Marina Koren
Why SpaceX Wants a Tiny Texas Neighborhood So Badly
The residents of Boca Chica didn’t ask Elon Musk to move in, but now his company is taking over.
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Cedric von Niederhausern / The Atlantic This Black Hole Probably Shouldn’t Exist
New observations have prompted astronomers to rethink their theories about some of the universe’s invisible objects.
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NASA No One Has Seen a Mars Landing Quite Like This
NASA engineers have captured a rover’s swift descent to the surface of the red planet.
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic Scientists Really, Really Want a Piece of Mars
A new NASA rover has jump-started an intense effort to finally bring home a pristine sample from the red planet.
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Getty / The Atlantic America’s New Vision of Astronauts
Once, American astronauts were white men with buzz cuts. Now they’re billionaires and a few lucky normal people.
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NASA The Simple Task That Mars Made Impossible
NASA spent nearly two years trying to wrangle a probe designed to burrow into the planet’s soil.
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Chip Somodevilla / Getty What Happens to the Space Force Now?
President Biden is inheriting one of Trump’s pet projects.
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Ian Waldie / Alamy Astronomers Are Keeping a Close Watch on the Next Star Over
They have noticed something intriguing coming from the direction of Proxima Centauri.
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Jose Luis Pelaez / Getty Put On a Hat, Please
I’m just a kindly winter evangelist, standing in front of your outdoor restaurant table, asking you to wear layers.
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The Atlantic Jupiter and Saturn Are Just Showing Off Now
This year is ending with a rare cosmic alignment.
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NASA Astronomers Are Now Obsessed With a Particular Gas on Venus
If phosphine is lurking in the planet’s atmosphere, the source could, just maybe, be alien life.
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NASA The Voyagers Found a Small Surprise in Interstellar Space
The spacecraft are still feeling the sun billions of miles from home.
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NASA / The Hubble Heritage Team / STScI ... Galaxy Brain Is Real
Looking at the long views from the Hubble space telescope might be good for you.
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Ricardo Arduengo / AFP / Getty The Tragedy of a Ruined Telescope
One of the world’s most beloved observatories is being demolished before its time.
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Bill Ingalls / NASA SpaceX’s Riskiest Business
Launching astronauts into space means being responsible for their safety.
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NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / ... Europa’s Mysterious Glow
Strange things could happen when radiation meets the icy surface of one of Jupiter’s moons.
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Getty / The Atlantic Mark Kelly’s Secret Weapon
The newly elected senator from Arizona joins an exclusive club of astronauts turned politicians.
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Jan Skowron / Astronomical Observatory / University of ... The Rogue Planets That Wander the Galaxy Alone
Astronomers are searching for mysterious, free-floating worlds across the Milky Way.
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Santiago Vidal / Getty Everyone Can Chill Out About the Moon
Scientists have detected evidence of water in an unexpected place—a significant, but not earth-shattering, discovery.
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NASA A Handful of Asteroid Could Help Decipher Our Entire Existence
A NASA mission to a distant space rock could reveal clues about the early solar system.
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NASA / Shutterstock / The Atlantic NASA Finally Made a Toilet for Women
The new lavatory is a symbol of the agency’s growing recognition of female astronauts’ needs.
