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International Space Station

A blue ball in a black field surrounded by white, tiny dots.

Got space junk? Wooden satellites may be the solution.

Science & Technology

Space junk — debris from defunct satellites and other man-made items — is a growing problem. Wooden satellites, an idea spearheaded by astronaut and professor Takao Doi of Kyoto University, may be the solution.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft is shown streaking across the sky with a long white cloud of smoke trailing behind it.

Russian space rocket fails in mid-air, two-man US-Russian crew lands safely

space

Russia says International Space Station damage might be sabotage

Science
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ISS Expedition 22 crew members take a moment for photographs following a fit check of their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at the launch site’s integration facility in December 2009.

As the private space industry emerges, what’s next for the International Space Station?

Technology
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ISS Expedition 22 crew members take a moment for photographs following a fit check of their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at the launch site’s integration facility in December 2009.

With private space competition on full boil, the ISS looks to find its place in next chapter of space habitation

Technology
spacesuit

NASA’s short on spacesuits — and new ones may not be ready for upcoming missions

Technology

Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in recent investments, NASA is still years away from new spacesuits, auditors say.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on his first spacewalk on Jan. 13.

French and US astronauts spacewalk for space station repairs

Science

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and US astronaut Shane Kimbrough switched on their spacesuits’ internal battery power, and walked into space to help install three new, refrigerator-sized lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the power system at the International Space Station.

Kelly brother astronauts

NASA is using twin brothers to observe the effects of zero gravity on the human body

Science

The International Space Station has hundreds of experiments on board, testing everything from how plants grow in space to the effects of microgravity on an astronaut’s eyes. But NASA may have scored the ultimate controlled experiment with test subjects Scott and Mark Kelly, twin astronauts.

Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational space junk removal system. Just maybe not this exact one.

Astronauts could soon be blasting space junk with lasers

Science

A recent proposal by Japanese researchers would equip the International Space Station with a laser beam that could blast pieces of orbiting debris away. The reason? Hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk are circling the Earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour, posing a danger to the ISS and other space projects.

Former astronaut Mark Kelly, left, stands across from his brother, Scott Kelly, the current commander of the International Space Station.

A study of astronaut twins will give NASA some key genetic insight

Science

Scott and Mark Kelly, like many twins, are taking part in a genetic study to see how environment affects them differently. There’s one key twist, though: Scott is commanding the International Space Station, and NASA hopes to see what his yearlong mission might do to his genes.