News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines

NASA launched the mission to make the closest approach to the sun in 2018

NASA spacecraft attempts closest-ever approach to the sun

A NASA spacecraft will attempt to make history on Christmas Eve with the closest-ever approach to the sun.

NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore and Pilot Suni Williams seen before they launched into space in June

Return of NASA astronauts from space station delayed

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore's return to Earth will be further delayed until at least late March, the agency said, taking what should have been an eight-day stay on the International Space Station to more than nine months.

World • 18 Dec 24

SpaceX is to build a vehicle capable of pushing the ISS into Earth's atmosphere for its planned destruction

SpaceX tasked to help discard International Space Station

The US space agency NASA has contracted SpaceX to help discard the International Space Station around 2030, a task originally meant to be carried out by Russian equipment.

World • 27 Jun 24

Between 1969 and 1972, the US Apollo programme saw 12 Americans walk on the Moon

Japanese astronaut to be first non-American on the moon

A Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American to set foot on the Moon during one of NASA's upcoming Artemis missions, US President Joe Biden has announced.

World • 11 Apr 24

A concept illustration provided by NASA of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on Mars (file image)

NASA's historic Mars Ingenuity mission comes to an end

NASA's Mars robot helicopter Ingenuity, the first vehicle to achieve powered, controlled flight on another world, has been grounded for good after flying dozens of times over three years, bringing to an end a landmark mission that exceeded all expectations.

World • 26 Jan 24

Rock pieces from the Bennu asteroid sample

Asteroid sample contains water and carbon, NASA says

NASA has said that water and carbon was found in the largest asteroid sample ever collected in space.

World • 11 Oct 23

The Axiom Space Artemis III Lunar Spacesuit

Prada and Axiom Space team up to design spacesuits

Italian luxury group Prada and Texas-based startup Axiom Space said they will collaborate to design NASA's lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III mission planned for 2025.

Business • 06 Oct 23

Prada's engineers will work alongside the Axiom Space systems team

Prada and Axiom Space to design NASA's lunar spacesuits

Italian luxury group Prada and Texas-based startup Axiom Space will collaborate to design NASA's lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III mission planned for 2025, the two companies said today.

Business • 04 Oct 23

Footage released by NASA showed the capsule on the ground in the Utah desert

Largest asteroid sample ever collected lands on Earth

A NASA capsule has landed in the Utah desert after a seven-year voyage, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected.

World • 24 Sep 23

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

Telescope image shows closest star-forming region

NASA has released a spectacular image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to mark one year since it began operations in space.

World • 13 Jul 23

NASA's panel was formed last June to examine unclassified UFO sightings

800 events collected by NASA panel examining UFOs

Scientists at NASA's first public meeting on "unidentified anomalous phenomena" called for a more rigorous scientific approach to clarify the origin of hundreds of mysterious sightings.

Science and Technology • 31 May 23

NASA will launch two more satellites later this month as part of the Tropics mission. Pic: NASA

NASA launches two small satellites to track hurricanes

NASA launched two small satellites designed to track tropical cyclones hour by hour from a base in New Zealand, in a project that could improve weather predictions on devastating storms.

News Lens • 08 May 23

The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas

SpaceX Starship rocket explodes soon after blast-off

SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, has exploded during the first test flight of the spacecraft designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

World • 20 Apr 23

The rock, which was spotted for the first time on Saturday by an amateur stargazer in Crimea, came closest to the southern tip of South America (Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Asteroid passes closer to Earth than some satellites

A truck-sized asteroid that loomed out of the darkness a few days ago - with the Earth in its sights - has sailed harmlessly past us, space scientists said.

World • 27 Jan 23

NASA's Orion capsule makes splashdown in the Pacific

NASA's Orion capsule splashes down in Pacific

NASA's Orion space capsule has splashed down safely in the Pacific, completing the Artemis-1 mission - a more than 25-day journey around the Moon with an eye to returning humans there in coming years.

World • 11 Dec 22

Gateway is an international initiative led by two main contributors, NASA and ESA

Skytek awarded contract from European Space Agency

Irish company Skytek has been awarded a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop flight support software for the new Gateway space station, an element of their ambition to bring a European to the Moon by 2030.

Business • 16 Nov 22

The huge rocket blasts off on its way to the Moon's orbit

Lift-off - NASA rocket blasts off for Moon mission

NASA launched its new mega Moon rocket from Florida this morning after technical issues had threatened to play spoilsport a third time.

World • 16 Nov 22

The 98m tall SLS rocket, the world's most powerful rocket to date, is due to take the Orion capsule, powered by the Airbus-built European Service Module, into the moon's orbit

Artemis moon mission launch planned for tomorrow

NASA will try to launch its Artemis moon mission tomorrow, after a series of failed attempts earlier in the year.

World • 15 Nov 22

An illustration of the DART spacecraft and the asteroid

Spaceship deflected asteroid into new orbit - NASA

NASA has said it had succeeded in deflecting an asteroid in a historic test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.

World • 11 Oct 22

Debris from the asteroid struck by a Nasa spacecraft can be seen stretching thousands of kilometres (Pic: CTIO/NOIRLab/SOAR/NSF/ AURA/T. Kareta Lowell Observatory, M. Knight (US Naval Academy)

New image shows asteroid strike 'bigger than expected'

The James Webb and Hubble telescopes have revealed their first images of a spacecraft deliberately smashing into an asteroid, as astronomers indicated that the impact looks to have been much greater than expected.

World • 05 Oct 22

The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket before its September launch was delayed

NASA eyes November for launch attempt of Moon rocket

NASA has said it would try to launch its Moon mega-rocket in November, although it would not commit to a precise date for the much-delayed Artemis 1 mission.

World • 01 Oct 22

The Space Launch System rocket and its Orion crew capsule were due for blast-off on Monday

New launch attempt Saturday for NASA rocket - official

NASA will make a second attempt to launch its powerful new Moon rocket on Saturday, after scrubbing a test flight earlier in the week, an official has said.

US • 31 Aug 22

The 32-storey-tall Space Launch System rocket and its Orion crew capsule are due for blast-off today

NASA calls off debut test flight of moon rocket

NASA has postponed for at least four days the launch of its colossal next-generation rocket ship on a long-awaited debut test flight, a planned six-week uncrewed voyage around the moon and back.

Science and Technology • 29 Aug 22

Dr Paddy Kavanagh from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies spent weeks at Webb Mission Control in Baltimore preparing the telescope for its stunning observations.

Irish astrophysicist reaches for the stars with Webb

NASA's release of images from the James Webb Space Telescope has been thrilling scientists around the world - including the team at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) who had a hand in building it.

Ireland • 12 Jul 22

A nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula

NASA unveils more images from Webb Space Telescope

NASA has started releasing the next wave of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful observatory ever placed in orbit.

World • 12 Jul 22