Human Space Exploration

NASA Plans a Fiery End for the International Space Station by 2031

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The International Space Station’s final nine years are going to be busy. NASA just released a report outlining the big-picture goals for the rest of the orbiting lab’s operational life, which is expected to end with a controlled deorbit in January 2031. These goals are: enabling deep-space exploration, conducting research to benefit humanity, inspiring our species to … Read more

NASA’s ‘Nuclear Option’ May Be Crucial for Getting Humans to Mars

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The pathway to humans on Mars lies through the atom, split. Far from Earth, whether in the void or on another world, power is life. A steady, strong flow of electricity is as crucial for operating computers and engines as it is for assuring access to corporeal necessities such as light and heat, breathable air … Read more

Whistleblowers Make Spaceflight Safer, Says Witness to Apollo Tragedy

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The drive from Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex to the launch facilities that line the Atlantic coast offers spectators a beautiful glimpse into American innovation: the gargantuan Blue Origin facility, the SpaceX landing zones and multiple NASA launch complexes. It’s on this path that the now-deserted Launch Complex 34 sits, “ABANDON IN PLACE” spray-painted in … Read more

The James Webb Space Telescope Could Solve One of Cosmology’s Deepest Mysteries

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On Christmas morning of 2021, astronomers watched their new, greatest tool successfully blast off into space. Now the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is fully deployed and has arrived at its deep-space destination, a quiet locale 1.5 million kilometers beyond Earth. Massimo Stiavelli heads the JWST Mission Office at the institute that allocates research time … Read more