Space

It's been 50 years since the Apollo 17 mission put humans on the moon

6:13pm December 07, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission — the last one that put humans on the moon. NPR takes a look at the mission and what it means for future travel to our lunar companion.

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Orion's maximum distance from Earth was achieved on flight day 13, when it was 268,563 miles away. That's farther than any other spacecraft built for people--but only mannequins were on board.

Science

50 years since the last Apollo astronauts went to the moon, NASA is finally going back

3:54pm December 07, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

December 7, 1972 was the launch of the final mission in NASA's Apollo moon program. Fifty years later, NASA finally seems poised to return people to the lunar surface.

How yeast will teach NASA about the dangers of space

5:02am December 05, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

A NASA spacecraft passing by the moon on Monday is carrying 12,000 varieties of yeast. Researchers hope the tiny "yeastronauts" can teach them about how radiation will affect humans in space.

What it's like spending Thanksgiving in space

4:55am November 24, 2022

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with U.S. astronaut Christina Koch about her experience of spending Thanksgiving in space.

This illustration shows how the gas giant planet WASP-39 b might look as it orbits its host star.

Science

The James Webb telescope shows how starlight transforms a distant, Jupiter-like planet

11:27am November 22, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists studying a gas giant planet have found that it's partly cloudy and that its atmosphere gets altered by starlight from its host star.

This screengrab from NASA TV shows NASA's Orion capsule, left, nearing the moon, right, on Monday. At center is Earth.

Science

NASA's Orion capsule buzzes the moon in a last step before humans revisit lunar orbit

11:04am November 21, 2022

by The Associated Press

The close approach of 81 miles occurred as the crew capsule and its three wired-up dummies were on the far side of the moon. Astronauts will take Orion for a ride around the moon as early as 2024.

Bonny Omara (left) works with Edgar Mujuni at Japan's Kyushu Institute of Technology on the satellite that will be used to observe land conditions in Uganda.

The first satellites launched by Uganda and Zimbabwe aim to improve life on the ground

7:00am November 20, 2022

by Max Barnhart

The nanosatellites will observe the health of the land to help people make the best use of their countries' natural resources. A growing number of African countries are venturing into space.

This illustration shows the James Webb Space Telescope as it might appear as it orbits the sun, about a million miles away from Earth.

Science

NASA once again declines to rename the James Webb Space Telescope

3:48pm November 18, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

NASA says an extensive review of historical records found no evidence that Webb ever led or supported purges of government employees who were gay. But some astronomers think that's a pretty low bar.

Vikram-S rocket, India's first private rocket developed by Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian startup, lifts off in Sriharikota, India, on Friday.

World News

Indian startup launches country's first privately built rocket

3:31pm November 18, 2022

by Laurel Wamsley

The launch is a milestone in India's effort to foster a private space industry. The rocket, made by Hyderabad-based Skyroot, was aloft for about five minutes and reached peak altitude of 55 miles.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has officially declassified an image first tweeted by President Trump in 2019.

Trump tweeted an image from a spy satellite, declassified document shows

9:02am November 18, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

More than three years after his tweet, the U.S. government has formally declassified the image from one of its most powerful spy satellites.