March 29 will be a historic day for NASA and women

On March 29, NASA will have the first all-female spacewalk in the agency's history. Conducting the spacewalk will be astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. On the ground, they will be supported by an all-female crew at Houston's Johnson Space Center. ... See more

Mark your calendars!

SpaceX's 1st Crew Dragon Undocks from Space Station for Return to Earth

SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft cast off from the International Space Station for the return to Earth Friday (March 8th) as it wrapped up a historic test flight for NASA.

The Crew Dragon undocked from the space station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) as both spacecraft sailed 253 miles (407 kilometers) above Africa near Sudan. Its departure ended five days linked at the station following an arrival on Sunday (March 3) during a high-profile Demo-1 demonstration mission.

The spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, near Florida's eastern coast, at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT). ... See more

Undocking occurred at 2:32 a.m. EST.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule successfully docks to the ISS for the first time

Just a day after launching to orbit, SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon capsule automatically docked to a port on the International Space Station this morning — a critical part of its current test flight. This docking maneuver is something the capsule will have to do routinely in the future, when it starts transporting astronauts to and from the ISS. ... See more

No berthing required

New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of Ultima Thule

The most detailed images of Ultima Thule -- obtained just minutes before the spacecraft's closest approach at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1 -- have a resolution of about 110 feet (33 meters) per pixel. Their combination of higher spatial resolution and a favorable viewing geometry offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the surface of Ultima Thule, believed to be the most primitive object ever encountered by a spacecraft. ... See more

The mission team called it a "stretch goal" – just before closest approach, precisely pointing the cameras on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to snap the sharpest possible pictures of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule, its New Year's flyby target and the farthest object ever explored. ... See more

Opportunity did not answer NASA’s final call, and it’s now gone to us

Late Tuesday night, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent their final data uplink to the Opportunity rover on Mars. Over this connection, via the Deep Space Network, the American jazz singer Billie Holiday crooned "I'll Be Seeing You".

But in the end, no response came. Opportunity would finally be declared dead on Sol 5352, as in five thousand, three hundred, and fifty-two days on Mars. ... See more

It roved a staggering 45.16 kilometers across the red planet.

New Nasa images reveal ‘highly unusual’ shape of most distant object ever explored

Ultima Thule: Nasa images reveal ‘highly unusual’ shape of most distant object ever explored

'This really is an incredible image sequence, taken by a spacecraft exploring a small world four billion miles away from Earth'

A meteorite hit the moon during a total lunar eclipse

Millions of people around the world watched a total lunar eclipse on Monday. Some of those viewing streaming broadcasts online noticed a tiny, yellow-white flash on the lunar surface – a suspected meteorite impact. ... See more

People watching the total lunar eclipse in the early hours of 21 January noticed a brief flash of light, which has now been confirmed as a meteorite impact

NASA making renewed efforts to contact Mars rover Opportunity - SpaceNews.com

A new effort to restore contact with the Mars rover Opportunity addresses low-probability scenarios that could be keeping the rover from communicating with Earth.

NASA is making a new, and perhaps final, attempt to restore contact with the Mars rover Opportunity, which has not contacted Earth for more than six months.

First green leaf on moon dies as temperatures plummet

The appearance of a single green leaf hinted at a future in which astronauts would grow their own food in space, potentially setting up residence at outposts on the moon or other planets. Now, barely after it had sprouted, the cotton plant onboard China’s lunar rover has died.

The plant relied on sunlight at the moon’s surface, but as night arrived at the lunar far side and temperatures plunged as low as -170C, its short life came to an end. ... See more

Cotton plant perishes on lunar far side after sprouting on board China’s Chang’e 4 lander

Mysterious radio signals from deep space

Astronomers have revealed details of mysterious signals emanating from a distant galaxy, picked up by a telescope in Canada.

The precise nature and origin of the blasts of radio waves is unknown.

Among the 13 fast radio bursts, known as FRBs, was a very unusual repeating signal, coming from the same source about 1.5 billion light years away. ... See more

A telescope picks up bursts of radio waves from a distant galaxy, shedding light on an astrophysical puzzle.