In this image taken from video broadcast by SpaceX, crew members wave after the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Florida Panhandle, late Tuesday, May 30, 2023. AP hide caption
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NASA's InSight Mars lander is covered in dust in its final selfie, taken on April 24. The following month its robotic arm was put into resting position, aka "retirement pose." NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption
A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifted off in Florida in Feb. 2015, on its way to send the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite into space. But seven years later, part of the rocket left behind in space is hurtling straight toward the moon. John Raoux/AP hide caption
A piece of space junk the size of a school bus is barreling straight toward the moon
In a first, the SpaceX mission has launched four civilians: Chris Sembroski (from left), Sian Proctor, Jared Isaacman and Hayley Arceneaux. John Kraus/Inspiration4/Flickr hide caption
This photo, provided by China National Space Administration via Xinhua News Agency, is the first image of the moon's far side ever taken from the surface. A Chinese spacecraft on Thursday made the first landing on the far side of the moon, state media said. Imaginechina via AP hide caption
Neil deGrasse Tyson attends Film Independent at LACMA presents StarTalk — A Conversation with Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, on June 5 in Los Angeles. Araya Diaz/Getty Images hide caption
Asteroid Ryugu, photographed on June 26 by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, was the Japanese mission's destination. The craft will travel alongside the asteroid for 18 months. JAXA, University of Tokyo and collaborators hide caption
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Crew members on one of the simulated Mars missions this spring included Pitchayapa Jingjit (from left), Becky Parker, Elijah Espinoza and Esteban Ramirez. Community college students and teachers in real life, the team members spent a week in the Utah desert, partly to experience the isolation and challenges of a real trip to Mars. Rae Ellen Bichell/NPR hide caption
To Prepare For Mars Settlement, Simulated Missions Explore Utah's Desert
This simulated 3-D perspective view of Chasma Boreale, a canyon that reaches 570 kilometers (350 miles) into the north polar cap on Mars, was created from image data taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. NASA/JPL/Arizona State University, R. Luk hide caption
The world's largest radio telescope is nestled among the jagged, green mountains of southwest China's Guizhou Province. Anthony Kuhn/NPR hide caption
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft returned images, such as this one, to improve maps of different regions of Pluto. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI hide caption
Ellen Stofan (from left), chief scientist of NASA, and astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti, Serena Auñón and Cady Coleman. Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption
Filmmaker and musician Melvin Van Peebles' new album with the London band The Heliocentrics is titled The Last Transmission. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
File photo of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. Reed Saxon/AP hide caption
An artist's view of BoldlyGo's SCIM mission in which a probe would skim the Martian atmosphere capturing dust particles and returning them to Earth. BoldlyGo Institute, Inc. hide caption
