A model of China's Tiangong-1 space station, at the Shanghai Astronomy Museum in Shanghai, China, in 2021.
Long Wei/FeatureChiina/AP/File
Pakistani astronaut will become first foreign national to enter Chinese space station
A Pakistani astronaut will become the first foreign national aboard China’s Tiangong space station, as Beijing steps up space diplomacy amid a burgeoning battle with the United States for supremacy in orbit.

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CALIFORNIA, USA - APRIL 24: A view of the Lyrids Meteor Shower and Milky Way in Panamint Springs of California, United States on April 24, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Video Watch first footage of Blue Origin’s all-female crew in space 1:14
In this screenshot from video, Blue Origin New Shepard lifts off in West Texas, on Monday.
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Blue Origin launches star-studded crew on space tourism rocket
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Watch all-female crew fly to space on Blue Origin rocket 1:51
The all-woman crew for Blue Origin's upcoming flight into space includes, clockwise from top left: Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Lauren S√°nchez and Amanda Nguyen, on the bridge of Blue Origin's Launch Site One outside of Van Horn, Texas on April 11, 2025. S√°nchez teamed up with Monse to redesign the Blue Origin flight suits with its all-female launch in mind. (Justin Hamel/The New York Times)
Justin Hamel/The New York Times
Katy Perry, Gayle King and 4 other women are headed for the ‘edge of space.’ Here’s what that means
HOLCOMBE, UNITED KINGDOM - FEBRUARY 05: The full Snow Moon rises behind leafless trees on February 5, 2023 in Somerset, England. Tonight's full Snow Moon will be the smallest full moon of the year, making this Snow Moon a micromoon, which is the opposite of a supermoon. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
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Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon — soon
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In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
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This composite image shows the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known as the "bullet cluster." This cluster was formed after the collision of two large clusters of galaxies, the most energetic event known in the universe since the Big Bang. Hot gas detected by Chandra in X-rays is seen as two pink clumps in the image and contains most of the "normal," or baryonic, matter in the two clusters. The bullet-shaped clump on the right is the hot gas from one cluster, which passed through the hot gas from the other larger cluster during the collision. An optical image from Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxies in orange and white. The blue areas in this image show where astronomers find most of the mass in the clusters. The concentration of mass is determined using the effect of so-called gravitational lensing, where light from the distant objects is distorted by intervening matter. Most of the matter in the clusters (blue) is clearly separate from the normal matter (pink), giving direct evidence that nearly all of the matter in the clusters is dark.
NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.
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This handout photo provided by SpaceX and Polaris on September 15, 2024 shows Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander, stepping out of the manned Polaris Dawn mission's "Dragon" capsule after it splashed down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, after completing the first human spaceflight mission by non-government astronauts of the Polaris Program. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which made history when its crew conducted the first spacewalk by non-government astronauts, splashed down off the coast of Florida early on September 15, 2024. The Dragon spacecraft landed in the ocean at 3:37 am (0737 GMT), a webcast of the splashdown showed, with a recovery team deploying in the pre-dawn darkness to retrieve the capsule and crew. The capsule was lifted from the water and onto the recovery vessel half a hour later. (Photo by Polaris Program / AFP) / XGTY / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SpaceX / Polaris" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by -/Polaris Program/AFP via Getty Images)
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TOPSHOT - In this picture taken in the country-side near Dalby-Viggeby, south of Uppsala, Sweden just after 21:00 CET on March 24, 2025 shows a blue and white spiral in the night sky reportedly created by frozen fuel tumbling from a SpaceX rocket. A stunning blue and white spiral spotted in skies across Europe was created by frozen fuel tumbling from a SpaceX rocket, according to weather forecasters and scientists. The UK's Met Office said on X it had received many reports of an "illuminated swirl" in the sky on Monday evening likely caused by a rocket that had earlier blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. (Photo by Bertrand ILHE / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY "Blue spiral in sky above France, UK likely from SpaceX rocket" (Photo by BERTRAND ILHE/AFP via Getty Images)
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For Subscribers An eerie spiral lit up the European skies. Here’s why such light shows are becoming more common
In this screenshot from video, the Fram2 mission capsule splashes down off the coast of California on April 4.
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These whirling lines in the sky are the trails of stars after an hour-long exposure above Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. The trails are shortest around the North Star, Polaris, a star that happens to coincide almost directly with the celestial north pole. The different colors in the trails reflect the different temperatures of the stars, with blue being the hottest stars and yellow/red the coolest. The telescope visible above the horizon is the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, and the red glow on the mountain is caused by red lights used to ensure the eyes of visitors and staff remain dark adapted at night. The yellow glow on the horizon comes from Tucson, AZ, about 89 kilometers (55 miles) to the northeast. Over the past decade, light pollution like this has increased by 2% a year from many medium-sized and larger cities. To help monitor light pollution in your city, you can participate in the citizen science campaign, Globe at Night.
KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafresh
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Fram2 mission astronauts aboard lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 31, 2025. Launching aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule Resilience, the Fram2 mission will be the first human spaceflight ever to cruise over Earth's polar regions. The flight is being funded privately by Chinese-born entrepreneur Chun Wang, who will serve as mission commander. The rest of the international crew are vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Rabea Rogge of Germany and mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips of Australia. Their flight also marks the sixth private astronaut mission by SpaceX. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP) (Photo by GREGG NEWTON/AFP via Getty Images)
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Astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore talk to reporters during a press conference at Johnson Space Center on Monday, March 31, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon sit on the launch pad in Florida, ahead of the Fram2 mission.
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This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane. These are the largest organic molecules discovered on Mars to date. They were detected in a drilled rock sample called “Cumberland” that was analyzed by the Sample Analysis at Mars lab inside the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover, whose selfie is on the right side of the image, has been exploring Gale Crater since 2012. An image of the Cumberland drill hole is faintly visible in the background of the molecule chains.
Dan Gallagher/NASA
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A partial solar eclipse is seen as the Sun rises behind the Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse on June 10, 2021, at Lewes Beach in Delaware.
Aubrey Gemignani/NASA
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The planet Mars
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The NASA logo is seen at its headquarters in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2022. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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‘Targeted’ and ‘cruel’: NASA staff react to layoffs as broader changes loom
In this image provided by NASA, a SpaceX capsule splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as it lands off the coast of Florida with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)
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This is a Hubble Space Telescope composite image of a supernova explosion designated SN 2014J in the galaxy M82. At a distance of approximately 11.5 million light-years from Earth it is the closest supernova of its type discovered in the past few decades. The explosion is categorized as a Type Ia supernova, which is theorized to be triggered in binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and another star — which could be a second white dwarf, a star like our sun, or a giant star.
NASA Goddard
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This is an artist’s impression of JADES-GS-z14-0, which as of today is the most distant confirmed galaxy. Galaxies in the early Universe tend to be clumpy and irregular. Supernova explosions in this galaxy would have spread heavy elements forged inside stars, like oxygen, which has been now detected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
M. Kornmesser/ESO
Oxygen detected in the most distant galaxy ever found