Paving The Way For Human Exploration Of Asteroids
John P. Millis, Ph.D. for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The potential of a human mission to Mars has captured the imagination of many recently. However, before astronauts set foot on the Red Planet, NASA first plans to visit Near-Earth...
Latest NASA Stories
WASHINGTON, May 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA released a synopsis Friday announcing plans to issue an announcement for proposals for the commercial use of Launch Pad 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The announcement is expected next week. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Use of the launch pad by industry is designed to encourage commercial space activities along Florida's Space Coast and fully use the historic launch...
GREENBELT, Md., May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has extended a contract with Analex Corporation of Fairfax, Va., for Environmental Testing and Integration Services at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) This extension increases the maximum ordering value of the cost-plus award-fee indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract by $81.1 million to $328.1 million. The period of...
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) passed a confirmation review Wednesday called Key Decision Point (KDP)-C. NASA officials reviewed a series of detailed project assessments and...
EDWARDS, Calif., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies'...
HAMPTON, Va., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A group of NASA astronauts will be at NASA's Langley Research Center this week to fly in a simulator that is being used to help evaluate the subsonic handling characteristics of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser spacecraft. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The simulation is of an approach to - and landing at - Edwards Air Force Base in California - the final 10,000 feet and 60...
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a news teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, today, May 15, to discuss the status of the agency's Kepler Space Telescope. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, which is the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. Launched...
CLEVELAND, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media representatives are invited to join NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver as she visits the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Thursday, May 16 and tours facilities advancing future spaceflight missions. The locations include Lewis Field and the Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Garver will tour several facilities at Lewis Field beginning at 12:15...
Full-Size Mars Curiosity Rover Exclusively on Display, Free Solar Observing, Summer Sky Watching Tips, Enter to Win a Telescope and More! CHICAGO, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Celebrate the opening of the Adler's new show Cosmic Wonder and the summer-long programming, 100 Days of Wonder, with free solar observing (weather permitting), sky watching tips from Adler staff, Curiosity mission updates, family activities and more! Adler visitors can also enter to win a...
HOUSTON, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will be at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday, May 16, to discuss the future of human space exploration and the critical role the International Space Station performs in support of those efforts. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Johnson Center Director Ellen Ochoa, a veteran NASA astronaut, will join Bolden at 10:30 a.m. CST in the center's Space Vehicle...
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and Sally Ride Science are inviting the general public and journalists to "Sally Ride: A Lifetime of Accomplishment, A Champion of Science Literacy," an educational tribute to America's first woman in space on Monday, May 20. The special event will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., at 7 p.m. EDT. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )...
Latest NASA Reference Libraries
Bernard Harris is a former NASA astronaut who set NUMBER records being an African-American in space. He was born Bernard Anthony Harris, Jr. on June 26, 1956 in Temple, Texas. In school he was actively involved in science fairs, book clubs and other activities, and in 1969 he decided he wanted to be an astronaut after watching the Apollo 11 mission on television. He graduated from Sam Houston High School in San Antonio, Texas in 1974, and went on to attend the University of Houston, where he...
Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 28, 1991 at 7:33 AM EDT and landed at Kennedy on May 6, 1991 at 2:55 PM EDT. The shuttle orbited 134 times at an altitude of 190 nautical miles at an inclination of 57 degrees and travelled 3.5 million miles. The mission lasted 8 days, 7 hours, 22 minutes, and 23 seconds. This was a Department of Defense mission whose activities are not classified. An unclassified payload included Air Force Program-675 (AFP675); Infrared Background...
Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 9, 1990 at 1:35 AM EST and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on January 20 at 1:35 AM PST. The shuttle orbited 172 times at an altitude of 178 nautical miles at an inclination of 28.5 degrees and travelled 4.5 million miles. The mission lasted 10 days, 21 hours, 0 minutes, and 36 seconds. At nearly eleven days this was by far the longest shuttle mission to date. The launch scheduled for December 18, 1989 was postponed to complete and...
Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center on July 29, 1985 at 5:00 PM EDT and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on August 6 at 12:45 PM PDT. The shuttle orbited 127 times at an altitude of 173 nautical miles at an inclination of 49.5 degrees and travelled 3.3 million miles. The Spacelab-2 payload consisted of an igloo and three pallets in the payload bay, containing scientific instruments dedicated to life sciences, plasma physics, astronomy, high-energy astrophysics, solar physics,...
Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 24, 1985 at 2:50 PM EST and landed at Kennedy on January 27 at 4:23 PM EST. The shuttle orbited 49 times at an altitude of 220 nautical miles and an inclination of 28.5 degrees and travelled 1.3 million miles. The mission lasted 3 days, 1 hour, 33 minutes, and 23 seconds. The launch scheduled for January 23 was scrubbed due to freezing weather conditions. (Orbiter Challenger was scheduled for Mission 51-C but thermal tile problems...
![Jupiter\](/media/gallery/universe/thumbs/thumbs_iod-universe-042613.jpg "Jupiter\")
![Curiosity NavCam MAHLI \](/media/gallery/mars-science-laboratory/thumbs/thumbs_pia16847_right-br_0.jpg "Curiosity NavCam MAHLI \")
