Science Stories: From a Flawless Moon Mission to Ancient Breath, A Week of Discovery

It was a week that stretched from deep space to deep time.

Radio Catskill’s resident science contributor Joe Johnson recapped three major science stories — a successful crewed lunar mission, a month full of skywatching opportunities, and a rare fossil discovery that sheds light on how life first learned to breathe on land.

Artemis II returns humans to lunar flight

The biggest science story of the week: the successful flight of Artemis II, humanity’s first crewed mission around the moon in decades.

After a delay caused by a third-stage issue, the spacecraft launched April 1 and completed a nine-day mission, splashing down off the coast near San Diego.

Johnson said the flight followed a “free return trajectory,” meaning the spacecraft looped around the moon and naturally returned to Earth without requiring major additional engine burns.

“The moon is a moving target,” he explained, noting that navigation required aiming not where the moon was, but where it would be when the spacecraft arrived.

The mission unfolded largely without incident. The only notable issue: a malfunctioning toilet that emitted a burning smell early in the flight. Astronaut Christina Koch resolved the problem while the crew was still in Earth orbit.

The crew spent the first days circling Earth, testing systems before executing a translunar injection — the critical engine burn that sent them toward the moon.

Unlike Apollo-era missions such as Apollo 8, Artemis II did not enter lunar orbit. Instead, it performed a flyby, a choice Johnson said reduced risk by eliminating the need for additional burns to enter and exit orbit.

“That meant once they committed to the moon, they didn’t have much else to worry about until re-entry,” he said.

The mission also set several milestones: the first woman, first Black astronaut and first non-American to travel to the moon.

Looking ahead, Johnson said Artemis III is targeted for 2027 and will test lunar lander systems developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. A later mission aims to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole, where scientists believe water ice may exist in permanently shadowed craters.

“That’s important for fuel, oxygen and sustaining a long-term presence,” he said.

April skies offer planets, meteors and a comet

Back on Earth, April offers plenty for skywatchers — no telescope required, at least for some sights.

Bright Venus is visible low in the western sky just after sunset, though it disappears quickly. Jupiter shines higher and remains one of the brightest objects overhead.

With binoculars, observers can spot Jupiter’s Galilean moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto — shifting position night to night, a phenomenon first recorded by Galileo Galilei.

A more challenging sight arrives before dawn April 20, when Mars, Jupiter and Mercury cluster within a narrow section of the sky.

“It’s going to take planning,” Johnson said, noting Mercury’s proximity to the sun makes it difficult to see.

Other highlights include:

A new moon on April 17, offering dark skies ideal for viewing deep-sky objects such as the Orion Nebula

The Lyrid meteor shower peaking April 22, with up to 20 meteors per hour

A newly visible comet, Comet C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS, best seen in pre-dawn hours

Johnson also encouraged satellite spotting, noting that many can be tracked and identified using online tools.

Fossil discovery sheds light on how animals learned to breathe

The third story reaches back nearly 300 million years.

A study published April 8 in the journal Nature describes two rare, mummified specimens of Captorhinus, discovered in an Oklahoma cave.

Unlike typical fossils, the animals — about 12 to 18 inches long — were preserved with soft tissue intact, thanks to a combination of fine mud, hydrocarbon seepage and mineral-rich groundwater.

The specimens date to roughly 286 to 289 million years ago, not long after vertebrates first moved onto land.

Using neutron computed tomography — a scanning technique similar to a CT scan but using neutron beams — researchers were able to examine the fossils without damaging them.

What they found: evidence of a flexible ribcage and cartilage structure consistent with modern breathing systems.

“This is the oldest known example of an organism with a modern breathing apparatus,” Johnson said.

That system — involving expansion and contraction of the chest cavity — is used by reptiles, birds and mammals today.

The discovery helps explain a key evolutionary leap: how early animals transitioned from water, where gills or skin-based gas exchange sufficed, to land, where lungs and rib-driven breathing became essential.

Image Credits: NASA (The Orion spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific Ocean after completing a nine-day lunar flyby mission and Artemis II astronauts inside the Orion capsule during the mission); Nature Publishing Group ( A reconstructed image of Captorhinus, an early reptile whose remains are providing new insight into the evolution of breathing on land and Fossil specimens discovered in an Oklahoma cave were preserved with rare soft tissue intact)