Space and astronomy news
In true Richard Branson flair, the founder of Virgin Galactic has a multimedia plan in place for when he and his adult children, Holly and Sam, take the first planned tourist spaceflight next year. Virgin Galactic and NBCUniversal signed a “multi-platform partnership” for the network’s affiliates to transmit the flight all over the place. Disclosed …
Continue reading “NBC To Broadcast Virgin Galactic’s First Commercial Spaceflight”
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – All of the key hardware elements being assembled for NASA’s new Orion spacecraft launching just under one year from now are nearing completion at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) – at the same time as a crucial and successful hardware test in California this week helps ensure that the Exploration …
Technicians work inside the Orion crew module being built at Kennedy Space Center to prepare it for its first power on. Turning the avionics system inside the capsule on for the first time marks a major milestone in Orion’s final year of preparations before its first mission, Exploration Flight Test 1. Credit: Lockheed Martin Story …
Continue reading “Orion Crew Module Comes Alive at T Minus 1 Year to Maiden Blastoff”
Left landing gear tire visibly failed to deploy as private Dream Chaser spaceplane approaches runway at Edwards Air Force Base, Ca. during first free flight landing test on Oct. 26, 2013 – in this screenshot. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp. Watch approach and landing test video below[/caption] The privately built Dream Chaser ‘space taxi’ that was …
Here’s a nice photo of the trails in the sky from the International Space Station and Orbital Science’s Cygnus freighter. This was captured just a few hours after Cygnus was undocked from the station on October 22, 2013. Astrophotographer Wendy Clark says to “please ignore my garden spaceship to the right,” but sorry, having a …
Continue reading “Astrophoto: Seeing the Cygnus Capsule Before Its Demise”
Doesn’t that look fun? A startup company is proposing to send customers 19 miles (30 kilometers) into the air via balloon, where they can linger for two hours and look at the curvature of the Earth and experience a black sky. While it’s not high enough to qualify as a spaceflight, the listed ticket price …
Continue reading “Proposed Balloon Ride Would Let You See The Blackness Of Space”
Discovering life beyond Earth might just be the holy grail of science. And even though we have yet to find evidence for little green men or blobs of bacteria, astronomers continue to search for elusive signs of life. A novel strategy may help astronomers better target extraterrestrial intelligent life. Dr. Michael Gillon, of the University …
Continue reading “Novel Strategy May Help Target Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life”
Call it Space Survivor. Thirteen years after that now-classic desert island nightmare premiered on NBC, the executive producer behind Survivor is planning to host another reality competition that will land the winner a rocket trip to space. We don’t know yet what feats of strength, endurance, intelligence or teamwork (or is that backstabbing?) will be needed to …
Continue reading “Virgin Galactic Ticket To Space Promised In New Reality Show Deal”
Is it Friday already? Then it’s time for another Weekly Space Hangout. Join a team of dedicated space journalists to discuss the big space and astronomy news stories that broke this week. This time around, we discussed Amy Shira Teitel’s Buran article, ISON Watch 2013, and the re-re-discovery of water on Mars. Host: Fraser Cain …
Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout – September 27, 2013: Buran, Comet ISON, Water on Mars”
Top of the Rock – New York City Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft approximate launch trajectory view as should be seen from atop Rockefeller Center, NYC, on Sept. 18, 2013 at 10:50 a.m. EDT – weather permitting – after blastoff from NASA Wallops, VA. Credit: Orbital Sciences See more Antares launch trajectory viewing graphics …
Continue reading “How to See the Historic Antares/Cygnus Launch to Space Station on Sept. 18”