On May 18th, Alaska's Pavlof volcano exploded in a paroxysm of gas, ash and magma – a violent eruption which was photographed from aboard the International Space Station.

What's the illustrious Chris Hadfield – former commander of the International Space Station – been up to since departing low-Earth orbit? Re-adapting to gravity, for one (Hadfield: "my body was quite happy in space without gravity") and participating in this fantastic press conference, his first since he returned to…

Tonight at 7:08 ET, Commander Chris Hadfield – one of the most charismatic Commanders in the history of the International Space Station – will return to Earth. For the last five months, his steady stream of tweets, photographs and videos have been a source of inspiration, education and entertainment for millions around …

On late Thursday, "a very steady stream of flakes" was spotted drifting away from the space station — an apparent ammonia leak. The crew isn't in any danger, but an emergency spacewalk is being planned to inspect and fix it.

This morning's manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers has left many of us glued to our screens. If you find yourself in need of a little mental/emotional/psychological vacation from it all, here's a live feed of this morning's spacewalk outside the ISS.

This is just excellent. ISS Commander Chris Hadfield was recently asked by high school students Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner to demonstrate what happens when you wring out a waterlogged washcloth in space.

Well, technically it's a brain photographed from space. Astronaut Chris Hadfield, current Commander of the International Space Station, snapped the photograph while orbiting over South America.

If you want to see what the Golden Gate Bridge or the delta of the Nile looks like from space with the click of a mouse, head over to Our World From The ISS. This interactive map, created by Dave MacLean of the Centre of Geographic Sciences, collects the gorgeous photos tweeted by Chris Hadfield and Thomas H. Marshburn …

Last May, SpaceX's Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft in history to visit the International Space Station. This morning, the private spaceflight company will attempt to do it again.

Today at 9:45 EST, NASA lost direct contact with the International Space Station due to an equipment malfunction. News outlets promptly went bonkers, even after ISS commander Kevin Ford reported that the station was "still fine and straight," and that "everybody [onboard was] in good shape of course" (contact was still…