Space Exploration

Shuttle Replica Departs Kennedy for Ocean Voyage to Houston on a Barge – Enterprise is Next

May 24, 2012

A high fidelity replica of a NASA Space Shuttle orbiter has set off today, May 24, on an ocean going voyage by barge for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This trip by the Shuttle replica gives a taste of what’s to come for the upcoming barge journey by Space Shuttle Enterprise around the [...]

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Aliens Don’t Want To Eat Us, Says Former SETI Director

May 24, 2012

Alien life probably isn’t interested in having us for dinner, enslaving us or laying eggs in our bellies, according to a recent statement by former SETI director Jill Tarter. (Of course, Hollywood would rather have us think otherwise.)

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SpaceX Dragon Spies Earth

May 23, 2012

All systems are functioning nominally aboard the Earth orbiting Dragon cargo carrier launched yesterday, May 22, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX has released the picture above of the Earth as seen by a thermal imager that Dragon will use in its upcoming approach to the International Space Station.

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Spectacular SpaceX Launch Opens Historic New Era in Spaceflight

May 22, 2012

Following this morning’s (May 22) spectacular nighttime blastoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, human exploration of the cosmos embarked on a radical new course that will never be the same again. The long awaited liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:44 a.m. lit up the Florida Space Coast for miles around as [...]

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Repaired SpaceX Rocket Set for 2nd Blastoff Try on May 22

May 21, 2012

SpaceX engineers have successfully replaced a faulty valve in a first stage engine that triggered a launch abort on May 19 and that now clears the way for a second launch attempt of the firms Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft in the overnight hours early on Tuesday, May 22. Litfoff of the Falcon 9/Dragon [...]

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SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch

May 20, 2012

Today’s (May 19) historic launch of the first ever privately developed rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was very surprisingly aborted at the last second when an engine glitch forced a dramatic shutdown of the Falcon 9 rockets 1st stage firing already in progress and as the NASA launch commentator was in the [...]

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Poised at Pad to Open New Space Era

May 19, 2012

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now poised at the launch pad and set to open a completely new era in spaceflight. Hopes are sky high that Saturday mornings Falcon 9 launch represents the dawn of the commercial era in spaceflight akin to the startup of the commercial airline industry early in the 20th Century [...]

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SpaceX says All Systems GO for Historic May 19 Blast Off to ISS

May 18, 2012

In less than 48 hours, SpaceX is primed to make history and launch the first ever commercial rocket and spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning on May 19. Following today’s Launch Readiness Review (LRR), SpaceX was just given the official “GO” from NASA to proceed with the blastoff of the Falcon [...]

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The Big Dipper Like You’ve Never Seen It Before!

May 16, 2012

All right, it may look just like any other picture you’ve ever seen of the Big Dipper. Maybe even a little less impressive, in fact. But, unlike any other picture, this one was taken from 290 million km away by NASA’s Juno spacecraft en route to Jupiter, part of a test of its Junocam instrument! [...]

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Space Exploration By Robot Swarm

May 15, 2012

With all there’s yet to learn about our solar system from the many smaller worlds that reside within it — asteroids, protoplanets and small moons — one researcher from Stanford University is suggesting we unleash a swarm of rover/spacecraft hybrids that can explore en masse.

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Endeavour Unplugged – Last Picture Show from the Flight Deck of a Living Space Shuttle Orbiter

May 12, 2012

At 9:58 a.m. this morning (Friday May 11), technicians unplugged Space Shuttle Endeavour marking the final power down of NASA’s last powered orbiter and termination of all power flowing to the flight deck. Today, Endeavour was euthanized. The flight deck went dark for the last time as Endeavour is being prepped inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 [...]

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Engineer Thinks We Could Build a Real Starship Enterprise in 20 Years

May 11, 2012

In Star Trek lore, the first Constitution Class Starship Enterprise will be built by the year 2245. But today, an engineer has proposed — and outlined in meticulous detail – building a full-sized, ion-powered version of the Enterprise complete with 1G of gravity on board, and says it could be done with current technology, within [...]

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A Call to Action: We Must Explore

May 10, 2012

Our friend Andrew Chaikin is passionate about space exploration and like many, is concerned about the budget cuts that threaten to starve NASA’s planetary science program. He has created this new video as a call to action for those of us in the US to contact our representatives, and anyone around the world to make [...]

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What Does Conan O’Brien Think About Space Exploration?

May 10, 2012

I wanted to know, so I decided to ask him. And thanks to “Team Coco” and Google Plus, I was able to — last night at 9:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Pacific, to be exact.

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SpaceX Dragon Launch Slides to May 19

May 8, 2012

SpaceX has announced that the upcoming launch of the firms Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft on the commercial COTS 2 mission has been postponed to a new target date of no earlier than May 19 with a backup launch date of May 22. On May 19, the Falcon 9 rocket would lift off on its [...]

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ESA Turns On The JUICE For New Jupiter Mission

May 2, 2012

The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for an exciting mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter, as well as the giant planet itself. JUICE — JUpiter ICy moons Explorer — will consist of a solar-powered spacecraft that will spend 3.5 years within the Jovian system, investigating Ganymede, Europa and the upper atmosphere [...]

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Set for Critical Engine Test Firing on Monday, April 30

April 30, 2012

On Monday, April 30, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies) is all set to conduct a critical static engine test fire of the Falcon 9 rocket at the firm’s launch pad on Cape Canaveral, Florida. If all goes well, SpaceX and NASA are targeting a May 7 liftoff of the rocket and Dragon spacecraft at 9:38 AM, [...]

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Millions Mesmerized by Shuttle Enterprise over Freedom’s Beacon in New York

April 28, 2012

Millions upon Millions of Humans have passed through Freedoms’s Beacon at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the New York Metropolitan area in hope of a better life for themselves and their families. Today, on Friday April 27, Freedom’s Beacon mesmerized millions of the World’s Citizens anew – and in an unforgettable way [...]

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Expedition 30 Crew Returns to Earth Safely

April 27, 2012

Welcome back home to the Expedition 30 crew of the International Space Station! The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft carrying Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin landed in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 27 at 11:45 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT). They undocked earlier from the International Space Station at 8:18 UTC (4:18 a.m. [...]

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Enterprise “GO” for Big Apple Fly Over on April 27 – NYC Viewing Guide

April 26, 2012

Unless the weather changes drastically, Space Shuttle Enterprise will depart Dulles International Airport and the D.C. area on her final ferry flight for her history making Big Arrival at the Big Apple on Friday morning, April 27 and a spectacular fly around of the New York City Metro area and towering Skyscrapers. NASA managers have [...]

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