Nasa astronaut Matt Dominick aboard the space station captured this waxing lunar crescent illuminated by sunlight. The Moon’s dim glow, caused by earthshine, occurs when sunlight reflects off Earth onto the Moon. Scientists study Earth’s brightness, or albedo, using this phenomenon. The photo also reveals Earth’s atmospheric layers, including the orange troposphere near the surface … Read more
Back in 1959, the Army Corp of Engineers carved its own Echo Base into the Greenland ice as a testbed for launching nuclear missiles from Arctic locations. The base was abandoned in 1967, but a new scan from NASA shows it’s still sitting 100 feet below the ice — along with all its radioactive waste. … Read more
China is aiming to take the global lead in a promising biotech area by setting its first national standards for “organ-on-a-chip technology”. The chips are an emerging research tool that could replace animal testing and speed up the time a drug takes to get from concept to market. “This milestone marks an important step forward … Read more
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A NASA astronaut was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton, the space agency said Friday. A SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of … Read more
A crew of four private astronauts ascended into space early Tuesday on a risky SpaceX mission to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk using the company’s new spacesuits and a redesigned spacecraft. A billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees were launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard … Read more
It’s been a long time coming, but Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is finally returning to Earth — but without its two astronauts. The capsule is scheduled to depart the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, leaving behind test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, and land at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico early Saturday morning. … Read more
The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation of the anomaly during a recent Starlink mission remains open, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday. SpaceX made the return to flight request for the workhorse vehicle on Thursday and the FAA gave approval on Friday. The agency … Read more
The launch of SpaceX’s four-person Polaris Dawn mission will be delayed by at least a day because of a helium leak in ground equipment at Kennedy Space Center, the company said on Tuesday, hours before the scheduled liftoff of its Crew Dragon capsule. The highlight of the mission is expected to come two days after … Read more
Man, airlines have gotten so strict these days. You aren’t allowed to physically threaten and intimidate a crew member. You aren’t allowed to do any sex stuff. You aren’t allowed to complain about the food. And now, apparently, you aren’t allowed to fly if your head is bleeding. In fact, as one man recently found … Read more
Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will need to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA said on Saturday, deeming issues with Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home. The agency’s decision, tapping Boeing’s top space … Read more
