NASA's Curious Universe

Normal matter—the kind that makes up our home planet and everything we can see—adds up to just five percent of the known universe. The other 95 percent is dark matter and dark energy. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will settle essential questions about this dark side, especially dark energy, one of the biggest mysteries in all of science. In this encore presentation, hear how NASA astrop...

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is in space, taking its first steps to explore the cosmos. Relive Roman’s launch—and the emotion that goes along with the roar of a rocket—with NASA experts who worked on the telescope for years. Plus, learn what happens next and when to expect Roman’s first images.    Learn more about the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at nasa.gov/roman.

Take a deep dive into the science of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with Julie McEnery, Roman's senior project scientist. Learn why Roman’s survey data will be so detailed that they could cover a 4K screen the size of dozens of city blocks and why Julie says she doesn’t hope Roman changes our understanding of the universe—she knows it will.  A video version of this episode is availa...

What makes NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope a powerful tool with an unprecedented wide view of the cosmos? NASA engineers who designed, built, and tested Roman pop the hood to explain the unique technology inside. Go inside the huge NASA clean room where Roman was built, and get an up-close look at the testing campaign that ensures Roman will succeed in the cold, inhospitable conditions of...

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is on a quest to discover planets outside our solar system. NASA scientists Bertrand Mennesson and Vanessa Bailey explain how Roman’s wide view will spot as many as 100,000 new exoplanets in a galactic census that will change how we understand planetary system formation. And we’ll learn about an experimental camera that will allow scientists to ta...

Meet NASA’s newest space telescope: Roman. With similar resolution to Hubble but a field of view 100 times larger, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will settle essential questions in astronomy. NASA scientists Josh Schlieder and Alina Kiessling explain how that wide view will help us understand dark energy, one of the most puzzling mysteries in space. We’ll also meet Nancy Grace Roman, who jo...

NASA is about to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will change the way we see the universe and settle essential questions about some of the biggest mysteries out there. In a new limited series, Curious Universe takes you behind the scenes with NASA scientists and engineers who made Roman a reality—no Ph. D. required. Learn more about the Roman Space Telescope at nasa.gov/roman

In its mission to explore the unknown in air and space, NASA ends up inventing a lot of new things. Then, the agency “spins off” those inventions to companies that produce products to make our lives easier and safer here on Earth. From memory foam mattresses and cordless power tools to wireless headphones and dating apps, NASA Technology is all aro...

Meet the astronauts who will fly on Artemis III: Commander Randy Bresnik, Pilot Luca Parmitano, and Mission Specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas. In this special presentation of Houston We Have a Podcast, the Artemis III astronauts discuss their backgrounds and training ahead of them to prepare for one of the most complex human spaceflight missions in history. For more information about Artem...

NASA’s robotic explorers are looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. In its five years and counting on the surface of the Red Planet, the Perseverance rover has collected dozens of rock samples, including tantalizing features that could be signs of past life. Scientists want to keep studying Mars. That’s why NASA plans to send a fleet of next-generation helicopter drones and—one day—astronauts....

In this bonus episode, go behind the scenes of key moments from Artemis II with NASA experts who made them possible. Engineers who launched the rocket describe the hours-long process that led to a successful liftoff. The leader of the closeout crew recalls his sendoff message as the astronauts were sealed inside their spacecraft. And the Artemis II lunar science lead—aka “Science Lady” in some vir...

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are back home. Hear reactions from the Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—as they returned to Earth.  For more information about Artemis II, visit nasa.gov/artemis-ii 

NASA’s Artemis II mission has flown around the Moon, and its four astronauts traveled farther from Earth than anyone in history. Relive this historic mission through the astronauts’ own words, including their scientific descriptions of the Moon’s surface, as well as the role of “space plumber” troubleshooting the toilet and the astronauts’ unifying message for humanity.  For Artemis II news, visit...

Liftoff! NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026, carrying four Moonbound astronauts. After an approximately 10-day mission, Artemis II ends with a splash. Lili Villarreal, the recovery and landing director for Artemis II, leads the team that will bring home the astronauts and their spacecraft. She describes the recovery playbook, which includes many contingency plans, and the rehearsa...

Behind NASA’s Artemis II mission and the astronauts who will fly around the Moon, teams on the ground are essential. Explore some of the epic equipment that makes Artemis II possible—the mobile launcher, crawler-transporter, and NASA’s barge Pegasus—and meet a few of the many specialists who act as the shoulders lifting astronauts into space.       For Artemis II news and the latest launch informa...

During Artemis II, four astronauts will see the lunar surface as few humans have—and possibly, parts of the Moon’s far side that no one has seen before. Learn what lunar science questions NASA hopes to answer through the astronauts' eyes with lunar geologist Kelsey Young. And those astronauts will also be subjects of science. Jancy McPhee, associate chief scientist of NASA’s Human Research Program...

During Artemis II, humans will fly Orion—NASA’s next-generation spaceship designed to take us to the Moon and beyond—for the first time. Tour Orion with Branelle Rodriguez, the vehicle manager for Artemis II, to hear about the support systems that keep astronauts alive and how exactly you use the bathroom en route to the Moon. Then, pop the hood of NASA’s most powerful rocket, the Space Launch Sys...

In 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send humans to the Moon. Go inside Firing Room 1—the nerve center for Artemis launches—and hear from the engineers who launched Artemis I, including the intricate procedures they developed just to fuel the rocket correctly. Now NASA is preparing to launch Artemis II—and to send humans around the Moon. ...

This year, four NASA astronauts will fly around the Moon and back for the first time since the Apollo program. Their mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for humans to land on the lunar South Pole for the first time and set up a long-term presence there. In this episode, meet your intrepid Artemis II crew: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and miss...

This year, four NASA astronauts are flying around the Moon and back—and Curious Universe is bringing you along for the ride. The mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for future missions to land on the lunar South Pole for the first time and set up a long-term presence there. In this limited series, get to know your Artemis II astronaut crew, go behind the sc...

The James Webb Space Telescope is doing something astronomers dreamed about for decades: peering into our universe’s early past, a period known as cosmic dawn. A new NASA documentary—also called Cosmic Dawn—chronicles the inside story of Webb’s design, construction, and launch. John Mather, who won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics, proposed the telescope and led its science team for decades. In th...

Have you ever dreamed of spending a day in space? Humans have lived aboard the International Space Station for 25 years—or more than 9,000 consecutive days. In this episode originally published in 2021, experience a day in the life of astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Thomas Pesquet living and working on the International Space Station. 

In the space between stars, dark clouds of gas, dust, and ice mingle in a chemical laboratory unlike any on Earth. Ewine van Dishoeck, an astronomer who studies molecules in space and who helped develop an instrument aboard NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, explains how Webb is revealing new details about the formation of stars and planets. This research could help unlock a key question about Ear...

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is hard at work answering our biggest questions about the birth of our universe and faraway galaxies. But some astronomers are pointing its powerful eyes much closer to home. In this episode, Caltech astronomer Katherine de Kleer explains how Webb is rewriting our understanding of objects within our solar system–from space rocks in the asteroid belt to the icy and...

Some exoplanets—like a gas giant with rain made of glass and 5,000-mile-per-hour winds—sound like worlds dreamed up by a science fiction writer. But they’re real. From light-years away, scientists can uncover details about planets orbiting distant stars and even ask whether some exoplanets could support life. Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, explains how NAS...