Kids News

Frank Rubio has inadvertently set a new record for the longest time in space by an American. The NASA astronaut who returned to Earth on September 23, 2023, was supposed to have been at the International Space Station (ISS) for 180 days. Instead, he was stuck there for 371 days. Rubio's time in space surpasses Mark Vande Hei's US spaceflight record of 355 days set in 2022. Russia holds the world record of 437 days, set in the mid-1990s....

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully sent asteroid Bennu's samples to Earth on September 24, 2023. The capsule, carrying the rocks and dust, entered Earth's atmosphere around 10:42 AM EDT (7:42 AM PT). Soon after, it made a picture-perfect landing on the sandy floor of the Utah desert....

On May 20, 2023, The Lego Group successfully launched 1,000 minifigures into space. The tiny astronauts made the journey aboard roofless 3D-printed space shuttles. The lightweight vehicles were built by a team of space architects and engineers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The purpose of the mission was to encourage kids to follow their dreams....

Earlier this year, Saturn lost its long-standing status as "moon king" to Jupiter after 12 new moons were added to the gas giant's 83 known satellites. But Jupiter's victory was short-lived. The ringed planet has reclaimed the title with the discovery of 62 additional moons. Saturn now boasts 145 known moons and is the first and only planet in the solar system to surpass 100 moons....

The SpaceX Starship's debut flight launch on April 20, 2023, was both flawless and spectacular. The 394-foot-tall (120-meter) rocket — the biggest and most powerful ever built — fired up its 33 engines and soared into the skies at 9:33 a.m. EDT. The uncrewed spacecraft was expected to complete a 90-minute trip around the Earth before splashing down near Hawaii....

NASA's successful Artemis 1 Moon mission paved the way for Artemis 2 — the second of three missions to land humans on the Moon again. The Artemis 2 crew will not step foot on the lunar surface. But they will be the first humans to fly close to the Moon in over 50 years. On April 3, 2023, NASA officials announced the four astronauts selected to helm the historic mission....

After a decade of exploring the surface of the Red Planet, the Curiosity rover has recently been looking up. On February 2, 2023, the NASA rover captured a stunning sunset on Mars. The image shows rays of sunlight stretching across the horizon, lighting up a mass of clouds....

Water is essential for life on Earth. Yet, scientists currently have comprehensive information on just a few thousand lakes worldwide. A NASA-led international mission plans to change that with the first-ever global survey of nearly all water on Earth's surface....

A remote area in Antarctica has been identified as the "coldest place on Earth." According to NASA, the temperatures in the East Antarctic Plateau can dip to a bone-chilling -136° F (-93.3° C). That is several degrees colder than the previous low of -128.6° F (-89.2° C) set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica....