Space

Are we finally going back to the Moon? 🚀 @nasa has rolled the Artemis II rocket out to the launchpad after repairs, bringing the first crewed Artemis mission one step closer to a launch attempt now targeted for April 1. Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon and back aboard the Orion spacecraft, testing the systems needed for future lunar missions and helping pave the way for human exploration deeper into space.

Artemis II is on its way back to the Moon. 🚀 As @nasa launches the first crewed Artemis mission, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen begin a deep-space test flight aboard Orion to evaluate navigation, communications, and life-support systems beyond low Earth orbit. This lunar flyby is a key step toward future Moon missions and the next era of human space exploration.

Did you know the Sun is hurtling through space around a supermassive black hole? Amanda Peake, a PhD candidate at the MIT Kavli Institute, explains how Earth is going along for the ride as the Sun orbits the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. In physics, an orbit is a form of free fall, which means gravity is constantly pulling an object inward while its sideways motion keeps it from falling straight in.

A comet is headed our way, and it could get SO bright you'll be able to see it in broad daylight. 👀 ☄️ On April 4, the comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) will pass less than 100,000 miles above the Sun’s surface, where intense heat could cause its icy nucleus to crack or break apart. But if it makes it through, warming ice will release gas and dust that form a glowing comet tail, potentially making it bright enough to spot low in the western sky after sunset.

Could microbes survive a trip from Mars to Earth? That question is at the heart of panspermia, the idea that life could spread through space on meteorites. In a new study, some hardy microbes survived and the shock of an impact powerful enough to blast rock off the planet’s surface, suggesting that interplanetary travel may be more possible than it sounds.

Black hole stars may have powered the universe’s first light. Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow Rohan Naidu of MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, explores the idea that some early cosmic objects were not powered by nuclear fusion like our Sun, but by a black hole at their core. These massive, gas-filled structures could explain the mysterious “little red dots” spotted in deep space images of the early universe. If true, black hole stars may have played a major role in...

A rare comet may soon cross the April night sky. 🌠 Comet C/2025 R3, also known as PanSTARRS, is an icy object from the far outer solar system. As it approaches the Sun, its icy surface heats up, causing gases to vaporize and form a glowing cloud and tail that reflect sunlight. This display could become visible from Earth, possibly with binoculars. If conditions are favorable, the comet might shine as brightly as Comet NEOWISE did in 2020, or even Halley’s Comet.

NASA is reshaping its Artemis timeline for returning humans to the Moon. 🚀🌕 Instead of sending Artemis III astronauts to land on the Moon in 2028, @nasa now plans to use the Artemis III mission to test next-generation spacesuits and practice docking the Orion crew capsule with a lunar lander in Earth orbit in 2027. If those milestones are met, 2028 could see two separate lunar landings with Artemis IV and V, bringing the return to the Moon strategy more in line with the step-by-step...

A “Blood Moon” is rising on March 2–3, 2026. 🌘 The last total lunar eclipse for nearly 3 years will be visible to nearly 2.5 billion people as Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon. During totality from 11:04 to 12:02 UTC, sunlight filters through Earth’s atmosphere, scattering blue light and allowing red wavelengths to reach the Moon, giving it that signature copper glow. No eclipse glasses required.

NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket is rolling back to the hangar. 🚀🌕 Just one day after a successful fueling test, @nasa engineers identified helium flow issues in the Space Launch System’s upper stage, prompting a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. The delay rules out March launch windows, with the next opportunity opening April 1 as NASA prepares to send astronauts around the Moon.

NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket just cleared a critical test on the path to launch. 🚀 During the wet dress rehearsal, engineers fueled the Space Launch System with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and ran a full launch countdown to simulate real liftoff conditions. After resolving earlier hydrogen leaks, this successful cryogenic fueling test brings @nasa one step closer to sending astronauts around the Moon, with Artemis II targeting a March 6 launch as part of the agency’s...

A “city killer” asteroid sounds like science fiction, but planetary defense is real science. Nahum Melamed, aerospace engineer and planetary defense expert at The Aerospace Corporation, explains that while impacts of this scale are expected only once every few hundred years, global telescope programs in the U.S. and around the world are constantly searching for near-Earth asteroids. If the risk of impact is high enough, scientists study the object’s size and composition and can design a...

The only total lunar eclipse of 2026 is coming and it will turn the Moon red. 🌕🌑 Overnight March 2 to 3, Earth will pass between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow that transforms the Moon into a deep red Blood Moon. About 2.5 billion people across much of the United States, Canada, Mexico, parts of East Asia, and the Pacific can see at least part of this rare event. Unlike a solar eclipse, you do not need special glasses. Totality runs from 11:04 p.m. to 12:02 a.m. UTC, or Coordinated...

For the first time, scientists observed a star collapse directly into a black hole, without a supernova explosion. Megan Masterson, a PhD candidate at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, explains how instead of detonating, the massive star in the Andromeda galaxy quietly faded, leaving behind a newly formed black hole. This discovery is reshaping what we thought we knew about how black holes form.

It’s our 196th birthday! 🧪 When the Museum of Science was founded in 1830, Neptune had not yet been discovered, the asteroid belt was unknown, and Ceres, now classified as a dwarf planet, was believed to be the eighth planet in our solar system. Today, scientists have mapped the solar system in extraordinary detail and are preparing to send humans back to lunar space through NASA’s Artemis II mission.