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by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — Food for astronauts, new space gardening gear and an experiment to test how cement forms in weightlessness are poised to launch Monday to the International Space Station aboard Orbital ATK’s unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. An extreme cold experiment and a European module to invite plug-and-play research are also among the three tons of cargo scheduled to blast off on an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Astronomers have observed a galaxy a very distant 13.28 billion lightyears away, zooming in closer than ever to the “cosmic dawn” of the Universe’s first stars, they said Wednesday. Pinpointing this period of star birth — which gave rise to oxygen, carbon and other elements in the Universe — is a holy grail for astronomers chasing down the beginning of everything. Now, thanks to […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet. Known simply as “The Mars Helicopter,” the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball. It will be […]
TAMPA, United States (AFP) — SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo ship left the International Space Station Saturday carrying 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) of gear and prepared to splash down in the Pacific Ocean by mid-afternoon, NASA said. The white supply vessel detached from the orbiting outpost at 9:23 am (1323 GMT), fired its engines three times and slowly began its journey to Earth. “Release confirmed,” said commentator Rob Navias on NASA TV, noting that separation occurred […]
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, United States (AFP) –NASA on Saturday blasted off its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for “Marsquakes” ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet. “Three, two, one, liftoff!” said a NASA commentator as the spacecraft launched on a dark, foggy morning atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 am Pacific time (1105 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking NASA’s […]
by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — NASA counted down Saturday to the long-awaited launch of its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface of the Red Planet and listen for “Marsquakes.” The spacecraft was scheduled to blast off atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 am Pacific time (1105 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Foggy weather was the only technical concern ahead of the […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — In a move that shocked lunar scientists, canceled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the Moon, despite President Donald Trump’s vow to return people there. Scientists working on the Resource Prospector (RP) mission, a robotic rover that had been in development for about a decade to explore a polar region of the Moon, expressed astonishment at the decision. “We […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to head the space agency NASA, over objections from Democrats who warned he lacked a technical background. Jim Bridenstine, a congressman from Oklahoma, US Navy veteran, and former pilot, was confirmed on a 50-49 vote and will become the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration seven months after Trump named him to lead the agency. Bridenstine, […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — NASA on Wednesday blasted off its newest planet-hunting spacecraft, TESS, a $337 million satellite that aims to scan 85 percent of the skies for cosmic bodies where life may exist. “Three, two, one and liftoff!” said NASA commentator Mike Curie as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) soared into the cloudless, blue sky atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — SpaceX postponed the launch of NASA’s new planet-hunting mission Monday in order to verify the Falcon 9 rocket’s navigation systems, the California-based company said. The next opportunity to blast off the $337 million satellite — which aims to advance the search for extraterrestrial life by scanning the skies for nearby, Earth-like planets — will be Wednesday. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is […]
by Kerry Sheridan © Agence France-Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — NASA is poised to launch a $337 million washing machine-sized spacecraft that aims to vastly expand mankind’s search for planets beyond our solar system, particularly closer, Earth-sized ones that might harbor life. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is scheduled to launch Monday at 6:32 pm (2232 GMT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its main goal over the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA has inked a deal with Lockheed Martin to develop a supersonic “X-plane” that could break the sound barrier without a sonic boom, officials said Tuesday. The $247.5 million contract allows for the design, building and testing of a plane that would make its first test flight in 2021, NASA said. The experimental plane “will cruise at 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) at a speed of about 940 mph (1,513 kph) […]
