Space News Archive - August 21, 2006

They call this place "Mars on Earth," and, for at least another generation, this barren, cratered island not far from the North Pole is as close to the Red Planet as any human being is going to get.

A Japanese space tourist who had hoped to blast off on board a Russian rocket next month was deemed unfit for the trip on Monday, a Russian space official said, adding that a U.S. woman was most likely to replace him.

Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter.

NASA is set to launch the shuttle Atlantis on Sunday to kick off a four-year building marathon aimed at completing construction of the International Space Station.