Space exploration news, features and articles
The dawn is breaking on a new era of space exploration, with moon bases and Mars colonies potentially only decades away. Live Science tracks the researchers, companies and countries setting their sights on the stars to bring you the biggest stories in space. Whether it's reporting on concerns that alien organisms could hitch a ride on our spacecraft and contaminate Earth, explaining what 11 billion people means for space travel, sharing a glorious photo of Earth during a total solar eclipse snapped by Japan's lunar lander, or compiling a list of the weirdest things we have launched into space, our expert writers and editors will ignite your sense of interstellar adventure with the latest space exploration news, features and articles.
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Blue Origin rocket explosion sent sound waves 1,000 miles across the USWhen a New Glenn rocket blew apart at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in May, it released ultra-low-frequency sound waves that reached as far as Texas. Researchers estimate that the blast was roughly equivalent to the Chernobyl reactor explosion of 1986.
By Harry Baker Published
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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch this weekend. When will we see its first photos?The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida Sunday morning (Aug. 30). The state-of-the-art spacecraft will help astronomers study exoplanets, distant galaxies, dark matter and much more.
By Harry Baker Published
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Scientists finally know why astronauts struggle to poop in space — and reveal a hidden risk of long-haul spaceflightA new NASA-backed study has pinpointed why astronauts often experience constipation in space and how that might affect their health on long-haul missions to Mars and beyond.
By Harry Baker Published
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'This is not the outcome we were working towards': $30 million mission to save NASA's Swift telescope failsNASA's Swift Observatory is set to come crashing down to Earth later this year after private rescue mission failure.
By Pandora Dewan Published
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NASA grants Voyager 2 another year of power with risky 'Big Bang' maneuverVoyager 1 is running low on power for science, but a successful energy-saving maneuver on Voyager 2 raises hope that the 50-year-old spacecraft can keep going.
By Elizabeth Howell Published
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First photos of SpaceX lunar rocket crash show blackened hole torn into the moon's surfaceNew images from South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter reveal where a runaway SpaceX rocket part slammed into the moon on Wednesday.
By Brandon Specktor Published
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'We are not giving up yet': Private mission to rescue NASA's Swift telescope is spinning out of controlKatalyst Space's LINK spacecraft is recovering from an unexpected spin in orbit, and will need a little more time to rescue NASA's falling Swift observatory.
By Elizabeth Howell Published
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Chinese rocket struck by lightning moments after launch in front of packed crowd (video)A Long March 3B rocket was struck by lightning in front of a packed crowd, around 30 seconds after lifting off from a Chinese spaceport. Despite this, the spacecraft survived its ascent and successfully deployed its payload in orbit.
By Harry Baker Published
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Humanity's first look at the surface of Mars shared on 50th anniversary of historic NASA landingSpace Photo of the Week NASA has unearthed the historic photos its Viking 1 lander sent home just after landing on Mars in July 1976.
By Jamie Carter Published
Space Photo of the Week
