Category: Space Stations

Space stations in orbit or planned

Ouch! Carlo Rambaldi’s original screen-used ‘E.T.’ model might reach $1 million at Sotheby’s auction

NeRD

Why is it so wet-looking? He looks like a professional wrestler covered in baby oil. We can’t answer that question, but if you’re willing to stump up a million dollars, you can own this incredibly glossy piece of sci-fi history. It might be slightly scary, but this rare remnant of Hollywood’s illustrious past was actually used in the filming of director Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi fantasy, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” and could fetch nearly one million dollars when Sotheby’s auction bidding finally closes on the historic lot next month. An authentic shooting…

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Preserving astronomy history: The fight is on to save an iconic Royal Observatory Greenwich site

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Near the small town of Herstmonceux in the English county of East Sussex sits the former home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. The Royal Observatory Greenwich was first built in Greenwich, London, in 1675. At this original location, the observatory was set up with the goal of producing star charts and accurate time-keeping devices, to allow the British military and commercial fleets to more effectively navigate during their global travels. Over two centuries later, in 1884, the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s extensive star charts made the site a prime choice for…

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What will the partial solar eclipse of March 2025 look like from space?

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A partial solar eclipse will come to Earth on Saturday, March 29, 2025, as the moon passes in front of the sun. From Earth, photographers will capture images of a bite being taken out of the sun. From space, a fleet of satellites will image a shadow being cast across Earth. The moon projects two kinds of shadows at all times. There’s a large fuzzy outer shadow, called the penumbra, and a much smaller, darker central shadow, the umbra. The latter causes a total solar eclipse, which is seen across…

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Aurora alert: Giant ‘hole’ in sun and strong geomagnetic storm converge to supercharge northern lights this weekend

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A massive eruption on the sun that flung solar plasma toward Earth on Friday may trigger a strong geomagnetic storm this weekend that could supercharge auroras across the northern United States. The solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection (or CME), exploded on Friday (March 21) even as a so-called “coronal hole” opened on the sun to unleash a separate high-speed stream of solar particles toward Earth. The result: A tag-team of solar material that should reach Earth this weekend to amplify northern lights displays late Saturday and early Sunday…

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‘Star Trek’ icon lives on with new Nichelle Nichols Space Camp to inspire young women to aim for the stars

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“Star Trek” royalty Nichelle Nichols passed away in 2022 but her legacy endures. Most well-known for her her memorable portrayal of Communications Officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in “Star Trek: The Original Series” and six final frontier feature films, Nichelle Nichols has now inspired a new educational endeavor fueled to blast off next year via the Nichelle Nichols Foundation. The Nichelle Nichols Space Camp launches from January 17-19, 2026 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with its upcoming class of students ready to take that brave step…

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Dark skies and epic Winter Star Party — why the Florida Keys are more than just a Spring Break destination

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If you’re looking for the best locations for astrophotography and skywatching, look no further than the Florida Keys. A 125-mile string of tropical coral islands linked by bridges that stretches into the shallow waters of the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico, it’s home to fishing, boating and snorkeling, but also stargazing. Related: Night sky for tonight: Visible planets, stars and more in this evening’s sky As well as some of the darkest skies on the U.S. East Coast, it’s also the nation’s southernmost point. At 24.5 degrees north,…

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Is Netflix’s ‘The Electric State’ a sci-fi retelling of ‘The Wizard of Oz’?

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The Russo Brothers, those money-making MCU maestros and their mega-budgeted sci-fi adventure, “The Electric State,” are receiving much unkind criticism from fans and pundits, some of it possibly deserved and some unfairly served up in a complicated miasma of vitriolic opinion. Ah, such is the state of modern Hollywood these days as it seems there’s always misdirected anger afoot aimed at most popular entertainment. Whatever your opinion is of Netflix’s loose $320 million adaptation of visionary Swedish artist and author Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel of a war-torn America in…

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China now has a ‘kill mesh’ in orbit, Space Force vice chief says

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The United States is approaching a turning point in space security, and needs to step up its game before Russia and China close the gap in capabilities, a U.S. Space Force general said. Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein spoke at the 16th annual McAleese “Defense Programs” Conference in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday (March 18), warning the Space Force needs to rethink how it defends the country’s satellites. Space Force should shift its focus from managing spacecraft in support of defense infrastructure on the ground, to growing its…

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How the James Webb Space Telescope is helping size up tiny dwarf planets

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A surprising chemical difference between Pluto and Sedna, another dwarf planet in the distant Kuiper Belt, is helping scientists nail down their respective masses, a new study reports. The Kuiper Belt is a region in space beyond the orbit of Neptune that’s home to Pluto and most of the known dwarf planets, as well as some comets that are thought to be relics of the solar system’s planet-formation era. “Kuiper Belt objects are icy worlds [that] can tell us what conditions were like billions of years ago,” explained study lead…

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NASA to Cover Northrop Grumman’s 21st Cargo Space Station Departure

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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm shortly after its capture Credit: NASA After delivering more than 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA and its international partners, Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Friday, March 28. Watch NASA’s live coverage of undocking and departure at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social…

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