Space

Here’s the latest for Wednesday, March 12th: U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect; House passes measure to fund government agencies; Ukraine says it’s open to 30 day ceasefire; Rocket carries new NASA telescope into space.

NASA’s newest space telescope has blasted off to map the entire sky like never before. Launched Tuesday night from California by SpaceX, the Spherex observatory will survey the sky every six months from an orbit over Earth’s poles.

President Donald Trump selected a shiny red Tesla on the White House driveway as he showed support for Elon Musk’s electric automaker.

A total lunar eclipse will flush the moon red across the Western Hemisphere. On Thursday night into Friday morning, the Earth will cast a shadow that totally blocks the moon.

Several people in the Bahamas witnessed the explosive wreckage of the failed Starship rocket as it flew across the sky.

Possible sighting of debris from the missing SpaceX wreckage is caught on camera.

Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down. (AP produced by Javier Arciga)

Video of a private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touching down on the moon Sunday has been released.

NASA’s two stuck astronauts are just a few weeks away from finally returning to Earth after nine months in space.

A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon’s south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun.

The threat of a newly discovered asteroid has risen slightly in the past few weeks, as the world’s telescopes rush to track its course. But the chance of an impact is still quite slim.

Russian spacecraft carrying military ‘devices’ blasts off from northern cosmodrome

Here’s the latest for Tuesday, Feb. 4th: China retaliates against U.S. tariffs; El Salvador says it welcomes U.S. prisoners; Mass shooting in Sweden; Blue Origin rocket test flight

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company gave NASA a brief taste of the moon’s gravity Tuesday, without straying too far from home.

New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the lunar far side. (AP video produced by Javier Arciga)

Japan on Sunday launched a navigation satellite on its new flagship H3 rocket, as the country seeks to have a more precise location positioning system of its own.

NASA’s 2 stuck astronauts take their first spacewalk together

Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday.

India’s space agency on Wednesday launched a navigation satellite from Satish Dawan Space Centre in Sariharikota.

Right-wing extremists celebrated Elon Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a speech Monday, although his intention wasn’t totally clear and some hate watchdogs are saying not to read too much into it. “I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said during a speech at Capital One Arena, referring to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Then he slapped his hand on his chest, extended his arm straight out and up with his palm facing down. “My heart goes out to you,” said Musk, after turning around to make a similar gesture facing the other way. Many social media users noticed that the gesture looked like a Nazi salute. Musk has only fanned the flames of suspicion by not explicitly denying those claims in a dozen posts since, though he did make light of the criticism and lashed out at people making that interpretation.

A group of people visiting the Turks and Caicos islands captured video of debris from the failed SpaceX rocket flying overhead, as the wreckage left behind a colorful stream of smoke.

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad. Elon Musk’s company said the spacecraft’s six engines appeared to shut down one by one, with contact lost just 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.

Suni Williams stepped out on a spacewalk Thursday, her first since arriving at the International Space Station seven months ago. She’s tackling outdoor repair work alongside NASA’s Nick Hague.

Here’s the latest for Thursday, January 16th: Mediators herald Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal; Biden delivers warning in farewell address; California firefighters report progress; Massive Blue Origin rocket launched on first test flight.

Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, sending up a prototype satellite to orbit thousands of miles above Earth.

Here’s the latest for Wednesday January 15th: Dangerous fire weather forecast in Southern California; South Korea’s impeached president detained; Israel and Hamas said to be at closest point yet to a ceasefire; Two lunar landers on their way to the moon.

SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers Wednesday for U.S. and Japanese companies looking to jumpstart business on Earth’s dusty sidekick. The two landers blasted toward the moon, lifting off in the middle of the night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

A new generation of aviation companies are building electric-powered aircraft designed to become taxis in the sky. These “eVTOLs,” short for “electric vertical take-off and landing,” lift off like helicopters and fly like airplanes. (AP Video/Terry Chea)

Almost forty years after being decommissioned, a piece of Western Australia’s history is experiencing a revival. Constructed in 1969 to assist a NASA tracking station, the Carnarvon satellite dish has been given a second life by a private aerospace company and has started receiving its first signals from space.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Thuraya 4 satellite on Friday to a geostationary transfer orbit on behalf of Yahsat, a telecommunications company and satellite service provider based in the United Arab Emirates.