Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
NEW DELHI, Feb 27, 2024 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday toasted the four astronauts preparing for the nation’s first crewed orbital mission, saying the latest advance in spacefaring would inspire the next generation. “The countdown of the rocket inspires thousands of children in India, and those making paper planes today dream of becoming scientists like you”, Modi said. The Gaganyaan — or “Skycraft” — mission is slated to launch the astronauts […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – For the first time since the Apollo era, an American spaceship has landed on the Moon: an uncrewed commercial robot, funded by NASA to pave the way for US astronauts to return to Earth’s cosmic neighbor later this decade. Odysseus, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, touched down near the lunar south pole Thursday at 2323 GMT, after a nail-biting final descent where flight controllers had to […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – A Houston-based company has landed America’s first spaceship on the Moon in more than 50 years, part of a new fleet of NASA-funded, uncrewed commercial robots intended to pave the way for astronaut missions later this decade. But while flight controllers confirmed they had received a faint signal, it was not immediately clear whether Odysseus, the lander built by Intuitive Machines, was fully functional, with announcers […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – A Houston-based company is set Thursday to land America’s first spaceship on the Moon in more than 50 years, part of a new fleet of NASA-funded, uncrewed, commercial robots meant to pave the way for astronaut missions this decade. If all goes well, Intuitive Machines will guide its hexagon-shaped lander Odysseus, currently orbiting at approximately 60 miles (92 kilometers) from the surface, to a gentle touchdown […]
TOKYO, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – A Japanese firm said Monday it had successfully launched a spacecraft tasked with inspecting potentially dangerous man-made junk floating around the Earth. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that around one million pieces of debris from satellites and rockets larger than a centimetre — big enough to “disable a spacecraft” — are in orbit. The Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) is meant to rendezvous with and examine the […]
By Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Feb 17, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s space agency announced the successful launch of its new flagship rocket on Saturday, making it third time lucky for the H3 after years of delays and two previous failed attempts. The H3 rocket, billed as flexible and cost-effective by space agency JAXA, “was put into orbit,” a JAXA official told AFP. Developed jointly by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the H3 is the successor to […]
By Danny KEMP WASHINGTON, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Russia is developing a space-based anti-satellite weapon that is “troubling” for the United States but poses no immediate threat to people on Earth, the White House said Thursday. The announcement came a day after a wave of speculation sparked by US lawmakers making a cryptic warning of an unspecified but serious national security threat to the country. Moscow denied the “malicious” and “unfounded” claims, describing them […]
MOSCOW, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Russia on Thursday launched a supply rocket to the International Space Station, one of the rare Russia-US projects kept alive since Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. A Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the Progress MS-26 cargo ship was launched at the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, Russia’s space agency said on its Telegram channel, showing a video of the lift-off. The rocket was due to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, the […]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, United States, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – A US spaceship attempting a lunar landing lifted off early Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the second such private-led effort this year after the first ended in failure. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company leading mission “IM-1,” hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon, and to land the first US robot on the surface since […]
By Juliette Collen PARIS, Feb 7, 2024 (AFP) – Saturn’s small moon Mimas seems an unlikely suspect in the hunt for life in Earth’s backyard — it is probably best known for looking like the “Death Star” in the Star Wars films. But scientists said on Wednesday that underneath the unassuming moon’s icy shell is a vast hidden ocean that has many of the ingredients necessary to host primitive alien life. Mimas is the latest […]
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which made history by achieving the first powered flight on another world, has officially ended its nearly three-year mission after sustaining rotor damage during its last outing, the space agency said Thursday. The tissue-box sized aircraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet under the belly of the Perseverance rover, first lifted off the surface on April 19, 2021. Originally intended […]
By Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Jan 25, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s “Moon Sniper” craft made a pin-point lunar landing despite last-minute engine problems, the space agency said Thursday as it released the first images from the mission. A photo taken by a mini-rover showed the boxy yellow lander sitting intact at a slight angle on the rocky grey surface, lunar slopes rising in the distance. Saturday’s touchdown made Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a […]
