Tag Archives: NASA

First Image Released From Webb Space Telescope

Via press release: The international NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far. U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, during a White House event on Monday 11 July. The image – which focuses on a spot in the …

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NASA To “Examine Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”

Via press release from NASA: NASA is commissioning a study team to start early in the fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – that is, observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect future …

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NASA Astronaut Returns After Record Spaceflight

The Washington Post reports: Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan Wednesday after undocking from the International Space Station and flying back to Earth in a historic mission that came amid mounting tensions over the war in Ukraine. The Soyuz spacecraft touched down under a parachute right on time, at 7:28 a.m. Eastern, …

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NASA: Astronaut Will Return From ISS On Schedule

Space.com reports: Geopolitical tensions won’t keep an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts from returning to Earth together as planned this month. NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov have long been scheduled to come home from the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 30. And that remains the plan, despite the …

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Ukraine War Imperils Return Of US Astronaut From ISS

ABC News reports: Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who holds the ongoing record for longest space flight, is set to end his 355 days in space in just three weeks. The plan is for him to land in Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts on a Russian spacecraft. After Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago, President Joe Biden announced new sanctions, including …

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New NASA Satellite Will Track Extreme Weather

Changing America reports: As the U.S. experiences more and more severe weather events, a special satellite was launched into space today that aims to help scientists on Earth predict when hurricanes will hit, lightning might strike and fires break out. NASA successfully launched a third satellite in a series of next-generation weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration …

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NASA To “De-Orbit” Intl Space Station In 2031 [VIDEO]

The Guardian reports: The International Space Station (ISS) will continue its operations until 2030 before heading for a watery grave at the most remote point in the Pacific, Nasa confirmed in a new transition plan this week. More than 30 years after its 1998 launch, the ISS will be “de-orbited” in January 2031, according to the space agency’s budget estimates. …

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Webb Space Telescope Reaches Final Destination

Space.com reports: After traveling almost a million miles, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reached its final destination today (Jan. 24). The most powerful observatory ever to launch to space, the James Webb Space Telescope lifted off on Dec. 25, 2021 to explore the cosmos and our universe’s earliest milestones. Since its successful takeoff, the $10 billion telescope has been busy …

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What’s Next For NASA’s Webb Space Telescope

Space.com reports: Three days after launch, the pallet holding Webb’s huge sunshield — a five-layer structure designed to keep the infrared telescope and its instruments cool — will be lowered. Each of the shield’s five sheets is about the size of a tennis court when fully extended, far too wide to fit inside the payload fairing of any currently operational …

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NASA’s $10B Space Telescope Launches Successfully

The Washington Post reports: NASA’s revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope is finally in space. The Webb, charged with seeing deeper into the universe than any telescope ever built, blasted off right on time at 7:20 a.m. Saturday from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on South America’s northeast coast. At launch, the $10 billion telescope, NASA’s long-delayed …

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NASA To Launch Most Powerful Space Telescope Ever

National Geographic reports: After more than a quarter-century of planning, designing, building, waiting—and of obsessively testing the most complex space observatory ever assembled—the mammoth James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch at 7:20 a.m. eastern time on December 25. For JWST’s mission to succeed, the telescope must execute an intricate series of carefully choreographed maneuvers during its first month …

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NASA Craft Brushes Solar Atmosphere For First Time

Via press release from NASA: For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as …

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NASA Craft Will Test Deflecting Of Asteroids [VIDEO]

Axios reports: SpaceX is set to launch a NASA spacecraft on a mission to learn how to change the course of an asteroid in deep space. The mission — called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — will test the technology needed to redirect a dangerous asteroid if one is ever found on course with Earth. Once in space, DART …

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US Condemns Russia’s “Reckless And Irresponsible” Anti-Satellite Missile Test For Endangering Astronauts

Politico reports: The United States on Monday confirmed that a Russian anti-satellite missile test was responsible for causing a debris field in space that forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to temporarily seek shelter. State Department spokesperson Ned Price [photo] told reporters that Russia had “recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one …

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NASA Launches Probe To Jupiter’s Asteroids [VIDEO]

Via press release from NASA: NASA’s Lucy mission, the agency’s first to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, launched at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, making …

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Jeff Bezos Sues NASA Over Lunar Lander Contract

The Verge reports: Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin brought its fight against NASA’s Moon program to federal court, doubling down on accusations that the agency wrongly evaluated its lunar lander proposal. The complaint escalates a monthslong crusade by the company to win a chunk of lunar lander funds that was only given to its rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and …

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Bezos Loses Battle Over NASA Contract, Musk Trolls

The Verge reports: The Government Accountability Office squashed Blue Origin’s protest over NASA’s decision to pick a single lunar lander contractor, the agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The GAO’s decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and hands a loss to Jeff Bezos, whose space …

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Bezos Makes Last-Minute $2B Discount Offer To NASA

The Verge reports: Jeff Bezos is offering NASA a discount of at least $2 billion for the agency to give his space company a lucrative human lunar landing system contract that his rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, won earlier this year. Bezos’ new offer is the latest in an escalating string of efforts to win the contract for Blue Origin. In …

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SpaceX Lands Contract For NASA Mission To Europa

Reuters reports: Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch services contract for NASA’s first mission focusing on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on Friday. The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket owned by Musk’s …

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NASA: Lunar “Wobble” Cycle To Amplify Rising Seas

CNN reports: Coastal communities in the United States, be forewarned. A “dramatic” surge in high-tide floods is just over a decade away in the US, according to NASA. The rapid increase will start in the mid-2030s, when a lunar cycle will amplify rising sea levels caused by the climate crisis, found a new study led by the members of the …

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