Latest Exploration of the Moon Stories

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati and Chief Technologist Mason Peck will hold a teleconference on Wednesday, April 18, at 4 p.m. EDT to brief media representatives on developments for NASA's future. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The agency is moving forward with an ambitious plan to develop cutting-edge space technologies to advance human and robotic exploration, reach new destinations, and...

HOUSTON, April 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Washingtonians will have the rare chance to touch a nearly 4-billion-year-old piece of moon rock at NASA's Driven to Explore traveling exhibit, a multimedia experience that immerses visitors in the story of NASA. The exhibit will be at the Seattle Center in Seattle from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 22. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The...

HOUSTON, April 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Oregonians will have the rare chance to touch a nearly 4-billion-year-old piece of moon rock at NASA's Driven to Explore traveling exhibit, a multimedia experience that immerses visitors in the story of NASA. The exhibit will be at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Ore., from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24 to Thursday, April 26. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The space shuttle helped the United States expand its leadership in space exploration during the program's 30 years of flight and laid the groundwork for the next 30 years of space exploration. The shuttle began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981, and continued to set high marks of achievement, endurance and technological advancement throughout its life. Starting with Columbia and continuing with...

Approximately 100 returning and rookie teams from around the world will compete for a top-three finish at the 19th-annual NASA Great Moonbuggy Race, April 13-14, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. More than 500 high school, college and university students from 20 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Italy and India, are expected to race their specially crafted lunar rovers or "moonbuggies." Students begin preparing for the...

Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com As the economy seems to be on the upswing, and the stock market rises to its highest point since 2008, one area in the U.S. has been fighting its own unemployment battle. Last year, president Barack Obama's plan to end the space shuttle program to give companies the chance to send astronauts and tourists to low-orbit space took its first step, as space shuttle Atlantis landed its last mission in July last year. Now, companies are scouring to try and get...

On Friday, NASA officials claimed that they were the rightful owners of the Apollo 11 rocket engines found on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week by a privately-funded expedition headed up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, CNN.com is reporting. As previously reported here on RedOrbit, Bezos announced the discovery of the spacecraft's F-1 engines that carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon using deep-sea sonar equipment. The engines, which powered the Saturn V...

The most famous of all the Apollo missions, Apollo 11 put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the first time man had ever stepped foot there. In July of 1969, the Saturn V rocket, powered by five massive F-1 engines, roared into life and launched itself into history books worldwide. Generating 7.5 million pounds of thrust, the engines peeled off of the rocket, as planned, after just two minutes of use. These engines tumbled into the Atlantic ocean and have yet to be recovered....

NASA said on Thursday that one of its twin Grail spacecrafts has returned the first student-requested picture of the moon. Fourth grade students from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Montana received the honor of making the first image selections by winning a competition to rename the two spacecraft to Ebb and Flow. The first image was taken by the MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students. Over 60 student-requested images to be taken by the Ebb spacecraft...

Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire and multi-institutional colleagues report they have quantified levels of radiation on the moon's surface from galactic cosmic ray (GCR) bombardment that over time causes chemical changes in water ice and can create complex carbon chains similar to those that help form the foundations of biological structures. In addition, the radiation process causes the lunar soil, or regolith, to darken over time, which is important in understanding the...