Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org There’s a new Air Force One: The Boeing 747-8 acquired from Qatar is now officially flying as the VC-25B “Bridge” presidential aircraft. The airplane, a gift to the…
When SpaceX publicly listed, the coverage focused on the rockets, the valuation, and the personalities. That’s understandable. But the more important story is what the IPO signals about where the space economy is heading — and what that means for the countries and companies that have been quietly building it. For most of the history…
Hundreds of people in the US so far have recently developed a specific type of food poisoning that’s causing watery and occasionally explosive diarrhea. Not only is it bad timing with 4th of July celebrations around the corner, but experts are currently at a loss when it comes to the reasons why. As of right…
A restless Earth-facing sunspot unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare on June 30, triggering radio blackouts across parts of North America. The X1.1 solar flare erupted from sunspot region AR4479, peaking at 4:50 p.m. EDT (2050 GMT) according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The intense burst of X-rays released during the eruption reached Earth…
Scientists know that plate tectonics play an important role in maintaining Earth’s habitability. Plate tectonics enable the carbon-silicate cycle that regulates the planet’s temperature over geologic timescales. Tectonics also recycles important nutrients like phosphorous and sulphur that would otherwise remain locked in ocean sediments. It affects habitability in other ways, like by generating different types…
One foundational part of astrophysics concerns how stellar mass black holes form. When a star several times more massive than our Sun runs out of fuel for fusion, the outward pressure from fusion decreases, and eventually it’s not enough to counteract the inward gravitational pressure from the star’s mass. Inward pressure takes over, and the…
On September 22, 2021, the IceCube Neutrino Detector in Antarctica caught a blast of neutrinos as it passed through the solar system. These neutrinos were remarkably high-energy and came from a galaxy 11 billion light-years away. That’s a period of the Universe’s history known as “Cosmic Noon”. It’s when star formation in galaxies was at…
NASA announces new lander contracts for Moon Base Phase One – NASASpaceFlight.com We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best…
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a pre-launch test. Blue Origin said all personnel are safe and accounted for following the “anomaly.” Although the company’s launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was severely damaged, Blue Origin says the New Glenn rocket will launch again before the end of the year. Planetary Society Science Editor…
Smile successfully launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 19 May 2026. This timelapse captures the excitement and precision of launch operations as the spacecraft begins its journey to study the connection between the Sun and Earth. Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is an international space science mission designed to investigate…