Way melded with smaller galaxy

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Astronauts hailed as heroes 50 years after historic moon landing

Capping a week of celebrations over the historic Apollo 11 mission, Vice President Mike Pence joined astronaut Buzz Aldrin on Saturday at the launch pad in Florida that sent the moonwalker and his two crew mates to space for humankind's first steps on the lunar surface 50 years ago. Pence joined NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon behind his fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing that enthralled people around the world in 1969.

Milky Way melded with smaller galaxy in long-ago cosmic crash

The Milky Way, home to our sun and billions of other stars, merged with another smaller galaxy in a colossal cosmic collision roughly 10 billion years ago, scientists said on Monday based on data from the Gaia space observatory. The union of the Milky Way and the so-called dwarf galaxy Gaia-Enceladus increased our galaxy's mass by about a quarter and triggered a period of accelerated star formation lasting about 2 to 4 billion years, the scientists said.

Shaken or stirred: robotic bartender serves up cocktails for Prague clubbers

For revelers at one Prague megaclub, gone are the days of being squashed at the bar waiting to get a watered-down cocktail. Two years after becoming the first to try a robot DJ, the five-story Karlovy Lazne Music Club has gone a step further with the launch of a robotic bartender to mix up cocktails, after its manager was inspired by seeing one in Las Vegas.

India to buy Russian rocket engines for its space program: RIA

India plans to buy rocket engines from Russia for its national space program, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov as saying during a visit to New Delhi on Monday. India launched a rocket into space on Monday in an attempt to safely land a rover on the moon, its most ambitious mission yet in the effort to establish itself as a low-cost space power.

India's moon mission lifts off, hopes to probe lunar south pole

India launched a rocket into space on Monday in an attempt to safely land a rover on the moon, its most ambitious mission yet in the effort to establish itself as a low-cost space power. If successful, the $146 million mission will allow Indian scientists to carry out studies on the presence of water at the moon's south pole, unexplored by any other nation before.