Today’s hidden fact · Sunday, August 9, 2026

Voyager Is the Farthest Human Object Ever — and It Still Calls Home Daily

Voyager 1 is over 24 billion km away, so far its radio signal takes 22+ hours to arrive, sent by a transmitter weaker than a refrigerator bulb.

Read the full fact Scroll to the edge of the universe →

74 hidden facts to explore
15 launches on the horizon
6 asteroids passing this week
Daily updates, with no humans involved

Right now in space

The Space Station LIVE

A football-field-sized lab, falling around Earth at 8 km every second.

Speed
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Altitude
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Position
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Contacting the tracking station…

Humans off Earth right now

12

ISS Oleg Kononenko · Nikolai Chub · Tracy Caldwell Dyson · Matthew Dominick · Michael Barratt · Jeanette Epps · Alexander Grebenkin · Butch Wilmore · Sunita Williams

Tiangong Li Guangsu · Li Cong · Ye Guangfu

Next rocket leaves in

–days
–hrs
–min
–sec

Checking the launch schedule…

Closest space rock this week

2018 SP2

Wednesday, Sep 30 · passes 1,927,097 km away — 5.0× the Moon's distance · ~47 m wide · 51,337 km/h

The cosmos right now

Live from NASA and the world's launch pads — refreshed every morning.

NASA Picture of the Day

Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula

Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula

What causes the swirl in the Shrimp Nebula? Its high speed is likely. What is sure is that Sh2-188 is one of the larger planetary nebulas on the night sky, by angular size, spanning about half the diameter of the Moon. Moreover, the white-dwarf core -- lefto…

© Pawel Piechnik · NASA APOD · Sep 29

Upcoming Rocket Launches

  1. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-13

    Oct 1, 15:10 UTC · SpaceX
    Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

  2. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 18 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)

    Oct 1, 18:18 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  3. Falcon Heavy | NROL-97

    Oct 2, 03:53 UTC · SpaceX
    Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

  4. SR75 | Flight 2

    Oct 5, 00:00 UTC · HyImpulse
    SaxaVord Spaceport

  5. Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer A

    Oct 5, 08:06 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  6. Nuri | NeonSat-2 to 6

    Oct 7, 03:23 UTC · Korea Aerospace Research Institute
    Naro Space Center, South Korea

  7. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-25

    Oct 10, 16:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  8. GSLV Mk II | IRNSS-1L (NVS-03)

    Oct 15, 00:00 UTC · Indian Space Research Organization
    Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

  9. H3-24 | Martian Moon eXplorer (MMX)

    Oct 19, 19:41 UTC · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
    Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

  10. Ariane 64 Block 2 | Amazon Leo (LE-04)

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · Arianespace
    Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

  11. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

  12. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-35

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

  13. Long March 12A | Flight 2

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
    Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

  14. SSLV | AayulSAT-1A & others

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · Indian Space Research Organization
    Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

  15. Vulcan VC6L | Amazon Leo (LV-01)

    Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · United Launch Alliance
    Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

  • 2018 SP2

    2026-09-30 · misses us by 1,927,097 km · ~47 m wide · 51,337 km/h

  • 138971 2001 CB21watched by NASA

    2026-09-29 · misses us by 8,096,701 km · ~842 m wide · 36,822 km/h

  • 2013 HO11

    2026-10-02 · misses us by 9,705,469 km · ~105 m wide · 27,282 km/h

  • 2007 UW1

    2026-10-05 · misses us by 12,677,806 km · ~124 m wide · 16,958 km/h

  • 2019 SW5

    2026-10-03 · misses us by 15,214,652 km · ~40 m wide · 61,874 km/h

  • 2014 QJ33

    2026-09-30 · misses us by 16,885,637 km · ~78 m wide · 21,439 km/h

Distances look huge — the Moon is 384,400 km away. Anything under a few million km counts as a close shave in space terms.

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