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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

Stories 41 - 60 of 274

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May 2008
- Martian Arctic Says Cheese
  
  newser | CNN | May 26, 08 1:39 PM CDT
  
  The Mars Phoenix Lander is sending NASA the first photos of the red planet's northern polar region, CNN reports. On its 3-month mission, the lander will “taste and sniff the northern polar site’s soil and ice,” the agency said. The photos show brown polygons checkering the landscape as far as the eye can see. More »
- Phoenix Touches Down on Mars
  
  newser | Space.com | May 25, 08 7:14 PM CDT
  
  The Phoenix probe has landed safely on Mars' icy surface and begun its search for life, Space.com reports. Exultant NASA scientists are now awaiting a second radio signal to see how much power it has left—a critical element of the mission. And they await the probe's first snapshots. "I can't wait for even that first look at the surface," the mission's main investigator said. More »
- Odds of Cataclysmic Space-Rock Crash: 1 in 10
  
  newser | Atlantic Monthly | May 25, 08 6:19 AM CDT
  
  Chicken Little may have been smarter than we thought. A growing body of evidence reveals that the sky is falling, or at least gigantic space rocks are—and the Earth is at far greater risk of a catastrophic strike than previously thought, reports Atlantic . Despite the danger—an impact could make a nuclear bomb look like a firecracker—NASA is expending little effort to protect the planet. More »
- 7 Minutes of Danger in Mars Quest
  
  newser | Christian Science Monitor | May 23, 08 2:52 AM CDT
  
  The latest NASA mission searching for signs of life on Mars comes to a heart-pounding climax Sunday as the Phoenix Lander attempts to touch down at the red planet's pole in a hunt for water. The lander must perform complex maneuvers in which the whole mission is at risk for a full 7 minutes, reports the Christian Science Monitor . More »
- Why It's Time to Sell the Moon
  
  newser | Popular Mechanics | May 22, 08 12:23 PM CDT
  
  The moon isn't up for sale—but it should be, argues Glenn Harlan Reynolds in Popular Mechanics . Dishing out lunar property rights would boost the stagnating government space program, and the interest is proven: One enterprising American has already sold 500 million "novelty" acres of the moon at about $20 per football field-size parcel. More »
- Stargazers Witness Birth of Supernova
  
  newser | Space.com | May 22, 08 3:43 AM CDT
  
  A pair of Princeton astronomers have become the first people ever to witness the explosive death of a star, Space.com reports. The pair were observing another supernova in its later stages when they happened to spot a huge burst of X-rays 90 million light years away. Astronomers believe their observations will fill in some blanks in knowledge about this cosmic phenomenon. More »
- Space Shuttle Discovery Makes a Date
  
  newser | Orlando Sentinel | May 20, 08 11:51 AM CDT
  
  The investigation into last month's scary landing by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is still going on, but another Soyuz at the International Space Station is off the hook, so NASA has cleared the Discovery shuttle for launch on May 31, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The shuttle is expected to attach a huge Japanese lab to the ISS. More »
- Asteroids Could Reseed a Devastated Earth
  
  newser | Astrobiology Magazine | May 18, 08 3:13 PM CDT
  
  If a comet ever obliterates life on Earth, don't worry—space rocks could later fall in and reseed a few basic life forms. A new study shows that organisms can survive being hit by a meteor, ejected into space, and hurtled back to Earth on the face of a rock—which is good news should we ever go the way of the dinosaurs, Astrobiology reports. More »
- Youngest Supernova Discovered
  
  newser | National Geographic | May 15, 08 3:55 AM CDT
  
  Scientists have discovered the remains of the youngest exploding star, or supernova, ever seen in the Milky Way, shedding new light on the life cycles of stars. The baby supernova G1.9+0.3 is a mere 140 years old, reports National Geographic . Supernovas are a vital component of galaxy development because the exploding stars disperse high-energy particles and minerals, fueling the creation of new stars. More »
- Britain Opens X-Files Vault
  
  newser | Reuters | May 14, 08 11:23 AM CDT
  
  Britain has released the first batch of secret files on reported UFO sightings, Reuters reports, and concluded that 90% are bogus. The Defense Ministry's Flying Saucer Working Party found that the other unexplained 10% posed no security threat. It has investigated some 11,000 reports dating back to the '50s that include tales of aliens in green overalls and a spaceman named Algar. More »
- Microsoft Puts Universe on Your Desktop
  
  newser | New York Times | May 13, 08 2:55 PM CDT
  
  Stargazers got a new toy today, when Microsoft unveiled WorldWide Telescope, a free new program that gives armchair astronomers an unprecedented look at the stars. The program brings Internet space programs to new heights, rendering complete 3D models of thousands of galactic destinations, the New York Times reports. More »
- Old Columbia Test Sheds Light on Ketchup
  
  newser | LiveScience | May 4, 08 6:27 PM CDT
  
  A hard drive recovered from the Columbia shuttle disaster confirms an old theory about why people shake ketchup before pouring it, LiveScience reports. Astronauts on the craft were conducting a zero-gravity experiment with xenon, a gas, to study viscosity, but scientists feared the results were lost after Columbia burned up 5 years ago. More »
April 2008
- Mars Photos Suggest Ancient Hot Springs
  
  newser | Washington Post | Apr 28, 08 3:45 AM CDT
  
  Scientists have found what look like the remains of hot springs on Mars—a sign life could have existed there, reports the Washington Post . Sophisticated equipment returned images of “mounds” that appear remarkably similar to springs found in Australia, according to scientists. They appear to have dried up tens of millions of years ago--fairly recently, in planetary terms. More »
- Astronauts OK After Rough Landing
  
  newser | Space.com | Apr 19, 08 9:24 AM CDT
  
  Three space travelers returning from the International Space Station are OK after a rough landing hundreds of miles off course in Kazakhstan this morning, Space.com reports. The Soyuz space capsule carrying US astronaut Peggy Whitson, a Russian cosmonaut, and South Korea's first astronaut veered nearly 300 miles off target and subjected the three to severe G-forces, MSNBC reports. More »
- Yankee Stadium Gets Celestial First Pitch Tomorrow
  
  newser | New York Daily News | Apr 15, 08 6:59 PM CDT
  
  The New York Yankees' final season at Yankee Stadium will see another first tomorrow night, the Daily News reports, with a US astronaut throwing out the first pitch—via video link from the International Space Station. Garrett Reisman, a 40-year-old New Jersey native and lifelong fan of the Bronx Bombers, will do the honors against the hated Boston Red Sox. More »
- Red Planet of the Apes?
  
  newser | BBC | Apr 14, 08 2:57 PM CDT
  
  The first mammal on Mars may be a monkey. Russia is testing radiation and weightlessness effects on macaques for a possible trip to the red planet. Scientists also want to see how the animals react to isolation and the special diet the 520-day mission would require, reports the BBC. Twelve monkeys have been passengers on previous Soviet and Russian space flights. More »
- South Korea's First Astronaut Docks at ISS
  
  newser | Space.com | Apr 10, 08 6:38 PM CDT
  
  South Korea’s first astronaut arrived at the International Space Station today, and her country must be relieved—having paid $25 million to get her there, Space.com reports. The South Korean president called So-yeon Yi’s mission a “stepping stone” in that country’s fledgling space program; lacking ships of their own, they paid the Russians to take her on an 11-day spin. More »
- Cargo Ship Docks With ISS
  
  newser | Space.com | Apr 3, 08 1:17 PM CDT
  
  European cargo vessel Jules Verne docked flawlessly today at the International Space Station, Space.com reports. The double-decker-sized space hauler has about 8 tons of supplies on board for astronauts at the station, including food and water, rocket propellant—even handwritten documents from the real Jules Verne, a 19th-century science fiction writer. More »
- Black Mini Still Has Hole Lotta Power
  
  newser | Reuters | Apr 2, 08 10:10 AM CDT
  
  Astronomers have spotted the smallest black hole ever discovered, Reuters reports. It is just 15 miles across—the size of a city—but still has a pull strong enough to "stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti," said a NASA researcher. The relative pipsqueak weighs about as much as four suns, while black holes often weigh billions of times more. More »
March 2008
- Space Tourism Gets New 2-Seater
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Mar 27, 08 11:57 AM CDT
  
  California's XCor Aerospace is jumping aboard the space-tourism bandwagon with a new rocket plane, the Los Angeles Times reports. For $100,000, one passenger at a time will be able to ride the Lynx to 200,000 feet and feel about 90 seconds of weightlessness. With flight tests beginning in 2010, XCor aims to be the second company in the business. More »

Stories 41 - 60 of 274

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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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First Step on the Moon 1969 (InternetTim (YouTube))

BBC Horizon lord of the rings Saturn (