Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Shenzhou 10 and Tiangong 1 transit sequence

Astrophotographer captures 'Heavenly Palace' transiting the Sun

Astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured a striking image set of Chinese spacecraft Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 10 transiting the Sun.

Goodnight, Herschel Space Observatory

The European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory received its final commands yesterday, having depleted the liquid helium required to make its infrared observations.

China launches three-person crew to visit Tiangong 1 space station

China's Shenzhou 10 spacecraft is bound for space station Tiangong 1 following a successful liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia.

Morpheus lander gets back off its feet

NASA's Project Morpheus lander completed a 74-second flight yesterday, marking the second tethered test of the new vehicle.

ESA launches fourth cargo spacecraft to ISS

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Automated Transfer Vehicle Albert Einstein lifted off from French Guiana Wednesday.

Express Soyuz sends new crew to station

Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano lifted off in their Soyuz TMA-09M at 4:31 p.m. EDT and arrived at the International Space Station six hours later.

Soyuz capsule carrying Hadfield and company lands safely in Kazakhstan

A Soyuz capsule carrying Roman Romanenko, Chris Hadfield and Tom Marshburn landed safely in Kazhakstan after 146 days in space.

International Space Station with Space Shuttle Endeavour

Station suffers ammonia leak; Saturday spacewalk likely (rolling updates)

Following an ammonia leak reported Thursday morning, NASA is planning a spacewalk to investigate a radiator on the P6 truss.

Antares sails test payload into orbit

Orbital Sciences Corporation completed a major milestone for NASA's COTS program as their Antares rocket sent a test payload into orbit.

Antares ready for inaugural flight

Orbital Sciences Corporation is ready to send their Antares rocket system on its inaugural flight.

Dragon overcomes issues, arrives at Station

SpaceX's Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station following a wild Friday in which the capsule's thrusters experienced an issue.

Dragon reaches orbit, but experiences propellant valve issue

SpaceX's CRS-2 mission began successfully, but hit a snag when a thruster propellant valve failed to work properly.

Human spaceflight update: the modules edition

NASA made Wednesday a big day for human spaceflight following the official announcements of two new partnerships with Bigelow Aerospace and the European Space Agency.

The raw data behind an Earth-like exoplanet

Taking a closer look at KOI 172.02, a super-Earth exoplanet sitting in its solar system's habitable zone.

SpaceX's Grasshopper makes leap toward reusability

SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket passed its most ambitious test flight yet, rising 12 stories before hovering and settling gently back down onto its landing pad.

56 views of Mars from the Mars Webcam in 2012

New crew arrives at station for holidays

The ISS is back to a six-person crew following the arrival of NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.