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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'The moon looked wrong': Artemis II mission controller Chris White tells the story behind NASA's historic photosInterview Artemis II lead communications officer Chris White describes the tensest and most shocking moments of the historic moon mission, as seen from his desk at mission control in Houston.
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Secretive Chinese probe snaps first photo of Earth's mysterious 'quasi-moon' — and it may pose a big problemChina's Tianwen-2 spacecraft has captured the first close-up photo of one of Earth's "quasi-moons," Kamo'oalewa. However, the image and the timing of its release suggest that it may be harder for the probe to collect samples from the space rock than originally planned.
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Scientists propose launching a giant 'airbag' into space to protect us from solar superstorms — and experts say it's 'quite feasible'A new study suggests creating a satellite constellation, dubbed StormWall, that could reduce the impacts of the worst solar storms by more than 50%. The novel plan, which involves dumping gas into the magnetosphere, could be the only way to directly protect ourselves from dangerous space weather, experts say.
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China's top-secret 'dragon' space plane just released another unidentified object over EarthThe Shenlong, or "divine dragon," space plane just deployed a mysterious payload above our planet. The top-secret spacecraft, which has never been properly photographed, has now released at least nine objects in low Earth orbit.
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China's secretive Tianwen-2 mission arrives at Earth's 'quasi-moon' ahead of historic landingAnalysis China's Tianwen-2 mission has arrived at the quasi-moon Kamo'oalewa, which orbits the sun alongside Earth. The secretive probe will scoop up samples from our temporary companion to help uncover its mysterious origin, experts say.
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'Is having two legs useful' in space?: Astronaut John McFall explains what life in orbit might be like for the first physically disabled person in spaceInterview ESA astronaut John McFall tells Live Science what it would mean to become the first physically disabled person in space — if he travels to the first-ever commercial space station next year — and how life in orbit might affect him differently than everyone else.
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Earth-based telescope shares image of Artemis II capsule near the moon — one of the farthest photos of humans ever takenA blurry photo captured by the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia shows Artemis II's Orion capsule circling the moon more than 200,000 miles away, making it a candidate for the longest-distance image of humans ever taken from Earth.
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NASA's experimental X-59 jet breaks the sound barrier twice, reaching Mach 1.4NASA and Lockheed Martin's experimental X-59 aircraft has broken the sound barrier twice, achieving a top speed of Mach 1.4. The feat could set the stage for "quiet" supersonic flight.
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Artemis II crew's iconic view of Earth shows simultaneous auroras over both polesSpace photo of the week The four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission captured more than they bargained for when they photographed the nightside of Earth, right after starting their historic journey to the moon.
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