Nine months after launching on a 10-day trip to the International Space Station, NASA's Boeing Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth with two Crew-9 astronauts to end what became an ordeal in space. See what time they'll return and how to watch live here!
It's been a long time since NASA's Starliner astronauts launched into space. Long enough for Suni Williams to take command of the ISS, take two spacewalks with Butch Wilmore and perform many science experiments. Here's a look at how their 10-day test flight transformed into a months long odyssey ahead of landing.
You know how to find the Big Dipper/Plough in the northern sky, but what about its parent constellation, Ursa Major?
The Big Dipper/Plough is seven stars that make the unmistakable shape of a handle and a cup, but it's merely the tail and hindquarters of Ursa Major — the "Great Bear." Trace out the stars of this vast, famous, yet usually ignored constellation, and you'll be one of very few who can.
NASA's Starliner astronauts and Crew-9 aren't the only ones ending their mission. On Sunday, Firefly Aerospace announced that its private Blue Ghost moon lander's days were done on the lunar surface. The spacecraft set a new record for the longest commercial moon landing mission after two weeks studying Mare Crisium on the moon. Plus, look at that photo!
Let's turn to science, now, where the James Webb Space Telescope has made a new exoplanet discovery that astronomers have been hunting for for years. The space observatory took spotted clear looks at four inner planets around an alien star, including the first discovery of carbon dioxide on another planet.
The car-sized Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Camera that was recently installed on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is the largest digital camera ever built and will be used to capture detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky over a decade.
"The installation of the LSST Camera on the telescope is a triumph of science and engineering," said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science. "We look forward to seeing the unprecedented images this camera will produce." Here's what it will do.
A new documentary that tells the story of Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, who died after a fire erupted in their spacecraft on the launch pad, has surprised even its director, despite the event originally occuring in 1967. You won't want to miss this one.
While NASA's Starliner astroanauts are returning to Earth, it's worth remembering there are still people living and working up there in space. And sometimes, they take photos.
This image, taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit on the ISS, shows a stunning Earth covered in light streaks, while even the stars overhead leave brilliant trails. See how he did it here.
On March 18, 1980, a Soviet rocket exploded on the launchpad and killed 48 people. The Vostok-2M rocket was about to launch a new spy satellite called Tselina-D. Military technicians were working to fuel the rocket on the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a top-secret spaceport a few hundred miles north of Moscow. It wasn't until three years after the explosion happened that the Soviets admitted that this secret spaceport existed. See how it happened in our "On This Day in Space" video series!
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