Category: NASA

New Space Telescope Reaches Final Stop Million Miles Out

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The world’s biggest, most powerful space telescope arrived at its observation post 1 million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe. On command, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly five minutes to go into…


NASA Begins Process of Bringing New Space Telescope Into Focus

NASA on Wednesday embarked on a months-long, painstaking process of bringing its newly launched James Webb Space Telescope into focus, a task due for completion in time for the revolutionary eye in the sky to begin peering into the cosmos by early summer. Mission control engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,…


Space Telescope’s ‘Golden Eye’ Opens, Last Major Hurdle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA’s new space telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror Saturday, the final step in the observatory’s dramatic unfurling. The last portion of the 21-foot mirror swung into place at flight controllers’ command, completing the unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope. “I’m emotional about it. What an amazing milestone. We see that…


Chinese Scientist Pleads Guilty to Stealing From US Agricultural Biotech Firm

A Chinese national pleaded guilty on Jan. 6 to conspiracy to commit economic espionage after he tried to steal a trade secret from his U.S. employer to advance his career at a Chinese state-run research institute. Haitao Xiang, 44, a legal permanent U.S. resident formerly from Missouri, worked for Monsanto, a St. Louis-based agrochemical and…


Amazon Collaborates With Lockheed Martin, Cisco

Lockheed Martin Corp, Amazon.com Inc, and Cisco Systems Inc partnered to integrate unique human-machine interface technologies into NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It would provide an opportunity to learn how future astronauts could benefit from far-field voice technology, AI, and tablet-based video collaboration. The Callisto technology demonstration will be integrated into NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the agency’s Artemis I uncrewed mission…


NASA Nails Trickiest Job on Newly Launched Space Telescope

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA aced the most complicated, critical job on its newly launched space telescope Tuesday: unrolling and stretching a sunshade the size of a tennis court. Ground controllers cheered and bumped fists once the fifth and final layer of the sunshield was tightly secured. It took just 1.5 days to tighten the ultra-thin layers…


NASA Estimates Metrics of Exploding Meteor That Shook Ground

PITTSBURGH—A meteor that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons (27,216 kilograms) of TNT, officials said. NASA’s Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday a “reasonable assumption” of the speed of the meteor at about 45,000…


NASA Estimates Metrics of Exploding Meteorite That Shook Ground

PITTSBURGH—A meteorite that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons (27,216 kilograms) of TNT, officials said. NASA’s Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday a “reasonable assumption” of the speed of the meteorite at about 45,000…


NASA’s New Space Telescope ‘Hunky-Dory’ After Problems Fixed

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA’s new space telescope is on the verge of completing the riskiest part of its mission—unfolding and tightening a huge sunshade—after ground controllers fixed a pair of problems, officials said Monday. The tennis court-size sunshield on the James Webb Space Telescope is now fully open and in the process of being stretched tight….


What’s Up? The Cosmic Space Missions Expected in 2022

“2021 turned out to be a big newsy year in space, no doubt about it, but 2022 is going to continue that momentum and maybe even amp it up a little bit,” says AP’s Cape Cansveral correspondent Marcia Dunn. “There’s lots going on with more people on the verge of launching into space, both for…