You are viewing the "Space" Archives
![The spy satellite, known as USA 224 or NROL-49, was launched in 2011 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/26248165608_87b356a46f_o-2e7b90d27977123b947d08c855944664fc82680b-e1567519765790-900x422.jpg)
Amateurs Identify U.S. Spy Satellite Behind President Trump’s Tweet
By: Geoff Brumfiel | NPR
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The satellite is believed to be among America’s most advanced. Some believe it’s as large as the Hubble Space Telescope.
![Vice President Pence speaks during a meeting of the National Space Council last week in Chantilly, Va. Pence and President Trump have pushed hard for the establishment of a separate Space Force — and they hope the revival of U.S. Space Command will help get them there.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/gettyimages-1169162010-0602c464900f71537f94a2120371addc93dbe811-e1567102693954-900x422.jpg)
White House Hopes Revived Space Command Is One Giant Leap Toward Proposed Space Force
By: Colin Dwyer | NPR
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President Trump and Vice President Pence are expected to formally reestablish the U.S. Space Command on Thursday. It’s not the Space Force they want, but they intend it as a step in that direction.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/AP_466217073893-e1563546709291-900x422.png)
How A 10-Year-Old-Boy Helped Apollo 11 Return To Earth
By: Josh Axelrod | Mia Warren | NPR
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Greg Force was just a boy when his father, the director of a NASA tracking station in Guam, called home with an important mission for him: to help the crew of Apollo 11 return safely to Earth.
![FILE - In a Nov. 24, 2015 file photo, Willie Mays, right, applauds NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, after she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/AP_19164661081172-e1562168596868-900x422.jpg)
NASA Renames WV Facility in Honor of Human ‘Computer’
By: Associated Press
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FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) – A NASA facility in West Virginia has been renamed in honor of a native of the state whose calculations helped put men on the moon 50… Read More
![A stripe of red dots shows the "risk corridor" for a hypothetical asteroid strike, part of an exercise held by planetary defense experts in which they analyze data about a fictional asteroid this week.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019pdc_rc1-155cfcbcf391c27f25b9068176ffee8c1794a51d-e1556568408502-900x422.jpg)
This Week, NASA Is Pretending An Asteroid Is On Its Way To Smack The Earth
By: Nell Greenfieldboyce | NPR
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A fictitious asteroid is the focus of a realistic exercise, as experts at the Planetary Defense Conference run through how the Earth would respond to news of a looming asteroid strike.
![The first-ever image of a black hole was released Wednesday by a consortium of researchers, showing the "black hole at the center of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon."](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/black-hole-a-consensus-32a870a982f0c4f503914c6006dfdd05366678f7-e1554907752109-900x422.jpg)
A Black Hole Is Photographed For First Time By Massive Telescope Project
By: Bill Chappell | NPR
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“For the first time we have seen what we thought was unseeable,” said Event Horizon Telescope Director Shep Doeleman, as the first image of a black hole was released.
![The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics laureates (from left) Barry C. Barish, Kip S. Thorne and Rainer Weiss, pose during a joint news conference in December 2017 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ligoscientists-150429c46beafa644f548d6c5ef60eec4324fbba-e1553028446275-900x422.jpg)
Massive U.S. Machines That Hunt For Ripples In Space-Time Just Got An Upgrade
By: Nell Greenfieldboyce | NPR
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The twin sites in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory are about to go back online. New hardware should make them able to sense more colliding black holes and other cosmic events.
![An artist's concept shows a NASA Mars exploration rover on the surface of Mars. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003 and arrived at sites on Mars in January 2004.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/oppyconcept-7470fec47830d38c328ddf46b81eeeabc8e36c7c-e1550162763799-900x422.jpg)
NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity Is Officially Declared Dead
By: Joe Palca | NPR
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NASA’s six-wheeled rover landed on the red planet in January 2004 for what was billed as a 90-day mission. The plucky robot was still going until a dust storm on Mars last summer killed it.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/AP_19002706952546-e1546469799977-900x422.jpg)
Images Reveal A ‘Snowman’ At The Frigid Outer Reaches Of Our Solar System
By: Nell Greenfieldboyce | NPR
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Scientists say Ultima Thule, a newly explored world out beyond Pluto, is a relic from our solar system’s earliest days.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/AP_09090901164-e1546211687346-900x422.jpg)
Nancy Grace Roman, ‘Mother Of Hubble’ Space Telescope, Has Died, At Age 93
By: Russell Lewis | NPR
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Roman was one of the first female executives at NASA, its first chief of astronomy and she played an instrumental role in making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality. She died on Dec. 25.
![Artist's conception of Kepler.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kepler_interrupt_feature_0-2123bfdd8e69af6c0414f8eb9e8aa5cb96cefe40-e1541444383390-900x422.jpg)
After 9 Years In Orbit, Kepler Telescope Leaves A Legacy Of Discovery
By: Lulu Garcia-Navarro | Henry Zimmerman | NPR
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NASA’s Charlie Sobeck, former manager of the Kepler Space Telescope mission, discusses the monumental findings of the spacecraft and NASA’s decision to retire it in orbit.
![The orbits of the new extreme dwarf planet 2015 TG387 and its fellow inner Oort Cloud objects 2012 VP113 and Sedna as compared with the rest of the Solar System. 2015 TG387 was nicknamed ͞"The Goblin" by its discoverers, as its provisional designation contains TG and the object was first seen near Halloween.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/new-extreme-dwarf-planet-2015-tg387_orbits-labels_wide-0adb46d319bee5528312a85e650ff373df0a62cc-e1538513721983-900x422.jpg)
A Small Planet With Big Implications
By: Joe Palca | NPR
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Astronomers have found a distant dwarf planet that appears to confirm the existence of Planet Nine, a giant planet lurking in the outer reaches of the solar system.
![Vice President Pence announces the Trump Administration's plan to create the U.S. Space Force by 2020 during a speech at the Pentagon on Thursday.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gettyimages-1013898034-11e41832c34f692cb9676a22d358aa55af7a7676-e1533846085669-900x422.jpg)
White House Describes Military ‘Space Force,’ Aims To Create It By 2020
By: Camila Domonoske | NPR
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Vice President Pence said in a speech Thursday that the Space Force, which would be the military’s sixth branch, will “prepare for the next battlefield” and “a new generation of threats.”
![NASA's Going To "Touch" The Sun](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/undefined-a01e77265ebf006e74373cd402eca0dbbce1a4cf-e1533054983539-900x422.jpeg)
WATCH: Building A Probe That Will Survive A Trip To The Sun
By: Becky Harlan | Maia Stern | Madeline K. Sofia | NPR
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The sun is responsible for all life on Earth, but we still have a lot to learn about it. So this summer, NASA is sending the Parker Solar Probe closer to the sun than we have ever been before.
![Virgin Galactic designed the VSS Unity to carry two pilots and six passengers into space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/virgin_galactic-s_third_powered_flight_boom_master-b8ac6d8f9e976283fab10d5fd2d8ade9de89a91b-e1532710531399-900x422.png)
Virgin Galactic Space Plane Reaches New Heights In Test Flight
By: James Doubek | NPR
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Billionaire Richard Branson wants to be on the “first official flight” to see space as a tourist by the end of 2018. His company’s latest test flight reached heights of more than 32 miles.
![The planet Jupiter now has a total of 79 identified moons.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/jupiter-470f22b6b52924f85e3887ed5e183ecd11430bf1-e1531849501849-900x422.jpg)
Galileo Would Be Stunned: Jupiter Now Has 79 Moons
By: Joe Palca | NPR
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Astronomers have found 12 more moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. These moons are all small — just 5 kilometers or less across — and one of them behaves very strangely.
![Professor Stephen Hawking sits onstage during the "Breakthrough Starshot" announcement at One World Observatory on April 12, 2016 in New York City.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/gettyimages-520676582-ee9a7327d739c4a2cadfee0ec59208b3e603d2fc-e1529078922975-900x422.jpg)
Stephen Hawking’s Voice Is Being Broadcast Into Space
By: Camila Domonoske | NPR
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The late scientist’s voice will be “beamed toward the nearest black hole,” his daughter tells the British press. Hawking is being interred at Westminster Abbey on Friday.