NASA Plans Backup Astronaut Escape System

Determined never to repeat the tragic Challenger launch accident, NASA not only is developing a crew escape system for the space shuttles’ replacements; the space agency also has a backup system that could fly astronauts to safety in case of an emergency.

Significantly improving safety is one of the reasons the United States is retiring its three-ship shuttle fleet after five more missions in 2010 to complete construction of the International Space Station.

The shuttles began flying in 1981. Two of the 129 flights ended in disaster, including the Jan. 28, 1986, loss of Challenger, which was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff due to a leak in one of its booster rockets.

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Two large asteroids narrowly miss earth, NASA said

September 9, 2010 - 10:52 am

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The two objects were only identified at the weekend by the Nasa-funded Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, during a routine sky scan.
The first asteroid, christened 2010 RX30, was about 65 feet (20 metres) in diameter and flew past at a distance of 154,000 miles early at 9:51am on Wednesday.
The second, called 2010 RF12, [...]

NASA Radar Finds Ice Deposits at Moon’s North Pole

March 2, 2010 - 3:57 pm

Posted in Space | 1 comment

Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although [...]

NASA Offers Shuttles at Clearance Prices, Is Investigating Cocaine Found in Hangar

January 20, 2010 - 12:17 pm

Posted in Space | 1 comment

For nearly three decades (since 1981), the Space Shuttle was an iconic symbol of the American space program and the country’s primary way of reaching space. Now as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working on its replacement, it’s putting the famous spacecraft up for sale.
NASA in December 2008 first offered the Shuttles [...]

Endeavour’s payload shipped out to launch pad 39A

January 20, 2010 - 11:17 am

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The container with Tranquility is lifted into pad 39A’s gantry this morning. Credit: NASA-KSC
The Tranquility module that’ll be a new room with a view for the International Space Station was trucked to space shuttle Endeavour’s launch pad overnight, destined for blastoff next month.
Packed in a special transport canister shaped like the shuttle’s 60-foot-long payload [...]

For £17.7m, shuttle is a gift that’s out of this world

January 20, 2010 - 10:15 am

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The price of Nasa’s Space Shuttle fleet has just been slashed from £25.8m Credit: Getty
It flew faster and higher than any machine in history and was the was the ultimate boy’s toy, but at $42 million (£25.8 m) it was beyond most budgets. But now the price of Nasa’s soon-to-be redundant space shuttles has [...]

Has USA hit its final frontier in human space exploration?

January 20, 2010 - 1:17 am

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Still hoping for that Jetsons future?
Ruh-roh, as the Jetsons’ dog, Astro, might put it.
Just six years ago, President Bush laid out a vision of space exploration that harked back to NASA’s halcyon days built on astronauts as explorers. Bush wanted to sling them from low Earth orbit to a base on the moon and then, [...]

NASA’s Rosetta “Alice” Spectrometer Reveals Earth’s UV Fingerprint

January 20, 2010 - 12:21 am

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During the spacecraft’s approach, the Earth appeared as a crescent. This image of the Earth was taken around the same time by the OSIRIS camera on Rosetta. Credit: ESA 2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
On November 13, the European Space Agency’s comet orbiter spacecraft, Rosetta, swooped by Earth for its third and final gravity assist [...]

If you want to watch a space shuttle launch, time’s running out

January 20, 2010 - 12:15 am

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This year begins a new decade, but it also will see the end of the United States’ trailblazing approach to manned spaceflight: the space shuttle program.
“In just five more flights, a chapter of history will be forever closed,” says Mike Mullane, a three-time NASA space shuttle astronaut and author of Riding Rockets. “It will be [...]

NASA helps Haiti disaster relief efforts

January 16, 2010 - 2:25 am

Posted in Technology | 1 comment

An image of Haiti from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in 2000 Credit: NASA
NASA is helping provide information to support disaster recovery efforts in Haiti in the wake of Tuesday’s killer earthquake.
According to the space agency, two NASA Earth monitoring satellites — the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, and NASA’s Earth [...]

NASA IMAX 3D movie features astonishing Hubble repair footage

January 16, 2010 - 2:17 am

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Coming to an IMAX theatre near you soon is this astonishing 3D movie film from NASA.
Served up in delicious high definition 3D, the film promises to take viewers on a, “journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings.”
NASA IMAX 3D movie features astonishing Hubble repair footageEven better, there’s some [...]

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NASA Plans Backup Astronaut Escape System

No comments yet.

No trackbacks yet.

Two large asteroids narrowly miss earth, NASA said

NASA Radar Finds Ice Deposits at Moon’s North Pole

NASA Offers Shuttles at Clearance Prices, Is Investigating Cocaine Found in Hangar

Endeavour’s payload shipped out to launch pad 39A

For £17.7m, shuttle is a gift that’s out of this world

Has USA hit its final frontier in human space exploration?

NASA’s Rosetta “Alice” Spectrometer Reveals Earth’s UV Fingerprint

If you want to watch a space shuttle launch, time’s running out

NASA helps Haiti disaster relief efforts

NASA IMAX 3D movie features astonishing Hubble repair footage

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