Articles tagged as Space Travel | Smithsonian Magazine

Pan Am promoted its "First Moon Flights" Club on radio and TV after the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, saying that "fares are not fully resolved, and may be out of this world."

I Was a Card-Carrying Member of the “First Moon Flights” Club

My card is now a historical museum artifact, but I’ll never give up my dream to fly to the Moon

October 20, 2016

The European Space Agency lost contact with the Schiaparelli probe after it jettisoned its heat shield and deployed its parachute

October 20, 2016

Six Places on Earth That Scientists Say Look Like Other Planets

The eerie resemblance these locales have to Mars and beyond has attracted researchers for years

October 20, 2016

Cool Finds

What to Know About NASA’s Historic Astronaut Beach House

The famous bungalow is on track to be repaired by 2018 when SpaceX is hoped to launch humans into space once again

October 19, 2016

The Bizarre Tale of the Middle East’s First Space Program

In Lebanon, reminders of what could have been still stand

October 17, 2016

An illustration of the Schiaparelli lander detaching from the Trace Gas Orbiter as it makes its way to the surface of Mars

A lot is riding on the European Space Agency’s first Mars lander

October 17, 2016

Small, slow steps for private spaceflight

October 14, 2016

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on NASA's final space shuttle mission from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on July 8, 2011.

Some leaps, launches and grand plans for the future

October 13, 2016

Space Patrol depended more on good stories, excellent production values, and an empathic cast of characters than it did on expensive visual special effects. As a result it had a large adult audience, which didn’t stop merchandise being created with younger viewers in mind.

How Artists, Mad Scientists and Speculative Fiction Writers Made Spaceflight Possible

A new book chronicles spaceflight’s centuries-long journey from dream to reality

October 13, 2016

Cool Finds

You, Too, Could Own a Copy of the Voyager Golden Record

Ozma records is producing a box set of the album sent into the cosmos to reach out to potential extraterrestrial life

September 28, 2016

This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o’clock position off of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

New Research

Evidence Stacks Up for Icy Geysers Erupting on Europa

Possible water plumes could give researchers a way to study Jupiter’s moon without drilling

September 27, 2016

The Evpatoria radio telescope RT-70 and the Long Range Space Communications Center, which were used for one of the most ambitious efforts at extraterrestrial communication.

How a Couple of Guys Built the Most Ambitious Alien Outreach Project Ever

You might think it takes vast governmental resources to launch an extraterrestrial communication effort. Nope

September 26, 2016

Carmel Johnston (left), crew commander, enjoys her first meal outside the dome.

Space Hub

Astronauts Tell All About Their One Year on “Mars”

In an unprecedented simulation, NASA learned that its astronauts are a bunch of overachievers

September 21, 2016

Ramazzottius varieornatus, the tardigrade examined in the study

New Research

Water Bear Genes Could Help Protect Space Explorers From Radiation

A protein produced by tardigrades, a group of microscopic but hardy creatures, protects and repairs DNA damaged by X-rays

September 21, 2016

As more countries and companies send spacecraft to other worlds, scientists are worried about potential contamination risks. Here, NASA's Curiosity rover takes a self-portrait on Mars.

Think Big

Can We Save Mars From Ourselves?

When we travel to Earth-like worlds, contamination may be inevitable

September 9, 2016

Melba Roy led the group of human computers who tracked the Echo satellites in the 1960s.

Women Who Shaped History

The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

A new book and movie document the accomplishments of NASA’s black “human computers” whose work was at the heart of the country’s greatest battles

September 8, 2016

Today, NASA will launch the spacecraft which will travel to the nearby asteroid Bennu

September 8, 2016

Delayed InSight Mission to Mars Slated to Launch in 2018

With redesigned equipment, scientists hope to unearth how the Red Planet came to be

September 7, 2016

Philae's final resting spot on the comet. If you look closely the robotic lander's raised leg can be seen in the middle of the image's right edge.

Photographs of the small probe come just weeks before the mission ends with Rosetta’s comet touchdown

September 6, 2016

Boldly going where no curatorial object has gone before.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Mission to Restore the Original Starship Enterprise

The beloved 1960s studio model stars in Building Star Trek, a documentary premiering on Smithsonian Channel this Sunday

September 2, 2016