Pence outlines plan for new Space Force by 2020

Aug 9, 2018
The White House envisions the force as a separate military branch, which would require levels of infrastructure and various kinds of military and civilian leadership.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Scott Kelly's new mission is on Earth

The astronaut talks about his life and work in science.
Astronaut Scott Kelly says he's proof that someone who is “far from a genius” can become a scientist.
Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
The International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour orbit Earth during Endeavour's final sortie on May 23, 2011.
Paolo Nespoli - European Space Agency/NASA via Getty Images

How to be an astronaut

Dec 8, 2017
Advice from a former International Space Station Commander.
Attired in a training version of his spacesuit, astronaut Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer and Expedition 25 commander, awaits the start of a spacewalk training session in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Courtesy NASA Johnson Space Center

6 everyday inventions that were born from space tech

Sep 26, 2017
Baby formula, braces, air purifiers and more.
A digital illustration of the newly discovered gaseous planet Kepler-16, which is orbiting its two stars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle via Getty Images

The Cassini mission has ended, but its legacy remains

Sep 15, 2017
After 20 years, the Cassini spacecraft has met its end — and NASA is already looking at the next horizon.
A computer-animated still showing the Cassini spacecraft in its final orbit. After 13 years, the spacecraft ended its mission and began a final descent into Saturn's atmosphere, where it burned up.  
Courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab

Government science agencies still lack permanent leaders

Aug 15, 2017
Of 577 key federal jobs requiring Senate confirmation, only 106 have had nominees put forward by President Trump. That’s according to the count by the Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service. Those vacancies include leadership roles at NASA and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With no one at the helm, science-based […]

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NASA is testing supercomputers to send to Mars

Aug 14, 2017
And no, scientists won't be able to use them to peruse Facebook.
The NASA logo on a protective box for a camera near the space shuttle Endeavour April 28, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

A record number of people want to leave Earth

Jun 7, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence will be at the Johnson Space Center in Houston today to inaugurate the newest class of NASA astronauts. There was a record number of applicants this time around — more than 18,000 people applied to the space program. That’s triple the number of the last class in 2012. But the heightened […]

Reaching Mars is a hard sell, but not impossible

Mar 13, 2017
The U.S. lacks a long-term plan for traveling to the red planet.
Space exploration comes with a huge price, but it also comes with the benefit of adding jobs, says science journalist Rebecca Boyle.
S. MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images