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Space: Final Frontier

Started by Imperator; Last updated May 4, 08 11:00 AM CDT by SeacoastNH | View history

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Space: Final Frontier

"The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever." -Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Nearly four decades after Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind, the race is on—again. And this time, the course has expanded, with government scientists reaching outward towards Mars, and private entrepreneurs, from Amazon's Jeff Bezos to Virgin's Richard Branson, jumping in to open up the wonders of the universe to anyone who's got the cash. Branson's Virgin Galactic aims to launch in 2009 with $200K orbits, but the wealthy and willing can already pony up $25 mil for a journey to the Russian space station. Too bad PanAm didn't hang around for the second act—they once had a waiting list of 93,000 for travel to the moon.

Stories

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October 2007
- Japan Sets Its Sights on the Moon
  
  Reuters | Oct 9, 07 12:26 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Japan is officially joining the ranks of countries intent on lunar exploration. The country plans to land an unmanned rover on the lunar surface "in the middle of the 2010s," a government official announced today. China and India have already announced plans to place a spacecraft on the mysterious satellite, Reuters reports. More »
- After Sputnik: Satellites Today
  
  Wired | Oct 4, 07 4:47 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Satellites have lost a bit of their star power since Sputnik blasted into orbit. But 50 years later, its grandkids continue to look down at the Earth and out into deep, deep space. Here are some of the coolest, according to Wired : James Webb Space Telescope: Putting the Hubble to pasture, this planned telescope will monitor the infrared spectrum to detect new planets. Envisat: Making Al Gore proud, this environmental lab monitors sea-ice coverage and changes to glaciers. More »
- 50 Highs and Lows Since Sputnik
  
  Time | Oct 4, 07 3:08 PM CDT
  
  (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 launching a dog in the Sputnik 2, only to have it die from exposure. More »
- Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms
  
  Space.com | Oct 4, 07 2:45 PM CDT
  
  (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 allowing for liquid water. More »
- Space Race Goes Private
  
  CNET | Oct 4, 07 11:33 AM CDT
  
  (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 first private team to place a robotic rover on the moon, CNET reports. More »
- Sputnik Ignited Era of Discovery
  
  NPR | Oct 4, 07 9:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In an era when billionaire tourists book rides in spaceships, launching a basketball-sized satellite into outer space might seem mundane. But when the Russians put Sputnik into orbit 50 years ago today, it kicked off much more than a Cold War competition. It signalled the start of an electrifying era in which, says NPR commentator and then-wide-eyed kid Andrew Chaiken, "Every day, things that had been science fiction were turning into fact." More »
- Russia Vows to Launch Arms Race in Space
  
  Reuters | Oct 3, 07 4:28 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Today Russia promised an arms race with the US and China if they keep launching military hardware into orbit. "We need to have strong rules about space, to avoid its militarization," General Vladimir Popovkin said. Reuters reports that his barb was aimed at Washington for its "Star Wars" program and Beijing for recent anti-satellite missile tests. More »
September 2007
- Scientists Stumped by Blast From Outer Space
  
  PhysOrg | Sep 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A bizarre burst from outer space has scientists talking black holes and colliding stars, Physorg reports — and may even help us "determine the amount of material in intergalactic space," one researcher says. The radio waves, which were measured in milliseconds, might be a blast from 2 superdense neutron stars or the "last gasp" of a dying black hole. More »
- Opportunity Knocks on Mars
  
  Associated Press | Sep 28, 07 10:47 AM CDT
  
  (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 think is a relic of the ancient Martian surface, the AP reports. More »
- NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket
  
  Associated Press | Sep 27, 07 10:30 AM CDT
  
  (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,” could tell scientists much about the early solar system. More »
- Hidden Galaxies Come to Light
  
  Space.com | Sep 24, 07 12:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Astronomers have added 14 “invisible galaxies” to their map of the heavens, thanks to an imaginative breakthrough and a massive telescope. Researchers realized that some galaxies might be hidden by the bright lights of quasars behind them, so they scanned quasar data for “dips” where those lights might be passing through galaxies, Space.com reports. More »
- From Tokyo With Love: Japan Launches 1st Lunar Probe
  
  BBC | Sep 14, 07 4:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Japan began its first trip to the moon today, launching a lunar probe that will spend a year orbiting Earth’s natural satellite. In what the Japanese call the most complex moon mission since America’s famous Apollo program, Selene will study the body’s origin and evolution, the BBC reports. More »
- Russia Tests 'Real World: Mars'
  
  Der Spiegel | Sep 14, 07 2:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In a sort of extraterrestrial edition of MTV's "Real World," Russia will lock six would-be cosmonauts in a "spaceship" for 520 days in a simulated voyage to Mars. As Russian scientists test the effects of extended isolation, participants will spend 2 years growing their own vegetables, breathing "spaceship air," and drinking reprocessed urine, Der Spiegel reports. More »
- Mars Rover Steps Into Crater
  
  Wired | Sep 13, 07 6:00 PM CDT
  
  (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 to analyze data collected in the foray, Wired reports. More »
- Google Offers $30M for Private Moon Missions
  
  BBC | Sep 13, 07 3:03 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Google announced its own search today: It will award $30 million to private firms whose robotic spacecrafts successfully reach the moon and perform specific lunar tasks. The BBC reports that the search giant hopes to encourage low-cost space exploration. The first-place winner will receive $20 million, second place gets $5 million, and there's another $5 million in incentives. More »
- Russia Shoots For the Moon
  
  ABC News | Sep 3, 07 12:10 PM CDT
  
  (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 in a position (of) bankruptcy," says one former astronaut. More »
August 2007
- Probe to Study Asteroid Too Close to Earth
  
  BBC | Aug 31, 07 6:27 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Astronomers are preparing to send a probe to investigate an asteroid that in 2029 will pass closer to Earth than communications satellites do. The mission would gather information on the 1,000-foot-wide rock to figure out whether it poses a serious danger the next time it passes Earth in 2036. More »
- NASA Blasts Rumors of Drunken Astronauts
  
  Miami Herald | Aug 29, 07 6:20 PM CDT
  
  (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' worth records found nothing to support the claim. More »
- The Force Is With the Discovery
  
  Inside Bay Area (Oakland) | Aug 29, 07 8:56 AM CDT
  
  (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 the Oakland Tribune . More »
- Western US Awaits Total Lunar Eclipse
  
  Space.com | Aug 26, 07 1:48 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Western US will get a celestial treat early Tuesday morning: a total lunar eclipse. Residents of the Western Hemisphere and eastern Asia will get at least a glimpse of the spectacle, but Europeans will miss out—the moon will be below the horizon. Space.com tells you how to make the most of the event, wherever you may be. More »

Stories 201 - 220 of 285

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Images (31)
Videos (7)

A film still from %u201CVoyage to the Moon,%u201D aka %u201CA Trip to the Moon%u201D (Le Voyage dans la lune; 1902). 35mm film, black and white, silent, 13 minutes (approx.). Directed by George Melies (Scene360.com)

Cover of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1874)

Cover of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1874)

This handout image obtained 19 February (Getty Images)

This photo released by NASA shows a sunburst view of the Space Shuttle's robot arm over a cloudy Earth taken June 1,1996, during the flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Earth Sciences... (Associated Press)

Space Shuttle Atlantis streaks into the sky on mission STS-106 after a perfect on-time launch from Kennedy Space Center in this file photo from Sept. 8, 2000. NASA will try to launch Atlantis on the... (Associated Press)

In this Dec. 19, 2006 file photo, a view of the international space station is seen from the space shuttle Discovery. Astronaut Suni Williams, who is registered for the Boston Marathon, will run the equivalent... (Associated Press)

solar_system3 ((c) Royalty-free image collection)

%u20AC%u2122s first generation of newborn stars condensed and ignited in the middle of a huge cloud of cold molecular hydrogen.The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern... (Associated Press)

This photo from the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope shows a pillar of gas and dust called the Cone Nebula which resides in a turbulent star-forming region. (KRT Photos)

Hubble Captures Image Of Merging Galaxies (Getty Images)

Scientists Capture Deep Space Image Of Early Universe (Getty Images)

Hubble Captures Images of Hoag's Object (Getty Images)

Gamma-Ray Burst From Chandra X-Ray Observatory (Getty Images)

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- The 2001 Mars Odyssey is launched on a Delta II rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Saturday, April 7, 2001. (KRT Photos)

-July 22 NASA's rover Sojourner is photographed next to the boulder dubbed "Barnacle Bill" on the planet Mars on July 22. The rover used its spectrometer to study the rock's chemical makeup. (KRT Photos)

Martian Landscape (Archive Photos)

Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper Dies at 77 (Getty Images)

Mercury 6 Booster Rocket (Archive Photos)

(FILES) Mercury program astronauts pose (Getty Images)

John Glenn (Archive Photos)

Alan Shepard (Archive Photos)

Virgil 'Gus' Grissom (Archive Photos)

Scott Carpenter (Archive Photos)

Astronaut Deke Slayton (NASA)

First Man In Space (Archive Photos)

Space Tourist Returns To Earth (Getty Images)

The Great Canary Telescope is a seen on a mountaintop of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, Friday, July 13, 2007. The Great Canary Telescope is among the world's largest telescopes. The... (Associated Press)

The Martian moon Phobos is seen in an image released by NASA Wednesday April 9, 2008. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the image... (AP Photo)

The International Space Station with the Space Shuttle Discovery docked to it, is seen from the ground in Tyler, Texas, Thursday Oct. 25, 2007. The ISS & Discovery are on orbit, approximately 200 miles... (AP Photo)

The launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-115 is shown in this Sept. 9, 2006 photo. An experiment on that flight involving salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning is reported in Tuesday's... (AP Photo)

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STS-114 space shuttle discovery return to space launch (anyhandleleft (YouTube))

v2 rocket launch explosions (aussiestormer (YouTube))

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (ei2232 (YouTube))