Blue Origin's reusable New Glenn rocket is almost ready to head into space, having successfully completed a pivotal test on Dec. 27. Blue Origin/Cover Images via Reuters Connect hide caption
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NASA's Perseverance rover took this photo next to a rock where it drilled for samples. NASA wants to bring samples collected by this rover back to Earth. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS hide caption
In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 in Spruce Knob, W. Va. Bill Ingalls/NASA/AP hide caption
This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Steve Gribben/AP/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA hide caption
In this illustration, the two spacecraft of Proba-3 fly in precise formation about about 500 feet apart to form an external coronagraph in space. One spacecraft eclipses the sun to allow the second to study the invisible solar corona. ESA-P. Carril @ESA/European Space Agency hide caption
Scientists say Earth's Moon went through a period when it was a lot like Io, a moon of Jupiter that's full of volcanic activity. NASA hide caption
The Helelani rover getting ready for the competition at Peterman Hill in Lucerne Valley. Raymond Alva for NPR hide caption
At a desert festival for space robots, engineers envision a busy future in space
A meteor burns up in the sky over al-Abrak desert north of Kuwait City during the annual Geminid meteor shower early on Dec. 15, 2023. Yasser al-Zayyat/Getty Images hide caption
CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, left, and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, in 2023 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Their mission to go around the moon has been delayed until at least April, 2026. Joel Kowsky/NASA hide caption
Jared Isaacman at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, earlier this year. The billionaire astronaut with close ties to SpaceX has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to run NASA. John Raoux/AP hide caption
Night sky and an alien finger touching a human finger. Getty Images hide caption
Tuesday, SpaceX's rocket Starship lifted off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas for its sixth test flight. Eric Gay/AP hide caption
SpaceX wants humans on Mars. Environmentalists say it's hurting Earth
In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, a view of the International Space Station taken on Mar. 30, 2022 by crew of Russian Soyuz MS-19 space ship after undocking from the Station. Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service/AP hide caption
SpaceX's Starship sits at its Boca Chica launch pad. The launch is set to happen on November 19. SpaceX hide caption
A false color view of Uranus made from images taken by Voyager 2 in January 1986. AFP/via Getty Images hide caption
A commercial airliner flies before the rising Beaver full moon above Kuwait City on Nov. 27, 2023. Yasser Al-Zayyat/Getty Images hide caption
Journalist Michael Shellenberger, founder of the Public news outlet, displays redacted reports during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday as he stresses the need for more transparency over UAP investigations. House Oversight Committee/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
Experts testify before lawmakers that the U.S. is running secret UAP programs
Artistic renditions of a future Mars settlement often feature structures above ground, as seen above. But after extensive research, authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith found that any potential settlement would have to be below ground. janiecbros/Getty Images hide caption
Humans on Mars? Here's why you shouldn't plan a space move anytime soon
This 2014 image provided by NASA shows a Taurid fireball recorded at the NASA All Sky Fireball Network station in Tullahoma, Tenn. NASA/AP hide caption
This artistic illustration shows the gravitational waves that ripple out from two neutron stars colliding with each other. This collision also causes bursts of gamma rays to be shot out seconds after the gravitational waves. NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet hide caption
The first-ever detection of gravitational waves and the powwow that preceded it
Some scientists are searching for the origins of life on Earth by simulating prebiotic conditions at hydrothermal vents, like this "black smoker" in the Pacific Ocean. Ralph White/Getty Images hide caption
Did life start on the ocean floor — and what does that mean for alien life?
A Long March rocket with a Shenzhou-19 spacecraft atop takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwestern China in the early hours of Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. Ng Han Guan/AP/AP hide caption
Official SpaceX Crew-8 portrait with (L-R) Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Grebenkin, and Pilot Michael Barratt, Commander Matthew Dominick, and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps, all three NASA astronauts. Bill Stafford/NASA hide caption