NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain complete egress of the International Space Station during a spacewalk mission. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: NASA | edited by Steve Spaleta

On June 18, 1983, NASA astronaut Sally Ride became America's first woman in space after she and four colleagues blasted off on the space shuttle Challenger for the STS-7 mission. The astronauts spent 6 days in space deployed two...

On June 17, 1985, the Space Shuttle Discovery launched on NASA's STS-51-G mission, carrying payload specialist Sultan Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who became the first Arab and first Muslim in space. And...

Watch the pair of amazing time-lapses of the Aurora Borealis from the International Space Station captured by NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: NASA/Don Pettit | edited by Steve Spaleta Music: Aurora by...

On June 11, 2015, NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency and Russian Anton Shkaplerov returned to Earth after 199 days on the International Space Station. The trio made up the...

NASA's Lucy spacecraft has captured the first-ever view of asteroid Donaldjohanson. It was reported by NASA the spacecraft’s closest approach distance was 600 miles (960 km). Credit: Space.com | imagery: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins...

On June 8, 1959, NASA's rocket-powered X-15 experimental plane made its first glide flight. The X-15 rocket plane was part of a series of experimental hypersonic aircraft. This flight marked the beginning of almost a decade of research...

On June 7, 1965, after a four-day mission and 62 orbits, NASA's Gemini 4 mission returned to Earth with an Atlantic Ocean splashdown. Gemini 4 was NASA's 10th manned spaceflight. It included the first spacewalk by an American astronaut....

On June 6, 1995, American astronaut Norman Thagard broke NASA's space endurance record at the time of 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes while aboard the Russian space station Mir.



Thagard, a veteran of four shuttle flights, was...

On June 5, 2002, the space shuttle Endeavour launched on the STS-111 mission from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space Station. The launch was originally scheduled for May 30th, but was delayed first by bad...

On June 4, 2010, the first Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage and reached orbit. Space Exploration Technologies, or Space X, was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, an internet entrepreneur...

On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space. White left the safety of his Gemini 4 spacecraft equipped with a spacesuit, a tether and a small gas gun for maneuvering. The spacewalk occurred just...

On June 2, 1966, NASA's Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface to become the first American spacecraft to land on the moon. Surveyor 1 took more than 11,000 photos of the moon along with other measurements, but, more importantly, proved...

On June 1, 2011, NASA's space shuttle Endeavor touched down safely for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after spending 299 days in space throughout the course of its 25 flights. Endeavour was built as a replacement...

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station, completing his 4th mission to the orbital outpost. See some of the science he conducted and photography he captured. Credit: NASA

On May 28, 1959, two monkeys named Able and Baker became the first monkeys to go to space and make it back alive. Miss Able was a rhesus monkey from Kansas, and her crewmate Miss Baker was a squirrel monkey from Peru. They were tucked...

On May 27, 2009, three astronauts launched to the International Space Station to complete the crew of Expedition 20. Expedition 20 was the first six-person crew to live and work at the space station for a long-duration stay. Russian...

On May 25, 2008, NASA's Phoenix lander arrived on Mars. [‘On This Day in Space’ Phoenix was NASA's sixth mission to successfully land on Mars, and it was the first mission to touch down near the planet's north pole. The objective for...

On May 24, 1962, NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter became the fourth American to go to space and the second American to orbit the Earth. Carpenter was one of NASA’s first group of astronauts known as the "Mercury Seven.” He was the backup...

See Rocket Lab's "proposed mission architecture" for a Mars sample return mission in this animation. Credit: Rocket Lab

On May 23, 2017, NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer took an urgent and unplanned spacewalk to replace a broken data relay box outside of the International Space Station. The problematic device, known as a...

On May 22, 2012, SpaceX launched the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. The Dragon was the first American spacecraft to visit the space station since NASA ended the space shuttle program almost a year earlier....

On May 19, 2000, the space shuttle Atlantis launched with the very first "glass cockpit." This was one of several big upgrades that were made to the space shuttle before the mission STS-101. NASA called this new and improved version of...

On May 20, 1978, NASA launched a spacecraft to Venus. The mission was called Pioneer-Venus 1, but it’s also known as the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. This was the first of two spacecraft that made up the Pioneer Venus mission. Pioneer Venus 2...