Space Exploration

Latest about Space Exploration

An illustration shows the shutdown Gaia spacecraft telescope drift between Earth and the sun as the Milky Way looks on

Goodnight, Gaia! ESA spacecraft shuts down after 12 years of Milky Way mapping

By Robert Lea published

Goodnight Gaia. The European Space Agency star-tracking satellite ceased operations on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, after 12 years of mapping the Milky Way.

Launches & Spacecraft
The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship megarocket rolls out to the launch pad at the company's Starbase site on Jan. 9, 2025 ahead of a planned Jan. 13 test flight.

SpaceX Starship Flight 7 launch: Live updates

By Tariq Malik last updated

Read the latest news about SpaceX's Starship megarocket test flights, launches, photos and more.

Launches & Spacecraft

An ancient 3-star system gave this 'blue lurker' star a turbo boost, scientists find

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

A massive white dwarf and a sun-like "blue lurker" star tell a remarkable story of what was once a triple-star system in the M67 cluster.

Hubble Space Telescope
a triple-core rocket blasts off under a sunny, partly cloudy blue sky. smoke expands below next to an obscured launch tower, near a long white hanger with SPACEX written on the side. To the left, a bird flies away.

Rocket launch today: Is there a rocket launch and what time?

By Tariq Malik last updated

Follow Space.com's rocket launch blog for the latest on when the next rocket launch will be and how to follow it live.

Launches & Spacecraft
A silver stainless-steel SpaceX Starship is assembled for launch on the pad for Flight 7.

What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 launch test on Jan. 16?

By Tariq Malik last updated

SpaceX's seventh Starship test flight will now launch no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 16, at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT).

Launches & Spacecraft
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander is seen here attached to the upper stage of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shortly before its deployment on Jan. 15, 2025.

What's next for the 2 private landers SpaceX just launched toward the moon?

By Mike Wall published

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just launched lunar landers built by Firefly Aerospace and Tokyo-based company ispace. What's next for the two craft?

Launches & Spacecraft
The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship megarocket rolls out to the launch pad at the company's Starbase site on Jan. 9, 2025 ahead of a planned Jan. 13 test flight.

SpaceX launching Starship Flight 7 on Jan. 16: Watch it live

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX is set to launch the seventh test flight of its Starship megarocket on Thursday (Jan. 16) at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT), and you can watch the action live.

Launches & Spacecraft
An artist's illustration of the first-ever docking of two crewed spacecraft during the Soviet Union's Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 missions on Jan. 16, 1969.

On this day in space! Jan. 15, 1969: The USSR launches Soyuz 5

By Hanneke Weitering last updated

On Jan. 15, 1969: The USSR launched the Soyuz 5 mission, which met and docked with Soyuz 4 a day later.

Space Shuttle
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Blue Ghost and Resilience moon landers from Florida's Space Coast on Jan. 15, 2025.

SpaceX launches 2 private lunar landers to the moon (video, photos)

By Josh Dinner published

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched lunar landers for Firefly Aerospace and the Japanese company ispace early this morning (Jan. 15).

Launches & Spacecraft
a small model of a red and white house is mounted to a gold foil-covered lunar rover with white wheels

Little house on the (moon) prairie: Artist's 'Moonhouse' set to lift off on lunar lander

By Robert Z. Pearlman published

The moon is about to gain its first tiny house. Launching on a Japanese lunar lander is the "Moonhouse," a project by Mikael Genberg 25 years in the making.

Missions
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