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
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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

Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way

Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way

On August 15, this perseid meteor streaked through night skies over the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The bright and colorful meteor trail was captured next to the central Milky Way, whose dark interstellar dust cl…

© Jeff Dai · NASA APOD · Sep 26

Upcoming Rocket Launches

  1. Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-385

    Sep 26, 14:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  2. Starship | Starlink Group 31-1 (Starship Flight 14)

    Sep 28, 12:15 UTC · SpaceX
    SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

  3. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-13

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

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

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

  5. Falcon Heavy | NROL-97

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

  6. SR75 | Flight 2

    Oct 5, 00:00 UTC · HyImpulse
    SaxaVord Spaceport

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

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

  8. Nuri | NeonSat-2 to 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  15. 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

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 8,096,702 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

  • 2008 ST

    2026-09-26 · misses us by 14,878,930 km · ~16 m wide · 22,191 km/h

  • 2019 SW5

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

  • 523934 1998 FF14watched by NASA

    2026-09-28 · misses us by 15,393,501 km · ~325 m wide · 84,523 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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