Space exploration — missions, telescope discoveries, planetary science, and the race to the stars.
Sugar molecules found in interstellar space for the first time
Astronomers detected ribose, a five-carbon sugar essential to life, within a massive cosmic cloud called Sagittarius B2 located 27,000 light-years fro…
Hubble discovers first of star cluster's missing black holes
Astronomers have identified the first stellar-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, solving a decades-old puzzle about the cluster's missing black holes.…
NASA begins stacking rocket ahead of 2027 Artemis III astronaut launch (photos)
NASA has started stacking segments of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters in preparation for the Artemis III lunar mission, which aims…
SpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, reveals what went wrong on previous launch
SpaceX has set July 16 as the target launch date for Starship Flight 13, the company announced. The flight will represent the second launch of Starshi…
Extremely Large Telescope reaches a major milestone | Space photo of the day for July 13, 2026
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has reached a major construction milestone, according to Space.com. Located in Chile's Atacama Desert, the observa…
Future moon landings could wipe out clues to how life began on Earth
Future moon landings risk destroying evidence about life's origins on Earth through spacecraft exhaust contamination, according to new research. Scien…
Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots ensures astronauts can vote from space — or anywhere else
The Supreme Court's recent ruling protecting voter rights creates a pathway for astronauts to cast ballots from space or while stationed abroad, accor…
Making history! China lands rocket during an orbital launch for 1st time ever (video)
China achieved an unprecedented milestone on Friday when a Long March 10B rocket completed its inaugural flight and successfully landed at sea after d…
SpaceX wants to launch 100,000 Starlink satellites to orbit
SpaceX filed an application with U.S. regulators to deploy 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites in Earth orbit, according to the company's subm…
'Reckless' space-based data centers lack environmental review, drawing criticism
Companies planning to launch thousands of orbital data centers face no environmental review requirements, prompting sharp criticism from space policy …
Why space games still struggle with the scale of the universe
The vastness of space presents a fundamental challenge for video game developers trying to represent the universe authentically. Douglas Adams capture…
149 million views! Artemis II moon mission breaks NASA's streaming record
NASA's Artemis II moon mission generated unprecedented public engagement, drawing 149 million total views across the agency's streaming platforms and …
Space medicine breakthrough? Kidney and liver tissue bioprinted off Earth for 1st time ever
Auxilium Biotechnologies, a California-based company, has successfully bioprinted kidney and liver tissue aboard a spacecraft, marking the first time …
The moon, Mars and the Pleiades form a stunning lineup before dawn on July 11. Here's how to see it
Early risers on July 11 will witness a rare celestial alignment visible just before dawn. A thin crescent moon will line up with Mars, the star Aldeba…
'The moon looked wrong': Artemis II mission controller Chris White on taking historic lunar flyby photos from 250,000 miles away
Chris White, lead communications officer for NASA's Artemis II mission, experienced some of the tensest moments of the historic lunar flyby from his d…
Europe just unveiled a new rival to SpaceX’s Starship
European space agencies have unveiled an ambitious heavy-lift rocket concept designed to challenge SpaceX's Starship dominance in affordable space lau…
NASA satellites are watching Earth's newest island rise from the sea
NASA satellites are monitoring an underwater volcanic eruption north of Papua New Guinea that may create a new island. The eruption, discovered in the…
Synthetic rotation brings black hole energy theory into lab, amplifying waves
Researchers have experimentally demonstrated a wave amplification phenomenon predicted decades ago by physicist Yakov Zel'dovich, based on Roger Penro…
Launching from 2 continents: Germany's Isar Aerospace leases Canadian pad for $150 million
Isar Aerospace, a German rocket company, has signed a $150 million lease agreement with Canada's Maritime Launch Services to operate at Spaceport Nova…
SpaceX launch creates colorful 'jellyfish' in the night sky | Space photo of the day for July 10, 2026
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket created a striking optical phenomenon over the night sky on July 10, 2026, producing an ethereal jellyfish-like formation tha…
Could permanent magnets protect astronauts from solar storms?
Researchers from Italy and Germany have proposed using permanent magnets to shield astronauts from solar radiation during deep-space missions, potenti…
X-ray tracking reveals uneven expansion in young supernova remnant G292.0+1.8
Dutch astronomers analyzing data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered that the young supernova remnant G292.0+1.8 expands unevenly, accord…
Your lost dog can now call home with the world's 1st satellite-connected dog collar
SpaceX's Starlink satellite network now powers a new pet tracker that enables dog owners to locate their animals from virtually anywhere on Earth. The…
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 218 — Which Way to the Moonbase?
Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik invited planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee onto Episode 218 of the This Week In Space podcast to examine NASA's evolving moon…
A ravenous black hole in our backyard could be our window into the ancient universe
Astronomers have identified a black hole in a nearby galaxy that exhibits feeding behavior matching supermassive black holes from the early universe, …
NASA's Hubble spots a stellar sparkler for the Fourth of July
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of an ancient star cluster in the Milky Way, revealing red, white, and blue stellar colors th…
NASA's Hubble captures a crimson stellar nursery sparkling with blue and white stars
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed LH 95, a stellar nursery located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing roughly 2,500 young stars emb…
NASA's Hubble captures a star-spangled sea of 500,000 stars
NASA released a Hubble Space Telescope image of Messier 3 on the occasion of the United States' 250th anniversary, capturing over 500,000 stars within…
To ancient astronomers, Theta Eridani was brighter for 1,000 years—now we know why
Ancient astronomers documented Theta Eridani as one of the 13 brightest stars in the sky, a claim that puzzled modern researchers for centuries. Ptole…
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for 35th time, hauls Starlink satellites to orbit
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on July 10 for the 35th flight in the booster's operational history, deploying 29 Starlink satellites into low Earth…
The galaxy’s coldest “stars” may actually be alien megastructures
Astronomers have identified observational signatures that could reveal Dyson spheres, the hypothetical megastructures that advanced civilizations migh…
UN space database aimed at easing global tensions is mysteriously down
The United Nations' space launch database has been offline for months, raising concerns about transparency in global space operations. The Registry of…
China takes a page from SpaceX and recaptures the first stage of a rocket to reuse it
China achieved a major milestone in reusable rocket technology by successfully recovering the first stage of a rocket after launch on Friday, accordin…
SpaceX ignites all 33 powerful engines on Starship booster ahead of Flight 13 launch
SpaceX successfully conducted a full-scale engine test on the Super Heavy booster that will power Starship's upcoming Flight 13 mission, according to …
These rare glowing 'space clouds' are summer's best-kept skywatching secret
Noctilucent clouds offer skywatchers a rare visual treat during summer months. These luminous ice formations drift at altitudes around 80 kilometers, …
Astronomers may have heard the 1st 'whispers' of ghost particles created by supernova explosions
Astronomers report detecting the first signals of neutrinos produced by supernova explosions in the distant past. These ghostly particles, which barel…
This alien planet never has sunrise or sunset. It may support life
Researchers have discovered that tidally locked exoplanets, which have one hemisphere perpetually facing their star and the other in permanent darknes…
A hidden immune backup system could supercharge mRNA cancer vaccines
Researchers have discovered that mRNA cancer vaccines activate an unexpected immune cell type to fight tumors, challenging decades of assumptions abou…
Random wobbles in time could finally solve gravity’s greatest mystery
Physicists have proposed that random fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime itself could resolve one of physics' deepest puzzles: reconciling gravity…
Wally Funk, trailblazing pilot and astronaut, passes away at 87
Wally Funk, a pioneering aviator who became the oldest person to reach space, died at 87. She flew to the edge of the cosmos in 2021 aboard Blue Origi…
Scientists have discovered the oldest quasar ever seen, and it shines with the light of a trillion suns
Astronomers using the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope have identified the oldest and most distant quasar ever observed, along with nume…