International Moon Day 2025: Honoring the Past, Planning the Future

July 20 marks International Moon Day, a significant occasion that celebrates the Apollo 11 landing and promotes awareness of the importance of the Moon for science, culture and survival (Multi World Civilization). Established by Moon Village Association and endorsed by the United Nations since 2021, International Moon Day 2025 will see myriad events worldwide, including the main event in Abu Dhabi UAE with the theme One Moon, One Vision, One Future. So far, 5 nations have landed on the Moon and 2 commercial companies operated from the surface. There are 3 more lunar landings planned for the second half of 2025: Blue Origin NET Sep, Intuitive Machines NET Oct, and Astrobotic / Astrolab FLIP NET Nov. NASA Artemis 2 could fly as early as February 2026, carrying the first people to the Moon since 1972. SpaceX continues to push forward with  super-heavy Starship testing, which is vital for the planned Artemis Moon landing NET June 2027. SpaceX and Blue Origin are intending to land cargo on the Moon surface to support the development of the Artemis Moon Base near the Moon South Pole. China is advancing its Long March 10 super heavy rocket, Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and Lanyue crewed lunar lander, aiming for a potential 2029 touchdown, while strategically involving national, commercial and academic parties for the International Lunar Research Station. (Image credits: MVA, NASA)

MONDAY

☆ Jul 14 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 73 seven-member crew expected oversee the departure of four members of Axiom-4 today who will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean; results from the AstroSee mission (using the 3 Astrobee CubeSats aboard ISS) being analyzed for following 17-month autonomous spacecraft docking tests; USA budgetary considerations now proposed to add US$250M per year in FY2025-29 towards ISS support and potential commercial follow-on platforms.

☆ Jul 14 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 20 three-member crew expect arrival of Tianzhou 9 with cargo this week; on Earth, after completing isolation and recovery protocols, the crew of Shenzhou 19 discuss the extravehicular activities and 88 experiments carried out during their 6-month mission; ground controllers monitoring object with COSPAR ID 2021-035-E, possibly a CubeSat, recently released from Tiangong into orbit.

☾ Jul 14 — Moon Enterprise News: Weekly lunar advisories coming soon…

☆ Jul 14 — CNSA, Launch Long March 7 / Tianzhou 9, Wenchang Space Launch Center, Hainan Island, China (19°N): Next cargo ship to launch to Tiangong Space Station, supplying Shenzhou 20 crew.

● Jul 14 — Texas A&M University, American Society of Civil Engineers, College Station TX: Abstracts Due: ASCE Earth & Space 2026 Conference; to be held Apr 13-16.

● Jul 14-18 — LPI, USRA, JHUAPL, NASA, SWRI, Laurel MD: Progress in Understanding the Pluto System: 10 Years after Flyby; at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

☆ Jul 14 — Mercury: At aphelion, 0.4667 AU from Sun, 03:00.

☆ Jul 14 — Uranus: 4.3° SE of Pleiades, 22:00.

☆ Jul 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 AQ11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU)

1.4 Billion Celebrate as Shukla Advances India Human Spaceflight Program

India philosophy about space missions is, “We will not forget the farmer and the fisherman.” ISRO former head S Somanath notes the vision of “spinoffs for society, science for self-reliance,” as India astronaut Shubhanshu “Shux” Shukla conducts experiments aboard the ISS and adds “experiential depth to planning, life-science payloads and long-duration spaceflight goals.” Current ISRO Chair V Narayanan said Shukla’s trip provides “valuable insights and inputs for the development of India’s human spaceflight program, Gaganyaan,” which aims to make India the 4th country to fly people to and from LEO by March 2027 and to put humans on the Moon by 2040. Shukla and 3 others are the 1st named astronauts for Gaganyaan, and Shukla speaks from the ISS and tells students, “You can become future astronauts, even walk on the Moon.” Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN–SPACe), following the footsteps of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), is coordinating and enabling private enterprise contributions to ISRO national space activities. International collaborations are also increasing: one example is the NASA M3 instrument which became 1st to detect water molecules on the surface of the Moon via the Chandrayaan Mission-1. (Image credits: Axiom Space, ISRO, IN-SPACe, NSIL)

TUESDAY

● Jul 15 — Washington Space Business Roundtable, Washington DC: WSBR Luncheon: Space Nuclear Panel; featuring Bhavya Lal (NASA), Joe Cassady(L3Harris), Alex Gilbert (Zeno Power).

☾  Jul 15 — Moon: Within circle of diameter 3.37° with Saturn and Neptune, 21:00; 3.4° NNW of Saturn, 22:00; 2.45° NNW of Neptune, 23:00.

☆ Jul 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2025 MA90: Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU)