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When NASA deliberately crashed the LCROSS satellite into the moon last month, the media spun the event as a dud because the impact didn’t create a huge glowing explosion and pretty pictures for the nightly news. In fact, it wasn’t even visible from Earth at all. But it was no ...
A fascinating discovery, from the tail of a comet 242 million miles away from Earth: Building block of life found on comet. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory ...
Science, Space, NASA, Comet, Astronomy, origin of life, Space Exploration
Ten years ago APOD ran this photograph, a view from the Mir Space Station of the Moon’s shadow passing over the Earth during a total solar eclipse. (Hat tip: Racer X.)
Science, Solar Eclipse, Photography, Mir Space Station, Space, Space Exploration
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has sent back pictures of the landing sites of five Apollo moon missions; after 40 years in the airless environment, you can still see the tracks of the Apollo 14 astronauts, where they walked through the lunar dust to set up some scientific instruments: LRO Sees ...
NASA, Apollo, Moon Landing, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Space, Space Exploration
The space shuttle Atlantis glided in to a perfect landing in California this morning, after a very successful 13-day mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle was rerouted to California because of poor weather conditions in Florida. Total distance traveled during the mission: 5.3 million miles. ...
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
The astronauts are finished with their repairs of the Hubble Space Telescope, and now we can’t wait to see the images from the powerful new instruments they’ve installed. They’re doing tool inventory and cleanup before ending their final spacewalk; you can watch live at NASA TV.
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
The astronauts from shuttle Atlantis are working on the Hubble Space Telescope right now, entering the fourth hour of their spacewalk. You can watch live at NASA TV; as I write there’s a glorious view of the Earth with an astronaut silhouetted against it, as they pass over Africa at ...
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
Space shuttle Atlantis is about to latch onto the Hubble Space Telescope to begin its repair mission; here’s the live feed from NASA TV as Atlantis approaches the telescope: [Live feed now disabled...] UPDATE at 5/13/09 10:17:48 am: It’s so cool to watch this live — the shuttle has successfully ...
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
A perfect launch this morning sent the space shuttle Atlantis into orbit, ready to begin an 11-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA TV is replaying the launch on their video channel.
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
The space shuttle Atlantis is on the launchpad and on schedule to launch at 2:01 pm EDT tomorrow (Monday), for its mission to perform extensive repairs and maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s been seven years since the Hubble was serviced, so there’s a lot to do; five spacewalks ...
NASA, Space Shuttle, Atlantis, Space Exploration, Science, Hubble Space Telescope
Via NASA TV, here’s the live video feed for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery... [Video feed removed...] UPDATE at 3/15/09 5:00:20 pm: A perfect launch! It’s on the way to the International Space Station.
The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 7:43 pm Eastern; you can watch live over the web at NASA TV, where they’re currently showing the astronauts preparing to enter the spacecraft...
NASA has postponed the scheduled launch of the space shuttle Discovery until Sunday or Monday. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA has postponed the launch of space shuttle Discovery because of a gas leak. The leak of gaseous hydrogen occurred as the launch team was filling the external fuel tank ...
The $591 million Kepler mission launched successfully last night, and will soon begin looking for Earth-like planets in other solar systems. The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft lifted off on time at 10:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ...
Japan. Robots. The moon. Need I say more? TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is considering putting a robot on the moon by 2020 and an astronaut by 2030, a report from a government office showed on Friday, amid fears that the country will be left behind in Asia’s space race. ...
Have you always wanted to control where to point the Hubble Space Telescope? Now you can: Hubble’s Next Discovery - You Decide. YOU’RE IN CONTROL! In 1609, Galileo turned his telescope on the night sky for the first time. Now, 400 years later, your vote will help make the ...
A glorious photograph from the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, via APOD. (Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA.) Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet’s shadow for about 12 hours and ...
An interesting New York Times science article on new discoveries about a possible catastrophic meteor strike about 13,000 years ago: New Evidence of Meteor Bombardment. At least once in Earth’s history, global warming ended quickly, and scientists have long wondered why. Now researchers are reporting that the abrupt cooling ...
Added to the RSS feeds in our left sidebar: APOD, the acronym for Astronomy Picture of the Day, where today’s featured image is “The Dumbbells:” gaseous remnants of dying sunlike stars. Explanation: These two nebulae are cataloged as M27 (left) and M76, popularly known as The Dumbbell and ...
SpaceX had a big success yesterday, launching the very first privately-funded rocket to enter Earth orbit. [Video]
It was expected, but still a milestone for science and space exploration; the Phoenix Mars Lander has definitively proved the existence of water on Mars.
An LGF lizard in Florida emailed this spectacular photo of the shuttle Atlantis taking off this afternoon.
This month we have a number of noteworthy space exploration anniversaries, and Rand Simberg has a great overview of the triumphs and tragedies we all remember.