After several days of harrowing uncertainty, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite finally made its fiery descent through the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. more ›

UPDATE (12:35 p.m.): Well, now the satellite's orientation has shifted, so the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite might land in the U.S., after all. Keep calm and carry on, people. more ›

We love space, astronauts and science around these parts. But we wouldn't really be very honest if we weren't slightly unnerved at the fact that when a defunct six-ton satellite is going to come crashing to Earth, NASA isn't exactly sure where it is going to land. more ›

What better way to get in the mood for a space shuttle launch than to talk to an astronaut about one? DCist sat down with Alvin Drew, a D.C. born and bred astronaut who recently flew aboard the final Discovery mission. more ›

In 1962, then NASA Administrator James E. Webb began to invite artists to have special access to the astronauts, engineers and spacecraft during the tail-end of the Mercury program, just as Gemini was getting off the ground. NASA | ART includes over 70 artworks from the nearly 50 year span that has so far gathered 3000 pieces in both NASA and the Air and Space Museum's collections. As co-curator Burt Ulrich notes, the exhibit is meant to "see how far we've come as a nation, and as human beings." more ›

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of American human spaceflight with stargazing events, rocket challenges, planet "dances," and space shuttle launches. more ›

Cheers erupted from the staff at the National Air & Space Museum this afternoon as NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, over a live feed from Kennedy Space Center, officially announced that space shuttle Discovery will find a new home at the Udvar-Hazy Center. more ›

Early last year, we told you all about the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). The launch grounds, run in cooperation with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, is located on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on Wallops Island, Virginia, about three hours from D.C. on the Eastern Shore. Are you ready to watch some launches from D.C.? more ›

Good morning, space fans. I know it's been awhile since we posted a Look Up column (every winter, space takes a backseat to photography, as you know), but we have a few good bits for you today. Read on for once-in-a-lifetime launch viewing opportunities, how the Japan earthquake permanently altered the Earth, and some debunked space myths. more ›

UPDATE: Space shuttle Discovery has landed safely at 11:57:17 a.m. Next mission: Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum more ›

Washington, D.C. native Alvin Drew was the sixth and last astronaut strapped in a few minutes ago aboard the space shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is Drew's second shuttle mission, his first since STS-118 in 2007. more ›

I know, we've been a little photo heavy today. But what are you going to do when the most exciting things happening are the weather and people Monday-morning quarterbacking the egregious bad call on the weather by D.C. meteorologists? Most everyone is either trapped in their Christmas vacation locales or staying inside for one reason or another. Either way, I always look forward to NASA's release of satellite images anytime we get some big weather event – nothing puts into perspective the massive size and destructiveness of a hurricane or the pure blanket coverage of a regional thunderstorm like seeing it from above. more ›

I don't know about you, but I'm having flashbacks to October 2009, when the media went nuts about NASA "bombing" the moon. more ›

Early in October, we told you about NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's "Tour & Tweet" event. DCist photographer Steve Goldenberg signed up for the tour and took the set of photos in the gallery above; click through for his descriptions as they were led through the facilities. more ›

The easiest and perhaps most poignant way that NASA has connected the public with space exploration is through photography. Breathtaking photos of our first Earthrise, Hubble's extended gaze to the ends of the universe and brilliant studies of activity on our sun show us how much exists that we have yet to explore, things we couldn't even imagine until the photons hit film and CCD chips and were displayed for our relatively Earthbound eyes. more ›

Last week, we told you to keep an eye out for the Perseid meteor shower. Tonight and tomorrow will be the best nights for this year's show, as up to 50-80 meteors an hour will reach Earth and burn up into fireballs in the atmosphere. You may see them as early as dusk -- but for the real show, stay up late and watch until the early morning on both nights. more ›

Yesterday, NASA's Earth Observatory released this awesome image of Sunday's huge thunderstorm, created by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. We highly recommend taking a look at the animation of the storm, which is mighty impressive, even though what's depicted has made a whole lot of people on the ground pretty miserable over the last 48 hours. more ›

Hello again, space readers. Look Up is back from a short hiatus while your DCist Space Editor was out in the field. Let's start with some events in D.C. before we get to the main course. more ›

Big space news this week -- so big you could actually hear about it in mainstream media, a rare-ish thing indeed. President Obama delivered a (sort of) game-changing speech at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday. After the budget release a few months ago and the announcement that the Constellation program would be canceled, the space industry was left asking, "well, what now?" Obama's speech was meant to answer that question. The new plan is to vaguely resurrect Constellation, with the Orion spacecraft -- originally designed to launch atop the Ares 1 rocket and carry 4-6 astronauts into deep space -- now redesigned to be docked with the International Space Station and act as a rescue vehicle. Additionally, the plan includes design of a new heavy-launch vehicle, replacing Ares V, by 2015, sending astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, and to Mars by 2030. Lastly, the President committed to increase NASA's budget by $6 billion over the next five years, with $40 million to help the tens of thousands of workers who will be laid off as the shuttle program ends. more ›

We hope you didn't miss Look Up too much while your Space Editor was up to other things during the past month. Your weekly astronomy fix is back, however, so pull up a lawn chair and dim the porch light. more ›

After seeing this incredible image in December, we kept our eyes peeled for photography from NASA's Earth Observatory of last weekend's snowstorm, and weren't disappointed. The Terra satellite, which just celebrated ten years in space recording climate change, took this image on Sunday with the onboard Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The snow really highlights the topography around the Appalachian Mountains. NASA has been working models of today's coming storm to compile a projection of what the region will look like tomorrow, seen here. It's nice to know we're doing our part in the Mid-Atlantic to provide lots of data for NASA's Natural Disasters page. more ›

As if you need us to tell you, there's not a whole lot to look up to see this week unless you want to get slapped around by snowflakes. In the meantime, those of you who still have power and internet can at least do a little remote viewing. more ›

• Now that main roads are cleared, residential neighborhoods are the focus for clean-up — the D.C. snow team will be out until 8 p.m. tonight. more ›

No really, look up! Those are the Leonids streaking through the sky (they began on November 10). This meteor shower often gives one of the best shows of the year, on rare occasions being so spectacular that it surpasses being just a shower and becomes a "meteor storm," with over 1000 meteors per hour. We won't get quite that amazing a sight this year, but the debris from comet Tempel-Tuttle should still send about 500 pieces an hour through the atmosphere -- and with the peak arriving on Tuesday night and a barely visible waxing Moon to darken the sky, the Leonids will still be an astronomical show worth staying outside in the cold for (perhaps with your camera?). more ›

I think NASA would agree with me when I say, had I known the LCROSS mission -- which impacted the Moon early Friday morning -- was the mission that the mainstream media would finally report on en masse, getting it so unbelievably twisted in the process, I would have tried to explain the details of the mission much more clearly in the weeks leading up to it. Which isn't to say the coverage and the subsequent opinions by empty-headed followers hasn't been hilarious. more ›

Space Shuttle Endeavor -- which took off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, July 15 -- will be clearly visible to Washingtonians this weekend, as it hurtles through space with the International Space Station at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour and 220 miles above the Earth. Get out those cameras, folks, because the flybys will be "hard to miss" -- the Station and the Shuttle combined are bigger than a football field and reflect sunlight incredibly well. According to the Post, the view will be "like a very bright star passing with the apparent speed of an airliner crossing overhead." Sounds like a sight to behold. The best times for viewing, if clouds don't get in the way, will be between 9 and 9:30 this evening. more ›

Any fan of the space program should recognize quite a few faces roaming around D.C. this week. Last night, the biggest gathering of Apollo astronauts in years arrived at the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum for the annual John H. Glenn Lecture featuring the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, along with NASA's first Flight Director, Chris Kraft, and of course, astronaut and Senator John Glenn himself. The audience was filled with other Apollo astronauts, as well as the STS-125 crew that flew the space shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Telescope in May. more ›

Reader Mike Eisenhut sent us this photo yesterday (knowing this writer's predilection for space stuff) of Jupiter and Venus glowing brightly behind the Washington Monument. That's Venus just to the left, about halfway up the Monument, and Jupiter to its upper left. more ›

The Smithsonian's annual Folk Life Festival begins today on the National Mall. It runs from June 25 to June 29, as well as July 2 to 6. Daytime events are open from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; special evening events begin at 6 p.m. when scheduled. Below are some of the highlights we've picked out, and we encourage you to check their full online schedule and map. more ›