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Outer Space

The Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, early Wednesday morning, kicking off NASA's Artemis moon program.

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

NASA Launches Artemis 1 in Giant Leap Toward Returning to the Moon

The historic event has brought humanity one step closer to walking again on the lunar surface

Marine biologist Mike Barnette and wreck diver Jimmy Gadomski explore a large segment of the Challenger Space Shuttle, which exploded in 1986. 

Cool Finds

Divers Accidentally Find a Piece of the Challenger Space Shuttle

A documentary film crew stumbled across a section of the destroyed spacecraft that measures at least 15 by 15 feet

An artist's impression of the nearby black hole and the star that hinted to its existence. 

Astronomers Discover Closest Known Black Hole to Earth

Researchers believe there may be even nearer ones that have yet to be detected

The dark patches on the image of the sun captured by  NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory are trio of coronal holes. 

NASA’s ‘Smiling Sun’ Image Is a Reminder of the Threat of Solar Wind

Coronal holes on the sun can release jets of charged particles that may interfere with Earth’s atmosphere

HAARP's antennas

Why Scientists Are Sending Radio Signals to the Moon and Jupiter

Researchers conducted wide-ranging experiments at Alaska’s HAARP facility, known for atmospheric research and conspiracy theories

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, will seek out ice deposits in the craters of the lunar South Pole.

The Revolution in Moon Exploration

These Five Innovative Rovers Will Soon Explore the Moon

From a team of mini-bots launched by a catapult to a remote-control golf-cart-sized vehicle, these robots will help us understand the moon’s geology

An illustration of NASA's Perseverance rover approaching Mars

‘Conan the Bacterium’ Has What It Takes to Survive on Mars

After experiments here on Earth, researchers say some hardy microbes could endure hundreds of millions of years on the Red Planet

The exoplanet TOI-3757 b has the same average density as a marshmallow.

Puffy, Marshmallow-Like Planet Could Float in a Bathtub

Scientists found the new exoplanet located in the Auriga constellation 580 light-years away

Researchers used multispectral imaging to reveal the hidden text (which is traced in yellow above).

Cool Finds

A Medieval Manuscript Has Revealed the Oldest Known Map of the Stars

Advanced imaging uncovered part of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus’ long-lost star catalog

The afterglow of the gamma-ray burst as captured by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's X-ray telescope. 

This Powerful Gamma-Ray Blast Was the ‘Brightest of All Time’

Astronomers are “in awe” of the high-energy explosion, probably caused by a giant star’s death

James Webb captured the iconic star-forming region with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

Marvel at James Webb’s Stunning New Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

The haunting, finger-like shapes are part of the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region located some 6,500 light-years away

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station

Art Meets Science

Tom Cruise Might Become the First Civilian to Spacewalk at the ISS

Universal is game to send Cruise into space for a proposed action film, but plans aren’t official yet

Asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as seen by the DART spacecraft 11 seconds before impact. 

NASA Successfully Altered an Asteroid’s Orbit

The agency’s DART mission exceeded expectations, marking the first time humans have changed the trajectory of a celestial body

Nicole Mann poses for a portrait in a T-38 trainer jet at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, in 2018.

Nicole Mann Becomes the First Native American Woman in Space

She is the mission commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission that will spend five months on the International Space Station

A picture of Saturn's moon Enceladus, with Saturn in the background, taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

A Moon of Saturn May Be More Habitable Than Expected

With the prediction of phosphorus in its oceans, Enceladus has become an even more promising candidate for hosting life

The Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Is Slowly Falling—and SpaceX Wants to Give It a Boost

NASA and SpaceX will jointly study whether the private company could lift the space telescope to a higher orbit

Among the eight exhibitions opening October 14, 2022, is "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age," featuring the museum's iconic 1903 Wright Flyer.

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

Follow the October reopening of America’s most-visited museum with exclusive coverage from Smithsonian magazine

The spiral galaxy IC 5332, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument

See the Eerily Beautiful Image James Webb Captured of a Spiral Galaxy

The spooky-looking structure, known as IC 5332, is about 29 million light-years away from Earth

James Earl Jones beside Darth Vader in 2002

James Earl Jones Retires From Voicing Darth Vader

Future “Star Wars” productions will recreate Jones’ menacing voice using artificial intelligence

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft launched in November 2021 in California, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.   

NASA Successfully Crashed a Spacecraft Into Its Asteroid Target

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a first step toward defending Earth from threatening space rocks

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