A spacecraft has blasted off to investigate the scene of a cosmic crash.

It will be years before the European Space Agency can send one of its astronauts to the moon, but the agency says it’s time to start practicing as it opened a facility in Germany that will let astronauts train in conditions like those on the lunar surface.

A European space telescope is thrilling scientists with its latest peek at stars and galaxies.

Four astronauts from four countries are back on Earth after catching a ride from the International Space Station with SpaceX.

An old Earth-observing satellite has fallen out of orbit and harmlessly burned up.

Scientists have unveiled the first pictures taken by the European space telescope Euclid.

Four astronauts from four countries are rocketing toward the International Space Station.

Countries in southern Europe are preparing emergency measures at the start of a heat wave that is expected to push temperatures to 45 degrees Celsius (113F) in some areas over the next few days.

The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet.

A European space telescope has blasted off to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe.

A European spacecraft around Mars has sent its first livestream from the red planet to Earth to mark the 20th anniversary of its launch.

A crucial radar antenna on a spacecraft bound for Jupiter is no longer jammed.

A critical antenna is jammed on a Jupiter-bound spacecraft launched two weeks ago.

A European spacecraft has blasted off on a quest to explore Jupiter and three of its ice-encrusted moons.

With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone.

Astronomers have discovered what appear to be massive galaxies dating back to within 600 million years of the Big Bang.

The European Space Agency chief says he wants to rebuild Europe’s access to space following the botched launch of a European rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites last year and the delayed introduction of the Ariane 6 launcher.

The European Space Agency has made history by selecting an amputee who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident to be among its newest batch of astronauts.

An Italian astronaut teamed up with a Russian cosmonaut in a rare spacewalking show of unity.

The European Space Agency is celebrating the first flight of its Vega-C rocket designed to provide more bang for customers’ buck in the increasingly competitive business of launching satellites into orbit.

The head of the European Space Agency says Russia's invasion of Ukraine highlights the need for the continent to become less dependent on other nations.

The European Space Agency has released a trove of data on almost 2 billion stars in the Milky Way.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is causing a swift and broad decaying of scientific ties between Moscow and the West.

Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe will no longer be attempting to send its first rover to Mars this year.

The European Space Agency says the launch this year of a joint mission with Russia to Mars is now “very unlikely” due to sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine.

The European Space Agency has narrowed down the candidate list for its next generation of astronauts, including dozens who have a physical disability.

NASA is shooting for next Friday to launch its newest space telescope.

High wind off the Florida coast has prompted SpaceX to delay the return of four space station astronauts.

A U.S. survey of astronomers puts the search for extraterrestrial life at the top of their to-do list for the next 10 years.

A French astronaut has used a video call from space to sound the alarm about worsening repercussions from climate change that he can see from the International Space Station.

A SpaceX launch has been delayed because of a ‘minor medical issue' involving one of the four astronauts.

SpaceX has bumped its next astronaut flight for NASA until Wednesday because of rough wind and waves hundreds of miles away.

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

Scientists say the Southern Hemisphere ozone hole is larger than usual and already surpasses the size of Antarctica.

Two spacecraft are set to swoop past Venus within hours of each other this week, using the maneuver to do a little bit of bonus science on the way to the center of our solar system.

The European Space Agency says it was “blown away” by the record number of applicants hoping to become the continent’s next generation of space travelers.

Venus is hotter than ever, with a third new robotic explorer on the horizon.

Scientists say a vast iceberg that broke off Antarctica earlier this month could drift through the ocean for several years before it breaks up and melts away.

The European Space Agency has presented a vision to put satellites in orbit around the moon that would facilitate future missions to Earth’s closest neighbor.

SpaceX has launched its third crew in under a year for NASA, this time using a recycled rocket and capsule.

SpaceX has bumped its next astronaut launch by a day because of dangerously high waves and wind offshore.

NASA has chosen SpaceX to build the lunar lander that will eventually put the first woman and person of color on the moon.

This satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows the cargo ship MV Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal near Suez, Egypt, Friday, March 26, 2021. Meanwhile, the head of the Suez Canal Authority said strong winds were “not the only cause” for the Ever Given running aground on Tuesday, appearing to push back against conflicting assessments offered by others. A Dutch salvage firm is attempting to refloat the vessel with tugboats and dredgers, taking advantage of high tides. AdSome 9,000 tons of ballast water had been already removed from the vessel, the canal chairman said. The Suez Canal Authority organized the first media trip Saturday to the site where the vessel was stuck.

The ESA, NASA's European equivalent, is highlighting diversity in the drive: The final frontier for such predominantly white and male agencies. This year the ESA is looking to recruit more women astronauts, as well as people with disabilities who always dreamed of going into space. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, File)PARIS – The European Space Agency is holding its first astronaut recruitment drive in 11 years and says greater diversity is one of the goals. The European equivalent of NASA is seeking to recruit more women astronauts this year, as well as people with disabilities who have always dreamed of going into space. According to ESA, it’s the first time that a space agency anywhere has opened the application process up to people with disabilities.

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 19, 2016 file photo Josef Aschbacher attends a press conference in Rome, Italy. The European Space Agency said Thursday that Josef Aschbacher, an Austrian scientist who leads its Earth observation program, has been appointed as the organization's next head. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)BERLIN – The European Space Agency said Thursday that Josef Aschbacher, an Austrian scientist who leads its Earth observation program, has been appointed as the organization's next head. The agency's 22 member states elected Aschbacher to be ESA's director general succeeding Jan Woerner, whose term ends on June 30. The European Space Agency has lately begun discussing involvement in crewed missions beyond Earth's orbit, such as a possible return-to-the-Moon mission with NASA.

A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth on Thursday with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years. “As our nation's mostly complex and technically groundbreaking space mission, Chang'e 5 has achieved multiple technical breakthroughs ... and represents a landmark achievement," it said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a statement read out at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, called it a major achievement that marked a great step forward for China's space industry. The moon has been a particular focus of the Chinese space program, which says it plans to land humans there and possibly construct a permanent base. Amid concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and close military connections, the U.S. forbids cooperation between NASA and the CNSA unless Congress gives its approval.

A Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon Tuesday to bring back lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government announced. “Chang'e has collected moon samples,” the agency said in a statement. Beijing also has a spacecraft en route to Mars and aims eventually to land a human on the moon. China's space program has proceeded more cautiously than the U.S.-Soviet space race of the 1960s, which was marked by fatalities and launch failures. The Tianwen 1 probe launched in July is on its way to the red planet carrying a lander and a rover to search for water.

A Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon Tuesday to bring back lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government announced. “Chang'e has collected moon samples,” the agency said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. If it succeeds, it will be the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since a Soviet probe in the 1970s. U.S. astronauts brought back 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar samples from 1969 to 1972, some of which is still being analyzed and experimented on. The Tianwen 1 probe launched in July is on its way to the red planet carrying a lander and a rover to search for water.

In this Nov. 3, 2020 photo, provide by the European Space Agency, the Sentinel-6 satellite is placed inside the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket. The joint European-U.S. satellite mission to improve measurements of sea level rise is being launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday Nov. 22, 2020. “This is an extremely important parameter for climate monitoring,” said Josef Aschbacher, the European Space Agency's director of Earth observation. The European Space Agency this week lamented the loss of two satellites when a European-built carrier rocket veered off course shortly after launch. “We owe him a lot and he more than deserves to have this satellite named after him,” said Aschbacher.

BERLIN – A spacecraft bound for Mercury swung by Venus on Thursday, using Earth's neighbor to adjust its course on the way to the solar system’s smallest and innermost planet. The fly-by is the second of nine so-called planetary gravity assists that the spacecraft needs for its seven-year trip to Mercury. Mercury’s extreme temperatures, the intense gravity pull of the sun and blistering solar radiation make for hellish conditions. BepiColombo will make one more fly-by of Venus and six of Mercury itself to slow down before its arrival in 2025. The last spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA’s Messenger probe, which ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit.

The glacier is at the end of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, where it flows off land and into the ocean. The glacier is at the end of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, where it flows off the land and into the ocean. It shows that the area's ice losses for the past two years each exceeded 50 square kilometers (19 square miles). The ice shelf has lost 160 square miles (62 square miles), an area nearly twice that of Manhattan in New York, since 1999. “We should be very concerned about what appears to be progressive disintegration at the Arctic’s largest remaining ice shelf,” said GEUS professor Jason Box.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft took this image on 30 May 2020. During an online press briefing with Solar Orbiter mission experts, the first images from ESA's new Sun-observing spacecraft were released on Thursday. NASAs Parker Solar Probe is flying much closer to the sun than Solar Orbiter too close for cameras to safely photograph the sun. These so-called campfires, Berghmans noted, are literally everywhere we look. Not yet well understood, they could be mini explosions, or nanoflares. This is just the beginning of the long epic journey of Solar Orbiter, Muller said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA has delayed the launch of its newest Mars rover yet again to the end of July at the earliest this time for a rocket issue. Rocket maker United Launch Alliance needs extra time to deal with a liquid oxygen sensor line that showed questionable readings during a recent practice countdown, officials said Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates and China, meanwhile, still are pressing ahead with launches this month or next of Mars spacecraft. Russia and the European Space Agency had to bow out, delaying their Mars rover until 2022 because of delayed spacecraft testing and travel limitations due to the coronavirus pandemic. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency in a region of Siberia after an estimated 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from a power plant storage facility and fouled waterways. (European Space Agency via AP)MOSCOW Russian authorities have charged the director of an Arctic power plant that leaked 20,000 tons of diesel fuel into the ecologically fragile region with violating environmental regulations, a crime that could bring five years in prison. Much of the spilled fuel fouled waterways in the Norilsk region and there is concern it could affect wildlife or make its way into the Arctic Ocean. The head of Russias natural resources agency Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, has denied that any fuel has reached the lake. If a storm comes, (the fuel) will settle down on the banks and will slowly poison the ecosystem of Norilsk and Pyasino.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Mercury-bound spacecraft swooped past Earth on Friday, tweaking its roundabout path to the solar system’s smallest and innermost planet. Launched 1 1/2 years ago, Europe and Japan’s BepiColombo spacecraft passed within 8,000 miles (12,700 kilometers) of Earth. The closest approach occurred over the South Atlantic, with telescopes in Chile catching a glimpse of the speeding spacecraft. The gravity tug from Earth slowed BepiColombo and put it on a course closer to the sun. The spacecraft — comprised of two scientific orbiters — should reach Mercury in 2025, after swinging twice past Venus and six times past Mercury itself.

CNN Video(CNN) - In the first incident of its kind, a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite was forced to perform an evasive maneuver Monday to avoid hitting a SpaceX spacecraft. The ESA Aeolus Earth observation satellite fired its thrusters as part of a "collision avoidance maneuver," according to a statement from ESA. ESA contacted Starlink, which said it did not plan to move its satellite, according to the statement, so the ESA team decided to increase the altitude of its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision. "It is very rare to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres with active satellites," said ESA in a tweet. The trade-off for increased satellite traffic in space will be low-cost internet for a significant portion of the world's population that isn't yet online, according to SpaceX.