A blood moon, a SpaceX milestone, a spacewalk and Trump to honor Artemis astronauts: 4 space stories to watch this week

Fancy yourself an astrophile? The stars are aligning! This week is chock-full of space-related news, from intriguing celestial events to the honoring of astronauts. 

These space-related events come amid an exciting summer for stargazers. This August, many parts of the world witnessed a solar eclipse, marking the first total solar eclipse visible in mainland Europe since 1999. The event — in which the moon moves between Earth and the sun, blocking some or all of the sun from our view — led to skygazing celebrations, though many cities, such as London, were only able to witness a partial eclipse. But if you're someone who gets giddy to witnessing unusual happenings around the moon, you're in luck: the United States will see a partial lunar eclipse on Thursday.

Here's a rundown of all the space-related stuff in the news this week. 

SpaceX launches Falcon 9, again

On Tuesday, at around 5:30 a.m. ET, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Carrying 29 Starlink satellites, the launch is the 100th for the Falcon 9 this year. 

Those along the East Coast could spot the illuminated exhaust plume following the rocket's launch. After completing its mission, the rocket's booster successfully landed on the company's drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Elon Musk's SpaceX describes the Falcon 9 as "a reusable, two-stage rocket" that is designed for the "reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond." Because the rocket is the first "orbital class reusable rocket," it allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts, reducing the cost of space missions. 

Astronauts conduct a spacewalk 

Taking a literal trip to space may not be possible, but you can live vicariously through astronauts by watching a stream of them taking a spacewalk. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and European Space Agency flight engineer Sophie Adenot's Tuesday spacewalk, in which they installed a high-speed communications antenna on the International Space Station, is available to witness on YouTube. It ended Tuesday afternoon.

The spacewalk marks Adenot's second, after she made history on Aug. 18 by becoming the first French woman to participate in one. In total, that spacewalk lasted nearly six and a half hours. While the pair removed the failed antenna, they were unable to install the new one before running out of time, according to Space.com. 

A partial lunar eclipse will be visible in the United States

There's no need for special protective glasses to watch this eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse, which will create a phenomenon known as a "blood moon," will be visible in North America, South America, Europe and Africa between Aug. 27-28 — though exactly how clear it will be depends on both your specific location and cloud cover. This time around, the central and eastern United States and Canada are particularly well positioned, as the moon will be high in their skies at the peak of the eclipse. 

The eclipse begins when the moon enters Earth's faint outer shadow at 9:23 p.m. ET Thursday. The eclipse will peak at 12:12 a.m. on Friday, when more than 96% of the moon will be immersed in the darkest part of Earth's shadow. At this point, only a small sliver of the moon remains outside of Earth's darkest shadow, while the rest will appear red, copper or orange — giving it the appearance of a so-called "blood moon." The eclipse will officially end just after 3 a.m. 

Trump is awarding Artemis astronauts a Congressional Space Medal of Honor

On Friday, President Trump is honoring NASA's Artemis II moon astronauts with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. The ceremony, to be held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, will recognize the significance of their April trip around the moon. 

The Artemis II mission marked the first crewed voyage beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17's voyage in 1972, and the crew flew farther into space than any human ever has before. This mission, according to NASA, paved the way for future surface trips to the moon. 

NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will receive the medals following their week-and-a-half trip around the moon. The ceremony will be streamed on Friday.