Strauss' "Blue Danube" is heading into space this month to mark the 200th anniversary of the waltz king's birth.
The classical piece will be beamed into the cosmos as it's performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The celestial send-off on May 31 — livestreamed with free public screenings in Vienna, Madrid and New York — also will celebrate the European Space Agency's founding 50 years ago.

The latest selfie by NASA's Perseverance rover at Mars has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil.
Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 3 miles (5 kilometers) behind the rover during this month's photo shoot. Released Wednesday, the selfie is a composite of 59 images taken by the camera on the end of the rover's robotic arm, according to NASA.

Three genetically engineered wolves that may resemble extinct dire wolves are trotting, sleeping and howling in an undisclosed secure location in the U.S., according to the company that aims to bring back lost species.
The wolf pups, which range in age from three to six months old, have long white hair, muscular jaws and already weigh in at around 80 pounds — on track to reach 140 pounds at maturity, researchers at Colossal Biosciences reported Monday.

Three skiers are believed dead after an avalanche swept them away and buried them under a pile of snow nearly 10 stories deep in the Alaska backcountry.
Each winter about 25 people on average die in avalanches in the U.S., with most occurring in the wilderness, according to the National Avalanche Center. They are rare at ski resorts, which manage their slopes and trigger smaller slides on purpose when no visitors are around.

A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth's celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon's northeastern edge of the near side.

The seven other planets in our solar system will line up in the night sky on Friday evening for a rare alignment called a "planetary parade" that will not happen again until 2040.
Here is what you need to know about how best to get a glimpse of this celestial parade.

A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday, aiming to get closer to the moon's south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun.
Intuitive Machines' lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It's taking a fast track to the moon — with a landing on March 6 — while hoping to avoid the fate of its predecessor, which tipped over at touchdown.

New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the lunar far side.
That's good news for scientists and NASA, which is looking to land astronauts at the south pole on the near, Earth-facing side untouched by that impact and containing older rocks in original condition.

Using satellite trackers, scientists have discovered the whereabouts of young sea turtles during a key part of their lives.
"We've had massive data gaps about the early baby to toddler life stages of sea turtles," said Kate Mansfield, a marine scientist at the University of Central Florida. "This part of their long lives has been largely a mystery."

NASA's two stuck astronauts took their first spacewalk together Thursday, exiting the International Space Station almost eight months after moving in.
Commander Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore removed a broken antenna and wiped the station's exterior for evidence of any microbes that might still be alive after launching from Earth and escaping through vents.
