Space Exploration, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 8, 2024

Vulcan just launched the 1st US moon mission since Apollo, with human remains aboard

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A brand-new rocket just got its wings. United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur launched on its first-ever flight, called Cert-1, early this morning (Jan. 8), from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Vulcan lifted off at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT), when the rocket's two...

Jan 8, 2024

See 1st-ever Vulcan Centaur rocket blast off into space in stunning photos and videos

United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday (Jan. 8) at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT). The launch — the first ever for the powerful Vulcan Centaur — sent Astrobotic's private Peregrine moon lander toward Earth's nearest neighbor, where it...

Jan 8, 2024

Human remains blasted into space on Vulcan rocket will 'desecrate' the moon, Navajo Nation says

Editor's note: Updated at 3:25 p.m. EST — About six hours after its launch on Monday (Jan. 8), the Peregrine spacecraft ran into technical difficulties that could doom its trip to the moon. Astrobotic Technology, the the private American company that owns the spacecraft, announced that the Peregrine had sprung...

Jan 9, 2024

Peregrine moon lander carrying human remains doomed after 'critical loss' of propellant

Editor's note: Astrobiotic announced on Wednesday (Jan. 10) that they have now found a possible cause for the anomaly that prevented the Peregrine mission from reaching the moon. The first U.S. spacecraft to attempt a soft landing on the moon in more than 50 years has experienced a critical loss...

Jan 10, 2024

NASA's historic Artemis mission to land the 1st woman on the moon delayed until 2026

NASA leaders have announced they are pushing back two of the agency's flagship Artemis missions — Artemis II and Artemis III — amid safety concerns. Artemis II, which will send four astronauts on a round trip around the moon and was originally scheduled for November 2024, is now slated to...

Jan 10, 2024

'No chance of a soft landing': Company confirms Peregrine mission's human remains won't reach the moon

Engineers have identified the potential cause of a fuel leak on the Peregrine spacecraft that has left it, the first U.S. craft to attempt a soft landing on the moon in 50 years, with no chance of completing its mission. The Peregrine spacecraft, owned by the private American company Astrobotic...

Jan 12, 2024

NASA finally opens capsule to potentially hazardous asteroid 'Bennu' that may contain seeds of life

After months of prying and jimmying, NASA scientists have at last opened the canister containing material scraped from the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu, the agency announced on Thursday (Jan. 11). The sample — roughly 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of rocky space rubble collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — is thought...

Jan 15, 2024

Failed Peregrine lunar lander carrying human remains will crash into Earth by Thursday (Jan. 18)

The controversial Peregrine lunar lander, which swiftly failed in its mission to reach the moon after launching last week, will be deliberately crashed into Earth's atmosphere by Thursday (Jan. 18). The doomed spacecraft will most likely burn up in our planet's upper atmosphere without reaching the planet’s surface. The Peregrine...

Jan 18, 2024

Elon Musk's Starship 'almost made it to orbit' before violently exploding, Musk claims at SpaceX meeting

SpaceX's giant Starship rocket apparently performed better on its second-ever test flight than its explosive end would suggest. The mission launched from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Nov. 18 of last year. It ended about eight minutes after liftoff, when Starship's upper-stage spacecraft (called, somewhat confusingly, Starship), detonated...

Jan 22, 2024

NASA bounces laser off 'Oreo-sized' mirror on the moon for 1st time, paving the way for high-precision lunar landings

NASA has successfully bounced a laser beam off of an Oreo-sized mirror on India's historic lunar lander and back to the orbiting spacecraft that fired it. This feat is the first time that such a maneuver has ever been carried out, and it could help facilitate high-precision landings during future...

Jan 24, 2024

Watch balloon-like space station module explode (on purpose) during 1st full-scale burst test

That's one big bang for space station safety. Sierra Space deliberately blew up its first full-scale space station module prototype recently to get ready for future space missions that could take place as soon as 2030, the company announced on Monday (Jan. 22). The blast was equivalent to using 164...

Jan 25, 2024

Japan's high-precision 'Moon Sniper' spacecraft hit its target, but it landed upside down

A new image released by Japan's space agency has revealed why its first moon lander has had trouble charging — despite making the most precise touchdown in lunar history, the stricken craft landed on its nose. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) arrived on the moon's surface on Friday...

Jan 26, 2024

1st-of-its-kind European spacecraft duo will create mini eclipses in space, transforming how we study the sun

Later this year, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Proba-3 mission into orbit around Earth. This unique project's twin spacecraft will align with each other to create frequent, artificial eclipses in space, which will give researchers near-unlimited access to studying the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, for the...

Feb 1, 2024

See Earth's atmosphere glow gold in gorgeous photo taken from the International Space Station

A golden glow illuminates Earth's horizon in a stunning new image from the International Space Station. The atmospheric glow, or airglow, captured in the new photo occurs when sunlight interacts with atoms and molecules within Earth's atmosphere. The new photo, which NASA shared on Jan. 21, shows a bright golden...

Feb 4, 2024

Will future colonists on the moon and Mars develop new accents?

In the not-too-distant future, humans will begin to spread out into the solar system — and not just for fleeting visits. The ultimate goal of space exploration (apart from finding aliens) is to set up human colonies on other worlds to learn more about our cosmic neighborhood and search for...