Space Transportation Systems
Space Transportation Systems (STS) are the systems and architectures that deliver payloads and humans to outer space. Learn about space shuttles, rockets and other spacecraft.
The Zoo Hypothesis: Are Aliens Watching Us Like Animals in a Zoo?
Communicating With Aliens Is Hard. Communicating With Alien AI Could Be Harder
Could Dark Matter Spawn 'Shadow Life'?
What Is a Harvest Moon?
The Mysteries of Mercury Retrograde Unveiled: A Cosmic Phenomenon
A Comprehensive Guide to the Layers of the Earth
10 Best Ideas for Interplanetary Communication
How can the moon generate electricity?
How Terraforming Mars Will Work
What Really Happened to Yuri Gagarin, the First Man in Space?
Apollo 11 One Giant Leap For Mankind
How Sputnik Worked
Moon's Glass Beads Hold Billions of Tons of Water
Quiz: Apollo 11, the First Moon Landing
Who was James Webb?
Learn More
If you asked, most science fiction fans could probably name their favorite spaceships from television or cinema. Whether it’s the USS Enterprise or an Imperial Star Destroyer, they’re all pretty equal on the imaginative scale. However, when it comes to sheer speed, there are some fictional spaceships that are clearly faster than others. The Milano […] The post The Fastest Fictional Spaceships appeared first on Goliath.
By Wes Walcott
In honor of Douglas Adams and galactic hitchhikers everywhere, we submit this list of 10 spacecraft that we hopelessly pine for. Mindboggingly beautiful!
By Robert Lamb
Driving on Earth is tough enough. What happens when you throw in craters, unexpected solar events and backseat driving from your fellow astronauts while you bump over the moon?
Advertisement
The science of rocketry is extremely complex and, at times, dangerous. This collection of images highlights the tech that gets all that science off the ground.
From a distance, a space shuttle looks pretty sturdy. It's enormous and solid, and it can withstand extreme temperatures when it enters the Earth's atmosphere. But in some ways, a space shuttle is delicate.
But can a commercial spacecraft take off on its own from the ground, travel into outer space and land again on a runway? That's the goal of XCOR Aerospace, and it starts with the EZ-Rocket. In this article, we'll learn about the technology behind the EZ-Rocket and see how XCOR plans to expand on this technology in the future.
Traveling faster than the speed of light, you could go anywhere in minutes -- at least, in the "Star Trek" universe. Is this sci-fi device theoretically possible?
By John Fuller
Advertisement
The Apollo program was initiated with the goal of landing a man on the moon. What was the spacecraft that helped make this giant leap for mankind?
Project Gemini played an important step in NASA's efforts to put a man on the moon. How did the Gemini spacecraft carry two astronauts into space and back safely?
Virgin Galactic is trying to give the average person a chance at playing astronaut for a day -- on SpaceShipTwo, the world's first civilian passenger spaceliner.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan had a vision for a permanently inhabited space station. Today that vision is a reality we know as the International Space Station.
Advertisement
Imagine waking up in the morning, looking out your window and seeing the planet Earth below you. What would it be like to live in space? Find out all about the International Space Station.
In its nearly 30-year history, the space shuttle program has seen exhilarating highs and devastating lows. Learn all about the space shuttle program.
What is a solar sail? How can you use sunlight to move a spacecraft in outer space? In this article, HowStuffWorks will show you how solar sail technology works, take an in-depth look at the Cosmos-1 mission and find out what solar-sails mean for future space travel.
By Kevin Bonsor
What is a solar sail? How can you use sunlight to move a spacecraft in outer space? In this article, HowStuffWorks will show you how solar sail technology works, take an in-depth look at the Cosmos-1 mission and find out what solar-sails mean for future space travel.
Advertisement
I've heard that Russia's Mir station will be brought down out of orbit and crashed to Earth soon. How will they do that?
At a drag race, I once saw a rocket car that was supposedly powered by spraying hydrogen peroxide on a silver mesh. The resultant reaction produced huge amounts of pure white smoke and apparently enough thrust to propel the car rapidly down the track. Does hydrogen peroxide really react with silver that way?
In science, we are learning about the atmosphere. It protects us from meteors because it burns them up. So, why doesn't the space shuttle burn up?
Believe it or not, the hardest part of space exploration is getting a spaceship off the ground. Explore the basics of propulsion and learn about both solid-fuel and liquid-fuel rocket engines.
Advertisement
It's bigger, stronger, more efficient and more precise: The Delta IV Heavy is arguably the greatest rocket built to date. It can put 13 tons of satellite payload into its intended orbit with fuel to spare, and that's just the beginning.
By Carolyn Snare
NASA has built a lightweight robotic helicopter capable of flying in the thin atmosphere of Mars.
Titan is the only moon in the solar system with much of an atmosphere, and the only one known to have liquid rivers, lakes and seas on its surface.
From the beginning, NASA has sought emblematic names for the objects it blasts into space.
Advertisement
Visionaries have proposed various ways to get into space without using large rockets for propulsion, such as building a space elevator or harnessing magnetic levitation.
NASA's Spot the Station feature will text or email you when the ISS is about to be overhead. And you won't even need a telescope to see it!