The Space Shot

Just one month after U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot in the head in Tucson, Ariz., her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, announced Friday that he will resume training Monday to command the shuttle Endeavour during its final flight in April. He said his recuperating wife "would be very comfortable with the decision I made."

What input Giffords may have provided was not clear because "I just don't want to go into details about her condition," Kelly told reporters during a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Then people speculate … Read more

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope detected 1,235 possible extra-solar planets during its first four months of operation, astronomers announced Wednesday, including 68 approximately Earth-size worlds. Five of those are orbiting in the parent star's habitable "Goldilocks" zone, where conditions are "just right" for liquid water to exist in environments favorable for life.

The planetary "candidates" must be confirmed by additional observations and analysis, and it will take another two years to collect enough data to determine how common Earth-like worlds might be. But based on the initial results, "Kepler's … Read more

Using a powerful new camera on the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered what appears to be the most distant object ever observed, a small proto galaxy some 13.2 billion light-years away that dates back to just 480 million years or so after the Big Bang birth of the universe.

The object was found in "deep field" images taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 that combined scores of optical and infrared exposures to capture a cosmic core sample showing nearby and increasingly distant galaxies. Showing up only in infrared light, the proto galaxy appears as … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Less than six weeks before launch, astronaut Timothy Kopra, injured in a bicycle accident Saturday, was removed from the crew of the shuttle Discovery today and replaced by astronaut Stephen Bowen, a veteran spacewalker who flew aboard the shuttle Atlantis last May. Despite the last-minute crew change, NASA officials say Bowen should be able to complete a hurried round of refresher training in time for blastoff around February 24.

"As anybody would be this close to flight, [Kopra]'s disappointed," chief astronaut Peggy Whitson told reporters. "His crew made very tight bonds and … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Even using shuttle-derived hardware, established contractors, and long-standing engineering expertise, NASA's projected budget will not cover the costs of developing a congressionally mandated heavy-lift booster and a manned capsule for deep space exploration by 2016 as ordered, agency officials informed lawmakers this week.

NASA managers promised to continue studying alternative approaches and designs for a new Space Launch System heavy-lift booster and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, but insisted any such program must be "affordable, sustainable and realistic."

"To date, trade studies performed by the Agency have yet to identify heavy-lift and capsule architectures … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Veteran shuttle commander Frederick Sturckow will replace Mark Kelly in near-term training for a flight aboard the shuttle Endeavour in April, NASA announced today. With Kelly's wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in critical condition in Tucson with a gunshot wound to the head, the substitution will free Kelly to remain at her bedside while ensuring his crewmates complete critical flight training.

NASA officials said Kelly, who endorsed the decision, remains the designated commander of shuttle mission STS-134. Sturckow will begin training with Endeavour's crew next week.

"I recommended to my management that we take … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Engineers believe they have zeroed in on the root cause of cracks in the shuttle Discovery's external tank, NASA officials said today.

Installation of a relatively simple modification to the tops of the structural ribs, or stringers, where the ship's liquid oxygen tank is supported by a massive flange should resolve the problem once and for all, officials say, setting the stage for another launch attempt February 24.

"We're on the road to bringing this tank to a hundred percent," said shuttle Program Manager John Shannon. "It's been two … Read more

After a two-day orbital chase, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Friday, bringing three fresh crew members to the lab complex and boosting its full-time crew back to six.

With rookie commander Dimitry "Dima" Kondratyev at the controls, flanked by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli to his left and NASA astronaut Catherine "Cady" Coleman to his right, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft glided to a smooth docking with the station's Rassvet mini-research module at 3:11 p.m. EST as the two vehicles sailed 224 miles above Western Africa.

A few moments later, … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--The shuttle Discovery's external tank was loaded with more than a half million gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen rocket fuel today in a critical test to learn more about what caused cracks in structural ribs, or stringers, that were discovered after a November 5 launch attempt.

The cracks were repaired, but engineers want to pin down the root cause to make sure the huge tank is structurally sound and able to withstand the rigors of another launch attempt.

The fueling test began at 7 a.m. EST and ended at 2:25 p.… Read more