Space

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft rocketed away on a two-year journey to the small, harmless asteroid. It's the second part of a planetary defense test.

The mishap caused the rocket booster to fall into a region of the Pacific Ocean outside the designated safety zone. It's the third grounding of SpaceX rockets in the past three months.

The spacecraft lifted off with two crew members and two empty seats, so that the NASA astronauts who rode Boeing's Starliner to orbit will be able to join for the ride home.

The asteroid is expected to spend about two months orbiting the planet, starting Sunday, as it gets temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity.

In an exclusive interview, the four private citizens described their five-day journey in orbit.

Splashdown was logged at 3:36 a.m. ET in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's Dry Tortugas islands.

The two American astronauts stuck on the International Space Station through February will still be able to cast their ballots while in orbit.

Two Boeing officials were expected to participate in a briefing after the Starliner landed back on Earth. But at the last minute, neither appeared.

The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, is designed to carry its crew to the highest orbital altitude that humans have reached since 1972.

After a summer of turmoil, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft successfully returned to Earth on Friday without any astronauts onboard.

Three glass beads brought back by a Chinese spacecraft indicate there was lunar volcanic activity until about 120 million years ago, much more recently than previously believed.