By The Associated Press
Three astronauts docked with the country’s partly built space station Thursday, beginning what China plans as at least a decade of continuous presence in Earth’s orbit.
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By Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang
Three Chinese astronauts arrived on Thursday to help build their country’s rival to the International Space Station.
By Steven Lee Myers
China has now deployed a land rover on the surface of Mars. The mission is one of many on its schedule as it challenges U.S. dominance of space exploration.
By Kenneth Chang
La sonda Juno de la NASA comienza una larga misión que no sería posible si no hubiera experimentado problemas de propulsión cuando llegó por primera vez al planeta gigante.
By Kenneth Chang
The Juno spacecraft completed a close flyby of Ganymede, Jupiter’s biggest moon, as it transitions into a new phase of its mission.
By Kenneth Chang
One of the spacecraft will probe the hellish planet’s clouds, which could potentially help settle the debate over whether they are habitable by floating microbes.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Saturday will bring New Yorkers their first shot at “the best sunset picture of the year.” Sunday and two days in July will provide more opportunities.
By Kenneth Chang
A Discovery reality TV competition, a Russian medical thriller and more productions could be heading to the orbital outpost in the next year.
By Adam Mann
People out west in the United States and in Australia and East Asia will have a good view of an event some call a “super blood moon.”
By Thomas Erdbrink and Christina Anderson
The government is turning an old research base above the Arctic Circle into a state-of-the-art satellite launching center. The reindeer will not be happy.
By Katharine Q. Seelye
An expert on astronomy, she spent nearly a half-century at the Library of Congress and helped Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan with research.
By Steven Lee Myers
The country’s space agency said that the components of the spacecraft had “deployed in place normally.”
By Sam Roberts
A lawyer and policy analyst, he studied ways to forestall energy crises and other catastrophes. He died of Covid-19.
By Kenneth Chang
The OSIRIS-REX mission will spend two years cruising home with space rock samples that could unlock secrets of the early solar system.
By Reuters
The SN15 Starship prototype touched down in one piece after a brief test flight over Texas on Wednesday. Several previous landings had ended in fiery explosions.
By Emma Grillo and Danya Issawi
This week, check in with NASA’s Perseverance rover, listen to orchestral music or celebrate Eid al-Fitr by making a custard dessert.
By Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang
Most of the debris burned up on re-entry Sunday morning, China said. The head of NASA accused it of “failing to meet responsible standards.”
By Neil Vigdor
The bottle of Pétrus from 2000 — which is being sold by Christie’s — comes with a second bottle of “terrestrial” wine, a custom trunk, a decanter, glasses and a corkscrew crafted from a meteorite.
By Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang
The chances of it hitting a populated area are small, but not zero. That has raised questions about how the country’s space program designs its missions.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By Marie Fazio
Blue Origin has teased space tourism for years. Its first flight with people on board launches July 20.
By Kenneth Chang and Michael Roston
After a series of high-altitude test flights that ended in explosions, the new vehicle set down in one piece on a Texas launchpad.
By Kenneth Chang
Crew-1, which launched to the space station in November, will head home in the capsule called Resilience.
By Kenneth Chang
Ahead of a successful fourth flight, the agency announced that Ingenuity would continue to fly beyond its original monthlong mission.
By Robin George Andrews
Astronomers reconstructed a space rock’s path before it exploded over southern Africa in 2018 and sprinkled the Kalahari with meteorites.
By Katherine Kornei
By drawing the small number of lunar craters named for women, an artist hopes to highlight women’s contributions to the sciences.
By NASA
Ingenuity, Nasa’s experimental helicopter on Mars, soared higher and longer during its second test flight, on Thursday, than it did during its first flight, on Monday.
By Kenneth Chang
The space agency picked Elon Musk’s company over two other bidders to take its astronauts back to the lunar surface.
By Maria Cramer
The crew arrived on Saturday on the Dragon Endeavour, a spacecraft built by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By NASA
NASA’s Ingenuity, a small robotic helicopter, took its initial flight over Mars on Monday making history as the first powered aircraft from Earth to fly on another planet.
By Kenneth Chang
NASA on Monday hailed its “Wright brothers moment” when a small robotic helicopter named Ingenuity took off on Mars. Here’s what to know.
By Kenneth Chang
Elon Musk’s company bested Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and others in the contest to carry American astronauts to the lunar surface.
Five articles from around The Times, narrated just for you.
By Brooke Jarvis
Videos of a mysterious celestial phenomenon captured a once-common human emotion: awe at the wonder of the heavens.
By Godwyn Morris and Paula Frisch
With a little ingenuity, your sheet of newsprint can float safely to the ground.
By Kenneth Chang
Something went wrong early for Starship, with shards of metal raining down around the launch site including debris that hit one of the cameras.
By Kenneth Chang
After almost a year in space, Scott Kelly’s heart diminished, but he remained reasonably fit.
By Richard Goldstein
He was hailed for leading the rescue of Apollo 13 astronauts when their spacecraft was rocked by an explosion en route to the moon, and for helping guide them home.
By Mike Ives
A Harvard astronomer said the objects were debris — or “space junk” — from a SpaceX rocket. Not everyone got the memo.
By Kenneth Chang
The experimental vehicle named Ingenuity traveled to the red planet with the Perseverance rover, which is also preparing for its main science mission.
By Kenneth Chang
Mars once had rivers, lakes and seas. Although the planet is now desert dry, scientists say most of the water is still there, just locked up in rocks.
By David W. Brown and Kenneth Chang
A test earlier this year of the Space Launch System core stage was marred by errors, so the agency conducted a do-over.
By Steven Lee Myers
The two countries, moving increasingly closer, signed a memorandum of agreement to collaborate on lunar missions, including the establishment of a research station in orbit or on the surface of the moon.
By Clay Risen
An engineer for the maker of the shuttle’s booster rockets, he opposed letting it take off, worried that cold weather might affect them. He was right.
By Robin George Andrews
“It almost seems like a magical thing,” said one of the astronomers involved in studying the lunar phenomenon.
By Kenneth Chang
Two earlier flights of the Starship rocket crashed spectacularly. This one returned to the ground in one piece, then blew up.
By Kenneth Chang
St. Jude Hospital and Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, selected Hayley Arceneaux for a trip to orbit in a SpaceX capsule.
By Monika Pronczuk
In its first hiring drive in over a decade, the continent’s space agency is looking to recruit disabled people and more women.
By The Associated Press
NASA scientists and engineers on Friday showed some of the first images received from the Perseverance rover’s first day and night on the surface of Mars.
By Reuters
NASA successfully landed its new robotic rover on Mars Thursday, a mission to directly study if there was ever life on the planet.
By Kenneth Chang
Perseverance’s arrival extends the successful U.S. landing record on the planet, and brings sophisticated tools to the hunt for alien life.
By Kenneth Chang
Parts of the new visitor will make large impacts that could be picked up by the InSight spacecraft’s seismometer.
By Shannon Stirone
NASA’s sole means of sending commands to the distant space probe, launched 44 years ago, is being restored on Friday.
By Richard Sandomir
As the space agency’s first female payload specialist, she conducted experiments about the impact of weightlessness on astronauts’ immune systems and loss of bone mass.
By Michael Roston
The Tianwen-1 mission is the second of three new visitors to Mars this month.
By Kenneth Chang
The Hope spacecraft fired its engines on Tuesday and was grappled by the planet’s gravity to begin its atmospheric science studies.
By Reuters
A test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, Elon Musk’s next-generation spacecraft which is intended to one day land on Mars, was launched on Tuesday for a brief flight, but came to an explosive end.
By Kenneth Chang
The Amazon founder started his private rocket company in 2000, but its busiest phase could just now be starting.
By Kenneth Chang
After defying the F.A.A. during its last test flight in December, the company got approval but didn’t succeed in sticking the landing.
By Kenneth Chang
Jared Isaacman, 37-year-old founder of Shift4 Payments, is chartering a trip to orbit and raffling a seat to a random winner to raise money for childhood cancer research.
By William J. Broad
The Biden administration is inheriting the menace of Chinese antisatellite arms as well as an innovative way of trying to defuse the escalating threat.
By William J. Broad
The Biden administration faces not only waves of Chinese antisatellite weapons but a history of jumbled responses to the intensifying threat.
By Richard Sandomir
At a time when there were few other Black astrophysicists, he developed a telescopic device that went to the moon on Apollo 16.
By Robin George Andrews
A handful of other six-star systems have been discovered, but this one is unique.
By Kenneth Chang
The booster of the Space Launch System was in good condition after a test was cut short, officials said.
By Becky Ferreira
The Nebra sky disk, which has been called the oldest known depiction of astronomical phenomena, is a “very emotional object.”
By Kenneth Chang
Before NASA’s giant Space Launch System can go to the moon, it needs to ignite its engine in a “hot fire” stationary test.
By Kenneth Chang
A test firing of the engines of the Space Launch System was halted after only about a minute, meaning NASA astronauts may have to wait longer before setting foot on the moon again.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
All year long, Earth passes through streams of cosmic debris. Here’s a list of some major meteor showers and how to spot them.
By Michael Roston
Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other astronomical and space event that's out of this world.
By Michael Roston
Here’s a preview of what to expect in space and astronomy in the year to come.
By Shannon Stirone
While observing the planet’s large inky storm, astronomers spotted a smaller vortex they named Dark Spot Jr.
By The New York Times
One day that has room for three distinct astronomical events.
By Reuters
The lunar capsule from China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft returned to Earth early Thursday, bringing back as much as 4.4 pounds of rock and soil samples from a volcanic plain known as Mons Rümker.
By Christina Morales
On the first-anniversary celebration of the newest branch of the U.S. armed forces, Vice President Mike Pence announced that Space Force members would be called Guardians.
By Reuters
During Wednesday’s test flight of the SpaceX Starship prototype, a rocket Elon Musk envisions ferrying humans to Mars, it launched into the sky but glided back to Earth before it exploded while attempting to land.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By Kenneth Chang
Among the group are astronauts who could be the first woman on the moon.
By Kenneth Chang
The company described the test of the next-generation spacecraft as “awesome” even though it ended in a fiery blast.
By Kenneth Chang
Although the Beresheet lunar landing ended in a crash last year, SpaceIL wants to try again with a more complex mission by 2024.
By The Associated Press
A capsule from Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere Saturday after being launched in 2014 to explore and collect samples from an asteroid named Ryugu. It landed and was recovered in the Australian outback.
By Richard Goldstein
A World War II fighter ace and Air Force general, he was, according to Tom Wolfe, “the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff.”
By Michael Levenson
On Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be no more than a dime’s width apart in the night sky. The last time that could be seen was in 1226.
By Kenneth Chang
Chang’e-5 will soon attempt to dock in lunar orbit with another spacecraft, ahead of returning a cache of moon rocks and dirt to scientists on our planet.
By Kenneth Chang
Within hours of arriving, it started drilling and scooping lunar rocks and soil to bring back to Earth.
By Maria Cramer
Astronomers and residents of Puerto Rico mourned as an eye on the cosmos shuttered unexpectedly overnight.
By Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang
The mission will now collect samples, aiming to return with them to Earth by mid-December.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Penumbral eclipses are subtle, but there are good reasons to try to notice one.
By Reuters
China launched a spacecraft to the moon’s surface on Monday. The mission, called Chang’e-5, is China’s aim to be the first country in more than four decades to bring back samples of lunar rocks and soil.
By Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang
It has been four decades since lunar samples were brought to Earth, and the Chang’e-5 spacecraft’s bounty could have great scientific value.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Not thought to be volcanically active, Mars may have experienced an eruption just 53,000 years ago.
By Azi Paybarah
“Docking confirmed,” the company founded by Elon Musk announced Monday night.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By Kenneth Chang and Allyson Waller
The crew will spend some 27 hours in a capsule built by the private company before docking with the space station Monday night.
By Kenneth Chang
Here’s what you need to know about four astronauts’ journey to the International Space Station on Sunday.
By Kenneth Chang
An experiment aboard the space station showed that bacteria were effective at extracting rare earth elements from rocks.
By Sandra E. Garcia
Halloween will be the first blue moon visible in every time zone since 1944. Might be good to charge those crystals!
By Kenneth Chang
Future astronauts seeking water on the moon may not need to go into the most treacherous craters in its polar regions to find it.
By Kenneth Chang
The OSIRIS-REX spacecraft collected rock and dirt samples from Bennu, but it appears to be losing some of what it grabbed.
By Kenneth Chang
The spacecraft succeeded in pogo-sticking off the space rock, hinting that it may have been able to capture a large sample to bring back to Earth.
By Kenneth Chang
The spacecraft attempted to suck up rocks and dirt from the asteroid, which could aid humanity’s ability to divert one that might slam into Earth.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By Dennis Overbye
He was a scientist who succeeded in seeing the unseeable and hoped to tune in to extraterrestrial life.
By Kenneth Chang
“Any school district now that affords football can afford spaceflight.”
By Kenneth Chang
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket hasn’t flown space tourists yet, but it has found a business niche with NASA and private science experiments.
By Stanley Reed
Spurred by Brexit, London is backing companies that will build satellites and haul them into orbit.
By Kenneth Chang
Space weather experts believe the sun has entered a new sunspot cycle, and expect it to be a relatively quiet one.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Rocket Lab may be able to send a small spacecraft to probe the clouds of Venus long before NASA or other space agencies are able to do so.
By Shannon Stirone
Much visited in an earlier era of space exploration, the planet has been overlooked in recent decades.
By Becky Ferreira
It’s a tale of bronze, iron, looting and archaeological conflict.
By Dennis Overbye
The iconic Arecibo radio telescope is temporarily crippled by an accident.
By Katherine Kornei
Researchers have used reflective prisms left on the moon’s surface for decades, but had increasingly seen problems with their effectiveness.
By Dennis Overbye
The mysterious dimming of the red supergiant Betelgeuse is the result of a stellar exhalation, astronomers say.
By Adam Mann
Enjoy it while you can. The frozen ball of ice won’t return to the inner solar system for 6,800 years.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
By Becky Ferreira
The F.C.C. approved the company’s 3,236-satellite constellation, which aims to provide high-speed internet service around the world.
By Dennis Overbye
Astronomers might have found the ultradense remnant of an explosion that wracked a nearby galaxy.
By Kenneth Chang
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley left the space station on Saturday night, preparing for a Gulf of Mexico splashdown on Sunday.
By Neil Vigdor and Allyson Waller
“We need to do a better job next time” of securing the area, the NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said.
By Kenneth Chang
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth in the first water landing by an American space crew since 1975.
By Kenneth Chang
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are getting ready to splash down after two months in orbit.
By Kenneth Chang
The United States has an unparalleled record of success on the red planet’s surface, but NASA’s engineers aren’t resting on their laurels.
By Kenneth Chang
Passengers able to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a seat can escape gravity for a few minutes.
By Dennis Overbye
In a new book, planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson recalls how the Red Planet drew her to become a scientist.
By Katharine Q. Seelye
The last living member of the Mercury 7 couples who helped define America’s early space program, she went on to become a writer and television host.
By Becky Ferreira
How habitable was early Mars? Why did it become less hospitable? And could there be life there now?
By Sarah Scoles
Scientists have used Mars jars to study questions in astrobiology for decades. Many didn’t know where they come from.
By Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean
For over a decade, the program, now tucked inside the Office of Naval Intelligence, has discussed mysterious events in classified briefings.
By Steven Lee Myers
A goal of the Tianwen-1 launch is to catch up with decades of American success on the red planet, all in one mission.
By The New York Times
Lifting off from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, it is the first of three missions headed to the red planet this summer.
By Kenneth Chang
Images of the new phenomenon were captured by Solar Orbiter, a joint European-NASA mission to study the sun.
By Dennis Overbye
The universe will have to wait a little longer.
By Kenneth Chang
The launch of the Hope orbiter was delayed because of weather. The goal is for it to make contributions to research on the red planet. But the Emirati government really hopes it will inspire future scientists.
By Stanley Reed
Pushed by Brexit, the U.K. government will have a platform to expand into the space business.
By Kenneth Chang
The agency identified the causes of mishaps in orbit during an uncrewed test flight of its Starliner spacecraft in December.
By Shannon Hall
As you mark the longest day of the year, consider the debate among astronomers over whether Earth’s tilt toward the sun helps make life on our world and others possible.
By Kenneth Chang
As part of its next Mars mission, NASA is sending an experimental helicopter to fly through the red planet’s thin atmosphere.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Researchers propose a new model to explain the formation of most of the meteorites that make it to Earth.
By Kenneth Chang
Seven years ago, entrepreneurs planned trips to the stratosphere, but tourists never got off the ground. They’re trying again.
By William J. Broad
Researchers enlisted quantum physics to send a “secret key” for encrypting and decrypting messages between two stations 700 miles apart.
By Michelle Dowd
There are about a septillion stars in the observable universe. You can bring a fraction into your home — which is more than enough.
By Kenneth Chang
Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh company, won a $199.5 million contract to transport NASA’s VIPER rover to the lunar surface.
By Jim Robbins
Using tiny sensors and equipment aboard the space station, a project called ICARUS seeks to revolutionize animal tracking.
By Kenneth Chang
The president has tried to parlay space policy into an upbeat campaign issue for the 2020 election.
Look back at the day when a NASA crew headed to the space station from the United States for the first time since the space shuttles were retired in 2011.
By Peter Baker
The president, beleaguered by a pandemic, economic troubles and racial unrest, viewed the liftoff as a welcome moment of triumph that he celebrated with a campaign rally-style speech.
By Mariel Padilla
Many beachside hotels along the state’s Space Coast were already at capacity before Wednesday’s scheduled launch, a local tourism executive said.
By Kenneth Chang
Persistent clouds did not clear in time, pushing the launch back to either Saturday or Sunday, the next window of opportunity.
By J. D. Biersdorfer
If NASA’s new 2020 missions have inspired an interest in science and celestial objects, these apps and sites can open a whole new batch of worlds.