NASA

E.T. might want to phone home after this one ... scientists are looking to finally get a response back from alien life by sending some cheeky sketches into the unknown.

As we reported, NASA's new project, "Beacon in the Galaxy," is hoping the messages they transmit into space will result in some contact back. One of the things being sent is a nude drawing of a man and a woman ... before your imagination runs awry, take a look for yourself.

Scientists hope the simple sketch of 2 naked humans waving "hello" will attract whatever's out there ... it also comes with a drawing of DNA and a representation of gravity.

This isn't the first time nude drawings have been floating in space ... plaques on Pioneer missions 10 and 11 have similar sketches attached to their space crafts.

The string of messages will be sent out in binary code and will include some basic math and physics concepts that can help establish their level of communication.

Elon Musk's making more history -- SpaceX just sent the first Black woman to the International Space Station for an extended period of time.

Jessica Watkins is one of four astronauts who were hurled into orbit early Wednesday morning -- part of a mission called Crew-4, which was using yet another Dragon rocket to make their daylong ascent.

The team went up around 1 AM PT, and they're expected to dock at the ISS later today, at about 5 PM PT. Crew-4 will stay up there for 5 months, before returning in September.

Like we said ... Watkins is the 1st woman of color who'll have been in space for an extended period of time. Guion Bluford was the first Black person to go up into space, period, back in 1983 -- and since then, more than a dozen African-Americans, in general, have gone up.

Now, as for what they're going to be doing at the ISS ... general upkeep, maintenance and research -- something the previous team, Crew-3, has been doing since November. They're all doing a bit of a trade-off here, and Crew-3 will come back home after Crew-4 settles in.

In the past 2 years -- after SpaceX landed a major contract with NASA -- Elon has sent up 26 people into orbit in what are now seemingly just run-of-the-mill trips into space. That's actually a good thing, because as you know ... EM seems to think the future is up there.

He's said he wants to eventually colonize Mars, so the more we're up in our galaxy ... presumably, that's for the better -- as we can then start inching our way further out.

If alien life is out there in this great, big universe, we're doing our best to reach it with a new message -- and this time, it's got some algebra attached. Just in case they're big on math.

NASA is partnering with some of the country's top scientific minds in hopes of broadcasting a new radio message via a high-tech telescope -- very similar to what we did in 1974 from a telescope in Puerto Rico (then called the "Arecibo").

Not to get all math-y on ya, but that message to the stars only included binary code, plus some images of our Solar System and DNA sequences. This time, we're calling it the Beacon in the Galaxy message -- and we're kicking things up a notch by transmitting math equations.

There will be other graphical information communicating some basic principles and features of our world ... including cosmic landmarks that could help aliens find Earth in the Milky Way.

Sounds neat, of course, especially if some E.T.s actually pick up our signal and respond -- but this sort of reaching out actually spurred a warning from the late, great Stephen Hawking ... who once said we should refrain from chatting, and to do more listening instead.

The reason -- he said not all potential alien life might come in peace, and if they're able to receive what we send, they can presumably come down here and do major damage with way more advanced tech than we have.

The mysteries of space are offering up a new phenomenon to the list ... astronomers have documented something called 'odd radio circles' ... and there's lots of head-scratching going on.

These ORCs were first discovered by astronomers in 2020, using the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope ... operated by Australia's national science agency, CSIRO.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Org believes something like this takes a billion years to end up at its max size, and stretches about 16 times bigger than the Milky Way. It's already expanded past multiple galaxies.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory's MeerKAT telescope was able to get an even better shot.

Researchers have a few theories ... it's either the aftermath of an explosion at the center of the galaxy, jets that push out energetic particles, or the result of a starburst shock wave, caused by the creation of new stars.

Ray Norris, a professor at the Western Sydney University and CSIRO, says "We know ORCs are rings of faint radio emissions surrounding a galaxy with a highly active black hole at its center, but we don't yet know what causes them, or why they are so rare."

Pete Davidson won't be going to space -- at least not during Blue Origin's next trip -- he's dropped out of the flight after it's launch date was pushed back.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin made the announcement late Thursday, saying, "Blue Origin's 20th flight of New Shepard has shifted to Tuesday, March 29. Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission. We will announce the sixth crew member in the coming days."

The announcement is surprising, considering the launch date was supposed to be less than a week away on March 23.

It's currently unclear why Pete will be unable to make the trip, but as we reported -- he's been working on various projects, including James DeMonaco's "The Home" in which Pete was spotted covered in blood for a scene. So, it's possible one of them got in the way.

As for the remaining passengers who were scheduled to go up with Pete -- there's Party America CEO Marty Allen, hubby and wife duo Sharon and Marc Hagle, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies Prez Dr. George Nield.

We got pics of Pete and Kim grabbing In-N-Out Thursday night in L.A. so it appears if there was even such a thing as a space diet, it's clearly out the window -- and for good reason.

Elon Musk has vowed to become a real-life action hero, saving the world -- or at least part of it -- by thwarting any attempt by the Russian Government to send the International Space Station hurtling toward earth.

Musk is reacting to a Russian space official who menacingly suggested the ISS could lose its trajectory and careen toward the U.S. or Europe if the Russians sabotage the craft. The official suggested sanctions could trigger the move. Russia controls the engines on the ISS, and it can direct the trajectory accordingly.

Musk's Twitter response ... a SpaceX logo.

Someone on Twitter inquired if E.M. was suggesting SpaceX would prevent the ISS from plummeting to earth. His response -- "Yes."

Musk acknowledged another tweet with the ISS, but one thing was missing -- any evidence of Russia. Instead, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was front and center.  Elon responded, "Good thread."

The ISS could do lots of damage for sure ... it weighs in at 500 tons.

As for how serious the threat, the Russian official said, "The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?"

NASA says nothing's changing with respect to ISS operations. What's unclear ... can Russia do what it's threatening?

Don't count Musk out ... NASA has increasingly relied on SpaceX for space exploration.

There was something strange appearing in the sky over Tennessee ... and it prompted an eyewitness' super funny reaction to the prospect of UFOs.

Check out this wild, hilarious video obtained by TMZ, which appears to show multiple lights in different formations high above Memphis.

We're told this was shot a couple days ago, on Dec. 27, in the evening ... and you can see the lights forming a line and a triangle.

The eyewitness who shot the video is beside herself ... "Y'all, what is that y'all?!? Y'all what the f*** is that?!? Oh my God, y'all!!!"

It's unclear what we're seeing here, but they don't appear to be planes ... and it's the latest in a string of unidentified objects being spotted in our skies.

Earlier this month, we obtained video of a swarm of lights darting around the airspace above Chino Hills, CA ... looking like giants orbs in the heavens.

And, there was also the pilot who recorded what appeared to be a fleet of UFOs over the Pacific.

The Dept. of Defense is launching a new UFO task force ... and it would be hilarious if this Memphis eyewitness narrated all their evidence.

Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader and the driving force behind the UFO movement in Congress over the years, is dead.

The famed Democratic Senator from Nevada died Tuesday in Henderson, NV ... according to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and current Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

The cause of death is unclear ... but Harry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in 2018 and received intensive treatments.

Harry was a big deal in Nevada and Washington D.C. ... rising the political ranks after being born to a poor family in a tiny mining town in rural Nevada. He grew up as a boxer before getting into politics.

Reid served 34 years in Congress, starting as a Representative in 1983 before being elected to the Senate in 1986 and later becoming the chamber's Democratic leader following the 2004 election.

Schumer, who succeeded Reid as the Senate Democratic leader, is remembering Harry as "one of the most amazing individuals" and "tough-as-nails strong."

Being from Nevada, the home of the infamous Area 51, Harry became increasingly interested in UFOs ... and in 2007 he secured funding for a Pentagon program that investigated reports of UFOs and other related phenomena.

The UFO program, formerly known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, no longer exists but the government is still studying UFOs ... and things wouldn't be where they were today without Harry.

Reid was 82.

Neil deGrasse Tyson says the new NASA telescope observing the origins of the early universe isn't a shot across the bow at religion ... but being flexible is the key.

The famed astrophysicist joined us on "TMZ Live" and we asked if the research being done using the $10 billion Webb space telescope could challenge the foundations of religion.

Neil says the telescope, which launched into space on Christmas, will be used to fill in some gaps with the big bang theory ... but he's not buying the argument that such research will clash with generations of folks who believe God created the universe in 6 days.

The way Neil sees it ... religious folks are becoming more flexible and looking at things in a more spiritual sense ... so new discoveries won't cut to the core of belief systems.

Mark Rylance's turn as a deranged tech CEO in 'Don't Look Up' is a clear dig at our country's leading billionaire visionaries -- but the question ... who's it actually aimed at???

You've probably heard about this new Netflix flick -- but what you may not have known ... Rylance portrayal as chief of a revolutionary company is getting compared to guys like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and others pushing the information envelope.

One thing the internet can't seem to agree on ... which of these billionaires serves as the true inspiration behind Rylance's Peter Isherwell, who ends up contributing to everyone on Earth (save a select few) getting killed by an incoming comet. Sorry, spoiler alert!

For those who've seen it, you know Isherwell runs a company called BASH, which seems to be a spinoff of Apple -- a la Cook/Jobs -- but it's way more advanced, in that it reads your every thought and mood, and predicts how you'll die ... all based on data it collects on its users. Isherwell, funny enough, also runs a space unit of some sort ... similar to Musk.

In the end, Isherwell's plan to blow up the incoming comet and collect the precious minerals found within it completely backfires ... having led Meryl Streep (the President) and the rest of the world's citizens astray. He high-tails it off Earth, before it blows up, in his own rocket, and attempts to colonize a new planet in the distant galaxy (which also hilariously backfires).

The point is ... the dude seems to be an amalgam of all these guys in one -- although most people appear to think he's most like Time's Person of the Year for 2021.

It sounds like Rylance himself sees a little Elon in his character as well ... although he's quick to point out Isherwell isn't necessarily a dead ringer for any one of the tech-y billionaires, despite him certainly being a farcical take on just about all of them.

As he explains, Isherwell's actions are premised on the idea that any of our world's problems can be solved with technology -- a testament to our times and where we're headed.

There's gonna be less space in space, because the newest clutter is the most powerful telescope ever hurled into the heavens, and it promises a new, never-before-seen look that could alter the way earthlings live.

We're talkin' The James Webb Space Telescope, which lifted off early Xmas morning from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

NASA described the launch this way ...  "At 7:20am ET (12:20 UTC), the beginning of a new, exciting decade of science climbed to the sky. Webb’s mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse will change our understanding of space as we know it."

That may not be an overstatement ... the telescope is the most powerful and most complex ... a space observatory that will study exoplanets -- those are planets outside our solar system.

Thing is ... scientists think some of the exoplanets could be habitable, and that means 1) is there existing life on any of them? And 2) could we live there either by choice or necessity?

There have been years of delay in launching the scope for various reasons. As for specs -- its mirror can extend more than 21 feet, which gives it the ability to capture more light from the objects it's photographing ... and that will enhance the details scientists will study.

The mirror has 18 hexagonal, gold-coated segments ... fancy!

Bottom line ... scientists should be able to see things, including planets, they've never seen before.

William Shatner seems to have a safer trip flying in a humongous spaceship than he does driving a car on planet Earth -- evidenced in the fact he got into a wreck cruising the streets of L.A.

Captain Kirk was involved in an accident Tuesday in Studio City, which actually looked pretty bad ... from the damage done, anyway. WS was driving his black Mercedes SUV, while the other driver was in an Acura sedan.

Unclear exactly how the two vehicles ended up as crumpled as they were -- but as you can see ... the woman's front end is pretty smashed up, with her left wheel at a weird angle.

Luckily, neither Bill nor the woman appeared to be injured ... and the 90-year-old actor was quickly on his feet and over with the woman making sure she was okay, while he made some calls and kicked debris off the side of the road.

Cops were called to the scene, made sure both drivers swapped info ... and thankfully no one was taken to the hospital.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off Tuesday night for a mission of self-destruction ... and its end game is to save planet earth!

NASA commissioned Elon Musk's rocket company to hurl a Falcon 9 rocket into a nearly year-long journey which will end with the spacecraft bashing into a faraway asteroid.

Scientists want to see if the impact could actually change the asteroid's trajectory ... something that could be lifesaving if it were headed toward mother earth.

The spacecraft -- dubbed DART, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test -- left earthly terra firma at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Cali ... and the whole thing is kinda like a ripoff of "Armageddon."

DART is supposed to violently connect with Dimorphos -- an asteroid that measures 525 feet across -- at a speed of 15,000 MPH.

Scientists say the impact will not destroy the asteroid ... but the goal is to change its orbit.

It's complicated, but if the asteroid moves for a minimum of 73 seconds, the mission is considered a raging success!

SpaceX can check one more accomplishment off its list -- successfully completing an ISS mission, now that its astronauts have touched down on Earth in grand fashion.

Elon Musk's Dragon capsule safely landed Monday evening, parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico without a hitch ... but not before it was seen streaking across the night sky, especially in New Orleans -- where it looked like a shooting star, or even an asteroid.

This might've freaked some folks out ... but rest assured, it was just the Endeavor crew torpedoing back into our atmosphere after being up in orbit for more than 6 months. Indeed, this was the crew SpaceX/NASA shot into space back in April ... 'memba that?!?

The astronauts who went up were Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet ... and they linked up with the International Space Station, where they've been doing research and fieldwork for this entire time.

Now that they're back, and the mission's apparently a success, Elon can proudly say he's helped get the U.S. back into space after a multi-year hiatus. The last time we were up there for an extended period of time was way back in the early 2010s, but that program was paused by NASA -- that is, until SpaceX jumpstarted things with this launch.

Pretty sweet feat ... and it definitely puts Elon higher on the billionaire's space race totem pole, alongside guys like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson -- who haven't gone quite as far up as SpaceX rockets/capsules have.

Oh, and BTW -- the team here had a little bathroom trouble on the way down ... NASA advised them not to use the onboard toilet -- due to malfunctions that made it inoperable -- so they had to improvise for their bodily functions. Yep, you guessed it ... diapers for everyone!!!

NBD, they handled the crappy situation with professionalism and humor.

The all-civilian space mission that Elon Musk and co. sent up into orbit is officially a success -- because the 4-man crew is back home ... and TMZ is streaming the crew member pickup live.

The team, known as Inspiration4, re-entered our planet's atmosphere Saturday in a Dragon capsule -- getting burnt up badly as it barrels down to Earth, to be expected in these types of voyages. Luckily, there was some major parachuting going on to slow this puppy down ... and the spacecraft safely landed in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida.

Before they touched down ... it looks like the crew was watching some appropriate Mel Brooks content -- during the livestream, you could see one of the normie astronauts streaming "Spaceballs" on a small monitor in front of 'em. Good stuff!

Anyway, when they finally did make contact -- it made for a dramatic splash. Not too dramatic though ... SpaceX had rescue ships at the ready to pick up the passengers and take them back to shore -- which they're in the middle of doing now. It went about as as smoothly as one could hope for.

Remember, billionaire Jared Isaacman led the mission ... alongside Chris Sembroski, Dr. Sian Proctor and Hayley Arceneaux, all of whom have been zipping around the planet for a few days straight -- confined to the seats in the small space of their capsule.

Yes, that means they had to use the same toilet ... and refrain from showers. The fact they pulled it off opens the door for space tourism in the near future -- a whole new chapter many of us never thought possible.

These four individuals had to go through rigorous training to be in shape to be blasted off toward the stars -- but if you can get through that (and pay the high price tag) ... it's definitely something you can check off your bucket list in your lifetime.

Elon Musk's space company just made history ... the first ever, all-civilian spaceflight is way up above our planet ... and they blasted off without any astronauts.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, a pilot himself, is leading the mission dubbed Inspiration4 ... and it looks like he's already having a blast up there in space with the rest of his lucky space tourists.

Chris Sembroski, Dr. Sian Proctor and Hayley Arceneaux took off with Jared in a SpaceX Dragon capsule Wednesday night ... blasting into space using a Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

As you can see ... the space tourists were clapping and celebrating as they took off into space, breaking the speed of sound on the way up, while those in mission control back home were hyped too.

Now that they're in orbit, Jared and co. will be in space for the next 3 days, zipping around Earth about once every 90 minutes and enjoying the views.

As we first told you ... Jared told us back in February he was most looking forward to overriding the automatic pilot and taking Dragon for a spin up in space.

BTW ... the civilian crew will be sleeping in the same reclining seats you saw them in on the launch ... and they've got to share a toilet and forego showers.