outer space

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We've Been Launching Jellyfish Into Space for Years

As well as spiders, frogs, and mouse sperm, per this odd list

(Newser) - Why in the world would we launch mouse sperm into space? And no, "why not?" isn't the answer we're looking for. Astronomy.com has the more valid one: We want to learn how different objects and items react once they've left Earth's atmosphere. The site...

Russia Plans to Build Its Own Space Station

If all goes well, nation would ditch ISS by 2025, have its own version by 2030

(Newser) - Relations on Earth between Russia and the West are strained at the moment, with the country mired in controversy over the health status of dissident Alexei Navalny and the buildup of Russian forces at the Ukraine border. Now, there could soon be a distancing in outer space, too: The head...

Scott Kelly's Body Endured Another Surprise in Space

Astronaut's heart didn't have to work as hard in zero gravity and so it shrank 27%, scientists say

(Newser) - They called it the "perfect nature versus nurture" experiment : Astronaut Scott Kelly was sent to the International Space Station for nearly a year, while his identical twin, astronaut and now Sen. Mark Kelly, remained on Earth. When Scott Kelly came back home in March 2016, scientists compared his DNA...

Want to Go on SpaceX Flight to the Moon? He's Paying

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa launches contest for 8 to ride with him to lunar orbit in 2023

(Newser) - It's a Frank Sinatra song come to life, courtesy of a billionaire. In 2018, tycoon and art collector Yusaku Maezawa, founder of Japanese online fashion mall Zozotown, was announced as the first signed passenger aboard SpaceX's Starship rocket, set to fly to the moon sometime in 2023. At...

Child Cancer Survivor Will Be Youngest American in Space

Physician Hayley Arceneaux, 29, to orbit Earth in SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this year

(Newser) - Later this year, a big first in space travel is on the calendar: the first manned mission around Earth, courtesy of SpaceX, with not a single professional astronaut on board. The trip was made possible by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who the New York Times notes bought the Falcon 9 rocket...

Japan Describes What It Got From That Asteroid

Chips that look like charcoal

(Newser) - They resemble small fragments of charcoal, but the soil samples collected from an asteroid and returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft were hardly disappointing. The samples Japanese space officials described Thursday are as big as 0.4 inches and rock hard, not breaking when picked up or poured into...

'Blue Marble' Photo, First Space Selfie Up for Grabs

2.4K vintage photos showcase the golden age of space exploration

(Newser) - The only photograph showing Neil Armstrong walking on the moon is set to go to the highest bidder. Christie's is auctioning off some 2,400 rare NASA images amassed by French collector Victor Martin-Malburet, and though the one of Armstrong is expected to fetch the highest price, an estimated...

The ISS&#39; End Will Be Fiery, but Not Fiery Enough
The ISS
Is Doomed
to Die by Fire
in case you missed it
Nov 7, 2020 2:30 PM CST

The ISS Is Doomed to Die by Fire

A look at how the International Space Station could come to its end

(Newser) - Monday marked two decades of humans occupying the International Space Station, but whether it'll make it to the end of its third decade remains unclear. Space.com explains that to stay in orbit, the ISS relies on fuel injections from the cargo ships that visit it. Such visits have...

NASA: Asteroid Mission Is 'Victim of Our Own Success'

The Osiris-Rex spacecraft gobbles up too much rubble

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft is stuffed with so much asteroid rubble from this week’s grab that it's jammed open and precious particles are drifting away in space, scientists said Friday. Scientists announced the news three days after the spacecraft named Osiris-Rex briefly touched asteroid Bennu, NASA's first attempt...

Among Nobel Winners: Guy Who Proved Einstein Wrong

Physics honor will be split between 3 scientists for their work on black holes

(Newser) - Three physicists have won this year’s Nobel Prize in physics for black hole discoveries and will split the $1.1 million award. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Tuesday that Briton Roger Penrose will receive half of this year's prize "for the discovery that black hole...

Scientists' Understanding of Black Holes Is Rattled

2 black holes merged into never-before-seen size

(Newser) - Black holes are getting stranger—even to astronomers, who've now detected the signal from a long-ago violent collision of two black holes that created a new one of a size that had never been seen before. "It's the biggest bang since the Big Bang observed by humanity,...

Exploding Star Likely Wrecked Life on Earth
Scientists Find New Cause
of Mass Extinction Event
study says
Aug 22, 2020 3:30 PM CDT

Scientists Find New Cause of Mass Extinction Event

University of Illinois researchers point to possible supernovas

(Newser) - A mass extinction event that struck Earth 359 million years ago still has scientists scratching their heads. Was it volcano eruptions? Meteorites? Gamma-ray bursts? A new paper looks at another possible culprit: exploding stars. Researchers at the University of Illinois argue that evidence hidden in rocks coincides with the effect...

Here Comes the Sun—10 Years of It, in One Hour

NASA releases hypnotizing film showing a decade of our resident star

(Newser) - You're not supposed to stare at the sun, but a new NASA film lets you safely do so for an entire hour. Per the Guardian , the space agency has released a decade's worth of "mesmerizing" footage of our resident star, taken from February 2010 all the way...

First-Ever Radio Signal Hits Earth From Inside Our Galaxy

And scientists think they've found the source

(Newser) - Intrigued by radio signals from outer space? Scientists have spotted a fast radio burst from inside the Milky Way—the first ever from our own galaxy—and say it might solve the riddle of other such bursts from the cosmos, Science Alert reports. This signal was discovered Tuesday and reported...

Mask-Wearing Asteroid Does Its Fly-by

The rock known as 52768 (1998 OR2) got within about 3.9M miles of Earth

(Newser) - The mask-wearing asteroid that so amused scientists has made its pass by Earth, albeit at a great distance. NASA reports the closest approach of the 1.2-mile-wide rock known as 52768 (1998 OR2) was set to happen at 5:55am ET some 3,908,791 miles from Earth, or more...

2 Female Astronauts Just Made History
2 Female Astronauts
Just Made History
Oct 18, 2019 12:12 PM CDT

2 Female Astronauts Just Made History

Christina Koch, Jessica Meir are first to make women-only spacewalk to fix the ISS power grid

(Newser) - For the past 50 years, the guys have gone out into space to carry out all needed repairs. On Friday, that all changed, thanks to Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. The two NASA astronauts became the world's first all-female team to do a spacewalk when they were sent out...

Black Holes Aren&#39;t All What We Thought
Black Holes Contain
a Mysterious Force
new study
Oct 5, 2019 1:30 PM CDT

Black Holes Contain a Mysterious Force

Some of them are helping the universe expand, study says

(Newser) - Black holes are dense singularities that suck up matter, right? Not always, according to two scientists who say some black holes are likely objects filled with a mysterious energy. In Astrophysical Journal , Kevin Croker and Joel Weiner argue that the expansion of the universe—which is accelerating, apparently due to...

The Universe May Have Just Lost a Couple of Billion Years

Latest research suggests it may be much younger than previously thought, but there are big caveats

(Newser) - The universe is looking younger every day, it seems. New calculations suggest the universe could be a couple of billion years younger than scientists now estimate, and even younger than suggested by two other calculations published this year that trimmed hundreds of millions of years from the age of the...

Big Ask From NASA for Its 2024 Moon Expedition

Agency says it will need between $20B and $30B over the next 5 years

(Newser) - Back in March, Vice President Mike Pence vowed we'd get to the moon by 2024 by "any means necessary." Now, there's a number that NASA is pinning to "necessary": The agency says it will need between $20 billion and $30 billion over the next five...

Ted Cruz Mocked After Warning on Space Pirate Threat

MSNBC's Chris Hayes called Cruz's follow-up tweet the 'saddest tweet I've ever seen'

(Newser) - It wasn't exactly the Gettysburg Address, but a speech Ted Cruz made at a recent Senate panel meeting certainly caught the internet's attention. "Since the ancient Greeks first put to sea, nations have recognized the necessity of naval forces and maintaining a superior capability to protect waterborne...

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