What are the best free space news sites for following launches and research updates?

Here are some of the best free space news sites for keeping up with launches, missions, astronomy, and research updates:

Best all-around space news sites

• Space.com — Very broad coverage: launches, NASA, SpaceX, astronomy, and explainers. Good daily news feed.
• NASA News / NASA Blogs — Best direct source for U.S. government missions, research updates, and official announcements.
• ESA News — Great for European missions, science, and launch updates.
• SpaceNews — Excellent for industry, launches, contracts, and space policy. Some content is free, some is paywalled.
• The Planetary Society Blog/News — Good for mission updates, science, and advocacy-focused space reporting.

Best for launch tracking

• Spaceflight Now — Strong launch coverage, schedules, and mission follow-ups.
• NASASpaceFlight — Especially good for launch coverage, rocket testing, and aerospace developments.
• NextSpaceflight — Great for launch manifests and tracking upcoming launches in a simple format.
• RocketLaunch.live — Easy-to-use launch calendar and updates.

Best for research and science updates

• NASA Science — Press releases and research highlights from NASA science divisions.
• ESO News — Strong for astronomy and astrophysics research updates.
• Phys.org Space & Earth — Aggregates a lot of space and astronomy research news.
• Universe Today — Accessible articles on astronomy, planetary science, and missions.

Best for a more technical or professional angle

• Ars Technica Space — High-quality reporting, especially on launch vehicles, mission engineering, and policy.
• The Space Review — Deep-dive analysis and commentary on space policy, missions, and industry.
• Payload — Good for commercial space and policy, but more startup/industry oriented.

Good news aggregators / official feeds

• Spaceflight Now launch schedule
• NASA RSS feeds
• ESA RSS/news feeds
• Google News searches for “space launch” or specific missions
• Reddit communities like r/space and mission-specific subreddits for fast discussion, though not always reliable as primary sources

If you want a short “best of” list

If you only want a few:

1. NASA News
2. Space.com
3. Spaceflight Now
4. Ars Technica Space
5. NASA/ESA mission blogs

If you want, I can also give you:

• a list sorted by launch coverage vs research coverage
• a list of the best X/Twitter accounts
• or a custom feed setup using RSS so you can track everything in one place.