Space Exploration

Could humans be visiting Venus in the future?

Ask Smithsonian

Will We Ever Send Humans to Venus?

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

NASA's Perseverance rover will store rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on the surface of Mars.

Exploring Mars

Perseverance Kicks Off Elaborate Effort to Bring Mars Rocks to Earth

The decade-long mission requires dozens of glass tubes, two rovers and three more rocket launches, including the first from another planet

Ingenuity undertakes its first test flight on Mars in this illustration.

Exploring Mars

NASA's Helicopter Ingenuity Will Attempt the First Flight on Mars

If the craft succeeds, it will provide crucial information for exploring the other planets by air

An illustration of the Perseverance rover on Mars

Exploring Mars

Exploring Mars

Space agencies are launching new missions outfitted with revolutionary technologies, including the Perseverance rover, to learn more about the Red Planet

Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the Perseverance rover to land safely on Mars.

Exploring Mars

What to Know Before You Watch Perseverance's February 18 Landing on Mars

Experts describe how they plan to land the rover, what could go wrong and what they hope to learn

German aviation company Lilium promises its future fleet of air taxis will be inaudible from the ground when flying above 400 meters.

Air & Space Magazine

A Fleet of Air Taxis Is Coming to Central Florida by 2025

For future trips from Orlando to Tampa, consider the high road

Jupiter's moon Europa may have the ingredients necessary for hosting life: liquid water, an energy source and organic compounds.

We’re Better Equipped to Find Extraterrestrial Life Now Than Ever Before

Astronomers have more places to look for signs of intelligent life and more advanced tools to find it

The hypothetical dream spacecraft flies over Uranus and past its rings and moons, too.

Astronomers Prepare a Mission Concept to Explore the Ice Giant Planets

NASA scientists imagined some innovative technologies that could enhance a future mission to Uranus or Neptune

Apollo at 50: We Choose to Go to the Moon

Why Interest in Space Travel Waned After Apollo 11

After the success of Apollo 11, NASA unveiled an ambitious agenda for more missions into space, but interest among the public was beginning to decline

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Future of Space Exploration

Interactive Map Shows All 21 Successful Moon Landings

Humans have walked on the moon six times, and robotic probes have been touching down on the lunar surface for decades—but there is still much to explore

NASA's First Chimp in Space

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Apollo at 50: We Choose to Go to the Moon

We Chose to Go to the Moon

A collection of stories to celebrate the semicentennial of the Apollo 11 mission

“Everyone involved accomplished many, many firsts with that flight,” says Smithsonian curator Teasel Muir-Harmony. of NASA's near-perfect mission, (above: Apollo 8 command module).

How Apollo 8 ‘Saved 1968’

The unforgettable, 99.9 percent perfect, December moon mission marked the end of a tumultuous year

Betsy Congdon, lead engineer for Parker Solar Probe’s heat shield, looks on as technician Tony Ahan attaches the interface plates that will allow the heat shield above them to eventually be installed onto the spacecraft.

Behind the Scenes With the Spacecraft That Will Soar Through the Sun's Atmosphere

The probe, which launches Sunday, will attempt to solve enduring mysteries about the sun

Nine Travel Tips From Astronauts

What can terrestrial travelers learn from people who have been to space?

Artist’s impression of satellites and debris in low-Earth orbit. Currently 70 percent of all cataloged objects are in low-Earth orbit, which extends to 2000 km above the Earth’s surface.

Greening the Future of Outer Space

A team of scientists and policy experts want to develop space sustainably for future generations

Apollo 17's Saturn V launch vehicle sits atop pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Apollo 17 Was the Swan Song of Manned Space Exploration

Looking back 45 years later, is there hope humanity will once again push beyond Earth? President Donald Trump seems to think so

The latest iteration of the four-legged LEMUR exploration robot clings to a test rock surface in Aaron Parness’ lab in a recent test of its microspine capabilities.

Think Big

A New Generation of Interplanetary Rovers Is Crawling Toward the Stars

These four-legged, wheel-less robots will explore asteroids and the frigid outer worlds of our Solar System

What thorny ethical issues await us once we make it to Mars? A composite image of the red planet, composed by processing about 1000 Viking Orbiter red- and violet-filter images have been to provide global color coverage at a scale of 1 km/pixel.

Think Big

When Humans Begin Colonizing Other Planets, Who Should Be in Charge?

The biggest threat humans pose to other worlds is what we don’t know—or what we think we know, but don’t

Unlike the Apollo spacecraft, Orion will have solar panels to help power longer space journeys, as shown in this concept art of the spacecraft orbiting Earth.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What's Really Changed—and What Hasn’t—About Getting Humans to the Moon

NASA’s Orion will combine vintage tech with massive advances in computing power and electronics we've made since 1972

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