Outer Space

Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, July 24, 1969

How Neil, Buzz and Mike Got Their Workouts in on Their Way to the Moon and Back

To counter the effects of weightlessness, NASA equipped Apollo 11 with an Exer-Genie for isometric exercises

Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century B.C., was one of the first people in recorded history to recognize that the moon was a rocky, mountainous body.

An Ancient Greek Philosopher Was Exiled for Claiming the Moon Was a Rock, Not a God

2,500 years ago, Anaxagoras correctly determined that the rocky moon reflects light from the sun, allowing him to explain lunar phases and eclipses

The International Space Station Is Open for Business—and Tourists

NASA is relaxing its restrictions on commercial activities on the ISS as part of an effort to free up funding for other projects

A field photo showing the impact deposit containing deformed pink sandstone.

An Ancient Asteroid Crater May Be Hiding Off Scotland’s Coast

Scientists think they have honed in on the spot where the collision occurred 1.2 billion years ago

Artist's rendering of the planets orbiting PDS 70.

Astronomers Snap a Rare Picture of Two Baby Planets

The Very Large Telescope imaged Planets PDS 70b and PDS 70c about 370 light years away creating a gap in the gas and dust disk around their star

The Museum of the Moon is just one of many events taking place across the United States celebrating the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon.

A Cross-Country Guide to Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

It's been half a century since humankind touched down on the surface of the moon, and we're not done praising the feat

The sixty Starlink satellites before being deployed.

Astronomers Worry New SpaceX Satellite Constellation Could Impact Research

The first of SpaceX's 12,000 Starlink broadband satellites launched last week, raising fears they could interfere with ground-based telescopes

This lunar extravehicular visor assembly, photographed by Cade Martin at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar- Hazy Center, was worn by Neil Armstrong on the Moon in July 1969. Armstrong’s helmet visors were designed to protect against hazards, from micrometeoroids to infrared light.

What You Didn't Know About the Apollo 11 Mission

From JFK's real motives to the Soviets' secret plot to land on the Moon at the same time, a new behind-the-scenes view of an unlikely triumph 50 years ago

The Smithsonian has completed its multi-year conservation project of the Neil Armstrong spacesuit, digitizing the historic Apollo artifact so that soon authentically realized duplicates can be downloaded for study and appreciation.

In Celebration of 50 Years Since the Moon Landing, Neil Armstrong's Spacesuit Set to Return to Public View

Duplicates of the 3D scanned historic Apollo artifact will also tour Major League ballparks this summer

The Apollo 10 Command Module, "Charlie Brown," as seen from the detached Lunar Module, "Snoopy."

A Smithsonian Curator Reflects on Apollo 10, the Mission That Made Landing on the Moon Possible

Fifty years ago, the astronauts who crewed the “dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11 paved the way for history to be made just a couple months later

The Space Station Just Got a New Cutting-Edge Carbon Mapper

The OCO-3 instrument will watch Earth's carbon levels change throughout the day

One-Third of Exoplanets Could Be Water Worlds With Oceans Hundreds of Miles Deep

A new statistical analysis suggests seas hundreds of miles deep cover up to 35 percent of distant worlds

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine talks about getting American astronauts to the moon in the next five years while participating in a Future Con panel discussion at Awesome Con.

This Year's Future Con Showcased Cutting-Edge Science and Real-Life Superheroes

A part of Washington, D.C.'s Awesome Con, the dynamic presentation series blends entertainment and education

Surf's WAY up.

Ocean Wind and Waves Have Grown Stronger Over the Last Three Decades

Decades of satellite data show changes in the ocean that could lead to more destructive storm surges and coastal erosion

The SEIS instrument on the surface of Mars.

NASA Detects First 'Marsquake'

A 2 to 2.5 magnitude quake on the Red Planet is the first seismic activity detected outside the Earth and the Moon

Image of planetary nebula NGC 7027 with illustration of helium hydride molecules. In this planetary nebula, SOFIA detected helium hydride, a combination of helium (red) and hydrogen (blue), which was the first type of molecule to ever form in the early universe. This is the first time helium hydride has been found in the modern universe.

NASA’s Flying Telescope Spots Oldest Type of Molecule in the Universe

An infrared telescope mounted in a Boeing 747 has detected the first type of molecule to form after the big bang

NASA astronaut Christina Koch conducts botany research aboard the International Space Station, where she’s been living and working since March 14, 2019. Her mission has been extended, and she will remain at the station until February 2020.

Christina Koch Is Scheduled to Spend 328 Days in Space—a Record for Women Astronauts

‘It feels awesome,’ Koch said of the milestone

This artist's-concept illustration depicts the spacecraft of NASA's Psyche mission near the mission's target, the metal asteroid Psyche.

NASA Prepares to Build Spacecraft Bound for a Metal Asteroid

The Psyche spacecraft, headed to an asteroid with the same name, will explore a metal world thought to be the leftover core of a destroyed planet

Harvard astronomers theorize that a meteor that struck Earth's atmosphere in 2014 could have been from another solar system, judging by what scientists know about 'Oumuamua, an interstellar object that zipped through our solar system in 2017. (An artist's depiction of 'Oumuamua is seen here.)

An Interstellar Meteor May Have Collided With Earth in 2014

Researchers have identified an object that, they theorize, was traveling too fast to have originated within our solar system

Scientists Find a Tiny Speck of Comet Inside a Meteorite

The little fragment found in Antarctica was protected from the elements and preserves the chemical signature of the early solar system

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