Astronomy news

• Relive private Chinese rocket's explosive 1st landing attempt (video)

  28-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  LandSpace's first attempt to land a rocket was quite a spectacle, as newly released video footage reminds us.The Beijing-based company's Zhuque-3 launcher reached orbit successfully during its debut mission on Dec. 3, 2025 — quite a feat for any rocket.But Zhuque-3 couldn't pull off the twofer. Its first stage experienced problems during the latter stages of its return to Earth, ultimately exploding in a violent fireball near its designated landing pad.The first stage of LandSpace's first
  
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• NASA's Roman Space Telescope is ready for launch aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

  30-08-2026 00:44 via space.com
  
  A new flagship observatory is about to launch to space and join the ranks of its powerful predecessors, like the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. NASA's groundbreaking new Nancy Roman Grace Space Telescope is ready to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It's scheduled to depart from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for a gravitationally stable spot in space called Lagrange Point 2, or L2, nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth. The
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 225 — Get a Grip!

  29-08-2026 17:03 via space.com
  
  On Episode 225 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Adam Kall of KMI to discuss their work on the ISS, the goals of the company, and how nature — via the humble octopus and gecko lizards — may provide answers for orbital debris mitigation. The mitigation of orbital debris is an increasingly serious problem that has not gotten enough attention, but this is changing. Commercial companies are addressing orbital debris, and one of them, KMI Space, hasflown its ex
  
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• When is the next lunar eclipse?

  29-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  August's "almost Blood Moon" partial lunar eclipse has come and gone, delighting stargazers with a gorgeous natural light show as light filtered by our planet's atmosphere turned it a deep crimson around the point of maximum eclipse.But when is the next lunar eclipse?Earth won't darken the moon again until Feb. 20, 2027, when a penumbral eclipse will cast our planet's soft outer shadow across February's full "Snow Moon", so named for the freezing weather that occurs around the time it rises. Fuj
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 29, 1965: NASA's Gemini 5 breaks spaceflight duration record after 2 astronauts spent '8 days in a garbage can'

  29-08-2026 16:14 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 29, 1965, two NASA astronauts returned from their record-breaking Gemini 5 mission. Astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad spent eight days in Earth orbit, and for the first time, the United States set a world record for the duration of a crewed spaceflight. The Gemini 5 mission launched on Aug. 21, 1965 atop a Titan II rocket from what was then the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) in Florida. While in orbit, the astronauts were supposed to
  
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• SpaceX test-fires Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of critical Flight 14 (video)

  29-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX just took another step toward the highly anticipated next test flight of its Starship megarocket.The company conducted an engine test with Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Friday (Aug. 28)."Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 14," SpaceX wrote in a Friday X post that shared two videos of the test.SpaceX fired up all 33 engines of its Super Heavy booster to
  
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• SpaceX test-fires Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of critical Flight 14

  29-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX just took another step toward the highly anticipated next test flight of its Starship megarocket.The company conducted an engine test with Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Friday (Aug. 28)."Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 14," SpaceX wrote in a Friday X post that shared two videos of the test.Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy boos
  
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• Meeting Nancy Grace Roman: What was the 'mother of Hubble' really like?

  29-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Nearly a decade ago, I found myself laughing alongside one of the most iconic women in astronomy. This week, a telescope bearing her name launches to the stars. So let's travel back in time and meet Nancy Grace Roman together. Standing under a tent in Washington D.C. at the 2017 inaugural "March for Science," a hodgepodge of scientists and reporters crowd together as the rain pours down outside. "That's Nancy Roman," I hear Bill Nye whisper to me as we stood on the outskirts of the tent. And as
  
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• Who was Nancy Grace Roman? NASA's next big space telescope is named after the 'Mother of Hubble'

  29-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is about to launch on an incredible adventure to help scientists explore the great mysteries of the universe. But who was Nancy Grace Roman? You might have heard about the upcoming launch on Sunday morning (Aug. 30), which will send NASA's next flagship space telescope up to investigate everything from dark matter and dark energy to far-off worlds beyond our solar system. But do you know who the telescope is named for? This observatory will be an absolute po
  
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• What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telscope on Aug. 30? (Full mission timeline)

  29-08-2026 00:31 via space.com
  
  A huge SpaceX rocket is just days away from launching NASA's next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you're hoping to watch it live online, you'll have to get up pretty early on Sunday (Aug. 30) or you'll miss it. NASA's Roman Space Telescope, named after the late NASA astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, will launch no earlier than Sunday on a mission to map the galaxy like never before. Liftoff is set for 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) from a NASA pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida
  
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• What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telescope today? (Full mission timeline)

  29-08-2026 00:31 via space.com
  
  A huge SpaceX rocket is just minutes away from launching NASA's next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you're hoping to watch it live online, you'll have to get up pretty early today (Aug. 30) or you'll miss it. NASA's Roman Space Telescope, named after the late NASA astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, will launch on a mission to map the galaxy like never before. Liftoff is set for 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) from a NASA pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. You can follow the mis
  
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• Our choice as one of the best budget telescopes now has 17% off — this telescope deal is worth grabbing fast

  28-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is one of the best telescopes for beginner-to-intermediate stargazers who want to view deep-sky objects and appreciate assistance in manually locating the targets.Right now, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is 17% off, down to just $414.99, its cheapest since Prime Day in June.In our Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review, our expert tester Damian Peach awarded it an impressive 4 out of 5-star. Damian noted that it was an exquisite telesco
  
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• The night we nearly saw a 'blood moon' (and why I love near-misses in astronomy)

  28-08-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  Stargazers have trigger words — total, bright, peak, maximum, best. But observing the sky is often more interesting when something seems neither one thing nor the other.A case in point was the almost-total partial lunar eclipse we just witnessed. From where I watched, early on Aug. 28, Earth's shadow reached its maximum across the lunar surface, covering 96.2% of it, as the moon began to sink in the west. A thin part of the lunar surface remained outside the darkest part of Earth's shadow,
  
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• 'It's going to be beautiful': President Trump signs order to create US Space Academy

  28-08-2026 20:44 via space.com
  
  The United States will soon have a new service academy.President Donald Trump today (Aug. 28) signed an executive order creating the U.S. Space Academy, an institution of higher learning that will train students for a career studying, exploring, exploiting or helping to protect the final frontier. "It'll serve both the United States Space Force as well as NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry, and it'll attract, train and graduate the very very best of our nation," Trump said today during a
  
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• 'Silo' season 3: Common and Alexandria Riley talk shocking truths and writers tearing their on-screen marriage apart (interview)

  28-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Warning: Potential "Silo" Spoilers Ahead! Get back in the Silo if you aren't up to date!Apple TV's "Silo" season 3 is nearing its final two episodes, depicting the Before Times’ doomsday silo project as well as the shakeup inside Silo 18 with Juliette’s memory returning. The ongoing tempest includes Camille Sims (Alexandria Riley) having to prevent a Safeguard extermination as the new Head of IT this year, and the revelation of ex-security chief Robert Sims (Common) regarding Bernard
  
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• On Cloud 9: Have astronomers discovered the first starless galaxy?

  28-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Scientists are closer than ever before to confirming that a galaxy known as "Cloud 9" is the first "starless" or "failed" galaxy ever discovered by humanity. A starless galaxy is one with virtually no stars despite possessing a wealth of gas and dust that would normally serve as the building blocks of stars. The dominant element of a starless galaxy would be dark matter, the mysterious "stuff" that remains effectively invisible because it doesn't interact with light.
  Located 14 million light-yea
  
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• SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launching NASA's Roman Space Telescope on Aug. 30: How to watch it live

  28-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's next great space observatory is about to lift off, and you can watch it live.The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday (Aug. 30) at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT).You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 6:20 a.m. EDT (1020 GMT). You don't have to wait that long for a Roman fix, actually; there's stuff to watch on Saturday (Aug. 29) as well. Here's a rundown
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 28, 1993: Galileo spacecraft flies by asteroid Ida on the way to Jupiter only to find a tiny moon!

  28-08-2026 16:25 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 28, 1993, NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Ida while on its way to Jupiter. Galileo was the first spacecraft to fly by an asteroid in the asteroid belt. Ida was actually the second one it visited after another flyby of the asteroid Gaspra in 1991. Galileo whizzed by asteroid Ida going almost 28,000 mph and came within 1,500 miles of the asteroid's surface. During the encounter, Galileo actually discovered a tiny moon orbiting Ida! This was the first confirmed satellite of a
  
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• Curiosity climbs to new heights on Mars | Space photo of the day for Aug. 28, 2026

  28-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  A photograph taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the floor of Gale Crater, on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, 2026, the 4,972nd and 4,973rd Martian days, or sols, of the rover's mission. The photo captures a valley on the side of Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer) mountain the rover has been climbing since 2014. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)One of NASA's intrepid Mars rovers has notched another impressive milestone during its exploration of the Red Planet.What is it?NASA's Curiosity Mar
  
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• Watch President Trump give Artemis II moon astronauts the Congressional Space Medal of Honor today

  28-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Four astronauts will receive the United States' highest space honor today (Aug. 28), and you can watch it live.President Donald Trump will give the astronauts of NASA's Artemis II moon mission the Congressional Space Medal of Honor today, during a ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston that starts at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will also participate in the event. You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.The Artemis II astronauts pose with th
  
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• President Trump gives Artemis II moon astronauts the Congressional Space Medal of Honor

  28-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Four astronauts just received the United States' highest space honor.President Donald Trump gave the astronauts of NASA's Artemis II moon mission the Congressional Space Medal of Honor today (Aug. 28) during a ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston."This is a very rare thing. It's for courageous people, brilliant people, bestowed on astronauts who have distinguished themselves with exceptional service to the nation and all of mankind," Trump said during the event.The Artemis II astronauts g
  
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• Partial lunar eclipse stuns skywatchers with an ‘almost blood moon’. Here are the best photos

  28-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  A gorgeous partial lunar eclipse delighted stargazers overnight on Aug. 27-28, as Earth's shadow darkened the full "Sturgeon Moon" in an impressive display of orbital mechanics, and we've got the photos to prove it!The lunar eclipse occurred as Earth passed between the sun and the moon, granting viewers a spectacular view of our planet's deep umbral shadow as it advanced to cover 96% of the lunar disk, leaving a tiny crescent exposed to direct sunlight. Photographers were ready and waiting to ca
  
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• James Webb Space Telescope observes 72 stars and finds planet formation is a race against time

  27-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have studied 72 young, sun-like stars. As a result, they found that forming planets is a real race against time. This is because the material that serves as the building blocks for planets is constantly escaping the swirling platters of gas and dust, or protoplanetary disks, that wrap around infant stars. Some types of planets may find their formation window closing sooner than others.The team's research represents the most in-depth invest
  
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• Astronaut Jonny Kim leaves NASA, will return to active military duty

  27-08-2026 21:02 via space.com
  
  Jonny Kim is leaving NASA to continue his military career.The 42-year-old astronaut, who has one of the most jaw-dropping resumes of any person alive, is departing today (Aug. 27) after nine years with the agency. He has one mission under his belt, a long-duration flight to the International Space Station (ISS)."Jonny has been an integral part of the agency, and his immeasurable impact will be felt for generations to come," Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston,
  
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• After failure of private rescue mission, NASA's Swift space telescope will crash back to Earth. But when and where?

  27-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  A private spacecraft failed to rescue NASA's Swift space telescope, meaning the big observatory will come crashing back to Earth in the near future. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory launched to Earth orbit in November 2004. Over the past two decades, it studied gamma-ray bursts — the most powerful explosions in the universe — and other cosmic objects and events using a trio of telescopes.But Swift's science work is now done, and its days in orbit are numbered.Call to actionIn Septe
  
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• Starship is coming home! SpaceX loads floating spacecraft onto huge ship in the Indian Ocean (photos)

  27-08-2026 18:45 via space.com
  
  More than a month after its epic spaceflight, Starship is finally headed home.SpaceX announced today (Aug. 27) that it has loaded Starship's 171-foot-tall (52 meters) upper stage — known as Starship, or simply Ship — onto a huge "semi-submersible" ship in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Christmas Island.Ship had been in the water since July 24, when it splashed down to bring an end to the Starship program's 13th test flight. The vehicle will now head back to SpaceX's Starbase site
  
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• Trump tried to scrap NASA's Roman Space Telescope last year. Now it's ready to launch

  27-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  The hours are counting down to the launch of NASA's newest flagship orbital observatory. The spacecraft recently got its last glimpse of terrestrial light before being encapsulated in its rocket's protective payload fairing last week and is imminently bound for liftoff. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA's next-generation research satellite, and it's currently slated to launch on Sunday (Aug. 30). Roman will lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 7:27 a.m. EDT (1127 GMT) from N
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 27, 1962: NASA launches Mariner 2 to Venus for ambitious flyby

  27-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 27, 1962, NASA launched Mariner 2, the world's first spacecraft to successfully visit another planet. Mariner 2 flew by Venus after a 3.5-month voyage through space. The mission launched just one month after the Mariner 1 mission failed during launch. After departing from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Mariner 2 almost met the same fate when an electrical problem with the Atlas-Agena rocket caused it to start rolling, which made it unable to respond to any guidance commands from mission contro
  
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• Glowing galaxy with anomalous extra arms | Space photo of the day for Aug. 27, 2026

  27-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  An image of this spiral galaxy NGC 4258 that combines X-ray observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory (seen here in royal blue), optical light gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope (red, yellow and pale blue), and infrared light seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (bright orange). (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare)A trio of NASA space telescopes teamed up to capture a gorgeous new loo
  
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• 'Strange New Worlds' latest episode wastes a lot of time pretending to kill off major 'Star Trek' characters

  27-08-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Every so often, "Star Trek" likes to put its brave interstellar adventurers through hell. You know the drill — a bunch of one-off crew members will probably be blown up and/or sucked into space, while set dressers get to have fun making starship bridges look like they've been through the wars. We all know that seeking out new life and new civilisations is the prime directive on that final frontier, but sometimes we just want to see how Starfleet officers respond when the chips are down.The
  
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