The eerie purple orb freaking out social media is actually Spudnik-1, a homegrown ISS potato pointing to NASA's plans for food on Moon and Mars trips.

The crew of the Artemis II landed back on Earth on Friday night - but human beings weren't the only ones greeting them aboard the USS John P Murtha

As NASA’s Artemis II crew flew by the moon, capturing sensational images, a ground-crew agent quoted Rocky, the alien hero from Ryan Gosling's recent sci-fi blockbuster Project Hail Mary. For many, the moment imbued an already historic event with an added sense of timelessness and poignancy.

The internet went into a frenzy on Friday when a NASA astronaut shared a weird alien-looking photo on social media. The photo showed an object that was floating in the air and appeared to be purple, egg-shaped with tentacles spouting out of it.

The “alien” is actually a potato. Specifically, it is a purple tuber nicknamed Spudnik-1, grown and photographed by Pettit. While the photo looks like a sci-fi horror prop, it actually represents the front line of human survival: a proof-of-concept for a journey to Mars.

NASA's historic Artemis II mission is hurtling towards a high-stakes splashdown off the California coast tonight, bringing a record-setting Lunar odyssey to a fiery conclusion. The Orion capsule, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman,

Denzel Curry is thrilled that the crew of NASA’s Artemis II played his music in space.

Trump threatens Strait of Hormuz blockade after US-Iran ceasefire talks end without agreement NASA already has next Artemis flight in its sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby Nearly a century of wondering: The American UFO saga,

When the four-person Artemis II crew returned to Earth on Friday, they were welcomed by none other than four U.S. Navy sailors. The Artemis II crew returned April 10 following a 10-day mission of flying around the moon,