Space News & Blog Articles
Starliner Faces New Delays for Crewed Flights to ISS
While the SpaceX Crew Dragon is making regular trips to and from the International Space Station, the other vehicle NASA was planning to rely on for crew transportation keeps running into problems and delays. Boeing and NASA just announced another set of delays for the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, pushing it even further back from its proposed July launch window — which was already years behind schedule.
Confessions of a Photon Snob: Going Robotic
When visual astronomy isn't possible — or even when it is — robotic telescopes can make way for more stargazing.
How long will the new supernova visible in the night sky last?
A new supernova that burst into the night sky in May 2023 should remain visible in the Pinwheel Galaxy for some time, astronomers say.
China's Shenzhou 15 capsule lands safely with 3 Tiangong space station astronauts (video)
China's Shenzhou 15 astronauts returned to Earth with a smooth and safe weekend landing after completing a six-month mission to the country's space station.
Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket ready to launch space station resupply mission
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launched SpaceX’s 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station. Follow us on Twitter.
Live coverage: Second-generation Starlink satellites set for launch on Falcon 9 rocket
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-4 mission at 5:56 a.m. EDT (0956 UTC) on June 3 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
Shenzhou crew capsule brings home three Chinese astronauts
The Shenzhou 15 spacecraft descends toward landing under its main parachute. Credit: CCTV
Three Chinese astronauts departed the Tiangong space station Saturday and landed in the remote Gobi Desert of northwestern China, capping a six-month expedition that included four spacewalks and a host of experiments in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit.
Live coverage: Three Chinese astronauts returning to Earth today
Live coverage of China’s Shenzhou 15 mission, a six-month expedition to the Chinese space station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
CCTV Undocking Replay
Jupiter’s “Stripes” Change Color. Now We Might Know Why
While Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is one of the most well-known spectacles in the solar system, Jupiter’s clouds and stripes that are responsible for the planet’s weather patterns are highly regarded, as well. Though not nearly as visible in an amateur astronomy telescope, Jupiter’s multicolored, rotating, and swirling cloud stripes are a sight to behold for any astronomy fan when seen in up-close images. And, what makes these stripes unique is they have been observed to change color from time to time, but the question of what causes this color change to occur has remained elusive.
Watch SpaceX launch 22 Starlink 'V2 mini' satellites early Sunday
A Falcon 9 rocket will launch 22 of SpaceX's new "V2 Mini" Starlink internet satellites early Sunday morning (June 4), and you can watch the action live.
See the Full Strawberry Moon of June share the sky with Mars and a half Venus tonight
June's Strawberry moon rises tonight (June 3) and is joined by Jupiter, Mars and a half Venus in the night sky.
Watch SpaceX launch Dragon cargo mission to space station today
SpaceX will launch its 28th cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA today (June 3), and you can watch the action live.
China's Shenzhou 15 astronauts set to return to Earth tonight
The three astronauts of China's Shenzhou 15 mission are set to come home to Earth on Saturday evening (June 3) after six months aboard the Tiangong space station.
Astronomers are Searching for a Galaxy-Wide Transmitter Beacon at the Center of the Milky Way
It has been over sixty years since the first Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) survey occurred. This was Project Ozma, a survey led by Dr. Frank Drake (who devised the Drake Equation) that used the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, to listen for radio transmissions from Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. While the search revealed nothing of interest, it paved the way for decades of research, theory, and attempts to find evidence of technological activity (aka. “technosignatures”).
Webb spots vast plume of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus
A plume of water vapor jetting from the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus stretches 20 times the size of the moon itself, feeding a vast torus around the ringed planet. Inset: Enceladus as imaged by the Cassini orbiter. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and G. Villanueva (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center). Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)
Using the sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have managed to detect a vast plume of water vapor spewing from the southern pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, a jet extending nearly 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) and feeding a previously detected torus circling the entire planet.
Types of Stars
Stars are classified into different types based on their temperature, color, size, and other characteristics. The classification system used to categorize stars is called the stellar classification or spectral classification. Here are some of the main types of stars:
Ice clouds high in Earth's atmosphere could help predict climate change. NASA wants a closer look
An upcoming NASA mission will provide an unprecedented look at ice clouds at high altitudes in Earth's atmosphere.
This tiny probe the size of your cell phone could measure asteroid gravity in a space 1st
The European Space Agency (ESA) has designed a tiny mobile phone-sized probe that could become the world's first to measure the gravity on the surface of an asteroid.
Betelgeuse is Almost 50% Brighter Than Normal. What’s Going On?
Whenever something happens with Betelgeuse, speculations about it exploding as a supernova proliferate. It would be cool if it did. We’re far enough away to suffer no consequences, so it’s fun to imagine the sky lighting up like that for months.
Three New Astronauts Arrive at the Chinese Space Station, Including the Country's First Civilian
China continues to establish new milestones in space. In recent years, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) has begun assembling the Long March-9 (CZ-9), the country’s first reusable super-heavy launch vehicle; the Tianwen-1 mission became the first Chinese orbiter, lander, and rover combination to reach Mars, and their super-secret spaceplane completed its second flight (after spending 276 days in space). China has also made significant progress in terms of human spaceflight, especially where the Tiangong space station is concerned.
