Tag Archives: spacecraft

Astronomers announced several months ago that there is most likely a small Earth-like planet in orbit of Proxima Centauri. That’s a big deal because Proxima Centauri happens to be the closest star to Earth, at just a bit over four light years away. That’s still an insurmountable distance for human …

In the final year of its epic voyage, on Nov. 30, NASA’s Cassini orbiter will begin a daring set of ‘ring-grazing orbits,’ skimming past the outside edge of Saturn’s main rings. Artist’s concept of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft at Saturn. Image credit: NASA. Launched in 1997, Cassini has been touring the …

Virgin Galactic seemed to be on the fast track to making space tourism a reality. Unfortunately, that was before the tragic 2014 loss of the SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) test vessel. The accident resulted in the death of one of the ship’s two crew and set back Virgin Galactic’s plans dramatically. …

Humans have gotten rather good at launching things into orbit, but we don’t always bother to bring them back down when we’re done with them. This has led to a problem with accumulating space junk, which can be serious hazards for future space missions. Japan has launched the Kounotori 6 …