Space gave us so many reasons to celebrate in 2020

Plus, NASA wows with new Hubble images, Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine should protect against variants and much more.

                                                                                                                                                                               

Science January 11, 2021

Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter cozy up to each other in the sky Hello humans! A big thanks to those who forwarded last week's email on and those who signed up. Welcome to the show. It's set to be a huge year for space and science, so I'm stoked you're here. Where should we start this week? Rockets, I think. You will be hearing from SpaceX a lot this year, as Elon Musk's spaceflight company attempts to break its own launch record. Last year, there was a SpaceX launch, on average, about every two weeks. With 10 days down in 2021, SpaceX has already performed its first Falcon 9 launch and is gearing up for a test of its Mars Starship prototype this week. You can find those stories below. We've also got a good news story about the coronavirus vaccines. They seem like they'll still be effective against some of the rapidly spreading variants we're seeing across the globe. Exhale. A handful of NASA stories in this one, too: There's amazing images from Hubble and plans to more forward with a new space telescope get the OK. That's all just below! 📧The Science Mailbag📧 Yahaya asks: We have seen some conjunctions of planets in 2020, what other conjunctions will happen in 2021? Excellent question. We’ve been pretty spoilt over the last few weeks when it comes to gazing out at the cosmos. Just the weekend we had a rare planetary conjunction between Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn and there will be many more throughout the year. There are a couple of interesting ones coming. In March, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and the moon will all cozy up to each other, but we see planetary conjunctions relatively routinely. In the coming week, we’ll have some coverage on CNET about how to spot them and when. The link at the top of this email will tell you more about the most recent one. Rest assured, if there’s something worth seeing in the sky, CNET has you covered this year. Thanks Yahaya! If you have a burning question, send me an email or a DM on Twitter and let's get you some answers. Have a great week! Enim scientia et astra! Jackson Ryan Science Editor, CNET SpaceX lands the first Falcon 9 rocket of 2021 like it's nothing Elon Musk's company had its busiest year ever in 2020. 2021 could be even better. See this Next high-flying SpaceX Starship test could blast off this week See this Hubble telescope reveals glorious views of six galaxies colliding See this Climate scientists: 2020 tied with 2016 for warmest year on record See this NASA's new space telescope set to unravel secrets of the Big Bang See this China blocks WHO team investigating coronavirus origins See this Pfizer vaccine appears effective against new coronavirus variants See this NASA to fire up massive moon rocket for 'Green Run' test See this Biggest stories of a challenging year In 2020 we learned just how big a role technology now plays in our lives -- for better or worse.

WATCH THIS  Watch NASA's 2021 hype video full of moon and Mars dreams See this

Trouble viewing this email? View online. This newsletter is a service of CNET.com. To update your account, please visit our Newsletter subscription center. Unsubscribe |  Terms of Use |  Privacy © 2021 CNET, A Red Ventures company. All rights reserved. CNET 235 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94105 U.S.A.