SpaceX boss Elon Musk says a recent explosion was the company's first failure in seven years and maybe complacency played a part.

A rock worth US$5.4 trillion is flying by Earth around noon today.

Amazing new images of Pluto have revealed icy mountains on the dwarf planet's surface. Nasa'a New Horizons probe is beaming back high-resolution images that show mountains 3.35km high. Source: NASA/Facebook

Stargazers are lapping up extraordinary images of Pluto beamed back to Earth by Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft.

Live coverage of historic mission as spacecraft makes contact with Earth.

Nasa scientists played The Final Countdown to mark historic mission - and there are more pictures to come.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is speeding towards Pluto for the first-ever flyby on July 14, 2015. Scientists are eager to collect data on the dwarf planet’s chemical and atmospheric makeup, and the Ralph spectrometer will do just that. Instrument scientist Dennis Reuter discusses Ralph, Pluto, and exploration of our solar system’s last frontier, the Kuiper Belt. Source: NASA Goddard/Youtube

Meet the four astronauts going on the first commercial mission to space.

For the scientists who have spent nine years waiting for Nasa's New Horizons space probe to reach Pluto, the mission has been a labour of love.

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

NZ tech company Rocket Lab has unveiled plans for a Canterbury launch pad for its revolutionary battery powered rockets.

The eclipse-like phenomenon, known as a stellar occultation, took just minutes but thick cloud in Auckland blocked the view for New Zealand and American scientists.

Govert Schilling reflects on NASA’s SOFIA aircraft's successful 8.5-hour flight from Christchurch to watch the dwarf planet Pluto pass in front of a star.

A rare glimpse of Pluto is expected to wow astronomers tomorrow morning - and those in New Zealand will have the best seats in the house.

Our country will next week offer international scientists a unique window to a quick and rare astronomical event that last occurred a decade ago.

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

The International Space Station has released high-definition footage of Earth, taken from space. Source: International Space Station/Facebook

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

An unmanned Russian spacecraft is spinning out of control and is set to plummet to Earth next week.

The Russian spacecraft that went rogue yesterday has begun an unstoppable descent into Earth's atmosphere, experts have said.

Dark matter may not be so dark after all, after scientists witnessed the mysterious cosmic entity interacting with the universe around it in a new way.

Rocket Lab unveiled its turbo pump system overnight at the United States Space Symposium, a gathering of more than 10,000 involved in space technology in Colorado.

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.

A small but ambitious group of investors has a novel plan to mine asteroids for fun and profit. But it is possibly illegal.

Is there anyone out there? The answer is almost certainly yes, says a top Nasa scientist who believes we may know for sure within a decade.

We have had rather a feast of eclipses recently, and there is more to come. Physicist Dr Jeff Tallon explains.