business

Intuitive Machines landed a robot on the moon last year. Can the Houston company do it again, but keep the spacecraft upright this time? The company’s second lander, named Athena, launched on Wednesday evening on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is now on an arcing path to … Read more

Athena didn’t crash. But what did happen to it? Hours after the 15-foot-tall robotic spacecraft arrived at the moon’s surface, closer to the lunar south pole than any spacecraft has been, it remained unclear whether its touchdown was smooth enough to perform its intended work, or if it toppled over in the process, potentially limiting … Read more

NASA is aiming to send astronauts back to the moon, because that is what President Trump set as the destination of the agency’s human spaceflight program during his first term. On Dec. 11, 2017, Mr. Trump signed what the White House called Space Policy Directive 1, which stated that “the United States will lead the … Read more

Erin knows her three children haven’t had an easy time. When they were growing up, her partner was abusive towards her and the children witnessed violence and coercion at home before she found the strength to end the relationship. A few years later, her child Jay – then in their early teens – disclosed that … Read more

This week we hit a milestone, with it being the 200th Thursday quiz. That means since the very first one in April 2021 there have been approximately 3,000 questions, of which only about 2,995 of them have generated somebody in the comments going: “Well, actually, I think you’ll find …” followed by a minor quibble. … Read more

The story of the church of St Michael de Rupe begins – as all the best Dartmoor stories do – on a dark and stormy night. A sailor, stricken in a wild and furious sea, fell to the deck of his ship to pray for salvation. The almighty unveiled a mountain in the midst of … Read more

Growing up gay in the 90s was incredibly difficult. In 1998, I was 16 and living in east London, only out to my parents, my sister and a few friends I had made online. I’d already been the target of homophobic bullying and didn’t feel safe coming out to the rest of the world. I … Read more

Customers at Britain’s major banks and building societies suffered the equivalent of more than one month’s worth of IT failures in the last two years, MPs have said. Enquiries by the House of Commons’ Treasury committee have found that nine of the top banks and building societies operating in the UK accumulated a total of … Read more

It starts with a discussion in the car, prompted by the washing up. It wasn’t done that morning. The laundry needs hanging up, too, and someone has forgotten to make the packed lunches. We need to pay the dog walker, fix the broken bath panel, work out why our toddler has started waking in the … Read more

It’s Saturday night and the entire back half of the tapas restaurant is packed for my friend Ivy’s birthday dinner. Ivy is queenly at the centre of the table, bouquets and little gift bags crowding her elbows. Multiple lines of conversation flow above the small plates, and drinks and desserts keep coming, because no one … Read more