Feb 1st, 2012 at 4:00PM:
The reality of manned space travel has scientists on limited budgets looking at every angle that might make it happen efficiently. Recently, five aerospace companies contracted with NASA to study the idea of a new propulsion system, designed to turn the sun's rays into electricity for space travel.
NASA hopes the end result is a new propulsion system that will power a reusable "space ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
NASA posts
Space travel to get boost from solar power
Feb 1st, 2012 at 4:00PM:
The reality of manned space travel has scientists on limited budgets looking at every angle that might make it happen efficiently. Recently, five aerospace companies contracted with NASA to study the idea of a new propulsion system, designed to turn the sun's rays into electricity for space travel.
NASA hopes the end result is a new propulsion system that will power a reusable "space ...Presidential hopeful promises travel to the Moon, Mars
Jan 26th, 2012 at 4:00PM: Renewed interest in travel to the Moon and Mars? It was just the song that Florida voters wanted to hear. After a virtual grounding of the U.S. space program not long ago, the promise yesterday by republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich to bring multiple daily launches to Florida was music to their ears. A permanent base on the Moon and new technology that would enable quick flights to ...Training shuttle to be displayed in Seattle's Museum of Flight
Jan 22nd, 2012 at 9:00AM:
It looks like the Space Shuttle, but it isn't. It's made of plywood, for one thing, and it can't fly.
Yet it's a piece of aeronautics history and will soon grace Seattle's Museum of Flight. This training shuttle, more properly called the Full Fuselage Trainer, is a full-scale mockup that astronauts have used for practice since the 1970s. The museum originally hoped to get one of the four ...Video of the Day: Making tacos in space
Jan 2nd, 2012 at 6:30PM:
Preparing your own meals while on the road can be tough. You don't always have a proper kitchen stocked with all of the tools and appliances that you need. Ingredients can be difficult to find. Still, at least we always have gravity to help us out. Not so for astronauts. When it's dinner time, they have to assemble their tacos in zero gravity. The last thing that anybody wants is refried beans ...
NASA is looking for new astronauts!
Nov 19th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Anyone who has ever dreamed of going into space received a glimmer of hope this past week when NASA announced that they were looking for their next class of astronauts. This high profile "help wanted" ad had the dual effect of sending many of us scrambling to update our resumes, while simultaneously regressing to a point in our lives when we actually believed we could still grow-up to be an ...Video of the Day - Flying over Earth on the ISS
Nov 15th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
If you haven't seen this video since its emergence on the internet in the past two days, stop whatever you're doing, plug in your best headphones, quit your other applications (so you can watch in silky smooth HD), and full-screen this amazing compilation of moving images.
Edited by Michael König, this time-lapse was created by stitching together a series of still images shot by ...
Amazing photographic animation of Cassini's Saturn flyby
Sep 10th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
The Cassini unmanned probe to Saturn has been a resounding success. A joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency, it's been studying the ringed planet since 2004. Cassini has been sending back detailed images of Saturn, its rings, and its moons and expanding our knowledge of the solar system.
Check out this amazing video made up of hundreds of ...
Space junk is out of control, scientists say
Sep 2nd, 2011 at 2:00PM: It's a dilemma faced by every adventure traveler: to find the perfect remote spot untouched by modernity, free from cell phones, television, and trash. Of course there is no such place, not even in space. In fact, the orbital detritus of modern life can be downright dangerous, scientists warn.
A new report from the National Research Council says there are so many bits of trash in orbit, ranging ...The Final Shuttle Launch and the Future of the Space Coast
Jul 27th, 2011 at 8:00AM:
About 12 hours before STS-135 was set to blast off for low Earth orbit, my friend Rob and I were driving toward Titusville, Florida with a car full of camping supplies and our fingers crossed. The weather was foul, and the chances of a launch were just 30 percent. But we were in Central Florida to see a blast off, and so to the Space Coast we were headed. ...What's next for space travel? Maybe a road trip
Jul 23rd, 2011 at 7:00AM: While the space shuttle era officially ended early Thursday morning as Atlantis landed for the last time at Kennedy Space Center, the next chapter in American space flight has yet to be written. One vision of what's next for space travel over the next 20 to 30 years includes an efficient network of refueling stations, communication points and satellites throughout the solar system.
"We're ...New space race begins when Atlantis lands
Jul 18th, 2011 at 11:00AM: The Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth this week from its final flight. That pretty much puts NASA out of the business of launching humans into space anytime soon. On one hand that's sad, the end of a grand program and many space workers will lose their jobs. On the other hand, its the right move at the right time that may result in more American space travelers than ever as America's next ...National Geographic celebrates the last space shuttle mission ever
Jul 9th, 2011 at 8:00AM: Yesterday morning, at 11:30 AM Eastern Time, the Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off on the last shuttle mission ever. For fans and proponents of space exploration, it was a bittersweet moment to say the least. To celebrate what truly is the end of an era, National Geographic has updated their Space Shuttle Hub page with a look back at the storied vehicle's tragic and triumphant history.
At ...Graphing the deepest ocean to the highest peak
Jun 18th, 2011 at 2:30PM:
The surface of the Earth plummets deeper than 35,000 feet in the Mariana Trench and reaches up to the lofty heights of the Himalaya mountain range. The rest of our planet exists somewhere in between. Every hill, coral reef, dance contest, and disappointing vacation takes place at some point between these two extremes. This amazing graph by NOAA and NASA details some of the more significant ...Interstellar travel dreams wanted
Jun 17th, 2011 at 7:00AM: Have you ever thought or dreamed of what it might be like traveling to distant planets, perhaps in a different solar system? If so, the people that might very well make that happen in the next 100 years or so want your ideas.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA's Ames Research Center will host the 100 Year Starship Study Symposium in Orlando, Florida from September ...VIDEO: Astronaut's view of the world
May 31st, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Need a few moments of Zen? This video from NASA's Johnson Space Center has seven of them, traveling over the Earth from the coast of Namibia to the Amazon Basin to capture an astronaut's view of the world. The incredible images are narrated by Dr. Justin Wilkinson, a soothing astronaut who points out the many rivers, mountains, deserts, and other features shown on NASA's camera from far above. ...
NASA chooses deep space travel vehicle, not everybody happy - Poll
May 25th, 2011 at 7:00AM: The deep space travel vehicle that will be the future of America's space program was announced by NASA this week. That's good news for Lockheed-Martin who will develop it but some legendary astronauts disagree with the direction of the program.
"As we aggressively continue our work on a heavy-lift launch vehicle, we are moving forward with an existing contract to keep development of our new ...Space race brings trip around the Moon by 2015
May 8th, 2011 at 7:00AM:
We've heard of suborbital flights being booked by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, those have been in the works for quite some time. So have various plans for a replacement vehicle for the retiring space shuttles. Now, the news about space travel brings us to the Moon with a flight around the moon available coming up as soon as 2015 says one company already in the business.
Space ...Forgotten space pioneer: 50th anniversary Alan Shepard's historic flight
May 5th, 2011 at 9:30AM: Fifty years ago today Alan B. Shepard Jr., became the first American in space when he flew in the Freedom 7 mission. He got 116.5 miles up and his flight lasted 15 minutes, 28 seconds. He made history, but has been generally forgotten.
Why? Because he was the second man in space. Yuri Gagarin made it into space 23 days earlier and won the second round of the US-Soviet space race. The Soviets ...Space tourism celebrates tenth anniversary
Apr 30th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Space tourism is ten years old this week. On 28 April 2001 millionaire Dennis Tito became the first person to go into space as a tourist and not an astronaut or scientist.
In an interview with BBC today he talked about how thrilled he was and called his eight days being in orbit "paradise."
While space tourism is the ultimate in high-cost adventure travel--only seven people have done it so ...Second-to-last Space Shuttle launch is big tourism draw
Apr 28th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Tomorrow's launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour has turned into a major tourist event, the Associated Press reports. NASA estimates half a million people will show up for their second-to-last chance to see a shuttle launch. Other estimates vary from 250,000 to a whopping 700,000. That could rival the crowds that came to see the first Moon mission.
Hotels are sold out and homeowners near ...
