Our new series continues with Carl Walker looking at the Mission Beyond patch as worn by Italy’s Luca Parmitano – ESA’s most recent ISS crew member.   The ‘Beyond’ mission would see Luca Parmitano of Italy return to the Space Station for a second time......

1. Douglas Adams is celebrated annually with towels… Celebrated every year on 25th May, Towel Day is a tribute to the late, great Douglas Adams and his pioneering world of sci-fi. It comes from a line in his enduringly popular 1979 novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide......

We’ve enlisted Carl Walker, ESA Space History Editor, self-professed scutelliphilist (patch geek) and Space Rocks co-conspirator, for a new series about space mission patches. Each month we’ll look at the stories behind the designs and history of these colourful collectibles…     Mission patches are......

7 Fascinating Facts about Mercury, and the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission, with planetary scientist and space weather expert Suzie Imber. It’s a bite-sized version of her brilliant talk at Space Rocks London 2019!   1. Mercury is incredibly dense compared to the other rocky planets......