NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully touched our star for the first time ever! Flying through its upper atmosphere – known as corona – and sampling particles and magnetic fields there. Named in honor of astrophysicist Eugene Parker, this mission seeks to explore and comprehend the Sun’s mysterious corona and solar wind that circulate our closest…
Since the 1960s, numerous spacecraft have whizzed past Mars or entered its orbit. Additionally, rovers and landers have touched down on its surface. As Hays watched a large flying saucer land in Utah last year, she thought of her ambitious Mars Sample Return mission – MSR for short – which involves collecting samples from Mars…
Challenger launched on its final journey atop its Shuttle Carrier Atmosphere (SCA), flying low over Houston and JSC as its astronauts slept during its flight. When they awoke up, MCC played “Cadets on Parade” and the Air Force Song before playing MCC songs from its archives to commemorate their accomplishments in service to America. Challenger…
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and often looks similar to the moon; however, this cratered world boasts an iron core with evidence of past tectonic activity and volcanism. Telescope observations made from Earth indicate that Mercury could contain water ice in its polar regions, with evidence provided by MESSENGER for supporting…
Landing on the moon occurs when a spacecraft touches down or enters orbit around its surface, such as Luna 2 did in 1966. Armstrong and Aldrin used Eagle to deploy instruments that collected rock and soil samples, took pictures and verified their equipment was working as intended. The astronauts also conducted engine tests for Eagle,…
Today, SpaceX will launch 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit using its Falcon 9 rocket and then land the booster stage on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX faces an important test with this mission, designed to demonstrate that Starship and its Super Heavy first stage can withstand atmospheric re-entry before safely splashing…
Model kits give hobbyists an excellent way to explore real spacecraft. An assembly set typically contains plastic parts, paints and glue for assembly of all its parts. Paper modeling (also known as card modeling) is a simple hobby to get into; all it requires are stiff paper, scissors and glue for incredible details to come…
Galileo was designed to collect scientific information on Jupiter and its moons. Unfortunately, its high-gain antenna, shaped like an umbrella, failed to open properly, while the probe’s tape recorder became jammed. Galileo ultimately succeeded in its mission despite these setbacks by studying Jupiter’s four large moons and two main-belt asteroids, discovering that Ida has its…
New Horizons proved an outstanding discovery vehicle despite its modest nature, yielding many fascinating findings about Pluto and its moons: Alice was used to study Pluto’s atmosphere while LORRI captured images of its surface as well as three smaller moons named Styx, Nix, and Kerberos. Now, scientists from New Horizons team and beyond are opening…
