Space

An image from the European Southern Observatory shows the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri — which appears so large because of the telescope optics and photographic emulsion — taken from photos in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Alpha Centauri is

Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use 'Starchips' To Visit Alpha Centauri

2:44pm April 12, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Physicist Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner have announced a $100 million mission to prepare for interstellar exploration — with a stamp-size spacecraft, light sails and enormous lasers.

The Kepler space telescope, seen here in an artist's concept image, has been restored to normal status after surprising engineers by going into emergency mode last week.

Kepler Spacecraft Is Stable And Out Of Emergency Status, NASA Says

1:54pm April 11, 2016

by Bill Chappell

Kepler, the telescope that's nearly 75 million miles away from Earth, placed itself into Emergency Mode sometime in the middle of last week.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday.

SpaceX Rocket Lands Safely On A Ship At Sea For the First Time

8:06pm April 08, 2016

by Laura Wagner

A resupply capsule, bearing an inflatable habitat, is en route to the International Space Station, and the first stage of the rocket that launched it has returned for a sea landing without exploding.

SpaceX Rocket Sticks The Landing After Resupply Mission

6:35pm April 08, 2016

by Geoff Brumfiel

SpaceX successfully launched a rocket to resupply the International Space Station and landed the rocket on a drone ship at sea on Friday.

An artist's rendering of the BEAM inflatable annex attached to the side of the International Space Station.

Science

NASA To Test Inflatable Room For Astronauts In Space

7:12pm April 07, 2016

by Joe Palca

On Friday, a supply rocket is scheduled to send an inflatable module to the International Space Station. The expandable technology is being developed by a private firm.

Supermassive Black Holes May Be More Common Than Anyone Imagined

4:41pm April 06, 2016

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

A black hole with about 17 billion times the mass of our sun has turned up in another remote galaxy. Astronomers now think these mass-eating monsters may not be so rare after all.

Queue Listen Now

The women of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory helped launch the first American satellites, lunar missions and planetary explorations. Those "human computers," as they were called, are seen here in 1953.

Meet The 'Rocket Girls,' The Women Who Charted The Course To Space

5:56pm April 05, 2016

by NPR Staff

Before there were digital computers, there were "human computers," women who used pencils and paper to do the math that helped carry the U.S. into space. Nathalia Holt tells their story in a new book.

Queue Listen Now

Bob Ebeling with his daughter Kathy (center) and his wife, Darlene.

National

Challenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dies

11:41pm March 21, 2016

by Howard Berkes

Bob Ebeling was one of five booster rocket engineers at a NASA contractor who tried to stop the 1986 launch of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded 73 seconds into its flight. He was 89.

A Martian gravity map shows the Tharsis volcanoes and surrounding flexure. The white areas in the center are higher-gravity regions produced by the massive Tharsis volcanoes, and the surrounding blue areas are lower-gravity regions that may be cracks in t

LOOK: Map Of Mars' Gravity Illuminates Planet's Interior

5:42pm March 21, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

The map released by NASA was made by tracking subtle variations in the planet's gravitational pull on orbiting spacecraft.

Japanese white-eyes perch on the branch of a bloomed cherry blossom near the Kukurigawa River on March 7, 2016, in Hita, Oita, Japan.

Happy Spring! A Roundup Of Stories For The Vernal Equinox

4:47pm March 20, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Early Sunday morning, the earth's axis was pointed neither toward nor away from the sun. So spring has sprung — astronomically speaking. We dug into our archives to mark the occasion.