Space

World News

How China's Space Ambitions Fit Into Its Larger Geopolitical Strategy

11:45pm January 03, 2019

China's astronomical ambitions are not purely scientific. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with U.S. Naval War College Professor Joan Johnson-Freese about China's larger geopolitical strategy.

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World News

A Look At The Methodical Plan China Has Laid Out For Space Exploration

5:39pm January 03, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

China's space program has landed a wheeled rover on the far side of the moon that's never seen from Earth. It's part of a systematic plan that the country has for space exploration.

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This photo, provided by China National Space Administration via Xinhua News Agency, is the first image of the moon's far side ever taken from the surface. A Chinese spacecraft on Thursday made the first landing on the far side of the moon, state media sai

China Becomes First Country To Land On Far Side Of Moon, State Media Announce

3:24pm January 03, 2019

by Matthew S. Schwartz

Lunar lander Chang'e 4 successfully touched down on Thursday morning. China's Xinhua News published a photo it says was taken by the probe "on the never-visible side of the moon."

This image taken Jan. 1 by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the New Horizons spacecraft.

Science

Images Reveal A 'Snowman' At The Frigid Outer Reaches Of Our Solar System

6:12pm January 02, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists say Ultima Thule, a newly explored world out beyond Pluto, is a relic from our solar system's earliest days.

Music & Culture

NASA Gets Some Help From Guitarist Brian May On Its New Horizons Probe

5:10am January 02, 2019

Queen guitarist Brian May is also an astrophysicist. He consulted with NASA on its New Horizons probe, which this week started sending back signals from the outer reaches of our solar system.

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News Brief: Government Shutdown, Russia Detains U.S. Citizen, NASA Probe

4:58am January 02, 2019

Congressional leaders go to the White House for a border security briefing. A U.S. citizen is in Russian custody on suspicion of spying. And, NASA's New Horizons probe makes history.

NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Conducts Farthest-Ever Fly-By Of An Object

4:52pm January 01, 2019

NASA's New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft Tuesday. NPR's Audie Cornish talks with planetary scientist Heidi Hammel about what data from the fly by shows.

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The Chinese lunar lander Chang'e 4 is headed to Aitken Basin, a large impact crater near the moon's south pole, pictured here in blue. The distance from the depths of Aitken Basin to the tops of the highest surrounding peaks is nearly twice the height of

China's Lunar Lander To Explore Moon's Far Side

5:07am January 01, 2019

by Joe Palca

Early in 2019, China hopes to land a rover — the first soft landing on the moon's far side. The mission is exploratory, and will lay groundwork for a trip by Chinese astronauts to the lunar surface.

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This image recorded by the Hubble telescope on July 10, 2001 shows two clusters of stars in a neighboring galaxy.

Nancy Grace Roman, 'Mother Of Hubble' Space Telescope, Has Died, At Age 93

2:04pm December 30, 2018

by Russell Lewis

Roman was one of the first female executives at NASA, its first chief of astronomy and she played an instrumental role in making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality. She died on Dec. 25.

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A cubesat, like this briefcase-sized MarCO, was key to relaying telemetry during the recent InSight mission to Mars. It was the first time this kind of mini-spacecraft had flown into deep space.

Science

What's Next For Tiny Satellites?

4:09pm December 26, 2018

by Joe Palca

Two briefcase-sized satellites gave the control room of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in November what scientists had never been able to get before: real-time information about a spacecraft's landing.

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