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Planets Similar to Earth Are More Common Than First Thought

Astrobiologists have long dreamed of finding another planet similar to our Earth in order to explore whether life could exist elsewhere, and new research shows that such planets may be far more widespread than once believed. Thanks to advanced planet-hunting techniques, astronomers have discovered thousands of planet candidates outside our Solar System – many Earth-sized […]

Apollo 11 Backroom Loops – Relive the Apollo 11 Moon Landing For the First Time in More Than 50 Years

Apollo missions / star planete

An exciting new website provides diehard space fans with an incredible way to relive the moon landing as it happened. A wealth of audio recordings has long been accessible online; air-to-ground communications between controllers have also been preserved. But thousands of hours of supplementary conversations between controllers have remained unseen for decades – until now.

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New Horizons Makes Its First Visit to Pluto

spacecraft / star planete

On 14 July 2015, New Horizons made an epic journey through Pluto’s system and returned spectacular images showing an icy world with towering water-ice mountains and vast plains of frozen nitrogen. From concept to launch day – and multiple nearly cancelled attempts along the way – took a difficult 17 years. How does it work?

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Apollo 11 – The Story of Mankind’s First Steps on the Moon

Apollo missions / star planete

Apollo 11 immediately captured world imagination upon launch, drawing global interest as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin embarked upon mankind’s first steps ever on the Moon. It made history. They disassociated Eagle from Columbia, and began exploring the Moon’s surface. Furthermore, they deployed scientific equipment and collected samples of lunar materials. Launch Apollo 11 was

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New Horizons Spacecraft Reaches Pluto For First Close-Up Images of the Distant World

spacecraft / star planete

Stern and his team struggled for years to launch their mission, facing an intense race against time: only four years were available for designing, launching and reaching Jupiter for gravity assistance. New Horizons would likely make its first encounter with Pluto and Charon during its trek through the Kuiper Belt – an outer region of

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Apollo 11 – The First Mission to the Moon

Apollo missions / star planete

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 rocketed away, an eager crowd watched it lift off at Cape Kennedy. Following four hours of restful flight time, their astronauts started their first lunar excursion mission. Science experiments that measured the composition of solar wind were employed, as well as a laser reflector to identify our

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Spacecraft of the First World War

spacecraft / star planete

Since World War II, spacecraft have launched satellites into orbit, landed astronauts on the moon, and probed our solar system – many owing their existence to partnerships formed during the conflict. Wernher von Braun and his team formed one such collaboration, creating the rocket which propelled Yuri Gagarin into space aboard Vostok 1. His journey

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For the First Time in History, a Spacecraft Touches the Sun

spacecraft / star planete

First time ever in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA Parker Solar Probe flew into its outer atmosphere – known as corona – and unveiled phenomena long predicted but never directly observed before. Astrophysicist and namesake of this organization, Astrid Petri is dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of solar wind that streams out

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