Space

Boom! NASA captures massive moon explosion on video

It's a good thing you weren't standing on the moon's Mare Imbrium crater on March 17. You might have been ground into space dust. A meteoroid "the size of a small boulder" crashed into the lunar surface and exploded with a flash so bright, it was visible to the naked eye from Earth.

NASA has been keeping an eye on the moon for eight years, looking for explosions caused by meteoroids. The space agency has seen hundreds of detectable impacts, but none quite so spectacular as this one. "For about one second, the impact site was glowing like a fourth magnitude star," NASA says.… Read more

A look back at NASA's planet-pinpointing space 'scope

NASA announced this week that a key piece of gear on its Kepler space telescope has run into trouble. And though the space agency hasn't given up on a jump-start, the mission may well be at risk.

It's already gone well beyond its planned duration, however, and presented us with many fascinating discoveries.

In this gallery, we take a look back at that mission -- at Kepler's intriguing quest to find Earth-like, life-friendly planets among the Milky Way's many stars.

NASA plans asteroid mission. First stop: Bennu

NASA's plan to go poking around on an asteroid, with the ultimate goal of snagging one of the space rocks and towing it closer to Earth, is moving forward, and a specific asteroid has been chosen to visit and sample in the next few years.

NASA has announced that the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (Osiris-Rex) passed a key confirmation review Wednesday, approving the spacecraft to move into development phase. Translation: we're building a new spaceship, y'all!… Read more

Mars rover Opportunity hits new record for miles driven in space

The plucky little Mars rover Opportunity has proven itself to be the Marco Polo of space. This extraterrestrial robot has set the new record for miles explored by a NASA vehicle in a world other than Earth, according to NASA.

On its 3,309th Martian day on the planet, Opportunity drove 263 feet along the western rim of the Endeavour Crater and broke records by putting its total distance traveled on Mars at 22.22 miles.

The previous record was set 40 years ago by Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt when they visited the moon for a … Read more

Enormous asteroid to zip by Earth

A giant asteroid will pass by Earth on May 31, according to NASA, but hold off before you start browsing survival gear on Amazon.

The 1.7-mile long asteroid, labeled 1998 QE2, will come within 3.6 million miles of Earth, or about 15 times the distance between our planet and the moon. It's a golden opportunity for astronomers, who plan to extensively image the temporary visitor.… Read more

Dream Chaser space plane to begin NASA flight tests

In another sign of ever-increasing commercial spaceflight activity, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane has arrived at NASA for testing.

Wrapped in plastic, the craft arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where it will eventually undergo its first autonomous free flight Approach and Landing Test (ALT).

Part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program along with SpaceX and Boeing, the Dream Chaser is designed to launch vertically on top of an Atlas 5 rocket, dock with the International Space Station, and then return to Earth like a glider, landing on a runway. … Read more

NASA's Kepler telescope crippled by technical failures

The Kepler space observatory has been a source of great wonder since it first launched in 2009. It has turned its eyes out into the great vastness of space and seen new planetary systems and potentially life-supporting planets. The telescope's original 3.5-year mission was extended into 2016, but that may now come to a halt as serious technical issues take a toll.

Kepler is able to look out in certain directions thanks to four reaction wheels that are used to point the spacecraft. As of Wednesday, two out of four reaction wheels have failed.… Read more

Having made the ISS cool again, Hadfield returns to Earth

The one-man media machine has landed.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield returned to Earth in a Soyuz descent capsule after his six-month stint on the International Space Station, during which he became an Internet sensation.

Along with ISS crewmates American astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romaneko, Hadfield was extracted from the capsule in the Kazakhstan morning (around 10:31 p.m. ET) following a smooth descent.

Hadfield, the last to emerge from the capsule, waved and gave a thumbs-up once he was propped in a chair in the sunshine.

The trio is to be whisked off by helicopter to … Read more

Chris Hadfield sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in ISS farewell

How do you top months of amazing photos, demos, and tunes done aboard the International Space Station? If you're Chris Hadfield, you cover David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in a showstopping finale.

On the eve of his return to Earth, the Canadian astronaut released a beautifully done video of himself singing the 1969 classic.

Mixed with the help of staff at the Canadian Space Agency, musician Emm Gryner, and others, the cover features a somber piano intro and modified lyrics that reference the Soyuz capsule that will return Hadfield to Kazakhstan. … Read more

Skylab: America's first space base

Launched 40 years ago in May 1973, Skylab was America's first space station -- a research facility that established the standards for long duration life in orbit and gave NASA a chance to look back on Earth in ways never before possible.

The goals for the space lab were primarily to enrich our scientific knowledge of the Earth, the sun, and the stars. Experiments tackled the possibilities for the future of life in space, and the basic notions of how space affects living beings.

Skylab looked at the effects of weightlessness on man and other organisms, the effects of … Read more