Tag: Space
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NASA puts Pluto and its heart on a valentine
Pluto is all smiles in NASA’s valentine. (Credit: NASA) Say it with Pluto? After NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft spotted a heart-shaped region on Pluto, you had to know it was just a matter of time before the dwarf planet made its appearance on a valentine. Sure enough, this year’s crop of printable Valentine’s Day cards…
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Abort, retry, fail? Astronaut pokes fun at Windows XP during space training in Russia
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet undergoes training in a Soyuz spacecraft simulator in 2014 at Russia’s Star City cosmonaut training center. (Credit: ESA) Moscow, we have a problem: Russia’s cosmonaut training center in Star City might need to upgrade its Soyuz spacecraft simulators to Windows 10. Based on some snapshots tweeted by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet,…
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‘The Age of Aerospace’: Boeing sponsors TV series looking back at 100 years of high-flying history
“The Age of Aerospace” traces 100 years of history. (Credit: Science Channel) This year marks the Boeing Co’s 100th anniversary, and the company is using the centennial as an opportunity not only to celebrate its own history, but the history of aerospace as well. That celebration takes the TV spotlight starting tonight, in the form of…
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UW researchers trace a connection between the moon and the rain
Readings from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, shown in this artist’s conception, provided evidence to support a link between lunar tides and rainfall patterns. (Credit: NASA) When the moon is high in the sky, its gravitational pull warps the atmosphere enough to reduce rainfall ever so slightly. At least that’s the conclusion that researchers from…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to go into space by 2021 and start Mars missions by 2025
Elon Musk flashes a smile during the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong. (Credit: InvestHK via YouTube) SpaceX founder Elon Musk says he has his heart set on going into space himself, perhaps in the next four or five years, and organize the first flights to Mars by 2025. Musk’s travel timetable came out this week…
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Stephen Hawking: Mad scientists could kill us all – that’s why we need space colonies
British physicist Stephen Hawking worries about humanity’s long-term future. (Credit: NASA) British physicist Stephen Hawking says we need to colonize other worlds because humanity will almost certainly face a disaster on Earth sometime in the next few millennia – perhaps a disaster of our own making. Among the risks he outlined in a report from the BBC…
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Space ventures get shout-outs in State of the State Address – and State of the Union
In his State of the State Address, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee pointed to Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin and SpaceX as aerospace success stories. (Credit: Office of the Governor) Even though they happened far from the Evergreen State, last year’s Pluto flyby and the rocket landings accomplished by Blue Origin and SpaceX were among the “big…
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Video inspired by ‘The Martian’ tackles real-life mystery: How to sleep in space
Do sleeping astronauts have to worry about being tied down in zero-G? (Credit: Fox / Armed Mind) How do you get your Z’s in zero-G? Sleeping in space is one of the subjects tackled in a new video series from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment that capitalizes on the buzz generated by “The Martian.” Fox’s “Life in Space” series…
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NASA’s newest women astronauts get the Glamour treatment: Want to join them?
NASA astronaut Anne McClain keeps her eye on the Magic 8 Ball during zero-G training on NASA’s “vomit comet” airplane in 2014. The toy served as a mascot for the eight astronauts in the class of 2013, who were nicknamed the “8 Balls.” (Credit: NASA via @AstroAnnimal) That’s one small step for NASA’s women astronauts,…
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Elon Musk vs. Jeff Bezos: Watch this hilarious animated recap of their great space race
Image via Taiwanese Animators History was made earlier this week when Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket, and then successfully returned it to its Florida landing pad. The successful mission set off yet another round of Twitter barbs in the space rivalry between Musk and Amazon.com and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, who…