Space Exploration news

Cassini's Big Sky: The View from the Center of Our Solar System

Cassini's Big Sky: The View from the Center of Our Solar System

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 20 hours ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 1

(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.


Astronauts get extra work done in 1st spacewalk (AP)

Astronauts get extra work done in 1st spacewalk (Update)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(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.


NASA and Microsoft Allow Earthlings to Become Martians

NASA and Microsoft Allow Earthlings to Become Martians

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(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.


Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on supply mission (AP)

Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on supply mission

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(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 ...


Ghostly 'Spokes' Puff Out From Saturn's Ring's

Ghostly 'Spokes' Puff Out From Saturn's Ring's (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(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. ...


NASA 'Drops' Next Generation Robotic Lander During Autonomous Tests

NASA 'Drops' Next Generation Robotic Lander During Autonomous Tests

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

(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 ...


Astronauts await word of baby girl on Earth (AP)

Astronauts await word of baby girl on Earth

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 17 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(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.


Before Darkness Falls: Cassini to Scan Enceladus on Winter's Cusp

Before Darkness Falls: Cassini to Scan Enceladus on Winter's Cusp

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 21 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(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.


Astronauts get extra moving time at space station (AP)

Astronauts get extra moving time at space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 23 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- The astronauts aboard the shuttle-station complex are getting some extra moving time.


SOFIA Seeks Secrets of Planetary Birth

SOFIA Seeks Secrets of Planetary Birth

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

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.


SMOS satellite instrument comes alive

SMOS satellite instrument comes alive (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

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 ...


Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again

Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(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) wil ...


Shuttle nears space station, docking scheduled (AP)

Shuttle docks at space station, unloads parts (Update 2)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(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 ...


Meteor showers in Asia disappoint (AP)

Meteor showers in Asia disappoint

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(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 ...


Team Prepares to Uplink Commands to Spirit

Tilt Parameters End First Extrication Drive for Spirit

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(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 ...