NASA

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James Cameron's Next Trick: Mining Asteroids?

He, Google execs back new space venture

(Newser) - After hanging out in the deepest depths of the oceans , how does a Hollywood super-director top himself? By space mining, of course. James Cameron has teamed up with two Google billionaires, several ex-NASA officials, and some other ambitious investors to form Planetary Resources Inc., a space exploration company that seems...

NASA Captures Massive Sun Blast

Huge solar explosion will affect spacecraft but not Earth

(Newser) - A blast of super-heated plasma big enough to scorch dozens of Earths erupted from the sun yesterday, providing NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory with stunning images. The coronal mass ejection, which followed a solar flare, was not aimed toward Earth, but two NASA spacecraft—including the Spitzer Space Telescope—will...

Discovery Takes Last Ride
 Discovery Ends Final Ride 
UPDATED
Apr 17, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Discovery Ends Final Ride

Space shuttle soars above DC, heads for Smithsonian

(Newser) - Space shuttle Discovery landed today at Washington Dulles International Airport, where its wheels will stop for the last time at the Smithsonian. The world's most traveled spaceship landed after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and soaring around the Washington Monument and White House in a salute to the...

Asteroid Flies Past Earth Closer Than Moon

NASA says we were never in danger

(Newser) - A 150-foot-wide asteroid whizzed stunningly close to Earth yesterday, passing within 143,000 miles of us—a hair more than half the distance from the Earth to the moon. NASA saw the rock coming two weeks ahead of time, and says there was never any danger of it actually hitting...

Apollo 11 Engines Found on Ocean Floor

Jeff Bezos plans to bring moon rocket engines to surface

(Newser) - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says he's discovered the watery resting place of the engines that blasted Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew toward the moon in 1969—and he's not planning on leaving them there. A Bezos Expeditions team found the five F-1 engines at the bottom...

Five-Rocket NASA Mission Lights Up Sky

Science mission finally gets green light

(Newser) - After almost two weeks of delays, NASA finally launched its ATREX experiment this morning, lighting up the early morning sky as five rockets hurtled into the air. The rockets released chemicals into the air to create artificial glowing clouds at the edge of space, MSNBC reports. Those clouds will help...

Space Junk Forces Astronauts to Take Shelter

They're safe and sound after chunk of debris passes by

(Newser) - A discarded chunk of a Russian rocket missed the International Space Station early today. However, it came close enough to force six astronauts to seek shelter in escape capsules. The two Americans, three Russians, and a Dutchman woke early and went into two Soyuz vehicles ready to rocket back to...

Home Video Emerges of Challenger Disaster

Jeffrey Ault's super 8 footage sat untouched for decades

(Newser) - Florida resident Jeffrey Ault was thrilled to shoot home video of the Challenger launch in 1986. The NASA nut had built an Apollo-era Saturn V rocket in elementary school, and as a high school student he routinely wrote the space agency for mission reports. But his exhilaration turned to shock...

NASA Lost Laptop With Codes to Space Station

Amidst 5,407 other security breaches in the past two years

(Newser) - NASA has had major computer security problems over the past two years, suffering 5,408 breaches, the agency's inspector general told Congress yesterday. "These incidents spanned a wide continuum, from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit," Paul...

Asteroid Could Threaten Earth

Deflection mission may be needed to keep 2011 AG5 away

(Newser) - Astronomers are keeping their eyes on an asteroid with the potential to make life very uncomfortable for a lot of Earthlings 28 years from now. The near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5, a chunk of rock roughly 460 feet wide, will be close to our planet in 2040, and scientists believe there...

If Obama Budget Passes, It's Bye-Bye Mars

Budget cuts could eliminate much of Mars program from NASA's plans

(Newser) - For 20 years, NASA has basically been obsessed with Mars. This summer, NASA's most high-tech rover will land near the Martian equator. And 2016 and 2018 missions have already been planned, with the intention of bringing home rocks from the red planet. But those two future excursions may not...

For Rent: Slightly Used Space Shuttle Launchpad

Kennedy Space Center is looking for tenants

(Newser) - Wondering where to park your space shuttle? Consider Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center. "We’re putting out the word officially and unofficially that Kennedy Space Center is open for business," says a chief architect at the facility. "I have a lot of facilities that we, NASA,...

Wanted: Volunteer Foodies ... for Mars

NASA seeks team for 4-month simulation in Hawaii

(Newser) - NASA is on the lookout for a few good cooks to experience life on Mars. Researchers backed by the space agency are seeking a team of volunteers for a simulation of the journey. Its aim: to determine what to put on the menu for a hypothetical future trip, which would...

NASA Releases Flip Side of High-Res Earth Image

New 'Blue Marble' image focuses on eastern hemisphere

(Newser) - NASA released its 2012 version of the "Blue Marble" image of earth from space last month, and it went viral in a hurry. What to do for an encore? Show the other side. The first image focused on the western hemisphere. Citing huge demand, NASA this week released a...

Far Side of Moon Captured on Video

NASA spacecraft will eventually be used for educational purposes

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft has captured and beamed back to Earth its first video of the far side of the moon, which is never visible from Earth. The footage comes from Ebb, one of NASA's twin GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) probes, which will eventually be used as part...

NASA Spots 'Alien Matter' From Beyond Solar System

Interstellar cloud unlike anything else ever analyzed

(Newser) - A cloud of material from elsewhere in the galaxy has slipped inside our solar system's protective bubble, and it is fundamentally different from anything else scientists have ever seen. The "alien matter" was spotted and analyzed by a NASA probe exploring the edge of the solar system, CBS...

Scientists Find 11 New Planetary Systems

Triples number of known multiplanetary star systems

(Newser) - The Kepler space telescope has discovered a whopping 11 new planetary systems that are home to 26 planets—thus tripling the number of stars that have more than one planet that passes in front of them and doubling the number of exoplanets confirmed by the Kepler mission. "Prior to...

Gingrich Promises Moon Colony by 2020

Wants to go boldly into future with 'grandiose' space vision

(Newser) - A stellar idea or just lunacy? Either way, Newt Gingrich wants an American colony on the moon by the end of his second term, reports Politico . Speaking in Florida, home to much of NASA, Gingrich called his moon proposal a "Northwest Ordinance for space," and "grandiose,"...

NASA Has 'Most Amazing' Blue Marble Photo Yet

Agency releases new high-resolution image of Earth

(Newser) - Fans of NASA's "Blue Marble" images of Earth have a new gem to marvel at, notes Gizmodo . The agency has released on its Flickr stream what it calls the "most amazing, highest resolution image of Earth ever." It's a composite taken by a newly launched...

NASA Puts Sale of Apollo 13 Checklist on Hold

Astronaut Lovell sold it for $388K, but he may not own it

(Newser) - Astronaut James Lovell may not have made a small fortune after all by selling his checklist and notes from the almost-disastrous Apollo 13 mission (the one made famous in the Tom Hanks movie of the same name). The list, along with handwritten calculations by Lovell, fetched $388,000 at auction...

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