Space News

Japan's space agency said Wednesday its "Akatsuki" probe had successfully entered into orbit around Venus after an initial attempt at reaching the second planet from the sun failed five years ago.

Wednesday's briefing begins with Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft arriving at the International Space Station with a fresh load of supplies, plus the latest on the CR. SpaceNews.com

The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship was bolted into place on the International Space Station's Earth-facing port of the Unity module at 9:26 a.m. EST....

The nail-biting maneuver that sent Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft into orbit around Venus this week is being celebrated by NASA scientists, eager to learn more about the atmosphere and climate of Earth's enigmatic sister pl...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft spied details on the pockmarked surface of Saturn's moon Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across) during a moderately close flyby on Dec. 6, 2015....

Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft has arrived in orbit around Venus, five years after an engine failure scuttled its first attempt, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials announced today (Dec. 9).

See photos of Venus from Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft, which arrived in orbit around the planet in December 2015 on its second try after missing the world in 2010.

The anomalous star KIC 8462852 has baffled astronomers with its erratic dimming, causing some to speculate that it's orbited by a massive structure built by an extraterrestrial civilization. To help evaluate that possibi...

Ceres reveals some of its well-kept secrets in two new studies in the journal Nature, thanks to data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. They include highly anticipated insights about mysterious bright features found all over t...

In the 1970s, Barry "Moon Man" McArdle sold lunar real estate for $1 per acre, with the caveat that rights were not yet secured. The space resources legislation President Obama just signed into law includes a similar pro...

This video shows a simulation of the space environment all the way out to Pluto in the months surrounding New Horizons' July 2015 flyby....

The commercial Cygnus cargo spaceship, loaded with over three tons of critically needed supplies and research experiments, successfully rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station (ISS) this morning (Dec...

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features:

Spectral measurements by NASA's Dawn spacecraft reveals that the 130+ bright spots on Ceres are likely composed of hydrated magnesium sulphate, but researchers state that "other compositions are also possible."

Bright spots seen by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres are likely salt deposits, a paper published Dec. 9 in Nature says....

Cosmic Girl is no stranger to the Virgin family, coming to Virgin Galactic from its sister company Virgin Atlantic. The jet will now be modified to accommodate a satellite-launching rocket, called LauncherOne, beneath th...

New findings reveal a crater’s vaporous hazes, and hint at the dwarf planet’s possible origin in the outer solar system --

On Dec. 2, 1995, the joint ESA/NASA mission SOHO roared into space on an Atlas/Centaur rocket. Four months later SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) fell into its new home, a "halo" orbit 1.5 million kilometers...

European specialists in space law say the U.S. legislation might contravene international treaties and will inevitably stir up a hornet's nest of opposition. SpaceNews.com

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center:

NGC 5291, the hazy, golden oval dominating the center of this image, is an elliptical galaxy located nearly 200 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Over 360 million years ago, NGC 52...

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