The test was for NASA's Space Launch System, a successor to the retired Space Shuttle program. It takes eight minutes to generate the power needed to get to space, and ultimately to the moon.
The command, a new department of the Air Force, has selected an Army installation in Huntsville as the most-desired location for its future headquarters.
Before scientists were even sure black holes existed, an Indian astrophysicist did the math behind Einstein's predictions of what would happen if two black holes collided.
On Monday evening, Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer to each other in the sky than they have for hundreds of years in what has become known as the Great Conjunction.
The official moniker, announced by Vice President Pence at a White House ceremony, comes one year after the creation of the newest military branch. The name drew raised eyebrows online.
The successful completion of the Chang'e-5 mission makes China only the third country to have returned soil and rock samples from the surface of the moon.
It's the first time in over 40 years that fresh lunar samples are being brought back to Earth. Scientists hope to gain a better understanding of lunar volcanic activity and the age of various craters.
At least, that's how it will look to someone craning their head aloft. On the winter solstice, the pair of gas giants will appear closer to each other in the night sky than they have in centuries.
Chuck Yeager, fighter ace, test pilot, breaker of the sound barrier and coolest of the cool, was the man even astronauts looked up to. Yeager never sought the spotlight, and was always a bit gruff.
The sample collected by the spacecraft Hayabusa2 caps a six-year mission to Ryugu. Researchers hope it will offer clues to "the secrets of the birth of the solar system and the birth of life."
