Space Travel

NASA and the European Space Agency released the closest pictures of the sun ever taken last week.

See Our Sun’s Surface in Unprecedented Detail

NASA and the European Space Agency released the closest images ever taken of our sun

Quantum physicist Amruta Gadge became the first to create a Bose-Einstein Condensate—the exotic, elusive fifth state of matter—remotely.

Five Scientific Achievements That Happened During Coronavirus Lockdown

Quarantine did not stop these innovators from discovering new species, creating the elusive fifth state of matter remotely, and more

NASA has allotted $35,000 to be split among the three winning designs.

NASA Needs Your Help Designing a 'Lunar Loo'

Entries need to balance size, weight, functionality in microgravity and lunar gravity—and, of course, user experience

A rendering of Spaceship Neptune, a commercial spacecraft from the new company Space Perspective, is depicted here. The company says it plans to test its craft in early 2021.

For $125,000, You Could Ride a Balloon Into the Stratosphere

A new company, Space Perspective, announced its plan for a commercial space craft this week

A near-infrared, color image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of north polar seas on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Similar glints were spotted from Earth in 2000 at Titan's equator but Cassini found no evidence of liquid there.

Bright Patches on Saturn’s Largest Moon Are Dried-Up Lake Beds

New study tackles a 20-year-old mystery about Titan, the second-largest moon in the solar system

Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Hosea Williams and other members of the SCLC Poor People's Campaign march through the lunar lander exhibit at Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Apollo 11.

How Space Exploration and the Fight For Equal Rights Clashed Then and Now

Smithsonian curator Margaret Weitekamp reflects on the historic parallel between 2020 and 1969

This month's selections include The Beauty and the Terror, Feasting Wild and Splash.

The Dangers of Space, Military Rivals and Other New Books to Read

These five recent releases may have been lost in the news cycle

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for its first crew launch from American soil arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 13, 2020.

First Rocket Launch From U.S. Soil in Nine Years Postponed

The two NASA astronauts will lift off from historic launch pad 39A, used for the Apollo and space shuttle missions

Commercial crew astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley (right) stand in front of a SpaceX Dragon mock-up at the Johnson Space Center.

The Storied History Behind Saturday's Planned SpaceX Launch

Smithsonian curator Jennifer Levasseur examines NASA's relationship with spacecraft contractors

This map shows the Long March 5B's projected orbit before it reentered Earth's atmosphere.

A Huge Hunk of Space Debris Fell to Earth

The 20-ton object, part of a Chinese rocket, is one of the largest ever to fall uncontrolled from space

For Earth Day, NASA and Lego challenged families to build models of planets as a way to learn through play.

NASA and Lego Host ‘Build a Planet’ Challenge

The event was part of the company's week of #LetsBuildTogether challenges

The list covers findings in biology, justice and human rights, the environment, and more.

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, Americans pledged environmental action for the planet. Here’s what scientists and we, the global community, have done since

An artist's impression of 'Oumuamua, first spotted in 2017.

Scientists Suggest New Origin Story for 'Oumuamua, Our Solar System’s First Interstellar Visitor

Perhaps the cigar-shaped object is a shard from a shredded planetary body, a computer simulation suggests

Hayabusa2 deployed a camera to film the plume of regolith thrown up by the impact.

Japan's Experiment to Calculate an Asteroid's Age Was a Smashing Success

The spacecraft Hayabusa2 hurled a four-pound copper ball toward the asteroid's surface at about 4,500 miles an hour to create an artificial crater

Graphic illustrating the MAVEN spacecraft encountering plasma layers at Mars.

Ten Trends That Will Shape Science in the Decade Ahead

Medicine gets trippy, solar takes over, and humanity—finally, maybe—goes back to the moon

The asteroid Pallas, imaged by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope

The Most Cratered Object in the Asteroid Belt Looks Like a Golf Ball

Pallas's odd orbit sends it crashing through the asteroid belt, colliding with other objects along the way

Félicette, a former stray who was sent into space by French researchers in 1963, now has a bronze statue in her honor at France's International Space University.

Félicette, the First Cat in Space, Finally Gets a Memorial

Last month, a team unveiled a bronze statue honoring the feline, who launched on a suborbital mission in 1963

Luca Parmitano and Christina Koch with milk and a cookie.

The First Cookies Baked in Space Have Returned to Earth

They took up to 130 minutes to bake, but the cookies could help scientists make future space missions a little more palatable

On December 28, 2019, Christina Koch broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, according to NASA.

Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks Record for Longest Spaceflight by a Woman

By the end of her mission in February, Koch will have spent 328 days in space

An artist impression of Cheops, the CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite, with an exoplanet system in the background

Three Things to Know About Europe's New Exoplanet Space Telescope

CHEOPS is the first exoplanet satellite devoted specifically to learning more about the thousands of planets we have already found

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