In 2022, a piece of Challenger was discovered on the ocean floor

Watch the Challenger disaster unfold in real time

On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds after liftoff. This live CNN broadcast captures the tragedy as it happened—second by second—showing the shock and confusion of one of NASA's darkest moments.

Evidence suggests some of the Challenger's crew may have been alive after the explosion

Recovery of the intact crew cabin and later analysis of flight data led investigators to conclude the astronauts likely survived the initial breakup and remained alive during the roughly two-minute descent before the cabin struck the ocean.

Metal wreckage found in a Canadian farm turned out to be SpaceX spacecraft debris

The pieces of the wreck included a 36-kilogram aluminum spear more than 2 meters long, and its origins were confirmed by satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. No government acknowledged or took accountability for the space trash, which SpaceX later quietly retrieved.

Big Bird was almost included on the Challenger mission

As part of NASA's early outreach ideas tied to the Teacher in Space program, Sesame Street's Big Bird was briefly considered for a Challenger flight, but the plan was dropped because the oversized costume could not fit safely inside the shuttle.

Researchers discover a massive Lake Superior shipwreck

A 292-foot Whaleback ship, Barge 129, was found in Lake Superior 120 years after a storm sank it, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society said.

Scientists discover what looks like an underwater road

Crew aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus discvered a “yellow brick road” that looks it leads to Atlantis. Climage change may affect future ocean studies.

Commercializing space debris removal may follow the commercialization of launches

Active debris removal is likely to focus on larger derelict objects, which are more easily identified and yield better financial returns. One actively researched possibility involves using netting to capture derelict objects before towing them into a controlled descent into an ocean.

As of 2025, over 131 million pieces of debris orbit Earth

These pieces range in size from a grain of sand to the size of a bus and orbit with an average speed of 10 kilometers per second.

The history of deep-sea mining and its governance by the International Seabed Authority

The British HMS Challenger research vessel identified metal-rich seafloor rocks between Hawaii and Mexico in the 1870s, but rules governing which nations control which parts of the ocean were not established until 1958 by the UN. It later established the ISA to oversee mineral-related operations in international waters.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Remnants of another planet that helped form the moon may be beneath Earth's surface

Large mantle structures beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean may be the buried remains of Thea, a large Mars-sized planet that collided with Earth. The theory is supported by isotopic evidence from volcanic and lunar rocks.

Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American in space

A member of the 1986 Challenger mission crew, Onizuka was also the first Hawaiian in space, having been one of 35 people selected from a pool of 8,000 applicants for astronaut training in 1978.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Most elements of the International Space Station were installed over two decades

Space shuttles delivered storage carriers, docking compartments, airlocks, solar arrays, and labs, which were assembled in low Earth orbit. The station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, alongside maneuvering spacewalkers, has assisted with this assembly since its installation in 2001.

The Challenger disaster led NASA to create an independent safety office

In response to the Challenger accident, NASA established the Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance—now known as the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance—to strengthen oversight, elevate safety concerns, and mitigate managerial pressure on technical decisions.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

See images of shipwrecks from WWII's Battle of Midway

Deep-sea explorers have captured detailed images of three iconic shipwrecks from World War II's Battle of Midway, including the first up-close photos of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi since its sinking in 1942.

The world's largest coral, as seen from space

The world’s largest individual coral colony—measuring over 100 feet wide and 100 feet long—was discovered in the Solomon Islands. This coral is so large it can be seen from space, and is estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old. The coral's size and health provide hope amidst a global coral bleaching crisis, wherein three-quarters of coral reefs have experienced significant bleaching in recent decades. See the photos from space and learn more here.

Into the Mariana Trench

Located in the western Pacific Ocean, the Mariana Trench is the deepest known point on Earth. Its lowest point, known as Challenger Deep, is farther down than the height of Mount Everest by more than a mile. This 13-minute video discusses how the trench was formed, and the extreme conditions at the sea floor.

Watch the first-ever footage of a ghost shark

In 2009, the pointy-nosed blue chimaera was filmed swimming in the deep sea. That same year, researchers first observed them off the coast of California and Hawaii, after they had previously been found only in the Southern Hemisphere.

Unraveling the charred remains of the only known library from antiquity

This article details the quest to decipher the charred remains of a library buried during Mt. Vesuvius' volcanic blast. In 1752, nearly 2,000 papyrus scrolls were found in Herculaneum. According to this article, this collection is the only complete library that has survived from antiquity. In the last decade, scientists have made strides in decoding the crumbling texts.

Explore the 2025 Uber lost & found index

A chainsaw. Ten live lobsters. A mannequin head with human hair. These are just a few curious items passengers left behind in Ubers this year, according to Uber itself. Uber is among the largest gig economy platforms in the US, with a valuation of roughly $150B as of 2024.

The fascinating world of Disney's themed trash cans

One man's trash can is a literal treasure trove for Steve Tanner, the impassioned curator of this gallery of Disney's hundreds of distinct trash cans at its many parks and resorts. For 15 years, Tanner has researched and photographed the varying styles and themes of the trash cans and posted images and descriptions of them on his site, organized by location. Dive into the world of trash here.

NASA fixed Voyager 1’s glitchy memory from 24 billion kilometers away

In November 2023, Voyager 1 began sending unusable data due to a stuck bit in a decades-old memory chip. After months of investigation, engineers managed to reroute the faulty code to a new memory location, restoring functionality in April 2024.

The 'Elephant's Foot' in Chernobyl is part of the largest documented mass of corium

The nuclear disaster produced around 200 tons of nuclear fuel that mixed with the surrounding melted reactor core materials. As of 2025, corium has been naturally formed four other times in history: once during the Three Mile Island accident and three times at the Fukushima Daiichi plant disaster.

What Kitty Hawk looks like today, including a 60-foot memorial to the brothers

This short video surveys the flat, empty expanse near Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina’s barrier islands, highlighting the area’s attractive conditions for early flight. Also shown are the stone monument to the Wright’s and replica wooden shacks like the ones they lived in those fateful years.

Launched in 2020, NASA's Perseverance rover was equipped with a deployable helicopter

Nicknamed "Percy" and designed as the successor to the Curiosity rover, the vehicle has covered more than 36 kilometers (22 miles), collected dozens of samples, and taken hundreds of images while searching for signs of ancient microbial life.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.