The dawn is breaking on a new era of space exploration, with moon bases and Mars colonies potentially only decades away. Live Science tracks the researchers, companies and countries setting their sights on the stars to bring you the biggest stories in space. Whether it's reporting on concerns that alien organisms could hitch a ride on our spacecraft and contaminate Earth, explaining what 11 billion people means for space travel, sharing a glorious photo of Earth during a total solar eclipse snapped by Japan's lunar lander, or compiling a list of the weirdest things we have launched into space, our expert writers and editors will ignite your sense of interstellar adventure with the latest space exploration news, features and articles.
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Latest about Space Exploration
New NASA robot with X-ray vision will watch Earth 'breathing' from the moon
An artist's illustration of Earth's magnetosphere.
NASA and Japan launch world's 1st wooden satellite into orbit. Here's why it could help solve a huge problem for our planet.
The magnolia wood LignoSat is an attempt to make space junk biodegradable. NASA and Japan's space agency (JAXA) could launch it as soon as 2024.
James Webb Space Telescope quiz: How well do you know the world's most powerful telescope?
The James Webb Space Telescope can look deeper (and earlier) into the cosmos than any telescope before it. How much do you know about this wonder of technology and its incredible findings?
Coolest space missions coming in 2025
From a death swirl into Jupiter to "Ghost Riders in the Sky," here are some of the most exciting space missions coming in 2025.
10 times space missions went very wrong in 2024
From astronauts getting stranded on a leaking ISS and faceplanting moon landers to injured Mars robots and a tumbling solar sail, here are 10 of the biggest space exploration mishaps in 2024.
Parker Solar Probe survives historic closest-ever flyby of the sun, NASA confirms
On Christmas Eve, NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any human-made object ever — a stunning technological feat that scientists liken to the historic Apollo moon landing in 1969. Now, we know it survived.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe will reach its closest-ever point to the sun on Christmas Eve
NASA's record-breaking Parker Solar Probe will smash its own personal bests for proximity to the sun and fastest speed by a human-made object when it whizzes past our star on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24). It is unlikely to get significantly closer to the sun before the end of its mission.
Boeing Starliner astronauts could spend nearly 300 days stuck in space — is that a new record?
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will spend at least nine consecutive months aboard the International Space Station after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth empty. Is their extended spaceflight record-setting?
NASA astronauts' return to Earth delayed until at least 'late March' 2025
Due to a delay with SpaceX's Dragon capsule, NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were meant to spend 10 days in space in June 2024, will now not return to Earth until late March 2025 at the earliest, NASA announced.
