Space News & Blog Articles

The video game industry is hot for space video games at the moment. Here’s our list of the top 10 space games you should keep an eye on.

A Russian Proton rocket launched the Angosat-2 satellite to orbit for the government of Angola on Oct. 12, 2022.

NASA's TESS mission to spot exoplanets is in safe mode after a computer glitch hit the spacecraft on Monday (Oct. 10).

SpaceX has stacked a Starship vehicle on the launch pad at its Starbase facility in South Texas for the first time since March.

ESA’s Mars Express has captured the rare moment of Mars’ small moon Deimos passing in front of Jupiter and its four largest moons ­– the focus of ESA’s upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launching next year. Celestial alignments like these enable a more precise determination of the martian moons’ orbits.

NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The next launch attempt for the NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is scheduled just after midnight Nov. 14 after a hydrogen leak and Hurricane Ian thwarted tries to launch the unpiloted test flight to the moon in August and September, space agency officials announced this week.

Unlike the previous launch attempts for the Artemis 1 moon mission, the launch times available to NASA are mostly at night. The launch window Nov. 14 opens at 12:07 a.m. EST (0507 GMT) and extends for 69 minutes. NASA said Wednesday it has requested Nov. 14, Nov. 16, and Nov. 19 for launch opportunities on the U.S. Space Force’s Eastern Range, the unit responsible for public safety and launch scheduling on Florida’s Space Coast.

The launch windows Nov. 16 and Nov. 19 open at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT) and 1:45 a.m. EST (0645 GMT). Each day has a launch window that runs for two hours.

On its first test flight, NASA’s huge Space Launch System rocket will send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a four-day voyage toward the moon. The Orion spacecraft will enter a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, executing two close flybys about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface on the outbound journey and then again on the return trip to Earth.

Different launch dates come with different mission profiles. Some launch dates set up the Artemis 1 mission for a shorter duration of about three-and-a-half weeks, while other launch dates have mission profiles with durations extending up to six weeks.

Following its unanimous approval by ESA Council on 17 March, the Association Agreement between ESA and the Slovak Republic was signed on 14 June at ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

The Celestron Travel Scope 70DX offers high-quality optics at an entry-level price point of just $89 during Prime Day Early Access.

Lego's Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama is $10 off for Prime Day Early Access at just $60.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Oct. 13 with weather delay.

NASA astronaut Bob Hines (left), Jessica Watkins (top), European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (bottom), and Crew-4 commander Kjell Lindgren (right) aboard the International Space Station in July. Credit: NASA

Four astronauts are preparing to ride a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule from the International Space Station back to Earth this week to close out a nearly six-month expedition, targeting splashdown off the coast of Florida. NASA and SpaceX officials waved off return opportunities Wednesday and Thursday due to unfavorable weather in the splashdown zones.

Mission managers delayed the return of the Crew-4 mission from Wednesday and Thursday due to unfavorable weather in the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida. SpaceX has seven areas in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean available for Dragon splashdowns.

The next opportunity to undock the Dragon capsule is Friday at around 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT), potentially setting up for a splashdown late Friday afternoon. But NASA and SpaceX officials continue to evaluate weather and sea conditions off Florida’s coast before committing to re-entry.

When officials are satisfied weather is acceptable for splashdown, SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft will ferry its four-person crew for the trip home, concluding NASA’s Crew-4 mission that began April 27 with a predawn blastoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is the fourth operational crew rotation flight to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, operating under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA.

Artist Ashley Zelinskie's "Unfolding the Universe: First Light" exhibit showcases a virtual reality experience, 3D-printed sculptures and more James Webb Space Telescope-inspired art.

SpaceX's newly announced tourist mission to the moon could help humanity extend its footprint far beyond Earth, company representatives say.

The Europe-led Solar Orbiter mission has captured a stunning sequence of the lively sun as it made an orbital approach amid intensifying solar activity.

Missing House of the Dragon, Harley Quinn or any of HBO's other shows? Get a year's subscription for as little as $69.99.

The Mars 3 MSLA 3D Resin Printer is marked down 22% at just $208 during Amazon Prime Day Early Access, making high-definition resin prints possible at a much lower price point.

NASA's iconic round insignia, nicknamed the 'meatball,' appeared to be oddly distorted on the Falcon 9 rocket that launched Crew-5 to the International Space Station.

Every time two giant stars swing around each other, they enrich the cosmos with complex organic molecules.

The post Dance of Giant Stars Creates Ripples of Dust appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Artemis 1 will have a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST (1707 GMT) on Nov. 14, during which it will attempt to send the Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit.

Amazon are currently offering a $462 discount on this Autel Robotics drone bundle - but the coupon won't be around forever.

Akiko and Dennis Tito at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX

Dennis Tito, an 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid Russia $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001, is working with SpaceX on plans to take his wife on what amounts to a belated honeymoon voyage to the moon.

In an interview with “CBS Mornings,” Tito said he and his wife of two years want to fly on Elon Musk’s futuristic Starship for the sheer adventure of it. They also want to inspire senior citizens who might think their horizons are increasingly limited.

And they want to play a part in humanity’s initial steps out into the solar system.

“I’ve been thinking about flying to the moon for the last 20 years, since my space flight,” Tito said. “And here we were at SpaceX (recently) and they were interested in talking about a space flight. And I brought it up. And within a few minutes, we both were on board.”

In a television interview Monday at SpaceX’s sprawling Starship development complex near Brownsville, Texas, Tito and his Tokyo-born wife Akiko, 57, said they hope to blast off with 10 other yet-to-be-named passengers, booked by SpaceX, within the next five years or so, after the rocket completes a series of test flights.