What "Armageddon" got right about space drilling, and what it (mostly) didn't

Aug 16, 2018
Little about the 1998 blockbuster is true to life, but mining asteroids and comets is "humanity’s future, I’m pretty convinced of that," one expert says.
From left, Steve Buscemi, Will Patton, Bruce Willis, Michael Duncan, Ben Affleck, and Owen Wilson are on a mission to save Earth from an asteroid in “Armageddon.”
Getty Images/Handout

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

The International Space Station has an AI assistant. No ... it's not evil

CIMON, a floating AI robot will help astronauts on the International Space Station.
Matthias Biniok with CIMON.
IBM

No one knows how a military Space Force would work, exactly

Jun 26, 2018
The Department of Defense is expected to send a report on the structure of the proposed sixth branch of the military by August.
Astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. salutes the U.S. flag on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.
NASA/AFP/Getty Images

The evolution of the race to the cosmos

Apr 6, 2018
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are two of the biggest names in tech. They're also headlining the modern day space race.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket sits on launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center as it is prepared for tomorrow's lift-off on February 5, 2018 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Launching a satellite? Watch out for space junk

The amount of debris in space is complicating private satellite launches.
A SpaceX rocket awaits launch in 2017 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Joe Raedle/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

For public good, not for profit.

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

Imagining the everyday economy of the moon

Nov 28, 2017
Andy Weir, author of "The Martian" and now "Artemis," on what colonizing space might look like.
A plane flies past the moon at sunset on March 3, 2015, in London.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images