NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. "We want to be able to go to the moon, but we want to be a customer," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters today during a teleconference. "We want to drive down the costs, we want to increase the access, we want to have our partners have customers that are not just us, so they compete on cost and innovation, and just bring capabilities that we've never had before." Fixed-price contracts totaling… Read More

For the first time, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane flew free in the skies over New Mexico's Spaceport America, its new base of operations. The SpaceShipTwo plane, known as VSS Unity, has made rocket-powered flights beyond the 50-mile space milestone during tests at California's Mojave Air and Space Port, but today's unpowered test flight was the first to be flown from Spaceport America. "Today's VSS Unity flight is another exciting milestone for Virgin Galactic's progress in New Mexico," Dan Hicks, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, said in a news release. "We are extremely happy and proud of… Read More

Everything is in readiness for the first mission to send humans into orbit from U.S. soil since NASA retired the space shuttle fleet in 2011 – from the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that will take two astronauts to the International Space Station, to the parachutes that will bring them back down gently to an Atlantic Ocean splashdown, to the masks that NASA's ground team will wear in Mission Control. The fact that the launch is coming in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has added a weird and somewhat wistful twist to the history-making event. "That certainly is disappointing," NASA… Read More

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has confirmed in a tweet that the space agency is working with movie star Tom Cruise on a project that involves shooting a film on the International Space Station. Deadline Hollywood reported on Monday that a space movie project involving NASA and SpaceX is in the works, but that "no studio is in the mix at this stage." Bridenstine followed up with a tweet saying that NASA was "excited" to be working with Cruise, and explaining that "we need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA's ambitious plans a… Read More

Two Seattle-area space ventures — Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Propulsion Systems — are among 124 businesses receiving $750,000 Phase II grants from NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program. The two-year grants, announced today, support the further development of technologies that can benefit future space missions as well as life on Earth. All of the recipients, hailing from 31 states in all, received $125,000 Phase I grants during earlier rounds of funding. "We are encouraged by the ingenuity and creativity we’ve seen from these companies in their Phase I work," Jenn Gustetic, NASA's SBIR program executive said in a news release.… Read More

NASA has awarded the University of Washington a $499,864 grant to develop a competition that calls on students to turn a simulated lava tube into a habitat suitable for harboring humans on the moon or Mars. The exploration and habitation skills competition will be funded as part of NASA's Artemis Student Challenges program, which plays off the themes of the Artemis moon program to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers. The competition will involve navigating a rover through a facsimile lava tube and surface structures, generating maps, identifying valuable resources and deploying an airtight barrier to seal the… Read More

As Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos's Project Kuiper race to create high-speed internet using satellites orbiting Earth, there's a small problem that could get in the way: debris. From dead spacecraft that have been around since the dawn of the space age to flecks of paint smashing windows on the International Space Station, rubbish is clogging up our orbits. And with objects moving as fast as 15,500mph (25,000 kmph), the satellite services we've come to depend on are at constant risk of collision. So how to fix the problem with junk in space? Ian Anderson investigates

The agreement would be the latest effort to cultivate allies around NASA’s plan to put humans and space stations on the moon within the next decade, and comes as the civilian space agency plays a growing role in implementing American foreign policy.

Astronauts had to stay locked away on their own for longer than usual, with no visits from loved ones

'We can tell you that the Earth still looks just as stunning as always from up here, so it's difficult to believe all the changes that have taken place since both of us have been up here,' one astronaut had said before coming back home

US say they fear long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used to launch nuclear warheads

Nasa and the European Space Agency have shared new images of Comet Atlas as it flies towards Earth.

And other stories from around the world

Chinese space agency hopes capsule can one day carry six astronauts into space

Think Veep meets The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Actor Kevin Spacey has broken his silence over sex assault allegations, comparing being shunned by the film industry to those who are out of work as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The 60-year-old American Beauty star has not appeared in a professional movie or series since accusations of abuse were made by several men. "I don't think it will come as a surprise for anyone to say that my world completely changed in the fall of 2017,” he said in comments made during an interview for the German business conference Bits & Pretzels podcast. “My job, many of my relationships, my standing in my own industry were all gone in just a matter of hours.” The former House of Cards lead, who was dropped by the show after allegations surfaced, has largely kept a low profile since the allegations were made. He was also removed from the film All the Money in the World, which had to be reshot with actor Christopher Plummer. Spacey has always denied the claims, several of which date back several decades. “While we may have found ourselves in similar situations, albeit for very different reasons and circumstances, I still believe that some of the emotional struggles are very much the same," he said. “And so I do have empathy for what it feels like to suddenly be told that you can't go back to work or that you might lose your job and that it's a situation that you have absolutely no control over.” At the end of the podcast interview, Spacey added: “I was so busy defining myself by what I did or what I was trying to do, that when it all stopped I had no idea what to do next. All I knew how to do was act, I was born to do it. “I don’t want to sugarcoat this devastating time that we’re in, I am hoping that I can encourage you to see an opportunity in all of this and turn this into a positive.”

Keep that in mind the next time you hear about an asteroid that is passing ‘close’ to Earth.

Actor said he had to ask himself 'who am I?' after his 'world completely changed'

Series is a humorous response to Trump's actual Space Force

Lettuce has key nutrients that give both astronauts and Earth-dwellers alike a physical and psychological boost. And the lettuce grown in space is no less nutritious than the Earth-bound variety.

For the first time since 2011, NASA will launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil. It will also be the first time ever a private company will get them there.

Shriver’s contentious views on diversity thread through the story of a couple’s strained relationship with exercise

Lionel Shriver’s scabrously funny 15th novel presents a dyspeptic view of people in thrall to exercise. In 2013 Shriver’s own daily regime involved “130 press-ups, 200 side crunches, 500 sit-ups and 3,000 star jumps … The jumps take 32½ minutes, or three every two seconds”. The Motion Of The Body Through Space was written, she recently revealed, after she realised that she may be more dedicated to her exercise than to her writing.

The protagonist, Serenata Terpsichore (“rhymes with chicory”), is a 60-year-old woman from upstate New York with a beguiling voice and ruined knees. The former she puts to lucrative use as a voiceover artist and narrator of audiobooks. The latter are the result of a lifetime’s adherence to the doctrine of working out; in particular the belief that 10-mile runs are the key to longevity and good health.

The European Space Agency said Friday that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon.

Tom Cruise is set to team up with Nasa to shoot a movie in space.

Tidy desk equals tidy mind

We need to talk about exercise, race and gender

A quarter of all UK pharmacies have joined Hestia's 'UK SAYS NO MORE' campaign

Tom Cruise is making the first-ever feature film to be shot in outer space.

The once-acclaimed actor then admitted he felt lost when the #MeToo movement turned his life upside down.

West Ham have joined Arsenal in allowing players to return to their training ground, as football took the first decisive steps towards a resumption.

Manchester United have told overseas players to return to the UK within seven days as they step up preparations for the season to be resumed.

Space advocates spruik the human benefits but critics say it costs far too much. Ever since the moon landing, space has been seen as a "giant leap" for humankind, but is it in the wrong direction?

Los Angeles-based tech company Production Club is currently working to provide an alternative to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After it launched on Tuesday and nailed a series of maneuvers, China’s future crewed spacecraft has made a successful desert touchdown. Built by China’s main space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), the uncrewed prot...

SpaceX plans to make its satellites "generally invisible to the naked eye within a week of launch" following complaints about light pollution.

Action star Tom Cruise is working on a movie shot in outer space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Tuesday.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based Gemini Observatory in Hawaii have teamed up with the Juno spacecraft to probe the mightiest storms in the solar system, taking place more than 500 million miles away on the giant planet Jupiter.

Survey finds people are appreciating their local parks, countryside and green belt more.

An Australian company that's set to own the world's largest privately operated rocket test range says the Australian space industry is well protected from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

Fewer than 250 people have been on the International Space Station but Mission Impossible actor Tom Cruise looks set to become one of them, in part to "inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists".

The new documentary "Spaceship Earth" breaks the mystery of the Biosphere 2 experiment wide open, revealing the facts in a story that feels more like science fiction than reality.

In 2018 there were 15 unicorns born with at least one female founder. This year, there were 21 startups founded or co-founded by a female that became unicorns.

Keep on reading: Female-founded Unicorns Were Born at an Unprecedented Pace in 2019

With their jobs under significant threat and online wagering taking hold, the coronavirus crisis is causing traditional rails bookmakers to re-imagine their future.

On a recent podcast, actor Kevin Spacey saw parallels between the coronavirus crisis and his Hollywood downfall after being accused of sexual misconduct.

Matt Wolf's latest documentary, "Spaceship Earth," is a layered and absorbing account of a widely dismissed but remarkable scientific study.

Originally published in January 1859

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As with other companies, US drug giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are moving forward their…

A physicist in Newport News, Va., was sentenced to 51 months in prison today for illegally exporting space launch technical data and defense services to the People’s Republic of China and offering bribes to Chinese government officials. Shu Quan-Sheng, 68, a native of China, naturalized U.S. citizen and Ph.D. physicist, was sentenced by Judge Henry C. Morgan, Jr. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division.

The United States has joined a whistleblower suit against Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC); Applied Enterprise Solutions (AES); Dale Galloway, Chief Executive Officer of AES; Stephen Adamec, former Director of the Naval Oceanographic Major Shared Resource Center (NAVO MSRC) at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi; and Robert Knesel, Deputy Director of NAVO MSRC.