On Sunday, February 3, 2013, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, reached a Twitter milestone: a million followers for his tweets from @neiltyson.

Learn about Sean Solomon and his work as a principal investigator for the MESSENGER spacecraft, which successfully entered Mercury’s orbit in March 2011, at a Hayden Planetarium event tonight at 7:30 pm. What are the latest findings about the small, mysterious planet closest to the Sun? 

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik-1, the first man-made satellite to successfully orbit the Earth, its beeping signal picked up by radio operators around the globe. Weighing in at just under 184 pounds and measuring 22.8 inches in diameter, Sputnik soared to space amid the tensions of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, creating significant political and scientific fallout. A life-sized model of the satellite, whose name means “fellow traveler” in Russian, is featured in the current exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.

The exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration features a life-size model of the Curiosity rover, as well as a section examining how humans might one day make the journey to Mars in person. 

The 2,000-lb. Curiosity, NASA's most advanced rover yet, arrived safely on Mars this morning after a complex entry, descent, and landing sequence that had been described as "seven minutes of terror." 

Curiosity, a mobile laboratory that carries 10 scientific instruments, has been en route from Earth for 36 weeks. Now, it begins its two-year mission to find out whether Mars has ever supported microbial life. It sent its initial image of Mars shortly after touchdown.

Don't miss a life-sized model of Curiosity in the Museum’s exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, open through Sunday, August 12.