All Stories

Scientists are excited about Enceladus as a potential place for life and, more important, as a planet where we can look for life using existing technology and even predict, with some precision, the locations on the icy moon Saturn where we would most likely find this life.

The Pioneers of Flight gallery preview.

The latest news in aviation and space.

Ambitious plans for gas stations in space could extend the lives of satellites

Although the Artemis I mission won’t have any astronauts riding along, there are other items on board to commemorate the occasion and conduct science to further the Artemis program and other research projects.

Spacecraft face a dramatic range of conditions, from airless worlds bombarded by tiny meteorites to environmental extremes, when exploring our Universe. 

Lean about four different ways we explore and research the planets in our Solar System.

It has been one year since we all heard words “touchdown confirmed” spoken by Swati Mohan, confirming that the Perseverance rover had successfully landed on Mars. Let’s take a look at some of the major milestones accomplished over the past year.

In October 1961, three chimpanzees were brought to Cape Canaveral to join two already there. One of the new arrivals was Enos, a native of Cameroon in west central Africa. Discover the story of the often forgotten chimp and his contribution to human space travel.

I’m an executive producer at Smithsonian Channel and I had the pleasure of making the documentary Making Tracks on Mars. We made our film feel like an adventure because most people think of Mars as a frontier, but at its core, the story taps into our primal drive to explore.