How To Watch NASA TV On Your Phone, Tablet, Computer, Or Television
NASA does some of the most exciting work in the world: launching rockets, sending robots to explore other planets, and sending humans to live and work on the International Space Station. As a government agency, it also puts out a huge amount of science and other educational materials aimed at both children and adults, so there's something to appeal to everyone from those who know little about space exploration to those who are experts in the field.
As part of its public outreach, NASA runs a TV channel called NASA TV. This channel shows live streams of major events like rocket launches, as well as news conferences, announcements of major scientific findings, and live streams of speeches by senior NASA personnel. In between these events, the channel shows documentaries about current and historical space exploration, scientific research being performed in space, information about the engineering that goes into NASA missions, and lots more.
Sometimes people don't realize that this amazing resource is available — and free to watch! But NASA puts out its NASA TV channel on a wide range of platforms, so anyone in the world can watch it and catch key space events. Or it can be a great way to brush up on your space knowledge or keep kids entertained with educational material. You can watch NASA TV on practically any kind of internet-connected device that is capable of playing back video.
How to watch NASA TV on YouTube
The easiest way to watch NASA TV on your phone, computer, tablet, or smart TV is to watch via YouTube. The channel streams 24 hours a day on YouTube, so you just need to head to this YouTube video and you can watch as much as you like. If you'd like to see a schedule of what is on NASA TV now and what is coming up in the future, you can go visit the NASA TV web page and see the upcoming schedule.
While you're exploring NASA TV on YouTube, you might also want to check out the rest of NASA's YouTube channel, which has even more videos covering past events, short documentaries, news briefings, and footage of previous launches. Those who are looking for more in-depth footage can turn to the NASA Video channel, which hosts extra material that didn't make it onto the main channel. For footage of live events without commentary, you can peek at the NASA TV Media channel.
And if all of that isn't enough and you want even more space content, then the European Space Agency also has its own TV channel called ESA Web TV, which has similar content about space exploration with a focus on European missions.
How to watch NASA TV using apps
Another option to watch NASA TV as well as keep up with all things NASA is to download one of the agency's official apps. There are apps for iOS and Android that give you access to images, videos, and updates on major missions. There is also a tab in each app that enables you to watch NASA TV live.
You can, of course, use these apps on your smartphone or tablet, but they're particularly useful for using on a smart TV as you don't need to navigate to a particular YouTube link. You can install the iOS app on your Apple TV or the Android app on your Android TV and access NASA TV that way. If you have a different type of smart TV, you'll also find links to download apps for Kindle Fire, Fire TV, and Roku systems on NASA's website.
The app has some fun extra features too, like information on when the International Space Station is set to pass overhead of where you are and when you might be able to see it, tracking information for NASA missions, and a variety of podcasts on different space topics — and, naturally, all of these apps are free.
Keep up with NASA events on social media
Finally, if you want to keep up with NASA news and events but don't want to watch a TV channel regularly, you can check out the various NASA social media accounts instead. These accounts post text updates on NASA missions, but they also frequently post video clips or live streams of events as they happen, making them a better option for those who don't have time to watch an entire broadcast but don't want to miss out on the most exciting bits of action.
NASA has a list of all of its official social media accounts as follows, including ones on major platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, plus the big video platforms YouTube and Twitch.tv. There's also an account on the oldie site Dailymotion and the lesser-known video streaming platform THETA.tv. Enjoy following along with all the latest news and videos from NASA!