NASA

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Mars Rover Landed in 'Area 51' ... Kind Of

NASA has dubbed landing region 'Yellowknife'

(Newser) - Cue the tinfoil hats. Area 51 is the Nevada military base famous among conspiracy buffs for its alleged alien secrets, but the Mars probe Curiosity landed in a part of the Red Planet called ... Quad 51. Coincidence? Well, yes, it's totally a coincidence, reports Florida Today . The Gale Crater...

Prototype NASA Moon Lander Explodes

Morpheus a write-off after test flight failure

(Newser) - After NASA's amazing success with its Mars rover this week comes a setback. Morpheus, a prototype lander under development for missions to the moon and beyond, crashed and blew up during a test at Kennedy Space Center yesterday, reports CNN . Nobody was injured, but the $500,000 unmanned test...

Curiosity Sends Back First Color Photo

Martian rover's key camera 'working and awesome,' team says

(Newser) - NASA's Curiosity rover is feeding scientists with a steady stream of images, including the first one in color. The color photo shows the north wall and rim of the ancient crater where the rover made its amazing landing earlier this week, Reuters reports. The image, which appears fuzzy because...

Mars Rover Sends Back First Video

Curiosity captures landing, images of Martian surface

(Newser) - NASA has released a rover's-eye view of Curiosity's nail-biting landing on Mars yesterday. The video, which captures a minute of what engineers described as "seven minutes of terror," begins as the rover's heat shield falls away, and ends with dust being kicked up as Curiosity...

Mars Rover Coming in for a Landing

 Mars Touchdown Confirmed 
UPDATED
Aug 6, 2012 7:00 AM CDT

Mars Touchdown Confirmed

Curiosity beaming pics after '7 minutes of terror'

(Newser) - The Curiosity rover landed safely on Mars early this morning, prompting whoops of joy and relief in NASA's mission control center, reports the New York Times . The rover quickly beamed back a picture of its own shadow cast on the surface of the Red Planet. "Touchdown confirmed. We...

NASA Bites Nails: '7 Minutes of Terror' Loom on Mars

Curiosity to land at 1:31am ET ... hopefully

(Newser) - Olympic feats have ruled the press over the last week, but a scientific feat may be the one stealing headlines tomorrow. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are among just a few news outlets previewing the upcoming "seven minutes of terror"—that's how NASA officials are...

NASA Enlists Shatner to Explain Risky Mars Landing

Rover Curiosity arrives late tomorrow

(Newser) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to touch down tomorrow night on a two-year mission, and who better than Captain Kirk to explain all? The space agency has William Shatner detail what it expects to happen, including the Hollywood-esque "seven minutes of terror" that precedes the landing, reports...

NASA: We'll Launch Astronauts in 5 Years

Three commercial companies will build new crafts

(Newser) - NASA is gearing up to again launch humans into space ... within five years. The agency retired its fleet of shuttles last summer, and this morning it announced a deal worth about $1 billion with three American companies to design and construct the next generation of rocket ships to take off...

Man's Ticket to Mars: Inflatable Heat Shield?

Device inflates to deflect heat and force

(Newser) - It sounds like something out of an HG Wells novel, but NASA's newest innovation may pave the way to getting humans on Mars. The agency successfully tested a $17 million inflatable heat shield yesterday, reports Space.com . The Inflatable Re-Entry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) blasted off from a NASA...

On NASA's Mars Menu: Thai Pizza, Martian Veggies

Astronauts on the 3-year mission could grow some of their own produce

(Newser) - Here's a real head scratcher: How do you feed a crew of six to eight astronauts on a mission to Mars that will last almost three years? It's a question NASA is working at already, even though the mission won't happen for at least another 10 to...

Mars Rover Offers Sweeping View

NASA creates composite image from 817 photos

(Newser) - It's Mars as you've never seen it: NASA released a panoramic image this week of the planet's landscape, notes Wired . The rover Opportunity took 817 images from late 2011 until May 2012 as it sat parked for the winter, and the space agency used them to create...

Ex-Astronaut Killed When Son Crashes Into His Jet Ski

NASA mourns Capt. Alan Poindexter

(Newser) - NASA is mourning former astronaut Alan Poindexter, who died in a jet ski accident in Florida over the weekend. Poindexter, 50, was on a jet ski with his 22-year-old son when his older son, 26, crashed into them on another jet ski, sending both men into the water, reports the...

Private Mission Planned to Save Earth From Asteroids

With thousands of asteroids lurking, 'time's a wastin',' says B612 chairman

(Newser) - A California-based nonprofit group seeking to prevent the Earth from being struck by killer asteroids has announced plans to send an infrared telescope into space to hunt for dangerous near-Earth objects, reports Wired . The B612 Foundation's Sentinel Mission would be the first privately funded deep-space mission, aiming to put...

Scientists Turn Star Data Into Reggae

Reggae-rock group Echo Movement composes astral melody

(Newser) - What do stars in outer space sound like? Try listening to the 6-second melody (note: that's a .wav file) that will be used on a track due this fall by the reggae-rock group Echo Movement. The band wanted to create its own space jam, so it asked researchers at...

NASA's 2-Year Hunt for Black Holes Starts Today

NASA's NuStar scheduled to launch from South Pacific

(Newser) - Barring any mishaps, a refrigerator-size telescope will begin its two-year quest to track down black holes today. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuStar) is set to rocket into space from an island located between Hawaii and Australia, reports the AP . Once it gets some 350 miles above Earth, it will...

NASA Scraps Telescope to Study Black Holes

'GEMS' project was coming in way over budget

(Newser) - NASA killed a new X-ray telescope mission today, two years before its planned launch. The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer mission, or GEMS for short, was supposed to blast off in 2014 to study black holes and neutron stars. But external reviews found the project would likely come in...

SpaceX Dragon Returns to Earth

It splashed into Pacific after historic trip to space station

(Newser) - A little bit of history splashed into the Pacific this morning: The SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth from its supply run to the International Space Station, reports the AP . SpaceX reports that NASA's planes have spotted Dragon's parachutes in the water, and that it landed right on...

Astronauts Enter the Dragon
  Astronauts Enter the Dragon 
May 26, 2012 2:59 PM CDT

Astronauts Enter the Dragon

World's first commercial supply ship has 'new car' smell

(Newser) - Space station astronauts floated into the Dragon today, a day after its heralded arrival as the world's first commercial supply ship. NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, the first one inside the docked capsule, said the Dragon looks like it carries about as much cargo as his pickup truck back home...

SpaceX Capsule Docks at Space Station

Dragon capsule successfully captured by space station astronauts

(Newser) - The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station today, triumphantly captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm. SpaceX is the first private company to accomplish such a feat: a commercial cargo delivery into the cosmos. "This really is, I think, going to...

Neil Armstrong: Moon Landing Had 50-50 Chance

He gives rare interview ... to Australian accountants

(Newser) - Fans of the space program are in for a treat: The normally reticent Neil Armstrong sat down for an hourlong interview about that moon landing of his with, of all outlets, the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia. Some highlights:
  • 50-50: "I thought we had a 90% chance of getting
...

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