News tagged with space travel

Orion drop test on Jan. 06, 2012

(PhysOrg.com) -- After six months of testing, an 18,000 pound (8,165 kg) Orion mockup took its final splash into NASA Langley Research Center's Hydro Impact Basin on Jan. 6.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

First ever direct measurement of the Earth's rotation

A group with researchers of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, are the first to plot changes in the Earth's axis through laboratory measurements. To do this, they constructed the world's most stable ...

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

NASA conducts Orion parachute testing for orbital test flight

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA successfully conducted a drop test of the Orion crew vehicle's parachutes high above the Arizona desert Tuesday in preparation for its orbital flight test in 2014. Orion will carry astronauts ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Testing Orion space capsule

(PhysOrg.com) -- Testing continues at NASA Langley Research Center as the 18,000-pound (8,165 kg) Orion test article took its eight and final splash of the year into the Hydro Impact Basin on Dec. 13. Orion, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 6

Researchers complete 520-day mock mission to Mars

(AP) -- Pale but smiling, an international crew of researchers on Friday walked out of a set of windowless modules after a grueling 520-day simulation of a flight to Mars.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 04, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 14

Moscow's Mars volunteers to 'land' after 520 days

Six volunteers Friday will emerge blinking into the outside world after spending almost one-and-a-half-years in isolation at a Russian research centre to test the effects on humans of a flight to Mars.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 02, 2011 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 6

Virgin aims for first space launch within a year

British business magnate Richard Branson hopes to launch a vessel into space within the next 12 months, kicking off an era of commercial space travel.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 15, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 27

Microbe risk when rover wheels hit martian dirt

Earth microbes trying to make it to Mars must survive sterilization in NASA's clean rooms, harsh cosmic rays during months of space travel, and the Red Planet's unforgiving surface environment. But any bacteria ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 06, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

SpaceX plans November test flight to space station

California-based rocket maker SpaceX said that it will make a test flight in late November to the International Space Station, now that NASA has retired its space shuttle program.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 22

Daunting space task -- send astronauts to asteroid

With the space shuttle now history, NASA's next great mission is so audacious, the agency's best minds are wrestling with how to pull it off: Send astronauts to an asteroid in less than 15 years.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 23, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (13) | comments 77

Last space shuttle crew almost done packing up

(AP) -- The astronauts making NASA's last shuttle flight are almost done packing up their gigantic suitcase for the ride home.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Q&A: Saying goodbye to the space shuttle

With the final launch of the Atlantis, NASA retires its space shuttle program. We spoke to Professor Chris Damaren of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies about the end of an era in manned ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 11, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Atlantis blasts off on end-of-era spaceflight

Atlantis blazed a path into history Friday as it rocketed off the launch pad for a final time, marking the last-ever liftoff of the 30-year-old American space shuttle program.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 08, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 5

NASA sends phones, cells, spores and more to space on last shuttle

NASA's Ames Research Center will send a variety of life science experiments and technology demonstrations aboard the final space shuttle to better our understanding of how robots can help humans live and work in space and ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

NASA needs new 'breakthrough,' says Obama

NASA needs new technology breakthroughs to revitalize its mission to explore the universe, President Barack Obama said Wednesday as the shuttle Atlantis was preparing for its final mission.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 30