Sharmila Kuthunur

India plans to launch astronauts to Earth orbit no sooner than 2026, roughly a year past the previously known timeline, following a series of uncrewed flight tests slated to begin in December.

As millions of people around the world celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams radioed home her share of festive cheer.

India is eyeing a 2028 launch for its Chandrayaan-4 moon sample-return mission, followed by an uncrewed lunar lander and rover in collaboration with Japan.

NASA has refined its list of potential landing sites near the moon's south pole for its Artemis 3 mission, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface no earlier than 2026.

The famous doughnut-shaped image of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole may not be fully accurate, an independent analysis of EHT data suggests.

Temporary flows of saltwater could explain mysterious gullies and fan-shaped deposits spotted across asteroid Vesta.

Soil-like pebbles in moon samples brought home by Apollo 16 astronauts have revealed new details about lunar history.

An ultraluminous nova in a nearby galaxy offers a glimpse into the mysterious workings of a rare stellar duo.

A new radar instrument designed to measure nearby dust and debris could make spacecraft landings on the moon and Mars safer.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an intricate portrait of R Aquarii, an odd nearby binary star system that occasionally erupts into spectacular novae.

A new telescope image reveals in intricate detail a slice of a well-studied faraway stellar nursery.

A rare nova explosion will soon bring a "new star" to the night sky, and scientists are excited.

An oddball galaxy in the early universe shines so brightly it outshines its stars.

Radar images have captured snowman-shaped 2024 ON asteroid tumbling through space.

Yet another faraway world has come to sharper focus thanks to the collective scientific muscle of citizen scientists.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will soon arrive at its first stop during its arduous trek to the western edge of Jezero Crater.

The Indian government has greenlit four high-profile space projects, including the highly anticipated Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return mission and the first space station module.

Europe's Hera mission to the asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA's DART probe hit in September 2022, has arrived at its launch site in Florida ahead of its planned Oct. 7 liftoff.

The Europa Clipper will determine whether Jupiter’s icy moon has the right conditions for life as we know it.

The BepiColombo probe's flybys of Mercury have revealed just how sharply and rapidly the planet's local environment changes in response to the solar wind.

Earth may have had a Saturn-like ring system long ago, created from the debris of a passing asteroid that our planet tore apart.

The most comprehensive map of clouds on Mars includes a variety of cloud patterns, including some that are unlike anything seen on Earth.

A NASA satellite designed to search for the universe's most powerful and violent explosions has successfully scouted its first burst, space agency officials announced earlier this week.

Astronomers have gotten the first-ever detailed views of turbulent activity on a star other than our own sun.

The European Space Agency's Salsa satellite safely deorbited on Sunday (Sept. 8) over a hand-picked region of the South Pacific Ocean.