Hayden Planetarium

The space shuttle Atlantis returned this morning, marking the end of an era. The space shuttle program began with the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981. The program advanced space exploration into the twenty-first century. Contrary to the Apollo missions, which sparked fierce competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the space shuttle […]

Photographs of Mercury have come to earth for the first time. The Messenger spacecraft entered Mercury’s orbit on March 17 and has just sent back its first batch of photographs. The very first image received shows a crater near the planet’s southern pole, an area that has never been seen before. Neil deGrasse Tyson is […]

A NASA scientist claims to have found alien bacteria in a meteorite; and the funding debate for exploring the Universe.

After today’s landing, the space shuttle Discovery will retire on planet earth. To learn what may be in store for the future of our space aspirations we speak to Louis Friedman and Neil deGrasse Tyson.