Tag: NASA
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Soyuz MS-27 launches three new crew members to ISS
The fourth crewed space mission of 2025 is now underway. Soyuz MS-27 launched successfully at 05:47 UTC on Tuesday, April 8, from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Roscosmos’ Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and NASA’s Jonathan “Jonny” Kim were onboard, flying to the International Space Station (ISS). After its nominal launch, Soyuz MS-27…
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Europe’s quest to finally land on Mars takes another turn
Oh, ExoMars, what a long, strange trip it has been. Are you ever going to go to space? The ExoMars mission represents Europe’s third attempt to land successfully on Mars, and at a cost of more than $1.3 billion. there is a lot riding on its success. But success is far from assured for a…
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Europe’s quest to finally land on Mars takes another turn
Oh, ExoMars, what a long, strange trip it has been. Are you ever going to go to space? The ExoMars mission represents Europe’s third attempt to land successfully on Mars, and at a cost of more than $1.3 billion. there is a lot riding on its success. But success is far from assured for a…
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NASA’s Curiosity rover has found the longest chain carbon molecules yet on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has detected the largest organic (carbon-containing) molecules ever found on the red planet. The discovery is one of the most significant findings in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. This is because, on Earth at least, relatively complex, long-chain carbon molecules are involved in biology. These molecules could…
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NASA switches Starliner crew to SpaceX Dragon as testing continues on troubled Boeing capsule
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 members stand inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Nov. 13, 2024. From left are Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Pilot NASA astronaut Mike Fincke. Image: NASA/Josh…
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Rocket Report: Stoke is stoked; sovereignty is the buzzword in Europe
Welcome to Edition 7.37 of the Rocket Report! It’s been interesting to watch how quickly European officials have embraced ensuring they have a space launch capability independent of other countries. A few years ago, European government satellites regularly launched on Russian Soyuz rockets, and more recently on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets from the United States.…
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As NASA faces cuts, China reveals ambitious plans for planetary exploration
China created a new entity called the “Deep Space Exploration Laboratory” three years ago to strengthen the country’s approach to exploring the Solar System. Located in eastern China, not far from Shanghai, the new laboratory represented a partnership between China’s national space agency and a local public college, the University of Science and Technology of…
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As preps continue, it’s looking more likely that NASA will fly the Artemis II mission
Late Saturday night, technicians at Kennedy Space Center in Florida moved the core stage for NASA’s second Space Launch System rocket into position between the vehicle’s two solid-fueled boosters. Working inside the iconic 52-story-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, ground teams used heavy-duty cranes to first lift the butterscotch orange core stage from its cradle in the…
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Trump White House drops diversity plan for Moon landing it created back in 2019
About five years ago, the Trump-appointed administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, revealed the name of the program that would return humans to the Moon. It was to be Artemis, from a Greek goddess who was the twin sister of Apollo. The symbolism was clear. NASA’s second human program to the Moon would be different: We…
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Can NASA remain nonpartisan when basic spaceflight truths are shredded?
It looked like the final scene of a movie, the denouement of a long adventure in which the good guys finally prevail. Azure skies and brilliant blue seas provided a perfect backdrop on Tuesday evening as a spacecraft carrying four people neared the planet’s surface. “Just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean off the…