Astatine was produced by Dale R. Carson, K.R. MacKenzie and Emilio Segrè by bombarding an isotope of bismuth, bismuth-209, with alpha particles that had been accelerated in a device called a cyclotron. This created astatine-211 and two free neutrons. This work was conducted at the University of California in 1940.

Small amounts of astatine exist in nature as a result of the decay of uranium and thorium, although the total amount of astatine in the earth's crust at any particular time is less than 30 grams. Due to its scarcity, astatine is produced when it is needed. A total of 0.05 micrograms (0.00000005 grams) of astatine have been produced to date.

Astatine's most stable isotope, astatine-210, has a half-life of 8.1 hours. It decays into bismuth-206 through alpha decay or into polonium-210 through electron capture.

Due to the small amounts produced and its short half-life, there are currently no uses for astatine outside of basic scientific research.