Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
All
All
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
SpaceX's Grasshopper makes leap toward reusability
SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket passed its most ambitious test flight yet, rising 12 stories before hovering and settling gently back down onto its landing pad.
New crew arrives at station for holidays
The ISS is back to a six-person crew following the arrival of NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.
Chilly liftoff sends veteran crew into orbit
Three veteran space travelers are safely in orbit following a 6:12 p.m. (7:12 a.m. EST, 1212 UTC) liftoff from Baikonur, Kazhakstan Wednesday.
North Korea launches first satellite
North Korea successfully launched their first satellite from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station at 9:49 a.m. local time Wednesday.
Crowdsourcing the Andromeda Galaxy
Scientists would like your help starting at high-resolution images of the Andromeda Galaxy captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Orion service module, Ariane development highlight new ESA budget
Representatives from the ESA approved a 10 billion euro budget for 2013-2017 during their Ministerial Council last week in Naples, Italy.
A dispatch from J-school: two short videos
Two short videos produced by Jason Davis on astronomy and planetary science work taking place at the University of Arizona.
SpaceX's first paid cargo run off to bumpy start
SpaceX successfully sent their first paid Dragon capsule towards the International Space Station Sunday night. But the bigger story happened on the way to orbit.
SpaceX ready for return to International Space Station
SpaceX is two weeks away from returning to the International Space Station. Following a successful demo flight in May, NASA is entrusting the private spaceflight company with a half-ton of mission-critical station cargo.
RBSP to explore decades-old radiation belt mysteries
NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes will shed new light on the Van Allen Radiation Belts, a dangerous region of space in our planet's backyard.
Daphnis cruises through the Keeler Gap
A recent series of ring images by the Cassini spacecraft reveal Saturn's tiny moon Daphnis cruising through the Keeler Gap.
Curiosity sol 4: EDL updates, rover ready for software upgrade
A recap of the final Curiosity press conference of the week: lots of updates from the entry, descent and landing (EDL) team that safely deposited the rover on Mars, as well as an overview of the rover's R10 software upgrade.
Curiosity's high-res Navcam panorama in striking color
So far, the only high-resolution surface panorama we've seen from Curiosity is the black and white Navcam image. The Mastcam shot a color panorama, but the only version we have so far was created from the lower-resolution thumbnails.
What's up in the Solar System in August 2012
Welcome to the monthly roundup of our solar system's envoy of electronic explorers! All eyes are on Curiosity as it approaches Mars this weekend. Who will lend support at the Red Planet?
Cosmoquest Science Hangout Wednesday August 1: Mih�ly Hor�nyi, lunar dust expert
I'll be guest hosting this week's Cosmoquest Science Hangout on Wednesday, August 1. The show starts at 2300 UTC, and my special guest is Mihály Horányi.
Can tweets recap a new media space workshop?
Recapping the 2012 University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics new media workshop with attendees' tweets.
Cosmoquest Science Hangout Wednesday July 18 2300 UTC: Jeff Foust, space industry analyst
I hosted this week's Cosmoquest Science Hangout for Emily, and my guest was space industry analyst Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review.
Checking in on NASA's Space Launch System
Work continues on the Space Launch System, NASA's next-generation deep space vehicle slated to take humans beyond Earth for the first time since 1972.
Shenzhou-9 reaches orbit
China’s fourth human spaceflight mission got underway this morning after a Long March 2F rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:37 UTC.
China readies three taikonauts for station visit
The stage is set for China’s space program to make history this weekend, as it prepares to send three taikonauts to visit Tiangong-1, the country’s first space station.