In the age of the smartphone, Jordan Söderberg Mills champions a hands-on creativity that's still Instagram-friendly

Neil Armstrong’s ‘giant leap’ came from the step of an awkward alien spacecraft that was at home on neither Earth nor moon

The US space programme was so expensive that Nasa made the cost a selling point – turning it into the ultimate luxury product, says Thomas Jones

Icon asked a dozen experts and practitioners to nominate the people they think are, in some way, shaping the future. The resulting list of global talent is a snapshot that shows how young designers and architects are pushing the boundaries of their disciplines and trying to change the world

For over 20 years, the pictures beamed back from NASA's orbiting observatory have shed light on dark matter and fired the imaginations of Earth dwellers.

What did the design of the spacesuit have to do with 1970s urban planning?

From claustrophobic, alien dystopias to baroque pads for Cold War villains, the world beneath the waves has long been reimagined by film-makers, video game designers and architects.

The space probe is about to become the first man-made object to leave the solar system. It is a beautiful expression of the best sort of human ambition.

Among the space station builders.