Satellite

Falling UARS Satellite Slows Down, Re-entry Delayed

September 23, 2011

A dead 6-ton satellite baffled NASA experts Friday by slowing its descent toward Earth and delaying its ultimate crash until the early part of the weekend. The space agency is now predicting the satellite will crash down to Earth late Friday or early Saturday, Eastern Time. Increased solar activity had been causing the atmosphere to expand and the satellite to fall more quickly, but that’s no longer such a major factor, experts said. What’s more, the orientation of the satellite apparently has changed in orbit, and that’s slowing its fatal plunge. Friday morning, NASA cautioned there is now a...

North American Flyby’s of Space Shuttle Endeavour And The ISS In Late April & Early May

April 23, 2011

By Michael Muracco

The International Space Station is the largest spacecraft ever built. Here's how it looked during the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery in March 2011. credit: NASA

The word from Houston is that NASA managers have settled on April 29th for Space Shuttle Endeavour‘s final launch. That’s timed so that the orbiter can easily chase down the International Space Station and deliver its billion-dollar cargo, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer . These shuttle launches also coincide with periods when the ISS repeatedly passes over North America in the hours just after sunset. So not only do you get a chance to see the mammoth, football-field-size assembly glide across the evening sky, but you also might glimpse the shuttle in hot orbital pursuit. I’m always a little surprised...

United States & Russia Joint Mission To Mars Possible
Russia would be willing to be a partner with the United States on a manned mission to Mars, a Russian space official said at… »
Hubble Space Telescope View Of Turbulent Star-Making Region In The Tarantula Nebula
30 Doradus is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighbourhood and home to the most massive stars ever seen.… »
SpaceX And Bigelow Aerospace To Offer Missions To Private Space Station
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Bigelow Aerospace (BA) have agreed to conduct a joint marketing effort focused on… »
Sunspot AR1476 Visible Without A Telescope
Huge sunspot AR1476 is crackling with M-class solar flares and appears to be on the verge of producing something even… »
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Detects Light of Alien ‘Super Earth’
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the… »