MIT Slims Down the Space Suit

Paul Allen project might be ready for tests in 2016

(NEWSER) - The world's biggest plane, with wings longer than a football field, is being built to launch astronauts and cargo into outer space. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace innovator Burt Rutan have teamed up to create the gargantuan aircraft, which will work by hauling a rocket high into the air and then blasting it into space, thus bypassing the need for a launch pad and saving on fuel, reports AP . They unveiled their plans yesterday. More»

Space explorers have access to some high-test drugs, man

(NEWSER) - Space is full of unique challenges, and astronauts use contemporary pharmacology to meet them. Discovery News compiles a list of the drugs our ambassadors to space could be on right now:

• Modafinil. A strong stimulant taken by astronauts when the mission calls for unnaturally long periods of wakefulness.
• Scopolamine. Crew members suffering from zero-gravity nausea turn to ScopeDex, a mixture of scopolamine and the stimulant dexedrine. In large doses, scopolamine is a full-on mind-control hallucinogen .

Hanky panky, champagne would boost funding: historian

(NEWSER) - Why should flight attendants have all the fun? A respected NASA historian is proposing that astronauts too should join the mile-high club, Bloomberg reports. “Sex in space, now there’s an experiment scientists certainly want to conduct,” James Hansen declared in a lecture at the 100th Paris Air Show. “Great outer-space food and wine would be fine, too.” More»

Space junk becomes increasing concern

(NEWSER) - Discovery's astronauts fired thrusters yesterday to maneuver the million-pound International Space Station out of the path of approaching space junk, the third such threat to the orbiting lab in two weeks, reports Space.com. The four-inch chunk of debris—from a Chinese rocket that broke apart in 2000—was heading uncomfortably close to the $100 billion station just as the docked crew was planning to venture on a space walk later today. More»

Crews say farewell as space shuttle undocks from ISS

(NEWSER) - The space shuttle Endeavour has begun its two-day trip back to Earth after successfully undocking yesterday from the international space station, reports the Houston Chronicle. The seven astronauts on board hailed an "awesome" mission and said fond farewells to their colleagues staying behind. A glitch unlatching a solar panel delayed Endeavour's retreat from the station. More»