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![Fitted red tarps wrap around the circular bell ends of four humungous rocket engines embeded in a white boattail mount on an orange fuel tank, flipped horizontal, with the bulk of its fuselage hiddenn behind the doors or a large hangar. Workers in highlighter vests scurry about like ants.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/T2wTQjibpLkTecERtiYe5o-320-80.jpg)
NASA rolls giant Artemis 2 moon rocket core off the factory floor for astronaut mission (video)
By Josh Dinner published
The SLS booster for NASA's next mission to the moon has left the Michoud Assembly Facility to ship to the Kennedy Space Center ahead of Artemis 2.
![This shaded relief image shows the moon's Shackleton Crater, a 21-km-wide crater permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole. The crater’s interior structure is shown in false color based on data from NASA's LRO probe. Image released June 20, 2012.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bgXSEVRg4TBHtfQ6sRwGeG-320-80.jpg)
With its latest moon mission success, China's space program has the US in its sights
By Simonetta Di Pippo published
June 25 2024 marked a new "first" in the history of spaceflight.
![a person standing beside a very large piece of debris. the debris is charred and roughly the same width as a person's height](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kQYsTb9jUt4fjh7Gw3rBZk-320-80.jpg)
A new, deadly era of space junk is dawning, and no one is ready
By Samantha Lawler published
A Saskatchewan farmer's near miss with potentially lethal debris falling from orbit highlights the skyrocketing risks and murky politics of space junk.
![a giant pac-man like dome fully opens upward to the night sky, exposing the skeleton of the top of an extremely large telescope. The milky way and countless stars shine above.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/W5cZ9zmEnwKbX5kjmd5WWK-320-80.jpg)
How the last 25 years led to the rise of mega-telescopes
By Keith Cooper published
From exoplanets to the galaxies in the early universe, there's little that large telescopes on Earth can't see.
![A tall chrome rocket booster stands next to a launch tower as huge explosions of fire burst from its engines below. Smoke billows in all directions.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/k3GaqVKkdY6y9HTuU4Ro7g-320-80.jpg)
SpaceX test-fires Super Heavy Starship booster ahead of 5th flight (video)
By Josh Dinner published
SpaceX ignited the engines on the Super Heavy first stage booster of its Starship rocket, completing a critical test ahead of the megarocket's next flight.
![view looking down on a rocket with flames spewing out the bottom. blurry earth is in the background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L72bWbSHjtSradaH9UddgD-320-80.jpg)
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket failure forces NASA to evaluate astronaut launch schedule for ISS
By Elizabeth Howell published
SpaceX is supposed to send a new group of astronauts to the ISS in mid-August. But after a rocket failure, NASA and SpaceX are figuring out what to do next.
![A timelapse view of a drone flying in a circle, indoors.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cZ5WPLUAT4xhv7KtNpjpUb-320-80.png)
Drone racing is helping train AI to autonomously drive spacecraft
By Stefanie Waldek published
ESA and the Delft University of Technology are training neural-network AI systems to race drones in preparation for complicated spacecraft maneuvers.
![NASA's official insignia, nicknamed the "meatball," as worn on the moon by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1969.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aJod4x6oaRXakp6SRjWtFh-320-80.jpg)
'Meatball' milestone: NASA's original logo still soars after 65 years
By Robert Z. Pearlman published
One of the world's best known and certainly most-traveled logos is 65 years old. The NASA insignia has adorned t-shirts and spacesuits, been reproduced 10 stories tall and reached the moon and Mars.
![A mission badge celebrating 25 years of Space.com](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xWPEvUq76mFSDWY57RLtXd-320-80.jpg)
25 years of Space.com: Space exploration and astronomy in the 21st century (special report)
By Tariq Malik published
To celebrate our 25th anniversary, Space.com is running a weeklong special report on some of our favorite topics of space exploration.
![three panel image showing a space shuttle launch on the left, in the middle a long exposure photograph of a spacex falcon 9 rocket launch shows a stream of light across the sky and the right image shows a rocket lifting off from a launch pad.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aJuw8eUu6DjnLbSw2UH3FE-320-80.jpg)
SpaceX, the rise of China and more: How spaceflight has changed since 1999
By Andrew Jones published
Space travel has changed from government-driven missions to a dynamic, commercially driven frontier over the past 25 years, driven by advancements in technology and the rise of private companies.
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