The Japanese moon lander gets back to work after the sun reaches its solar panels
A Japanese moon explorer is up and running Monday after several tense days without the sunlight it needs to generate power.
Space
NASA's Mars helicopter retires after almost 3 years on the planet
After almost three years on the Red Planet and 72 flights into the thin Martian atmosphere, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter is ending its mission due to a broken rotor blade.
NASA retires Ingenuity, the little helicopter that made history on Mars
Seventy-two flights later, the small-but-mighty helicopter's time has come to an end after it was damaged during a test flight last week.
His spacecraft sprung a leak. Then this NASA astronaut accidentally broke a record
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio holds the record for the longest U.S. space flight, but he wasn't trying to earn that title.
Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of the Big Bang's afterglow, dies at age 90
Penzias, with his colleague Robert Woodrow Wilson, discovered the cosmic microwave background while working at Bell Labs in the 1960s. The finding was the smoking gun evidence for the Big Bang.
After a year in space, NASA astronaut reflects on the unexpectedly long trip
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who holds the U.S. record for longest space flight, about his unexpectedly long stay aboard the International Space Station.
Japan shuts down its SLIM moon lander in hopes it will restart someday
The lander was powered down at 12% battery power — saving enough juice for a potential restart. Now Japan's space agency will see if its solar cell can give the lander any electricity.
NASA finds Ingenuity after losing contact with the Mars helicopter
The helicopter had stopped communicating with the Perseverance rover during a test flight. Trouble for the overachieving rotorcraft threatened to cut short its otherworldly flight exploration.
SpaceX launches 4 people for a private mission to the International Space Station
The mission, Ax-3, is the third time Houston-based Axiom Space has sent paying passengers to the I.S.S. During 16 days of orbit, the all-European crew will conduct 30 experiments and public outreach.
A transforming robot is about to land on the moon, where it will die
A Japanese space agency manager calls it "a breathless, numbing 20 minutes of terror!" The process includes ejecting a robot onto the lunar surface, to take photos of the moon lander.