It may have taken the "right stuff" -- a macho blend of youthful bravado and reckless adrenaline -- to get the first people into space, but if you want to be an astronaut today, be warned, it's no longer a young man's game.
Robert Richards is CEO of Odyssey Moon Ltd, the first contenders for the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million prize fund for the first commercial team to land a craft on the moon and send back video footage.
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, along with two cosmonauts, rode in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that made a gut-wrenching, off-target landing last month.
NASA's final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed at least a month, until the fall, because of extra time needed to build the shuttle fuel tanks needed for the flight and a potential rescue mission.
The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan hundreds of miles off-target after an unexpectedly severe descent was in serious danger, a Russian news agency reported.
Russian space officials say the crew of the Soyuz space ship is resting after a rough ride back to Earth.
carrying South Korea's first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan Saturday, 260 miles off its mark, Russian space officials said.
It may have taken the "right stuff" -- a macho blend of youthful bravado and reckless adrenaline -- to get the first people into space, but if you want to be an astronaut today, be warned, it's no longer a young man's game.
Robert Richards is CEO of Odyssey Moon Ltd, the first contenders for the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million prize fund for the first commercial team to land a craft on the moon and send back video footage.
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, along with two cosmonauts, rode in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that made a gut-wrenching, off-target landing last month.
NASA's final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed at least a month, until the fall, because of extra time needed to build the shuttle fuel tanks needed for the flight and a potential rescue mission.
The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan hundreds of miles off-target after an unexpectedly severe descent was in serious danger, a Russian news agency reported.
Russian space officials say the crew of the Soyuz space ship is resting after a rough ride back to Earth.
carrying South Korea's first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan Saturday, 260 miles off its mark, Russian space officials said.
To fix a potentially fatal shaking problem on its snazzy new moon rocket, NASA is considering something that works for mud-stained pickups: heavy-duty shock absorbers.
A new European cargo ship flew up to the international space station and docked Thursday, successfully delivering food, water and clothes in its orbital debut.
The space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven returned to Earth Wednesday, making a rare nighttime touchdown to wrap up "a two-week adventure" at the international space station.
A California aerospace company plans to enter the space tourism industry with a two-seat rocket ship capable of suborbital flights to altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth.
Endeavour's seven astronauts aimed for a Wednesday night landing in Florida after more than two grueling weeks of space station construction.
After a week and a half of complex orbital construction work, Endeavour's seven astronauts undocked from the international space station and began their journey home.
NASA sent conflicting signals Monday evening about what an official told CNN is a planned $4 million budget cut in NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program.
With their fifth and final spacewalk under their belt, Endeavour's astronauts planned to take some well-deserved time off on Sunday before starting the journey home.
Endeavour's astronauts inspected their ship's thermal skin Friday for any damage from orbital debris, using a laser-tipped boom that will be left behind at the international space station.
The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge it set a record for the most distant object that could be seen on Earth by the naked eye.
Two spacewalking astronauts, armed with a caulk gun and a high-tech kind of Silly Putty, floated out the hatch Thursday to test a method for patching shuttle thermal tiles.
Astronauts moved Dextre the robot to its new perch outside the international space station Tuesday after devoting nearly a week to putting together and creating the monster-size machine.
Spacewalking astronauts stepped outside Monday night and gave the space station's new robot some eyes and a set of tools.
Two spacewalking astronauts attached 11-foot arms to the international space station's huge new robot Sunday, preparing the giant machine for its handyman job on the orbital outpost.
With Dextre the robot's power problem solved, astronauts on Saturday ventured outside the international space station to put together the bulk of the gigantic walking and working machine.
Spacewalking astronauts added hands to a robot outside the international space station early Friday as experts on the ground devised a plan to get power to the giant machine.
A pair of astronauts have ventured out on the first spacewalk of Endeavour's space station mission despite a problem getting power to a giant robot that they needed to assemble.
Scientists say the data download has started from the international Cassini spacecraft as it moves through geyser plumes from one of Saturn's moons.
An Atlas 5 rocket carrying a secret U.S. satellite lifted off before dawn Thursday, officials said.
The seven-man crew of the shuttle Endeavour maneuvered toward the international space station early Wednesday, with the astronauts spending their first full day in orbit carefully examining the ship for any launch damage.
Three years after gigantic geysers were spied on an icy Saturn moon, the international Cassini spacecraft is poised to plunge through the fringes of the mysterious plumes to learn how they formed.
Endeavour's seven astronauts jumped into their first full day in orbit Tuesday as the shuttle pursued the international space station to deliver a giant robot and the first piece of a new Japanese lab.
Astronauts bound for orbit this week will dabble in science fiction, assembling a "monstrous" two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein from its transport bed.
New observations by a spacecraft suggest Saturn's second-largest moon may be surrounded by rings.
A robotic spacecraft circling Mars has snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole, scientists said Monday.
Those having trouble remembering the newly assigned 11 planets, including three dwarfs, are getting help from a fourth-grader.
The military's analysis of the missile strike on a dead U.S. spy satellite has revealed no sign of danger from debris, including no hazard from the satellite's fuel tank, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.
Pentagon officials said they think a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the fuel tank of an errant spy satellite late Wednesday, eliminating a toxic threat to people on Earth.
The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurred Wednesday, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.
The U.S. Navy succeeded in its effort to shoot down an inoperable spy satellite before it could crash to Earth and potentially release a cloud of toxic gas, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.
Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.
A Navy team including some 200 industry experts and scientists has been working furiously since January to modify the Aegis air-defense missile system so it can shoot down a failed satellite officials say could fall to Earth, a Pentagon official told CNN.
The U.S. Navy likely will make its first attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Wednesday night.
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station early Monday for its journey back to Earth, ending a nearly nine-day visit to deliver, install and activate Europe's new orbital laboratory.
Military plans to shoot down a damaged U.S. spy satellite carrying toxic fuel will not concern the crew aboard the international space station, commander Peggy Whitson said Saturday.
The U.S. military may try within days to shoot down a failed satellite using a missile launched from a Navy ship, officials announced Thursday.
Two astronauts ventured outside Friday for the last spacewalk of the shuttle Atlantis' mission to the international space station, working to attach science experiments to the exterior of the new Columbus lab.
The Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, The Associated Press has learned.
With two of their three spacewalks completed, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex focused Thursday on getting the new Columbus lab up and running.
Two spacewalking astronauts supplied the international space station with a fresh tank of nitrogen gas Wednesday, one of them a German who was too sick to venture outside a few days earlier.
With the Columbus lab now secured to the international space station, the 10 orbiting astronauts rolled up their sleeves on Tuesday for their next big job: getting the lab running.
NASA engineers are assessing two small areas on the space shuttle Atlantis that may have received some damage during Thursday's launch and ascent, officials said Saturday.
Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the international space station Saturday, delivering Europe's $2 billion research lab after years of delay.
Shuttle Atlantis chased the international space station in orbit Friday as its crew prepared for a laser inspection of their ship's wings.
After two months of delay, shuttle Atlantis blasted into orbit Thursday with Europe's gift to the international space station, a $2 billion science lab named Columbus that spent years waiting to set sail.
An aerospace company is negotiating to use a military rocket to ferry hardware, crew and cargo to a planned commercial space station, privately-held Bigelow Aerospace said Tuesday.
Seven astronauts returned to NASA's launch site Monday to take a new shot at flying space shuttle Atlantis to the international space station.
A telescope arms race is taking shape around the world. Astronomers are drawing up plans for the biggest, most powerful instruments ever constructed, capable of peering far deeper into the universe -- and further back in time -- than ever before.
The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way.
The space station's two American astronauts went out on a riskier-than-usual spacewalk Wednesday to fix one of two equipment failures that have crippled their power system and threatened to stall construction.
The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider.
An asteroid that exploded over Siberia a century ago, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown down trees, wasn't nearly as large as previously thought, a researcher concludes, suggesting a greater danger for Earth.
A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday.
There's been only one incident of a NASA crew member being impaired by drugs or alcohol close to a launch, but never on a launch day, according to a new survey of active-duty astronauts and flight surgeons.
NASA's Messenger spacecraft sped within 124 miles of Mercury on Monday, putting it on a course that will have it orbiting the solar system's innermost planet in three more years.
The possibility of a collision between Mars and an approaching asteroid has been effectively ruled out, according to scientists watching the space rock.
China plans to launch its third manned space mission that will feature its first-ever space walk during 2008, state media said Tuesday.
NASA on Thursday delayed the flight of space shuttle Atlantis until late January or, more likely, February to replace a suspect connector in the fuel tank.
Under pressure from Congress, NASA on Monday released thousands of pages of complaints from pilots about crew fatigue, air traffic congestion and communications.
About half the size of a football field and 21 stories tall, the largest optical telescope ever constructed will use almost 1,000 mirrors to hunt for exoplanets -- and maybe even unlock the secrets of spacetime.
As NASA astronaut Daniel Tani orbited Earth, hundreds of mourners filled a suburban Chicago church Sunday to remember his 90-year-old mother as someone who endured hardship to raise five children and worked until age 70.
Daniel M. Tani's 90-year-old mother died in an auto accident this week, but he has no way of getting home until late January. He must grieve from more than 200 miles away -- in orbit, aboard the international space station.
NASA will wait two years longer than planned and spend another $40 million to launch a half-billion-dollar probe to Mars because of an unspecified conflict of interest in the purchasing process, officials said Friday.
NASA on Tuesday traced fuel gauge failures in shuttle Atlantis' tank to a bad connector, and a top manager said he did not know how long it would take to replace the part or when the spaceship might fly.
A pair of space station astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Tuesday to inspect two defective mechanisms that are hobbling power generation at the orbiting complex.
The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: A black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighboring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.
Newly released NASA e-mails hint at something more than a professional relationship between former astronaut Lisa Nowak and a space shuttle pilot.
NASA will fill the space shuttle Atlantis' fuel tank next week in hopes of cracking a vexing fuel gauge problem that led to back-to-back launch delays, the agency said Tuesday.
New observations from NASA's long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft show the solar system is asymmetrical, likely from disturbances in the interstellar magnetic field, scientists reported Monday.
NASA scrubbed space shuttle Atlantis' planned Sunday launch after a cut-off sensor designed to gauge the fuel level of the external liquid hydrogen tank failed another test, a space agency spokesman said.
NASA mission managers decided Friday to push the space shuttle Atlantis' scheduled Saturday launch to Sunday afternoon.
NASA said the shuttle Atlantis will launch no earlier than Saturday after Thursday's launch was scrubbed when a pair of fuel gauges in its big external tank failed to work, a recurring problem since the Columbia disaster.
Atlantis' seven-man crew is short on space experience, but that's on purpose. NASA wants to give as many rookie astronauts a shot at space before the shuttles are retired in less than three years.
Seven astronauts arrived for the start of countdown to Thursday's space shuttle launch as NASA wrapped up repairs on Atlantis' fuel tank.
Nearby Venus is looking a bit more Earth-like with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.
China displayed the first image of the moon captured by its Chang'e 1 lunar probe at a gala ceremony Monday, marking the formal start of the satellite's mission to document the lunar landscape.
Here we are, nearly eight years into the 21st century, and the most spectacular manned mission NASA can pull off is a trip to the International Space Station, a mere 210 miles above the Earth.
Russia is planning a new rocket launch facility that will be prepared to put a manned mission in space by 2018, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.
A pair of spacewalking astronauts finished wiring the international space station's newest room on Saturday, crossing the last major task off their to-do list before the next shuttle mission early next month.
When China's lunar orbiter blasted off last month, there was not a cheer or smile or a "whoo-haaa" to be had in mission control.
Two spacewalking astronauts wired up the international space station's newest room Tuesday and, to NASA's delight, kept the next shuttle visit on track for early December.
Discovery and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday and concluded a 15-day space station build and repair mission that was among the most challenging -- and heroic -- in shuttle history.
Discovery's astronauts got their spaceship ready for the ride home on Tuesday, wrapping up a 15-day mission that kept the crew far busier than planned.
A comet that unexpectedly brightened in the last couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye is attracting professional and amateur interest.
After a week and a half of intense and unprecedented work, the astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery undocked from the international space station on Monday to begin their two-day journey home.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
