Articles tagged as Space Travel | Smithsonian Magazine

This crater with curious ridges in its center is a possible future site for exploration

Cool Finds

Explore Far Out Views From Mars’ Surface With Over 1,000 New Photos

It’s the Martian “magic hour”

August 10, 2016

NASA put a man on the moon, but it's been tricky to hold onto the bags used to bring back lunar samples.

A seemingly simple bag is at the center of multiple lawsuits

August 10, 2016

NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched on March 6, 2009. Today, technology and international collaborations are democratizing the space race.

Space Hub

Opening the Space Race to the Entire World

A new era of collaboration and affordable technology has scientists across the globe sending spacecraft into outer space

August 9, 2016

An artist's concept of Moon Express's MX-1 Micro Lander, which may head to the moon as soon as next year.

Moon Express will head to Earth’s nearest neighbor in 2017

August 3, 2016

A 3D view of the console of the Apollo 11 "Columbia" command module.

Cool Finds

Explore the Apollo 11 Command Module in 3D

For the first time, you can peek inside the craft that enabled “one giant leap for mankind”

July 20, 2016

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

It’s not spiraling out of control, and even if it was, it wouldn’t enter the atmosphere until 2017

July 14, 2016

What if I Told You… Space Is Once Again the New Frontier

The space race is reigniting, catalyzing changes in the new space economy.

July 11, 2016

Jupiter's moon, Europa, is one of the most promising candidates for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Cool Finds

Juno Will Eventually Go Up in Flames to Protect Theoretical Alien Life

Juno, we hardly knew you

July 7, 2016

An artist's rendition of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. The craft is powered entirely by the sun's rays.

Space Hub

It’s Official: We Are Now in Orbit Around Jupiter

After a nerve-wracking entry, NASA spacecraft Juno successfully entered the gas giant’s orbit

July 5, 2016

Wieger Wamelink inspects his "Martian" crops

New Research

Researchers Will Soon Get Their First Taste of “Martian” Vegetables

After testing them for heavy metals, the scientists will eat vegetables grown in simulated Martian soil later this week

June 28, 2016

Perhaps it's best that this comet is billions of miles away from Earth.

Cool Finds

This Perfume Smells Like a Comet

Yum?

June 27, 2016

New Research

New Evidence Strengthens the Case for Pluto’s Underground Ocean

Features on the dwarf planet’s smooth surface suggest that not all is frozen on that tiny, distant world

June 22, 2016

Cool Finds

Meet Three of Earth’s Tiny Celestial Buddies

A handful of quasi-satellites, mini-moons and Trojan asteroids tag along with Earth as it whizzes around the sun

June 20, 2016

Just what lies beyond the next valley, canyon, crater, or hill is NASA's perpetual question.

Art Meets Science

Check Out NASA’s Retro Mars Recruitment Posters

Farmers, teachers, surveyors and engineers will all be needed in the envisaged Mars settlement

June 17, 2016

New Research

A New Hitch in the Plan for Building a Space Elevator

Carbon nanotubes may not be as strong as scientists once thought

June 17, 2016

This concept drawing shows Juno in orbit around the solar system's largest planet.

It all goes down July 4

June 16, 2016

An artist's rendering of the Indian Space Research Organization's prototype Reusable Launch Vehicle.

One small step towards a cheaper space program

May 23, 2016

Pictured left: Cancun, Mexico on May 14, 2014; pictured right: Helen Frankenthaler, Canyon, 1965

These Photos Taken From Space Look Astonishingly Like Art Masterpieces

ASTER reveals how art imitates reality

May 6, 2016

Engineers have been working on improving Orion’s heat shield since the vehicle successfully traveled to space for the first time last year.

Inside the Grand Plan to Send Humans to Mars

NASA’s innovative deputy administrator Dava Newman explains just how close we are to sending astronauts far, far away

May 2016

Your Questions for Astronaut Tom Jones, Answered

Just a sampling of what we can learn from those who have been to space

May 2016