The Space Shot

Testing pushes SpaceX cargo flight to at least late March

William Harwood — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:23:16 PST

Launch of a SpaceX Dragon cargo carrier on an initial test flight to the International Space Station is on hold until at least late March, and possibly later, to give engineers time for additional tests and checkout.

NASA's Kepler finds Earth-size worlds orbiting another star

William Harwood — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:41:05 PST

The space telescope picks out two confirmed Earth-size planets in orbit around a star 1,000 light years away, the smallest extra-solar planets yet discovered.

Rocket system could lower cost of access to space, Allen says

William Harwood — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:33:30 PST

Microsoft co-founder is teaming with legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan on a new rocket that will be launched at 30,000 feet by a gargantuan carrier plane. Paul Allen has an eye on making access to space more cost-effective.

Paul Allen's Stratolaunch: Grand plan for next-gen space travel

Daniel Terdiman — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:14:53 PST

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen forms Stratolaunch Systems with Burt Rutan. The company plans to build the largest aircraft ever made, and one capable of quick turnarounds on orbital flights.

Originally posted at Geek Gestalt

Earth-like planet found in distant sun's habitable zone

William Harwood — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:26:09 PST

In a long-awaited milestone, astronomers using a NASA space telescope have found a roughly Earth-size world, Kepler-22b, orbiting around a sun-like star where conditions may be favorable for life.

$2.5 billion Mars rover departs Earth, heads for Red Planet

William Harwood — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:17:31 PST

After a flawless launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, NASA's costly Mars Science Laboratory rover is safely on the way to Mars for a bold mission to study the habitability of the Red Planet.

Ambitious Mars Science Lab rover set for Saturday launch

William Harwood — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:27:37 PST

After a break for Thanksgiving, NASA plans to launch a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered rover to Mars for a long-awaited mission to look for evidence of carbon compounds and past or present habitability.

Russian Soyuz rockets into space on delayed station flight

William Harwood — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:47:49 PST

In blizzard-like conditions, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronauts on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Russians prep Soyuz for launch to International Space Station

William Harwood — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:40:50 PST

Two-and-a-half months after a dramatic launch failure, Russian engineers ready a closely inspected Soyuz spacecraft for launch to the space station, the program's first manned flight in the post-shuttle era.

Russian Progress cargo ship docks with space station

William Harwood — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:30:29 PDT

Completing a flawless automated rendezvous, a Russian Progress supply ship glides to a picture-perfect linkup with the International Space Station, bringing 2.9 tons of supplies and equipment.