Outer Space & Universe
Outer Space & Universe
Space, also known as outer space, is the near-vacuum between celestial bodies. It is where everything (all of the planets, stars, galaxies and other objects) is found.
On Earth, space begins at the Kármán line (100 km above sea level). This is where Earth's atmosphere is said to stop and outer space begins. This is not a firm boundary but is a convention used by scientists and diplomats.
Items in space are free to move back and forth; up and down; and left and right. These three dimensions are what make 3D space. Items also move forward through time, which is sometimes called the fourth dimension.
The majority of space contains very little matter and so most of it is a vacuum. Scientists do not know how big space is but we do know that space is extremely big, and is always expanding.
According to the big bang theory, all matter and energy in the Universe was compressed into a very small space. Then it exploded and started expanding. Space is still growing in size today; this means the distance from one galaxy to distant galaxies is getting longer.
Gravity is the force that keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. Gravity can stretch and bend space similar to how a heavy ball placed on a stretched sheet of rubber will cause the rubber to stretch. The scientist who discovered that space can bend is named Albert Einstein. How gravity bends space is part of his theory of general relativity.
Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Taikonauts and Spationauts
An astronaut is any person who is trained by NASA to travel and perform tasks in space. Although the space traveler may not necessarily be a United States citizen, each astronaut does go through a rigorous training regiment by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Other space travelers go by other names then astronaut depending on their country of origin.
In the United States, astronaut is derived from the Greek words ástron (star) and nautis (sailor). While, in Russia, a space traveler goes by the name космонавт (English: cosmonaut), which is derived from the Greek words kosmos (universe) and nautis (sailor). Westerners call a space traveler from China a taikonaut, based on the 1998 writings of Chiew Lee Yik and Chen Lan where the term tàikōng (great emptiness), Chinese for “space”. In China, the term yuháng yuán (universe navigator) is used for space traveler.
Only the United States of America (United States), Russia (earlier, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and the People’s Republic of China (China) have sent manned spacecraft into space. Other countries have assisted these countries by sending their own space travelers on space missions. For instance, a French space traveler is called a spationaut (from the French word spationaute), which is derived from the Latin spatium (space) and Greek nautis (sailor). (plural in Greek nautes = sailors)
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Watch live! SpaceX to launch Starship megarocket on Flight 7 test mission
Added 54 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX's Starship will fly for the seventh time ever early next week, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX announced today (Jan. 8) that it's targeting Monday (Jan. 13) for Flight 7 of Starship, the 400-foot-tall (122 meters), fully reusable megarocket d
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Watch live! SpaceX to launch Starship on first orbital test flight
Added 182 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX is gearing up for a huge milestone: the first orbital-velocity launch of its combined Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. How will it work?: https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-first-orbital-launch-explainer The Starship deep-space rock
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Watch live! SpaceX to launch Starship, attempt to catch booster
Added 87 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX's 5th Starship launch is ready to get off the ground, pending FAA approval, and you can watch the action with us live!
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Watch live! SpaceX to launch Swedish Ovzon 3 satellite
Added 116 Views / 0 LikesJoin us live for SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch of the Ovzon 3 mission to geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
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Watch Live! SpaceX's 30th Cargo Mission to the International Space Station
Added 120 Views / 0 LikesA Falcon 9 rocket carrying an uncrewed Cargo Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to lift off today at 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT) from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission, known as CRS-30, will be the fir
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Watch live! SpaceX's Cargo Dragon launches to the International Space Station
Added 147 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX's next robotic cargo mission to the International Space Station has been cleared for its Thursday (Nov. 9) liftoff. NASA and SpaceX teams completed a launch readiness review (LRR) on Wednesday (Nov. 8) for the CRS-29 mission, which will send a Drag
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Watch Live! SpaceX's Crew-7 launch to the International Space Station
Added 174 Views / 0 LikesFour astronauts from four countries will fly on SpaceX Dragon capsule to the International Space Station for a six-month mission. They will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on SpaceX's Crew-7 flight, and you can watch the whole thing live here!Broa
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Watch live! SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch of the Hughes JUPITER 3 mission
Added 179 Views / 0 LikesA Falcon Heavy carrying the huge Jupiter 3 communications satellite is scheduled to lift off during a 99-minute window that opens at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 GMT on July 28) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Florida's Space Coast.Broadcast courtesy: SpaceX
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Watch Live! SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch GOES-U satellite
Added 120 Views / 0 LikesThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES-R series constellation is expected to be complete in space soon, pending a successful launch of its GOES-U satellite at the end of June. The mission will be historic for many reasons, inclu
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Watch Live! SpaceX's Fram2 astronaut mission return to Earth
Added 180 Views / 0 LikesFram2 launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday night (March 31), sending four spaceflight rookies to orbit.That quartet is Maltese cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang, who funded and commands Fram2; vehicle co
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Watch live! SpaceX's historic Polaris Dawn spacewalk
Added 118 Views / 0 LikesPolaris Dawn will attempt its historic spacewalk on Thursday (Sept. 12) at 2:23 a.m. ET (0623 GMT), SpaceX wrote in a mission description on its website. During the spacewalk (also known as an extravehicular activity, or EVA), Polaris Dawn crewmembers Jar
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Watch Live! SpaceX's launches US spy satellites on 100th Falcon 9 flight of 2024
Added 78 Views / 0 LikesA Falcon 9 is set to launch a batch of next-gen spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) today (Oct. 24) from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1:13 p.m. EDT (1713 GMT; 10:13 a.m. local time). NROL-167 will be the fourth
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Watch Live! SpaceX's Starship Flight 4 Test Mission
Added 118 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX's Starship Flight 4 mission is the fourth test flight of the company's Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle. When fully assembled, they stand nearly 400 feet tall and are the world's largest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX has designed Starship
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Watch Live! SpaceX's Starship Flight 6
Added 117 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX is gearing up for the sixth test flight of its Starship megarocket, which is now less than a week away. Elon Musk's company has rolled the sixth Starship vehicle's 165-foot-tall (50-meter-tall) upper stage out to the launch pad at its Starbase site
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Watch Live! Tianzhou-4 cargo mission launching to Chinese space station
Added 248 Views / 0 LikesA A Long March 7 rocket will launch the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station on May 9, 2022 (May 10 - Beijing Time)Broadcast feed courtesy China Central Television (CCTV)
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Watch Live! Total Solar Eclipse 2024
Added 133 Views / 0 LikesOn Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will come to North America. Exactly six years, seven months and 18 days after the same type of solar eclipse crossed the U.S. from Oregon through South Carolina on August 21, 2017, this much longer event wil
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Watch live! US-Russian crew enters space station after Soyuz docking
Added 99 Views / 0 LikesWatch NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner enter the International Space Station after the hatch is opened on Sept. 11, 2024. The trio launched and docked with the International Space Station hour prior.
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Watch live! Vega-C rocket to launch Sentinel-1C satellite in return to flight
Added 89 Views / 0 LikesOn Wednesday, December 4th the Arianespace Vega-C launcher, which is smaller and lighter than its predecessor, will launch the Sentinel-1C spacecraft and you can watch the action live here!Broadcast courtesy: Arianespace
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Watch live! Virgin Galactic's 2nd commercial crew spaceflight with VSS Unity
Added 149 Views / 0 LikesVirgin Galactic has announced the crew for its second commercial spaceflight. Galactic-02 is scheduled to fly a three-person crew, plus the Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor who trained them, plus two company pilots, on a flight to suborbital space on
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Watch Live! Virgin Galactic's launches 1st commercial spaceflight
Added 155 Views / 0 LikesVirgin Galactic has set a launch date for its first commercial spaceflight. The mission, called Galactic 01, is in support of a joint Italian Air Force and National Research Council (of Italy) research effort called "Virtute 1." The passengers include: Pa