Space Exploration & Science Missions News

Space.com • Andrew Jones

China launches Tianwen-2 to return samples from near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa

China on Thursday launched Tianwen-2 aboard a Long March 3B from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, initiating its first asteroid sample-return mission. The probe will rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa, a suspected lunar fragment, to collect and return surface samples to Earth.

2025-05-28T02:06:44.636711-07:00

douglasmmessier.substack.com

Elon Musk to Outline Mars Colonization Blueprint Ahead of Starship Launch

2025-05-25T20:29:36.583703-07:00

NASA Spaceflight

Magellan Data Sheds New Light on Venusian Tectonics

2025-05-25T14:23:09.030930-07:00

Universe Today

JWST Spots Most Distant Galaxy Yet, Seen Just 280 Million Years Post-Big Bang

2025-05-21T16:02:42.091044-07:00

Space Exploration & Science Missions News Timeline

Space.com

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China launches Tianwen-2 to return samples from near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa China on Thursday launched Tianwen-2 aboard a Long March 3B from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, initiating its first asteroid sample-return mission. The probe will rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa, a suspected lunar fragment, to collect and return surface samples to Earth.

2025-05-28T02:06:44.636711-07:00

China launches Tianwen-2 to return samples from near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa

krqe.com

Federal Budget Cuts Jeopardize NASA’s New Mexico Chile Cultivation Aboard ISS In 2021, NASA began growing New Mexico chiles on the International Space Station to advance space agriculture and bioregenerative life-support research. Recent federal funding cuts now threaten to halt this pioneering experiment and its scientific objectives.

2025-05-27T07:21:29.641436-07:00

Federal Budget Cuts Jeopardize NASA’s New Mexico Chile Cultivation Aboard ISS

Space Explored

Planetary Society petitions against White House’s proposed 47% NASA science budget cut The Planetary Society has launched an online petition to counter the White House’s fiscal 2026 budget blueprint, which proposes a 47% reduction in NASA’s science programs. The group warns the deep cut threatens critical planetary, Earth and astrophysics missions, undermining U.S. leadership in space research.

2025-05-26T09:42:30.409105-07:00

Planetary Society petitions against White House’s proposed 47% NASA science budget cut

Fox Weather

Northern Lights Surprise ISS Astronaut During Storm Photography While capturing images of active storm systems on Earth, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station was treated to an unexpected display of the Northern Lights. The vivid aurora that lit the station’s orbital path underscores the ISS’s unique position for opportunistic space weather observations.

2025-05-26T08:23:26.878303-07:00

Northern Lights Surprise ISS Astronaut During Storm Photography

BBC

Space scientists map odors from ISS to exoplanets to probe cosmic chemistry Researchers are cataloguing the odors astronauts encounter aboard orbiting stations and simulating the scents of exoplanetary atmospheres light years away. From acrid gunpowder notes to hints of cat urine, these analyses aim to unlock new insights into the chemical composition of the cosmos.

2025-05-26T06:42:21.143328-07:00

Space scientists map odors from ISS to exoplanets to probe cosmic chemistry

NPR

ESA beams 'Blue Danube' to Voyager 1 for composer’s 200th anniversary On May 31, ESA’s deep-space antenna in Spain will beam Johann Strauss II’s 'Blue Danube' toward Voyager 1, marking the composer's 200th birthday and the agency’s 50th anniversary, and correcting its omission from NASA’s 1977 Golden Record.

2025-05-26T02:43:36.817007-07:00

ESA beams 'Blue Danube' to Voyager 1 for composer’s 200th anniversary

douglasmmessier.substack.com

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Elon Musk to Outline Mars Colonization Blueprint Ahead of Starship Launch SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will deliver a presentation titled “Making Life Multiplanetary” on May 27 at 1 p.m. ET, outlining the company’s roadmap for Mars colonization and the technical milestones leading into Tuesday’s planned Starship launch from the Starbase, Texas facility.

2025-05-25T20:29:36.583703-07:00

Elon Musk to Outline Mars Colonization Blueprint Ahead of Starship Launch

NASA Spaceflight

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Magellan Data Sheds New Light on Venusian Tectonics Over 30 years after its demise in the Venusian atmosphere, NASA’s Magellan mission has delivered fresh data that overturns our understanding of Venusian tectonics. New analysis of its radar imagery uncovers complex deformation zones, shedding light on how Venus’s crust evolves without global plate tectonics.

2025-05-25T14:23:09.030930-07:00

Magellan Data Sheds New Light on Venusian Tectonics

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