Space

Science

The first images from NASA's new space telescope show how it's coming into focus

3:03pm February 11, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The James Webb Space Telescope has seen its first starlight, but its 18 mirror segments aren't yet perfectly aligned. As a result, the pictures it's sending back now aren't exactly cosmic eye candy.

SpaceX's Elon Musk provides a Starship update Thursday near Brownsville, Texas. Musk said that the first orbital flight of Starship — the world's most powerful rocket ever built — could come in another month or two.

SpaceX's Elon Musk says 1st orbital Starship flight could be as early as March

5:16am February 11, 2022

by The Associated Press

SpaceX's Elon Musk said Thursday that the first orbital flight of his towering Starship could come soon. NASA plans to use the fully reusable Starship to land astronauts on the moon as early as 2025.

Flared natural gas is burned off at a natural gas plant. Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, can leak from natural gas plants and pipelines.

A satellite finds massive methane leaks from gas pipelines

6:05pm February 03, 2022

by Dan Charles

A satellite has detected massive leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from natural gas plants and pipelines. Most of these releases are deliberate, resulting from sloppy pipeline repairs.

The International Space Station is seen from NASA space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation in space on May 29, 2011.

What will happen to the International Space Station when it is retired?

10:21am February 03, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

NASA says the International Space Station will stop operating at the end of 2030. After that, the space agency plans to crash the football field-sized craft into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.

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A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifted off in Florida in Feb. 2015, on its way to send the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite into space. But seven years later, part of the rocket left behind in space is hurtling straight toward the moon.

A piece of space junk the size of a school bus is barreling straight toward the moon

4:29pm February 02, 2022

by Deepa Shivaram

Astronomers predict that on March 4th, a piece of a rocket launched in 2015 will crash into the moon. It's believed to be first time something man-made has accidentally crashed into the moon.

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins waves at the audience during the astronaut graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas, on January 10, 2020.

National

Jessica Watkins is getting ready to be the first Black woman to spend months in space

5:43pm January 31, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

It's been decades since astronauts walked on the moon. Watkins will spend six months on the International Space Station as part of a mission designed to bring them back to the lunar surface by 2025.

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Encore: Freshly made plutonium from outer space found on ocean floor

5:23pm January 27, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Common chemical elements are created in stars like our sun. But heavy elements, like iron, are thought to form in massive stars that explode and spew material — though it might be more complicated.

Volcanic ash covers rooftops and vegetation in an area of Tonga last week. Thick ash on an airport runway was delaying aid deliveries to the Pacific island nation, where significant damage was reported.

Satellite images show the aftermath of Tonga volcano's eruption

8:35am January 26, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

The images show populated areas in the archipelago with heavily damaged or destroyed buildings and homes and at least one island covered with ash.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be capturing pictures of the very first stars in the universe and help scientists study the atmosphere of planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system to see if they might be habitable.

Science

James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in space, a million miles away

8:10pm January 24, 2022

by Vanessa Romo

The $10 billion telescope is nearly ready to begin capturing images that scientists hope will help uncover the mysteries of the universe. And help scope out other possible habitable planets.

"By bringing archaeological perspectives to an active space domain, we're the first to show how people adapt their behavior to a completely new environment," Associate Professor Justin Walsh of Chapman University said of the experiment.

Archaeologists launch first-ever 'dig' into life on the International Space Station

11:42am January 20, 2022

by Vanessa Romo

The project, a first of its kind, aims to study the social and cultural dimensions of living in space and how people adapt their behavior when they're living in a completely new environment.