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

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

2010 FX9

Monday, Sep 14 · passes 3,592,430 km away — 9.3× the Moon's distance · ~66 m wide · 39,846 km/h

The cosmos right now

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

NASA Picture of the Day

Where Your Elements Came From

Where Your Elements Came From

The hydrogen in your body and present in every molecule of water came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much…

NASA APOD · Sep 14

Upcoming Rocket Launches

  1. Vega-C | Sentinel-3C & FLEX

    Sep 15, 01:21 UTC · Avio S.p.A
    Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

  2. Zhuque-2E Block 2 | Unknown Payload

    Sep 15, 06:25 UTC · LandSpace
    Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

  3. Gravity-1 | Unknown Payload

    Sep 15, 21:55 UTC · Orienspace Technology
    Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

  4. Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-259

    Sep 16, 01:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  5. Soyuz 2.1b | Progress MS-35 (96P)

    Sep 16, 13:33 UTC · Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)
    Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

  6. Long March 12 | Unknown Payload

    Sep 17, 00:30 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
    Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

  7. Kuaizhou 11 | Unknown Payload

    Sep 17, 02:35 UTC · ExPace
    Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

  8. Starship | Flight 14

    Sep 18, 12:15 UTC · SpaceX
    SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

  9. Long March 2D | Unknown Payload

    Sep 19, 10:50 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
    Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

  10. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-27

    Sep 20, 01:47 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  11. Electron | LOXSAT 1

    Sep 30, 00:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
    Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

  12. Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-13

    Sep 30, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

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

    Sep 30, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
    Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

  14. Long March 12A | Flight 2

    Sep 30, 00:00 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
    Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

  15. Long March 8A | Unknown Payload

    Sep 30, 00:00 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
    Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

  • 2010 FX9

    2026-09-14 · misses us by 3,592,430 km · ~66 m wide · 39,846 km/h

  • 2018 VG

    2026-09-14 · misses us by 8,072,829 km · ~14 m wide · 31,892 km/h

  • 2010 JA

    2026-09-21 · misses us by 10,081,613 km · ~17 m wide · 24,046 km/h

  • 2019 GM1

    2026-09-17 · misses us by 12,667,838 km · ~15 m wide · 13,109 km/h

  • 2007 QE3

    2026-09-16 · misses us by 13,284,379 km · ~432 m wide · 65,481 km/h

  • 2018 MC5

    2026-09-19 · misses us by 19,518,493 km · ~37 m wide · 29,978 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.

Don't just read the universe — play with it

The Journey

Scroll from your rooftop to the edge of the observable universe. Every stop is real.

Begin the voyage →

Live Orrery

The real solar system, computed from orbital mechanics. Scrub time and watch the maths.

Run the simulation →

Daily Quiz

Five questions, one round a day, same for the whole planet. Build your streak.

Play today's round →

How Big Is It?

Put Earth next to the Sun. Then next to a black hole. Watch your brain give up.

Compare anything →

Speak Universe

Black hole, light-year, quasar — every space term, explained like a human.

Learn the language →

More facts to fall into