Spacecraft

After several previous failures, the historic rocket landing paves the way for a new era of faster, cheaper spaceflight

"Monkey King" is first in a line of Chinese space missions focused on scientific discovery

From progress on deciphering the strange features of dwarf planet Ceres to NASA's plans to play with Martian sand and a heroic rescue of Japan's Venus-bound spacecraft, it's been an interesting past couple of weeks

New findings reveal a crater’s vaporous hazes, and hint at the dwarf planet’s possible origin in the outer solar system

Five years after a failed insertion into planet's orbit, Akatsuki tries again

Recovering and reusing rocket stages could significantly reduce launch costs

No other agency or company had previously successfully landed a reusable rocket

Findings from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggests winter in Titan's southern hemisphere will be even colder than predicted

New Horizons reveals the orbits of Pluto's four smallest moons to be even more chaotic than expected

There were other options, but super close-up shots on descent will provide science bonanza

NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd recalls leading the first mission to the space station on November 2, 2000

The U.S.’s measly stockpile of plutonium is barely adequate for missions planned for the next decade