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It may sound like the beginning of a Star Trek plot, but there’s a very real arms race going on in space. And Russia may have just made the first move. According to some startling reports, Russian military satellites have apparently launched unknown objects into Earth’s orbit. Space.com described the trio of Russian satellites as “secretive” objects “whose purpose is unknown.” “The three satellites, designated Kosmos 2581, 2582 and 2583, launched on a Soyuz-2.1V rocket from Plesetsk cosmodrome early on Feb. 2,” the outlet reports, adding that the satellites “have displayed interesting behavior.” That behavior includes getting oddly close to...

NASA’s iconic Space Shuttle is arguably one of the best things America has made thanks to its sleek looks, its use in the launch of the International Space Station and its contribution to our understanding of the cosmos through the countless satellites it launched into orbit. Russia’s attempt at building a space plane of its own, however, was far less successful and now one of the few reminders of its existence sits rusting in a hanger in the desert. Officially called the Buran space plane, the Soviet Union’s idea for a space shuttle looked remarkably similar to NASA’s. It had...

Look up and celebrate both the wonders of the moon and humanity's achievements in space exploration.When you look up this weekend you will see not only a striking full moon but also a piece of history. In a rare celestial coincidence, July's full moon will share the spotlight with the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, providing a unique opportunity to reflect on humanity's achievements in space exploration and our enduring fascination with our closest neighbor. The July full moon officially occurs on July 21 at 6:17 a.m. EDT (1017 GMT), but the moon will still appear full...

On Tuesday, the WSJ reported that a lunar capsule carrying the first rock samples from the far side of the Moon had touched down on Earth, marking a significant milestone in space exploration. But, unlike the pioneering missions of the space race of decades past, this cutting-edge endeavor wasn’t masterminded by the US or Russia, but by China.Space Race 2.0China's lunar ambitions have been growing steadily since its Chang'e 1 lunar orbit mission in 2007, with NASA data revealing that the country has now made 9 missions to the Moon. But, collecting rocks is just one small step in China’s...

The space race was still a thing when I was a kid but it hasn’t been for much of the last 45 years. But that’s starting to change as Russia, India, China and the US all gear up for various missions to the moon. In fact, both Russia and India have lunar landers touching down next week. Russia’s Luna-25 lander could touch down as soon as Monday, August 21. It’s the country’s first lunar mission in nearly half a century, and the first in the post-Soviet era. Two days later, on August 23, Chandrayaan-3 could become India’s first successful lunar...

Outrageous egos battling each other across the cosmos? Check. Sci-fi nerds who’ve definitely watched too much Star Trek? Check. Humanity’s next chapter in a space left in the hands of insanely rich tech billionaires happy to take NASA’s tax-payer billions? Check. This is Mission Control: We have lift-off! Just a month after Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the world’s most powerful rocket to date - the 400-ft long, $67 million Starship - only for it to explode mid-air just four minutes into flight, a phoenix has risen from the flames to bravely take on the quest for space travel. Or at...

NEWQUAY, England, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit said its rocket had suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit. The "horizontal launch" mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin's LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called "Cosmic Girl"... ...Virgin Orbit had initially said on Twitter that LauncherOne had reached earth orbit, a tweet it later deleted.

Russia's biggest “space wars” rocket launch in decades failed and may send 20 tonnes of payload screaming back to Earth, it has been claimed. The new generation Angara A-5 heavy carrier rocket malfunctioned and only made it to “low orbit,” leaving it short of its target and set to fall back to Earth. Although only a mock-up satellite it was crucial to Russia as a new military weapons delivery system and most of it is likely to burn-up on re-entering the atmosphere. Footage showed the spectacular unmanned launch from Plesetsk spaceport on Monday marking a new stage in Moscow’s space...

The United States may soon lose its status as a truly global superpower, both on Earth and in the heavens of low orbit.“The threats are really growing and expanding every single day,” Space Force Vice Chief of Operations Gen. David Thompson warned in an interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday.As the Chinese and Russians continue to enhance their capabilities beyond Earth-bound gravity, the United States finds itself in the midst of a new 21st-century space race, competing with world powers developing new weapons to target satellites.“We’re really at a point now where there’s a whole host of ways that...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea test launched its first domestically produced space rocket on Thursday in what officials describe as an important step in the country’s pursuit of a satellite launch program. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the three-stage Nuri rocket succeeded in delivering a dummy payload – a 1.5-ton block of stainless steel and aluminum – into orbit 600 to 800 kilometers (372 to 497 miles) above Earth....

Rather than dismissing billionaires’ space adventures, we should celebrate their risk-taking endeavors and be inspired to take risks in our lives.Billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos both rocked to the edge of space and safely landed back on Earth this month. Another billionaire, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, plans to make a similar trip.Many here on Earth dismissed these billionaire entrepreneurs’ space travel and competition as a waste of time, money, and other valuable resources, which could be better spent solving earthly problems such as hunger and poverty. Critics shrug off such space travel as billionaires one-upping each...

When an out-of-control Chinese booster rocket crashed into the Indian Ocean earlier this month, space experts were confused how an advanced space agency that just landed a rover on Mars could be so “negligent” as to refuse to install basic propulsion systems to guide the rocket’s safe return to Earth.The current best guess? As long as the rocket wasn’t coming back to hit China, Chinese officials viewed the risk of hitting a population center low enough that it would be better off paying “compensation” for any damages rather than use any more limited space-borne fuel. After all, the fuel burned...

This week Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, signed an agreement with the Chinese National Space Administration, to create an International Scientific Lunar Station "with open access to all interested nations and international partners." It was the most dramatic sign yet that Moscow sees its space future with China and not the United States, further underscoring its growing strategic alignment with Beijing. ...This week's agreement also marked an apparent rebuke of NASA's invitation for Russia to join the Artemis project, named for Apollo's twin sister, that aims to put the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. With...

A small fleet of spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates, China, and the United States will reach Mars this month after launching from Earth last year. The march to the Red Planet marks a marathon of firsts: it’s the UAE’s first foray into deep space, China’s first independent attempt to land on Mars, and NASA’s first shot at deploying a Martian helicopter. The rare convoy of Mars-bound spacecraft launched off Earth in a slim, roughly two-month window last summer when Earth and Mars lined up just right in their orbits around the Sun. This planetary alignment only happens once every...

From communists on Mars to 'The Expanse' in real life, the questions about the future of Musk's Mars are huge. Here's what you need to know. Martian 1776 has arrived, according to SpaceX. In a set of recently released documents, the company announced it has no intention of following laws from any government on Earth once it reaches Mars.“For services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities,” the document reads, which was included...

Robert Goddard, the father of American rocketry, is credited with developing the first liquid fueled rockets, with gyroscope three-axis control providing steerable thrust. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is named for him. After World War II, Werner von Braun , and 1,600 German scientists, surrendered to the United States in Operation Paperclip, stating: "I myself, and everybody you see here, have decided to go West ... We knew that we had created a new means of warfare ... We felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to...

Ethiopia’s first-ever satellite has been launched into space by China. The earth observatory satellite is designed to help the East African nation gather data for agricultural, mining and environmental protection. “Ethiopia has joined the effort to seek knowledge and information from space,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said in a congratulatory message to Ethiopians. He said that Ethiopia will send up more satellites in collaboration with other countries, without giving details. “This is a day we became one of the 70 countries in the world that operate a satellite from space,” said Ahmedin Mohammed, an official with Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology...

When news broke that the upcoming Hollywood film about the moon landing leaves out the planting of an American flag in lunar soil (though it apparently shows the flag later), both sides of the ideological aisle instantly weighed in, each with compelling arguments. The film in question has only been seen by a select few, meaning the truth won’t be clear until its Oct. 12 release. That didn’t stop Social Media Nation. (Does it ever?) The problem began when Ryan Gosling, who stars as Neil Armstrong in director Damien Chazelle’s film, shared why we don’t see the astronaut planting an...

Last month Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos State Corporation, began work on a contingency plan that would reshape its future in space exploration. The country could shift its human spaceflight cooperation from the U.S. to China, sources within Roscosmos told Popular Mechanics. One possible scenario includes Roscosmos exiting the International Space Station program early. If adopted, the new strategy would mark a historic moment for the Russian space program, which has cooperated with the U.S. for nearly three decades. In 1993, not long after the breakup of the USSR.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a new re-entry forecast for China's Tiangong-1 space lab. The 8.5-ton spacecraft is now expected to fall into Earth's atmosphere between March 24 and April 19, though ESA officials stressed that this is a rough estimate. "Re-entry will take place anywhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south (e.g. Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, etc.)" latitude, officials with the Space Debris Office at ESA’s European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, wrote in an update last week. "Areas outside of these latitudes can be excluded. At no time will a precise time/location prediction...