Why NASA ended Cassini’s mission at Saturn
Cassini still worked when it entered Saturn’s atmosphere. Its planned ending protected the moons, used a dwindling resource, and opened a final window into the planet.
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Stories about history
How ISSpresso Made Coffee Work in Space
An espresso machine, a sealed pouch and a capillary cup solved three different problems aboard the space station. Here is what each one did—and what the million-dollar comparison leaves out.
Apollo–Soyuz: When Cold War Rivals Opened the Hatch
The handshake in orbit depended on years of cooperation and hardware designed to meet in the middle.
Gemini 8: Docking, Then a Dangerous Spin
Follow a pioneering orbital docking and the emergency that cut the mission short.
Voyager 1 and the Pale Blue Dot
Look back at Earth through Voyager's camera and consider what a tiny point of light can show.
Apollo 8 and the View Back at Earth
Follow the Apollo 8 crew to lunar orbit and the photograph that turned their attention home.
How the Sun Can Disrupt a Railway Telegraph
A railway message, a restless magnetic field and the engineering problem we now call space weather.
Why the Eiffel Tower Was Almost Demolished
Explore the changing purpose of a landmark that was never meant to be permanent.
How Lake Peigneur Swallowed an Oil Rig
Follow the chain of events that connected a lake, a drill and a salt mine.
Why Are Cows Painted in the Sahara?
Rock art opens a window onto a landscape and a climate very different from today's desert.
Following the Journey of Malawi's Copper Ingots
Explore what the material in an archaeological object can reveal about its journey.
What Happened Inside Buzludzha?
Look beyond the ruined exterior to the monument's visitors, mosaics and political history.
Why the World Still Has Different Outlets
The standards, installed systems and everyday decisions behind familiar plugs.
What Marie Curie's Notebook Still Carries
A notebook connects the history of radioactivity with the physical traces research can leave behind.
Astronaut Training: Why the Freezing Forest?
Winter camps, underwater rehearsals and cave expeditions prepare astronauts for different parts of a mission. The key is knowing what each exercise can teach—and what it cannot reproduce.
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Nikola Tesla: Electricity and Invention
An illustrated introduction to Tesla and the electrical technologies associated with his work.
Voyager’s Golden Record: What We Sent and How It Works
How Earth’s sounds and pictures fit into a phonograph groove, and how an unknown finder might decode them.
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