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Science / Space

A mid-air tourist flight. The author is second from the left.

The Future of Zero-Gravity Living Is Here

Entrepreneurs predict there will be thousands of us living and working in space. Our correspondent takes off to see what that feels like

Fossils provide potential evidence that ancient life thrived Australia's Dresser Formation, a region composed of 3.5-billion-year-old hot springs.

New Research

Fossils From Ancient Hot Springs Suggest Life May Have Evolved on Land

These 3.5-billion-year-old rocks could vindicate Darwin’s claim that life evolved in “some warm little pond,” and not in the ocean

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captures three of Saturn's moons—Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas—in this group photo.

Space Hub

How and When Did Saturn Get Those Magnificent Rings?

The planet’s rings are coy when it comes to revealing their age, but astronomers are getting closer

A visualization of the interior of Blue Origin's "New Shepard" space tourism rocket.

Here’s What to Expect on the First Tourist Flights to Space

Take a peek at plans for Blue Origin’s first space tourism rocket

Saturn and its rings backlit by the sun, which is blocked by the planet in this view. Encircling the planet and inner rings is the much more extended E-ring.

Bye Bye Cassini, the Tenacious Space Probe That Revealed Saturn’s Secrets

For two decades, the sophisticated probe has brought us insights into space weather and water on distant worlds

An illustration of LHS 1140b orbiting its faint red star

New Research

Exoplanet Discovery Arrives in Time for New Telescope Technology

Astronomers call LHS 1140b one of the “best targets” for hunting liquid water with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

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

Shortly after the announcement of the TRAPPIST-1 system, NASA crowdsourced its Twitter followers for possible planet names. The actual process of naming new planets, however, is a bit more involved.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

How Do New Planets Get Their Names?

Sorry, Planet McPlanetface: Asteroids, moons and other celestial bodies go through a strict set of international naming guidelines

Computer-simulated global view of Venus.

Think Big

The Case for Going to Venus

Sending a probe to Earth’s lifeless twin could help us understand how life rises—and falls—on faraway planets

Cunitz was among the few who saw the truth in Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, which stated that planets moved in elliptical orbits around the sun. Here, a concept drawing of the Earth and moon in orbit around the sun.

Space Hub

The 17th-Century Lady Astronomer Who Took Measure of the Stars

Astronomer Maria Cunitz might not be such an anomaly, were other women given the same educational opportunities

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

The seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.

Think Big

Scientists Spot Seven Earth-Sized Planets Orbiting a Nearby Star

This newly discovered solar system presents the best opportunity yet to study potentially habitable worlds, NASA scientists report

An infrared image of 47 Tucanae, a dense globular cluster of stars located roughly 16,000 light years from Earth. A new study has predicted that a black hole lies at its center.

Think Big

How Astrophysicists Found a Black Hole Where No One Else Could

A new method could help scientists peer inside universe’s densest star clusters to find undiscovered black holes

From left to right, the astronauts of Apollo 1: Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee.

The Legacy of the Apollo 1 Disaster

Fifty years after a fire killed three astronauts and temporarily grounded U.S. space exploration, a new exhibit honors the fallen crew

The doormouse hibernates to conserve resources in harsh conditions. Similarly, scientists envision humans hibernating to endure long-distance space travel.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Can Humans Ever Harness the Power of Hibernation?

Scientists want to know if astronauts can hibernate during long spaceflights. First, they need to understand what hibernation is

The impacts from the Nimbus satellites (Nimbus-1 pictured here) made a lasting mark on meteorology and climate science that can still be felt today.

The Day the Nimbus Weather Satellite Exploded

The writer’s grandfather recalls a seminal moment in the Space Race

New asteroids are detected every day surrounding Earth, most of which are harmless.

Think Big

Sure, Earth Could Get Hit by a Deadly Asteroid—But There’s an Upside

Con: Devastating outer space impacts. Pro: Global unity!

Besides exceptional facial hair, what could these two gentlemen have in common?

Think Big

The Hidden Connections Between Darwin and the Physicist Who Championed Entropy

These magnificently bearded men both introduced a dose of randomness and irreversibility into the universe

John Glenn stands in the NASA mailroom surrounded by thousands of letters sent to him.

John Glenn and the Sexism of the Early Space Program

Fan mail sent to the astronaut reveals the rigidity of gender roles in the 1960s

John Glenn, standing top right, looks at a model of the ship that took him to space with other astronauts from the Mercury space program in an undated photograph.

For a Larger-Than-Life Space Icon, John Glenn Was Remarkably Down-to-Earth

Friends and colleagues recall his abiding love for Smithsonian’s work, the history of spaceflight and peanut butter buckeyes

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