Pentagon officials said they think a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the fuel tank of an errant spy satellite late Wednesday, eliminating a toxic threat to people on Earth.
The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurred Wednesday, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.
The U.S. Navy succeeded in its effort to shoot down an inoperable spy satellite before it could crash to Earth and potentially release a cloud of toxic gas, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.
Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.
A Navy team including some 200 industry experts and scientists has been working furiously since January to modify the Aegis air-defense missile system so it can shoot down a failed satellite officials say could fall to Earth, a Pentagon official told CNN.
The U.S. Navy likely will make its first attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Wednesday night.
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station early Monday for its journey back to Earth, ending a nearly nine-day visit to deliver, install and activate Europe's new orbital laboratory.
Military plans to shoot down a damaged U.S. spy satellite carrying toxic fuel will not concern the crew aboard the international space station, commander Peggy Whitson said Saturday.
Pentagon officials said they think a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the fuel tank of an errant spy satellite late Wednesday, eliminating a toxic threat to people on Earth.
The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurred Wednesday, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.
The U.S. Navy succeeded in its effort to shoot down an inoperable spy satellite before it could crash to Earth and potentially release a cloud of toxic gas, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.
Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.
A Navy team including some 200 industry experts and scientists has been working furiously since January to modify the Aegis air-defense missile system so it can shoot down a failed satellite officials say could fall to Earth, a Pentagon official told CNN.
The U.S. Navy likely will make its first attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Wednesday night.
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station early Monday for its journey back to Earth, ending a nearly nine-day visit to deliver, install and activate Europe's new orbital laboratory.
Military plans to shoot down a damaged U.S. spy satellite carrying toxic fuel will not concern the crew aboard the international space station, commander Peggy Whitson said Saturday.
The U.S. military may try within days to shoot down a failed satellite using a missile launched from a Navy ship, officials announced Thursday.
Two astronauts ventured outside Friday for the last spacewalk of the shuttle Atlantis' mission to the international space station, working to attach science experiments to the exterior of the new Columbus lab.
The Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, The Associated Press has learned.
With two of their three spacewalks completed, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex focused Thursday on getting the new Columbus lab up and running.
Two spacewalking astronauts supplied the international space station with a fresh tank of nitrogen gas Wednesday, one of them a German who was too sick to venture outside a few days earlier.
With the Columbus lab now secured to the international space station, the 10 orbiting astronauts rolled up their sleeves on Tuesday for their next big job: getting the lab running.
NASA engineers are assessing two small areas on the space shuttle Atlantis that may have received some damage during Thursday's launch and ascent, officials said Saturday.
Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the international space station Saturday, delivering Europe's $2 billion research lab after years of delay.
Shuttle Atlantis chased the international space station in orbit Friday as its crew prepared for a laser inspection of their ship's wings.
After two months of delay, shuttle Atlantis blasted into orbit Thursday with Europe's gift to the international space station, a $2 billion science lab named Columbus that spent years waiting to set sail.
An aerospace company is negotiating to use a military rocket to ferry hardware, crew and cargo to a planned commercial space station, privately-held Bigelow Aerospace said Tuesday.
Seven astronauts returned to NASA's launch site Monday to take a new shot at flying space shuttle Atlantis to the international space station.
A telescope arms race is taking shape around the world. Astronomers are drawing up plans for the biggest, most powerful instruments ever constructed, capable of peering far deeper into the universe -- and further back in time -- than ever before.
The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way.
The space station's two American astronauts went out on a riskier-than-usual spacewalk Wednesday to fix one of two equipment failures that have crippled their power system and threatened to stall construction.
The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider.
An asteroid that exploded over Siberia a century ago, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown down trees, wasn't nearly as large as previously thought, a researcher concludes, suggesting a greater danger for Earth.
A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday.
There's been only one incident of a NASA crew member being impaired by drugs or alcohol close to a launch, but never on a launch day, according to a new survey of active-duty astronauts and flight surgeons.
NASA's Messenger spacecraft sped within 124 miles of Mercury on Monday, putting it on a course that will have it orbiting the solar system's innermost planet in three more years.
The possibility of a collision between Mars and an approaching asteroid has been effectively ruled out, according to scientists watching the space rock.
China plans to launch its third manned space mission that will feature its first-ever space walk during 2008, state media said Tuesday.
NASA on Thursday delayed the flight of space shuttle Atlantis until late January or, more likely, February to replace a suspect connector in the fuel tank.
Under pressure from Congress, NASA on Monday released thousands of pages of complaints from pilots about crew fatigue, air traffic congestion and communications.
About half the size of a football field and 21 stories tall, the largest optical telescope ever constructed will use almost 1,000 mirrors to hunt for exoplanets -- and maybe even unlock the secrets of spacetime.
As NASA astronaut Daniel Tani orbited Earth, hundreds of mourners filled a suburban Chicago church Sunday to remember his 90-year-old mother as someone who endured hardship to raise five children and worked until age 70.
Daniel M. Tani's 90-year-old mother died in an auto accident this week, but he has no way of getting home until late January. He must grieve from more than 200 miles away -- in orbit, aboard the international space station.
NASA will wait two years longer than planned and spend another $40 million to launch a half-billion-dollar probe to Mars because of an unspecified conflict of interest in the purchasing process, officials said Friday.
NASA on Tuesday traced fuel gauge failures in shuttle Atlantis' tank to a bad connector, and a top manager said he did not know how long it would take to replace the part or when the spaceship might fly.
A pair of space station astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Tuesday to inspect two defective mechanisms that are hobbling power generation at the orbiting complex.
The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: A black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighboring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.
Newly released NASA e-mails hint at something more than a professional relationship between former astronaut Lisa Nowak and a space shuttle pilot.
NASA will fill the space shuttle Atlantis' fuel tank next week in hopes of cracking a vexing fuel gauge problem that led to back-to-back launch delays, the agency said Tuesday.
New observations from NASA's long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft show the solar system is asymmetrical, likely from disturbances in the interstellar magnetic field, scientists reported Monday.
NASA scrubbed space shuttle Atlantis' planned Sunday launch after a cut-off sensor designed to gauge the fuel level of the external liquid hydrogen tank failed another test, a space agency spokesman said.
NASA mission managers decided Friday to push the space shuttle Atlantis' scheduled Saturday launch to Sunday afternoon.
NASA said the shuttle Atlantis will launch no earlier than Saturday after Thursday's launch was scrubbed when a pair of fuel gauges in its big external tank failed to work, a recurring problem since the Columbia disaster.
Atlantis' seven-man crew is short on space experience, but that's on purpose. NASA wants to give as many rookie astronauts a shot at space before the shuttles are retired in less than three years.
Seven astronauts arrived for the start of countdown to Thursday's space shuttle launch as NASA wrapped up repairs on Atlantis' fuel tank.
Nearby Venus is looking a bit more Earth-like with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.
China displayed the first image of the moon captured by its Chang'e 1 lunar probe at a gala ceremony Monday, marking the formal start of the satellite's mission to document the lunar landscape.
Here we are, nearly eight years into the 21st century, and the most spectacular manned mission NASA can pull off is a trip to the International Space Station, a mere 210 miles above the Earth.
Russia is planning a new rocket launch facility that will be prepared to put a manned mission in space by 2018, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.
A pair of spacewalking astronauts finished wiring the international space station's newest room on Saturday, crossing the last major task off their to-do list before the next shuttle mission early next month.
When China's lunar orbiter blasted off last month, there was not a cheer or smile or a "whoo-haaa" to be had in mission control.
A Chinese satellite successfully entered lunar orbit Monday, a month after rival Japan put its own probe into orbit around the moon, but Chinese officials denied there was any competition between the two nations.
Two spacewalking astronauts wired up the international space station's newest room Tuesday and, to NASA's delight, kept the next shuttle visit on track for early December.
Discovery and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday and concluded a 15-day space station build and repair mission that was among the most challenging -- and heroic -- in shuttle history.
Discovery's astronauts got their spaceship ready for the ride home on Tuesday, wrapping up a 15-day mission that kept the crew far busier than planned.
A comet that unexpectedly brightened in the last couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye is attracting professional and amateur interest.
After a week and a half of intense and unprecedented work, the astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery undocked from the international space station on Monday to begin their two-day journey home.
A spacewalking astronaut fixed a ripped solar energy panel on the international space station Saturday in a difficult and dangerous emergency procedure.
NASA officials hustled Friday to finish planning a riskier-than-usual spacewalk to save a ripped solar wing at the international space station.
NASA worked furiously Thursday to plan a spacewalk to fix the ripped solar wing at the international space station, hoping to solve the problem before the shuttle Discovery undocks.
In the aftermath of Tuesday's tear of a space station solar array during deployment, NASA has recast its spacewalk plans for the remainder of Discovery's stay at the international space station.
NASA canceled a spacewalk Wednesday as it scrambled to deal with two power problems at the international space station.
Spacewalking astronauts bolted a solar power tower to the international space station on Tuesday, completing an ambitious three-day moving process that ended with elation when the beam's giant solar panels began to unfurl.
Two of the world's most famous meteorites failed to attract buyers at an auction Sunday, while an ordinary metal mailbox zapped by a falling space rock in 1984 was sold for the unearthly price of almost $83,000.
Astronauts plowed ahead Monday with the mammoth job of moving a 17½-ton solar array truss on the international space station, a task made even more crucial following the discovery of contamination in an important part of the orbiting lab's power system.
Spacewalking astronauts doing construction work Sunday outside the international space station made a disturbing discovery: what appear to be metal shavings inside a joint that is needed to turn a set of solar power panels.
The commander of the international space station and an Italian astronaut, wearing goggles and surgical masks, on Saturday opened the hatch to christen the complex's brand new room.
Astronauts using a robotic arm attached a bus-sized addition to the international space station Friday, with help from a pair of spacewalkers.
You don't need a rocket to send scientific instruments into space. A really big balloon works just as well, according to an international research team that plans to take a closer-than-ever look at the sun.
The crew aboard the international space station greeted Discovery's seven astronauts with hugs and handshakes on Thursday after the shuttle arrived at the orbiting outpost to begin an ambitious construction mission.
China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday, the first step in an ambitious 10-year plan to send a rover to the moon and return it to earth.
Discovery's seven astronauts conducted a painstaking inspection of the space shuttle Wednesday, focusing especially on three wing panels to make sure possible cracks spotted beneath the shuttle's protective coating hadn't worsened.
Space shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven rocketed into orbit Tuesday in pursuit of the international space station, where a formidable construction job awaits them.
China will launch its first lunar probe this week, an official said Monday -- weeks after regional rival Japan put one in high orbit over the moon in a big leap forward in Asia's undeclared space race.
A Soyuz craft carrying the international space station's first female commander and Malaysia's first space traveler docked Friday at the orbital outpost after a two-day trip from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan.
This weekend as the seven astronauts relax before Tuesday's blastoff into space, the beer will be cold and waiting at crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center.
NASA's senior managers cleared space shuttle Discovery for liftoff Tuesday, overruling a safety group that called for further studies and wing repairs, if necessary, before next week's launch.
China hopes to join an international space station project that already counts leading space powers like the United States and Russia as its members, a government official said Tuesday.
Mars' aging twin rovers will explore the red planet for at least two more years under an extension approved by NASA.
NASA is studying a possible problem with the thermal shielding on Discovery's wings that could force a delay in this month's launch.
Talk about cold, miserable weather! When dawn comes on Titan it's nearly 300 degrees below zero with a steady drizzle.
A Russian rocket blasted off from a launch facility in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, carrying an American, a Russian and a Malaysian to the international space station.
Astronomers have taken a baby step in trying to answer the cosmic question of where we come from.
Having coaxed all the life they can out of an 8-year-old ultraviolet light-detecting space telescope, scientists will reluctantly turn it off later this month.
A crew that includes Malaysia's first astronaut and an American who will become the first woman to command the international space station prepared Monday for blastoff later this week.
Albert Fisher of Los Angeles, California, spent the night of October 4, 1957, wondering whether he would see Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. At age 16, he had helped start one of many teams of amateur scientists working through the Operation Moonwatch network, initiated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to help track satellites.
A Japanese satellite was injected into lunar orbit, a first for the nation and for Asia, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed Friday.
The Soviets beat the United States at getting a satellite, and a man, into space. Now, the Chinese may get to the moon before the U.S. can make a return visit.
With a series of small beeps from a spiky globe 50 years ago Thursday, the world shrank and humanity's view of Earth and the cosmos expanded.
When Sputnik took off 50 years ago, the world gazed at the heavens in awe and apprehension, watching what seemed like the unveiling of a sustained Soviet effort to conquer space and score a stunning Cold War triumph.
A piece of outer space named for George Takei is in kind of a rough neighborhood for somebody who steers a starship: an asteroid belt.
The son of a retired astronaut is about to follow his father into orbit, after buying a $30 million ticket for a seat on a Russian rocket.
NASA's rover Opportunity has reached its first stop inside a huge Martian crater and was poised Thursday to carry out the first science experiments.
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