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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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February 2008
- US to Shoot Down Dead Satellite
  
  Associated Press | Feb 14, 08 12:03 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Pentagon is planning to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite in orbit, the AP reports, rather than run the risk of it crashing to Earth—and possibly into unfriendly hands. The powerless satellite is currently expected to hit somewhere on Earth the first week of March; the US would fire modified missiles at it from ships off Hawaii before then. More »
- Spacewalkers Upgrade Station
  
  Space.com | Feb 14, 08 2:55 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A German astronaut walked in space with a Yank colleague yesterday to fit the International Space Station with a new tank of nitrogen. Hans Schlegal and US astronaut Max Walheim completed the upgrade in a seven-hour mission, reports Space.com. "Hello to all the people of Germany," Walheim said as the men passed over the country. "What a pleasure it is to be up here spacewalking with one of your native sons." More »
- Recovered Astronaut Steps Up for Spacewalk
  
  Space.com | Feb 13, 08 4:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A German astronaut who was too sick for a scheduled spacewalk earlier this week is feeling much better, and preparing for his first step into the great outdoors today, reports Space.com. "I'm doing very fine," Hans Schlegel, 56, said via videolink from the International Space Station. Schlegel said it was disappointing to have to stay inside NASA's Atlantis orbiter while his colleagues were installing the Columbus lab in the station. More »
- Astronauts Deliver Space Lab
  
  Houston Chronicle | Feb 11, 08 8:10 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Two astronauts endured a long spacewalk today to deliver the Columbus lab to the International Space Station, the Houston Chronicle reports. Rex Walheim and Stan Love struggled with heater cables, but guided the 15-ton lab while a station astronaut moved it with a robot arm. The 8-hour walk was the first of three scheduled this week to attach the lab to its orbital outpost. More »
- Illness Delays Spacewalk to Install Columbus Lab
  
  Reuters | Feb 10, 08 8:10 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Today's planned spacewalk to install the Columbus lab on the International Space Station was pushed back until tomorrow after Atlantis astronaut Hans Schlegel experienced an undisclosed medical problem. The shuttle crew will spend today instead examining a minor tear in their craft's heat shield, and performing such routine chores as transferring food, water, and other supplies to the Space Station, Reuters reports. More »
- Atlantis Docks With Space Station
  
  Associated Press | Feb 9, 08 11:43 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Space shuttle Atlantis docked flawlessly with the international space station today, the AP reports. Atlantis is delivering a $2 billion lab eagerly awaited by European scientists. Before docking, the shuttle performed a giant backflip so station crew members could take images of the shuttle's thermal shield. NASA engineers will examine them to make sure all is well. More »
- Shuttle Atlantis Lifts Off
  
  Associated Press | Feb 7, 08 2:11 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - After bad weather prompted worries of a further delay, US space shuttle Atlantis successfully blasted into space today, the AP reports. NASA had feared the same cold front that ravaged the South with tornadoes would push the launch to tomorrow, or later. Aboard, with seven astronauts, is the European Space Agency’s Columbus lab, bound for the international space station. More »
- Weather May Postpone Atlantis Launch
  
  Space.com | Feb 6, 08 4:46 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Conditions don’t look great for tomorrow’s launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, Space.com reports. The scheduled 2:45 pm ET launch has a 70% chance of being rained out as the southern US continues to feel the cold front that loosed several deadly tornadoes yesterday. If a thunderstorm or thick cloud cover scraps the launch, NASA will try again Friday. More »
- NASA Tests Beatles' Star Power
  
  Houston Chronicle | Feb 1, 08 2:19 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - NASA will send the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into deep space Monday, the Houston Chronicle reports. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of both the space agency and the band, NASA’s Deep Space Network will transmit the song toward the North Star, Polaris—which the signal should reach in about 431 years. More »
January 2008
- Mercury 'Spider Crater' Spotted
  
  Space.com | Jan 31, 08 10:19 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - NASA's first probe to Mercury in more than 30 years has made some spectacular finds, including a mysterious new crater dubbed "the spider," Space.com reports. The network of cracks radiating from the impact crater photographed by the probe is like nothing else ever seen in the solar system. "Our little craft has returned a gold mine of exciting data," said the chief scientist. More »
- Risky Spacewalk Juices Up ISS
  
  Associated Press | Jan 30, 08 12:57 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - US astronauts pulled off a risky repair mission on the International Space Station’s troubled solar wing today, the AP reports. The possibility of electrical shock made the 7-hour spacewalk dangerous, forcing the team to wait until the station was on the dark side of the planet. “Yee-haw! Excellent,” cried Commander Peggy Whitson as much-needed electricity surged through the station. More »
- Earth's Mystery Core Plumbed
  
  Der Spiegel | Jan 27, 08 9:32 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Climate change has sparked heated debate about the Earth’s surface, but a controversial new theory is directing scientists to its core, Der Spiegel reports. To explain why contintental plates drift on the surface of the Earth's molten mantle, Maruyama Shigenori, a leading geophysicist, argues that continents actually have life cycles. Old, cold plates on continental fringes sink to “plate graveyards” deep in the Earth’s mantle, and then rise again, creating volcanoes. More »
- Old Spy Satellite Falling to Earth
  
  Associated Press | Jan 26, 08 8:27 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A dead US spy satellite will likely tumble out of space and hit Earth late next month or early March, the AP reports. Unnamed officials admitted it may contain toxic material but refused to say where it might land or whether it could be shot from the sky. "We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause," said a National Security Council rep. More »
- Spectacular Show Awaits Sky Gazers
  
  Space.com | Jan 26, 08 2:58 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Sky gazers have an exceptional show awaiting them over the next couple of weeks, Space.com reports, and the most striking celestial sights will be in the early morning. Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, will converge, forming a spectacular "double planet" low in the dawn light, and a few mornings later, the moon will drop by to join them. More »
- Asteroid to Whiz Past Earth
  
  LiveScience | Jan 25, 08 9:49 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A big asteroid is set to speed past Earth on Tuesday night, and those with amateur telescopes will get a peek. NASA discovered the object in October, and scientists believe it's between 500 and 2,000 feet in diameter, LiveScience reports. It won't come closer than 334,000 miles to Earth; the impact of an asteroid of its size would be disastrous. More »
- OMG! Bigfoot on Mars! Run!
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jan 24, 08 6:19 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - After nearly four years of important discoveries, it has taken a tiny rock outcropping that looks like Bigfoot to make people passionate about the Mars rovers, the Telegraph reports. Conspiracy theorists are sure a photo snapped in 2004 reveals an alien, or perhaps a creature like Sasquatch. "I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars," writes one blogger. More »
- Branson Unveils SpaceShipTwo
  
  TechCrunch | Jan 23, 08 5:31 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Richard Branson has unveiled the ship that will carry paying passengers to space. Slightly different from its original prototype, SpaceShipTwo will be carried to high altitude by a double-hulled plane called White Knight, where the rocket will then separate and launch. Branson's Virgin Galactic startup hopes to start test flights this summer, reports the TechCrunch blog. More »
- Dozens Report Giant 'UFO'
  
  Associated Press | Jan 15, 08 4:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Dozens of people in several small north central Texas towns claim they saw a bizarre UFO, reports AP. Townsfolk in the Bible Belt farming communities of Erath County—including a pilot and a police officer— sighted the huge object last week, with some claiming that US fighter planes were tailing it. The mysterious craft had glowing lights, and flew low, fast and silently, according to various accounts. More »
- Probe Zips Over Mercury Today
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Jan 14, 08 4:33 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - NASA's Messenger spacecraft this afternoon will whiz past Mercury at 141,000 mph and snap an estimated 1,200 detailed photos of the planet's surface from a mere 124 miles up. It will be the first of three passes before the craft starts orbiting the planet closest to the sun in 2011. What scientists find could provide clues about how the Earth was formed. More »
- Space Cloud on Collision Course
  
  Space.com | Jan 12, 08 7:46 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A cloud of hydrogen 11,000 light years long and 2500 light years wide is headed straight for our galaxy, and the inevitable collision will create a spectacular burst of star formation. But don't plan your viewing party yet—Smith's Cloud, as it is called, won't arrive for another 20 to 40 million years, Space.com reports. More »

Stories 121 - 140 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))