Space News & Blog Articles

The universe is vast, and the distances between celestial objects are immense. To comprehend these scales, astronomers have developed specialized units and methods. Understanding cosmic distances is fundamental to modern astronomy, allowing us to determine the size, age, and structure of the cosmos.

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The name "Milky Way" comes from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky, in which the unaided eye cannot distinguish individual stars.

A cosmic explosion with an energy equivalent to the output of a billion suns went unnoticed by astronomers until they caught the "echo" of this gamma-ray burst.

The Smile mission is set to launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday 9 April at 08:29 CEST/07:29 BST/03:29 local time. Follow along as we communicate on the final preparations for launch. Journalists are invited to join online media briefings in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

The spring equinox marks the first day of spring today, but daylight actually lasts several minutes longer than night. Here's why the equinox doesn't appear perfectly equal.

The waxing Moon grows along the horns of Taurus, then passes first-quarter phase amid Jupiter and the heads of the Gemini twins.

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft roll away from the Vehicle Assembly Building atop the Mobile Launcher 1 and crawler-transporter 2 on Friday, March 20, 2026. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Moon rocket began heading back to the launch pad after repairs inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. The 322-foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, atop the 400-foot-tall Mobile Launcher, will start the slow trek to the pad Thursday night.

These worlds are among the least dense ever found, and all attempts to probe their atmospheres have been blocked by a mysterious smog.

One of the two spacecraft that make up Europe's Proba-3 solar-eclipse mission just reestablished contact with its handlers after being incommunicado for a month.

Catch the soft glow of earthshine as a young crescent moon appears low after sunset.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing our world — and how we interpret the heavens above us.

The South Korean startup Innospace failed during its first orbital launch attempt, which sent five satellites aloft on Dec. 22 from Brazil.

If you're a fan of Lego, rockets or Tintin, (I am), you'll want the new Tintin Moon Rocket set, featuring six minifigures, available to purchase from April 1.

When Andy Weir published Project Hail Mary, he based his novel on two worlds. We explore these planet candidates — and why they probably don’t exist.

The new film probes the possibility of alien life – here's how the science of Project Hail Mary stacks up.

NASA has used advanced imaging techniques to peer inside samples of asteroid Bennu, discovering extensive networks of cracks running throughout the rock particles.

The rare meteor exploded with the force of 250 tons of TNT.

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Watch the replay of the media information session where ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun outline the key decisions and main outcomes of the Council meeting held in Interlaken, Switzerland, on 18 and 19 March 2026.