Space News

How far is the Sun? It seems as if one could hardly ask a more straightforward question. Yet this very inquiry bedeviled astronomers for more than two thousand years. Certainly it’s a question of nearly unrivaled impor...

Amazing images of falling rocket debris from a spent Chinese booster were captured in the final moments of its plummet back to Earth outside a remote village located in southwest China. The images were taken by a photo j...

Nature looks at what the New Year holds for science --

Engineers have found a way to buy some time for the MESSENGER spacecraft, which was due to end its four-year mission in March with a suicidal plung

NASA will hold a media briefing at 2 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 8, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington to discuss the upcoming Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission.

Although Mars is a very alien planet, some aspects of its geology are surprisingly familiar. This Mars Express image shows a snippet of a region of Mars filled with cliffs, trenches, faults, giant plateaus and volcanoes....

SpaceX will try to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, shortly after the booster launches SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 ...

Early-bird skywatchers along the eastern United States have an opportunity, weather permitting, to see the private spaceflight company SpaceX launch a robotic Dragon capsule to the International Space Station before dawn...

Astronomers from around the world gathered in Seattle today for the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Although it's just past noon on the West Coast, the discoveries are already beginning to unfurl. Her...

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: This spring, students worldwide are invited to grab rain gauges and learn how scientists use ground measurements to validate satellite precipitation data.

Stars slow down as they age, and their ages are well-kept secrets. Astronomers are taking advantage of the first fact to tackle the second and tease out stellar ages....

Where on Earth did our water come from. Well, obviously not from Earth, of course, but from space. But did it come from comets, or did the water form naturally right here in the Solar System, and the Earth just scooped i...

CNES said it has begun a small technology research program with Germany and other governments to develop a future liquid oxygen/methane-powered rocket stage that would be reusable. The post With Eye on SpaceX, CNES Begin...

The GAO rejected a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. of commercial crew development contracts NASA awarded in September to two other companies. The post GAO Denies Sierra Nevada Protest of Commercial Crew Contract app...

Alien worlds more massive than Earth could harbor long-lasting oceans, according to new research. Scientists have used computer modeling to show that so-called 'super-Earth' planets.

Skywatchers will be treated to a fascinating ballet of the so-called Galilean moons throughout the month, as the satellites pass one another, sometimes blocking (occulting) or casting shadows (eclipsing) and casting shad...

NASA Breaking News: Students will look to the skies this week when SpaceX's fifth commercial resupply services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station lifts off at 6:18 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 6, from Cape Canave...

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: How do you make an Earth-like planet? The "test kitchen" of Earth has given us a detailed recipe, but it wasn't clear whether other planetary systems would follow the same for...

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: For life as we know it to develop on other planets, those planets would need liquid water, or oceans. Geologic evidence suggests that Earth's oceans have existed for nearly th...

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: When you're a kid every birthday is cause for celebration, but as you get older they become a little less exciting. You might not want to admit just how old you are.

How do you make an Earth-like planet? The "test kitchen" of Earth has given us a detailed recipe, but it wasn't clear whether other planetary systems would follow the same formula. Now, astronomers have found evidence th...

Sierra Nevada’s protest concerning NASA’s commercial crew program was turned down today (Jan. 5), according to a statement from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The company is developing a spacecraft called...