Space programs
SpaceX capsule to return to Earth on Thursday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space station astronauts readied the world's first commercial supply ship Wednesday for its early morning return to Earth just like NASA's old-time capsules.
Date: 05/30/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX makes historic space station docking
ORLANDO, Fla. -- SpaceX, the upstart California rocket maker, launched a new era in spaceflight Friday when its Dragon capsule was docked at the International Space Station, concluding a cargo delivery trip previously made only by NASA space shuttles and other governments' spacecraft.
Date: 05/25/2012 | Nation & World
Private supply ship flies by space station in test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The world's first private supply ship flew tantalizingly close to the International Space Station on Thursday, acing a critical test in advance of the actual docking.
Date: 05/24/2012 | Nation & World
Who's playing in space race?
WASHINGTON -- A privately built space capsule that's zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race.
Date: 05/24/2012 | Business
Private ship blasts off
Billionaire's ship speeding toward space station (Photo gallery)
Date: 05/22/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX rocket launch aborted in last half-second (video)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new private supply ship for the International Space Station remained stuck on the ground Saturday after rocket engine trouble led to a last-second abort of the historic flight.
Date: 05/19/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX rocket ready to launch to space station
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An eccentric billionaire intends to blast his rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to the International Space Station early Saturday morning -- and launch a new era in which private rocket companies take over a role filled by NASA and its space shuttles for decades.
Date: 05/18/2012 | Nation & World
Ariz. man wins space trip in Space Needle contest
SEATTLE -- Gregory Schneider of Tucson, Ariz., has won a trip to space in celebration of the Seattle Space Needle's 50th anniversary.He beat out five finalists in Seattle this week for some final competitions.
Date: 05/09/2012 | Northwest
1st private cargo run to space station delayed
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first commercial cargo run to the International Space Station has been delayed again for more software testing.
Date: 05/02/2012 | Nation & World
747 to fly space shuttle to New York today
Any new arrival to New York City wants to see the sights -- and the space shuttle Enterprise is no different.
Date: 04/27/2012 | Nation & World
Researcher finds odd lava spirals on Mars
LOS ANGELES — A researcher has spotted lava flows shaped like coils of rope near the equator of Mars, the first time such geologic features have been discovered outside of Earth.
Date: 04/26/2012 | Nation & World
Fragments found of minivan-sized meteorite
RENO, Nev. — Tiny meteorites found in the Sierra foothills of northern California were part of a giant fireball that exploded over the weekend with about one-third the explosive force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II, scientists said Wednesday.
Date: 04/25/2012 | Nation & World
Bellevue company planning to robotically mine asteroids
SEATTLE — Using space-faring robots to mine precious metals from asteroids almost sounds easy when former astronaut Tom Jones describes it — practically like clearing a snow-covered driveway.
Date: 04/24/2012 | Business
Shuttle's last flight
Discovery flies to its new home, mounted on a 747 (gallery)
Date: 04/18/2012 | Nation & World
North Korea learns: Rocket science is hard
WASHINGTON — It really is rocket science and it really is hard. North Korea proved that again.
Date: 04/13/2012 | Nation & World
N. Korea fires long-range rocket. It's a dud
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea's much-anticipated rocket launch ended quickly in failure early Friday, splintering into pieces over the Yellow Sea soon after takeoff.
Date: 04/12/2012 | Nation & World
12-mile-high dust devil photographed on Mars
LOS ANGELES -- Mars doesn't have tornadoes. It doesn't have thunderstorms. But the Red Planet can kick up a truly unholy dust devil.
Date: 04/06/2012 | Nation & World
New NASA budget would trim funding for planet science
At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tucked into the hills above Los Angeles, these are heady days: The robot dubbed Curiosity is hurtling toward Mars and is expected to put scientists on their strongest footing yet to determine whether the Red Planet is or ever has been hospitable to life. More than...
Date: 04/05/2012 | Nation & World
Space junk could threaten station astronauts
WASHINGTON -- A discarded chunk of a Russian rocket is forcing six space station astronauts to seek shelter in escape capsules.
Date: 03/23/2012 | Nation & World
Boeing space plane remains in orbit on mystery mission
LOS ANGELES -- One year after the Air Force blasted it into orbit, an experimental robotic space drone continues to circle the Earth.Its mission and payload, however, remain a mystery.
Date: 03/07/2012 | Nation & World
Mercury spacecraft workers gather 50 years after John Glenn’s launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Veterans of NASA's Project Mercury reunited Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbital flight, visiting the old launch pad and meeting the famed astronaut himself.
Date: 02/19/2012 | Nation & World
China plans trip to space with three astronauts
BEIJING -- China's next space mission will carry three astronauts who will dock with and live inside an experimental orbiting module launched last year, state media said Friday.
Date: 02/18/2012 | Nation & World
Human, Robonaut shake hands for first time on space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts and robots have united in space with a healthy handshake.
Date: 02/16/2012 | Nation & World
Scientists puzzled by region outside solar system
LOS ANGELES -- A glimpse beyond our solar system reveals the neighborhood just outside the sun's influence is different and stranger than expected, scientists reported Tuesday.
Date: 01/31/2012 | Nation & World
NASA begins work on display for space shuttle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's retired space shuttle Atlantis is a step closer to completing its final journey.
Date: 01/19/2012 | Nation & World
Russia's Mars space probe crashes into southern Pacific
MOSCOW — Russia's Defense Ministry says a failed probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars has crashed, showering debris over the southern Pacific, according to news reports.The ministry said the fragments fell Sunday 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) west of Wellington Island.
Date: 01/15/2012 | Nation & World
Key rocket scientist Lowell Randall dies at 96
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Lowell Randall, a pioneer rocket scientist who helped launched the U.S. space program and tested intercontinental ballistic missiles, has died. He was 96.
Date: 01/07/2012 | Nation & World
14-ton Russian spacecraft likely to hit Earth on Jan. 15
MOSCOW — Fragments of a failed Russian space probe are now expected to fall to Earth on Jan. 15, officials said Wednesday.
Date: 01/04/2012 | Nation & World
Dawn spacecraft beams back closeups of huge asteroid
LOS ANGELES — NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been a fervent photographer, snapping more than 10,000 pictures of the asteroid Vesta since it slipped into orbit around the giant space rock last summer.
Date: 12/21/2011 | Nation & World
NASA OKs private vessel’s trip to space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A private California company will attempt the first-ever commercial cargo run to the International Space Station in February.
Date: 12/10/2011 | Nation & World
Planet in sweet spot of Goldilocks zone
WASHINGTON -- A newly discovered planet is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside our solar system in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It's a bit too big.
Date: 12/05/2011 | Nation & World
Scientists find monster black holes, biggest yet
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Scientists have found the biggest black holes known to exist -- each one 10 billion times the size of our sun.
Date: 12/05/2011 | Nation & World
Russian Mars probe likely to fall to Earth
MOSCOW -- The European Space Agency said Friday it has abandoned efforts to contact a rogue Russian space probe, increasing the likelihood it will plunge to Earth.
Date: 12/03/2011 | Nation & World
NASA launches super-size rover to seek life on Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life.
Date: 11/26/2011 | Nation & World
Scientists back in touch with failed Russian Mars probe
MOSCOW -- The European Space Agency has received the first signal from an unmanned Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars since it got stuck in Earth's orbit two weeks ago, officials said Wednesday, raising hope the mission might be saved.
Date: 11/24/2011 | Nation & World
NASA’s ‘dream machine’ to leave Saturday for Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- As big as a car and as well-equipped as a laboratory, NASA's newest Mars rover blows away its predecessors in size and skill.
Date: 11/23/2011 | Nation & World
Wanted: Astronauts; Missing: U.S. rockets
WASHINGTON -- Looking for a job? NASA is hiring astronauts. You can even apply online at a giant government jobs website.There's only one hitch: NASA doesn't have its own spaceship anymore and is sending fewer fliers into orbit right now.
Date: 11/15/2011 | Nation & World
Russian craft set to blast off on delayed mission to space station
MOSCOW -- A Russian cosmonaut says the three-man U.S.-Russian crew are thinking positively as they prepare to blast off on a delayed mission to the International Space Station.
Date: 11/13/2011 | Nation & World
Russia still unable to communicate with Mars probe
MOSCOW -- Russian space engineers are still struggling to fix a probe bound for a moon of Mars that instead got stuck in Earth's orbit.
Date: 11/13/2011 | Nation & World
Failed Russian spacecraft could rain toxic fuel on Earth
MOSCOW — Russian controllers were battling to redirect a space probe that got stuck in a low orbit Wednesday, raising fears that it could crash back to Earth.
Date: 11/09/2011 | Nation & World
Russian probe launched to Mars' moon fails
MOSCOW — Russia launched an unmanned probe on a daring mission to reach Phobos, a moon of Mars, and to fly samples of its soil back to Earth.
Date: 11/08/2011 | Nation & World
Asteroid will be nearer to Earth than the moon
LOS ANGELES -- Get psyched, people of Earth: There's an asteroid headed our way. On Tuesday, the asteroid known as YU55 will come closer to our planet than any other asteroid has come since 1976.
Date: 11/04/2011 | Nation & World
NASA launches long-delayed weather satellite
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- After a years-long delay, an Earth-observing satellite blasted into space early Friday on a dual mission to improve weather forecasts and monitor climate change.
Date: 10/29/2011 | Nation & World
Chinese craft to test docking in space
BEIJING -- China will launch an unmanned spacecraft early next month that will attempt to dock with an experimental module, the latest step in what will be a decade-long effort to place a manned permanent space station in orbit.
Date: 10/27/2011 | Nation & World
Scientist: Satellite must have crashed into Asia
BERLIN — A defunct German research satellite crashed into the Earth somewhere in Southeast Asia on Sunday, a U.S. scientist said — but no one is still quite sure where.
Date: 10/22/2011 | Nation & World
Satellite pieces may hit Earth this weekend
BERLIN — Pieces of a retired German satellite hurtling toward the atmosphere may crash to earth this weekend, the German Aerospace Center said Thursday.
Date: 10/19/2011 | Nation & World
Space launch missions opened to private ventures
LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. government has taken the first steps toward allowing commercial space companies to launch its national security satellites into outer space.
Date: 10/17/2011 | Nation & World
NASA buys a ticket on Virgin Galactic spacecraft
LOS ANGELES — NASA engineers, technologists and scientific researchers are planning to hitch a ride to outer space aboard a spaceship owned by Virgin Galactic, British billionaire Richard Branson's private space venture.
Date: 10/14/2011 | Nation & World
Protester standoff closes D.C.'s Air and Space Museum
WASHINGTON — The National Air and Space Museum in Washington was closed Saturday after anti-war demonstrators tried to enter the building to protest a drone exhibit, and at least one person was pepper-sprayed.
Date: 10/08/2011 | Nation & World
Could China have a space station by 2020?
BEIJING -- China launched an experimental module Thursday, marking a significant step in the country's plan to build a space station.
Date: 09/30/2011 | Nation & World
NASA satellite maps most killer asteroids
LOS ANGELES -- If you're worried about a killer asteroid wiping out Earth, NASA has some good news.
Date: 09/30/2011 | Nation & World
NASA: Satellite fell in south Pacific, not Canada
WASHINGTON -- That dead NASA satellite fell into what might be the ideal spot -- part of the southern Pacific Ocean about as far from large land masses as you can get, U.S. space officials said Tuesday.
Date: 09/27/2011 | Nation & World
Satellite likely in ocean, but may have hit Pacific Northwest
WASHINGTON — It's as big as a bus and weighs 6 tons, but officials probably will never be able to pinpoint exactly where a massive NASA satellite plummeted to Earth.
Date: 09/23/2011 | Nation & World
NASA satellite expected to hit the Earth today
LOS ANGELES — While North America appears to be off the hook, scientists are scrambling to pinpoint exactly where and when a dead NASA climate satellite will plummet back to Earth on Friday.
Date: 09/23/2011 | Nation & World
Earth to satellite: When will you hit -- and where?
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting six-ton satellite will fall later this week. It's just that if they're off a little bit, it could mean the difference between hitting Florida or landing on New York. Or, say, Iran or India.
Date: 09/20/2011 | Nation & World
Not just science fiction: Planet orbits 2 suns
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Astronomers say a bit of science fiction is now reality. They've spotted a planet orbiting two suns.The discovery was made by NASA's planet-hunting telescope Kepler. Scientists describe the find in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
Date: 09/16/2011 | Nation & World
Russia delays manned space launch until Nov. 12
MOSCOW -- Russia's space agency has postponed its launch of the next manned Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station until Nov. 12 amid deep concern over a failed supply mission last month.
Date: 09/13/2011 | Nation & World
Twin NASA spacecraft lift off to study the moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A pair of spacecraft rocketed toward the moon Saturday on the first mission dedicated to measuring lunar gravity and determining what's inside Earth's orbiting companion — all the way down to the core.
Date: 09/10/2011 | Nation & World
NASA launches Web tool to explore the solar system
LOS ANGELES -- Want to explore the solar system and follow NASA space missions in real time?
Date: 09/06/2011 | Nation & World
Jeff Bezos spaceship fails during test flight
VAN HORN, Texas -- An unmanned spacecraft bankrolled by Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos failed during a recent test flight.The vehicle became unstable at 45,000 feet and ground controllers had to terminate it as a precaution. Additional details about what went wrong were not released.
Date: 09/03/2011 | Nation & World
Leading NASA programs may hurt smaller projects
WASHINGTON -- The cost of NASA's two flagship programs -- a new space telescope and its next rocket -- is poised to devour much of the agency's shrinking budget in coming years, putting at risk everything from efforts to develop futuristic spacecraft to returning rocks from Mars, scientists and...
Date: 09/03/2011 | Nation & World
Space junk might need cleaning up, report says
WASHINGTON -- Space junk has made such a mess of Earth's orbit that experts say we may need to finally think about cleaning it up.
Date: 09/02/2011 | Nation & World
Mars rover Opportunity studying new surroundings
LOS ANGELES -- The Mars rover Opportunity is snapping pictures like a tourist since arriving at its latest crater destination, much to the delight of scientists many millions of miles away.
Date: 09/01/2011 | Nation & World
Report: NASA made proper pick for retired shuttles
WASHINGTON -- NASA acted properly when it picked new homes for the retired space shuttles, the space agency's watchdog said Thursday.
Date: 08/25/2011 | Nation & World
Russian supply ship for space station crashes
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A Russian space station supply ship crashed with a thunderous boom into Siberia minutes after launch Wednesday, rattling NASA and others in this new era without any shuttles to bail out the orbiting outpost.
Date: 08/24/2011 | Nation & World
Surviving NASA rover nears rim of Martian crater
LOS ANGELES -- Months after the death of the Mars rover Spirit, its surviving twin is poised to reach the rim of a vast crater to begin a fresh round of exploration.
Date: 08/08/2011 | Nation & World
U.S. satellite Juno lifts off for Jupiter
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A sun-powered robotic explorer named Juno is rocketing toward Jupiter on a fresh quest to discover the secret recipe for making planets.
Date: 08/06/2011 | Nation & World
Did our moon once have a twin? Some say yes
LOS ANGELES -- Once upon a time, the sky above Earth may have held two moons -- until they smashed into each other to create the lunar body we know today. Such a collision early in the solar system's history could explain why the moon is lopsided, and why its far side looks so different from the...
Date: 08/04/2011 | Nation & World
NASA: Columbia shuttle item found in Texas lake
HOUSTON -- A piece of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart and burned on re-entry more than eight years ago, has been found in a drought-stricken East Texas lake, NASA officials said Tuesday.
Date: 08/02/2011 | Nation & World
Ride the Needle into space for its 50th
SEATTLE -- Organizers want to go beyond Earth to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Seattle's iconic Space Needle. On Monday, they announced a multi-tiered contest to send a member of the public on a short ride into space using a company from the burgeoning space travel industry.
Date: 08/02/2011 | Northwest
Earth shares its orbit with tiny asteroid, scientists say
NEW YORK — Like a poodle on a leash, a tiny asteroid runs ahead of Earth on the planet's yearlong strolls around the sun, scientists report.
Date: 07/27/2011 | Nation & World
Last shuttle scheduled to return today
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On the eve of NASA's historic, wheel-stopping end to the shuttle program, the four astronauts making the final journey completed one last task.
Date: 07/21/2011 | Nation & World
Mission Control gets a new mission
HOUSTON -- In the geeky world of space engineering, this large, high-ceilinged room is close to holy. Inside, people speak in hushed tones and observe time-honored traditions.
Date: 07/19/2011 | Nation & World
NASA spacecraft is orbiting massive asteroid
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft was captured into orbit around the massive asteroid Vesta after a 1.7 billion-mile journey and is preparing to begin a study of a surface that may date to the earliest era of the solar system, the space agency said Monday.
Date: 07/19/2011 | Nation & World
Space shuttle's science brought payoffs to Earth
WASHINGTON -- Science from the space shuttle helped open Earth's eyes to the cosmos and sister planets. It created perhaps the most detailed topographical map of Earth. And it even is helping doctors understand, and sometimes fix, what's happening in our aging and ailing bodies.
Date: 07/18/2011 | Nation & World
Last space shuttle crew bids historic goodbye
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The astronauts on NASA's final shuttle voyage floated out of the International Space Station for the last time Monday, leaving behind a historic U.S. flag and a commemorative shuttle model to mark the end of a 30-year era. Atlantis was set to undock from the orbiting lab...
Date: 07/18/2011 | Nation & World
SpaceX breaks ground on private launch pad
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An unused pad at the nation's West Coast launch complex is being retrofitted to send up the world's most powerful rocket.
Date: 07/14/2011 | Nation & World
Astronauts make last spacewalk of NASA shuttle era
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts making the last spacewalk of NASA's space shuttle era on Tuesday retrieved a broken pump from the International Space Station and installed a fill-er-up experiment for a robot.
Date: 07/12/2011 | Nation & World
Last hookup: Shuttle docks at space station (Video)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — As the miles melted between Atlantis and the International Space Station, the emotions grew — in orbit and on the ground.
Date: 07/10/2011 | Nation & World
Shuttle's 1st full day in orbit nearly perfect
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Atlantis hasn't performed like a ship ready for retirement.The first full day of the final flight of the aging space shuttle fleet — the most complicated machines ever built — was practically flawless.
Date: 07/08/2011 | Nation & World
NASA's new rocket looks a lot like its old one
WASHINGTON — As soon as next week, NASA will announce the design for its next big rocket, and anyone who has seen the space shuttle should recognize the key pieces — as the vehicle includes much of the same 30-year-old technology.
Date: 06/17/2011 | Nation & World
Scientists ID mysterious flash in distant galaxy
LOS ANGELES — Astronomers think they have solved the mystery of an extraordinary flash spied in a faraway galaxy, saying it came from a massive black hole that devoured a star after it wandered too close.
Date: 06/16/2011 | Nation & World
NASA's Mars rovers enjoy a friendly rivalry
LOS ANGELES -- NASA's newest Mars rover -- or a replica of it, anyway -- sat expectantly at the bottom of a hill. After years in design and construction, the grandly named Mars Science Laboratory was ready to test its wheels on a 20-degree flagstone slope in the "Mars Yard" at the Jet Propulsion...
Date: 06/09/2011 | Nation & World
Russian spacecraft blasts off for space station
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- A Russian Soyuz craft lit up the starry skies of the southern Kazakh steppe early Wednesday as it blasted off to carry a three-man crew for a mission to the International Space Station that will take in the U.S. shuttle's farewell voyage.
Date: 06/08/2011 | Nation & World
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