The state of the District's public schools has been poor for decades, but how bad can things really be? Pretty terrible, according to a report measuring how well eighth-graders are doing in science. more ›

For the second time in a week, NASA announced it is delaying the launch of five suborbital rockets from Virginia that would be visible across the East Coast after cloudy weather in official viewing areas. more ›

Something else D.C. is pretty good at? Setting scientific education standards for our public school students. The District tied with California to top a national survey of science curricula. more ›

Ah, jizz berries, the curse of many a District autumn. Yes, it's once again about that time when the city's pedestrians find themselves pinching their noses in a desperate battle against the scent of feces and vomit, then frantically scraping the disgusting ginkgo produce from the soles of their shoes. more ›

Last night, photographers in the District were able to capture a colored ring in the sky around the moon. more ›

Good morning, Washington. For those of you with an extended holiday weekend, it's going to be a beautiful three days. For those of us looking at no more than our perfunctory time-off, relish Saturday and Sunday’s sunshine. Monday’s certain to arrive sooner than we’d like. more ›

After several days of harrowing uncertainty, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite finally made its fiery descent through the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. more ›

UPDATE (12:35 p.m.): Well, now the satellite's orientation has shifted, so the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite might land in the U.S., after all. Keep calm and carry on, people. more ›

Tomorrow, beginning at 5:04 a.m. eastern standard time, the tilt of the Earth's axis will be situation neither away from nor towards the Sun, marking the autumn equinox and the beginning of fall. And while that's pretty neat in and of itself, it's the yearly D.C. Henge event that really has us excited. more ›

We love space, astronauts and science around these parts. But we wouldn't really be very honest if we weren't slightly unnerved at the fact that when a defunct six-ton satellite is going to come crashing to Earth, NASA isn't exactly sure where it is going to land. more ›

Washington is wonky. But according to recent data complied by the National Science Foundation, we're merely the seventh-most geeky place in the country. more ›

What better way to get in the mood for a space shuttle launch than to talk to an astronaut about one? DCist sat down with Alvin Drew, a D.C. born and bred astronaut who recently flew aboard the final Discovery mission. more ›

Preparing for the last space shuttle launch, an upcoming lecture by DCist's very own space correspondent, a win for a local planetarium and rockets in the D.C. sky are all in this week's Look Up. more ›

One of the most coveted tickets of the year for space fans to get their hands on is to the annual John H. Glenn Lecture at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. This year, the series took a step back to the very beginning with the lecture's namesake, Senator John Glenn and his fellow Mercury astronaut Commander Scott Carpenter, who spoke to the packed IMAX theater about the nascent steps of the American space program. more ›

We've already experienced ten days over 90 degrees in Washington, D.C. this year, so it's hard to believe summer hasn't even started yet. Next Tuesday marks the summer solstice for the northern hemisphere, as Earth reaches the point in its orbit where its tilt edges us closest to the sun. more ›

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of American human spaceflight with stargazing events, rocket challenges, planet "dances," and space shuttle launches. more ›

Cheers erupted from the staff at the National Air & Space Museum this afternoon as NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, over a live feed from Kennedy Space Center, officially announced that space shuttle Discovery will find a new home at the Udvar-Hazy Center. more ›

Celebrations in honor of the the first person to traveled to space -- cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched in the Vostok 1 for one 108-minute orbit around the Earth on April 12, 1961 -- are an annual tradition. And they're awesome. Especially so this year, when Yuri's Night participants will mark the golden anniversary of Gagarin's circle around the world. more ›

Early last year, we told you all about the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). The launch grounds, run in cooperation with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, is located on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on Wallops Island, Virginia, about three hours from D.C. on the Eastern Shore. Are you ready to watch some launches from D.C.? more ›

Washington, D.C. native Alvin Drew was the sixth and last astronaut strapped in a few minutes ago aboard the space shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is Drew's second shuttle mission, his first since STS-118 in 2007. more ›

Behold, the Bottoms Up Draft Beer Dispensing System -- which is now in place at the Verizon Center, says arena owner Ted Leonsis. The taps, the brainchild of GrinOn Industries, can reportedly allow one person to fill 44 pints of beer in one minute. It involves magnets, or something. more ›

That freak of nature in the photo? The Associated Press says it's a "panda cow," a miniature cow variety which was created in a lab to be pets for the income set that can't afford to actually buy a real panda from the Chinese. more ›

Happy Winter Solstice! Check out all the photographers who stayed up most of the night and braved the freezing cold to get a shot of last night's total lunar eclipse. On behalf of those of us who try to get folks excited about science and astronomy, it was almost more fun to watch Twitter last night and see the sheer number of people who went outside for a glimpse of the last one of these we'll see until 2014. more ›

We wrote about it last Monday, but wanted to remind you that tonight's sky will feature a total lunar eclipse – the last one we'll see until 2014. more ›

A clear sky is welcome news, as the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids, peaks tonight. You won't even have to stay up extraordinarily late for these beauties: the 'shooting stars' will be visible from around 11 p.m., with as many as 120 streaking through the sky per hour. If you can't weather the cold, watch NASA's radar capturing the fireballs all night. more ›

I don't know about you, but I'm having flashbacks to October 2009, when the media went nuts about NASA "bombing" the moon. more ›

Fans of space and aviation have a new place to nerd out starting today, as the National Air & Space Museum officially opens the Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery on the second floor of its space on the National Mall. An updated version of the old Pioneers gallery, it now holds major artifacts from aviation's "adolescence" in the 1920s and 30s, when, as the Smithsonian's Dr. Peter Jakab said during the press opening, we became "a species with wings, which changed how we saw our place in the world." The gallery displays American innovation at its best, where the artifacts are second to the human stories and struggles from designing never-before-imagined technologies to paving the roads to social equality. more ›

Early in October, we told you about NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's "Tour & Tweet" event. DCist photographer Steve Goldenberg signed up for the tour and took the set of photos in the gallery above; click through for his descriptions as they were led through the facilities. more ›

DCist reminded you a few times about the USA Science & Engineering Festival which happened on the National Mall this past weekend, so we hope you didn't miss out on the mass nerdgasm. The second annual festival was an enormous affair, with hundreds of booths lined up on the Mall between 7th Street and the Capitol grounds -- even more booths took up all of Freedom and Wilson Plazas and filled the Mellon Auditorium. Eager and personable representatives led games and activities like robot soccer, Science Plinko and a spacecraft simulator. more ›