nasa

What if a meteor heads toward NYC? NASA says 'pray'

At a House Committee hearing today, NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr. was asked what America would do if a meteor similar to the one that hit in Russia on February 15 was found to be on a path toward New York, with impact three weeks away. His response? "Pray."

At the moment, we might be lucky to get even three weeks' warning. The United States and the rest of the world simply do not have the ability to detect many "small" meteors like the one that exploded over Russia, which has been estimated at roughly 55 … Read more

Sex in space may be dangerous, study says

I've always imagined that being up in space isn't really so much fun.

Yes, the views are nice, but the claustrophobia must be entirely stifling. What are you supposed to do up there, for days on end? You can't just work all the time.

The temptation, then, might be to occasionally enjoy a little recreation in the procreative sphere.

Sex would surely offer a touch of vigorous exercise and a little human community.

However, now research has emerged suggesting that sex up there could be dangerous.… Read more

Space shots: Our beautiful world from far above

Today, the International Space Station gets a change of command as outgoing NASA Commander Kevin Ford transfers leadership of the space lab to Commander Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to assume the role. Hadfield and crew will carry out the planned Expedition 35 mission (PDF).

Our gallery below looks back at some the extraordinary images of Earth Hadfield captured with dSLRs during his first few months aboard the space lab (he and Expedition 34 arrived in mid-December). The unique vantage point of the ISS delivers unforgettable vistas, from the astoundingly abstract Australian Outback to a sensational shimmer of gold on the waters of the San Francisco Bay.… Read more

Curiosity Rover discovers conditions suited for ancient life on Mars

NASA is reporting that an analysis of a rock powder sample collected by the Curiosity rover suggests that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

The sample contained traces of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon -- key chemical ingredients for life.

For astronomers, the news constitutes the latest clue in their pursuit of a scientific holy grail: Answering the big question about whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. Their challenge until now has been to confirm whether the Martian atmosphere could have supported a habitable environment. The preliminary evidence now suggests the answer is yes, with the rock samples pointing to evidence that conditions on Mars were once favorable for life. A couple of particularly intriguing clues: The presence of clay as well as the absence of "abundant salt" point to the likely existence of an ancient environment where there was fresh water, according to NASA.… Read more

Rare views of eclipses as seen from space

The boffins who keep tabs on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) had another of their periodic "wow" moments when the latest transmissions from space turned up a couple of unique images of the sun in eclipse. The first shot, transmitted earlier this morning between 2:15 to 3:45 ET, captured the sun partially blocked from view by the Earth. About five hours later, the SDO snapped a photo of the moon moving in front of the sun.

This is going to be a regular pattern for the next three weeks when Earth blocks the craft's … Read more

Amid troubleshooting, Curiosity computer swap under way

Work to carry out what amounts to an electronic brain transplant aboard the Curiosity Mars rover -- a complex sequence of steps to switch operations to a backup flight computer -- is continuing this week amid ongoing analysis to figure out how to resolve memory corruption discovered last week in the rover's active computer.

The memory glitch interrupted science operations, forcing flight controllers to put the craft in a low-activity "safe mode" while the computer switch was implemented.

Richard Cook, the Mars Science Laboratory project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told CBS News … Read more

Cargo ship attached to station after smooth rendezvous

After recovering from thruster problems and flying a near-perfect rendezvous, a SpaceX cargo ship pulled up to the International Space Station early today and stood by while commander Kevin Ford, wielding the lab's robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture to secure the spacecraft for berthing.

Operating the Canadian-built arm from a robotics work station in the multi-window Cupola compartment, Ford grappled the Dragon cargo ship at 5:31 a.m. EST, an hour earlier than expected, as the two spacecraft passed 253 miles above northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston congratulated the crew … Read more

SpaceX cargo ship cleared for Sunday station capture

With its propulsion system working flawlessly, a SpaceX cargo ship loaded with supplies and equipment bound for the International Space Station was cleared by NASA on Saturday to press ahead for a day-late capture by the lab complex early Sunday.

NASA space station managers and their SpaceX counterparts met Saturday to assess the Dragon capsule's performance following launch Friday and concluded all systems were "go" for a replanned rendezvous and capture by the station's robot arm Sunday at 3:31 a.m. PT.

"The station's Mission Management Team unanimously agreed that Dragon's propulsion … Read more

SpaceX overcomes thruster problems with cargo ship

A SpaceX cargo ship loaded with more than a ton of spare parts, science equipment, and crew supplies bound for the International Space Station thundered safely into orbit today. But vexing trouble with the capsule's rocket thrusters quickly turned the $133 million flight into a high-tech cliff hanger.

Six-and-a-half hours after launch, follwoing extensive troubleshooting and analysis, it appeared company engineers had resolved the problem, bringing all four sets of thrusters on line and setting the stage for a delayed rendezvous with the space station.

But it was touch and go in the early stages of a high-stakes drama … Read more

SpaceX scrambles to fix glitches with cargo ship

A SpaceX cargo ship loaded with more than a ton of spare parts, science equipment and crew supplies bound for the International Space Station thundered into orbit Friday, but trouble with the capsule's thrusters forced flight controllers to delay solar array deployment and replan an already complex rendezvous.

"It appears that although it achieved Earth orbit, Dragon is experiencing some kind of problem right now," John Insprucker, SpaceX's Falcon 9 product manager, said during a company webcast. "We'll have to learn about the nature of what happened. According to procedure, we expect a press … Read more