Space

United States

Ready to Launch

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket arrives at its launch pad on Merritt Island, Florida, on January 17. The rocket is expected to take off for the moo…

History

New Frontier

Michaela Benthaus is an engineer from Germany. On December 20, she became the first wheelchair user in space. Benthaus rode aboard a Blue Origin capsule rocket with five other passengers. The capsule blasted off from Van Horn, Texas. It carried…

United States

Space Evacuation

On January 15, NASA completed its first medical evacuation from space. Its SpaceX Crew-11 mission ended early when an astronaut had a medical issue that couldn’t be treated at the International Space Station. At a press conference, NASA administrator Jared…

Watching the Skies

Space is full of mysteries, from black holes to dark matter. Now, astronomers have a new view of the universe. They can see the stars with the world’s largest digital camera. The device is called the Legacy Survey of Space…

Science

Super Speed

Does the day feel like it’s zooming by? It’s not your imagination: The Earth is rotating faster today—1.3 to 1.5 milliseconds faster, to be exact. That means today will be a fraction of a second shorter than a normal day.…

Science

Cosmic Camera

On June 23, a giant digital camera gave astronomers a new look at the universe. Located at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, in Chile, the world’s largest digital camera was built to photograph distant reaches of outer space. The observatory…

United States

Astronauts Return Home

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are NASA astronauts. They unexpectedly spent more than nine months in space. Now, they’re finally home. On June 5, 2024, Williams and Wilmore blasted off. They were the first people to fly on Boeing’s new…

Moon Milestone

Firefly Aerospace has become the first private business to conduct a successful moon landing. On March 2, its uncrewed Blue Ghost lander (above) touched down on lunar soil. The lander launched from Florida in January. It carried tools, including…

Science

A New Look at Life

Far from Earth, an asteroid called Bennu orbits the sun. In 2023, a NASA spacecraft brought samples of Bennu back to Earth. Two papers, both published in January, reveal that the samples contained the building blocks of life. These building…

Science

Happy Birthday, Dear Pluto!

The dwarf planet Pluto had a “birthday” this month. Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930. That was 95 years ago. An American astronomer first spotted the dwarf planet. His name was Clyde Tombaugh. He found Pluto with a telescope. …