A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
SpaceX’s launch of astronauts to the International Space Station will make it the first private company to launch humans to space. The effort has ramifications for NASA and spaceflight in general.
A researcher in a spacesuit on “Mars” outside the Mars Society Desert Research Station in Utah.
David Howells/Corbis Historical via Getty Images
Understanding isolation’s effects on regular people, rather than those certified to have ‘the right stuff,’ will help prepare us for the future, whether another pandemic or interplanetary space travel.
The fifth episode of the To the moon and beyond podcast series explores where we will be travelling in 2069.
Scale models of rockets at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s booth at the International Astronautical Congress.
FOCKE STRANGMANN/EPA
Naming features on other worlds is a trickier issue than you might think.
If you went to Mars, you’d need to be able to survive an extremely punishing environment. This picture, taken by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, gives you an idea.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
I’ve worked with NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Project for 16 years. If you got yourself a ticket to Mars, here’s how I’d advise you to prepare. And by the way, any mistake could kill you.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station in 2012.
NASA
Could Canadian technology play a part in the newly announced U.S. Space Force? A team at McMaster University has developed an instrument that could keep Space Force troops safe from radiation.
Astronauts traveling to Mars and beyond would face serious psychological challenges. A well-designed media program – based on an old-fashioned schedule – might help make life at least a bit easier.
Spend many months attached to the ISS and see how well you grow.
NASA
If you want to live on Mars, you’re going to need to grow food. Seeds are naturally equipped to handle challenging Earth environments, but how well can they survive what they’ll encounter off-planet?