nasa

I don't know if you've ever flown Aeroflot, but I am told that on some of the flights you get benches rather than seats--which is why I am rather admiring of Richard Garriott's courage.

Garriott, a video game developer from Austin, Texas, is spending a reported $35 million to get shot up in a Soyuz, according to Reuters.

He says he isn't scared. That's despite the fact that a South Korean lady, who became a Soyuznik in April, complained that she thought she was going to die upon re-entry. Her no-doubt highly sober captain apparently … Read more

It's not just a pretty picture. This NASA photo from Kennedy Space Center shows how, for the first time since July 2001, two shuttles are on launch pads at the same time. Atlantis is in the foreground on Launch Pad A, and Endeavour is behind it on Launch Pad B.

Endeavour was moved into position Friday so it could be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary for the Atlantis' planned October 10 mission to repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the agency said.

Once Endeavour is cleared from its rescue spacecraft duty, it'… Read more

NASA has issued a preliminary report confirming environmentalists' fears of disappearing sea ice at the Arctic.

Sea ice is the thick permanent ice formed by frozen ocean water that remains even as seasonal ice melts away in the summer. In the past, it has covered about 60 percent of the Arctic.

The sea ice at the Arctic has now been found to have melted away by as much as half, according to a preliminary report issued Tuesday by NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.

"According to NASA-processed satellite microwave data, … Read more

According to a report at MediaFlux, NASA has had a successful preliminary design review of the Ares I rocket, which will be responsible for taking its Orion crew into orbit in 2015. The review was conducted by a team of more than 1,100 specialists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

It was the final step of the design process of the Ares I and according to NASA, was the first critical milestone in more than 35 years of a U.S. rocket responsible for carrying astronauts into space.

This was the first in a long … Read more

Gary McKinnon has lost his legal challenge against extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking into NASA and military systems.

McKinnon had applied to the European Court of Human Rights for it to hear an appeal against his extradition. Under Rule 39, citizens can make an emergency application to halt extradition proceedings, if they believe that their human rights will be infringed upon.

McKinnon's legal team on Thursday sent out a statement saying his application had been denied. "Today the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Mr. McKinnon's application for Rule 39 Interim … Read more

Rocket fans are a little closer to having their own spectator sport--thanks to a new engine design and the sponsorship of fashion brand DKNY.

The Rocket Racing League, an aspiring Formula 1 for rocket racing, said Wednesday that it completed its three test flights with a new liquid oxygen-alcohol engine from Armadillo Aerospace, a suborbital space company founded by Doom creator John Carmack. This summer, the RRL also secured a high profile sponsorship from a clothing brand that people wouldn't necessarily associate with rockets: DKNY for men. The premiere racer for the league now will have the luxury clothing … Read more

The first ever reported computer virus has infected at least two laptops onboard the International Space Station more than 200 miles above Earth.

The worm, believed to be W32.Gammima.AG, steals personal information used to play online games from infected computers and then attempts to send the information back to a remote computer, according to SpaceRef.com, which broke the news on Monday.

The virus was not the first to hit a space station last month, just the first one that was reported, NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries told Wired News. He described it as a "nuisance" that … Read more

If outer space had sound, what would it be?

If you're composer Nolan Gasser, it would be a mixture of high-pitched violins, crashing cymbals, and low-pitched trombones. To him, outer space is a symphony of melody and solar science intertwined. In his new composition, "Cosmic Reflections," Gasser plans to prove it.

"I can hear parts of it in my mind," he said. "One of the things I know I want to do is...write a theme that will permeate throughout the entire work that will somehow be a 'universal theme.' How I'm going … Read more

Within the next 10 years, the U.S., China, Israel, and a host of private companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a flag, does that give them property rights?

A NASA working group hosted a discussion this week to ask: who owns the moon? The answer, of course, is no one. The Outer Space Treaty, the international law signed by more than 100 countries, states that the moon and other celestial bodies are the province of all mankind. No doubt that would irk all of the people throughout the ages, like … Read more