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Starship’s first orbital flight put heat shield to the test – how it fares may determine if SpaceX’s vision is possible
SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, reached Earth orbit for the first time on Sept. 28, 2026. This mission, the rocket’s 14th test flight, also marked the first time that Starship deployed Starlink internet satellites into the existing larger constellation: 26 new next-generation nodes in total. But not all went as planned. …
Star Trek used wormholes to traverse space – what’s the science behind them?
Since Star Trek began sending its crews out to explore strange new worlds 60 years ago on September 8, 1966, the franchise has both imagined and inspired new concepts for travel across the vast distances of space. Among the most intriguing are “wormholes”: mysterious tunnels through spacetime that connect otherwise distant places. Star Trek always …
Nancy Grace Roman’s legacy lives on in NASA’s newest space telescope
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched August 30, 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. When it becomes operational early next year, it will transform our view of the universe. With a mirror the same size as the one in the Hubble Space Telescope but a …
Do you want to be an astronaut? Career routes that can take you to space
In 2024, I flew on a microgravity, or zero G, parabolic flight with the European Space Agency (ESA). The aeroplane flew big arcs up and down in the sky. At the top of the arc I experienced 22 seconds of weightlessness, just like an astronaut. On the flight were some of ESA’s newest astronauts, training …
Goddard launched first modern rocket 100 years ago
Apollo 11 first landed astronauts on the Moon in 1969, but the journey to the lunar surface actually began 43 years before, in snowy Massachusetts. One hundred years ago, on March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Liquid-fueled rockets would eventually provide the power to send humans to the Moon. Still, …
Artemis timeline faces questions after Blue Origin rocket explosion
During an evening test fire on May 28, 2026, a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded, engulfing the launchpad in a massive fireball. The spectacular fire, caught on video, not only destroyed the rocket but also appears to have significantly damaged Blue Origin’s only launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Fortunately, …
‘Project Hail Mary’ shows how intellectual humility can be a guiding force
Early in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s science fiction blockbuster “Project Hail Mary,” middle school teacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, is tasked by an international coalition to uncover the biology of a strange microbe known as an “astrophage” that has been absorbing energy from an ever-dimming Sun. Grace is a molecular biologist by …
Meet the Crew of Artemis II
Meet the four astronauts who will venture on a 10-day mission around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed flight aboard NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. Artemis II is NASA’s first mission with crew aboard our foundational deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, and Orion …
Successful New Glenn launch and landing to broaden spaceflight market
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully made its way to orbit for the second time on Nov. 13, 2025. Although the second launch is never as flashy as the first, this mission is still significant in several ways. For one, it launched a pair of NASA spacecraft named ESCAPADE, which are headed to Mars orbit …
Carl Sagan’s scientific legacy extends far beyond ‘Cosmos’
On Nov. 9, 2025, the world will mark Carl Sagan’s 91st birthday – but sadly without Sagan, who died in 1996 at the age of 62. Most people remember him as the co-creator and host of the 1980 “Cosmos” television series, watched worldwide by hundreds of millions of people. Others read “Contact,” his best-selling science …