Exploring what's beyond our world
Our work in Space encompasses projects dedicated to exploring and understanding the universe and supporting National Geographic Explorers who examine and illuminate our world and what lies beyond it. From our solar system to deep space, from the origin of the universe to the evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere, from meteorites to space debris, Explorers are unraveling mysteries, testing new ideas, and sparking curiosity and awe.
Our history in space exploration
The National Geographic Society has documented humanity’s amazing feats in space through compelling stories and photographs, from the U.S. space program and its development in the 1950s to the moon landing to present-day glimpses into distant galaxies from space probes. The Society sponsored some of the earliest aeronautic achievements, including the Explorer II stratosphere balloon flight in 1935 and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), an immense photomapping of the entire night sky that was completed in 1958. And, as a message from our earthbound institution, 20 images provided by the Society were sent into deep space on the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. They continue to traverse the galaxy.
Our Space Explorers
They’re on an unrelenting quest to understand the unknown and are pushing the limits of what is possible.
Drawing on National Geographic’s long history with space exploration, our Explorers are finding fascinating and inventive ways to find answers about our world. They are leveraging satellite imagery to gain new perspectives, developing cutting-edge technologies, and building upon humanity’s long-standing fascination with the stars to learn more about our planet and ourselves.
Read more stories of impact from some of our Space Explorers on nationalgeographic.com.
Monica Alcazar-Duarte: Embracing themes related to science and technology and their influence over society and the natural world
Zara Randriamanakoto: Using space-based and ground-based South African telescopes to help image collisional ring galaxies
H. Cynthia Chiang: Focusing on instrumentation development and data analysis for observational cosmology
Moriba Jah: Chief scientist and a co-founder of Privateer Space, a data and intelligence platform empowering the future of space sustainability
Ilias Psyroukis: Young Explorer, pioneer and educator engaging youth with new space-related technologies
Help us promote innovation
Bring Space into the classroom
Spark new curiosities and download resources we've made available for educators and learners in our Resource Library. We've provided lessons, articles, maps, videos and so much more to inspire our mission to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world — and beyond.
Support our work
As a global community, we have a duty to make our world a better place. By empowering innovative thinkers and creators, we can move our human journey forward and inspire generations to come. How will you contribute to the evolution of our world?
Photo Credits from top of page: NASA, Terry Virts, Michael C. Breakley, Zara Randriamanakoto, H. Cynthia Chiang, Mark Thiessen, Ilias Psyroukis, Terry Virts, Munazza Alam