Space
The latest news and reporting on space exploration and discovery.
Latest
Astronomers confirm Maisie’s galaxy is one of the oldest observed
Astronomers have used advanced instruments to calculate a more accurate age of Maisie’s galaxy, discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in June 2022. Although the star system isn’t quite as old as initially estimated, it’s still one of the oldest recorded, from 390 million years after the Big Bang — making it about 13.4 billion years old. That’s a mere 70 million years younger than JADES-GS-z13-0, the (current) oldest-known system.
Russia heads to the Moon for the first time in 47 years
Russia is heading back to the Moon as it tries to reassert itself as a significant world power in the wake of its war on Ukraine. A rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft will mark Russia’s first lunar mission since 1976. The expedition will attempt to land the exploration vehicle on the moon’s south pole, hoping to dig up water ice beneath the surface. You can tune in to watch the launch here.
Watch Virgin Galactic's first ever space tourist flight at 11am ET
Virgin Galactic's first private passenger flight will be taking off from its Spaceport America facility at 11AM EDT.
ISS experiment will help scientists work out how to keep astronauts cool in space
Northrop Grumman's 19th resupply mission carrying a module with hardware that could help us understand how heating and air conditioning systems can operate in reduced gravity.
NASA regains contact with Voyager 2 after it went dark for two weeks
NASA "shouted" a command to the spacecraft across over 12.3 billion miles of space using the Deep Space Network, telling it to turn its antenna back to Earth.
Boeing's Starliner could be ready for crewed flights by next March
Following more than a decade of development, Boeing is aiming to send its Starliner crew capsule into space carrying live astronauts for the first time in March.
IBM and NASA teamed up to build the GPT of Earth sciences
IBM, NASA and Hugging Face have teamed up to build an open-source geospatial foundation model.
NASA+ is the space agency's very own streaming platform
NASA is launching its very own streaming platform called NASA+ sometime this summer.
How to watch this week's Congressional UFO hearing
A Congressional subcommittee is set to hold a hearing into UFOs. The panel will hear "firsthand accounts" of UFOs and "assess the federal government’s transparency and accountability" regarding possible threats to national security. You can watch Wednesday's hearing here.
Virgin Galactic's first private passenger spaceflight will launch as soon as August 10th
Virgin Galactic's first spaceflight with private passengers is now slated to launch as soon as August 10th.
Hitting the Books: How NASA helped JFK build his 'Nation of Immigrants'
After Apollo: Cultural Legacies of the Race to the Moon, explores the myriad ways that putting a man on the moon changed the American Experience.
Canoo made a cute trio of EVs to carry NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts to the SLS
This week, a trio of Canoo's Crew Transportation Vehicles arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Researchers find evidence of organic matter on Mars
The Perseverance Rover has found evidence of organic compounds in the Jezero Crater on Mars. Although this isn’t the smoking gun proving once and for all that Mars once hosted life — these compounds could have also developed in nonbiological ways — the results hint at surprisingly complex organic conditions for the “key building blocks for life” on Earth’s neighbor.
James Webb telescope marks first anniversary with an image of a nearby stellar nursery
The James Webb Space Telescope started sending out stunning images of the universe one full year ago. To commemorate the milestone, NASA is letting the telescope do what it does best, showing us obscenely cool space shots. The latest and greatest image depicts a (relatively) nearby region of space that’s a galactic nursery of sorts, with 50 young stars that could one day form systems that resemble our own.
Blue Origin is investigating why a rocket engine exploded during testing
Blue Origin says a rocket engine exploded during testing last month.
NASA expands developers' contracts for its next-gen spacesuits
Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace will modify their spacesuits for new purposes.
James Webb telescope captures the most distant active supermassive black hole yet
As part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, researchers have discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole we've seen to date.
Europe’s Euclid space telescope launches to map the dark universe
On late Saturday morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft successfully lifted off Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Watch the launch of Virgin Galactic's first commercial spaceflight
After years of testing and delays, Virgin Galactic's first commercial spaceflight is finally taking off — today, if the company's plan goes as intended.
Virgin Galactic will start commercial spaceflight on June 29th
Virgin Galactic will start commercial spaceflight service as soon as June 27th.