On April 22, 2010, the U.S. Air Force launched the super-secret X-37B space plane on its first spaceflight. [ This space plane is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much smaller...

Jupiter and the crescent moon start off and end the month together. Find out where to see Mars and Venus as well. The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of April 21-22. Amazing globular cluster M3 is also available for skywatchers...

On April 21, 1997, the cremated remains of 24 people were launched into space in the first-ever space funeral. One of those people was Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek." Other notable people on board included the physicist and...

On April 20, 2016, the moon did not turn green. The moon has never been green and will probably never turn green, despite what any viral internet memes may tell you. This hoax started in 2016 when someone jokingly posted a meme on...

On April 18, 2014, NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, also known as LADEE, ended its mission by crashing into the moon. LADEE had spent seven months orbiting the moon and studying its exosphere. The exosphere is a...

On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1. This space station was a modified version of the Soviet Union's Almaz space station, which was part of a highly classified military program and was...

On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth after narrowly avoiding a deadly disaster in space. This was supposed to be the third mission to land on the moon. Astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise launched on April 11 and...

A rock sample collected by the Mars Perseverance rover could help answer the question of "whether Mars was home to microscopic life," according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

See the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket's flight profile and first stage landing in this new animation. Credit: Blue Origin

On April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 launched to the moon! Apollo 16 was NASA's fifth lunar landing and the penultimate mission of the entire Apollo program. Three NASA astronauts were on board: John Young, the commander, Ken Mattingly, the...

On April 15, 2005, NASA launched a spacecraft on a mission to rendezvous with a small communications satellite. The launch went according to plan, but the mission ended abruptly when the spacecraft collided with the satellite. The...

On April 14, 1981, the first space shuttle mission returned to Earth after a two-day flight in space. The space shuttle Columbia safely touched down on Rogers dry lake at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where hundreds of thousands...

On April 12, 1961, a human went to space for the first time! Yuri Gagarin was the first Soviet cosmonaut and the first person to orbit the Earth. This was the Soviet Union's next big move in the "space race" after it launched the first...

On April 13, 1969, NASA launched a new weather satellite called Nimbus 3. This was the third in a series of second-generation research and development satellites NASA launched to test new technologies for weather forecasting. Nimbus 3...

On April 11, 1960, astronomers began the first scientific experiment that would search for extraterrestrial life. Known as Project Ozma, this experiment looked for interstellar radio transmissions coming from other star systems. This was...

Travel to James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam and MIRI instrument views of protostar L1527. The protostar is about 100,000 years old. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Morris: Lead Producer Thaddeus Cesari: Script Dr....

On April 10, 1982, India launched its first multipurpose satellite, INSAT-1. This satellite was used for both communications and weather forecasting. The Indian Space Research Organization contracted NASA to launch it, and it was built...

On April 9, 1959, NASA introduced its very first astronaut class. This dashing group of young men is known as the Mercury 7. They were all military test pilots before they were chosen for the job, and they had all "the right stuff" to...

On April 8, 1964, NASA launched the first uncrewed test flight of the new Gemini spacecraft. This was the very first mission of Project Gemini, which would later send crews of two into orbit. NASA flew a total of 12 Gemini missions, 10...

The Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument captured imagery of the sun over the last few years. The solar flares (blue circles) are shown using data from the spacecraft's Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays...

On April 7, 1983, astronauts took the first spacewalk outside of a space shuttle during mission STS-6. This was the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Challenger. The goal of this mission was to deploy the first Tracking and Data Relay...

On April 6, 1965, NASA launched the world's first commercial communications satellite into orbit. The satellite was named Intelsat 1 and nicknamed the "Early Bird." It was built by Hughes Aircraft Company for a telecommunications company...

On April 5, 1973, NASA launched the Pioneer 11 mission into the outer solar system. Pioneer 11 would become the first spacecraft to fly by Saturn, and it flew by Jupiter and the asteroid belt along the way. It launched about a month...

The Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile captured an "ultra-deep view of the Antlia Cluster," according NOIRLab. Credit: Images and Videos: Dark Energy...