Space News & Blog Articles

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Fresh crew docks at space station; Starliner astronauts expected to return to Earth Tuesday

The four SpaceX Crew-10 members and the seven Expedition 72 crew members join each other for a welcoming ceremony shortly after the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft docked to the International Space Station and the hatches opened. Image: NASA

The Crew 10 Dragon capsule caught up with the International Space Station and moved in for a textbook docking early Sunday, bringing four fresh crew members to the lab and clearing the way for the Starliner astronauts to return to Earth after nearly 300 days in space.

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Hera Swings Past Mars, Sees Deimos From a New Angle

Gravitational slingshots are now a common part of space missions where the trajectory of a spacecraft is altered using the gravity of another body. These often bring fabulous opportunities for an extra bit of bonus science such as that demonstrated by ESA’s Hera mission on its way to asteroid Dimorphos. It’s following up on the DART 2022 impact but to get there, it’s used the gravity of Mars. It came within 5,000 km of the red planet and on its way, was able to take a look at Mars’ smaller moon Deimos from its far side.

Exploding Stars May Have Caused Two of Earth's Mass Extinctions

Supernova explosions are powerful enough to cause mass extinctions if they're close enough. But can we tie supernovae to any of Earth's five mass extinctions? New research shows supernovae could be responsible for the Late Devonian and Late Ordovician mass extinctions.

What Will the Betelgeuse Supernova Be Like - And Will It Hurt Us?

When Betelgeuse goes off, it's going to be the show of a lifetime. But it’s not going to hurt us.

SpaceX sets new launchpad turnaround record with Saturday sunrise launch

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at sunrise to begin the Starlink 12-16 mission on March 15, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update March 15, 8:41 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 23 Starlink satellites.

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NASA, SpaceX launch Crew-10 to begin flight to the International Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A to begin the Crew-10 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update March 14, 8:30 p.m. EDT: Dragon Endurance is making its way to the space station.

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SpaceX launches Starlink 12-21 mission following back-to-back scrubs

A streak shot of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it soared away from Florida’s Space Coast. The launch of the Starlink 12-21 mission was captured next to a riverboat about 47 miles away in St. Cloud, Florida. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

Update March 12, 11 p.m. ET: B1069 landed on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’

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SpaceX details Falcon 9 anomaly that temporarily grounded the rocket fleet

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket first stage booster, tail number B1086, lands on the droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ amid the Starlink 12-20 mission on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Shortly after touchdown, a fire broke out in the engine section and caused the loss of the booster. Image: SpaceX via livestream

SpaceX is preparing for the return to flight of its Falcon 9 on Monday evening following week without flying its workhorse rocket after a booster caught fire and exploded after landing. Two missions are on tap if the weather cooperates: one in California and the other in Florida.

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NASA, SpaceX launch SPHEREx and PUNCH missions following spacecraft-driven scrub

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base to begin NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions on March 11, 2025. Image: SpaceX

Update March 12, 1:52 a.m. ET: NASA confirms acquisition of signal.

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Planet Profile - Venus

Planet Profile: Venus

1. Basic Facts

Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is often called Earth’s twin due to its similar size, mass, and composition. However, beyond these similarities, Venus is an incredibly hostile world with scorching temperatures, crushing atmospheric pressure, and toxic clouds. It has a diameter of 12,104 km (7,521 miles), making it slightly smaller than Earth. Unlike Earth, Venus has a thick, dense atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide, trapping heat and creating the hottest planetary surface in the Solar System. Venus has no moons or rings, and its surface is dominated by vast volcanic plains, mountains, and deep craters. Despite its extreme conditions, Venus has fascinated astronomers for centuries and remains an important target for future exploration.

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Trump administration removes Apollo moon rock from White House Oval Office

Whether President Donald Trump still supports returning astronauts to the lunar surface remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: the moon no longer has a place in his White House.

60 days in bed for science

Video: 00:06:40

A group of volunteers is spending two months lying in bed—with their feet up and one shoulder always touching the mattress—even while eating, showering, and using the toilet. But why? This extreme bedrest study is helping scientists understand how space travel affects the human body and how to keep astronauts healthy on long missions.

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Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

File: A Falcon 9 stands ready for the Starlink 8-10 mission at Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

Update 1:30 a.m. EST (0630 UTC): SpaceX has delayed the launch to Tuesday.

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High-Resolution Imaging of Dyson Sphere Candidate Reveals no Radio Signals

In the more than sixty years where scientists have engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), several potential examples of technological activity (“technosignatures”) have been considered. While most SETI surveys to date have focused on potential radio signals from distant sources, scientists have expanded the search to include other possible examples. This includes other forms of communication (directed energy, neutrinos, gravitational waves, etc.) and examples of megastructures (Dyson Spheres, Clarke Bands, Niven Rings, etc.)

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Measuring Lightsail Performance in the Lab

Sailing has been a mainstay of human history for millennia, so it’s no surprise that scientists would apply it to traveling in space. Solar sailing, the most common version, uses pressure from the Sun to push spacecraft with giant sails outward in the solar system. However, there is a more technologically advanced version that several groups think might offer us the best shot at getting to Alpha Centauri – light sailing. Instead of relying on light from the Sun, this technique uses a laser to push an extraordinarily light spacecraft up to speeds never before achieved by anything humans have built. One such project is supported by the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, initially founded by Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking. A new paper by researchers at Caltech, funded by the Initiative, explores how to test what force a laser would have on a light sail as it travels to another star.

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Japanese Lander Looks Back at Earth as it Heads to the Moon

The Hakuto-R 2 mission launched on January 15, 2025. It’s the successor to Hakuto-R, which launched in December 2022 but failed when it lost communications during its descent. Both missions carried rovers, and this image was captured by the rover Resilience as it travels toward the Moon.

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Star Formation Might Depend on Galactic Magnetic Fields

A galactic merger is a chaotic event. When two massive structures like galaxies merge, their powerful gravitational forces wrench stars out of their usual orbits in a process called violent relaxation. In essence, the merging galaxies are evolving rapidly, and small perturbations can be amplified as the system moves toward a more stationary state.

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Planet Profile - Mercury

Planet Profile: Mercury

1. Basic Facts

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet in the Solar System. It has a diameter of 4,880 km (3,032 miles), which is only slightly larger than Earth’s Moon. Because of its proximity to the Sun, Mercury experiences extreme solar radiation and has a rapid orbital speed. Despite being the closest planet to our star, it is not the hottest—Venus holds that title due to its thick atmosphere. Mercury has no moons or rings, and its surface is covered in craters from constant asteroid impacts. Scientists believe Mercury’s composition is unique, with a very large metallic core making up the majority of its mass. Although ancient civilizations observed Mercury for centuries, its secrets remained largely unknown until the space age, when spacecraft like Mariner 10 and MESSENGER provided detailed images and data about this mysterious world.

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A Super-Earth to Test the Limits of Habitability

Every exoplanet discovery is an opportunity to refine models of planet formation, solar system architecture, habitable zones, and habitability itself. Each new planet injects more data into the scientific endeavour to understand what’s going on and how things got this way. However, some planets have such unusual characteristics that they invite a deeper focus and intense follow-up observations.

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Scientists discover new, 3rd form of magnetism that may be the 'missing link' in the quest for superconductivity

Scientists say AI has crossed a critical 'red line' after demonstrating how two popular large language models could clone themselves.


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