NASA

Read the latest NASA news today on Newser.com

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NASA Probe Gets Lucky with Jupiter Flyby

Spacecraft New Horizons sees storms and supervolcanoes

(Newser) - New Horizons, the robotic probe destined to reach Pluto in 2015, took some exciting photos when it flew within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter last February. Data from the fruitful detour for NASA’s fastest spacecraft will be published in Science this month. Highlights include photos of Jupiter’s...

50 Highs and Lows Since Sputnik
50 Highs and Lows Since Sputnik
Oct 4, 2007 3:08 PM CDT

50 Highs and Lows Since Sputnik

Time counts down the top moments in space exploration

(Newser) - Since Sputnik’s launch, space exploration has gone through some dizzying highs and tragic lows. Time recounts the top moments, replete with triumphs like John Glenn’s first earth orbit, tragic lows like the death of the Apollo 1 crew, and the many missteps in between – like the Soviets...

Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms

424 light-years away, materials clump together around young star

(Newser) - A massive belt of dust swirling around a young star 424 light-years away could be evidence of a second Earth in the making, Space.com reports. Astronomers observing the area through a NASA space telescope say many of the conditions for forming an Earth-sized planet are present, including moderate temperatures...

Space Race Goes Private
Space Race
Goes Private
Oct 4, 2007 11:33 AM CDT

Space Race Goes Private

Branson, tech peers are 21st century answer to NASA

(Newser) - Today’s wildest-eyed entrepreneurs were kids when Sputnik launched 50 years ago today, and they’re picking up the government’s slack by taking their inspiration spaceward. Men who made millions in technology are privatizing spaceflight, even egging each other on to compete: Google is offering $20 million to the...

Opportunity Knocks on Mars
Opportunity Knocks on Mars
Sep 28, 2007 10:47 AM CDT

Opportunity Knocks on Mars

NASA's rover explores bedrock that could be ancient Martian surface

(Newser) - NASA’s Martian explorer Opportunity reached its first destination inside the cavernous Victoria Crater yesterday and prepared to get to work drilling into bright rock layers to collect data. The six-wheeled robot last month began the precarious decline into the crater, headed for a shiny piece of bedrock that scientists...

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket
NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket
Sep 27, 2007 10:30 AM CDT

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket

First 'interplanetary' spaceship to visit two asteroids

(Newser) - This morning NASA launched a spacecraft that's headed to the asteroid belt, where it will get a close-up look at the belt's largest bodies, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.  It's NASA’s first multi-target mission, and Dawn, which one engineer called “the first real interplanetary spaceship,...

Space Supersizes Salmonella
Space Supersizes Salmonella
Sep 25, 2007 9:43 AM CDT

Space Supersizes Salmonella

Baffled scientists point to 'fluid shear'

(Newser) - Salmonella germs that went into space on a 2006 mission returned three times more deadly, reports the AP. Space travel altered 167 genes in the germ, which is the leading cause of food poisoning, and it killed mice at much higher rates than identical samples left on Earth. The Earth-bound...

Mars Rover Steps Into Crater
Mars Rover Steps Into Crater
Sep 13, 2007 6:00 PM CDT

Mars Rover Steps Into Crater

NASA vehicle got second chance, after withstanding a two-month dust storm

(Newser) - The dust has finally settled on Mars, and NASA's Mars rover Opportunity took its first steps Tuesday 13 feet into the half-mile-wide Victoria Crater—and then backed out after slipping beyond acceptable levels. With Opportunity's six wheels perched over the lip of the crater, researchers paused the operation in order...

Russia Shoots For the Moon
Russia Shoots For the Moon
Sep 3, 2007 12:10 PM CDT

Russia Shoots For the Moon

Cash-strapped space agency aims to send a man to the moon by 2025

(Newser) - Russia has announced a plan to put a man (or woman) on the moon by 2025, reports ABC. The cash-strapped Russian space agency also plans a permanent moon base and a Mars mission. "The Russians have some big ideas, but their space program is coming up slowly from being...

NASA Blasts Rumors of Drunken Astronauts

US space agency dismisses inebriation allegations as 'urban legends'

(Newser) - NASA said today there is no truth to allegations that several astronauts were drunk as they were blasted into space, the Miami Herald reports. A month after an independent panel reported vague accounts of astronauts drunk on the job, space agency officials said interviews and a review of 20 years'...

The Force Is With the Discovery
The Force Is With the Discovery
Aug 29, 2007 8:56 AM CDT

The Force Is With the Discovery

Lucasfilm loans original light saber to NASA for upcoming flight

(Newser) - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery will have a bit of extra protection on their next mission: Luke Skywalker's original light saber from 1977's Star Wars. Lucasfilm has loaned the prop—in real life not much more than a slick flashlight—to NASA for the shuttle's launch this October, reports...

Google Takes Map Program to the Stars
Google Takes Map Program
to the Stars
Aug 22, 2007 12:28 PM CDT

Google Takes Map Program to the Stars

Google Sky will boot up computer-chair space exploration

(Newser) - Launching off of the success of Google Earth, Google launched a new program today allowing armchair astronomers to chuck the telescope and gaze at the heavens from their monitors. Google Sky will harness Hubble photos along with a database of information, and feature more than one million stars and 200...

Endeavour Returns Home
Endeavour Returns Home
Aug 21, 2007 3:11 PM CDT

Endeavour Returns Home

Shuttle touches down a day early to beat Hurricane Dean

(Newser) - Endeavour landed safely in Florida this afternoon, a day earlier than planned. Damage sustained during launch didn't affect the space shuttle's return from its 13-day mission, and neither did Hurricane Dean, CNN reports. "Welcome back. You give new meaning to the term 'higher education,' " Mission Control told...

NASA Learned Its Lesson With Endeavour

Caution, elaborate tools mark dramatic shift from Columbia era

(Newser) - Endeavour faced the same problem that the ill-fated Columbia did, but NASA officials handled the two missions in dramatically different ways, marking a radical cultural shift at the space agency. Columbia’s shuttle suffered more damage from a flying piece of foam, but NASA still spent days using elaborate equipment...

Endeavour Heads Home, Dodging Dean
Endeavour Heads Home, Dodging Dean
Aug 19, 2007 5:50 PM CDT

Endeavour Heads Home, Dodging Dean

Hurricane threat to Mission Control lessens, but shuttle leaves early

(Newser) - To a chorus of ringing bells, space shuttle Endeavour undocked today from the international space station, skipping out a day early because of fears Hurricane Dean could disrupt its landing operations. Even though revised predictions show the storm poses almost no threat to Houston and Mission Control, the AP reports,...

Storm Forces Shuttle Home Early
Storm Forces Shuttle Home Early
Aug 18, 2007 5:48 PM CDT

Storm Forces Shuttle Home Early

Astronauts wrap up early to reach Houston before Hurricane Dean

(Newser) - NASA managers worried about the wrath of Hurricane Dean have ordered shuttle Endeavour home a day earlier than planned, the AP reports. Astronauts wrapped up a space walk today and prepared for a trip that would leave tomorrow and land in Houston on Tuesday. One astronaut clearly saw the hurricane’...

Astronauts Will Skip Shuttle Fix
Astronauts Will Skip Shuttle Fix
Aug 17, 2007 2:57 AM CDT

Astronauts Will Skip Shuttle Fix

NASA decides gash won't be a hazard during re-entry

(Newser) - NASA has decided against a risky spacewalk repair job on the gouged heat shield of the space shuttle Endeavour, AP reports. Engineers concluded that a gash in the tiled underside of the spacecraft will not be a hazard during re-entry. Attempting a repair could risk causing more damage and could...

Dying Star Unlocks Life Cycle Mystery

Comet-like tail supports theory that shed matter creates stars

(Newser) - Astronomers have recently spotted a dying red giant star trailing material knocked off by winds  created by its high-speed orbit, providing an important clue to the life cycle of stars. Scientists have long theorized that the detritus of old stars become the seeds for new ones, but they've never before...

Endeavour May Not Need Repair
Endeavour May Not Need Repair
Aug 15, 2007 8:29 AM CDT

Endeavour May Not Need Repair

Shuttle should be able to return to Earth safely

(Newser) - Repairs to the damaged heat shield on the space shuttle Endeavor may not be needed before the shuttle's return to Earth, NASA says, based on the first set of tests, completed yesterday. Program managers say they are "cautiously optimistic" that business-card-sized gash in Endeavour's thermal tiles shouldn't pose a...

Space Crew May Try Risky Fix
Space Crew May Try Risky Fix
Aug 14, 2007 3:34 AM CDT

Space Crew May Try Risky Fix

NASA weighs methods to repair gash in shuttle heat shield

(Newser) - Astronauts on board the space shuttle Endeavour will likely attempt a spacewalk to fix a gouge in the craft's heat shield cause by debris that slammed into it during takeoff, USA Today reports. The debris carved a cavity more than three inches long and an inch deep on the tiled...

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