Ken Kremer

Discovery Poised for Final Takeoff on April 17

April 17, 2012

Space Shuttle Discovery is poised for her final takeoff, bolted firmly on top of the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This morning (Tuesday, April 16) the mated pair were backed out of the Mate/Demate Device at the Shuttle Landing Facility. See more images from Universe Today photographer [...]

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Shuttle Discovery Mated to 747 Carrier for her Final Flight to Smithsonian Home

April 15, 2012

Following a busy weekend of work, Space Shuttle Discovery is now attached piggyback style to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and all set for the final flight to her ultimate resting place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia on Tuesday April 17. [...]

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Breaking News – Controversial North Korean Rocket Launch Apparently Fails in Flight

April 13, 2012

North Korea has just gone ahead with their announced intentions to defy international warnings and launched the highly controversial Unha-3 long range missile a short while ago at 7:39 AM local time on Friday the 13th (2239 GMT, 6:39 PM EDT Thursday), as reported by CNN, NBC, Fox and other news media on live TV [...]

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Great ISS Sightings – All Nights this Week of April 9

April 10, 2012

Calling all Skywatching and Space Fans ! This is a great week for observing the International Space Station (ISS), swiftly crossing the evening nighttime sky. All this week from Monday thru Saturday, folks all across vast portions of the United States and Canada will be treated to fabulous viewings of the International Space Station. And [...]

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Curiosity Halfway to Red Planet Touchdown

April 1, 2012

As of today, NASA’s car sized Curiosity rover has reached the halfway point in her 352 million mile (567 million km) journey to Mars – No fooling on April 1, 2012. It’s T Minus 126 days until Curiosity smashes into the Martian atmosphere to brave the hellish “6 Minutes of Terror” – and, if all [...]

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Robotics Refueling Research Scores Huge Leap at Space Station

March 24, 2012

A combined team of American and Canadian engineers has taken a major first step forward by successfully applying new, first-of-its-kind robotics research conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to the eventual repair and refueling of high value orbiting space satellites, and which has the potential to one day bring about billions of dollars in [...]

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1st Student Selected MoonKAM Pictures Look Inspiringly Home to Earth

March 22, 2012

The first student selected photos of the Moon’s surface snapped by NASA’s new pair of student named Lunar Mapping orbiters – Ebb & Flow – have just been beamed back and show an eerie view looking back to the Home Planet – and all of Humanity – barely rising above the pockmarked terrain of the [...]

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Orion Crew Capsule Targeted for 2014 Leap to High Orbit

March 21, 2012

NASA is on course to make the highest leap in human spaceflight in nearly 4 decades when an unmanned Orion crew capsule blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a high stakes, high altitude test flight in early 2014. A new narrated animation (see below) released by NASA depicts the planned 2014 launch of the [...]

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Twin NASA Science Probes Start Lunar Gravity Mapping

March 8, 2012

NASA’s twin lunar orbiting GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) spacecraft christened Ebb and Flow have kicked off their science collection phase aimed at precisely mapping our Moon’s gravity field, interior composition and evolution, the science team informed Universe Today. “GRAIL’s science mapping phase officially began Tuesday (March 6) and we are collecting science data,” [...]

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Dawn gets Big Science Boost at Best Vesta Mapping Altitude

March 7, 2012

NASA’s Dawn mission is getting a whopping boost in science observing time at the closest orbit around Asteroid Vesta as the probe passes the midway point of its 1 year long survey of the colossal space rock. And the team informs Universe Today that the data so far have surpassed all expectations and they are [...]

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NASAs Proposed ‘InSight’ Lander would Peer to the Center of Mars in 2016

March 2, 2012

A Phoenix-like lander that would mine the deepest hole yet into Mars- to a depth of 5 meters – and unveil the nature of the mysterious deep interior and central core of the Red Planet is under consideration by NASA for a 2016 launch and sports a nifty new name – InSight. The stationary “InSight” [...]

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A Penny for your Curiosity on Mars

February 27, 2012

NASA’s huge Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) rover is carrying a vintage Lincoln penny along for the long interplanetary journey to Mars – and it’s not to open the first Martian savings account. Scientists will use the century old Lincoln penny – minted back in 1909 – as a modern age calibration target for one [...]

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Opportunity Phones Home Dusty Self-Portraits and Ground Breaking Science

February 22, 2012

Opportunity, the Princess of Martian Robots, phoned home dusty new self portraits – above and below – of her beautiful bod basking in the utterly frigid sunshine during her 5th winter on the Red Planet whilst overlooking a humongous crater offering bountiful science. NASA’s endearing robot is simultaneously carrying out an ambitious array of ground [...]

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Experts React to Obama Slash to NASA’s Mars and Planetary Science Exploration

February 17, 2012

Earth’s next Mars Rover – NOT Made in USA Just days after President Obama met with brilliant High School students at the 2012 White House Science Fair to celebrate their winning achievements and encourage America’s Youth to study science and take up careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) technical fields, the Obama [...]

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Flawless Maiden Launch for Europe’s New Vega Rocket

February 13, 2012

Europe scored a major space success with today’s (Feb. 13) flawless maiden launch of the brand new Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The four stage Vega lifted off on the VV01 flight at 5:00 a.m. EST (10:00 GMT, 11:00 CET, 07:00 local time) from a new launch pad in South America, [...]

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A Continent Ablaze in Auroral and Manmade Light

February 12, 2012

Video Caption: Up the East Coast of North America. Credit: NASA The North American continent is literally set ablaze in a confluence of Auroral and Manmade light captured in spectacular new videos snapped by the astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Expedition 30 crew has recently filmed lengthy sequences of images that [...]

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Budget Axe to Gore America’s Future Exploration of Mars and Search for Martian Life

February 11, 2012

America’s hugely successful Mars Exploration program is apparently about to be gutted by Obama Administration officials wielding a hefty budget axe in Washington, D.C. Consequently, Russia has been invited to join the program to replace American science instruments and rockets being scrapped. NASA’s Fiscal 2013 Budget is due to be announced on Monday, February 13 [...]

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Spirit Lander – 1st Color Image from Mars Orbit

February 8, 2012

The Lander platform for NASA’s Spirit rover has been photographed in stunning high resolution color for the first time from Mars orbit – just over 8 years after the now legendary robot survived the scorching atmospheric heat of the 6 minute plunge through the Martian atmosphere and bounced to a stop inside Gusev Crater on [...]

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China Unveils High Resolution Global Moon Map

February 8, 2012

Chinese scientists have assembled the highest resolution map ever created of the entire Moon and unveiled a series of global Moon images on Monday, Feb. 6. The composite Lunar maps were created from over 700 individual images captured by China’s Chang’e-2 spacecraft and released by the country’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for [...]

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Asteroid Vesta Floats in Space in High Resolution 3-D

February 6, 2012

The giant Asteroid Vesta literally floats in space in a new high resolution 3-D image of the battered bodies Eastern Hemisphere taken by NASA’s Dawn Asteroid Orbiter. Haul out your red-cyan 3-D anaglyph glasses and lets go whirling around Vesta and sledding down mountains to greet the alien Snowman! The sights are fabulous ! The [...]

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