Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed a cluster of sunspots on the surface of the sun this week. With them came solar flares that kicked off a severe geomagnetic storm. That storm is expected to last throughout the weekend as at least five coronal mass ejections — chunks of the sun — are flung out into space, towards Earth! NOAA uses a five point scale to rate these storms, and this weekend's storm is a G4. It's expected to produce auroras as far south as Alabama. To contextualize this storm, we are looking back at the largest solar storm on record: the Ca ..read more

An aurora could be visible as far south as Northern California. Experts say the storm could disrupt some communications and navigation systems like GPS ..read more

There's this fund that all commercial airlines pay into for things like safety inspections. But there's a growing user of FAA resources that doesn't pay into that fund: Commercial space companies ..read more

Earth, Mars and Venus all looked pretty similar when they first formed. Today, Mars is dry, cold, and dusty; Venus has a hot, crushing atmosphere. Why did these sibling planets turn out so different ..read more

A spacecraft built by Boeing is set to carry two astronauts to the International Space Station. Just like Boeing's airplanes, the Starliner has been beset by technical problems and safety concerns ..read more

The latest test flight comes after multiple delays in the Starliner program and increased scrutiny of Boeing for safety lapses in the production of its commercial aircraft. (Image credit: Terry Renna ..read more

Boeing is set to launch humans to space for the first time Monday night aboard its Starliner capsule. This mission is years behind schedule and over budget ..read more

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told NPR he sees the U.S. in an urgent race with China to find water on the moon, and that he trusts SpaceX, despite Elon Musk's increasingly controversial profile. (Image credit: Elizabeth Gillis ..read more

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with NASA administrator Bill Nelson about the space agency's plans to return to the moon and travel later to Mars ..read more

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Alberto Minetti of the University of Milan about his research on how astronauts on the moon could keep fit by running around the inside of a cylindrical "Wall of Death ..read more