Tag Archives: NASA

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 …

NBC News reports: Debris from a rocket launched by China crashed back to Earth on Sunday, landing in the Indian Ocean, according to China’s space agency, after days of speculation over when or where it could end up. Parts of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (10:24 p.m. ET), the China Manned Space …

CNN Business reports: A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule soared back from outer space Sunday morning and made a parachute landing in the Gulf of Mexico, returning four astronauts from a record-setting mission to the International Space Station. The astronauts — NASA’s Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut with Japan’s space agency — had boarded their …

Reuters reports: U.S. space agency NASA has told Elon Musk’s SpaceX to halt work under a contract it won to develop a lunar spacecraft, pending the outcome of challenges by rival bidders at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the agency said on Friday. NASA’s decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the moon program contract until …

CNBC reports: The second operational SpaceX crew mission arrived at the International Space Station early on Saturday morning, carrying four astronauts for a six month stay in space. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft ‘Endeavour,’ which launched on a Falcon 9 rocket the day before, docked with the ISS at 5:22 a.m. EDT. The capsule carries an international cadre of astronauts: NASA’s …

CNBC reports: SpaceX launched another group of astronauts for NASA early on Friday morning, with Elon Musk’s company now having sent 10 astronauts to space in under a year. The Crew-2 mission, the company’s second operational mission for NASA and its third to date, reached orbit successfully after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:49 a.m. EDT. …

The Washington Post reports: NASA successfully flew its four-pound helicopter from the surface of Mars early Monday, the first powered flight of an aircraft on another planet, a feat NASA officials compared to the Wright brothers first flight in 1903. At about 3:30 a.m., the twin, carbon-fiber rotor blades began spinning furiously, and the chopper, called Ingenuity, lifted off the …

Reuters reports: NASA said on Friday it has awarded billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to fly astronauts to the moon, picking it over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. The bid by Tesla Inc chief Musk beat one from Amazon.com Inc’s founder Jeff Bezos, who had …

Politico reports: President Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to lead NASA, settling on a longtime booster of the space program to lead the agency’s return to the moon, according to three people familiar with the decision. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that she had seen the reports, but did not …

Reuters reports: NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has taken its first, short drive on the surface of the red planet, two weeks after the robot science lab’s picture-perfect touchdown on the floor of a massive crater, mission managers said on Friday. The six-wheeled, car-sized astrobiology probe put a total of 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) on its odometer on Thursday during a …

CNN reports: The Ingenuity helicopter, sidekick and traveling companion of NASA’s Perseverance rover, has checked in with a good report and is “operating as expected,” according to the agency. If successful, Ingenuity will be the first helicopter to fly on another planet, leading to an “extraterrestrial Wright Brothers moment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The …

NBC News reports: The car-size rover, which launched in July 2020, is aiming to touch down on Mars on Thursday. If successful, Perseverance will become NASA’s fifth rover to land on the red planet and will kick off the agency’s most ambitious mission yet to examine whether life ever existed on Mars. Like its predecessor, Curiosity, the Perseverance rover’s descent …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into whether a senior NASA official improperly told a high-ranking Boeing executive about the status of a lunar-lander contract, spurring the company to revise its bid, according to people familiar with the investigation. The grand-jury investigation, which hasn’t been previously reported, is being led by the U.S. attorney’s …

Business Insider reports: The capsule bobbed in the ocean for about 15 minutes as professional recovery boats sped to retrieve the astronauts — but they weren’t alone on the water. The landing site off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, drew a crowd of onlookers in their own boats. Some got close to the spaceship, including a boat flying a Trump …

CBS News reports: Crew Dragon astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken enjoyed wakeup messages from their young sons early Sunday before readying their ship for a fiery plunge back to Earth and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola to close out a 64-day test flight. Hurley and Behnken, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, …

The New York Times reports: The final launch of the summer of Mars missions is nearly underway. On Thursday, NASA hopes to send a robotic rover and a small experimental helicopter on a journey of six and a half months to the red planet. It follows two earlier launches by the United Arab Emirates and China. NASA was originally scheduled …

CNN reports: Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have officially arrived at the International Space Station. After a historic launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, the astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft synched up with the space station Sunday morning. The spacecraft made a careful approach, easing its way toward its destination over the course of 19 …

The New York Times reports: The United States opened a new era of human space travel on Saturday as a private company for the first time launched astronauts into orbit, nearly a decade after the government retired the storied space shuttle program in the aftermath of national tragedy. Two American astronauts lifted off at 3:22 p.m. from a familiar setting, …

Axios reports: At 3:22 p.m. ET today, SpaceX is expected to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station for the first time. Why it matters: The liftoff — should it go off without a hitch — will be the first time a private company has launched people to orbit. It will also bring crewed …

Yahoo News reports: Nearly nine years after the last space shuttle flew, NASA and SpaceX are counting down to the next launch to put astronauts into orbit from Florida. The launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will mark the first-ever use of a privately owned spaceship for a crewed orbital launch, and a renaissance …