Come on, STOP the gloom

I viewed some 50 cartoons about the end of the space shuttle program and NASA's [the United States' future in space discovery] role down the road and every one of them was doom and gloom with a misplaced sense of nostalgia. Where is it written that the United States must be the premier player in understanding the universe. Certainly the program was spectacular but it was also costly and dangerous

Atlas V rocket launched Juno into space and on its way to Jupiter

"Juno probe heads for Jupiter from Cape Canaveral"August 5th, 2011BBC NEWSA $1.1bn (£0.7bn) unmanned space mission has launched from Florida on a journey to the planet Jupiter.The Juno spacecraft will cruise beyond Mars to put itself in orbit around the gas giant in 2016.It is the first solar-powered mission to venture this far from the Sun.The mission launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the

NASA's insignias

"Who Made Those NASA Logos?"byHilary GreenbaumAugust 3rd, 2011The New York TimesThe return of the space shuttle Atlantis to the Earth’s atmosphere two weeks ago marked the close of NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program. Retirement of this popular and very visible shuttle program further strains the already diminished agency. “Space experts say the best and brightest often head for the doors when

Dawn snaps Vesta's "snowman"

Using its framing camera, Dawn obtained this image of Vesta on July 24, 2011, from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). The three vertically-aligned craters on the left have been nicknamed "the snowman" by camera team members."Dawn's Smooth Move"August 1st, 2011NASAWhen a NASA spacecraft goes into orbit around a new world for the first time, the control room is usually packed to

NASA's environmental cleanup

Jackie Quinn works with emusified zero-valent iron on April 20. The mixture is used to clean up contaminated soil at Kennedy Space Center.You make the mess, you clean it up."Space program's environmental cleanup could take decades"byJim WaymerJuly 31st, 2011Florida TodayNASA spent decades to send men to the moon, launch the space shuttles and build a laboratory in space, and now it will take a

Juno ready to launch...off to Jupiter

This is what NASA does best."NASA probe poised for launch to Jupiter"byIrene KlotzJuly 28th 2011ReutersA NASA satellite was hoisted aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Wednesday in preparation for launch next week on an unprecedented mission to the heart of Jupiter.The robotic probe called Juno is scheduled to spend one year cycling inside Jupiter's deadly

Mark your calendar...2020...ISS scuttled

"ISS to be sunk after 2020: Russian space agency"July 27th, 2011 Space & Earth / Space Exploration Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, its space agency said Wednesday."After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's

Another Dawn snap of Vesta

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on July 18, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 6,500 miles (10,500 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. The smallest detail visible is about 1.2 miles (2.0 km)."Image: Vesta's South Pole As Seen From Orbit"July 24th, 2011Jet Propulsion LaboratoryDawn took this image while it was orbiting around Vesta, traveling

Asteroids in NASA's crosshairs

What an idiotic idea to spend bucks and talent to think of this now. Efforts can better be placed elsewhere."Daunting space task -- send astronauts to asteroid"bySeth BorensteinJuly 23rd, 2011Associated PressWith the space shuttle now history, NASA's next great mission is so audacious, the agency's best minds are wrestling with how to pull it off: Send astronauts to an asteroid in less than 15