In January 1959, only a little more than a year after the launching of Sputnik 1, the Soviet Union's Luna 1 flew 5,955 kilometers (3,692 miles) above the surface of the Moon, thus quickly heralding the age of planetary exploration. Since then,...

On January 2, 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 1, the first manmade object designed to explore another celestial body. Luna 1 passed about 3,600 miles above the moon's surface, performing some basic scientific observations before entering a...

A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to...

A robot spacecraft tracking an asteroid is sending data back to scientists on Earth again after a 27-hour blackout, but its mission to orbit the giant space rock next month has been postponed. Scientists were trying Tuesday to determine how they lost contact...

The spacecraft Ulysses has revealed unexpected changes in the violent vicinity of Jupiter since the last Earth probe flew past in 1979, including a swelling of the giant planet's magnetic field and an apparent abatement in volcanic eruptions on the Jovian moon Io. ...