NASA

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Countdown to Historic Flight: Astronauts Arrive in Florida

One of them piloted Space Shuttle's final flight

(Newser) - The two astronauts who will end a nine-year launch drought for NASA arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, exactly one week before their historic SpaceX flight. It will be the first time a private company, rather than a national government, sends astronauts into orbit, the AP...

Days Before Historic Launch, an Abrupt NASA Resignation

Head of human spaceflight steps down suddenly

(Newser) - NASA’s chief of human exploration has resigned just days before the first astronaut launch in nearly a decade from Kennedy Space Center, the AP reports. The space agency notified employees of the news Tuesday. Douglas Loverro, whose resignation took effect Monday, joined NASA last October. He is a former...

All Systems Go for Historic SpaceX Flight This Month
Next SpaceX Launch
Will Make History
May 18, 2020 10:45 AM CDT

Next SpaceX Launch Will Make History

Company is sending up astronauts for the first time

(Newser) - Tesla is the Elon Musk company making all the headlines lately, but his SpaceX will make some pretty big ones of its own later this month. The company confirmed Monday that its next launch will send two astronauts into space for the first time, reports CNBC . The closely watched Demo-2...

Tom Cruise to Film a Movie on the International Space Station

With NASA's cooperation, of course

(Newser) - "We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA's ambitious plans a reality," per a Tuesday tweet from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, and what better way to accomplish that than to fly Tom Cruise to the International Space Station to...

NASA Says Moon Mission 'Starting to Feel Very Real'

3 firms have contracts to design landers

(Newser) - NASA had good news for Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk but bad news for Boeing Thursday. Bezos' Blue Origin company and Musk's SpaceX have been selected, along with Alabama-based Dynetics, to develop spacecraft that can land people on the moon, the BBC reports. Under contracts totaling just under $1...

Hubble Telescope Gives Itself 'Stunning' Anniversary Gift

To celebrate 30 years in space, a jaw-dropping photo of 'Cosmic Reef' nebulae

(Newser) - On April 24, 1990, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, with a very special item on board: the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched into Earth's orbit a day later. Now, to celebrate the telescope's 30th anniversary observing the cosmos, NASA has...

NASA Launch Next Month Is First in a Decade

But agency is getting help from SpaceX

(Newser) - NASA has great experience sending astronauts into space, but not much lately. SpaceX has fresh experience with space flights, but not with astronauts on board. On May 27, the two will team up to send a crew of two from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space...

On Anniversary of Crisis, a Return to World in Crisis

3 astronauts returned to Earth on Friday

(Newser) - On the 50th anniversary of a crisis in space, three astronauts returned to a planet in the midst of a crisis all its own. It had been 205 days since NASA's Jessica Meir and Roscosmos' Oleg Skripochka stepped foot on Earth, and 272 days for NASA's Andrew Morgan....

Astronauts: 'It's Very Hard to Fathom' What's Happening

They're soon coming back from the International Space Station

(Newser) - Two NASA astronauts said Friday they expect it will be tough returning to such a drastically changed world next week, after more than half a year at the International Space Station, the AP reports. Andrew Morgan said the crew has tried to keep atop the pandemic news. But it’s...

50 Years Later: 'Houston, We've Had a Problem'

Apollo 13's nearly doomed flight is marking the anniversary this week

(Newser) - Apollo 13's astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later—on April 13. Jim Lovell and Fred Haise insist they’re not superstitious. They even use 13 in their...

3 Astronauts Blast Off After Strict Quarantine

Officials protected ISS crew during training

(Newser) - A US-Russian space crew blasted off to the International Space Station on Thursday following a tight quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner lifted off as scheduled at 1:05pm local time from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the AP...

Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden Dies
Man Who Circled the Moon
Alone in 1971 Has Died
OBITUARY
Mar 19, 2020 3:40 AM CDT

Man Who Circled the Moon Alone in 1971 Has Died

Al Worden was on Apollo 15

(Newser) - Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden, who circled the moon alone in 1971 while his two crewmates test-drove the first lunar rover, died Wednesday at age 88. Worden died in his sleep at a rehab center in Houston following treatment for an infection, says friend and colleague Tom Kallman. "Al...

Boeing Hit With 61 Fixes After 'High-Visibility Close Call'

NASA releases outcome of a joint investigation

(Newser) - Boeing faces 61 safety fixes following last year's botched test flight of its Starliner crew capsule, NASA said Friday. NASA has also designated December's aborted space station mission as a serious "high-visibility close call" that could have destroyed the capsule—twice, the AP reports. In releasing the...

Mars Rover Finally Has a Name
7th Grader Names Mars Rover
Mar 5, 2020 3:33 PM CST

7th Grader Names Mars Rover

Meet Perseverance, due to launch in July

(Newser) - NASA's next Mars rover finally has a name. Perseverance, a six-wheeled robotic explorer, will blast off this summer to collect Martian samples for eventual return to Earth, the AP reports. The name was suggested by Alex Mather, a Virginia seventh-grader, as part of a naming contest for US schoolchildren....

One of the 'Hidden Figures' Has Died at Age 101

Katherine Johnson worked for NASA 33 years

(Newser) - Katherine Johnson, the mathematician hired by NASA at its Langley Research Center in 1953 even as racially segregating Jim Crow laws were still widely used in Virginia, died Monday at age 101. The pioneering "human computer," who worked during the space race years to help Alan Shepard become...

Always Wanted to Be an Astronaut? This May Be Your Chance

NASA has put out a call to the general public for applications

(Newser) - Calling all Buzz Aldrin wannabes—NASA is looking for you. Florida Today reports that the space agency will soon be accepting applications from the general public to vie for a spot in the next class of Artemis Generation astronauts, with a chance to possibly fly to the International Space Station...

Solar Orbiter Begins Historic Mission

Spacecraft will provide first glimpses of sun's pole

(Newser) - Europe and NASA's Solar Orbiter rocketed into space Sunday night on an unprecedented mission to capture the first pictures of the sun's elusive poles. The $1.5 billion spacecraft will join NASA's Parker Solar Probe, launched 1.5 years ago, in coming perilously close to the sun...

Look Out: Here Comes Trump's New Budget Plan

The AP says it relies on 'rosy' projections

(Newser) - Confronted with trillion-dollar-plus deficits for as far as the eye can see, President Trump is offering a budget plan that rehashes previously rejected spending cuts while leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched. Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget plan, expected to be released Monday, isn’t likely to generate a...

This Is the Face of a Woman Who Just Set a Space Record

US astronaut Christina Koch 'happy' to be home after 328 days

(Newser) - Christina Koch just made space history. The US astronaut completed the longest-ever single spaceflight by a woman when a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carried her, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov back to Earth—central Kazakhstan, specifically—early Thursday. Koch spent 328 days on the International...

Astronauts Try to Make Complicated Repair

Cosmic ray detector wasn't designed to be worked on in orbit

(Newser) - Spacewalking astronauts worked Saturday to complete repairs to a cosmic ray detector outside the International Space Station and give it new life. It was the fourth spacewalk since November for NASA's Andrew Morgan and Italy's Luca Parmitano to fix the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, the AP reports. They installed...

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