Space Exploration, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2019

Boeing's Starliner Won't Reach Space Station, NASA Chief Says

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing's Starliner astronaut taxi suffered an anomaly today (Dec. 20) during its flight to the International Space Station during the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission. About 90 minutes after blastoff, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Twitter that the capsule will not be able to reach...

Oct 31, 2019

Russian Military Launches Secret Surveillance Satellite Into Orbit

A Russian Soyuz rocket launched a top-secret military satellite designed to scope out other satellites in space on Monday (Nov. 25), according to government reports. The Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle brought the satellite into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, which is roughly 500 miles or 800 kilometers north of Moscow, for...

Sep 30, 2019

Why NASA's Annoyed About Elon Musk's Giant Rocket

SpaceX has never flown a person into space in its Crew Dragon, its first crew-capable spacecraft. But already the company is showing off its much bigger, much shinier cousin: the Starship, built in Boca Chica, a coastal village at the southeastern tip of Texas, as part of a plan to...

Sep 30, 2019

US Air Force's X-37B Space Plane Lands After Record 780-Day Mystery Mission

The U.S. Air Force's unpiloted X-37B space plane landed back on Earth Sunday (Oct. 27) after a record 780 days in orbit , racking up the fifth ultra-long mission for the military's mini-shuttle fleet. The X-37B's Orbital Test Vehicle 5 (OTV-5) mission ended with a smooth autonomous touchdown at the...

Aug 31, 2019

Unpiloted Russian Soyuz Capsule Returns to Earth with Humanoid on Board

An uncrewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft returned to Earth Friday (Sept. 6), bringing a humanoid robot home and wrapping up a first-of-its-kind test flight to the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-14 space capsule landed at 5:32 p.m. EDT (2132 GMT) Friday on the steppes of south-central Kazakhstan, where the local...

Aug 31, 2019

Astronaut Snaps Photo of Her Friend's Launch Into Space. And It's Absolutely Stunning.

The best view of today's crew launch turned out to be from the spacecraft's destination itself, the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and United Arab Emirates spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today (Sept. 25) at 9:57...

Jul 31, 2019

Astronaut in Space Stares Into the Eye of Hurricane Dorian, a Category 4 Storm

Hurricane Dorian strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm overnight, with astronauts and satellites capturing stunning views of the storm's eye from space today (Aug. 31). On the International Space Station, astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency spotted Hurricane Dorian as it moved across the Atlantic Ocean toward...

Jun 30, 2019

Something’s Missing in This Stunning Photo of Space Station Passing in Front of the Midday Sun

Swirling 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) completes a full orbit of our planet every 90 minutes or so. You can see it with your naked eyes at night (at least, you can see a white dot of steady-cruising light), but spotting the station during...

Jun 30, 2019

These Butter Sculpture Celebrate NASA's Apollo 11 Astronauts and They're Legen-DAIRY!

The sculptures are of the Apollo 11 moon crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins — as well as a separate buttery interpretation of Armstrong in his spacesuit by the lunar module, Eagle. There's also a butter cow and calf standing beside the Apollo 11 patch. This took...

Apr 30, 2019

Here's What SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Look Like in the Night Sky

It's been one day since SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and a skywatching sleuth has already spotted them soaring across the night sky. Netherlands-based satellite tracker Marco Langbroek stunned space fans tonight (May 24) with this jaw-dropping video of dozens of Starlink satellites soaring overhead....

Mar 31, 2019

Dead Planet's Heavy Metal Core Found Rocketing Around a Dead Sun in a Distant Solar System

In case you forgot that nature is totally metal, astronomers have discovered the shattered remains of a dead planet orbiting a dead sun in a distant, desolate solar system. The dead planet's broken heart consists of heavy metal, and it orbits at breakneck speed through a dirty cosmic boneyard full...

Feb 28, 2019

A 30-Million-Page Archive of Human History Was Just Launched into Space

Last week, a 30-million-page archive of human history and civilization launched aboard a spacecraft headed for the moon. The so-called Lunar Library is a small nanotech device that resembles a DVD, and it's intended as a backup plan so that everything we've ever learned as humans doesn't get lost in...

Feb 28, 2019

SpaceX Crew Dragon Splashes Down in Atlantic to Cap Historic Test Flight

The Crew Dragon capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast today (March 8) at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT), wrapping up a historic mission to the International Space Station (ISS). There were no astronauts aboard this flight, only the sensor-packed dummy Ripley named after a character...

Nov 30, 2020

Mysterious minimoon circling Earth is actually a 1960s rocket booster

A mysterious minimoon temporarily orbiting Earth isn't a chunky space rock, but a 1960s rocket booster, NASA reported Wednesday (Dec. 2). Researchers had an inkling that the minimoon might be human-made, but it wasn't until this week that they confirmed it, after analyzing its composition from afar at NASA's Infrared...

Nov 30, 2020

Watch SpaceX test a giant 'Starship' over Texas today [UPDATED]

Update Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 4:27 p.m. EST: The launch is now on hold, and now anticipated to take place at 5:40 p.m. EST. Update Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 4:02 p.m. EST: SpaceX is getting ready to launch again any minute. A livestream is below. Update Tuesday, Dec. 8 at...