The billionaire space race ramped up at Richard Branson's successful flight to the edge of space on July 11, 2021, as 2 spaceflight companies jostled for bragging rights.

A new study from scientists at LMU in Germany says that there could be enough heat and liquid water on moons of rogue planets - free-floating worlds with no suns - to support life. Cosmic rays could drive processes such as photosynthesis, instead of direct sunlight.

Scientists discovered that Palomar 5 has a large proportion of black holes and will one day lose all its stars and be made entirely of black holes.

A new study from researchers at the University of Naples in Italy suggests that highly-evolved, Earth-like biospheres may be rare on exoplanets. Many stars either don't emit enough energy for life to develop past the basic photosynthesis stage or don't live long enough for life to evolve on any planets that may otherwise be suitable.

The final shuttle mission - a flight of space shuttle Atlantis - launched on July 8, 2011. Watch a live replay.

A newly-discovered mini-Neptune's atmosphere is ideal for study by space telescopes.

"We started by asking ‘what’s this weirdo?’ the astronomers said. Now they recognize SN 2018zd as an electron-capture supernova.

Astronauts performed the first space walk on Tiangong, China's new space station, on July 4, 2021. They are now preparing it to be inhabited by future crews.

Scientists using the Kepler telescope have found a new population of rogue planets, or free-floating planets, unconnected to any star.

The most-massive white dwarf now known is ZTF J1901+1458. It's thought to have formed when 2 less massive white dwarfs merged. It has 1.3 times our sun's mass.