Space Travel

A shuttle astronaut's view of the International Space Station.

To Get Rid of Space Junk, Shoot It Down With Lasers

Proposals to send debris-targeting craft into orbit are piling up, and one mission may soon start test firing from the space station

The moon during a lunar eclipse

Japan Plans a Trip to the Moon by 2018

The lander will use information from Japan’s moon-orbiting satellite to stick the landing

Extreme Makeover: ISS Edition

How to give the International Space Station a little bit more room

Four of the astronauts who will be conducting spacewalks train at the Kennedy Space Center.

Behind the Scenes of the Last Mission to Repair the Hubble Space Telescope

Photographer Michael Soluri shares an intimate look at the team that saved the iconic observatory

The Magellan probe captured radar images of the surface of Venus

Lifeless Venus Could Hold the Key to Life on Earth

Earth’s sister planet is astonishingly hostile to life, but exactly how it got that way has researchers intrigued

Meet the First Donut That Went to Space

A pair of Swedish brothers launched a tasty pastry into the stratosphere—and filmed the entire ride

Mercury's Munch crater, as viewed by the MESSENGER probe.

The Messenger Probe Will Soon Crash Into Mercury

As NASA's probe runs out of propellant, it will crash into the planet’s surface at 8,750 MPH

Hibernating dormouse

Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out If Humans Can Hibernate

Studies of hibernators and experiments inducing short-term torpor in humans may answer whether human hibernation is possible

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, shown here at its launch Tuesday, is expected to successfully deliver the Dragon spacecraft's payload to the International Space Station, but the rocket again failed to touch down at a free-floating pad in the ocean.

SpaceX Didn’t Land Its Rocket

The third time was not a charm for the Falcon 9

Rover May Have Found a Water Source for Humans on Mars

Data collected from the Curiosity rover suggests liquid water could be harvested from Martian soil

Could NASA Stop on the Moon on the Way to Mars?

NASA's chief of human exploration thinks we'll need a pit stop en route to the fiery planet

Why the ESA’s Astronauts Train Underground

The European Space Agency is applying protocols from the International Space Station in caves

Houston, We Might Have Some Major Problems Making Babies in Space

From risky pregnancies to birth defects to problems with inbreeding, it just seems like a bad idea

A Rocket Blessing and a Cubist Planet Are Among These Celestial Sights

Russia sends off the one-year crew and a Saturn probe gets artistic in our picks for this week's best space-related pictures

The Asteroid Redirect Vehicle gets ready to push off from the asteroid after grabbing a boulder in this artist’s interpretation

An Asteroid Boulder Will Be A Stepping Stone on the Journey to Mars

NASA announces details in its plan to capture an asteroid and bring it into lunar orbit

That Time an Astronaut Smuggled a Corned Beef Sandwich To Space

The sandwich was a joke but its crumbs proved to be too much — for politicians, not for the mission

The first US spacewalk had astronaut Edward White use a compressed gas "zip gun" for maneuvers

'The Stars and Sun Are Everywhere’: 50 Years of Spacewalks

Today marks five decades since cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first human to walk in space

There’s an Invader in the International Space Station

An Invader mosaic has found its way to space

A Solar Flare and a Volcano Blizzard Are Among These Stellar Shots

An X-class explosion and a snowy satellite image feature among our picks for the week's best space images

This is How Earth Welcomed Back Soyuz

Not a bad re-entry after months on the International Space Station

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