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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Have two spacecraft ever docked to two separate space stations on the same day?
The Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou 8 docks with space station Tiangong 1, on the same day a Progress resupply capsule arrives at the International Space Station.
Decoding SpaceX's re-usable spacecraft concept
Breaking down the futuristic technologies for SpaceX's reusable Grasshopper spacecraft, as shown in a recent promotional video.
China's first space station takes flight
A Long March rocket carried China's first space station, Tiangong-1, into orbit September 29.
Video: Soaring over Earth
This amazing video has already been posted by basically every other space blogger but I can't resist featuring it too, especially because I just realized that it was not made by NASA but instead by a member of the public digging into public NASA archives of image data -- yay for amateurs!
Students Design Human Asteroid Mission in Caltech Space Challenge
I spent much of the past week attending the Caltech Space Challenge, a student-organized international competition to design a human mission to a Near-Earth asteroid. It was a great week, and one of the most positive, upbeat and hopeful programs I have participated in concerning the future of space exploration.
NASA unveils Space Launch System
After months of political wrangling, NASA has finally unveiled the design of the Space Launch System, America's next deep space transportation system.
New Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photos show Apollo sites in sharpest detail yet
On September 6, NASA released new high-resolution photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites from vantage points as close as 21 kilometers.
Express Mail to Low Earth Orbit
Concern about the supply chain for the ISS has been growing steeply over the last months. The final flight of Atlantis turned the ominous shadow of a future without the shuttle into a glum reality. And only a few weeks later, we have witnessed, with some degree of a shock, the first failure of a Progress mission in many years.
Progress comes to a halt
The first post-shuttle resupply mission in ISS history got off to a rocky start, as a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft failed to reach orbit, crashing into south central Russia.
What's up in human spaceflight: the gas station edition
An update on human spaceflight, including orbital propellant depots, suborbital test flights and an Orion crew capsule test aboard a Delta IV Heavy.
Looking down on a shooting star
This photo is making the rounds of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and whatever other social network you care to name today. It was shot by astronaut Ron Garan from the Space Station, and it's a meteor seen from above. Way cool.
What's up in human spaceflight: a Dragon approaches
Private spaceflight company SpaceX has secured tentative approval with NASA to combine its next test flight with an actual ISS docking.
Beginning of the post-shuttle era
At 5:57AM EDT (9:57 UTC) this morning, Atlantis gracefully rolled to a stop on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center Landing Facility, completing the 135th and final mission of the space shuttle program that started in 1981.
Your guide to a shuttle landing
The final installment of my three-part series on the basics of shuttle launches and landings. Part III: de-orbiting, re-entering and landing.
In Focus retrospective on the shuttle program
Since jumping from the Boston Globe to the Atlantic with his signature galleries of striking images, Alan Taylor has continued to regularly feature space-themed photos. This week his In Focus feature looks back at the shuttle program with 61 images -- check it out!
Historic Final Flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour
After a 16 day journey of more than sixteen million miles, Space Shuttle Endeavour and her six man crew glided to a safe nighttime landing at 2:35 a.m. EDT on June 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I watched from close by the shuttle landing strip as the ghostly ship flew past, preceded by shocking twin sonic booms.
Shuttle LIFE Organisms Return from Space
In the middle of the night on June 1, 2011, millions of passengers returned safely to Earth as part of the great conclusion to space shuttle Endeavour's last flight, STS-134. Many of those millions of passengers were part of the Planetary Society's Shuttle LIFE experiment. Five different kinds of creatures from all three domains of life are part of Shuttle LIFE.
Congratulations to the California Science Center on getting Space Shuttle Endeavour!
Space exploration is an international endeavor and I usually try to speak as a citizen of Earth rather than one of my nation, state, or city, but I'm going to ask you to indulge me in a little local boosterism today.
Happy 50th birthday of human spaceflight
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to see firsthand the blackness of space above our home planet's thin atmosphere. Since there's lots of thoughtful reporting and commentary being posted on this anniversary, I thought it'd be more useful to link to some particularly interesting posts than to add in my comments.
What's up in the solar system in April 2011
April 2011 will see MESSENGER begin the science phase of its orbital mission at Mercury, and should, I think, also see the start of Dawn's approach observations of Vesta. At Mars, Opportunity is back on the road again, rolling inexorably toward Endeavour. At Saturn, Cassini will continue its focus on Saturn and Titan science.