Extravehicular activity

NASA unveiled the crew on April 3 for its first human mission to the Moon in more than 50 year, including the first woman and Black man to voyage into deep space.

Christina Koch, a NASA astronaut who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, will be a mission specialist on next year's Artemis II flight around the Moon.

After 50 years, scientists will get a chance to study lunar gases collected during Apollo 17 mission

Chinese astronauts edged into space on Aug. 19 to add the finishing touches to a robotic arm on the Tiangong space station.

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The foray, the second spacewalk in two months and relayed on state television, is part of China's heavily promoted space programme which has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the moon.

Two astronauts conducted China's first tandem spacewalk on July 4, working on the outside of their nation's new Tiangong station in orbit around Earth.

Three Chinese astronauts blasted off in June, docking at the space station where they are to remain for three months in China's longest crewed mission to date.

Today, April 12, marks exactly 60 years since the first manned flight into space, a significant event in the history of our planet. Exactly 60 years ago, the famous Gagarin's "Poehali" ("Let's go!") flew around the world, and radio stations from different parts of the world interrupted their programs to broadcast this sensational news.

In the battle between the best photos taken by astronauts, the showdown came down to a unique Turkish lake versus stars in the heavens.

The photos, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), are in the final of a special NASA contest.

US astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost will break the record on Sunday for most days in space by a crew launched aboard a US spacecraft, NASA said.

U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA are set to make history by performing an all-women spacewalk on Oct. 18.       

Alexei Leonov, the first man to enter outer space, died in Russia at the age go 85, TASS reported.

"He died today in Moscow at the Burdenko hospital after a long illness," Natalia Filimonova told AFP, CBS News reported.

India aborted the launch on July 15 of a spacecraft intended to land on the far side of the moon less than an hour before liftoff.