ESA scientists have been exploring how a future moon base might be built from materials on the lunar surface. Inspired by LEGO building, they have used dust from a meteorite to 3D-print "space bricks" to test the idea. ESA's space bricks are on display in selected LEGO Stores from 20 June to 20 September, helping to inspire the next generation of space engineers.

The idea seems simple. Rather than take building materials all the way to the moon, we could use what is already there to construct a moon base. The surface of the moon is covered with a layer of rock and mineral fragments known as lunar regolith.

The last of a series of hurricane-hunting satellites got its most powerful ride ever to space June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

The rocket that is essentially three Falcon 9's strapped together blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. Eastern time carrying the 11,000-pound GOES-U satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, partnered with NASA.

Weather worries proved unfounded for the launch site as teams threaded the needle of afternoon thunderstorms to take flight amid blue skies to the cheers of gathered crowds.

About eight minutes after liftoff—with a kettle of vultures taking flight to get out of the way—two of the three boosters for Falcon Heavy made a recovery touchdown back at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zones 1 and 2. Their supersonic return knocked out a pair of double sonic booms that set off car alarms and struck a unique whistling reverb sound off the massive Vehicle Assembly Building.

The center core booster will crash into the Atlantic with no recovery planned.

Expending the center core is needed to send GOES-U to a transfer orbit that will take it to an ultimate destination 22,000 miles away from Earth.