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The world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma treats astronomers to a starlit performance at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. For this exclusive concert on May 1, 2019, Ma requested to play in a dark-sky site under the shimmering band of the Milky Way galaxy. To the right of the Milky Way are two of our galactic neighbors known as the Magellanic clouds, which are glowing through the subtle red and green airglow above the horizon.

Space Photos: The Most Amazing Images This Week!

By Doris Elin Salazar

Here are our picks for the most amazing space photos of the week.

A Thor-Delta rocket launches the European X-Ray Observatory SATellite, or EXOSAT, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 26, 1983.

On This Day in Space! May 26, 1983: Europe Launches EXOSAT X-Ray Telescope

By Hanneke Weitering

On May 26, 1983, the European Space Agency launched its first X-ray observatory into space. See how it happened in our On This Day in Space videos series!

A photograph shared by NASA astronaut Christina Koch shows the boundary between day and night on Earth.

Day Meets Night in This Amazing Astronaut Photo of Earth from Space

By Elizabeth Howell

An evocative new photo from the International Space Station shows what it's like to fly along the line between darkness and daylight on planet Earth.

A new study shows that spaceflight can degrade the joints of mice.

Space Travel Causes Joint Problems in Mice. But, What About Humans?

By Hanneke Weitering

After spending a month in space, a small group of mice returned to Earth with joint problems. Now scientists are wondering what that means for humans who go to space.

A train of SpaceX Starlink satellites are visible in the night sky in this still from a video captured by satellite tracker Marco Langbroek in Leiden, the Netherlands on May 24, 2019, just one day after SpaceX launched 60 of the Starlink internet communications satellites into orbit.

Wow! This Is What SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Look Like in the Night Sky

By Tariq Malik

A satellite tracker has spotted SpaceX's Starlink fleet in the sky a day after the 60-satellite launch. The view is amazing!

A view of SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites in orbit, still in stacked configuration, with the Earth as a brilliant blue backdrop on May 23, 2019.

Elon Musk Says It's 'So Far, So Good' for SpaceX's 1st 60 Starlink Satellites

By Mike Wall

The first 60 satellites in SpaceX's huge Starlink constellation haven't experienced any hiccups in orbit thus far.

A "flight-like" model of the CST-100 Starliner service module ignites its launch abort engines and orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters in a low altitude abort mode test.

Boeing Completes Tests of Starliner Thrusters

By Jeff Foust

Boeing has completed ground testing of the thrusters for its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle, nearly a year after a setback in earlier testing of those thrusters.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane into orbit from NASA's Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 7, 2017.

SpaceX Launches New Legal Battle Against US Air Force

By Sandra Erwin

Launch Service Agreement contract winners Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance have filed 'motions to intervene' in the lawsuit filed by SpaceX.

Mark Sirangelo left NASA after only a month and a half as a special assistant to the administrator after the agency's proposal to create a new mission directorate was rejected by Congress.

Sirangelo Leaves NASA After Exploration Reorganization Scrapped

By Jeff Foust

A former space industry executive who joined NASA to guide its revamped lunar exploration strategy has left the agency after just a month and a half.

To individualize each Astronaut Edition LandRover, the skid — the lightweight wooden breaking mechanism — from the astronaut-owner's spaceflight will be inscribed and added to the center console.

Land Rover Unveils Astronaut Edition Vehicle, for Virgin Galactic Space Tourists Only!

By Elizabeth Howell

If you're a future space tourist with Virgin Galactic, there's a nice bonus in store for you.

Madison West High School, from Wisconsin, took first place for the third time at the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2019. Next, they're headed to Paris for the International Rocketry Challenge.

Wisconsin High School Again Lands the Top Prize in National Rocketry Competition

By Elizabeth Howell

A high school team from Wisconsin is on its way to Paris after taking top prize at the Team America Rocketry Challenge, according to a May 18 announcement.

SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites in orbit, still in stacked configuration, with Earth in the background on May 23, 2019.

SpaceX's 60-Satellite Launch Is Just the Beginning for Starlink Megaconstellation Project

By Mike Wall

The 60 internet satellites SpaceX just launched will be but the tip of a very large off-Earth iceberg, if all goes according to plan.

The Explorers Club president Richard Wiese (at left) accepts the donation of an Explorers Club flag from Mark Armstrong (second from left), with astronaut Mike Massimino and explorer David Concannon at The Explorers Club headquarters in New York City on May 22, 2019. The flag was carried by Mark's father, Neil Armstrong, to the surface of the moon on Apollo 11, the first moon landing mission, in July 1969.

Flag Flown by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 Moon Landing Donated to Explorers Club

By Robert Z. Pearlman

For more than a century, explorers have traveled to the farthest reaches of, and off, our world, carrying with them a banner of the club that unites them all.

In this illustration, NASA's Orion spacecraft (left) approaches the Gateway in lunar orbit.

NASA's Grand Plan for a Lunar Gateway Is to Start Small

By Mike Wall

NASA's moon-orbiting space station will be lean and mean, especially at first.

SpaceX's first 60 Starlink internet communications satellites are released all at once in this animation of images taken during the successful May 23, 2019 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

SpaceX's 1st Starlink Internet Satellite Megaconstellation Launch in Photos!

By Tariq Malik

On May 23, 2019, SpaceX launched the first 60 satellites of its Starlink internet megaconstellation. See the mission in pictures here!

A thrice-flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the company's first 60 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on May 23, 2019.

SpaceX Launches 60 Starlink Satellites on Thrice-Flown Rocket, Sticks Landing

By Amy Lynn Thompson

Thousands more will follow, if all goes according to plan.

A previously flown Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink satellite internet satellites stands atop its launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May 2019.

SpaceX Will Make History with 60-Satellite Launch Tonight

By Mike Wall

The 60 Starlink internet satellites will be the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched, and the spacecraft will deploy in an unusual way.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with 60 Starlink internet satellites on the pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in May 2019.

Watch Live! SpaceX Launching 60 'Starlink' Internet Satellites @ 10:30 pm ET

By SPACE.com Staff

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the first 60 satellites for its Starlink internet constellation today (May 23) at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT on May 24). Watch it live here!

An artist's depiction of the power and propulsion element for Gateway, the orbital base NASA plans to build to anchor human exploration of the moon.

NASA Taps Maxar to Build Lunar Gateway Power Module for Artemis Moon Plan

By Meghan Bartels

NASA wants to land humans on the moon in just five years — and the agency has chosen its first company to help the Artemis program build a lunar outpost for those astronauts: Maxar.

A Chinese Long March 4C rocket has reportedly failed after launching on May 23, 2019 local time. Shown here: A Long March-4C carrier rocket carrying the Yaogan III satellite blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on Nov. 12, 2007 in this photo from China's Xinhua News Agency

China Appears to Have Suffered a Long March Launch Failure

By Andrew Jones

A planned launch of a remote sensing satellite from Taiyuan in north China may have ended in failure, with the lack of an official statement suggesting an issue with the mission.