Nasa has blasted a new piece of kit into space - a virtual reality headset that will beam what the crew on the International Space Station see back to earth.

After giving scientists a heart attack at the weekend, Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft seems to be recovering.

While the floods that swamped Whanganui appeared devastating enough from aerial pictures, the view from space has offered another perspective altogether.

The United States space programme is famous for what it invented and also for how much it spent putting men on the moon.

Antarctica's Larsen B ice-shelf is on course to disintegrate completely within the next five years, according to a study by US space agency Nasa.

An unmanned Nasa spacecraft has crashed on the surface of the planet Mercury, after it ran out of fuel.

The surface of Mars may still hold water - albeit the saltiest variety possible - according to scientists, after Nasa's Curiosity rover found evidence of liquid brine on the planet.

Paul Allen and Richard Branson are focusing on breakthrough spaceflight closer to home: cheap cargo trips to Earth orbit.

The US space giant has been linked to an apparent unauthorised flight over Wanaka yesterday morning by Sir Peter Jackson's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.

Following 10 days of unsettled weather in the wake of Cyclone Pam, Nasa will make its second attempt to launch its heavy-lift super pressure balloon.

All systems are go for the launch from Wanaka Airport this morning of Nasa's heavy-lift super pressure balloon.

Aballoon the size of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium is scheduled to lift off above the scenic Central Otago town of Wanaka on Tueday and float 34km into space.

Nasa was last night celebrating the arrival of its space probe into the orbit of dwarf planet Ceres but Kiwi stargazers will have to wait several weeks to see any fresh footage from the Dawn probe.

Millions of tonnes of nutrient-laden dust are blown to the Amazon from one of the world's most barren places

Scientists in the Antarctic are to be trained in docking a Soyuz spacecraft on to the International Space Station as part of a series of spaceflight simulation.

An Auckland man could end up swapping his job at the Ministry of Social Development for a one-way ticket to Mars.

Entrepreneurs are expanding the boundaries of rocket and satellite technology as the US makes room for private enterprise.

A year ago I started subscribing to Scientific American, a publication my older brother has read for years.

Hopes of finding water-based life in our galaxy took a leap forward after five Earth-sized planets were found around a distant star.

Dramatic geothermal landscape of Waimangu volcanic rift valley a miniature Mars for space buggy inspired by next robotic rover Nasa plans to land on red planet.

Only two weeks into the new year, the sun has sent out some crazy streams of radiation.

It's not evidence of "little green men" but intriguing "burps" of methane have been recorded by Nasa's Curiosity Rover - which may be from primitive microorganisms.

The unmanned Antares rocket that blew up in a spectacular fireball in the United States during a launch to the International Space Station was using two 40-year-old Soviet-made rocket engines of the same type as one that exploded during tests in May.

A mission to Mars will be mankind's next giant leap. But one expert has suggested it might be simpler to get to the red planet in a series of smaller jumps - using asteroids as stepping stones.

'One giant leap for mankind', proclaimed Neil Armstrong from the moon's surface. Did that just underscore the status of women's future in space?

Billionaire Jeff Bezos will team up with a Boeing-Lockheed Martin to develop US-made rocket engines, in competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX venture.

Nasa has awarded its first private contracts for ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.