Abstract:The first Nobel prize in physics was awarded to the discovery of X-rays that heralded the modern physics, following which abundant Nobel prizes were awarded to discoveries related to X-rays. One century later, the first Nobel prize in physics from space astronomy was awarded in 2002 to the breakthroughs in space X-ray astronomy, which opened a new windows in the observing the universe. For about half century since the discovery of the first cosmic X-ray source in 1962, about 70 spacecrafts carrying astronomy instruments have been launched and operated, which have tremendously improved our understanding of the universe and fundamental laws of physics. Then in 2006, the Nobel prize in physics was awarded to the precise measurement of the blackbody spectrum of cosmic microwave background radiation and the discovery of its space anisotropy made with the COBE satellite. In 2011, the Nobel prize in physics was awarded to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe, for which the famous Hubble Space Telescope made some important contributions. Therefore, in the beginning of the new century the two Nobel prizes in physics have been awarded to the discoveries of space astronomy observations, which also contributed significantly to the third one; this situation is quite similar to the contributions of the discovery of X-rays to the Nobel prizes in physics in the beginning of the 20th century. Through the analysis of the three Nobel prizes and all other Nobel prizes in physics awarded to discoveries of astronomy observations, we find that essentially all these discoveries were either not the original scientific goals of those projects, or even just opposite to that, except the COBE case. Finally, we discussed the serendipity and predictability of major astronomy discoveries, which are useful for China’s space astronomy in the rapid, however, initial stage of development.