The First Explorer
12.08.2006

Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the US, the First Explorer, a thirty pound satellite, was launched into Earth orbit on February 1, 1958 by the Army Ballistic Missle Agency. Explorer I carried instruments to measure temperatures, micrometeorite impacts, and an experiment designed by James A.

Movie: The Active Sun
4.12.2006

Plumes of hot gas shoot across the surface on even an average day on the Sun. Such volatile activity was captured in dramatic detail recently by the new Hinode satellite launched by Japan in late September.

Nozomi: Earth and Moon
4.09.1998

Japan launched its first mission to orbit Mars, Nozomi (Hope), on July 3rd from the Kagoshima Space Center on the island of Kyushu. Nozomi's goal is to explore the Martian atmosphere and magnetic field as well as regions of the planet's surface and moons.

3D Mercury Transit
25.11.2006

Mercury is now visible shortly before dawn, the brightest "star" just above the eastern horizon. But almost two weeks ago Mercury actually crossed the face of the Sun for the second time in the 21st century.

Station and Shuttle Transit the Sun
23.05.2010

That's no sunspot. On the upper right of the above image of the Sun, the dark patches are actually the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132.

Upgrading the International Space Station
25.12.2006

The International Space Station (ISS) will be the largest human-made object ever to orbit the Earth. The station is so large that it could not be launched all at once -- it is being built piecemeal with large sections added continually by flights of the Space Shuttle.

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
9.12.2007

The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy.

Artemis 1 Moonshot
19.11.2022

When the Artemis 1 mission's Orion spacecraft makes its November 21 powered flyby of the Moon, denizens of planet Earth will see the Moon in a waning crescent phase. The spacecraft will approach...

Mir Above
3.07.1998

Photographed from the approaching Space Shuttle Endeavour, the Mir space station floats above the clouds of planet Earth. Mir's modular construction, bristling with solar panels and antennas, lends it a slightly whimsical, insect-like appearance.

Venus: Just Passing By
1.05.1998

Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun, is a popular way-point for spacecraft headed for the gas giant planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Why visit Venus first? Using...