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

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 GS1

Wednesday, Oct 28 · passes 4,240,878 km away — 11.0× the Moon's distance · ~130 m wide · 33,550 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

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-15
Oct 22, 22:40 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Electron | We're Not Hawking Around (3x HawkEye 360)
Oct 23, 07:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Long March 6A | Unknown Payload
Oct 23, 10:15 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Long March 4B | Unknown Payload
Oct 23, 19:25 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Long March 8A | Unknown Payload
Oct 25, 01:50 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-16
Oct 26, 05:00 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Vulcan VC6L | Amazon Leo (LV-01)
Oct 29, 00:00 UTC · United Launch Alliance
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-18
Oct 29, 04:17 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, 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
Electron | The Sea God Surveys (iQPS Launch 9)
Nov 4, 00:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-195
Nov 5, 22:34 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Electron | The Mountain God Rises (iQPS Launch 10)
Nov 10, 00:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-21
Nov 10, 00:00 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

2018 GS1
2026-10-28 · misses us by 4,240,878 km · ~130 m wide · 33,550 km/h
2017 UX7
2026-10-22 · misses us by 6,500,634 km · ~33 m wide · 37,186 km/h
2017 UQ7
2026-10-25 · misses us by 10,212,926 km · ~38 m wide · 57,766 km/h
516803 2010 JG88
2026-10-26 · misses us by 12,978,702 km · ~536 m wide · 73,446 km/h
2002 TA69
2026-10-26 · misses us by 13,378,773 km · ~842 m wide · 83,219 km/h
2004 HX53
2026-10-24 · misses us by 13,765,535 km · ~82 m wide · 45,400 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.