space

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Astronauts Look at Endeavour's Tummy Trouble

NASA examines gouge as flying foam invokes memories of Columbia

(Newser) - Endeavor’s crew gave NASA a better look at a wound on the space shuttle’s belly today, CNN reports. Astronauts used a robotic arm to photograph the three-inch gouge on the shuttle’s heat shield, a ding caused by a flying piece of foam during liftoff. NASA hopes the...

NASA Eyes Endeavor Damage
NASA Eyes Endeavor Damage
Aug 11, 2007 4:01 PM CDT

NASA Eyes Endeavor Damage

Engineers say ice chunk hit shuttle's underbelly, could endanger re-entry

(Newser) - Endeavour's astronauts finished their first spacewalk today by installing a 2-ton beam on the back of the international space station, the AP reports. Meanwhile NASA engineers inspected troubling images of a gash in shuttle Endeavour’s heat shield caused, they believe, by an ice chunk that flew off the fuel...

Comet Dust Will Light Sky
Comet Dust Will Light Sky
Aug 11, 2007 1:46 PM CDT

Comet Dust Will Light Sky

(Newser) - Comet debris will light up the sky tomorrow night and Monday morning with shooting stars as Earth passes through the Perseid meteor shower. For the best view, pick a dark spot away from city lights and look east, says the Discovery Channel. "It's going to be a great show,...

Shuttle Docks With Space Station
Shuttle Docks With Space Station
Aug 10, 2007 4:12 PM CDT

Shuttle Docks With Space Station

Endeavour checked for foam damage, mission control not worried

(Newser) - Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station today after executing an orbital flip to allow the exterior of the craft to be photographed and examined for any damage sustained during liftoff. Three foam chunks detached from the shuttle during launch, and although some damage remains possible, mission managers say...

First Teacher Rockets to Space
First Teacher Rockets to Space
Aug 9, 2007 4:42 AM CDT

First Teacher Rockets to Space

Endeavour launches without a hitch 21 years after McAuliffe tragedy

(Newser) - Former schoolteacher Barbara Morgan safely reached space last night when the shuttle Endeavour rocketed through a problem-free launch. Ten minutes after its evening blastoff, the shuttle was orbiting 140 miles above the Earth in preparation for docking with the International Space Station tomorrow. Morgan is the first astronaut teacher since...

Largest Planet Ever Discovered
Largest Planet Ever Discovered
Aug 7, 2007 1:53 PM CDT

Largest Planet Ever Discovered

Huge, lightweight discovery puzzles scientists

(Newser) - Forget Jupiter. Scientists have discovered the largest planet out there—a "puffy" space mass almost twice the size of our solar system's gas giant. But the find is posing more questions than answers, Space.com reports: TrES-4’s mass is large but its density is about the same as...

US Teacher Headed for Space
US Teacher Headed
for Space
Aug 6, 2007 8:02 AM CDT

US Teacher Headed for Space

NASA readies educator 21 years after Challenger disaster

(Newser) - NASA is sending another schoolteacher into space, 21 years after the Challenger disaster killed educator Christa McAuliffe. Barbara Morgan, a former Idaho schoolteacher and now a fully trained astronaut, will spend most of the trip transferring cargo to the International Space Station and about six hours on educational pursuits. When...

Robot Geologist Heads to Mars
Robot Geologist Heads to Mars
Aug 4, 2007 7:05 AM CDT

Robot Geologist Heads to Mars

NASA launches lander with years-long mission to red planet

(Newser) - An unmanned rocket carrying a robotic excavation machine is on its way to Mars following a successful launch from Cape Canaveral this morning. The AP reports that the Phoenix Mars Lander should arrive on Mars in May, 2008, when it will collect and analyze soil and ice in search of...

NASA Admits Sabotage, Drunk Astronauts

Agency says hard stuff not right stuff, vows to launch action

(Newser) - NASA promised immediate action today on embarrassing reports of an intentionally damaged computer and inebriated astronauts. An administrator said an internal safety review, staff briefing on new policy, and official 12-hour pre-flight ban on alcohol would follow an independent panel’s finding of “heavy” alcohol use by astronauts before...

MIT Slims Down the Space Suit
MIT Slims Down the Space Suit
Jul 24, 2007 1:05 PM CDT

MIT Slims Down the Space Suit

BioSuit is astronauts' sexy new get-up

(Newser) - When NASA astronauts are suited up for space heroics they're more Marshmallow Man than Spider-Man, but that could change with a sleek new space suit designed by MIT aeronautics professor Dava Newman. The revolutionary BioSuit is lightweight and form-fitting, allowing physical feats not possible in the current bulky gear.

Astronaut Takes Out the Trash, Into Space

Discarded equipment expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere

(Newser) - A NASA astronaut hurled two large pieces of space junk—a 1,400-pound reservoir filled with ammonia and a 212-pound piece of video equipment—off the International Space Station and into the Earth's orbit today. NASA does not approve of space littering, Reuters reports, but the agency had no other...

Meet Frank, Saturn's 60th Moon
Meet Frank, Saturn's 60th Moon
Jul 20, 2007 1:09 PM CDT

Meet Frank, Saturn's 60th Moon

Planet's latest addition sparks search for more

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered Saturn’s 60th moon, and are hinting that more could exist. In May, cameras aboard the Cassini spacecraft captured the “extremely faint object,” which scientists have officially designated a moon and tentatively named Frank. Composed mostly of ice and rock, Frank is about a mile...

Planet with Water Discovered
Planet with Water Discovered
Jul 11, 2007 3:57 PM CDT

Planet with Water Discovered

HD 189733b holds superheated water vapor but is too hot for aliens

(Newser) - Astronomers located the first planet beyond our solar system that hosts water—a giant gas ball bigger than Jupiter and named HD 189733b. Its sizzling climate, which can reach upwards of 3,600 degrees, renders it uninhabitable to any extraterrestrials, but the discovery shows that water is more common in...

Europe Seeks Mars Test Volunteers

Wanted: 12 people to live in a mock-up 'spacecraft' for 500 days

(Newser) - The European Space Agency is recruiting 12 volunteers to spend 17 months living and working in a series of interconnected modules that simulate an inter-planetary mission to Mars. The 'spaceship' is 19,250 cubic feet and is located at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

Atlantis Heads Home
Atlantis Heads Home
Jun 19, 2007 7:10 PM CDT

Atlantis Heads Home

13-day mission concludes; rain may delay landing in Florida

(Newser) - Space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station today and set out on the final leg of its 13-day mission. The seven astronauts' final preparations for landing included making sure the craft's heat shield was ready to re-enter the atmosphere before landing Thursday—or later if the weather doesn't...

Shuttle Docks at Space Station
Shuttle Docks at Space Station
Jun 11, 2007 5:31 AM CDT

Shuttle Docks at Space Station

(Newser) - The Atlantis docked with the international space station today, bringing with it a segment to be added to the station and the newest member of its crew. The arrival was marred by concern about a piece of thermal blanket on the shuttle that peeled back during launch;  ground control...

Most Massive Star Ever Weighs In
Most Massive Star Ever Weighs In
Jun 8, 2007 6:43 AM CDT

Most Massive Star Ever Weighs In

Astronomers say hefty gas giant is 100 times heavier than the sun

(Newser) - The most massive star yet discovered has been "weighed," astronomers say, and it tips the scales at a whopping 114 times the mass of the sun. The enormous star forms the bigger half of a rapidly orbiting binary system and it far outstrips both its companion star and...

Scientists Find Cold Dwarf Star
Scientists Find Cold Dwarf Star
Jun 5, 2007 8:51 AM CDT

Scientists Find Cold Dwarf Star

Failed star has temperature a tenth of the sun's

(Newser) - Scientists are over the moon with the discovery of a cold brown dwarf in the Cetus constellation. The star-like body, spotted by a British team using the UKIRT telescope in Hawaii, is the coldest of its kind ever seen, the BBC reports, tipping thermometers at just 800 degrees F, a...

Crop of New Planets Means Better Chance of Life

Rapid discovery of planets outside our solar system ups odds one has liquid water

(Newser) - Astronomers who've spotted 28 new planets in the past year are gaining confidence that other solar systems may be able to support life like ours. One researcher estimated that there are probably "tens of billions" of planets with habitable conditions, most important of which is hospitality to water.

Hubble Finds Dark Matter
Hubble Finds Dark Matter
May 15, 2007 8:00 AM CDT

Hubble Finds Dark Matter

(Newser) - Astronomers have discovered a ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster about 5 billion light years away. The Hubble Telescope turned up an anomaly in the way stars in the area appear, which researchers think is a distortion caused by the intense gravity of the galactic "glue" holding...

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