Russia reignited its moon exploration program on Aug. 10, sending a lander toward Earth's nearest neighbor. The Luna-25 mission picked up where the former Soviet Union left off in 1976, when Luna-24 successfully delivered moon samples to Earth. Now, Luna-25 is headed to the moon's south pole in the hunt for water ice.
If you have dark skies, don't forget to look up this weekend.
The Perseid meteor shower will peak this overnight on Aug. 12 and 13 as Earth makes a yearly dive through debris left behind by a Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. It's set to be the best meteor shower of the year!
If you've never had the treat to see a meteor shower, astrophotographer Miguel Claro has you covered.
Take a look at an amazing video of the Perseid meteor shower as Claro captured in from a dark sky site in Portugal. Don't forget! The Perseid meteor shower of 2023 is this weekend.
Queen legend Sir Brian May and NASA's OSIRIS-REx chief scientist Dante Lauretta challenge Space.com readers to photograph objects in the solar system. The prize? A signed book plate and copy of their new book about asteroid Bennu.
It is an astrophotography contest, so do check out the rules and we can't wait to see your photos!
Russian cosmonaut Alexander Viktorenko, whose four flights into Earth orbit included the first test of a "space motorcycle" and first launch after the fall of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 76.
Trappist-1 is an amazing star system, one teeming with exoplanets, including several in that Goldilocks area we call the habitable zone.
Now, a new computer model simulating the evolution of planetary atmospheres found that water may have survived on some planets of the fascinating planetary system.
SpaceX launched 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites early Friday and landed the returning rocket on a ship at sea.
The launch was SpaceX's fourth in a string of recent flights in the last week or so, and adds nearly two dozen satellites to the thousands more already in orbit.
Virgin Galactic launches its 1st space tourist flight | Russia to launch Luna-25, its 1st moonshot since 1976 | Space Quiz! Virgin Galactic has begun space tourism flights. What is its current spaceship's name?
Created for znamenski.spacecom@blogger.com | Web Version
The age of Virgin Galactic space tourism flights has begun.
The company launched three space tourists, including the 1st mother-daughter team from Antigua and an 80-year-old Olympic canoeist, on its suborbital Galactic 02 flight in New Mexico today. The launch was the first dedicated to tourism after a May research flight for the Italian Air Force.
Virgin Galactic isn't the only one with a big mission today.
Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, is counting down to launch Luna-25 - it's first moon mission in 47 years - on a Soyuz rocket tonight. Liftoff is set for 7:10 p.m. ET (2310 GMT) and yes, you can watch it live in a Russian-language webcast here starting at 6 pm ET.
How will AI impact your industry now – and in the future? AI Impact is a new, virtual event that separates hype from reality; delivering insights into how industries and business functions will be enhanced and tested in the age of AI. Join globally renowned experts, including Zack Kass (OpenAI), for two days of invaluable discussion. Register Now
With a little luck, we may soon be in for a fine meteor shower.
Circumstances this year will be nearly ideal for watching the annual Perseid meteor shower at its predicted maximum late on the night of Aug. 12-13. Many families on August vacations at dark, country sites discover these meteors on their own, and late-summer campers often pull their sleeping bags out of their tents to enjoy this "Old Faithful" shower.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter took to the Martian skies for the 54th time on Aug. 3, performing a simple up-and-down hop that lasted just 24 seconds.
Its parent, the Perseverance rover, was nearby at the time, and recorded the sortie using its powerful Mastcam-Z camera system. The resulting video captures the flight in amazing detail, showing Ingenuity rise, hover and spin for a spell before coming back to rest on the red dirt of Mars' Jezero Crater.
Astronomers have begun measuring of the most distant star ever detected, thanks to the powerful eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope.
That star, known as Earendel, was discovered last year by the Hubble Space Telescope. It has taken 12.9 billion years for Earendel's light to reach Earth, meaning the star was shining less than a billion years after the Big Bang spurred our universe into existence. However, Earendel doesn't lie a mere 12.9 billion light-years away from us.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday at 12:27 a.m. EDT (0427 GMT). It's the third Starlink launch in five days for SpaceX.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft has a mission to visit a metal-rich asteroid, but that's not all it will do.
It also has a second goal: Demonstrating what some engineers hope is the next generation of sending data between spacecraft and ground control - with LASERS.
We're big fans of Lego's Star Wars diorama range, and the Emperor's Throne Room is up there with the best of them, recreating the iconic scene where Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader battle it out on the Death Star. This set is a little on the pricey side, but it looks absolutely stunning – the perfect display piece for any Original Trilogy fan.
