NASA engineers launched their Deep Impact spacecraft today. The missions aims to smash an 820-pound (370-kilogram) projectile into comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005.

If all goes according to plan, Huygens will parachute through Saturn's mysterious moon Titan's hazy atmosphere tomorrow.

Scientists said the launch of NASA's Deep Impact mission has been delayed until at least January 12. The mission's goal is to smash a spacecraft into a comet on July 4, 2005.

Attention skywatchers: Grab a lawn chair and bundle up, because what experts believe will be this year's best meteor shower peaks tonight.

Get fun facts on SpaceShipOne, the first privately built manned spacecraft. For starters, the ship burns a mixture of rubber and laughing gas.

SpaceShipOne, the first privately built, manned vehicle to reach space, roared to space and back again this morning from a launch site in California's Mojave desert.

A new study argues that intelligent alien life, should it exist, is more likely to communicate with Earth by sending artifacts, rather than radio waves.

Mars has less gravity than Earth, which partly explains why April Fools' Day is more intense on the red planet. The tongue-in-cheek announcement was made today by the astrophysicists behind the popular Astronomy Picture of the Day Web site.

Select hotels are dimming their outdoor lighting, says National Geographic Traveler's Jonathan B. Tourtellot. The hostelries aim to treat guests, once again, to stunning views of star-filled skies.

This evening at twilight, two universal symbols of beauty will shine together in the western sky to create a stunning sight for North and South Americans. The planet Venus, the mythological representation of the goddess of love and beauty, will be seen very near the crescent moon, a night object with its own claims to beauty.

Scientists are clinging to hope that Europe's first probe to land on Mars will speak up and be heard, though no signal from Beagle 2 has been received since it touched down on the red planet Christmas Day.

Sharks and mysteries of the universe captured the imaginations of National Geographic News readers in 2003. The ocean's most feared predator, Bigfoot, and other unusual subjects accounted for half of the top ten news stories of the year and vied for the number one slot. Read the full list of the ten most popular reader stories of 2003. Full story and photo gallery:

Spacecraft from three different space missions are drawing closer to Mars. Over the next six weeks, landers and rovers are scheduled to touch down on the red planet's surface. Together with orbiting spacecraft, the probes will poke, scratch, sniff, and image the Martian environment, searching for signs of life.

Da Vinci Project engineers have a radical idea for getting into space: a rocket and balloon combination. This is just one of 23 innovative spacecraft designs competing to win the X-Prize. This story airs Wednesday, December 17, on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic On Assignment.

For the first time, NASA scientists have directly observed a small but significant force that has the power to change an asteroid's orbital path. The force, previously known in theory only, could provide crucial data to help deflect asteroids headed for Earth.