Joe Engle, X-15 and space shuttle astronaut, dies at 91 | Space Quiz! Which NASA rover is collecting samples of the Martian surface to be returned to Earth on a later mission? | Starliner's return date? Boeing and NASA still don't know.
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Joe Engle, the first astronaut to fly in space aboard two different winged vehicles, has died at the age of 91. Engle's death on Wednesday (July 10) was announced in a note from his family shared publicly on Facebook. "Blessed with natural piloting skills, General Joe, as he was known to many, was at his happiest in any cockpit," read the note. "He lived a fulfilled life as a proud American, U.S. Air Force pilot, astronaut and Kansas Jayhawk. His passing leaves a tremendous loss in our hearts."
The first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner capsule has been in orbit for more than a month now, and it still doesn't have a return date. "We're taking our time on the ground to go through all the data before we decide on the return opportunity," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said during a press conference on Wednesday (July 10).
At the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC), learn how taking your research to the International Space Station (ISS) could lead to breakthrough innovation. • Hear about pioneering space-based research • Network with space pioneers ISSRDC. Register now.
China is planning its first mission to impact an asteroid in the name of planetary defense. The mission will serve a dual purpose: One craft will impact the asteroid while its partner observes the space rock to learn more about the solar system and its formation.
Leverage Space to Advance Your R&D Goals Hear how space enables advances in research from drug development to transformative technologies at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC). Take this opportunity to delve into innovations benefiting humanity & driving the space economy. Register now.
SpaceX plans to launch 20 more of its Starlink satellites on Thursday night (July 11), including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off Thursday from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base, during a four-hour window that opens at 10:39 p.m. EDT (7:39 p.m. local California time; 0239 GMT on July 12). That's one day later than originally planned; SpaceX didn't give a reason for the slip.
Scientists with the University of California, Berkeley, have carried out successful tests of a next-gen microgravity 3D printer called SpaceCAL. The tests were carried out as part of the Virgin Galactic 07 mission, a crewed suborbital spaceflight that launched on Monday (June 8). During its 140-second trial run, SpaceCAL 3D printed four items from a liquid plastic called PEGDA. These included space shuttle models and small tugboats called "Benchys," conventionally used as benchmarks (hence the name) to evaluate a printer's quality and performance.
While NASA's portion of the Mars Sample Return mission sits in budgetary limbo, the European Space Agency (ESA) continues to move forward with its piece of the Red Planet sampling puzzle: the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO). ERO will provide the crucial transport of Mars samples collected by NASA's Perseverance rover from the Red Planet to Earth. In order to do so, it will rendezvous with the sample in Martian orbit, catch a basketball-sized capsule whizzing around the planet and finally bring that capsule back to Earth.
Forget about those campfire yarns about the infamous land rushes of the Old West in the 19th century as it can't hold a candle to the crazy, free-for-all stampede for positioning satellite megaconstellations in the erupting sectors of space infrastructure and aerospace firms' desires for profit in the unfolding era of commercial exploitation. Wild Wild Space" (a sly nod to the cult '60s western spy series, "Wild Wild West") is a new HBO Original documentary directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ross Kauffman ("Born Into Brothels") which premieres on HBO and streams on Max beginning on July 17, 2024.
After an uneven first half of the season, The Acolyte seems to have found its voice and a satisfying rhythm. Last week, the plot slowed down and characters were reshuffled a bit after they were shaken to the core in the fantastic fifth episode (Qimir is doing fine though). With episode 7, the show finally unveils what really happened 16 years ago on Brendok, and the line between good and evil feels even more blurred.
SpaceX rivals challenge Starship launch license in Florida | Space Quiz! What aids astronomers in their observations of distant celestial objects hidden behind closer, larger cosmic masses, like a galaxy? | The James Webb Space Telescope finds a jeweled ring
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SpaceX's plans to launch its Starship-Super Heavy two-stage rocket 44 times per year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have come under fire from its two main rivals: United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
A sparkling jeweled ring, created through a cosmic phenomenon called gravitational lensing, has been imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. The new image captures a distant quasar known as RX J1131-1231, which lies about 6 billion light-years from Earth. The powerful gravitational field of a nearby elliptical galaxy, located in the foreground of the image, warps the light of the quasar - which is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN) - creating a bright arc and duplicate views of the object, ultimately procuring a visual that looks like gemstones on a ring.
From the late spring to early fall, the Saharan Air layer, a large plume of super dry and very dusty air that originates over the Saharan Desert in Africa makes a trek more than 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers) across the Atlantic toward the United States.
At long last, the Ariane 6 has left the ground. Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket has finally taken flight, carrying the hopes of a continent on its broad back. The Ariane 6 launched for the first time ever today (July 9), lifting off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 3:01 p.m. EDT (1901 GMT). There was a lot riding on this debut: It came a year after the retirement of Ariane 6's predecessor, the workhorse Ariane 5, left Europe unable to launch big satellites on homegrown rockets.
Scientists may have solved a lingering mystery surrounding the ice giant Uranus and its weak radiation belts. It's possible the belts' weakness is linked to the planet's curiously tilted and lopsided magnetic field; the field could be causing "traffic jams" for particles whipping around the world.
SpaceX is gearing up for the fifth test flight of its Starship megarocket, which could take place in the next few weeks. The company just rolled Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, out to the launch pad at Starbase, its facility in coastal South Texas. SpaceX documented the move via social media, posting four photos and a 30-second video on X on Tuesday.
Good news, everyone! Hulu's recent reboot of the witty sci-fi animated series "Futurama" has been greeted with much love, nostalgia, and fanfare and now after last summer's wild Season 11, we're about to board the Planet Express once again for more zany adventures with Fry, Leela, Bender, Professor Farnsworth and the whole 31st century crew.
