NASA

Read the latest NASA news today on Newser.com

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Astronaut Scott Kelly Grew 2 Inches in Space

But the effect is temporary

(Newser) - NASA will be studying how Scott Kelly's body reacted to almost a year in space, using his twin brother Mark Kelly, who stayed on Earth, as a control. One big difference to note right away: The brothers will no longer be the same height, as they were before Scott...

What Astronaut Scott Kelly Will Do as Soon as He Lands

His record-breaking trip was amazing

(Newser) - Scott Kelly has been hurtling through the cosmos on the International Space Station for nearly a year (340 days to be exact—a record), but on Tuesday, the NASA astronaut and his partner, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, will finally head home. ScienceAlert has the emotional video of Kelly handing the...

NASA Scientist: I Can Get Humans to Mars in a Month

'No known reason why we cannot do this'

(Newser) - A century ago, the first transatlantic flight took about 23 days. Soon, we could reach Mars in about as long. The key: perfecting laser technology. NASA scientist Philip Lubin says that by swapping out the current fuel-based rocket propulsion system with one relying on photons would significantly boost our space...

NASA Releases 'Weird Music' From Dark Side of the Moon

Audio from Apollo 10 reveals astronauts' conversation about mystery sounds

(Newser) - Sorry, Pink Floyd, you no longer hold the sole claim to sounds from the dark side. In an upcoming episode of the Science Channel's NASA's Unexplained Files , audio from Apollo 10—which flew to the far side of the moon in 1969, two months before Apollo 11's...

More Americans Than Ever Just Applied to Be Astronauts

But less than 1% will actually get the chance

(Newser) - More Americans than ever before believe they have the right stuff to become astronauts, ABC News reports. According to NASA , it received more than 18,300 applications for the astronaut class of 2017 over the past two months. That's almost three times more than for the last class in...

Asteroid Could Come Within 11K Miles of Earth Next Month

But NASA says there's no reason to panic

(Newser) - An asteroid could pass very close—cosmically speaking—to the Earth next month. Asteroid 2013 TX68 is scheduled to pass us by on March 5, coming as close as 11,000 miles (or a little more than the distance between Seattle and South Africa), CBS News reports. However it could...

Massive Landfill Fire in India Can Be Seen From Space

NASA pic shows how bad toxic Mumbai blaze really is

(Newser) - Residents in Mumbai are posting smog-filled photos on Twitter and dozens of schools have shut down as a fire in the Indian city's largest landfill continues to burn. In fact, the blaze (which Mashable calls a "mystery fire") in the 326-acre Deonar landfill is so big that...

The Challenger Disaster: The Day in Pictures

Looking back on the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle's explosion

(Newser) - Thirty years ago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing all seven people onboard—including high-school teacher Christa McAuliffe. The 25th flight for NASA's space shuttle program was to have studied Halley's Comet and deployed two satellites, Discovery News reports; McAuliffe was to have taught science lessons...

A Poem Helped Reagan Explain Challenger Disaster

Challenger exploded 30 years ago Thursday

(Newser) - Thursday is the 30th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, and there's plenty of interesting coverage of the tragedy that killed all seven aboard, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. Some highlights:
  • The Washington Post looks back on how Ronald Reagan scrapped plans to deliver his State of
...

2015 Was Hottest Year on Record— by a Longshot

The data is in, not looking good for climate change

(Newser) - Last year was not just the hottest year since reporting started in 1880—it was the hottest year by a long shot, based on NASA and NOAA data released Wednesday. The average global temperature in 2015 "shattered the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit,"...

Scientists Coax First Flower to Bloom in Outer Space

A month ago the zero-gravity zinnia plants weren't looking so good

(Newser) - Back in 2014, through a NASA project called Veggie, scientists began to grow plants in space—red romaine lettuce, to be specific. It took two attempts to get it right, though even the setbacks provided valuable data for the scientists back at home. So astronaut Scott Kelly's ability to...

No, Those Aren't Snails on Pluto

They're dirty icebergs, say NASA scientists

(Newser) - Bad news for future residents of Pluto with a fondness for escargot: The planet is not, in fact, covered with giant snails—despite images beamed back to Earth from the New Horizons probe that bear a weird resemblance to the creatures. The images, published by NASA, show oddly-shaped objects in...

El Nino Is Looking Scarily Like 1997&#39;s El Nino
El Nino Is Looking Scarily Like 1997's El Nino
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 3, 2016 2:05 PM CST

El Nino Is Looking Scarily Like 1997's El Nino

That's not good

(Newser) - The El Nino weather system of 1997-98 was so bad that descriptions of it sound like something out of a Ben Affleck disaster movie: Australia turned into a slow cooker, California and Peru were pummeled with rain, and there were rampant fires in Indonesia; around 23,000 people perished from...

Video Reveals How Fast We've Amassed Space Junk

In just 60 years, Earth has become surrounded by 500K pieces of debris

(Newser) - More than 500,000 known objects are orbiting planet Earth, and around 20,000 of them are at least as big as a softball, reports NASA . Now a University College London professor has used data from space-track.org to create a video to help us visualize how quickly that space...

We're Getting a Christmas Eve Asteroid

There's no danger of Asteroid 163899-Santa collision

(Newser) - After Halloween's " zombie comet ," there will be another celestial visitor on Christmas Eve, and Asteroid 163899 is about as festive as a space rock can get, which is not at all. The object—also known as 2003 SD220—will be at its closest on Dec. 24, when...

'Alien Megastructure' May Be Comet Family

But it's still a very strange star, astronomers say

(Newser) - KIC 8462852 is an odd and fascinating star, astronomers say—but it probably isn't host to an "alien megastructure," as some researchers suggested as a longshot possibility when the star and its highly unusual dimming pattern first came to attention. Instead, Iowa State University researchers who studied...

Controversial Study Finds Antarctica Is Actually Gaining Ice

But that doesn't mean global warming isn't still a huge problem

(Newser) - A recent NASA study has come to a shocking conclusion that contradicts a host of other studies, multitudes of climate scientists, the UN, and even other scientists at NASA: Antarctica is actually gaining more ice than it's losing, despite global warming. How's that possible? Live Science reports the...

The Sun Is Obliterating Mars' Atmosphere

Solar storms hit with energy of 'one large nuclear weapon per hour'

(Newser) - Scientists might finally have an explanation for how Mars went from an Earth-like, potentially life-sustaining planet to a cold ball of rock barely capable of keeping a single Matt Damon alive . Discovery reports the sun has been "blasting away" the planet's once-thick atmosphere for the past few billion...

8 Cool Facts on Big Day for International Space Station

It's the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the ISS

(Newser) - Monday marks the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the International Space Station, the AP reports. The station was launched in 1998, the BBC reports, and first permanent crew moved in on Nov. 2, 2000. It's planned to be decommissioned in 2020. Eight fun ISS facts to celebrate the...

He's College Grad, NASA Consultant, Pilot, Author. He's 17

Moshe Kai Cavalin isn't exactly sitting around

(Newser) - Moshe Kai Cavalin has two college degrees, but he's too young to vote. He flies airplanes, but he's too young to drive a car alone. Life is filled with contrasts for the 17-year-old from San Gabriel, Calif., who has dashed by major milestones as his age seems to...

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