Space

For more than a century, astronomers have been captivated by the idea that an undiscovered planet could be lurking in the furthest reaches of our solar system. The search for this elusive, hypothetical planet has taken many forms over the decades. The discovery of Neptune in 1846 demonstrated that an unseen planet might be inferred from its gravitational effects on other worlds. Based on this…

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir just shared some tips for controlling curls in the tough environment of microgravity — and it was a big deal for curly-haired people like me. Meir’s hair-care advice came Wednesday (Sept. 9) in a 5.5-minute video she posted to X from the International Space Station (ISS), where everything floats and “where curls are even more free to be what they want to…

A pair of private spacecraft just showed off some impressive maneuverability high above Earth. The two probes — Mira satellites operated by the California startup Impulse Space — zoomed within 650 feet (200 meters) of each other in low Earth orbit (LEO) recently. The rendezvous demonstrated skills that could be useful to a variety of customers down the road, according to the…

Frank Culbertson had a birds-eye view of one of the most memorable and tragic events in American history. The NASA astronaut was the only American off of Earth on Sept. 11, 2001. He was circling the planet aboard the International Space Station (ISS) when terrorists flew commercial jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing more than 2,700 people. The ISS passed…