The mysterious Zuma payload sits atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. Liftoff is currently scheduled for Nov. 17, 2017. We’re going to have to wait at least another day to see the top-secret Zuma payload take flight. The launch of Zuma atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has […]
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Apollo 1: The Fatal Fire
The Apollo 1 crew, from left to right, Roger Chaffee, Ed White and Gus Grissom. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Apollo program changed forever on Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. The three men inside perished despite the best efforts of the ground crew. […]
BAE Systems Wins DARPA Contract to Develop 3D Space Warfare Lab
DARPA’s virtual lab would help U.S. military “quickly evaluate and integrate technologies for space command and control.” WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded BAE Systems a contract worth up to $12.8 million to develop a digital lab to help U.S. military commanders prepare for combat in outer space, the company announced Nov. 14 […]
In Earth's Backyard: Newfound Alien Planet May Be Good Bet for Life
A newfound exoplanet may be one of the best bets to host alien life ever discovered — and it’s right in Earth’s backyard, cosmically speaking. Astronomers have spotted a roughly Earth-mass world circling the small, dim star Ross 128, which lies just 11 light-years from the sun . The planet, known as Ross 128b, may […]
NASA Leaning Towards Allowing Reused Falcon Booster on Next Dragon Mission
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off Oct. 11 carrying the SES-11/EchoStar-105 satellite. The launch was the third mission with a previously-flow first stage. WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — NASA may decide to allow SpaceX to use a previously-flown Falcon 9 first stage on the next Dragon mission to the International Space Station, the latest sign that […]
Here's What We Know About the Secret Zuma Payload SpaceX Is Launching
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the NROL-76 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on May 1, 2017. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to loft a mysterious payload called Zuma for the U.S. government on Nov. 16. SpaceX plans to launch a secret payload known as Zuma on Thursday evening (Nov. 16), from NASA’s […]
XCOR Aerospace Files for Bankruptcy
XCOR Aerospace had been working for nearly a decade on the Lynx suborbital spaceplane, but technical and financial issues kept it from completing a prototype. WASHINGTON — XCOR Aerospace, a company that for nearly 20 years had been working on rocket engines and a suborbital spaceplane, filed for bankruptcy Nov. 8 after it was unable to […]
High Winds Delay Launch of Advanced Weather Satellite JPSS-1
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 weather satellite stands atop Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. An attempted launch on Nov. 15, 2017 was delayed by high winds. An advanced new weather satellite will now launch into space no earlier than Thursday (Nov. […]
SpaceX Delays Launch of Secret Zuma Mission to Thursday
A spaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands atop Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a commercial satellite launch in October 2017 in this file photo. SpaceX will launch the secret Zuma mission for the U.S. government on Nov. 16, 2017. SpaceX’s planned launch of a secret Zuma payload for the U.S. government has […]
Meet 'Oumuamua! The 1st Interstellar Visitor Ever Seen Gets a Name
The interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 (ʻOumuamua), previously known as C/2017 U1 (PANSTARRS) and A/2017 U1, was closest to the Sun on Sept. 9. Traveling at about 98,400 mph (158,360 km/h), ʻOumuamua is headed away from the Earth and sun on its way out of the solar system. We now know what to call the mysterious […]
What Is Earth Made Of?
The space shuttle Endeavor captured this image of the San Andreas Fault on Feb. 11, 2000. The fault marks the slippery yet sticky boundary between two of Earth’s tectonic plates, where the North America plate meets the Pacific plate. Earth is unique among the known planets: it has an abundance of water. Other worlds — […]
Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets
The planets of the solar system as depicted by a NASA computer illustration. Orbits and sizes are not shown to scale. Ever since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, kids grew up learning about the nine planets of our solar system. That all changed starting in the late 1990s, when astronomers began to argue about […]
New Camera Will Search for Star Explosions and Other Quick Changes in the Cosmos
A powerful new camera that will help scientists search for exploding stars and fast-moving objects in Earth’s solar system has captured its first image of the night sky. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is officially up and running at the California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory in the mountains northeast of San Diego. Its primary […]