Space

On April 28, 2001, the world of exploration changed forever.

On that day 10 years ago, Dennis Tito, a wealthy engineer who had recently turned 60, broke one of the most sacred barriers in exploration: he became the first private citizen to go to space.

Blasting off on that Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard Russian rocket--Soyuz TM-32--Tito was on his way to a place only professional astronauts and military- or government-sponsored personnel had been able to go before.

Tito was the launch client for a new company called Space Adventures that was founded in 1998. Led by chairman Eric Anderson, the company set out to change one of the most fundamental dynamics of space travel and make it possible for the first time for private citizens to experience life beyond Earth.

This was not possible in the United States. NASA was not interested in taking tourists aboard the Space Shuttle--and never has been--explained Space.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz. And so those like Tito who wanted to make like an astronaut had no choice but to go the Space Adventures route--which meant traveling to Russia for weeks of training and an eventual trip aboard one of that country's Soyuz rockets. … Read more

NASA said today that new data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has demonstrated that the amount of atmosphere on the Red Planet depends entirely on the tilt of its axis. This is significant, the space agency said, because that axis tilt may well impact the stability of any liquid water that exists on Mars, as well as the frequency and strength of dust storms.

In a release, NASA explained that by employing the MRO's ground-penetrating radar, researchers were able to identify a massive subsurface deposit of frozen carbon dioxide--dry ice--on Mars' southern pole. "The scientists suspect that … Read more

Two companies tied to prominent technology entrepreneurs are among those that received funding through the NASA's Commercial Crew Development effort, the government agency announced yesterday.

Blue Origin, which was started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, received $22 million in the funding round. PayPal co-founder Elon Musk's SpaceX received $75 million. They were flanked by Sierra Nevada and Boeing, which received $80 million and $92.3 million, respectively.

The Commercial Crew Development program, which began in 2009, is arguably one of the most important efforts under way at NASA. Its goal is to help U.S. private enterprises develop … Read more

Everybody's favorite barrel-chested starship commander and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" interpreter, William Shatner, has announced the list of guest artists and songs for his new album, "Searching for Major Tom."

And it looks like the "Star Trek" legend has been joined in the studio by, among others, Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi, Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins, talk-box virtuoso Peter Frampton, and power chord superhero and undersung Kink brother Dave Davies.

The guest list reads like a classic-rock who's who, with other honorary crew members including Johnny Winter, Alan Parsons, and more … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Ending months of suspense, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden today announced the winners of a national competition to display the agency's three space shuttles after the fleet is retired and decommissioned later this year, choosing sites in Florida, California, and, as expected, the Washington, D.C., area.

Speaking on the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight on April 12, 1981, Bolden said the shuttle Discovery, NASA's senior orbiter, will be displayed near Washington at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The shuttle Atlantis will remain at the Kennedy … Read more

The crew of the International Space Station joined Russian leaders and space officials, their NASA counterparts, and international partners around the world to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's launch on April 12, 1961, to become the first human in space.

"In the 20th century, it has become the most extraordinary event, the most significant event not only in Russia but the whole world and we're very proud of the fact that the first cosmonaut went into space on April 12, 1961, and he was our compatriot," Anatoly Perminov, director general of the Russian space … Read more

"They've got a man up there. It's Gagarin."

With those fictionalized words (see video below), spoken by actor Jeff Goldblum in Philip Kaufman's terrific 1983 screen adaptation of Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff," millions of viewers were ushered into the era of manned space flight.

Goldblum's harried alert to a roomful of top American policymakers represents just a little of the reaction in the United States to what happened 50 years ago today, on April 12, 1961, when 27-year-old Flight Major Yuri Gagarin, who was born on a collective farm west of Moscow … Read more

Thirty years on, NASA's space shuttle program is now in its last lap, but its place in history is assured.

On the morning of April 12, 1981, the shuttle Columbia, strapped to an enormous external fuel tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters, lifted off on its maiden voyage--and launched a new era in the Space Age. Never before had there been a spacecraft that could be used over and over again, that could land on Earth like an airplane--a glider, specifically.

That flight lasted 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes, and 53 seconds, in which time … Read more

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, plans to build a commercial heavy-lift rocket that will carry more than twice the payload of existing large rockets at one-third the cost. That would lower the price of delivering cargo to low-Earth orbit to the long-sought, and so far mythical, $1,000-per-pound range, the company's founder and chief designer announced today.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the Falcon Heavy--made up of three Falcon 9 core stages powered by 27 upgraded Merlin engines and generating a combined 3.8 million pounds of thrust--will be ready for its initial test flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., late next year or early 2013.

It will be the most powerful U.S. launcher since NASA's Saturn 5 moon rocket. NASA is exploring options for an even more powerful, congressionally mandated "super heavy-lift rocket" for use in deep space exploration, but it's not yet clear when that vehicle will fly or what its mission will be.

Musk said he expects initial demand to reach 10 Falcon Heavy launches a year if the test flight and subsequent launches go well. Potential customers include commercial satellite operators, NASA, and the military. Musk added that the military currently plans to spend some $1.74 billion on four Air Force launches in 2012 at an average cost of $435 million per flight.

SpaceX's single-core Falcon 9 rocket is available commercially for between $50 million and $60 million, the company said in a statement, while the new Falcon Heavy will cost between $80 million and $125 million, depending on requirements.

"Falcon Heavy represents a huge economic advantage," Musk said. "Falcon Heavy costs about a third as much per flight as a Delta 4 Heavy, but carries twice as much payload to orbit. So it's effectively a six-fold improvement in the cost per pound to orbit. In fact, Falcon Heavy sets a new world record for the cost per pound to orbit of around about $1,000. That's a pretty huge leap in capability."… Read more