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An artist's illustration of the Hayabusa asteroid-sample return spacecraft at the asteroid Itokawa, a mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

On This Day in Space! May 9, 2003: Japan launches Hayabusa mission to asteroid

By Hanneke Weitering

On May 9, 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the first-ever asteroid sample return mission, Hayabusa. See how it happened in our "On This Day In Space" series!

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as himself handling a crisis on Mars from SpaceX mission control on "Saturday Night Live" on May 8, 2021.

SpaceX's Elon Musk lands on 'Saturday Night Live' to talk space, Mars (and yes, Dogecoin)

By Elizabeth Howell

SpaceX founder Elon Musk landed on late-night TV Saturday (May 8) as the host of "Saturday Night Live."

Abstract spheres represent the three-body problem in physics.

Physicists get close to taming the chaos of the 'three-body problem'

By Charlie Wood

The intractable "three-body problem" gets closer to being solved with breakthrough study.

An artist's impression of a millisecond pulsar and its stellar companion.

8 extremely rare 'millisecond pulsars' discovered inside globular clusters

By Harry Baker

Scientists using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope have detected 8 new millisecond pulsars in the hearts of globular clusters.

A Long March 5B rocket launches Tianhe, the core module of China's new space station, on April 28, 2021.The rocket's massive core stage fell back to Earth uncontrolled somewhere over the Arabian Peninsula on May 8, 2021.

Huge Chinese rocket booster falls to Earth over Arabian Peninsula

By Mike Wall

The 23-ton core stage of a Chinese Long March 5B booster crashed back to Earth Saturday night (May 8), ending 10 controversial days aloft that captured the attention of the world.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink internet satellites launches on a record 10th flight from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 9, 2021.

SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites in record 10th liftoff (and landing) of reused rocket

By Amy Thompson

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Sunday (May 9) and stuck a landing in a record 10th flight.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Sirius XM satellite SXM-7 is seen atop Space Launch Complex 40 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during a launch attempt on Dec. 11, 2020. The same booster will make its 10th flight on May 9, 2021 to launch 60 Starlink satellites.

Replay! SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for 10th time on Starlink mission

By Space.com Staff

SpaceX is counting down to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on its 10th mission, a record for the company, early Sunday (May 9) and you can watch it live online.

This reentry prediction plot by the Aerospace Corporation shows the estimated splashdown point of China's 21 metric ton Long March 5B rocket booster on Saturday, May 8, 2021. As of Saturday afternoon, it was estimated to fall in the northern Atlantic Ocean west of Europe give or take 4 hours.

A huge Chinese rocket will fall to Earth this weekend. Here's how to track it online.

By Elizabeth Howell

Several websites give regular updates on the Chinese Long March 5B rocket core that's uncontrollably falling to Earth, with an expected reentry late Saturday night (May 8).

A used SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Sirius XM satellite SXM-7 stands atop its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for a December 2020 launch. The same booster will make its 10th flight on May 9, 2021 to launch 60 Starlink satellites.

SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket on its 10th flight Sunday and you can watch it online

By Amy Thompson

SpaceX is preparing to launch one of its Falcon 9 rockets for a record 10th time to deliver 60 Starlink satellites into orbit.

SpaceX's Starship SN15 rocket prototype launches on a 10-kilometer test flight from SpaceX's Starbase test site near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on May 5, 2021.

The top space stories of the week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.

A new image of the Necklace Nebula created by the combination of several exposures from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.

Space photos: The most amazing images this week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

See the best photos on Space.com this week.

Even tiny pieces of space debris can have catastrophic effects. This image shows the result of a lab-test impact between a block of aluminum and a small aluminum sphere traveling at nearly 7 kilometers per second.

Space junk removal is not going smoothly

By Leonard David

Despite promising technology demonstrations, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the growing problem of taking out the orbital trash

The map reveals a bright patch, a wake of stars, beneath the Milky Way's halo. In the bottom right, the Large Magellanic Cloud continues its orbit.

Astronomers chart invisible ocean of dark matter swirling outside the Milky Way

By Ben Turner

Astronomers are hoping to use the wake of stars to test the existing theories of dark matter.

The researchers established the network using a complex system of lasers.

World's 1st multinode quantum network is a breakthrough for the quantum internet

By Ben Turner

Researchers say the new network will be unhackable and able to coordinate systems to unprecedented levels. Many of the deeper implications, however, cannot be foreseen.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s fifth flight was captured on May 7, 2021, by one of the navigation cameras aboard the agency’s Perseverance rover. This was the first time Ingenuity flew to a new landing site.

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity lands at new airfield after 5th flight

By Mike Wall

Ingenuity made its fifth Martian flight today (May 7), cruising to a new patch of ground on its first one-way trip on the Red Planet.

China's space station core module 'Tianhe' flies over the Bell Tower on May 2, 2021 in Beijing, China.

You can see the International Space Station (and China's Tianhe, too) in the night sky this weekend

By Joe Rao

You can see two space stations in the night sky this weekend, China's Tianhe and the International Space Station.

A Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of China's space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29, 2021 (April 28 EDT) in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China.

A huge Chinese rocket booster is falling from space, but don't worry. It likely won't hit you.

By Elizabeth Howell

China's Long March 5B rocket core stage plummets to Earth this weekend. You have almost nothing to worry about.

The TV series "Debris" on NBC wonders what would happen if something not of this Earth actually hit the Earth, and how humans would respond.

'Debris' on NBC is a sci-fi show with enormous potential

By Scott Snowden

NBC's original sci-fi show "Debris" is nearing its Season 1 finale with just three episodes left and if you're not already watching it, you ought to be.

An image of the falling Chinese rocket body published by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on May 7, 2021.

US Space Command is tracking China's falling rocket booster, but won't shoot it down

By Elizabeth Howell

U.S. Space Command is closely tracking a large Chinese rocket body falling uncontrollably back to Earth that is predicted to hit the atmosphere sometime on Saturday (May 8).

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter (upper right) using its Mastcam-Z camera on April 30, 2021.

Perseverance rover captures sounds of Mars helicopter Ingenuity's flight in awesome first (video)

By Mike Wall

NASA's Perseverance rover captured the whirring of Ingenuity's fast-spinning rotors during the little chopper's fourth Red Planet flight, which took place on April 30.