NASA's Spirit Mars Rover Is In A Bit Of A Bind

After five years on martian soil, everyone's favorite might be done for good if NASA's engineers can't figure out a way to remove her from the rock-studded soft Martian soil. Spirit beached herself on Sol 1925 (June 2, 2009) in the softened soil region named "Troy." By using her microscopic...

Dec 22, 2024

SpaceX Launches Second Successful Orbital Rocket

As the Space Shuttle Endeavor waits on the launch pad for optimal weather conditions, the -founded SpaceX launched its second successful rocket into orbit late Monday night carrying a into orbit. The first successful launch came last September after a very public and very embarrassing failed launch while attempting to...

Dec 22, 2024

One Giant Leap For Mankind: Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Today, forty years ago, mankind took a giant leap and stepped foot on the surface of our moon. It's a perfect time to celebrate with a look back at the mission. In the gallery below, we'll take you through the delivery of the Saturn V to the launch pad, the...

Dec 22, 2024

One Giant Leap For [Insert Advertiser Name Here]

wants to put advertisements on the moon using driving robots in an effort to grab your skyward gazing attention. A few question arise— How will they get the robots to the moon's surface? What are the legal ramifications, if any? Will a governing body step in to prevent us from...

Dec 22, 2024

Take Your Porsche 911 GT3 To Mars... In 2086

Cars in space need not be capsules puttering away via cold fusion. Especially if your location in space is as terran as it gets: Mars. Should the ever bear distant fruit, mankind will take its first steps on Mars, several decades after . Peter Dushenski, editor of , has where...

Dec 22, 2024

How To Attach The Space Shuttle To A Boeing 747

Because the Space Shuttle occasionally has to use alternate landing places, NASA uses two heavily modified 747 aircraft to ferry them around the world. Check out how they mate the shuttle to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft below. Click "next" to scroll through the steps involved in dropping the giant space...

Dec 22, 2024

Ares I-X Sits On Launch Pad, Not-Yet-Go For Flight

This is NASA's rocket — the unmanned version of the , which, at 380 ft high, will be the tallest rocket ever — on Launch Pad 39B at 's awaiting a delayed liftoff. The flight test of Ares I-X, originally scheduled for sometime before noon today and now scrubbed, will...

Dec 22, 2024

Rockets Blow Up, Video Exists, Elton John Unharmed

Wired has assembled footage of six of the most costly and catastrophic failures in spacecraft history. This is what it's like to watch billions of dollars burn. Warning: Most of this is entertaining stuff — few things are better than seeing government-grade explosives do what they do best — but...

Dec 22, 2024

Virgin Galactic SpaceshipTwo: First Photos

Set to be officially unveiled tonight, here's the first images of 's SpaceShipTwo attached to its mothership Eve. One more shot without below. [] The official unveiling is tonight, but we have the first images of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo… ...

Dec 22, 2024

New NASA Space Telescope Launches Aboard Delta II Rocket

NASA launched its (WISE) space telescope Monday morning aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:09 AM. Launch and shot of the probe-like capsule opened to show WISE below. The WISE space telescope is capable of surveying the entire sky every six months. The...

Dec 22, 2024

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Completes Inaugural Captive Flight

The dream of privately-operated, civilian-accessible space flight took another step toward reality today when -backed Scaled Composite's successfully completed its first captive flight attached to the twin-hulled WhiteKnight, reaching an altitude of 45,000ft over the Mojave. [ via ] ...

Dec 22, 2024

Air Force To Launch X-37B Robotic Space Plane

After a decade of development, the Air Force plans later this month the X-37B — a robotic spacecraft resembling a small space shuttle to conduct technology tests in orbit and then glide home to a California runway. The ultimate purpose of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and details about the...

Dec 22, 2024

NASA to replace astronauts with GM-built humanoid robots

Astronauts, America's beloved cowboys, are about the . Sounds like the right time for GM to brag about its astronaut-replacing R2 space robot NASA's sending into space this year. Launching tone-deaf PR in five... GM dredged up an announcement today on Robonaut 2, or R2 — a robot developed jointly...

Dec 22, 2024

NASA Engineers Drift Lunar Electric Rovers

NASA Engineers put on a show for fans last week, hooning two brand-new in public. The Rover's 12 pivoting wheels allow it to drive "crab-style." That's NASA speak for sideways. While we were doting over the monstrous new presidential limo dubbed "The Beast," NASA was busy… The Lunar Electric Rover,...

Dec 22, 2024

What It Feels Like To Land The Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle approaches earth backwards at approximately 18,000 mph before turning nose-down towards home. This incredible video shows what it's like to glide to Earth after slowing to 700 mph. The landing gear is jarringly loud. This is the shuttle Atlantis landing at Edwards Air Force Base after shuttle...

Dec 22, 2024