News tagged with space mission

NASA lunar spacecraft GRAIL complete prime mission ahead of schedule

(Phys.org) -- A NASA mission to study the moon from crust to core has completed its prime mission earlier than expected. The team of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, with twin ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Virgin aims for first space launch within a year

British business magnate Richard Branson hopes to launch a vessel into space within the next 12 months, kicking off an era of commercial space travel.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 15, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 27

Voyager set to enter interstellar space

(PhysOrg.com) -- More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system. Not only that, they're still working. And with each passing day they are beaming ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 29, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (26) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Strongest evidence yet indicates Enceladus hiding saltwater ocean

(PhysOrg.com) -- Samples of icy spray shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus collected during Cassini spacecraft flybys show the strongest evidence yet for the existence of a large-scale, subterranean saltwater ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 22, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (23) | comments 29 | with audio podcast

NASA's RXTE detect 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidate (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 27 | with audio podcast

Russia delivers three astronauts to ISS

Two Russians and an American joined three colleagues aboard the International Space Station Thursday for a mission that should include receiving the orbiter's first visit from a private spacecraft.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Seeing the Closest Aliens Will Take Centuries

As telescopes become more advanced, we’ll be able to see more details about planets orbiting other stars - including indications that those planets have life. However, it would probably take many centuries ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 29, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (21) | comments 30 | with audio podcast

Mercury's magnetic field measured by MESSENGER orbiter

Researchers working with NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft report the frequent detections of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the edge of the innermost ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

SpaceX aims to put man on Mars in 10-20 years

Private US company SpaceX hopes to put an astronaut on Mars within 10 to 20 years, the head of the firm said.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 23, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (38) | comments 93

Artificial comet contains building blocks of life

The first molecules of life form naturally in comets, reveals a French-German study led by Uwe Meierhenrich and Cornelia Meinert at the Institut de Chimie de Nice and by Louis Le Sergeant d'Hendecourt at the ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Students Record Spellbinding Video of Disintegrating Spacecraft (w/ Video)

Last year, high school science teacher Ron Dantowitz of Brookline, Mass., played a clever trick on three of his best students. He asked them to plan a hypothetical mission to fly onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 28, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (21) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Tevatron retires: The era of big American physics about to end

The era of big American physics ends Friday with the retirement of the Tevatron particle accelerator, which has been recreating the Big Bang under four miles of Illinois prairie for 25 years.

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 16

NASA conducts tests on Orion service module

(Phys.org) -- Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are testing parts of the Orion service module to ensure the spacecraft can withstand the harsh realities of deep space missions.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Cassini sees the two faces of Titan's Dunes

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new analysis of radar data from NASA's Cassini mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn's ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Cassini to dip into Enceladus spray again

(Phys.org) -- Less than three weeks after its last visit to the Saturnian moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft returns for an encore. At closest approach on April 14, the spacecraft will be just as low ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Spaceflight

Spaceflight is the use of space technology to achieve the flight of spacecraft into and through outer space.

Spaceflight is used in space exploration, and also in commercial activities like space tourism and satellite telecommunications. Additional non-commercial uses of spaceflight include space observatories, reconnaissance satellites and other earth observation satellites.

A spaceflight typically begins with a rocket launch, which provides the initial thrust to overcome the force of gravity and propels the spacecraft from the surface of the Earth. Once in space, the motion of a spacecraft -- both when unpropelled and when under propulsion -- is covered by the area of study called astrodynamics. Some spacecraft remain in space indefinitely, some disintegrate during atmospheric reentry, and others reach a planetary or lunar surface for landing or impact.

For more information about Spaceflight, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.