Even Korolev, the Soviet space program’s chief designer, invoked Goddard’s fabled moon rocket of the 1920s in his request in 1958 for government funds to send a probe to the moon. Korolev got ...

But take a step back: at the dawn of the original space race, the Soviet Union and the United States failed 20 times — including at least three missions that missed the moon entirely.

Katy Perry, the pop star whose lengthy catalogue includes a few songs that reference aliens and shooting across the sky.