NASA

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Planet-Hunting Kepler Craft Has Big Setback

Malfunction threatens ability to look for Earth-like bodies

(Newser) - It seems like NASA is announcing the discovery of a new Earth-like planet every few weeks—like so , and so , and so —but those days might be over for a long while. Not that there aren't more discoveries to make, it's just that the spacecraft responsible for...

Astronauts Try to Fix Leak
 Astronauts Try to Fix Leak  
May 11, 2013 12:11 PM CDT

Astronauts Try to Fix Leak

They replace ammonia pump outside space station

(Newser) - So far, so good. Two astronauts replaced an ammonia pump outside the International Space Station today, and early signs suggest that the move may have fixed a potentially dangerous leak, reports AP . Christopher Cassidy and Thomas Marshburn didn't spot any obvious signs of trouble, but no new leaks have...

Watch a Solar Wave Burst Out of the Sun

Blast thankfully wasn't pointed at Earth

(Newser) - NASA has released a seriously cool video of a massive solar wave—what the cool kids call a "coronal mass ejection"—that its Solar Dynamics Observatory captured over a 2.5-hour stretch yesterday. While these kinds of sun storms have been known to mess with satellites or even...

NASA Spots Colossal Saturn Hurricane

It's bigger, more powerful, and longer-lasting than Earth counterpart

(Newser) - The hurricane roiling around Saturn's north pole looks a lot like a hurricane on Earth—except much, much bigger. Its eye is about 20 times bigger than Earth standards at 1,250 miles wide, and the storm is also more powerful, with winds as high as 330mph. A NASA...

US Might Try to Catch an Asteroid

Plan would bring million-pound rock close enough for exploration

(Newser) - President Obama's budget proposal will include funds for a wild plan to use a robotic spacecraft to snag an asteroid and drag it close enough to Earth for astronauts to land on and study it, Aviation Week reports. The project, as dreamed up in a study last year by...

Crew Hops 6-Hour Flight— to International Space Station

Trip usually takes 2 days

(Newser) - Typically, a voyage to the International Space Station is a two-day affair. Though it's just 250 miles from the Earth, it's constantly moving, complicating the trip. But a team of three astronauts—two Russian, one from NASA—arrived at 10:28pm last night after just a five-hour, 45-minute...

Apollo 11 Engines Pulled From Ocean Floor

Jeff Bezos-funded operation recovers 2 of 5 engines

(Newser) - A year after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos discovered the debris of five Apollo 11 engines , he's recovered two of the massive F-1 engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, reports USA Today . The twisted, rusted remains were brought up from 14,000 feet below the surface, but they'...

3 Return From 5-Month Mission on Space Station

NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are home again

(Newser) - A Soyuz space capsule carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts landed this morning on the foggy steppes of Kazakhstan, safely returning the three men to Earth after a 144-day mission to the International Space Station. NASA's Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin were smiling...

NASA: Yep, Mars Could Have Supported Life

Soil sample dug up by Curiosity proves it

(Newser) - NASA scientists examining their first sample of Martian rock dug out by the rover Curiosity found some remarkable things in there: sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon. In other words, ingredients that show the planet once could have supported life. Lead scientist Michael Mayer sums it up thusly:
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Humbled Dragon Docks With ISS

Capsule had suffered glitch after takeoff, SpaceX salvages mission

(Newser) - The Dragon capsule arrived safely at the International Space Station today, delivering a ton of supplies, after a shaky, nerve-wracking start to its mission . The Dragon's arrival was one day late but especially sweet—and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the station astronauts who snared...

After Glitch, Space Station Delivery Back on Track

But SpaceX capsule won't arrive today as scheduled

(Newser) - The space capsule that was supposed to deliver fresh fruit and other supplies to the International Space Station won't be arriving today as planned thanks to yesterday's glitch after takeoff , reports Wired . But engineers at SpaceX say they have resolved the problem with Dragon's thrusters, and it...

Private Firm Plans Manned Mars Trip in 2018

Inspiration Mars Foundation says journey will take about 500 days

(Newser) - While NASA concentrates on sending unmanned probes to Mars, a private space enthusiast plans to raise the ante—with a manned flight to Mars within the next five years, reports Wired . Most of the details are under wraps until Wednesday, but the Inspiration Mars Foundation has announced it intends to...

Meteor 'Doomsayers' Gain Cred After Russia Blast

Private groups plan to launch detection satellites

(Newser) - Advocates for early space-rock detection are speaking up and sounding a lot less looney since that meteor rocked Russia on Friday, the New York Times reports. At least two private groups are planning to launch satellites for early detection and one wants to mine asteroids for useful metals like platinum....

UN Team Unveils Asteroid Defense Plan

On the same day massive rock buzzes the Earth

(Newser) - An asteroid about half the size of a football field will whiz past Earth today, closer than any object of its size ever has before (OK, almost any object ), and a much smaller meteor actually hit Russia this morning, injuring hundreds. But fear not, people of Earth: Soon, we...

NASA Spots Nearby 'Young' Black Hole

Could it be a gateway to another universe?

(Newser) - NASA has spotted what appears to be the galaxy's newest black hole—and it's relatively nearby. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has spotted the aftermath of a super nova that, from Earth's vantage point, is just 1,000 years old, the agency reports . (Of course, it's 26,...

Mars Rover Drills Into Planet for First Time

Curiosity's successful test paves way for bigger projects

(Newser) - NASA's Mars rover has busted out a new tool to pry into the planet's secrets. Curiosity used a drill at the top of one of its arms to make a small hole in Martian rock, reports LiveScience . It was just a test, the first of its kind, but...

Asteroid Bound for Close Call With Earth

But DA14 definitely won't hit us, NASA says

(Newser) - An asteroid big enough to flatten a city will zip closer to Earth than any previously observed space object its size on Feb. 15, but astronomers say there is zero chance of 2012 DA14 squishing any Earthlings this time around. With a 148-foot diameter and the mass of a cruise...

NASA Balloon Gobbles Antarctic Data, Records

Cosmic ray detector spends 55 days aloft

(Newser) - A NASA scientific balloon on a mission over the Antarctic to detect cosmic rays has completed a record-breaking flight. The Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder—"Super-TIGER"—broke the record for longest flight by a balloon of its size 46 days into its mission and landed after 55 days,...

NASA Fires Up Apollo-Era Engine to Learn Old Tricks

Unit from late 1960s taken out of storage for tests

(Newser) - A vintage rocket engine built to blast the first US lunar mission into Earth's orbit more than 40 years ago is again rumbling across the Southern landscape. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was supposed to help propel Apollo 11 into orbit in 1969, when NASA...

Mars Crater Points to Water ... and Life?

Scientists find evidence of long-dry lake

(Newser) - Photos of an enormous crater on Mars indicate possible underground water—water that could have supported life, and could still be doing so. Images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the 57-mile-wide McLaughlin Crater, which is now dry. It's one of the planet's deepest spots at...

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