Space mission

Space

China spacecraft aims to return with 'groundbreaking' asteroid samples

The Tianwen-2 probe, which was launched on Thursday, represents a "significant step in China’s new journey of interplanetary exploration".

30/05/2025

Culture news

Strauss' Blue Danube waltz beams into space for his 200th birthday

To mark the 200th birthday of Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, the country is sending his iconic waltz, The Blue Danube, into space - decades after it was left off the Voyager Golden Record.

30/05/2025

Europe in Motion

Space junk: Which European country poses the highest collision risk?

Experts say space junk re-entering Earth's atmosphere could jump to 15 objects a day within 10 years.

06/05/2025

Art

First artist on the moon Paul Van Hoeydonck dies aged 99

Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck has died aged 99. For decades he had the honour of being the first and only person to have a work of art on the moon.

05/05/2025

Space

Soviet-era spacecraft from Venus mission expected to crash to Earth

The Soviet Union launched the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 in 1972, one of a series of Venus missions.

02/05/2025

Space

China steps up space race with another successful rocket launch

Three astronauts have been sent to China's own space station to replace the current crew in a bid to reach the moon or even Mars.

24/04/2025

Space

Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi handed over command of the ISS

A change of command ceremony was held on the International Space Station as Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin handed over the keys to the ISS to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi.

19/04/2025

Space

Katy Perry and all-female crew blasts into space on Blue Origin rocket

The last all-female crew sent to space was in 1963 by the Russians. Among the crew on Monday's flight was singer Katy Perry and TV host Gayle King.

14/04/2025

No Comment

US-Russian crew lifts off to ISS for 8-month mission

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut launched on Tuesday aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for an eight-month research mission at the International Space Station.

08/04/2025

Space

US astronaut and Russian crewmates dock at International Space Station

US astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan in a Russian Soyuz rocket.

08/04/2025

No Comment

All-civilian crew orbits Earth from pole to pole in SpaceX mission

The mission is expected to last between three and five days, with the crew orbiting Earth multiple times from the north to the south pole at an altitude of around 450 km.

03/04/2025

Space

In pictures: ESA spacecraft beams back stunning new images of Mercury

The joint European-Japanese mission is only the second survey of Mercury, the least explored planet in the inner solar system.

15/01/2025

Space

Blue Origin calls off maiden launch of new rocket over vehicle issue

Blue Origin is a space tech company founded nearly 25 years ago by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The New Glenn launch could cement the company as a SpaceX rival.

13/01/2025

Space

Iran claims successful space launch

Iran claims to have completed a successful space launch, with the rocket carrying with it satellite equipment as well as a military payload.

06/12/2024

Space

ESA launches two satellites that will create man-made solar eclipses

Launched from India on Thursday, the two satellites will fly in precise formation down to the millimetre in order to create artificial eclipses.

05/12/2024

Space

Here’s how astronauts in space can cast their votes in the US election

Despite being in orbit, American astronauts can vote in the election thanks to a secure space-based voting process.

05/11/2024

Space

China space station crew returns to Earth after 6 months in space

Three Chinese astronauts are back on Earth after a six-month mission full of scientific exploration on the country's private space station.

04/11/2024

Space

NASA astronaut with undisclosed medical issue released from hospital

The four NASA astronauts, who returned from the International Space Station last week, were initially hospitalised after splashing down on Earth.

28/10/2024

Space

Europa Clipper launches to probe potentially habitable Jupiter moon

NASA's latest mission will explore a potentially habitable ocean world orbiting Jupiter.

14/10/2024

Space

ESA launches planetary defence mission to return to deflected asteroid

Hera will survey the asteroid deflected by NASA's DART spacecraft, the results of which could lay the foundation of Earth's planetary defence system.

08/10/2024