space program

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First Samples From Moon's Far Side Return to Earth

China's lunar probe is back

(Newser) - China's Chang'e 6 lunar probe returned to Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first, the AP reports. The probe landed in northern China on Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region. "I now declare...

Monolith Briefly Baffles Turkey
Mystery Solved
on New Monolith
Feb 9, 2021 6:17 PM CST

Mystery Solved on New Monolith

Turkey's space program announcement explains the appearance and disappearance

(Newser) - The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may not be known as a bunch of pranksters, but it conceded Tuesday that a monolith that mysteriously appeared in a field was an official publicity stunt. The 10-foot-tall monolith was discovered Friday in a field of wheat and olive trees, the...

Israel's Ambitious Moon Landing Attempt Fails

It was supposed to be the first privately funded lunar mission

(Newser) - An Israeli spacecraft lost contact with Earth and crashed just moments before it was to land on the moon late Thursday, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar mission . The spacecraft lost communication with ground control as it was making its final descent...

Mike Pence Announces New 'Space Race'

He says astronauts will return to the moon by 2024 by 'any means necessary'

(Newser) - Mike Pence promised Americans the moon during a meeting of the National Space Council on Tuesday. The vice president said the current NASA plan to have US astronauts on the moon by 2028 was "just not good enough" and vowed that Americans would get to the moon by the...

Iran Satellite Launch Fails
Iran's 'Message' Fails to Launch
Jan 15, 2019 12:17 AM CST

Iran's 'Message' Fails to Launch

'Payam' satellite fails in third stage of its launch

(Newser) - Iran on Tuesday conducted one of at least two satellite launches it planned despite criticism from the United States, but the satellite failed to reach orbit, an official said. The rocket carrying the Payam satellite failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of its launch, Telecommunications...

A Sally Ride Lego Figure? Yep, and She's Not Alone

Maia Weinstock's 'Women of NASA' prototype has been given green light

(Newser) - Mathematician Katherine Johnson was one of the women of NASA depicted in the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, and now she's about to get her own Lego figure. Per MIT News , Johnson and four other women involved with the space agency over the years—Margaret Hamilton (computer scientist), Mae Jemison...

Europe Launches 2 Satellites— Into Wrong Orbit

Apparently, sometimes it takes GPS to launch GPS network

(Newser) - The European Space Agency on Friday launched a pair of satellites in the hopes of building a GPS network similar to that of the United States. Problem: They apparently took a wrong turn, and ended up in an elliptical orbit that's lower than the circular one they were supposed...

China Becomes 3rd Country to 'Soft Land' on Moon

Completes first soft landing of a space probe in nearly 40 years

(Newser) - State media say China has safely carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades. State television showed pictures of the moon's surface as the Chang'e 3 lander touched down tonight. The lander carries a moon rover called...

Iran: We Launched 2nd Monkey Into Space

But claims are impossible to independently verify

(Newser) - Iran said today it has successfully sent a monkey into space for a second time, part of an ambitious program aimed at manned space flight. Iran's state TV said that the launch of the rocket dubbed Pajohesh, or Research in Farsi, was Iran's first use of liquid fuel...

Everyone's in a Space Race These Days
Everyone's in a Space
Race These Days 
OPINION
Dec 9, 2013 1:55 PM CST

Everyone's in a Space Race These Days

And that's a good thing: Louis Friedman

(Newser) - Gone are the days of the US-versus-Russia space race. "There are now many space races," as numerous nations and private companies get into the game, "and that's good for science," writes Louis Friedman in the Los Angeles Times . Consider India's recent launch of a...

Iran: We Launched a Monkey Into Space

News may fuel US rocket concerns

(Newser) - Somewhere Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be trying on his spacesuit, because Iran is inching closer to sending a person into space—and perhaps to developing long-range missiles, if US concerns prove accurate. Iranian state TV today said that the country launched a monkey into space and it came home safe and...

For Sale: Space Shuttle Launch Pad, Slightly Used

NASA selling off pieces of Kennedy Space Center

(Newser) - If you've been looking for a place to park your spaceship, then NASA has got a deal for you. With the space shuttle program on ice, Uncle Sam is hoping to sell or lease its Kennedy Space Center facilities, including its 15,000-foot landing strip, its launchpad, its rocket...

Air Force's Secret Robot Space Plane Blasts Off

For an unknown mission

(Newser) - Who says America doesn't have a space program anymore? Sure the shuttle's gone, but the military is keeping the dream alive—and classified. The Air Force today launched its top-secret unmanned space shuttle alternative into orbit on a mysterious mission, the AP reports. The vessel, dubbed the X-37B,...

Soyuz Blasts Off for Space Station

New crew launched today from Kazakhstan

(Newser) - An American and two Russians blasted off for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan today in a Soyuz rocket. NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin will travel for two days before meeting up with US astronaut Sunita Williams, Russia's Yuri Malenchenko, and Japan's...

Air Force Spacecraft Ends 15-Month Secret Mission

X37-B space plane lands itself at military base

(Newser) - An American spacecraft landed itself at a military base in California on the weekend, ending a 15-month mission—but don't expect to hear much about what the unmanned plane was doing up there. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is an Air Force plane and while the military says the...

Newt's Lunar Ideas Not Lunacy
 Newt's 
 Lunar Ideas 
 Not Lunacy 
OPINION
Apr 24, 2012 11:14 AM CDT

Newt's Lunar Ideas Not Lunacy

We should listen to Gingrich's space ideas: Jeffrey Goldberg

(Newser) - Jeffrey Goldberg is not what one might call a Newt Gingrich fan, but as he sat on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport gazing at the space shuttle Discovery as it prepared for its final flight, he realized something: "On the matter of space exploration … Newt Gingrich is...

For Rent: Slightly Used Space Shuttle Launchpad

Kennedy Space Center is looking for tenants

(Newser) - Wondering where to park your space shuttle? Consider Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center. "We’re putting out the word officially and unofficially that Kennedy Space Center is open for business," says a chief architect at the facility. "I have a lot of facilities that we, NASA,...

Crew Emerges From 520-Day Mars 'Flight'

Mission 'lands' without ever leaving planet

(Newser) - They’re free—and they don’t appear to have gone crazy. The crew of Russia’s simulated Mars mission has landed, by which we mean, been released from the narrow confines of the “spaceship” they’ve been trapped in for 520 days . The six men, ages 27 to...

Space Station May Be Forced to Go Unmanned

Would be first time in a decade

(Newser) - The failure of a Russian spaceship, which crashed back to Earth shortly after its launch last week, could lead to the International Space Station being unmanned for the first time since 2001. Russian engineers are trying to determine why the unmanned ship crashed, but they only have a short time...

Russian Spaceship Fails to Orbit, Crashes to Earth

Unmanned craft caused thunderous boom in Siberia

(Newser) - A Russian space station supply ship failed to reach orbit and crashed with a thunderous boom into Siberia today, rattling NASA and others in this new era without any shuttles to bail out the orbiting outpost. The Soyuz rocket soared right on time from Kazakhstan, and everything seemed to be...

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