Space programs
NASA's planet-hunting telescope broken
LOS ANGELES — NASA's planet-hunting telescope is broken.The Kepler spacecraft lost the second of four wheels that control the telescope's orientation in space, NASA said Wednesday.If engineers can't...
Date: 05/15/2013 | Nation & World
Astronaut makes 1st zero-G music video (video)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity."
Date: 05/13/2013 | Off the Wire
Are you hankering for a trip to Mars?
LOS ANGELES -- Do you dream of living on Mars? Then turn on your webcam. You've got an application video to make.Mars One, a Netherlands-based group that wants to turn the colonizing of Mars into a reality television phenomenon, has started accepting applications for its...
Date: 05/11/2013 | Nation & World
Have searchers found Soviet Mars lander?
LOS ANGELES -- Space fans from Russia scanning NASA images have spotted what may be a Soviet spacecraft that landed on Mars in 1971 and then mysteriously stopped working. Photos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter circling the red planet pointed to what may be the...
Date: 04/12/2013 | Nation & World
Tech for Mars colony finds applications in Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska -- A winter in an Arctic village is not for the weary.
Date: 04/06/2013 | Northwest
Senator: NASA to lasso asteroid, bring it closer
WASHINGTON -- NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon for astronauts to explore, a top senator revealed Friday.
Date: 04/05/2013 | Nation & World
Amazon CEO recovers Apollo engines from Atlantic
LOS ANGELES -- Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday.
Date: 03/20/2013 | Business
Curiosity sleeps as solar blast races to Mars
LOS ANGELES -- Curiosity hunkered down Wednesday after the sun unleashed a blast that raced toward Mars.While the hardy rover was designed to withstand punishing space weather, its handlers decided to power it down as a precaution since it suffered a recent computer problem.
Date: 03/07/2013 | Nation & World
China targets 15% of satellite launch market
BEIJING -- China is looking to increase its share of the global commercial satellite launching business, targeting a 15 percent share by 2020, a leading space program official said Saturday.China hopes to increase its market share by establishing strategic alliances with...
Date: 03/03/2013 | Nation & World
SpaceX works to fix capsule's thrusters
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A commercial craft carrying a ton of supplies for the International Space Station ran into thruster trouble shortly after liftoff Friday. Flight controllers managed to gain control, but were forced to delay its arrival at the orbiting lab.
Date: 02/28/2013 | Nation & World
Curiosity rover drills into Mars rock
LOS ANGELES -- In a Mars first, the Curiosity rover drilled into a rock and prepared to dump an aspirin-sized pinch of powder into its onboard laboratories for closer inspection.The feat marked yet another milestone for the car-size rover, which landed last summer to much...
Date: 02/10/2013 | Nation & World
Space station to add inflatable module
The international space station is getting a new, inflatable room that resembles a giant spare tire, NASA announced Wednesday.Slated to launch in mid-2015, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will fly to space deflated before being puffed into a 13-by-10-foot cylinder.
Date: 01/16/2013 | Nation & World
Water found in Mars rock from Sahara
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists are abuzz about a coal-colored rock from Mars that landed in the Sahara desert: A yearlong analysis revealed it's quite different from other Martian meteorites.
Date: 01/04/2013 | Nation & World
Space shuttle's going-out-of-business sale
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Does anyone need a 15,000-foot landing strip? How about a place to assemble rocket ships? Or a parachute-packing plant? An array of aerospace tracking antennas? A launchpad?
Date: 01/03/2013 | Nation & World
She's been to outer space
South Korea's first woman astronaut talks about adventures
Date: 12/29/2012 | Local News
N. Korea springs surprise with rocket launch
WASHINGTON -- North Korea's successful launch of a long-range rocket caught the world by surprise after the secretive regime in Pyongyang claimed technical issues had caused a delay. It drew immediate condemnation from the U.S.
Date: 12/12/2012 | Nation & World
Air Force sends mystery mini-shuttle back to space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The military’s small, top-secret version of the space shuttle rocketed into orbit Tuesday for a repeat mystery mission, two years after making the first flight of its kind.
Date: 12/11/2012 | Nation & World
Space-tour company offers tickets to the moon
WASHINGTON -- It had to happen: A start-up company is offering rides to the moon. Book your seat now -- though it's going to set you back $750 million (it's unclear if that includes baggage fees).
Date: 12/07/2012 | Nation & World
'Astronaut' spider dies at Smithsonian
The U.S. astronaut corps has lost another member.Nefertiti, a spider that traveled 42 million miles through space before returning to Earth in October, died after being sent to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Date: 12/05/2012 | Off the Wire
Mars redux: NASA to launch Curiosity-like rover
LOS ANGELES -- If you thought NASA's latest Mars landing was a nail-biter, get ready for a sequel.The space agency on Tuesday announced plans to launch another mega-rover to the red planet in 2020 that will be modeled after the wildly popular Curiosity.
Date: 12/04/2012 | Nation & World
Rover Opportunity may be at clay-rich site on Mars
LOS ANGELES -- After rolling around the Martian plains for more than eight years, the Opportunity rover finally found a spot believed to be rich in clay minerals, scientists said Tuesday.
Date: 12/04/2012 | Nation & World
Mars rover Curiosity set to hit road again
LOS ANGELES -- After playing in the sand, the Curiosity rover is poised to trek across the Martian landscape in search of a rock to drill into, scientists reported Thursday.
Date: 11/16/2012 | Nation & World
Space shuttle trainer exhibit opens at Seattle museum
SEATTLE -- An exhibit featuring a full-scale mock-up of a Space Shuttle has opened to the public.
Date: 11/11/2012 | Northwest
Scientist hopes to decode Martian DNA
LOS ANGELES — Apparently, there just aren’t enough genomes for Craig Venter to sequence here on Earth, so he’s making plans to send a DNA sequencer to Mars.
Date: 10/18/2012 | Nation & World
Toyota pulls shuttle over L.A. freeway (video)
LOS ANGELES — After slowly surmounting a key obstacle, the shuttle Endeavour maintained a heading Saturday through the streets of Los Angeles toward its retirement home at a museum.
Date: 10/13/2012 | Nation & World
Space shuttle crawls through streets of L.A.
LOS ANGELES -- It's a surreal sight residents won't soon forget: A hulking space shuttle strutting down city streets, pausing every so often to get its bearings as it creeps toward retirement.
Date: 10/12/2012 | Nation & World
Space shuttle begins slow crawl through L.A.
LOS ANGELES — At its prime, the space shuttle Endeavour circled the globe at 17,500 mph, faster than a speeding bullet.In retirement, it's crawling along the streets of Los Angeles at a sluggish 2 mph, a pace that rush-hour commuters can sympathize with.
Date: 10/12/2012 | Nation & World
L.A. girds for space shuttle's trip through town
LOS ANGELES -- The space shuttle's drive from Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park over the next few days is shaping up to be an L.A. commute like no other.
Date: 10/12/2012 | Nation & World
Singer Sarah Brightman to visit space station
MOSCOW -- Sarah Brightman's voice, beloved by audiences and renowned for its three-octave range, rocketed to fame more than two decades ago as the heroine of "The Phantom of the Opera." Now the world's biggest-selling soprano is heading to outer space.
Date: 10/10/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX launch good for NASA, not private firm
WASHINGTON -- A private rocket successfully sent a capsule full of cargo zipping toward the International Space Station in a first of its kind delivery for NASA, but couldn't deliver on job No. 2: putting a commercial satellite into the correct orbit.
Date: 10/09/2012 | Business
Rover to scoop Martian soil, check for life
LOS ANGELES -- For the Mars Curiosity rover, it's one "first-ever" after another.
Date: 10/06/2012 | Nation & World
Curiosity rover finds old Martian streambed
LOS ANGELES -- The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars -- a find that the mission's chief scientist called exciting.
Date: 09/28/2012 | Nation & World
Law gives astronauts possesion of space artifacts
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama ended a months-long fight over NASA relics this week when he signed into law a bill that confers full ownership of early NASA artifacts to the astronauts that took them as souvenirs.
Date: 09/28/2012 | Nation & World
NASA considers orbital outpost near moon
WASHINGTON -- Top NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency's next major mission: construction of an outpost that would send astronauts farther from Earth than they've ever been.
Date: 09/23/2012 | Nation & World
Space shuttle Endeavour's last landing in L.A. (video)
LOS ANGELES — Space shuttle Endeavour has touched down at Los Angeles Airport, marking its final landing after a three-decade career in space and bringing an end to NASA's space shuttle program.
Date: 09/21/2012 | Nation & World
Shuttle leaves Houston for California home (video)
HOUSTON — The space shuttle Endeavour took off atop a modified transport plane from a Houston airport Thursday, beginning its journey to retirement in California, where it will be put on permanent display in a museum.
Date: 09/20/2012 | Nation & World
Faint galaxy sheds light on universe's early years
LOS ANGELES -- The Hubble Space Telescope has detected light from a small galaxy emitted just 500 million years after the big bang, a crucial and difficult-to-study era when the universe was very young, scientists reported Wednesday.
Date: 09/20/2012 | Nation & World
Nation says goodbye to moonwalker Neil Armstrong
WASHINGTON — The nation bid farewell Thursday to Neil Armstrong, the first man to take a giant leap onto the moon.
Date: 09/14/2012 | Nation & World
New images of robot rover Curiosity on Mars
WASHINGTON — NASA's robotic rover Curiosity is making its mark on Mars, in a way so big that it can be seen from space.
Date: 09/06/2012 | Nation & World
35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars
PASADENA, Calif. -- Thirty-five years after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 is reaching for the stars.Sooner or later, the workhorse spacecraft will bid adieu to the solar system and enter a new realm of space -- the first time a manmade object will have escaped to the other side.
Date: 09/04/2012 | Nation & World
Astronauts, family mourn humble hero Neil Armstrong
CINCINNATI -- Neil Armstrong was a humble hero who saw himself as a team player and never capitalized on his celebrity as the first man to walk on the moon, mourners said Friday outside a private service attended by fellow space pioneers, including his two crewmates on the historic Apollo 11...
Date: 09/01/2012 | Nation & World
NASA Mars rover begins trek to new destination
LOS ANGELES -- The Mars rover Curiosity is hitting the road.
Date: 08/30/2012 | Nation & World
Sweet! Astronomers spot sugar molecule near star
BERLIN -- Astronomers say that, for the first time, they have discovered one of the ingredients of life -- sugar -- in a gas cloud surrounding a young star.
Date: 08/30/2012 | Nation & World
For the humble moon man
He made the solar system a little smaller when, on July 20, 1969, he brought the moon to his feet as the commander of Apollo 11.
Date: 08/28/2012 | Editorials
He was a hero to the world
First man on the moon was humble to the end (gallery)
Date: 08/26/2012 | Nation & World
Armstrong's feat resonates among people of all ages
EVERETT -- When news spread that astronaut Neil Armstrong had died, people of different ages in Snohomish County reacted the same way.An important historical figure was gone.
Date: 08/26/2012 | Local News
'One giant leap for mankind'
Neil Armstrong, first man on moon, dies at 82 (gallery)
Date: 08/25/2012 | Nation & World
NASA video captures drama of Mars landing (video)
PASADENA, Calif. — Viewers can now relive the drama of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars with a new NASA video detailing the final moments of touchdown.
Date: 08/23/2012 | Nation & World
Mars rover Curiosity makes first test drive (video)
PASADENA, Calif. — The NASA rover Curiosity made its first test drive Wednesday on ancient soil of Mars.
Date: 08/22/2012 | Nation & World
India plans spacecraft to orbit Mars
NEW DELHI -- India plans to send a spacecraft to Mars next year on a scientific mission critics say shows the governing party's skewed priorities when people lack electricity and safe drinking water.
Date: 08/16/2012 | Nation & World
Asteroid mining has more billionaires on board
LONDON -- Planetary Resources, an asteroid-mining venture backed by Google executives, says it has added more billionaire investors and is nearing a partnership agreement with a "top-10" mining company.
Date: 08/12/2012 | Nation & World
The best of Curiosity
Collection of some of the most fascinating photos from Mars
Date: 08/09/2012 | Nation & World
Mars rover worth the cost?
So we put a landrover on Mars -- big deal.The project cost $2.5 billion, according to the New York Times, and for that, we're going to get some pictures, maybe find carbon-based molecules?
Date: 08/09/2012 | Editorials
Probe's journey captures curiosity
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's latest adventure to Mars has given the world more than just glimpses of a new alien landscape.
Date: 08/08/2012 | Nation & World
NASA anxious over Mars probe's 'seven minutes of terror' (video)
PASADENA, Calif. -- Seven minutes of terror.It sounds like a Hollywood thriller, but the phrase describes the anxiety NASA is expecting as its car-sized robotic rover tries a tricky landing on Mars late Sunday.
Date: 08/03/2012 | Nation & World
Boeing lighting project may help astronauts sleep
A new sunrise takes place every 90 minutes. Docking maneuvers sometimes occur at odd hours. Then there's that feeling of apparent weightlessness.No wonder astronauts aboard the International Space Station can have a hard time getting a good night's sleep.
Date: 07/29/2012 | Nation & World
Astronaut Sally Ride comes out as gay in obit
NEW YORK — Pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, who relished privacy as much as she did adventure, chose an appropriately discreet manner of coming out.
Date: 07/25/2012 | Nation & World
He found a planet
Edmonds astrophysicist spotted something NASA missed
Date: 07/18/2012 | Local News
Small steps, giant leaps
Paine Field sculpture evokes moon-shot memories
Date: 07/18/2012 | Local News
New world
Edmonds astrophysicist discovered a planet that even NASA missed
Date: 07/18/2012 | TWH News
Soyuz rocket launches on mission to space station
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — A Russian Soyuz craft launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan on Sunday, carrying three astronauts on their way to the international space station, where they will quickly start preparing for a frenzy of incoming traffic.
Date: 07/15/2012 | Nation & World
Not-a-planet Pluto boasts 5 moons
LOS ANGELES -- Pluto may have been kicked out of the planet club, but it has gained yet another companion.Scientists announced Wednesday the discovery of the smallest moon yet around the icy orb, bringing the tally of known moons to five.
Date: 07/13/2012 | Nation & World
Once-derided climate-change satellite may launch with new goal
WASHINGTON - An Earth observation satellite conceived by former Vice President Al Gore -- but banished to a Maryland warehouse by foes of climate change after George W. Bush beat Gore for the presidency -- could get a ride into space as early as 2014.
Date: 07/10/2012 | Nation & World
Space shuttle trainer arrives Saturday in Seattle
SEATTLE -- A gigantic piece of space history is set to splash down at Seattle's Museum of Flight on Saturday.
Date: 06/29/2012 | Northwest
New data boosts chances of life on Titan
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists reported Thursday on the strongest sign yet that Saturn's giant moon may have a salty ocean beneath its chilly surface.If confirmed, it would catapult Titan into an elite class of solar system moons harboring water, an essential ingredient for life.
Date: 06/29/2012 | Nation & World
3 Chinese astronauts return to Earth (video)
BEIJING — China's first female astronaut and two other crew members emerged smiling from a capsule that returned safely to Earth Friday from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future space station.
Date: 06/28/2012 | Nation & World
Chinese spacecraft manually docks with orbiting module (video)
BEIJING — A Chinese spacecraft carrying three astronauts docked manually with an orbiting module on Sunday, a first for the country as it strives to match American and Russian exploits in space.
Date: 06/24/2012 | Nation & World
Private SpaceX capsule back in Texas
McGREGOR, Texas -- Marred by just a few scorch marks from its re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere, the world's first commercial supply spacecraft to visit the International Space Station weathered its maiden voyage well, NASA and SpaceX officials said Wednesday.
Date: 06/14/2012 | Nation & World
NASA launches telescope to seek black holes
LOS ANGELES -- NASA on Wednesday launched its newest X-ray space telescope on a mission to shine a light on black holes and other hard-to-see objects lurking in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Date: 06/14/2012 | Nation & World
China plans manned space launch this month
BEIJING -- China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday.
Date: 06/10/2012 | Nation & World
Iran builds a new space center
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran is finishing construction of a new space center that will allow it to soon launch more domestically made satellites into orbit, the country's defense minister said Saturday.
Date: 06/03/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX capsule returns to Earth with cargo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Triumphant from start to finish, the SpaceX Dragon capsule parachuted into the Pacific on Thursday to conclude the first private delivery to the International Space Station and inaugurate NASA's new approach to exploration.
Date: 05/30/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX makes historic space station docking
ORLANDO, Fla. -- SpaceX, the upstart California rocket maker, launched a new era in spaceflight Friday when its Dragon capsule was docked at the International Space Station, concluding a cargo delivery trip previously made only by NASA space shuttles and other governments' spacecraft.
Date: 05/25/2012 | Nation & World
Private supply ship flies by space station in test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The world's first private supply ship flew tantalizingly close to the International Space Station on Thursday, acing a critical test in advance of the actual docking.
Date: 05/24/2012 | Nation & World
Who's playing in space race?
WASHINGTON -- A privately built space capsule that's zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race.
Date: 05/24/2012 | Business
Private ship blasts off
Billionaire's ship speeding toward space station (Photo gallery)
Date: 05/22/2012 | Nation & World
SpaceX rocket launch aborted in last half-second (video)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new private supply ship for the International Space Station remained stuck on the ground Saturday after rocket engine trouble led to a last-second abort of the historic flight.
Date: 05/19/2012 | Nation & World
(31)
