Tag: Space

Apollo 7 Astronaut Walter Cunningham Dead at 90

Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program, died Tuesday in Houston. He was 90. NASA confirmed Cunningham’s death in a statement but did not include its cause. Spokespersons for the agency and Cunningham’s wife, Dot Cunningham, did not immediately respond to questions. Cunningham was one…


NASA Retires InSight Mars Mission After Lander Falls Silent

NASA says it is retiring its InSight Mars lander mission, after over four years of collecting data on the red planet. InSight recently fell silent for the first time since arriving on Mars, its power levels had been dwindling for months because of dust coating its solar panels. InSight landed on Mars in 2018 and…


2 Earth-Like Planets Found in Part of Universe Where Life Could Survive

A team of international scientists led by researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) has discovered two earth-like planets orbiting a red dwarf star that lies within the habitability zone of the star. The newly discovered planets, GJ 1002b and GJ 1002c, are orbiting the star GJ 1002 which is located less than…


Russia May Expedite Launch of Next Space Capsule After Leak

MOSCOW—Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos said Monday that a coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station doesn’t require evacuation of its crew, but the agency kept open the possibility of launching a replacement capsule, if needed. Roscosmos said a panel of experts would determine later this month whether the Soyuz…


Satellite Launched to Map the World’s Oceans, Lakes, Rivers

A U.S.-French satellite that will map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers rocketed into orbit Friday. The predawn launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California capped a highly successful year for NASA. Nicknamed SWOT—short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography—the satellite is needed more than ever as…


Poland’s Only Cosmonaut, Who Circled Earth in 1978, Has Died

WARSAW, Poland—Poland’s only cosmonaut, Gen. Miroslaw Hermaszewski, who circled the Earth in a Soviet spacecraft in 1978, has died. He was 81. The retired air force pilot’s death on Monday was announced via Twitter by his son-in-law, European Parliament member Ryszard Czarnecki. He later told Polish media outlets that Hermaszewski died at a hospital in…


Mars Rover Captures 1st Sound of Dust Devil on Red Planet

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—What’s a dust devil sound like on Mars? A NASA rover by chance had its microphone on when a whirling tower of red dust passed directly overhead, recording the racket. It’s about 10 seconds of not only rumbling gusts of up to 25 mph (40 kph), but the pinging of hundreds of dust…


Micrometeorite Possibly Behind Russian Space Capsule Leak

MOSCOW—A coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station could have been caused by a micrometeorite, a Russian space official said Thursday. Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and NASA both said that the incident hasn’t posed any danger to the station’s crew. However, the leak prompted a pair of Russian cosmonauts…


Aussies Play Key Role in New Space Mission

Not far from Los Angeles, one of Elon Musk’s rockets is about to blast off carrying a satellite with extraordinary capabilities. It will be used to survey nearly all the water on the surface of Earth for the very first time. The data will provide an unprecedented depth of knowledge about the Earth’s bodies of…


Japan’s ispace Launches World’s First Commercial Moon Lander

TOKYO—A Japanese space startup launched a spacecraft to the moon on Sunday after several delays, a step toward what would be a first for the nation and for a private company. ispace Inc.’s HAKUTO-R mission took off without incident from Cape Canaveral, Florida, after two postponements caused by inspections of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket….