http://www.physorg.com/space-news/space-exploration/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on space, space exploration, space science and earth sciences. (AP) -- A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday. http://www.physorg.com/news178009250.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:33:55 EST news178009250 (PhysOrg.com) -- Actor Dwayne Johnson, usually known for his action and comedic film roles, takes to the stars as an astronaut in a new animated feature that brings important messages about the importance of space exploration and education to those of us here on Earth. http://www.physorg.com/news177948639.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:40:01 EST news177948639 (AP) -- Atlantis' astronauts anxiously awaited word on the birth of one crewman's daughter Friday, as they moved more supplies into the International Space Station and geared up for another spacewalk. http://www.physorg.com/news177943490.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:45:26 EST news177943490 (PhysOrg.com) -- When NASA's Cassini spacecraft began orbiting Saturn five years ago, a dozen highly-tuned science instruments set to work surveying, sniffing, analyzing and scrutinizing the Saturnian system. http://www.physorg.com/news177927581.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:20:02 EST news177927581 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft will fly by Saturn's moon Enceladus this weekend for a last peek at the intriguing "tiger stripes" before winter darkness blankets the area for several years. http://www.physorg.com/news177927284.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:30:02 EST news177927284 (AP) -- The astronauts aboard the shuttle-station complex are getting some extra moving time. http://www.physorg.com/news177919612.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:11:35 EST news177919612 You don't always have to have a rocket to do rocket science. Sometimes a mere airplane will do - that is, a mere Boeing 747 toting a 17-ton, 9-foot wide telescope named SOFIA. http://www.physorg.com/news177874574.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:50:02 EST news177874574 (AP) -- A pair of spacewalking astronauts, one of them a surgeon, hustled through antenna and cable work outside the International Space Station on Thursday and even whipped off an extra chore. http://www.physorg.com/news177847217.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:48:03 EST news177847217 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two key instruments from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have a new home in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington after being returned to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis last May. http://www.physorg.com/news177872673.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:07:27 EST news177872673 The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating Earth's water cycle. http://www.physorg.com/news177852427.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:27:43 EST news177852427 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's premiere supercomputer located at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has garnered the sixth spot on the Top500 list of the world's most powerful computers. http://www.physorg.com/news177846588.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:00:01 EST news177846588 (PhysOrg.com) -- Because the first extrication drive for Spirit, on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17), stopped as soon as it began due to an exceeded tilt limit, the plan for an extrication drive on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19) will essentially be a repeat of the first drive plan, but with improved rover attitude knowledge. The updated attitude knowledge comes from the rover's measurement of its tilt on Sol 2088. http://www.physorg.com/news177844519.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:17:08 EST news177844519 (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday for a weeklong stay, and the astronauts quickly unloaded a huge platform full of spare parts needed to keep the outpost running for another decade. http://www.physorg.com/news177759407.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:26:14 EST news177759407 (AP) -- Thousands of stargazers across Asia stayed awake overnight to catch a glimpse of what was advertised as an intense Leonid meteor shower, but the show fizzled rather than sizzled for many because of cloudy conditions. http://www.physorg.com/news177754664.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:18:19 EST news177754664 (PhysOrg.com) -- The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt than permitted. http://www.physorg.com/news177704677.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:40:01 EST news177704677 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite rocketed into Earth orbit on Nov. 18, 1989, and quickly revolutionized our understanding of the early cosmos. Developed and built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., COBE precisely measured and mapped the oldest light in the universe -- the cosmic microwave background. http://www.physorg.com/news177700984.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:50:13 EST news177700984 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have collaborated to create a Web site where Internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars. http://www.physorg.com/news177699754.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:03:57 EST news177699754 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rosetta's OSIRIS imaging system spotted an anticyclone over the South Pacific on the morning of 13 November. The images show the scene roughly as a human eye would see it. http://www.physorg.com/news177670463.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:55:19 EST news177670463 (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts scoured their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage while pursuing the International Space Station. http://www.physorg.com/news177658920.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:22:48 EST news177658920 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there. http://www.physorg.com/news177615422.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:30:02 EST news177615422 (PhysOrg.com) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew began an 11-day delivery flight to the International Space Station on Monday with a 2:28 p.m. EST launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle will transport spare hardware to the outpost and return a station crew member who spent more than two months in space. http://www.physorg.com/news177615671.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:41:47 EST news177615671 (PhysOrg.com) -- Massive, bright clouds of tiny ice particles hover above the darkened rings of Saturn in an image captured by the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 22, 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox. http://www.physorg.com/news177615491.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:40:13 EST news177615491 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has successfully completed a series of autonomous "drop" tests of a robotic lander test article - in a record 10 months - to demonstrate the ability to perform a controlled landing on the moon or other airless planetary bodies. http://www.physorg.com/news177614572.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:23:23 EST news177614572 Scientists with NASA`s IceBite project are heading this week for University Valley, a hanging valley perched more than 1600 feet (more than 1 mile) above sea level in Antarctica`s McMurdo Dry Valleys. Their objective: to test a set of ice-penetrating drills and select one for use on a future mission to the martian polar north, the same region of the planet that NASA`s Phoenix lander investigated in 2008. http://www.physorg.com/news177613575.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:07:23 EST news177613575 (AP) -- Astronauts climbed aboard space shuttle Atlantis on Monday for an afternoon liftoff to the space station, as the sky over the launching site gradually cleared. http://www.physorg.com/news177603466.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:18:17 EST news177603466 (AP) -- NASA is fueling space shuttle Atlantis for its afternoon liftoff. http://www.physorg.com/news177572532.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:43:25 EST news177572532 (AP) -- Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off Monday: About 100 of NASA's geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets. http://www.physorg.com/news177516068.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:30:01 EST news177516068 (AP) -- NASA has cleared space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff Monday on a trip to stock up the International Space Station with several years' worth of spare parts. http://www.physorg.com/news177440471.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:02:27 EST news177440471 (PhysOrg.com) -- Images and data taken just before closest approach were downloaded this morning, and they show the lights of North America in the night and a glowing Southern Hemisphere. http://www.physorg.com/news177345195.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:50:01 EST news177345195 (PhysOrg.com) -- An experiment by college students that will study how microbes grow in microgravity is heading to orbit aboard space shuttle Atlantis. http://www.physorg.com/news177345802.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:43:54 EST news177345802