Space Missions News

November 11, 2026

Top Headlines

NASA Offers $500,000 to Develop Next-generation Electric Rocket Engines

Nov. 9, 2026 NASA is putting $500,000 on the line in a new competition to accelerate the development of advanced electric rocket engines for satellites and future space exploration. The AMPERE Challenge will reward up to two U.S. companies with cash prizes and ...

Caltech Robot Makes History by Building a Structure in Space

Nov. 9, 2026 For the first time, a robot has autonomously built part of a structure in space, demonstrating a breakthrough that could fundamentally change space exploration. The technology could one day allow scientists to construct enormous telescopes, ...

NASA Reveals Bold New Plan to Return Astronauts to the Moon in 2028

Nov. 9, 2026 NASA has revealed an accelerated plan to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028, with SpaceX and Blue Origin developing competing lunar landers and a crucial orbital test scheduled for 2027. Faster rocket preparations, new lightweight spacesuits, and ...

NASA Is Racing Against Time to Save the Hubble Space Telescope

Nov. 4, 2026 NASA is exploring a daring plan to save the legendary Hubble Space Telescope from its eventual fiery plunge into Earth's atmosphere. After more than 35 years of groundbreaking discoveries, Hubble is slowly losing altitude, and without intervention, ...

NASA Smashed Into an Asteroid. Now Hera Is Closing in to See What Happened

Nov. 3, 2026 Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of ...

NASA’s Voyager 1 Is About to Reach a Historic One-light-day Milestone

Nov. 3, 2026 NASA’s Voyager 1 is approaching an extraordinary milestone nearly 50 years after its launch, even as engineers battle dwindling power and mysterious technical problems. A clever energy-saving maneuver has extended the spacecraft’s scientific ...

NASA’s Artemis I Mission Reveals Surprising Radiation Levels Near the Moon

Oct. 28, 2026 NASA’s Artemis I mission has revealed that cosmic radiation near the Moon is higher than in Earth orbit, but not by as much as scientists might expect. Tiny experimental detectors also uncovered ...

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Just Shattered the All-time Off-world Driving Record

Oct. 21, 2026 NASA’s Perseverance rover has shattered a historic space exploration record, traveling farther across another world than any vehicle before it. Its advanced self-driving system helped it surpass ...

SpaceX Just Delivered Some Very Strange Cargo to the International Space Station

Oct. 16, 2026 SpaceX just delivered some surprisingly strange cargo to the International Space Station, including tiny brain models, 3D heart tissue, and technology for making artificial retinas in space. ...

Europe's New Sentinel-3C Satellite Just Sent Back Spectacular Images of Earth

Oct. 12, 2026 Europe's Sentinel-3C satellite has returned breathtaking images of Earth just two weeks after launch, revealing the snowy Alps, frozen Arctic islands, and brilliant turquoise Caribbean waters. Its ...

NASA Is Searching for Hidden Caves to Build Its First Moon Base

Oct. 8, 2026 NASA is preparing for humanity’s first Moon base with three investigations that will hunt for underground shelters, uncover hidden ice, and track dangerous conditions on the lunar surface. The findings could reveal how astronauts can survive and ...

This Mysterious Hole on the Moon May Open Into a Giant Cave

Oct. 5, 2026 NASA has selected the GIMLI project to investigate whether the Marius Hill Pit opens into a vast underground cave or lava tube. Using radar, seismic sensors, gravity measurements, and cameras, researchers will search beneath the lunar surface and ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:21am EST

NASA’s CHAPEA Mars Crew Finally Emerges After More Than a Year in Isolation

Nov. 10, 2026 After more than a year of simulated life on Mars, four NASA volunteers have finally emerged from isolation, bringing a remarkable space exploration ...

Mysterious Gas Leaks Suggest Mars May Still Be Volcanically Alive

Nov. 7, 2026 Mysterious gas emissions and fresh volcanic fissures suggest that Mars may not be geologically dead after all, with hot magma potentially still active deep underground. The discovery could point to ...

Don't Miss: Meteor Showers, Fireballs, and a Supermoon Light Up November's Night Sky

Nov. 6, 2026 November's night sky is packed with celestial wonders, from bright meteor fireballs and a close pairing of Mars and Jupiter to a spectacular ...

Astronauts Just Gave the International Space Station a Powerful Upgrade

Oct. 30, 2026 Two astronauts completed a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk to install a new solar array on the International Space Station, bringing NASA one step closer to a major power upgrade. Once the final array is ...

NASA Discovers Jupiter’s Invisible Shield Is More Complex Than Earth’s

Oct. 29, 2026 NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered that Jupiter uses a surprisingly complex system of powerful plasma waves and multiple shock regions to defend against the solar wind. The findings reveal major ...

James Webb Discovers a Scorching Lava Planet With a “giant Sunscreen”

Oct. 27, 2026 A scorching lava planet 280 light-years away has surprised astronomers by apparently maintaining a thick atmosphere despite conditions that should have stripped it away billions of years ago. James ...

Astronomers May Have Discovered the First Moon Beyond Our Solar System

Oct. 24, 2026 Astronomers have uncovered evidence of a bizarre, potentially historic discovery: the first moon ever detected beyond our Solar System. Unlike familiar moons, this mysterious object is at least as ...

NASA Solves a Strange Mystery Hidden Inside Asteroid Bennu’s Boulders

Oct. 19, 2026 NASA scientists have finally uncovered why asteroid Bennu loses heat so quickly despite being covered in massive boulders. Samples returned to Earth reveal that its rocks are filled with hidden ...

Scientists May Have Finally Solved the Mystery of the Moon’s Two Faces

Oct. 14, 2026 Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery about why the Moon’s two sides are so different, using samples collected from its farside for the first time. Their findings suggest that uneven ...

NASA Spots a Giant Patch of Moon-Like Rock on Earth

Oct. 11, 2026 An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed a remarkable formation in Madagascar that looks surprisingly similar to the Moon’s bright highlands. Made of anorthosite, a rock ...

NASA Astronauts Splash Down After 100 Million Miles in Space

Oct. 8, 2026 NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts have returned to Earth after 237 days in space, traveling more than 100 million miles and completing over 3,792 orbits while conducting research to prepare for ...

October’s Night Sky Is Full of Cosmic Tricks and Treats

Oct. 8, 2026 October’s skies are packed with celestial surprises, from Jupiter disappearing behind the Moon to two meteor showers lighting up the darkness. NASA highlights four must-see events, including ...

NASA’s Webb Finds Signs of Mars-Sized Worlds Smashing Together

Oct. 7, 2026 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving astronomers a glimpse of the kinds of violent collisions that may have shaped our own solar system, including the giant impact thought to have created ...

Don't Miss: Watch Saturn Shine and Halley’s Comet Debris Streak Across the Sky

Oct. 5, 2026 October skywatchers can see Saturn at opposition, catch meteors from Halley’s Comet during the Orionid peak, and watch the Moon sweep past the famous Pleiades star cluster. Moonlight may obscure ...

Watch Live: NASA’s Crew-13 Could Make the Fastest U.S. Trip to the ISS Ever

Sep. 30, 2026 NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission is scheduled to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on October 1. The Dragon could reach the orbiting laboratory in just 7 hours and 50 minutes, ...

The Ice Blasting from Saturn's Moon Enceladus Is Stranger Than Scientists Realized

Sep. 29, 2026 Enceladus may naturally separate and concentrate chemicals from its hidden ocean as droplets slowly freeze and shatter on their way into space. The process could explain Cassini’s puzzling ...

ESA’s Juice Just Used Earth as a Slingshot to Jupiter

Oct. 3, 2026 ESA’s Juice spacecraft raced past Earth on September 28, using our planet’s gravity to dramatically reshape its path toward Jupiter without burning much fuel. The flyby changed its direction by ...

Chang’e-6 Lunar Soil Contains a Surprising Magnetic Time Capsule

Oct. 3, 2026 Scientists studying Chang’e-6 lunar soil have discovered a previously unknown magnetic mineral in natural Moon samples: a form of metallic iron called γ-Fe. Found inside tiny impact-glass ...

NASA’s Crew-13 Could Go from Florida to the ISS in Under 9 Hours

Sep. 29, 2026 NASA and SpaceX could launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on October 1, with the Dragon spacecraft reaching orbiting outpost less than nine hours after liftoff. Crew-13 will ...

NASA’s Moon Orbiter Finds a 728-Foot Crater That Wasn’t There Before

Sep. 18, 2026 NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed a 728-foot-wide crater that formed on the Moon in 2024, making it the largest newly formed crater ever identified in the solar system. The impact ...

Venus May Have Swallowed Its Own Moon

Sep. 16, 2026 Venus may have once had a moon, but new research suggests the planet’s incredibly slow rotation could have doomed it. Computer simulations showed that instead of gradually drifting away like ...

Two Astronauts Who Flew Farther Than Anyone Before Are Taking New NASA Roles

Sep. 26, 2026 Artemis II astronauts Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman are transitioning to emeritus status at NASA after their historic journey around the Moon earlier this year. The pair will continue advising and ...

The Moon May Have Formed Intact Just Hours After a Giant Collision

Sep. 9, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the Moon-forming collision may have depended heavily on how hot and physically strong early Earth and Theia were. New simulations found that some impacts create the ...

September Brings a Dazzling Venus and a Glowing Harvest Moon

Sep. 3, 2026 September’s sky features brilliant Venus, the Milky Way’s hazy center, and the seasonal turning point of the equinox. The month ends with a glowing Harvest Moon rising near Saturn and faint ...

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Launches to Reveal the Universe’s Darkest Secrets

Aug. 31, 2026 NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has launched on a million mile journey to L2, where it will scan huge portions of the cosmos for clues about dark matter, dark energy, and distant worlds. With survey ...

NASA Delays Crew-13 Launch After Leak Found on SpaceX Dragon

Sep. 1, 2026 NASA and SpaceX have delayed Crew-13 after finding an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system during prelaunch preparations. Engineers are investigating the problem before the ...

Mercury’s Surface Reveals a Surprisingly Fiery Past

Sep. 11, 2026 Scientists have discovered that Mercury’s surface contains far less silicon dioxide than previously thought, pointing to an unexpectedly hot volcanic past. The finding suggests ancient lava may ...

NASA’s Swift Telescope Is Back, but Time Is Running out

Sep. 1, 2026 NASA has brought two of Swift’s telescopes back online after technical problems derailed a commercial mission intended to rescue the aging observatory by raising its orbit. With atmospheric drag ...

Venus’s Pale Yellow Clouds May Hide Something Surprisingly Dark

Sep. 12, 2026 A century-old mystery in Venus’s clouds just became more intriguing, as scientists calculated how strongly the unidentified material behind its dark ultraviolet patterns must absorb light. The ...

Scientists Discover a Massive Heat Anomaly Deep Inside Mars

Aug. 30, 2026 Mars has a hidden temperature divide, with its southern interior potentially hundreds of degrees hotter than the north and partially molten. The discovery could help explain several long-standing ...