rendering of the ispace Resilience lunar lander and rover on the moon
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Spacecraft set for a high-stakes lunar landing attempt this week took months to reach the moon. Here’s why
Japan-based company Ispace will attempt to safely land its Resilience spacecraft on the moon this week after the lunar lander spent months in orbit.

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In this screengrab from video posted to social media on June 3, ispace's Resilience lunar lander orbits the moon.
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Live Updates Resilience spacecraft likely crashed into the moon, Ispace confirms
A surprising study revealed biological activity on a distant planet. Weeks later, scientists say there’s more to the story
Video Video shows Ispace’s big moment fall silent 0:37
Popular theory about our galaxy’s fate might be wrong, astronomers say
China mission lifts off to explore two unusual objects that haven’t been visited by spacecraft before
Pulsing object in space is ‘unlike anything we have seen before,’ astronomers say
Matt Farrah of Newcastle, Australia views SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its Super Heavy booster is prepared for launch on its ninth test at the company's launch pad in Starbase, Texas, U.S., May 27, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
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SpaceX megarocket gets farther in test than last two flights, but loses control on reentry to Earth
The SpaceX Starship lifts off on Tuesday.
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Watch highlights from SpaceX Starship’s ambitious test flight 3:20
BOCA CHICA BEACH, TEXAS - MARCH 03: People watch SpaceX Starship Flight 8 as it is stationed near Orbital Launch Pad A ahead of launch at Boca Chica beach on March 03, 2025 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has granted clearance for the operation, with SpaceX Starship Flight 8 being on target to launch tomorrow evening. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft explodes midflight for the second time this year
This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows the molecular gas content of two galaxies involved in a cosmic collision. The one on the right hosts a quasar –– a supermassive black hole that is accreting material from its surroundings and releasing intense radiation directly into the other galaxy.  Astronomers used the X-shooter instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to detect the quasar’s light as it passes through an invisible halo of gas surrounding the galaxy on the left. In doing so, they could observe the damage that this radiation causes to the victim, disrupting its clouds of gas and hampering its ability to form new stars.
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Balashev and P. Noterdaeme et al.
Galaxies battle in ‘cosmic joust’ witnessed by astronomers for the first time

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Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon — soon
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Chris Meaney/NASA/CIL
Scientists have spotted unexpected X- and C-shaped structures in the atmosphere. They are struggling to explain them
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
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What the two Boeing Starliner astronauts will do in space until 2025
This composite image shows the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known as the "bullet cluster." This cluster was formed after the collision of two large clusters of galaxies, the most energetic event known in the universe since the Big Bang. Hot gas detected by Chandra in X-rays is seen as two pink clumps in the image and contains most of the "normal," or baryonic, matter in the two clusters. The bullet-shaped clump on the right is the hot gas from one cluster, which passed through the hot gas from the other larger cluster during the collision. An optical image from Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxies in orange and white. The blue areas in this image show where astronomers find most of the mass in the clusters. The concentration of mass is determined using the effect of so-called gravitational lensing, where light from the distant objects is distorted by intervening matter. Most of the matter in the clusters (blue) is clearly separate from the normal matter (pink), giving direct evidence that nearly all of the matter in the clusters is dark.
NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.
Scientists may have found an answer to the mystery of dark matter. It involves an unexpected byproduct

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SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop it's Super Heavy booster is launched on its eighth test at the company's Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Joe Skipper/Reuters
SpaceX cleared to launch Starship test flight after two explosive failures
NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are now traveling through interstellar space at around 35,000 mph (56,000 kph). This artist’s concept depicts one of the probes speeding away.<br />`
JPL-Caltech/NASA
Once ‘dead’ thrusters on the farthest spacecraft from Earth are in action again
NORTH ARLINGTON, NJ - MAY 24: A 96 percent illuminated waning gibbous Flower Moon rises behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on May 24, 2024, as seen from North Arlington, New Jersey. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
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How to see May’s full flower moon
The northern hemisphere of Venus is displayed in this view of the planet created with data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft.
PL-Caltech/NASA
A failed Soviet-era spacecraft likely crashed back to Earth overnight
As it sped away from Venus, NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this seemingly peaceful view of a planet the size of Earth, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. But, contrary to its serene appearance, the clouded globe of Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A Soviet-era spacecraft that failed to reach Venus is due to crash back to Earth this week
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Shutterstock (15284727e) The Eta Aquariids meteor shower appears in the night sky in Kandalama, Sri Lanka, on May 5, 2025. The Eta Aquariids are a meteor shower associated with Halley's Comet. The shower is visible from about April 19 to about May 28 each year, with peak activity on or around May 5. Unlike most major annual meteor showers, there is no sharp peak for this shower, but rather a broad maximum with good rates that last approximately one week centered on May 5. The Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower Appears Over The Night Sky In Kandalama, Sri Lanka - 05 May 2025
Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is at its peak. Here’s how to see it
A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist’s rendering, can trigger high-energy eruptions.
S. Wiessinger/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientists say they’ve found another source of gold in the cosmos
A narrow-band image of the Sun at a wavelength of λ=588.9nm - that of a well known solar sodium line also known as the “NaD line.” The image was acquired during recent first light efforts with the VTF at the Inouye, and shows how precisely the structures within a sunspot are resolved - and imply how thoroughly they can be examined by combining all data (image, spectroscopy, and polarimetry) available from the VTF. Each pixel in the original version of the image corresponds to 10 km (or 6.2 miles) on the Sun.
VTF/KIS/NSF/NSO/AURA
First image from the world’s largest solar telescope captures the sun in unheard-of detail
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off carrying Amazon's Project Kuiper internet network satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 28, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Joe Skipper/Reuters
Amazon launches Project Kuiper satellites designed to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Huge star-forming cloud discovered on Earth’s ‘cosmic doorstep’
Thomas Müller (HdA/MPIA)/Thavisha Dharmawardena (NYU)
Scientists discover massive molecular cloud close to Earth
A model of China's Tiangong-1 space station, at the Shanghai Astronomy Museum in Shanghai, China, in 2021.
Long Wei/FeatureChiina/AP/File
Pakistani astronaut will become first foreign national to enter Chinese space station
CALIFORNIA, USA - APRIL 24: A view of the Lyrids Meteor Shower and Milky Way in Panamint Springs of California, United States on April 24, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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How and when to watch the Lyrid meteor shower
iss072e097446 (Oct. 24, 2024) -- As the International Space Station soared 257 miles above Lake Michigan, NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit captured this long-exposure photograph of city lights streaking across Earth while a green and red aurora moved through the atmosphere.
Don Pettit/NASA
An astronaut’s awe-inspiring views from life in space
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Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project.
A new comet appeared in the sky, then likely disintegrated. But it can still be seen
An illustration shows a hycean world – an exoplanet with a liquid water ocean beneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere - orbiting a red dwarf star. Based on observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, the exoplanet K2-18 b might fit in this category. This illustration was obtained by Reuters on April 16, 2025. A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge/Handout via REUTERS NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge/Reuters
Scientists detect signature of life on a distant planet, study suggests
WHITLEY BAY, ENGLAND - MAY 10: People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, on May 10, 2024 in Whitley Bay, England. The UK met office said a strong solar storm may allow northern parts of the UK the chance to see displays of aurora. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
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Solar storm could bring auroras farther south over the US than they typically appear