It's hard to say which was the bigger space celebrity in 2024: the sun, or the moon.
Right from the outset, the moon was the place to be. In January, Japan became the fifth nation to join the 238,000-mile-high club when its "Moon Sniper" mission completed the most precise lunar landing in history — despite a last-minute glitch that left the lander perched on its nose. Around the same time, rival missions from private spaceflight companies resulted in the first commercial moon landing in history. This year also saw China head to the far side of the moon for the second time — this time bringing several pounds of precious lunar samples back to Earth with its Chang'e 6 spacecraft.
