U.S. astronauts will make the first of five spacewalks from the International Space Station on Friday, to attach a node to the station brought by the Discovery shuttle, NASA said.

A NASA spacecraft observed lightning strikes at Jupiter's poles as it provided insights into the giant planet's dynamic atmosphere as well as volcanic activity on one of its moons, scientists have said.

When Sputnik was lifted into space on October 4, 1957, it was humankind's first step into the final frontier. The small aluminium sphere emitted a shrill signal and orbited the Earth for three months.

Today Russia and world space explorators mark Sputnik anniversary of 50 years.

The US space agency NASA is going to extraordinary lengths to find out more about the history of the solar system. The Dawn spacecraft was launched this morning on a 5 billion kilometre journey to the asteroid zone between Mars and Jupiter, and if all goes well it will enter the orbit of the asteroid Vesta in 2011.

A U.S. spacecraft named Dawn has blasted off from Cape Canaveral on an exploration mission to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, NASA said.

A gathering of international scientists in India is highlighting the new capabilities of Asian nations to reach outer space. As Anjana Pasricha reports, more than 2,000 aerospace experts are debating the future direction of space exploration.

A NASA spacecraft has found seven possible cave entrances on Mars, triggering interest in hunting for other caverns that might be hiding life on the Red Planet, the US space agency said.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy should pursue the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) as the first mission in the "Beyond Einstein" program, according to a new report from the National Research Council. Beyond Einstein is NASA's research roadmap for five proposed mission areas to study the most compelling questions at the intersection of physics and astronomy.

South Korea has announced that a 30-year-old robotics expert would be the country's first person in space when he flies on a Russian Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station next year.

The Mission Control Center in Houston informed the STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews late Thursday that Saturday’s spacewalk will not include repairs of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s heat shield.

Water has been discovered on a planet outside our solar system for the first time - giving scientists a tantalising hint of life existing beyond the Earth.