SpaceQ Space news and analysis.
The seven-member STS-131 crew headed to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery after its launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 6:21 a.m. EDT. The liftoff came 45 minutes before sunrise Monday, Apr. 5, and lit up Florida’s Space Coast sky. The STS-131 Commander is Alan Poindexter; Jim Dutton is the Pilot and the Mission Specialists are Rick Mastracchio, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, …
Read More »NASA's Bolden Testifies before House Subcommittee on NASA's Budget and Direction
NASA chief Charles Bolden testified today before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. Bolden was extremely supportive of the Presidents new plan for NASA saying “…the President put forward what I believe to be the most authentically visionary policy for real human space exploration that we have ever had.”
Read More »NASA Hosts STS-129 Launch Tweetup
Space journalist Elizabeth Howell was among the 100 attendees at the first NASA launch tweetup at the Kennedy Space Center, Nov. 16, 2009. With a golden flash, space shuttle Atlantis punched through the first cloud hanging between the pad and her destination in Earth orbit.
Read More »There's Water on the Moon – More Than Previously Expected
NASA today announced that they have confirmed the presence of water on the moon by its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The LCROSS spacecraft and its companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater Oct. 9 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. This is good news …
Read More »University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team Competes Valiantly at NASA's Power Beaming Challenge
The University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team (USST) arrived early this week at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center as one of the favorites to win up to $2 million in prize money at the NASA sponsored Centennial Power Beaming Challenge. Unfortunately for the student team, technical issues throughout the week resulted in a disappointing outcome.
Read More »NASA Ares-1 X Takes Flight
NASA today successfully tested the agency’s next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X. The flight test provided NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
Read More »Final US Human Spaceflight Plans Committee Report Released
The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee has released it’s long awaited report (PDF) and it states that the U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. However if NASA had a less-constrained budget with increasing annual expenditures by approximately $3 billion in real purchasing power they could sustain a viable exploration program.
Read More »Canadians Wait for Final Report of the Human Space Flight Review Committee
NASA’s Human Space Flight Review Committee chaired by Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT today to discuss the committee’s final report which is being released today. The highly anticipated report will have a significant affect on future US manned space flight and consequently affects Canada’s space program.
Read More »MODIS Image of West Central Canada
NASA’s MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, a key instrument on the Terra satellite, took this spectacular image of west central Canada on September 13th. The top quarter of the image shows the Northwest Territories and Great Slave Lake. Below the Northwest Territories from left to right are the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. On the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan is Lake …
Read More »Chandra Watches Black Hole Pump Iron
This composite image of the Hydra A galaxy cluster shows 10-million- degree gas observed by Chandra in blue and jets of radio emission observed by the Very Large Array in pink. Optical data from the Canada- France-Hawaii telescope and the Digitized Sky Survey shows galaxies in the cluster.
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