Tensions with Russia are now spilling into space, complicating International Space Station partnership
The fragile coalition that has kept the space station going all these years is fraying as tensions between Russia and the United States, the two main partners on the station, grow to levels not seen in years.
By Christian DavenportDecember 21, 2021NASA probe that ‘touched the sun’ for first time could help people better understand the solar system
“Humanity has touched the sun,” Nicola Fox, division director for NASA’s Heliophysics Division, said in announcing that the Parker Solar Probe entered the sun's atmosphere earlier this year, a groundbreaking accomplishment for scientists.
By Timothy BellaDecember 15, 2021Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin sends TV’s Michael Strahan and five others to space
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin sent another crew to space on Saturday, the company’s third human spaceflight and the first with a full contingent of six people.
By Christian DavenportDecember 11, 2021Jeff Bezos is sending Michael Strahan to space. But that’s not what makes this flight significant.
Saturday’s launch of six people to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft will be the 13th human spaceflight of the year, the most ever since 1985.
By Christian DavenportDecember 11, 2021Japanese billionaire launches into space, plans cash giveaways and a zero-gravity haircut
Yusaku Maezawa, 46, who is flying on a Russian spacecraft, joins a small group of wealthy entrepreneurs who are also private space travelers.
By Amy ChengDecember 8, 2021Citing debris threat, NASA abruptly calls off a spacewalk
It was not clear where the debris came from.
By Christian DavenportNovember 30, 2021NASA’s many science missions now include learning how to deflect killer asteroids
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying a refrigerator-sized spacecraft that next September is intended to crash into a small asteroid.
By Christian DavenportNovember 24, 2021NASA hopes to hit an asteroid now in case we really need to knock one away later
NASA is launching a spacecraft head-on into an asteroid, hoping to change the space rock's orbit. It is a test in case we really need to smack one out of the way someday.
By Bonnie Berkowitz and Artur GalochaNovember 21, 2021With a huge infusion of cash, Sierra Space hopes to get its Dream Chaser spaceplane and space station off the ground
The funding, the company said, will help it meet its goal of flying astronauts by 2025.
By Christian DavenportNovember 19, 2021Trouble aboard the space station sent astronauts fleeing for safety for the second time this year
Mission control in Houston woke the astronauts early Monday to tell them to evacuate the space station and take shelter inside their Dragon spacecraft.
By Christian DavenportNovember 16, 2021SpaceX launches another astronaut crew to the International Space Station
SpaceX launches Crew-3 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center for docking with the space station Thursday evening.
By Christian DavenportNovember 10, 2021Citing China threat, NASA says moon landing now will come in 2025
Now that Blue Origin’s latest challenge was struck down by a federal court, NASA is moving ahead with SpaceX to resume work as quickly as possible, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
By Christian DavenportNovember 9, 2021Federal judge rules against Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin in lunar lander suit, allowing NASA to proceed with Elon Musk’s SpaceX
It’s another setback in Blue Origin’s attempt to force NASA to award more than one lunar lander contract.
By Christian DavenportNovember 4, 2021As NASA and SpaceX prepare to fly another crew to the space station, engineers are fixing a leaky toilet on the spacecraft
As NASA and SpaceX prepare to send their fourth crew of astronauts to the International Space Station, they are driving home the message that space flight remains a tremendously risky endeavor.
By Christian DavenportOctober 30, 2021How you too can experience weightlessness without having to go to space
Expensive suborbital space flights aren't the only way to experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
By Christian DavenportOctober 28, 2021Astronomers using NASA telescope find signs of a planet beyond our galaxy
Scientists found signs of a planet beyond the Milky Way using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
By Ellen FrancisOctober 26, 2021Rockets aren’t enough. Jeff Bezos and the growing commercial space industry now want to build space stations.
The growing commercial space industry, which for years has worked to reliably launch cargo and more recently humans to space, is now looking to build space stations that would populate low Earth orbit and eventually replace the aging International Space Station.
By Christian DavenportOctober 25, 2021Virgin Galactic pushes back next test flight as it makes ‘enhancements’ to its spaceplane
The stand down is yet another sign of the complexities of human space flight and comes as a number of companies have been working on flying paying customers to either the edge of space or to orbit.
By Christian DavenportOctober 14, 2021Where’s walrus? Scientists seek public ‘detectives’ to spot giant animals from space.
World Wide Fund for Nature and the British Antarctic Survey hope half a million people globally can help sift through thousands of images.
By Adela SulimanOctober 14, 2021William Shatner, Star Trek’s Capt. Kirk, flies to space and back, adding to this year’s number of civilian astronauts
The actor joined a private space movement that has picked up speed and outpaced NASA.
By Christian DavenportOctober 13, 2021