Posts Tagged ‘ space ’

"An ambitious project to establish a human colony on Mars has attracted applications from tens of thousands of would-be astronauts, just two weeks after applications opened. The mission, a private venture by the Dutch non-profit organization Mars One, aims to send a crew to the Red Planet in 2022 -- and, due to the physiological change in the human body after a stay on Mars, there’d be no coming back. That hasn’t deterred people, though: so far, over 78,000 people have applied to become one of Mars’ first immigrants (the company is expecting 500,000 applicants by the time applications close on August 31)." (05/09/13)

"After a brief delay, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived safely at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday morning. ... Dragon was initially scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, but a problem with three of the spacecraft's four thruster pods emerged shortly after its Friday liftoff. NASA requires that at least three pod thrusters be operational before a spacecraft approaches the ISS, so SpaceX was forced to delay its arrival while it fixed the glitches." (03/03/13)

"The weather looks promising for the planned Friday launch of a privately built robotic space capsule to the International Space Station, NASA says. The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., is slated to launch toward the space station Friday (March 1) at 10:10 a.m. EST. Weather forecasts predict an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions for launch -- near-perfect conditions." (02/28/13)

"In what could be called a three-hour space oddity, the International Space Station lost communication with NASA’s ground control in Houston on Tuesday while the station updated its software. Its astronauts, two Americans, three Russians and a Canadian, were left sitting in a tin can far above the world, and there was nothing they could do." (02/19/13)

"Virgin Galactic says it will start paying New Mexico rent on the nearly quarter-billion dollar Spaceport the state built for Richard Branson’s space tourism business, but the company is doing so under protest and without waiving its right to walk away from the project. ... Virgin Galactic says the state has not finished the work necessary to trigger activation of its $1 million-a-year rent. ... New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson says the state’s obligations have been met." (01/28/13)

"An American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut will spend a full year aboard the International Space Station in 2015-16, twice as long as current crews, to collect medical data on long-duration spaceflight that will help pave the way for eventual flights to deep space destinations, NASA said Friday. Assigning two lab crew members to a yearlong flight also is expected to free up seats aboard Russian Soyuz ferry craft for two additional space tourists or representatives of other nations that might not otherwise fit into the normal space station crew rotation." (10/08/12)

"There appears to be support within NASA to position astronauts at an Earth-moon libration point to bolster the space agency’s plans of pushing beyond low-Earth orbit with its Orion spacecraft design. ... Libration points, also known as Lagrangian points, are places in space where the combined gravitational pull of two large masses roughly balance each other out, allowing spacecraft to essentially 'park' there. But whether a true decision has been made, or NASA is floating a trial balloon, is unclear." (10/02/12)

"An international three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down successfully on the cloudless central Kazakhstan steppe Monday morning after 123 days at the International Space Station. ... NASA's Joe Acaba and Russian colleagues Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin undocked from the orbiting laboratory somewhere over Nairobi, Kenya, some 3 1/2 hours before touchdown. The Soyuz craft remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the space station since the decommissioning of the U.S. Shuttle fleet in 2011." (09/17/12)

"A Russian Soyuz ferry craft glided to a computer-orchestrated docking with the International Space Station early Tuesday, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a Japanese engineer to the lab complex two days after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ... The linkup occurred on the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program docking in 1975, the first joint U.S.-Russian space mission." (07/16/12)

"A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer, and a Japanese astronaut -- all veteran space travelers -- blasted off and streaked into orbit late Saturday (U.S. time), the first leg of a two-day flight to the International Space Station. ... The launching came on the 37th anniversary of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that opened the door to U.S.-Russian space cooperation." (07/15/12)

"Nasa's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a swirling green mass of gas at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. Scientists say the polar vortex is turning faster than the moon itself rotates on its axis. The formation of the vortex may be related to the changing seasons; Titan's southern winter is on its way." (07/11/12)

"NASA unveiled its first Orion crew model today, designed to take astronauts into space and the eventual goal to take them to Mars as well. Arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last Friday, the passenger module is still set to undergo quite a bit of development before an initial flight scheduled for 2014." (07/03/12)

"There have been numerous scientific missions dedicated to the task of discovering ice on the moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is now helping scientists to confirm of the existence of water ice on the moon. The discovery was made on the floor of Shackleton crater. Scientists believe almost a quarter of the crater, which is located on the moon’s south pole, is covered with water ice." (06/21/12)

"The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid mission to explore the hidden side of the universe -- dark energy and dark matter -- reached an important milestone that will see it head towards full construction. Selected in October 2011 alongside Solar Orbiter as one of the first two medium-class missions of the Cosmic Vision 2015-25 plan, Euclid received final approval from ESA's Science Program Committee to move into the full construction phase, leading to its launch in 2020." (06/20/12)

"The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), the Air Force's unmanned, reusable space plane, landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:48 a.m. (PDT) June 16. OTV-2, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., March 5, 2011, conducted on-orbit experiments for 469 days during its mission." (06/17/12)

"NASA is canceling all work on a new space telescope designed to seek out black holes and other cosmic mysteries through X-ray light due to soaring development costs, the space agency announced today (June 7). The mission, called Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS), was running significantly over budget, said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division, during a phone call to reporters today." (06/07/12)

"Crowds of locals and tourists turned out yesterday to see space shuttle Enterprise come to her final rest at her floating museum home. After a day's weather delay, the shuttle set out from New Jersey port on a barge, passing the Statue of Liberty on her way north to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where Enterprise will be open to the public from 19 July. It's been a long journey for Enterprise, NASA's first ever space shuttle, which flew to New York in April on its way to retirement." (06/07/12)

"The National Science Foundation has just revealed the existence of not one, but two pristine, Hubble-class space telescopes, still in their original wrappings, in a warehouse in Rochester, N.Y. The pair was originally built for the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency in charge of spy satellites, to look down at Earth rather than up into space. But the NRO has moved on to bigger and better instruments, and decided to hand the telescopes over. ... The unexpected gift has sent NASA and the astronomical community, which have learned to live with smaller budgets and lower expectations in recent years, into a mild state of shock." (06/05/12)

"After a successful journey to the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon capsule was released by the station's robotic arm and started its journey back to earth. ... Dragon is the only spacecraft that can bring back a significant amount of cargo from the ISS. 'The other cargo vehicles serving the space station -- from Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency -- can carry cargo up but all are destroyed after leaving the station,' SpaceX said." (05/31/12)

"Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), which designs and launches rockets as well as spacecraft, said on Tuesday it signed the first commercial contract to launch the world's most powerful rocket. The Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit (a circular orbit around the Earth nearly 24 hours long) for satellite services company Intelsat, according to a press release. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed." (05/30/12)

"A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight. The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous in a few days with the space station. The unmanned rocket carried into orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space station provisions." (05/22/12)