Space Shuttle
Photographing These Abandoned Space Shuttles Made Me a Russian Target
How one man broke into a secret facility housing the last of the Soviet Union's experimental space ships.
The United Nations Will Launch Its First Space Mission In 2021
To open space up to less wealthy countries.
The Moon-Walking, Alien-Hunting, Psychic Astronaut Who Got Sued By NASA
A Radio Motherboard chat with the late astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man on the moon and a connoisseur of consciousness, psychics, and aliens.
An Astronaut Describes What It's Like to Come Back to Earth from Space
You may remember Leland Melvin as the astronaut whose NASA portrait includes his two dogs.
Does Tragedy Prove That Space Exploration Is Worth It?
If history is any guide — and it may very well not be — NASA is on track to have its next major accident in five years or so. But that may be proof the space agency is on the right track.
How the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Changed America's Romance With Space
Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger and the death of teacher Christa McAuliffe along with six crewmembers, which struck a major blow to the average guy's dreams of venturing into outer space.
Here’s How NASA Names the Spacecraft It Hurls Into the Void
Would the Apollo mission have been as sweet by any other name?
How Is Critical 'Life or Death' Software Tested?
Ideally, it's so good that it barely needs to be in the first place.
Inside Titusville, Florida's Space Shuttle Ghost Town
The economy hasn't picked up here since NASA left.
How Challenger Exploded, and Other Mistakes Were Made
Torrents of big data can't stop mistakes—sometimes they make them more likely. The tragedy of Challenger, as with G.M. and others, was that some people had tried to stop it.