The goals for the space lab were primarily to enrich our scientific knowledge of the Earth, the sun, and the stars. Experiments tackled the possibilities for the future of life in space, and the basic notions of how space affects living beings.
Skylab looked at the effects of weightlessness on man and other organisms, the effects of … Read more
Years of observations in WFC3 (which offers a unique combination of high sensitivity and wide spectral coverage), Hubble's primary camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (which offers three independent, high-resolution channels covering the ultraviolet to the near-infrared regions of the spectrum), and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 have given scientists varied views and detailed pieces of … Read more
If you were just about anywhere in California last Friday, you probably had your head tilted up, scanning the skies for a very rare chance to see a Space Shuttle fly overhead.
This was the final flight of Endeavour, the last Space Shuttle built, as it made its way across and around the Golden State atop a specially outfitted Boeing 747 before landing in Los Angeles, where it will reside permanently at the California Science Center.
As it flew over landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and NASA's Ames Research Center, thousands of people came out to celebrate the … Read more
SAUSALITO, Calif. -- With thousands of fans looking on from around the San Francisco Bay, the space shuttle Endeavour soared over the Golden Gate Bridge this morning en route to its final home in Los Angeles.
After taking off a little after 8 a.m. PT from the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California's Mojave Desert, and piggybacked on top of a specially-outfitted Boeing 747, Endeavour made its way north to Sacramento and then turned west toward San Francisco. The journey was a farewell tour for what was called the "Baby" space shuttle, a replacement for the ill-fated Challenger, which exploded after liftoff in 1986. Endeavour made 25 launches during its lifetime, the first in 1992, the last in May 2011. … Read more
After its triumphant touchdown on Mars last night, it would be tempting to think that NASA's Curiosity rover is a complete success.
But while the part of the mission involving sending the one-ton rover on its 352 million journey to Mars ended in worldwide celebration, the real work hasn't even gotten started.
Over the coming weeks and months, NASA scientists have to ensure that everything on Curiosity is in working order, and only then will the rover take its first "baby steps," let alone begin to explore the many square kilometers of Martian terrain it was … Read more
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The launch of a commercial cargo ship making its first flight to the International Space Station is expected to slip a week or so to give engineers more time to complete pre-flight testing and analysis, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, announced late today.
The company had been aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule on April 30. A second launch opportunity was available May 3.
Last week, NASA managers tentatively cleared the SpaceX rocket and capsule for launch pending completion of testing and a final review of open items and overnight … Read more
An unmanned Russian Progress supply ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Friday, rocketing smoothly into orbit and setting off for the International Space Station.
Loaded with 2.8 tons of supplies and equipment, the Progress M-15M spacecraft lifted off at 8:50:24 a.m. EDT and climbed away through a nearly cloudless sky. Eight minutes and 45 seconds later, the spacecraft slipped into orbit.
"A flawless launch," said NASA mission control commentator Rob Navias in Houston. "The Progress now in its preliminary orbit, headed for the International Space Station."
If all goes … Read more
Seconds away from liftoff, astronaut John Glenn monitored the instruments in his cramped Mercury capsule, listening intently as fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter called out milestones in the final moments of a tense countdown.
Earlier attempts to launch Glenn on America's first orbital spaceflight had been scrubbed by technical snags and bad weather. But this time around, the Atlas rocket, the Friendship 7 capsule, and the weather cooperated, clearing the way for the long-awaited, high-stakes attempt to reach orbit.
Millions across the nation and around the world hung on every word from mission control, gathered around black-and-white television sets and … Read more
Fifty years ago Monday, a young Marine Corps fighter pilot shoe-horned himself into a cramped Mercury capsule blasted off from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas rocket to become the first American in orbit -- and one of the nation's enduring heroes.
John Glenn went on to a distinguished career in the U.S. Senate before making history again in 1998, blasting off aboard the shuttle Discovery to become, at 77, the oldest human to fly in space.
Now 90, Glenn's memories of his historic Feb. 20, 1962, flight aboard Friendship 7 remain razor sharp, "indelibly" etched … Read more
Fifty years after rocketing into history as the first American in orbit, John Glenn sees America's manned space program at a perilous crossroad.
Thanks to political gridlock, an increasingly tight budget and uncertain congressional support, NASA is facing a best-case five- to six-year gap between the end of shuttle operations last year and the debut of new low-cost space taxis the Obama administration hopes will usher in a new era of commercial spaceflight.
In the meantime, U.S. astronauts have no choice but to hitch rides to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, relying on America's … Read more
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