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: —
Altitude: —
Position: —

Contacting the tracking station…

Humans off Earth right now

Shenzhou 23 Zhu Yangzhu · Zhang Zhiyuan · Lai Ka-ying

Soyuz MS-29 Pyotr Dubrov · Anna Kikina · Anil Menon

Crew-13 Dragon Jessica Watkins · Luke Delaney · Joshua Kutryk · Sergey Teteryatnikov

Next rocket leaves in

–days

–hrs

–min

–sec

Checking the launch schedule…

Closest space rock this week

2019 SD8

Saturday, Oct 10 · passes 7,162,671 km away — 18.6× the Moon's distance · ~14 m wide · 34,285 km/h

The cosmos right now

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

NASA Picture of the Day

NASA Science

"Happy New Year!" No, wait, this is not a fireworks display. This image shows Nebula Pa 30, observed with the Gemini North Telescope in Hawai'i. It is likely the remnant of an old supernova explosion: separate historical records by Chinese, Japanese and Arabic…

NASA APOD · Oct 7

Upcoming Rocket Launches

Long March 12 | Unknown Payload
Oct 9, 19:25 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer A
Oct 10, 07:29 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-25
Oct 12, 23:00 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-35
Oct 13, 10:33 UTC · SpaceX
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-481
Oct 15, 23:44 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
H3-24 | Martian Moon eXplorer (MMX)
Oct 19, 19:41 UTC · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
Vulcan VC6L | Amazon Leo (LV-01)
Oct 29, 00:00 UTC · United Launch Alliance
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Ariane 64 Block 2 | Amazon Leo (LE-04)
Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · Arianespace
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
GSLV Mk II | IRNSS-1L (NVS-03)
Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · Indian Space Research Organization
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India
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
SSLV | AayulSAT-1A & others
Oct 31, 00:00 UTC · Indian Space Research Organization
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India
Soyuz 2.1b | Progress MS-36 (97P)
Nov 24, 05:03 UTC · Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Ariane 62 | Metop-SG B1
Nov 30, 00:00 UTC · Arianespace
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-25
Nov 30, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

2019 SD8
2026-10-10 · misses us by 7,162,671 km · ~14 m wide · 34,285 km/h
2000 SZ162
2026-10-16 · misses us by 7,622,018 km · ~15 m wide · 20,486 km/h
679786 2020 QG3watched by NASA
2026-10-16 · misses us by 8,244,145 km · ~245 m wide · 36,517 km/h
2020 QG3watched by NASA
2026-10-16 · misses us by 8,244,155 km · ~245 m wide · 36,517 km/h
2018 EH4watched by NASA
2026-10-14 · misses us by 8,427,648 km · ~199 m wide · 47,601 km/h
678976 2018 EH4watched by NASA
2026-10-14 · misses us by 8,427,723 km · ~198 m wide · 47,601 km/h