NYT > Science > Space & Cosmos

  • Rocket Lab Grabs Booster Falling From Space With a Helicopter
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-05-03 in Rocket Lab, Rocket Science and Propulsion, Helicopters, Private Spaceflight, Space and Astronomy, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, visionaries2022

    The company aims to join Elon Musk’s SpaceX in reusing rocket boosters, which can lower costs and increase the frequency of launching to orbit.

  • NASA Sees ‘Otherworldly’ Wreckage on Mars With Ingenuity Helicopter
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-28 in Mars (Planet), Perseverance (Mars Rover), Rocket Science and Propulsion, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Eclipses, Space and Astronomy, Engineering and Engineers, Geology, Research

    The debris was part of the equipment that helped the Perseverance mission safely land on the red planet in 2021.

  • Tripping Through the Universes
    by Dennis Overbye on 2022-04-25 in Everything Everywhere All at Once (Movie), Space and Astronomy, Movies, Physics, Stars and Galaxies, Kwan, Daniel (Film Director), Scheinert, Daniel (Film Director), your-feed-science

    A new cosmic kung fu film explores the meaning of existence in alternate realities.

  • Lyrid Meteor Shower: How and When to Watch
    by Adam Mann on 2022-04-21 in Space and Astronomy, Meteors and Meteorites, Content Type: Service

    Fireballs may light up the sky for those willing to stay up late and take in the show.

  • NASA Will Move Its Moon Rocket Off Launchpad for Repairs
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-18 in Space and Astronomy, Moon, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Kennedy Space Center, Rocket Science and Propulsion

    Technical problems have postponed the agency’s plans for a “wet dress rehearsal,” which may further postpone the timetable for a launch.

  • Military Memo Adds to Possible Interstellar Meteor Mystery
    by Joey Roulette on 2022-04-15 in Space and Astronomy, Meteors and Meteorites, Satellites, Classified Information and State Secrets, United States Defense and Military Forces, United States , Astrophysical Journal Letters, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

    The U.S. Space Command seemed to confirm a claim that a meteor from outside the solar system had entered Earth’s atmosphere, but other scientists and NASA are still not convinced.

  • Hubble Telescope Zooms In on the Biggest Comet Ever Spotted
    by Robin George Andrews on 2022-04-14 in Comets, Hubble Space Telescope, Solar System, Astrophysical Journal Letters, Research

    The space observatory helped scientists make a more precise measurement of the comet, which has a mass of 500 trillion tons and an appearance like burned toast.

  • Space Tourism Isn’t Just Joyriding
    by Shira Ovide on 2022-04-11 in internal-sub-only-nl, Space and Astronomy, Private Spaceflight, Rocket Science and Propulsion, Bezos, Jeffrey P

    Having rich guys like Jeff Bezos in orbit can make space travel routine and help all of us dream big.

  • SpaceX and Axiom Launch Private Astronaut Crew to Space Station
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-08 in Axiom Space Inc, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, International Space Station, Space and Astronomy, Private Spaceflight, Rocket Science and Propulsion, Lopez-Alegria, Michael

    Axiom Space bought seats on a SpaceX rocket to be NASA’s guests in orbit as the agency extends efforts to commercialize spaceflight.

  • Astronomers Find What Might Be the Most Distant Galaxy Yet
    by Dennis Overbye on 2022-04-08 in Space and Astronomy, Stars and Galaxies, Telescopes and Observatories, James Webb Space Telescope, Black Holes (Space), Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Journal), Sky & Telescope (Journal)

    Is the object a galaxy of primordial stars or a black hole knocking on the door of time? The Webb space telescope may help answer that question.

  • Astronomers and Space Enthusiasts on Their Favorite Exoplanets
    by Becky Ferreira on 2022-04-05 in Stars and Galaxies, Planets, Extraterrestrial Life, Telescopes and Observatories, Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

    NASA recently announced that it had detected more than 5,000 exoplanets, so we asked astronomers, actors and an astronaut to share their favorite worlds orbiting distant stars.

  • NASA Stops Launch Rehearsal for Its Giant Moon Rocket
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-04 in Space and Astronomy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Rocket Science and Propulsion, Artemis Program, Moon

    First a lightning storm, then problems with launch tower fans led to snags with a countdown and propellant loading intended as practice for the rocket’s launch.

  • Is Russia Quitting the International Space Station? Not Quite.
    by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-02 in Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022), Space and Astronomy, International Space Station, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Roscosmos, Rogozin, Dmitri O, United States International Relations, Russia

    NASA has sidestepped suggestions that Russia might pull out of the space station partnership.

  • Hubble Space Telescope Spots Earliest and Farthest Star Known
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-04-01 in Stars and Galaxies, Hubble Space Telescope, Nature (Journal), James Webb Space Telescope, Research

    Its light twinkled some 900 million years after the Big Bang, astronomers say.

  • On the Space Station, U.S. and Russian Astronauts Steer Around the War in Ukraine
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-03-30 in Space and Astronomy, Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022), International Space Station, Russia, Ukraine, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Roscosmos, United States International Relations

    Mark Vande Hei and two Russian counterparts landed on Earth on Wednesday as NASA and the Russian space agency seek to sustain cooperation in the face of a strained relationship.

  • A NASA astronaut will soon land on Earth in a Russian spacecraft. Here’s how to watch.
    by Kenneth Chang on 2022-03-30 in Russia, International Space Station, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States International Relations, Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022), Vande Hei, Mark, Ukraine

    Although the U.S. and Russia have halted cooperation in many areas over the invasion of Ukraine, they’ve continued to work together aboard the International Space Station.

  • Ice Volcanoes Reshape Pluto and Hint at a Hidden Ocean
    by Robin George Andrews on 2022-03-29 in Pluto (Dwarf Planet), Volcanoes, Ice, Space and Astronomy, Nature Communications (Journal), Research

    Signs of cryovolcanic activity on the dwarf planet in the recent geological past must be driven by an underground body of water, a study suggests.

  • How to View the Northern Lights From New England and the Midwest
    by Jon Waterman on 2022-03-16 in Aurora Borealis, Acadia National Park (Me), Content Type: Service, Travel and Vacations, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Michigan

    With careful planning, timing and luck, witnessing the aurora borealis in the Lower 48 is one of the greatest yet most rarely seen spectacles for anyone willing to sacrifice a bit of sleep.

  • Making a Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope
    by Mark A. Stein on 2022-03-08 in Rieke, Marcia J, Space and Astronomy, Women and Girls, Telescopes and Observatories, James Webb Space Telescope, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Women and Leadership 2022

    When the James Webb Space Telescope sent its first images to Earth, no one was more excited than Marcia J. Rieke, who oversaw the design and construction of its camera.

  • What Is Starship? SpaceX Builds Its Next-Generation Rocket
    by Joey Roulette on 2022-02-11 in Space Exploration Technologies Corp, Musk, Elon, Rocket Science and Propulsion, Private Spaceflight, Space and Astronomy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Texas

    The giant, gleaming spacecraft is being designed to carry NASA astronauts to the moon, as well as the dreams of Elon Musk’s space company.