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When “Star Trek” captain William Shatner – James T. Kirk to we Trekkies – flew to space in October, the family of one of his co-stars played close attention. Shatner’s Oct. 13 flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft inspired worldwide tributes and discussion about “Star Trek,” a series that embedded diversity into its framework … Read more
The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever built, is finally set for launch in late December after decades of waiting. An engineering marvel, it will help answer fundamental questions about the Universe, peering back in time 13 billion years. Here are five things to know. 1. Giant gold mirror The telescope’s … Read more
Michael Strahan can’t wait to go back to space. The former NFL football player and “Good Morning America” co-anchor launched into space on Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocket Saturday morning (Dec. 11) and apparently enjoyed every second, judging from the smile on his face after landing. “I want to go back,” Strahan told Blue … Read more
The beautiful birth of a star has produced an exquisitely ethereal structure in interstellar space. It’s called the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, located about 520 light-years away, and in a new image from the NSF NOIRLab’s International Gemini Observatory in Chile, it appears in the sky like a pale gossamer butterfly wing. At its core, … Read more
After spending 50,000 years on Earth, a meteorite got the chance to visit space again for almost three days, during the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in September. Pilot Sian Proctor shared a video on Twitter Friday (Dec. 10) showing a fragment of the immense Canyon Diablo space rock that slammed into northern Arizona, forming Barringer Crater (better … Read more
Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan will be taking a small piece of his former life to space on Saturday (Dec. 11). Strahan, who played in the NFL from 1993 to 2007, will tote a football on his suborbital jaunt with Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin, which is scheduled to lift off from West … Read more
After a record-breaking number of commercial spaceflyers in 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to end its commercial astronaut wings program. The FAA made the decision to do this after noting “the number of people launching to space [will] increase dramatically in the coming years,” the agency said in a statement Friday (Dec. 10). … Read more
“An original Shepard will fly on the New Shepard.” Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of the first American in space, will embark on her own journey to space on board #NewShepard on December 9. pic.twitter.com/vQfzTKo1zeNovember 23, 2021 See more The daughter of NASA astronaut Alan Shepard can’t wait to go to space, just like her … Read more
Space can be a wondrous place, and we’ve got the pictures to prove it! Take a look at our favorite pictures from space here, and if you’re wondering what happened today in space history don’t miss our On This Day in Space video show here! Space station crew poses for family portrait with Japanese space … Read more
On Nov. 10, 2013, Europe’s GOCE satellite fell to Earth. GOCE is short for Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer. Its mission was to map Earth’s gravitational field. GOCE did this for four years. Then it ran out of fuel. Controllers weren’t sure where GOCE would fall back to Earth or linger in … Read more