Space

Two NASA astronauts will soon make history as the first to launch into space aboard a Boeing spaceship. Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 6, representing the first Crew Flight Test, or CFT, of Boeing’s Starliner capsule.  The mission will see … Read more

More evidence for a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the most distant reaches of our solar system has come to light — and the clues are associated with icy bodies that cross the orbit of Neptune while traversing  long, looping paths around the sun. Planet Nine, as the predicted planet is referred to, was first … Read more

Launch preparations are quickening for China’s next spacecraft sendoff to the moon — the robotic Chang’e 6 mission. The spacecraft now sits atop a Long March 5 rocket at its departure site in Wenchang, in China’s Hainan province. Chang’e 6 is reportedly scheduled to launch on Friday (May 3) at 3:50 a.m. EDT (0759 GMT; … Read more

NASA has selected four volunteers to go on a mission to Mars — without actually leaving Earth. The simulated mission to the Red Planet will take place at a habitat created at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; it will simulate what it would be like for astronauts to live and work on Mars for … Read more

NASA”s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) has earned its “neck” and “head,” aka its “mast,” meaning it now stands proudly at 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall.  The photo below,  taken in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center earlier this month, shows progress on quite the impressive robot. It is expected to take … Read more

China has released a highly detailed geologic atlas of the moon. The atlas, which is available in Chinese and English, depicts the surface of the moon with a scale of 1:2.5 million. It highlights many intriguing geological features, such as impact craters. “The first thing that catches our eye are those rings, which we call … Read more

The moon has been bound to Earth for the vast majority of its 4.5 billion-year dance around the sun. Astrophysicists speculate that the moon’s origin lies in an ancient collision, when a Mars-size object smashed into our planet, sending vast amounts of debris into space. The resulting materials coalesced through gravity to form what we … Read more

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured incredibly sharp images of the Horsehead Nebula, one of the most iconic celestial bodies in the sky over Earth.  The most powerful telescope ever placed into orbit around our planet, the JWST was able to see details of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, that … Read more

Even in quarantine, the first NASA astronauts to fly aboard Boeing Starliner are still practicing their mission just a week before launch. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams finished a big dress rehearsal on Friday (April 26) for their mission aboard Boeing Starliner, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT). Training continues for … Read more

A mainstay in science fiction culture and an influential touchstone since its genesis as a Sunday comic strip back in 1934, creator Alex Raymond’s “Flash Gordon” crashed the scene 90 years ago as a rival to the already established newspaper space adventures of Buck Rogers. Through decades of matinee serials, radio programs, comic books, graphic … Read more