Billionaires are having a moment with space right now. Elon Musk with SpaceX, Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, even Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic — all the rich folks are building rockets so they can go look at space. But one billionaire isn’t satisfied with just looking at space: He wants to go touch it. … Read more
India-born Gopi Thotakura made history on Sunday evening as he became the first Indian citizen to venture into space as a tourist. He was part of the elite crew for Blue Origin’s New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission, which took off from the company’s West Texas launch site in the US around 8:05 pm (IST), an hour … Read more
VAN HORN, Texas: America’s first Black astronaut candidate finally rocketed into space 60 years later, flying with Jeff Bezos’ rocket company on Sunday. Ed Dwight was an Air Force pilot when President John F. Kennedy championed him as a candidate for NASA’s early astronaut corps. But he wasn’t picked for the 1963 class. Dwight, now … Read more
On Sunday, Dwight will join five others on a space flight by Blue Origin. Ed Dwight, who is the first Black man to be trained as an astronaut, is set to become the oldest person to go to space at 90 years of age. Dwight in 1961 hoped to become the first Black astronaut in … Read more
Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt recently returned from a three-week mission on the International Space Station (ISS) and captured some incredible photos and videos during his time in orbit, including footage of a powerful thunderstorm. Wandt shot the thunderstorm, spotted by Digital Trends, while working on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Thor-Davis experiment. Thunderstorms are powerful … Read more
Marcus Wandt took this spectacular image of Earth from the International Space Station somewhere above South America. | ESA/Marcus Wandt Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt has just returned from a 20-day voyage into space and he shared some incredible images of the views he saw while in Earth’s orbit. Before splashing down off the coast of … Read more
While the uncrewed robot flight “Vyommitra” will take place this year, Gaganyaan will be launched next year. Vyommitra, a female half Humanoid robot by Indian Space Research Organisation for the future unmanned space missions displayed during the Human Spaceflight exhibition and conference in Bengaluru. (ANI Photo) Vyommitra Mission: Woman Robot Astronaut “Vyommitra” will fly into … Read more
Many kids dream of becoming an astronaut. San Jose’s Steve Smith remembers scrawling his space exploration fantasies in crayon, too — but his dreams came true. Smith flew four space missions, traveled 16 million miles and spent nearly 50 hours out on spacewalks. Today, he’s an inspirational public speaker, telling stories of chasing that dream, … Read more
Japan recently became the fifth nation to successfully complete a soft landing on the moon’s surface, joining a select few countries — the U.S., Russia, China and India — in accomplishing this feat. But moon landings are likely to become more common over the next few years. Globally, more than 100 lunar missions, both by … Read more
Columbia professor and former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino has faced many challenges in his career, especially during his two stints in space, which went on to partially inspire the character played by George Clooney in the Oscar-winning 2013 movie “Gravity.” In the face of struggle, Massimino’s colleagues shared with him key pieces of NASA wisdom, … Read more