The U.S. military is getting a nuclear-powered space vehicle
A nuclear thermal propulsion system meant to operate in low Earth orbit may sound like the stuff of the future, but the future will come much sooner than most of…
How the CIA hijacked a Soviet spacecraft in 1959
With the Cold War raging and the Soviets securing victory after victory in the Space Race, America’s CIA wasn’t sitting on the sidelines. The Soviet Union’s space technology was beating…
4 insane but real weapons the Space Corps will need
Fighting in space isn’t as easy as just spraying bullets and hoping for the best. As a matter of fact, in the vacuum of space and an arena without friction, you’re really just asking for the worst. Even in a training exercise, bullets would go on …
Don’t miss the Geminids meteor shower this weekend
The Geminids meteor shower peaks on Friday night, and for the first time ever, a spacecraft has spotted the asteroid dust that makes those shooting stars.
Since NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018, it has rocketed around the sun…
NASA’s Voyager 2 finds mysterious layer outside our solar system
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe exited our solar system nearly a year ago, becoming the second spacecraft to ever enter interstellar space.
It followed six years behind its sister spacecraft, Voyager 1, which reached the limits of the solar system in …
Army astronaut follows historic Apollo footsteps
U.S. Army Col. Andrew R. Morgan, M.D., will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, aboard a Soyuz (Union) MS-13 spacecraft on July 20, 2019, at 12:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time for a nine-month mission aboard the International Space Stat…
This aircraft just made history as the largest aircraft to fly
The world’s largest aircraft, the Stratolaunch Launch Systems Stratolaunch, flew for the first time on Saturday, April 13, 2019. The massive aircraft took off from the Mojave Air & Space Port’s Civilian Aerospace Test Center in California at 0…
This is why Apollo 13 astronauts couldn’t just put their suits on to stay warm
Contrary to popular belief, space isn’t actually “cold” per se, at least not in the way often depicted in movies. Space is just mostly empty and all that nothing doesn’t have a temperature. For example, if you were in space without a space suit,…
Here’s the (failed) status of the first private lunar mission
April 11, 2019 Editor’s Note: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine released the following statement on the Beresheet lunar lander: “While NASA regrets the end of the SpaceIL mission without a successful lunar landing of the Beresheet lander, we …
‘Twins Study’ reveals what happens to human genes in space
Results from NASA’s landmark Twins Study, which took place from 2015-2016, were published April 11, 2019, in Science. The integrated paper — encompas…