Space.

An orange flower hatched in space... and it wasn’t decoration.

In January 2016, a zinnia bloomed on board the International Space Station.

To fix the space station, they took out... a toothbrush.

A modified toilet object participated in an external repair of the ISS.

Snoopy and Charlie Brown really got around the moon

The names of a comic book became the indicia of the two ships of Apollo 10.

This capsule returned to Earth with dust from a comet

Stardust has captured fast particles in a surprisingly light material.

Our whole planet is in a tiny spot

Voyager 1 turned to photograph Earth on February 14, 1990.

This comet had a chemical signature that evoked rotten eggs.

Rosetta has identified familiar molecules in an environment inaccessible to our nose.

This photo of the Moon recorded the shock suffered by its own camera

Distorted lines allowed the engineers to reconstruct an impact.

Solar System Ida

They were photographing an asteroid... its little moon was also on the image

Ida’s companion was identified several months after Galileo’s passage.

Space Deep Space 1 probe

To save this probe, the engineers gave a new job to his camera

Deep Space 1 continued its journey after the loss of its star sensor.

United States Wallops

A frog was found in the photo of the takeoff

NASA confirmed an unexpected detail in an image of LADEE.

Earth orbit

This satellite was silent for twelve years... an amateur found his signal

Scott Tilley spotted IMAGE, but finding a signal wasn't enough to restore the mission.

United States observations2020

This ‘Asteroid’ Was an Old Rocket Returning to Earth

The 2020 SO object changed its identity after examining its trajectory and light.

This Asteroid Has Changed Time After a Voluntary Collision

DART shortened the turn of Dimorphos around Didymos.

The colors of this Martian parachute hid a message

Perseverance's drawing mixed technical control and binary code.

On Mars, the wheels of Curiosity write three letters.

Their walrus footprints also serve as moving markers.

This space sail was pushed by the light

The Japanese probe IKAROS measured the effect of photons.

To understand this asteroid, the probe made it a crater.

Hayabusa2 observed Ryugu's reaction to a known impact.

This probe missed Venus... and returned five years later.

Akatsuki managed his second insertion with other thrusters.

The capsule crashed... yet its samples spoke

Genesis reported solar wind in broken collectors.

An improvised “letter box” helped Apollo 13 breathe

The cartridges of the control module had to be adapted to the lunar module.

This landscape was photographed on the ground... on Venus

Venera 13 transmitted a panorama from the surface of the planet.

The probe was coming to Mars... a mistake of units lost it

Mars Climate Orbiter also reveals a control failure.

On Mercury, the Sun can rise... then turn back

In some places in the morning there is a strange false start.

This planet seems to be rolling around the Sun: who laid it down?

The inclination of Uranus radically transforms the alternation of the seasons.

Why can the red planet offer a blue sunset?

A surprise in the dust.

Who drew this huge hexagon at the pole of Saturn?

Six almost regular sides appear in a moving atmosphere.

The probe hit this asteroid... and the ground gave way almost without resistance

Bennu: The appearance of the ground was wrong.

He had finally reached the comet... but his journey was not over.

Philae’s first contact was the beginning of an unexpected trajectory.

This probe was not designed to land... it still survived.

On Eros, NEAR becomes a lander.

On the Moon, which one touches the ground first: the feather or the hammer?

David Scott is testing the fall to the Moon.

Lightning strikes the rocket twice... and the mission continues to the Moon

Apollo 12 finds the indications of its instruments.

How to study a hidden ocean without crossing its pack ice?

Enceladus itself sends some of its material above its surface.

Why does this great moon turn in the “wrong” direction?

Triton’s trajectory resembles the index of an old capture.

This moon has a strange "stitching" of mountains

On Japet, a chain follows a very particular line of the globe.

On this moon, the tides move the ground itself

Io’s volcanism is linked to a permanent gravitational struggle.

The star flashed too early: this little world hid two rings

Chariklo is not alone in front of the star.

This probe has "seen" pebbles with its radio

Huygens probes Titan by radio.

Why has a landscape almost without details trapped this Martian helicopter?

Ingenuity no longer recognized the terrain.

After thirty-one months of silence, this probe had to wake up by itself.

Rosetta had to remind the Earth.

Do you need a telescope to discover a comet? These volunteers have another method.

SOHO observes; volunteers discover.

They discovered a comet... and realized it was going to hit Jupiter.

Shoemaker-Levy 9 met Jupiter in 1994.

How to repair the sight of a telescope already in space?

Hubble needed new eyes.

Space Propulsion

How can a rocket burn its fuel in a vacuum?

It carries away part of what an aircraft engine finds in the atmosphere.

Earth orbit

These Tiny Passengers Survived Space Void Exposure

A 2007 experiment sent tardigrades in conditions very far from their usual environment.

A day longer than a year on Venus... really?

An amazing formula hides two different ways to measure a day.

Did you know that seeds went around the moon before they grew?

Some terrestrial trees began their story by a detour around the Moon.

Why did a clandestine sandwich make a fuss about him in space?

A snack bar on board in 1965 reminds us that weightlessness changes the simplest gestures.

What did we put on this disc sent to the unknown?

Voyager probes take a sound and visual portrait of the Earth.

On Titan, it rains... but it’s not water

Titan has familiar landscapes whose chemistry changes everything.

Did you know that an astronaut played golf on the moon?

Alan Shepard takes to the Moon a surprisingly terrestrial gesture.

Main belt of asteroids

They discover a moon around this asteroid... then a second surprise

The moon Selam consists of two small bodies in contact.

Pluto Sputnik Planitia

Pluto's heart stirs... but it's not lava

Some of Pluto’s nitrogen ice is renewed by convection.

Kepler-16 System

This planet revolves around two suns... and it’s not a movie.

Kepler-16b orbits around a pair of stars.

Mars - Jezero Crater

On Mars, an eclipse has drawn an eye in the sky

Perseverance filmed the passage of Phobos in front of the Sun.

Saturn Mi Mimas

This small moon carries a crater as wide as a third of its diameter

The crater Herschel deeply marks the moon Mimas.

Solar Crown

A probe passed through the atmosphere of the Sun... without landing on it

Parker Solar Probe measured the solar corona from the inside.

Saturn

These two moons exchange their place around Saturn.

Janus and Epimetheus alternate between two very close orbits.

Ceres crater Occator

These lights on a dwarf planet were not lamps

The bright areas of Ceres are deposits of salts.

Comet 9P/Tempel 1

To study a comet, they purposely sent a projectile into it.

Deep Impact hit Tempel 1 to analyze the ejected material.

Saturn

Saturn receives rain from its own rings

Particles from the rings join Saturn’s atmosphere.