Just sixty years ago, on May 5, 1961, nearly 45 million American viewers lined up in front of their television to watch one of their own, astronaut Alan Shepard, soaring into space for the first time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its flight lasts only about fifteen minutes, but it will mark

SpaceX is continuing to deploy its Starlink constellation with the successful launch on May 4 of a second batch of sixty satellites in less than a week. Engineers are preparing for a new launch scheduled in a few days involving the tenth flight of the same booster. This is unheard of. A Falcon 9 ro

The company Blue Origin is preparing to take tourists into space aboard its New Shepard launcher. At a hundred kilometers above the ground, customers will be able to enjoy an exceptional view of the Earth. The first tickets are already available. For several years, the company Blue Origin has been

With SpaceXs Starship in the lunar equation, NASA and its partners can more confidently envision a permanent future on the Moon. Then will come the planet Mars. The last decade has been a bit frustrating for NASA, which, following the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, had no way to send its

On Saturday mornings, astronauts aboard the ISS spend a few hours cleaning the station to prevent bacterial and fungal growth. But how is a cleaning day above the Earth, concretely? The weekend aboard the station is relatively quiet. To facilitate the astronauts rest during these two days, the onbo

Researchers have reconstructed the journey of a space rock before it exploded over southern Africa in 2018, and one of these pieces only ends Botswana. It is June 2, 2018, in the early morning. The Catalina Sky Survey telescope, which had spotted the intruder eight hours earlier, observed a small

On Monday, April 12, the maintenance spacecraft called Mission Extension Vehicle 2 (MEV-2) successfully docked with the commercial communications satellite Intelsat 10- 02 ( IS-10-02) 36,000 km above our heads. The goal was to expand its operations in orbit. After years of service, most satellites

While Boeing appears to have ironed out software issues with its Starliner capsule, the company now has to contend with SpaceX, which occupies the land. In a few months, a parking space could nevertheless become available in orbit. And Boeing will have to take the chance. SpaceX unfolds, Boeing in

Present on Mars since November 2018, the InSight lander is in a delicate position. Its solar panels are indeed covered with dust and the energy is starting to run out, while the winter continues. Engineers plan to limit power-ups while waiting for better days. Since landing west of Elysium Planitia

NASA will attempt to fly its small Ingenuity helicopter early this Monday. The attempt should take place around 9:30 a.m. French time. It will nevertheless be necessary to wait a few hours to know the outcome of this historic trial, the time for the American agency to receive the data collected. New

SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the VIPER rover to the Moon. On site, the robot will probe the presence of ice at the South Pole, thus preparing for the arrival of future astronauts. The Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon by 2024. This new project demonstrates the desire to

The Rashid rover from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be delivered to the surface of the Moon in 2022 by HAKUTO-R, a lander built in Japan by the company ispace . This will be a first for both countries. To date, only three countries have soft-landed a spacecraft on the Moon:the United States,

Are we alone in the galaxy? In recent decades, some have tried to answer this question by signaling our presence to possible extraterrestrials. But not everyone sees this outstretched hand very favorably. What if our search for extraterrestrial civilizations turns sour? Michio Kaku is a professor o

NASA did it:fly their little Ingenuity helicopter to Mars. This is the very first powered flight ever attempted and successful on another planet. The American agency and its engineers, once again, are making history. For several days the mission engineers had been preparing for the first flight att

The New Horizons probe has just joined the very exclusive club of ships at least 50 Astronomical Units (AU) away from the Sun. Still active, the ship searches for its new target. The American probe New Horizons has just passed the bar of 50 astronomical units separating it from our star. As a remin

NASA has given SpaceX the official green light to launch its next crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Due to the weather, the take-off initially scheduled for this Thursday has just been postponed to Friday. For the first time, astronauts will fly aboard a repurposed SpaceX rocket

According to state media, Russia may soon announce the end of its partnership with the United States and the rest of its International Space Station (ISS) partners. ). Two main reasons could explain this hasty departure. On November 2, 2000, NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and the two Russian cosmona

The Perseverance rover has just made history again by successfully producing a small amount of oxygen on the planet Mars. This new feat could pave the way for larger devices capable of supporting a human presence on the Red Planet. Producing oxygen on Mars On Mars, all eyes have been on Ingenuity f

A team of astronomers announces that they have identified a black hole of only three solar masses, never before seen. It is also the closest to Earth discovered to date. You will find it around a red giant 1500 light years from Earth. About 1500 light years from our own planet evolves a black hole

The Ingenuity teams attempted and succeeded in a second test flight of their small helicopter this Thursday. During this maneuver, the rotorcraft rose about five meters from the ground. An iconic photo This Monday, April 19, NASA once again made history by making a successful first powered flight o