Elon Musk hails SpaceX rocket landing as ‘step towards the stars’

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hailed the breakthrough landing of its rocket booster at sea on 8 April, during a post-launch news conference at the Kennedy Space Center. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on a cargo run for the International Space Station and its reusable main-stage booster landed itself on an ocean platform in a dramatic spaceflight first.

Apr 9, 2016

SpaceX lands reusable rocket on ocean platform for first time

SpaceX landed its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean on 8 April, in the latest of entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space exploration ventures. The Falcon 9 launch was successful and the Dragon cargo ship was propelled to the International Space Station, where it is expected to arrive in two days. Footage from the “chase plane” shows the rocket safely landing on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ drone pad.

Apr 9, 2016

Elon Musk's SpaceX makes history with reusable rocket, lands it on a drone ship at sea

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lands on drone ship, after separating from Dragon spacecraft carrying cargo for ISS.

Apr 9, 2016

SpaceX to launch Nasa expandable habitats to ISS

SpaceXs Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to launch on 8 April, carrying a cargo ship that will take an experimental inflatable habitat to the International Space Station (ISS). The privately owned SpaceX, which is owned by Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk, has partnered with Nasa to launch resupply missions to the ISS.

Apr 8, 2016

Nasa releases stunning time-lapse of the Earth from ISS

Video released by Nasa on 4 April, shows a spectacular view of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station (ISS). The video shows city lights and lightning flashes as the ISS circles the Earth.

Apr 5, 2016

Watch a meteor shoot across skies above Britain

Incredible footage shot by the UK Meteor Observation Network, shows the moment a meteor shot across British skies on 17 March. The St Patrick’s Day meteor made its way across the sky at 3.20am

Mar 17, 2016

Europe-Russia's joint mission ExoMars 2016 lifts off Video]

The mission will investigate the source of methane on the red planet and conduct scientific operations.

Mar 14, 2016

Watch Indonesia’s total solar eclipse through a powerful telescope

A total solar eclipse was observed on Ternate Island in eastern Indonesia on 9 March. It enthralled many on the remote Indonesian island and many others around the world were able to see the phenomenon

Mar 9, 2016

Watch beautiful Aurora Borealis light up sky over UK

A few lucky stargazers got to see a rare sight on 6 March: the Aurora Borealis graced the skies over the United Kingdom. Peter Irvine created a time-lapse showing the lights show over the Kinbane Castle in County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Mar 8, 2016

Watch Scott Kelly land back on Earth after 340 days in space

A Soyuz capsule carrying Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov landed in Kazakhstan on 2 March. The landing took place in a steppe near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan at 10.26am local time.

Mar 2, 2016

Astronauts Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a year in space

The two astronauts were selected for a study on the human body after an extended stay in space.

Mar 2, 2016

Meteor ‘flash’ lights up skies above Scotland

Scottish residents reported seeing a bright flash of light streaking across the night sky on 29 February. The phenomenon was captured on CCTV and dashcam, and images and video clips began circulating on social media. Many Scottish residents took to Twitter to report the sighting and speculate on what they had witnessed.

Mar 1, 2016

ISS: Scott Kelly hands over command of space station

Calling it bittersweet, Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly handed over command of the International Space Station to Tim Kopra on 29 February, as he prepared to return home after enduring the longest US spaceflight.

Mar 1, 2016

Scott Kelly looks back on record-breaking year on ISS

US astronaut Scott Kelly held his final press conference from the International Space Station (ISS) on 25 February, telling reporters that the ISS is a magical place, but that hell be glad to get back to Earth. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are finishing up a 340-day mission before returning to Earth next week. Kelly told reporters that he hopes the legacy of their work will be to enable others to go to Mars.

Feb 26, 2016

Space chimp chases Tim Peake around ISS

Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly decided to inject some monkey business into his time on the space station by dressing up in a gorilla costume to torment his fellow ship mates. Kelly uploaded a video to his Twitter page on 23 February showing an unsuspecting astronaut, Britain’s own Tim Peake, checking a large white box. A few seconds later a costumed Kelly comes out and proceeds to chase Peake around the space station.

Feb 25, 2016