Out There

Bound for Pluto, Carrying Memories of Triton

By DENNIS OVERBYE

When the New Horizons probe passes the former planet next year, it may look familiar: Neptune’s moon Triton, scrutinized 25 years ago by Voyager 2, is probably a long-lost brother of Pluto.

The Virginia launching pad from which an Antares rocket bound for the space station took off last week. It exploded about 15 seconds later.

Soviet-Era Engine Is Blamed for Antares Rocket Explosion

By KENNETH CHANG

The Orbital Sciences Corporation said that a preliminary analysis pointed to a failure of a turbopump for the Oct. 28 fireball in Virginia.

Lorenzo Albacete, Theologian and Confidant of Popes, Dies at 73

By PAUL VITELLO

Msgr. Albacete, a former aerospace researcher turned Roman Catholic priest, became one of the Vatican’s most articulate, unofficial defenders in the United States.

Investigators in Virgin Galactic Crash Focus on Tail Booms

By KENNETH CHANG

The Virgin Galactic space plane that broke apart on Friday shifted early into a high-drag configuration that is designed to slow it down.

The wreckage of the Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, which crashed into the Mojave Desert, killing one pilot and injuring another.

In Traveling to the Stars, Risk and Cost

By JAD MOUAWAD

Two recent accidents, one of them fatal, involving commercial rockets have underscored the high risks and soaring costs involved in any spaceflight.

Investigators in Virgin Galactic Crash Focus on Tail Booms 1:38 AMNYT Now

Sheriff's deputies on Saturday at the crash site of a Virgin Galactic space plane near Cantil, Calif.

Virgin Galactic Is Rattled, but Undeterred, by Deadly Space Plane Crash

By KENNETH CHANG

The company and federal investigators began their investigations into what caused a space plane to crash Friday in the Mojave Desert, while the pilot killed was identified as Michael Alsbury.

Interactive Feature

Mars Curiosity Rover Tracker

A selection of images from NASA’s Curiosity rover as it drives toward Mount Sharp.

Slide Show

Readers’ Moon Memories

Photographs from readers of what they were doing as astronauts first walked on the moon.

Multimedia

Ms. Jones and Mr. Redmayne in an early scene from the film.

Video

Directing ‘The Theory of Everything’

The Academy Award-winning director James Marsh discusses his newest project, “The Theory of Everything,” which chronicles the life of the cosmologist Stephen Hawking.