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NASA

Feb 22, 2021 | Associated Press
This combination of images from video made available by NASA shows steps in the descent of the Mars Perseverance rover as it approaches the surface of the planet on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

NASA on Monday released the first high-quality video of a spacecraft landing on Mars, a three-minute trailer showing the enormous orange and white parachute hurtling open and the red dust kicking up as rocket engines lowered the rover to the surface.

Feb 18, 2021 | Patty Wetli
The first image NASA’s Perseverance rover sent back after touching down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. The view, from one of Perseverance’s Hazard Cameras, is partially obscured by a dust cover. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

NASA’s Perseverance rover greeted its global audience on Twitter, beaming back to Earth the first image captured after touching down Thursday afternoon on Mars. 

Feb 17, 2021 | Paul Caine
This Sept. 21, 2020 image shows the remains of an ancient delta in Mars’ Jezero Crater, which NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will explore for signs of fossilized microbial life. The image was taken by the high resolution stereo camera aboard the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express orbiter. (ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin)

NASA prepares to land a rover on Mars designed specifically to detect signs of ancient life. Local astronomer and space exploration enthusiast Mark Hammergren tells us more about the mission.

Dec 29, 2020 | Evan Garcia
A rendering of the GLIDE spacecraft by Lara Waldrop.

A spacecraft designed by an Illinois researcher and professor will orbit Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer to better understand powerful bursts of radiation from the sun, also known as solar flares. Lara Waldrop tells us more.

Aug 19, 2020 | Patty Wetli
(NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Facebook)

An asteroid the size of an SUV buzzed past Earth over the weekend, coming closer to the planet than any other on record, according to NASA. 

Aug 11, 2020 | Patty Wetli
The Perseid meteor shower will peak Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. (Mike Lewinski / Flickr)

Be on the lookout for Perseids on Tuesday night and early Wednesday as the meteor shower hits its peak. Here’s how to maximize your chances of seeing these fireballs streak across the sky.

Aug 2, 2020 | Associated Press
In this May, 30, 2020 file photo, NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Behnken walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Pad 39-A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo / John Raoux, File)

Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

Jul 21, 2020 | Paul Caine
(Credit: NASA / European Space Agency)

We journey to the sun’s surface and explore more from the world of science with University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin.

Jul 14, 2020 | Patty Wetli
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows greater detail in the twin tails of comet NEOWISE, as seen on July 5, 2020. The lower, broader tail is the comet’s dust tail, while the thinner, upper tail is the comet’s ion tail. (NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Lab / Parker Solar Probe /Guillermo Stenborg)

The comet has been delighting sky gazers across the globe. Catch it now, because it won’t swing back our way for another 6,800 years.

May 30, 2020 | Associated Press
A SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, lifts off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, May 30, 2020. (AP Photo / John Raoux)

A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era in commercial space travel.

May 27, 2020 | Patty Wetli
NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Behnken, during a launch rehearsal. (NASA HQ Photo / Flickr)

It’s a big day for NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX as they send humans into space Wednesday, the first crewed launch from American soil since 2011 and the first by a private firm.

May 6, 2020 | Patty Wetli
“Chicago Tonight” viewer J. Scott Sykora shared this photo of a harvest supermoon eclipse on Sept. 27, 2015.

There hasn’t been a lot to get excited about in 2020, but one bright spot has been the moon, specifically the string of supermoons we’ve enjoyed this spring. 

Apr 22, 2020 | Patty Wetli
Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders’ photograph of the first earthrise witnessed by humans. (NASA)

Apollo 8 astronauts were the first to ever witness an earthrise, a view of the planet that put its fragility into perspective and helped propel the environmental movement.

Apr 13, 2020 | Associated Press
In this April 15, 1970 photo made available by NASA, a group of flight controllers gather around the console of Glenn S. Lunney, foreground seated, Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room of Mission Control Center in Houston. (NASA via AP)

Apollo 13’s astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later — on April 13.

Mar 2, 2020 | Patty Wetli
Pollution density over China in January 2020 (left) and dramatically less in February. (NASA Earth Observatory)

Satellites show a dramatic drop in pollution over China, which scientists say can be partially attributed to quarantines and an economic slowdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Feb 10, 2020 | Patty Wetli
An artist’s impression of Solar Orbiter. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

It may not seem like it lately, but the sun does indeed still exist. And NASA is sending a spacecraft to our friendly neighborhood star to get some answers.