After thousands of years spent staring up at the night sky, humanity rapidly gained the ability to not only travel to space, but land on the moon and live for months aboard the International Space Station. The period—kickstarted by the Cold War—is one of the quickest and most significant eras of technological innovation in human history. Explore the history and future of human spaceflight, from the first Russian cosmonaut to the possibility of sending humans to Mars in the coming decades.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
Just like the many Americans who can cast absentee ballots, astronauts may successfully cast their votes from space. Learn more about the NASA invention that allows space travelers to vote, the rules they must follow, how long this has been happening, and more.
Astronaut essentially translates to space sailor, though these sailors may be referred to differently depending on their home country. For example, Russian star sailors are called cosmonauts. Though why American, European, Canadian, and Japanese...
Outside the protective atmosphere of Earth, astronauts are constantly bombarded by radiation, which, among other dangers, increases the risk cancer. While those of us on Earth can mitigate the effects of similar radiation by limiting exposure,...
From space radiation to isolation, humans struggle when it comes to traveling and living in space. What does this mean for long-term spaceflight? This hour-long podcast episode attempts to answer that question while detailing five major spaceflight hazards.
All that exercising, and astronauts still are likely to lose a large amount of muscle mass while in microgravity. Astronauts can lose up to 20 percent of their muscle in as little as five days in space. Currently, tracking muscle loss means waiting until astronauts land to remeasure their muscle density post-trip. This article explains a NASA-backed fitness wearable that may be able to track muscle atrophy as it happens.
And why is the next cohort headed there? The geological conditions in Flagstaff, Arizona, can easily echo those of the moon, making the area a prime spot to train astronauts. This article explains how scientists crafted these training grounds and why astronomers are drawn to the nearly century-old city.
Astronauts' initial small step for mankind may standout, but how many steps have we taken so far? Space and moonwalks further our understanding of spaceflight, celestial bodies, and space itself. Created to resemble a constellation map, this chart...
Researchers are developing pharmaceutical solutions for astronauts, whose bodies may not respond the same way in space as they would on Earth. Similar to how microgravity causes changes to astronaut physiology, the environmental shift enables new...
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From roughly 60 miles above the Earth's surface to farther than light has traveled during the entire age of the universe, space has captured human imagination for millennia. Explore the final frontier with the best resources curated from across the internet.