Cutting Edge

Station astronauts enjoy 'new car smell' of SpaceX cargo craft

Running well ahead of schedule,the International Space Station's crew opened hatches between the Harmony module and the newly arrived SpaceX Dragon cargo ship early Saturday to kick off a busy few days of work to unload about a half ton of supplies and equipment.

Wearing goggles and filter masks to protect against any floating contaminants that might be present -- a routine precaution when visiting cargo craft arrive -- flight engineer Donald Pettit and Expedition 31 commander Oleg Kononenko cracked open the hatch and floated inside at 5:53 a.m. EDT (GMT-4).

The Dragon cargo ship, making more

Success! Space station snags SpaceX Dragon capsule

In a moment of high drama on the high frontier, flight engineer Donald Pettit, operating the International Space Station's robot arm, this morning reached out and locked onto SpaceX's Dragon capsule.

That capture of the commercial cargo ship came after a complex rendezvous, a final sequence of approach-and-retreat test maneuvers, and quick work to adjust critical sensors that were getting fooled by reflections from a Japanese research module.

The last-minute hiccups were just that, nerve-wracking but relatively minor adjustments to correct for the real-world performance of complex laser and infrared imagers used to compute the Dragon cargo ship'more

Stars are the stars in 'History of Space Photography'

The Williamson Gallery at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., recently teamed with neighbor and NASA/Caltech affiliate the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create an exhibition of photos that dazzles one with the visual extravagance of the cosmos.

"The History of Space Photography" features 150 images, selected by guest curator Jay Belloli and several consultants at JPL. Most are from the last 50 years or so, but some date back as far as the 19th century.

The exhibition wrapped up its inaugural showing at Art Center earlier in May, but it's scheduled to begin a tour of science museums in India this November, and will touch down at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in New York next year. (Space fanatics should get started on those travel arrangements now.)

SpaceX Dragon capsule breezes through station flyby tests

There were no technical problems of any significance during the Dragon cargo ship's "fly under" Thursday.If all goes well, flight controllers in Houston and at SpaceX's Hawthorne, Calif., control center are expected to maneuver the cargo ship to within just 30 feet of the station early Friday, carrying out a final series of tests along the way.

At that point, flight engineer Donald Pettit, operating the lab's robot arm, plans to lock on and pull the Dragon capsule in for berthing around 11:30 a.m. EDT.

"Today went really very close to how we had more

'Part-Time Scientists' aim to develop autonomous rover

Some people try to make the most of their spare time by exercising, volunteering, or simply recharging their batteries. Others like to use that time to build robots that can be blasted to the moon and then set free to roam the lunar landscape. A group of engineers and researchers calling themselves Team Part-Time Scientists have chosen the latter, and are building a moon rover named Asimov they hope will win the coveted Google Lunar X Prize by early 2014.

As the name implies, at least half of Part-Time Scientists' 100 members are holding down full-time jobs at industrial firms more

Russians say they intend to establish permanent moon bases

Vladimir Popovkin, who runs the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said during a panel discussion in Washington that Russia intends to press ahead with long-term human operations on the surface of the moon. "We're not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago," Popovkin said. "We're talking about establishing permanent bases."

It's likely to get cramped up there as Yuichi Yamaura, an associate executive director at JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, indicated that Japan also was "looking at the moon as our next target for human exploration."

U.S. spy agency looking to train students in cyber ops

The National Security Agency has chosen the first four universities it will accredit to teach cyber ops programs.

The universities winning the designation Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations" are Dakota State University, the Naval Postgraduate School, Northeastern University, and the University of Tulsa.

Twenty universities have applied to partner with the federal agency, which said it started the program with an eye toward building a larger reservoir of professionals to support its work in conducting cyber-intelligence operations against adversaries. The interdisciplinary curriculum will include coursework in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. Some participants will also be more

SpaceX cargo ship takes off on commercial flight to station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Three days after a last-second launch abort, an unmanned cargo ship designed and built as a private venture blasted off early Tuesday and streaked into orbit, kicking off a complex test flight to pave the way for commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station.

With a replacement valve installed in the engine that derailed a launch try Saturday, all nine of the booster's first-stage powerplants roared to life on time at 3:44:38 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), throttling up to full thrust with a rush of fiery exhaust.

An instant later, after more

SpaceX replaces engine valve, clears rocket for Tuesday launch

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--SpaceX engineers have cleared the company's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule for another try tomorrow to kick off NASA's first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

The engineers replaced a suspect valve in an engine that triggered a last-second launch abort Saturday and carried out a data review to make sure there were no other problems, clearing the way for a second attempt.

With forecasters predicting an 80 percent chance of good weather, the 178-foot-tall Falcon 9 is scheduled for liftoff from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force more

SpaceX launch scrapped in last-second drama

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--With its engines throttling up to full thrust, the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercial cargo ship bound for the International Space Station was aborted at the last instant early Saturday when telemetry showed higher-than-allowable pressure readings in one of the rocket's nine first-stage powerplants.

A post-scrub inspection revealed the problem was caused by a suspect check valve in an engine turbopump. Engineers with rocket-builder Space Exploration Technologies Corp. worked late Saturday to replace the valve and if no other problems crop up, the company hopes to make another launch attempt Tuesday.more