NASA

Read the latest NASA news today on Newser.com

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And They're Off: SpaceX Launch Makes History

Inspiration4 mission sends 4 space tourists into orbit

(Newser) - SpaceX’s first private flight blasted off Wednesday night with two contest winners, a health care worker, and their rich sponsor, the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism. It was the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with an all-amateur crew—no professional astronauts. The Dragon capsule’s...

Perseverance Pays Off: Rock Sample Collected on Mars

Rover had to drive to a second location to get a good sample

(Newser) - NASA’s newest Mars rover has successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth, after last month’s attempt came up empty. The Perseverance rover's chief engineer, Adam Steltzner, called it a perfect core sample, per the AP . "I’ve never been more happy to see...

Odds of Asteroid Hitting Earth Inch Higher
Odds on Asteroid
Hit Going Up
Aug 12, 2021 9:20 AM CDT

Odds on Asteroid Hit Going Up

It's still very unlikely Bennu will strike in the next century

(Newser) - The good news is that scientists have a better handle on asteroid Bennu's whereabouts for the next 200 years. The bad news is that the space rock considered one of the two most hazardous known asteroids in our solar system has a slightly greater chance of clobbering Earth than...

NASA Needs Posers for Mars Habitat in Texas

Those chosen will be isolated for a year and live on space food

(Newser) - Want to find your inner Matt Damon and spend a year pretending you are isolated on Mars? NASA has a job for you. To prepare for eventually sending astronauts to Mars, NASA began taking applications Friday for four people to live for a year in Mars Dune Alpha. That's...

Russian Module's Arrival Triggers Emergency at ISS

Surprise rocket firing moved space station out of position for nearly an hour

(Newser) - Routine is definitely not a word with which to describe Russia's Thursday docking of a module at the International Space Station, its first in more than a decade. The long-delayed Nauka laboratory module, the largest space lab ever launched by Russia, reached ISS after several "hiccups in orbit"...

Bezos to NASA: Let&#39;s Make a Deal on the Moon
Jeff Bezos
Makes NASA
a $2B Offer
Jul 27, 2021 7:57 AM CDT

Jeff Bezos Makes NASA a $2B Offer

Ex-Amazon CEO wants to again compete in moon race against SpaceX

(Newser) - If Elon Musk thought he had the sole lock on building NASA's next lunar landing vehicle, there may be a new wrench in the works. In April, the space agency announced it was offering Musk's SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build the spacecraft that will take...

Pioneer Shut Out By NASA Joins Bezos' Mission

NASA passed over female trainee Wally Funk in the 1960s

(Newser) - Sixty years after acing astronaut tests but barred because she was a woman, Wally Funk will rocket into space alongside Jeff Bezos in just three weeks. Bezos' company Blue Origin announced Thursday that the pioneering pilot will be aboard the July 20 launch from West Texas, flying in the capsule...

NASA Tackles Odd Space Problem: Doing the Laundry

Tide is sending up special detergent as a test

(Newser) - How do astronauts do laundry in space? They don't. They wear their underwear, gym clothes, and everything else until they can't take it anymore, then junk them, per the AP . NASA wants to change that—if not at the International Space Station, then the moon and Mars—and...

Computer Glitch Makes Hubble Go Dark

NASA is struggling to reboot the 'brain' of the telescope

(Newser) - The famed Hubble telescope is still kicking after more than three decades in space, but it's been dark for more than a week now because of a computer glitch. NASA has tried and failed to reboot the telescope's payload computer since it crashed on June 13, reports Live...

Astronauts Install Solar Panel to Power Up Space Station

More will be coming in plan to increase electrical capacity

(Newser) - Spacewalking astronauts equipped the International Space Station with the first in a series of powerful new solar panels Sunday, overcoming suit problems and other obstacles with muscle and persistence. It took two spacewalks for French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough to install and unfurl the panel to...

Space Station to Receive a Whole Lot of Squid

Astronauts hope to learn survival tactics from 128 baby squid, 5K tardigrades

(Newser) - A cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for Thursday, will see astronauts enjoy apples, avocado, and other fresh food—not including the 128 baby squid along for the ride on SpaceX's Dragon, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket . These glow-in-the-dark baby bobtail squid will become part...

NASA Announces 2 Missions to Our 'Evil Twin'

We're headed back to Venus for the first time in decades

(Newser) - Venus has been, as the New York Times puts it, "overlooked" by NASA for decades—but no longer. The space agency on Wednesday announced two missions to Earth's closest planetary neighbor slated for the late 2020s. Veritas will map the planet's surface, while DaVinci Plus will analyze...

NASA Orders High-Performance Lunar Vehicles
NASA Orders Way
Off-Road Vehicles
May 26, 2021 4:38 PM CDT

NASA Orders Way Off-Road Vehicles

GM-Lockheed collaboration to design rugged, faster electric rovers

(Newser) - General Motors is teaming up with Lockheed Martin to produce the ultimate off-road, self-driving, electric vehicles—for the moon. The project announced Wednesday is still in the early stages and has yet to score any NASA money, the AP reports. But the goal is to design light yet rugged vehicles...

&#39;Forgotten Astronaut&#39; of First Moon Mission Dies
'Forgotten Astronaut' of
First Moon Mission Dies
OBITUARY
Apr 28, 2021 1:56 PM CDT

'Forgotten Astronaut' of First Moon Mission Dies

Michael Collins piloted command module as Armstong, Aldrin walked on lunar surface

(Newser) - As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon, Michael Collins remained in the Columbia command module for 22 hours, "truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life" whenever the module passed over the moon's far side, he wrote in the...

Nominee Endorses Lunar Bipartisanship

Biden's NASA choice supports Trump's plan for moon landing in 2024

(Newser) - President Biden's nominee for NASA administrator wants to send astronauts to the moon again as soon as possible—just as the Trump administration planned. The program goes beyond politics, former Sen. Bill Nelson said Wednesday in his confirmation hearing, and "has to be continued, regardless of who’s...

NASA Just Flew a Helicopter on Mars

It's the first powered flight on another planet

(Newser) - NASA just scored some serious bragging rights among Earthlings. The agency's Ingenuity helicopter completed a short flight on Mars—the first powered flight on another planet, reports the Washington Post . The 4-pound craft rose about 10 feet for 30 seconds or so before returning to the planet's surface....

12-Year-Old Plans to Make NASA History
12-Year-Old Plans to
Make NASA History
in case you missed it
Apr 17, 2021 7:00 AM CDT

12-Year-Old Plans to Make NASA History

Alena Wicker's goal is to be the youngest Black girl to ever work for the space agency

(Newser) - When Alena Wicker realized the racial and gender gaps in employment in the STEM fields, she went to work. The Texas 12-year-old told her mother, "I want to create this culture of Brown girls in STEM, because it's this whole gap, and I just want to do something,...

Up 9 Feet, for 30 Seconds. NASA Aims for History
Up 9 Feet,
for 30 Seconds.
NASA Aims
for History
UPDATED
Apr 10, 2021 11:21 PM CDT

Up 9 Feet, for 30 Seconds. NASA Aims for History

But Ingenuity helicopter's flight on Mars is pushed back at least a few days

(Newser) - The flight won't last very long, maybe 30 seconds or so. And it won't go very high, say 9 or 10 feet. But assuming NASA can pull it off, an upcoming flight by the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars will be historic nonetheless—it will be the first time...

Mars Rover Fans Get Special Easter Surprise

2 new 'Easter eggs' revealed, including spacecraft's unique ID number and 2 tiny 'tattoos'

(Newser) - The Perseverance rover took its first spin on Mars last month, to the delight of all its fans back on Earth, but NASA had even more excitement to offer over the holiday weekend. Per CBS News , the space agency chose Easter Sunday to reveal additional "Easter eggs"—jokes,...

Scott Kelly's Body Endured Another Surprise in Space

Astronaut's heart didn't have to work as hard in zero gravity and so it shrank 27%, scientists say

(Newser) - They called it the "perfect nature versus nurture" experiment : Astronaut Scott Kelly was sent to the International Space Station for nearly a year, while his identical twin, astronaut and now Sen. Mark Kelly, remained on Earth. When Scott Kelly came back home in March 2016, scientists compared his DNA...

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