Today’s hidden fact · Wednesday, July 8, 2026

SpaceX's Falcon 9 Was the First Orbital Rocket to Land Itself and Fly Again

Rockets were always single-use, burned up or dumped in the ocean after one flight. Falcon 9 broke that rule — landing upright and relaunching within weeks.

Read the full fact Explore all facts

0 hidden facts to explore

0 launches on the horizon

0 asteroids passing this week

Daily updates, with no humans involved

The cosmos right now

Live from NASA and the world's launch pads — refreshed every morning.

NASA Picture of the Day

Swift Boost Mission

Sometimes we can all use a little help from a friend. NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory needs a boost to stay in orbit after almost 22 years of service. This video shows an artist's visualization of the Swift Boost Mission: The Katalyst's LINK spacecr…

NASA APOD · Jul 8

Upcoming Rocket Launches

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-42
Jul 9, 09:05 UTC · SpaceX
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Long March 10B | Demo Flight
Jul 10, 05:20 UTC · China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-48
Jul 11, 02:00 UTC · SpaceX
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Gravity-1 | Unknown Payload
Jul 12, 02:00 UTC · Orienspace Technology
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Vikram-I | Demo Flight
Jul 12, 05:00 UTC · Skyroot Aerospace
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Asteroids Passing Earth This Week

2007 AA2
2026-07-11 · misses us by 6,832,281 km · ~52 m wide · 25,970 km/h
2019 AM12
2026-07-08 · misses us by 10,787,227 km · ~36 m wide · 18,135 km/h
2016 NB1
2026-07-14 · misses us by 11,593,805 km · ~71 m wide · 30,381 km/h
2013 AS27watched by NASA
2026-07-10 · misses us by 12,693,133 km · ~228 m wide · 64,487 km/h
2011 LA19watched by NASA
2026-07-15 · misses us by 17,635,961 km · ~630 m wide · 49,174 km/h
2010 WB3
2026-07-15 · misses us by 17,725,395 km · ~440 m wide · 98,979 km/h

Distances look huge — the Moon is 384,400 km away. Anything under a few million km counts as a close shave in space terms.