Tag: NASA
-
What a view! Space station trio sails home through picture-perfect clouds
A Russian Soyuz craft descends through the clouds toward its landing in Kazakhstan, bringing a U.S.-Russian-British crew back down to Earth. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA) Three spacefliers from the International Space Station made a photogenic return to Earth today, touching down in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The landing marked the end of a 186-day…
-
Jeff Bezos says a big government ‘prize’ could generate more public interest in space exploration
Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, right, shares the stage with former astronaut Maj. Gen. Michael Collins. (Via NASA / YouTube) Amazon founder Jeff Bezos thinks the government could offer “a very large prize” as an incentive to parties involved in the modern space race as a way to generate competition and spur public interest. Bezos’…
-
Videos: Delta 4-Heavy launch flashback
Get a preview of Thursday’s United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket flight in these video highlights packages from previous missions by the big booster for NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA’s Exploration Flight Test — Cape Canaveral (2014) NROL-15 — Cape Canaveral…
-
Astronauts get their first look inside BEAM, the first expandable space habitat
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams works inside the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, the newest addition to the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA TV) Nine days after the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module was blown up to its full volume, astronauts entered the bedroom-sized BEAM compartment for the first time today and started hooking up the…
-
The universe is expanding 5-9% faster than astronomers expected, Hubble team finds
Illustration shows the three steps astronomers used to measure the universe’s expansion rate to an unprecedented accuracy. (Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Feild (STScI), and A. Riess (STScI/JHU)) New research from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope team suggests that the universe is expanding significantly faster than astronomers originally thought. The latest measurements indicate an expansion rate five to nine…
-
Video: Next space station trio finishing training at Star City
Expedition 48-49 Soyuz commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and flight engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, along with their backups, conduct final qualification training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, on May 26 and 27. Ivanishin, Rubins and Onishi are scheduled to launch…
-
After snags, BEAM space module expands to its full volume – like a bag of popcorn
A camera on the International Space Station shows the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, after inflation. (Credit: NASA TV) It took almost eight hours, but NASA accomplished the first expansion of a pop-up module at the International Space Station today, by inflating the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM. BEAM was built for NASA…
-
Fabric too stiff? NASA gets set for second try to expand BEAM space module
The Bigelow Expandable Space Module, or BEAM, is designed to expand to twice its folded-up length, but during an initial attempt, it stretched out just a few inches. (Credit: NASA TV) Update: NASA will make its second attempt to inflate the Bigelow Expandable Space Module starting at around 6 a.m. PT Saturday. More details below. …
-
NASA uses Microsoft’s HoloLens and ProtoSpace to build its next Mars rover in augmented reality
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory check the design of a rover assembly using Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented-reality system. (Credit: NASA) We’ve already seen how Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed-reality headset is helping folks fight off aliens on the International Space Station and take a virtual walk on Mars. Now check out how it’s being used to tweak…
-
Video: Asteroid sampler craft delivered to launch site
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the spacecraft that will grab a piece of Asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth, shipped to Kennedy Space Center from the Lockheed Martin production facilities in Denver on May 20 aboard an Air Force C-17. It was taken to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to begin pre-launch processing. Liftoff atop a United…