NASA

Queen guitarist Brian May is here to make you super pumped about outer space and science, because he just dropped a theme song for NASA's New Horizons mission ... and it rocks!

Brian's famous for playing lead guitar for the classic rock band, but he's also an astrophysicist who's been working with NASA's New Horizons team as it sends a probe to the outer reaches of our solar system ... and he's combined his two passions to create a mission anthem that's cooler than Pluto!

Brian dropped the New Horizons tribute song on New Year's Eve, coinciding with the NASA spacecraft reaching Ultima Thule in the icy Kuiper belt ... and we gotta say, the track stacks up pretty well to Queen's soundtrack for "Flash Gordon."

As for the story behind the song ... Brian was reportedly reluctant to work his rock star magic when a New Horizons colleague asked him to write a song for the mission, because Brian felt it was almost impossible to rhyme with Ultima Thule.

Brian says he eventually started hearing music in his head sounding like "an object plummeting through space" and his creative juices started flowing and the song was born.

Pink Floyd fans might be disappointed to learn China beat the U.S. to the "dark side" of the moon ... which, funny enough, is pretty damn bright.

China's national space program released photos Thursday after its spacecraft, Chang'e 4 lunar probe, landed on the far side of the moon for the first time in human history ... and, at first glimpse, there wasn't a whole lot of darkness back there. Quite the contrary.

In the closeup shot above, you can see the cratered surfaced is well lit, and looks a lot like the front side that Earth often sees from down below. Gasp!!!

This black and white shot was taken just as the probe successfully landed. It too appears to be luminous -- which makes sense. The sun's light obviously shines through back there.

China's mission is a big deal, as it's the first country in world history to get a spacecraft back there ... beating both the U.S. and Russia to the punch.

Jim Bridenstine -- the head of NASA -- says Steph Curry just HAS to be joking about his moon landing theory ... telling TMZ Sports, "I can't imagine he really believes that!!"

The Warriors superstar sent space nerds into a frenzy Monday when he declared on The Ringer's "Winging It" podcast that the moon landing in 1969 never happened.

Enter Bridenstine ... who says Curry's claim is so outrageous -- the point guard just cannot be serious.

"I think it's funny," Jim tells us ... "I can't imagine he really believes that. It's outside the realm of what's possible."

In fact ... Jim REALLY set Steph straight, saying, "Here's the thing, we didn't just go to the moon once, we went to the moon six times! And, we did it from 1969 to 1972!!!"

Bridenstine also doubled down on NASA's invitation to have Curry come check out all their evidence -- saying he'd LOVE to prove Steph wrong and get him involved in the space program afterward!

"My son is a HUGE fan of Steph Curry. So, if we can get him involved in space, I'm for it!"

Donald Trump's amateurish designs for potential Space Force logos are out-of-this-world bad ... so says the artist who created an older NASA logo.

Richard Danne -- the designer of a NASA logo from 1975 -- went off on Trump's Space Force artwork.

Danne ripped into the designs released by the Trump Administration ... telling TMZ, "This logo effort is typical of the present administration: impulsive, ill-advised, superficial, and second-rate."

Tell us how you really feel, Richard!!!

"A random student from the Los Angeles Art Center could put these logos to shame ... They are, in a word: sophomoric!"

Richard is peeved some of the Space Force designs were lifts from past NASA logos.

"The images are totally derivative from NASA graphics but are -- All flash and no substance, and comical really."

If the idea of a U.S. Space Force triggers visions of spacecrafts engaging in intergalactic battles and missions, you might have watched too many 'Star Wars' films ... so says former NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson.

Anderson wants to learn more about President Trump's Space Force -- which could be established as soon as 2020 -- but tells us he sees the realistic benefits from the proposed 6th branch of the military ... just not as an outrageous plot from a Hollywood movie script.

This guy knows what he's talking about ... Anderson was an Astronaut for 15 years, spent 167 days in space and went on 6 spacewalks.

Anderson sees a potential Space Force as a means to protect U.S. military assets on Earth and in orbit. Clayton and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson both agree it's not a crazy idea.

Neil deGrasse Tyson says the idea of a U.S. Space Force ain't all that crazy -- in fact it's not even new -- but people just think it sounds crazy because it's coming from President Trump's mouth.

We got the astrophysicist Thursday at LAX where he broke down why the U.S. government should seriously consider having one. Hint: think "Armageddon" ... but sans Affleck and Willis.

Elon Musk was just as shocked as anybody over the successful launch of his Falcon Heavy rocket ... perhaps even more so, actually, based on his colorful language.

National Geographic captured the SpaceX CEO's reaction Tuesday as his company sent the most powerful U.S. rocket in nearly half a century into space from the Kennedy Space Center. His immediate response ... "Holy flying f***, that thing took off."

Musk and staff essentially freaked out over the launch, and appropriately so. SpaceX sent a rocket into orbit with a Tesla Roadster attached as part of its payload ... a major step forward for colonizing Mars.

Besides ... the launch and touchdown of their booster rockets was quite a sight to behold. So we'll pardon his French on this one ... it was pretty f****** cool.

Takeoff from Migos is really into space-themed bling, and he just took it to another world ... with an E.T.-looking dude in a diamond space suit.

The piece is plastered in 30 karats of VVS diamonds and includes the official NASA logo for a nice, legit touch. We're told the intergalactic pendant costs $60,000 -- or just under 4 Bitcoin, at last check.

Elliot Avianne, of Avianne & Co Jewelers in NYC, handed off the piece to the rapper this week in Miami.

Takeoff's alien space traveler is the newest addition to his collection of cosmic jewelry ... joining his detachable spaceship ring and his galaxy chain.

We're thinking someone needs a sit-down with Elon Musk, stat!

Elon Musk doesn't care if President Trump or Buzz Aldrin himself says it -- he's all for sending humans back to the moon.

We got Tesla's CEO leaving No Name Club in WeHo Monday night and asked what he thought of Trump's Space Policy Directive 1, which orders NASA to start working on a program to send astronauts back to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

Elon might as well have screamed "To Infinity and Beyond," 'cause that's how giddy he is -- despite having huge political differences with Trump in the past.

Same can't be said for Rep. Frederica Wilson ... who's calling out 45 for throwing up a big space smoke screen.

Gwyneth Paltrow is being called out by NASA for scamming her Goop customers with "wellness stickers."

Go to the Goop website and you'll find a pitch for "a crystalline, carbonized radio-frequency material" made from spacesuits. Gwyneth claims the stickers will "fill in the deficiencies in your reserves, creating a calming effect, smoothing out both physical tension and anxiety."

BS, says former NASA honcho Mark Shelhamer, who says, "Not only is the whole premise like snake oil, the logic doesn't even hold up." Shelhamer told Gizmodo, "If they promote healing, why do they leave marks on the skin when they are removed. What a load of BS this is."

And it gets worse ... in the original pitch on Goop, it says the materials were made from NASA issues, but NASA says it's just not true. The representation has been removed from Goop.

BTW ... the stickers go for $120 for a set of 24.