SpaceX successfully launched its 30th batch of Starlink satellites this year on Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 2:51 p.m. PDT, carrying 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit on the Starlink 17-15 mission. The first-stage booster, B1100, was making its fourth flight after previously supporting the NROL-105 mission and two Starlink launches. About eight … Continue reading SpaceX launches 25 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg

NASA’s Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft are set to roll out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, aiming for a launch as soon as April 1. The rollout was moved up after an electrical harness issue in the rocket’s flight termination system was resolved sooner than expected. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of the Artemis program, sending … Continue reading Artemis II rocket set to roll back to launch pad

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the rare moment a comet, K1 (C/2025 K1 ATLAS), broke apart while under observation, an event considered extremely unlikely. The comet, about 5 miles across, began disintegrating roughly eight days before Hubble imaged it from November 8 to 10, 2025. During the observations, one of K1’s smaller fragments also broke apart, allowing scientists to reconstruct the comet’s breakup timeline. Hubble’s … Continue reading Exploding Comet Is Spotted by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

Russia has announced plans for the Venera-D mission to Venus, targeting a 2036 launch. The mission will include a lander, balloon, and orbiter, marking the country’s first major return to Venus since the Soviet-era Venera program, which achieved the first successful landing on the planet in 1970. Venera-D aims to study Venus’ surface, atmosphere, and extreme conditions, with the balloon exploring the thick clouds, the … Continue reading Russia Aims to Regain Space Supremacy with 2036 Venus Mission

Astronomers have confirmed a new exoplanet, TOI-1080 b, using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and follow-up ground-based observations. The planet orbits an inactive M4V-type red dwarf, TOI-1080, every 3.97 days at a distance of 0.027 AU, making it slightly larger than Earth with a radius about 1.2 times Earth’s and a likely mass near 1.75 Earth masses. Its estimated equilibrium temperature of 368 K places … Continue reading Astronomers spot super-Earth circling a star 83 light-years away using space telescope

NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered pure yellow sulfur crystals on Mars for the first time, found in the Gediz Vallis Channel in May 2024. Unlike common Martian sulfates, which form when sulfur mixes with minerals in evaporated water, elemental sulfur requires rare conditions not previously confirmed in the area. Scientists say this discovery could reveal new insights into Mars’ geological processes and the planet’s watery … Continue reading NASA’s Curiosity Rover Cracks Open Martian Rock, Makes an Unbelievable Discovery

Voyager Technologies has opened a 140,000-square-foot electronics manufacturing and engineering facility in Long Beach, California, expanding its footprint in a major hub for space and defense companies. The new site will support the development and production of electronics, software, and propulsion technologies for spacecraft and defense systems, positioning Voyager for Pentagon programs in missile defense and space. The expansion complements Voyager’s January opening of a … Continue reading Voyager opens defense and space tech hub in Long Beach

NASA is targeting April 1 for the launch of Artemis II, sending four astronauts—including NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA’s Jeremy Hansen—on a 10-day mission around the moon. The new launch date follows a successful flight readiness review and the resolution of a helium system issue in the rocket’s fuel tanks, which required replacing a faulty seal. The rocket will be returned … Continue reading NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch

Firefly Aerospace successfully launched its Alpha rocket on March 11 during the “Stairway to Seven” mission, marking its seventh flight after two major setbacks in 2025. Previous mishaps included a failed satellite deployment during the “Message in a Booster” mission and a first-stage explosion during prelaunch testing, which delayed development. The launch achieved nominal performance, with successful stage separation, fairing ejection, and orbit insertion at … Continue reading Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket reaches orbit on 1st launch since explosive accidents last year

SpaceX completed its 30th launch of 2026 on March 10, sending the 15,000-pound EchoStar XXV TV satellite into space from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage, Booster 1085, successfully returned to Earth and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, marking its 14th launch and landing. The upper stage deployed EchoStar XXV into geosynchronous transfer orbit 35 minutes after liftoff. The satellite … Continue reading SpaceX launches 15,000-pound TV satellite to orbit

NASA’s Van Allen Probe A, a 1,323-pound satellite launched 14 years ago to study Earth’s radiation belts, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere on Tuesday at around 7:45 p.m. EDT. Most of the spacecraft will burn up during the fiery descent, though some components may survive, with the risk of harm to anyone on Earth estimated at roughly 1 in 4,200. The probe and its … Continue reading Defunct NASA satellite to crash back to Earth, with a small risk of falling debris

A Soyuz rocket launch to the International Space Station on November 27 caused unexpected damage to Baikonur Cosmodrome’s Site 31, Russia’s only operational pad for crewed missions. The blast and vibrations from liftoff damaged critical infrastructure, including the facility’s service cabin, temporarily halting operations. Engineers had to assess and repair the site before future missions could continue. While the mission itself succeeded, the incident raised … Continue reading Russia Repairs Critical ISS Launch Pad After Thanksgiving Soyuz Damage

This weekend, Venus and Saturn will appear close together in a rare planetary conjunction, about one degree apart in the sky on March 7 and 8. Venus will be the brighter of the two and appear slightly larger than Saturn. Sky watchers should look toward the western horizon 30 to 40 minutes after sunset for the best view. Using binoculars and finding a location with … Continue reading Sunday after sunset Venus and Saturn meet in evening twilight

NASA has confirmed that asteroid 2024 YR will not hit the moon in 2032, ending earlier concerns of a possible collision. Observations by the Webb Space Telescope in February allowed scientists to refine its orbit, showing it will pass safely 13,200 miles (21,200 kilometers) from the moon on Dec. 22, 2032. The asteroid, roughly 200 feet (60 meters) wide, was discovered in late 2024 and … Continue reading No chance asteroid will slam into the moon in 2032, NASA says

Vast, a California startup developing private space stations called Haven, has raised $500 million in funding to advance its plans for low Earth orbit outposts. The financing includes $300 million in Series A equity and $200 million in debt, led by Balerion Space Ventures with participation from several global investors. Vast plans to launch its single-module Haven-1 pathfinder station next year, followed by Haven-2 in … Continue reading Vast raises $500 million to keep developing ‘Haven’ private space stations

NASA’s DART mission successfully demonstrated that a kinetic impact can alter not just a moonlet’s orbit but the trajectory of an entire binary asteroid system. By crashing into Dimorphos, the smaller companion of Didymos, the spacecraft reduced its orbit around the larger asteroid by 33 minutes and nudged the system’s heliocentric velocity by about 11.7 micrometers per second. The effect was amplified by debris ejected … Continue reading Asteroid defense mission shifted the orbit of more than its target

NASA announced plans to accelerate its Artemis program, standardize the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and add a new mission to support returning astronauts to the Moon. The update, shared at Kennedy Space Center, highlighted preparations for Artemis II, focusing on transportation systems for crewed lunar missions. NASA plans to introduce a 2027 mission to test capabilities closer to Earth before sending astronauts to the … Continue reading NASA Strengthens Artemis: Adds Mission, Refines Overall Architecture 

The March 3 total lunar eclipse wowed skywatchers worldwide as the full moon passed through Earth’s umbral shadow, turning a deep crimson blood-red. Totality, caused by sunlight filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, was visible across much of the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, with photographers capturing stunning images from places like Auckland, Manila, Beijing, and Utah. Some images showed rare effects, such as the “turquoise band,” a … Continue reading The total lunar eclipse 2026 dazzles in incredible photos from around the world

The European Space Agency’s JUICE captured stunning images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using its JANUS camera, showing a glowing coma and a long tail of gas and dust. 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, having originated around another star before drifting into our cosmic neighborhood. The comet’s coma is a cloud of gas and dust released as … Continue reading Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS shines in new image

SpaceX successfully launched 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites Friday morning from Cape Canaveral, despite thick fog obscuring the view. Liftoff occurred at 7:16 a.m. EST, and the satellites were deployed about an hour later. The Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, B1069, landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic, marking its 30th flight. B1069 first launched in December 2021 and, after a … Continue reading SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral with 29 Starlink satellites

A total lunar eclipse, also known as a blood moon, will be visible Tuesday across North America, Central America, western South America, Australia, and eastern Asia, with partial views in Central Asia and much of South America. The red hue occurs as Earth’s shadow covers the full moon, with sunlight filtering through the atmosphere. Totality will last about an hour, and no special equipment is … Continue reading A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red on Tuesday

A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule undocked from the International Space Station today after a six-month mission delivering about 5,000 pounds of supplies and scientific gear. The capsule demonstrated a new capability by performing six reboost maneuvers to help maintain the ISS’s altitude, a task usually done by Russia’s Progress freighter. Dragon is set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off California on Feb. 27, … Continue reading SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule heads for home after historic ISS-boosting mission

Scientists have captured the most detailed image yet of the Milky Way using Chile’s Alma radio telescope, revealing its vast structure in unprecedented detail. The image shows long, thin filaments of matter flowing to form stars and planets, providing new insights into how our galaxy—and others in the early universe—developed. Previously, astronomers could only see isolated patches of the galaxy’s center, but the new survey … Continue reading New image reveals secrets of Milky Way galaxy in stunning detail

NASA rolled its Artemis II moon rocket off its seaside launch pad Wednesday to return it to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs after a helium pressurization issue delayed the mission. The 23.6-million-pound rocket and launch platform traveled four miles over 10–12 hours using an Apollo-era crawler-transporter. Engineers will access the rocket’s upper stage, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), to fix the helium system, … Continue reading NASA hauls moon rocket off launch pad to fix another launch-delaying malfunction

Last year, a tiny 2-meter-wide asteroid, 2025 TF, passed over Antarctica at just 428 kilometers—lower than the International Space Station—without being detected until afterward. While harmless due to its small size, the close pass highlights that asteroid detection, though vastly improved, still has blind spots. Data show near-Earth asteroid detections have surged: from 103 small asteroids (under 7 meters) spotted between 2000–2007 to 1,124 between 2017–2026, and 7–20 meter … Continue reading An asteroid passed 428 km from Earth and no one saw it coming