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

2017 UX7

Thursday, Oct 22 · passes 6,500,634 km away — 16.9× the Moon's distance · ~33 m wide · 37,186 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 | Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Oct 19, 10:30 UTC · SpaceX
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
H3-24 | Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)
Oct 19, 19:41 UTC · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-15
Oct 20, 22:14 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Ceres-1S | Unknown Payload
Oct 21, 03:35 UTC · Galactic Energy
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Electron | We're Not Hawking Around (3x HawkEye 360)
Oct 21, 05:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Long March 8A | Unknown Payload
Oct 22, 02:00 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
Long March 4B | Unknown Payload
Oct 23, 18:00 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-16
Oct 24, 05:29 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
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
Electron | The Mountain God Rises (iQPS Launch 10)
Nov 10, 00:00 UTC · Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Ariane 64 Block 2 | Amazon Leo (LE-04)
Nov 23, 00:00 UTC · Arianespace
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

2017 UX7
2026-10-22 · misses us by 6,500,634 km · ~33 m wide · 37,186 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 8,244,147 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
2005 VS
2026-10-17 · misses us by 15,738,548 km · ~153 m wide · 24,090 km/h
2019 UO5
2026-10-22 · misses us by 16,658,936 km · ~33 m wide · 39,147 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.