Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Outer Space

Materials and manufacturing details of the specially made suit of America's first space traveler were extensively analyzed before being prepared for display on a customized mannequin.

The Second Man in Space Had a Wee Wish—That He’d Used the Bathroom Before Blasting Off

Alan B. Shepard’s historic Mercury spacesuit undergoes hours of conservation work for its debut when the National Air and Space Museum opens this fall

an aurora borealis over Lake Inari in Finland

Evidence of Earliest Aurora Found in Ancient Chinese Texts

Such historical records of celestial events can help astronomers track and model patterns of space weather

Reseachers tested out the backpack dubbed KNaCK in a volcanic field in New Mexico, and are hoping the tech can support astronaunts on future lunar missions.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Lunar Backpack Could Aid Astronauts on Future Missions to the Moon

The pack can create 3-D maps in real-time of uncharted terrain

The Hickson Compact Group 40 features five galaxies caught in a gravitational dance.

Hubble Space Telescope’s 32nd Anniversary Photo Features Dramatic Galaxy Cluster

The five galaxies, dubbed the Hickson Compact Group 40, will merge in roughly a billion years

View of the Space Needle and the Century 21 Exposition fairgrounds in Seattle in 1962

The Rise and Fall of World’s Fairs

Sixty years after Seattle’s Century 21 Exposition, world’s fairs have largely fallen out of fashion in the U.S.

Europa became an interest to researchers as a place that potentially could harbor life after observations from Earth-bound telescopes and space probes found evidence of an ocean 10 to 15 miles beneath the icy surface. This drawing illustrates a possible water pocket within the ice that may contribute to ridges forming on the moon's surface.

Europa’s Icy Shell May Be Habitable for Life

The moon of Jupiter could have shallow water pockets within its frozen surface

The research team confirmed the comet's size with photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope in January 2022. The comet's nucleus is seen as a bright dot of light in the photos. With the computer model, the team removed the hazy glow of the coma to leave behind the bright star-like nucleus.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Largest Comet Ever Discovered

The icy object is larger than the state of Rhode Island and weighs an estimated 500 trillion tons

An image of the original 1970s Arecibo message. 

These Space Scientists Want to Update Earth’s Message to Extraterrestrials

The broadcast builds on the 1974 Arecibo message and portrays information about science, math and human life

The Hubble Space Telescope detected Earendel after homing in on a magnified streak of light boosted by a nearby galaxy.

Hubble Telescope Spots the Most Distant Star Ever Detected in Outer Space

The star, nicknamed Earendel, is 28 billion light-years from Earth

The lunar dust collected by Neil Armstrong as part of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission in will be auctioned off with a number of space-related items, and is expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million at auction

Trending Today

Apollo 11 Moon Dust Samples Go Up for Auction Against NASA’s Wishes

Auction house Bonhams is expecting around $1 million

Pluto's icy volcanic region, with possible past eruptions marked in blue.

Pluto’s Hidden Ice Volcanoes Hint at the Possibility of Life

The discovery suggests the dwarf planet may be harboring a subsurface liquid ocean

Researchers turned to Mercury for the possibility of impact-born diamonds because previous surveys of the planet and molten rock found that the surface may have fragments of graphite, a carbon-rich mineral.

Mercury’s Cratered Crust May Hold Glittering Gemstones

Fragments of a graphite shell from the planet’s past and a series of violent meteorite impacts may have combined to form sparkling diamonds

Researchers chose to focus on lettuce because the plant has been grown numerous times aboard the International Space Station and would provide a way for astronauts to eat fresh greens besides only canned and freeze-dried foods.  

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Genetically Modified Lettuce May One Day Help Space Travelers Fight Bone Loss

The vegetable could provide fresh leafy greens to astronauts’ diet while providing a new way to transport and consume medications in the cosmos

The moons appear as two blurry dots located close together in the upper right area of the image. Io, seen as a darker speck on the left of the two dots, is the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Europa is seen on the right and features a global ocean beneath its icy surface. 

Citizen Scientist Captures Glimpse of Jupiter’s Moons, Io and Europa, Using Juno Space Probe Data

The natural satellites are seen in the distant background of the gas giant’s portrait

Russia has dismissed the idea that their cosmonauts’ bold wardrobe colors have anything to do with Ukraine.

Russian Cosmonauts Board Space Station Wearing Blue and Yellow

Roscosmos denies color choice was a show of support for Ukraine

This illustration shows NASA's InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface.

This Important Geophysical Robot on Mars May Die Soon

The InSight observatory has a seismometer and a heat probe, which have enabled it to gather data on rock layers below the planet’s soil

Russia controls aspects of the ISS's propulsion control systems that keep it in place and from falling towards Earth. The space station started out as a partnership between the United States and Russia.

How Sanctions on Russia Affect International Space Programs

Roscosmos is severing ties with global partners in response to restrictions

The artificial skin samples will sit in a custom device with a nutrient-filled liquid medium while they orbit in space aboard the ISS.

Scientists Will Study the Effects of Microgravity on Skin at the International Space Station

The experiment, using engineered skin samples, could lead to better skin care products

An illustration of the six-wheeled rover, which has a drill and onboard instruments to sample and analyze the Martian surface. 

Europe’s Mars Rover Unlikely to Launch in 2022 Due to Russian Invasion

The robot designed to search for traces of life on the Red Planet was originally scheduled to ride a Russian rocket into to space this fall

Within a few years, NASA’s OSAM-1 mission will launch into space and use a robotic arm to refuel the Landsat 7 Earth-observation satellite, as shown in this animation.

Robots May Soon Fix and Fuel Satellites in Space

Orbiting machines that grip, grapple and maneuver could one day maintain the fleet of small spacecraft that encircle Earth

Page 33 of 89