NASA’s Europa Clipper, shown in this illustration updated in December 2020, will fly around Jupiter on an elliptical path, diving close to its moon Europa on each flyby to collect data. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA‘S Europe The Clipper mission aims to solve problems with transistor radiation as it prepares to launch an expedition to Jupiter to … Read more
Unlock Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Could you spend 378 days and nights in a darkened room, lit only by fluorescent lights and a window looking out onto a fake planet, with just three coworkers for company? A week? Okay, a night? … Read more
A change of scenery can do wonders for us humans when we are stuck in a rut. Imagine the impact a trip to space can have. Just changing my usual lunch spot gives me a new lease on life, which NASA astronauts like Ron Garan probably find ridiculous. He is one of the few people … Read more
The first manned mission of Boeing’s Starliner capsule has been in orbit for more than a month, and there is still no date set for its return. Starliner launched on June 5 on Crew Flight Test (CFT), carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) for a planned week-long … Read more
Neutron stars are among the most extreme objects in the universe. Formed from the collapsed cores of supergiant stars, they weigh more than our sun and yet are compressed into a sphere the size of a city. The dense cores of these exotic stars contain matter compressed into unique states that are impossible for us … Read more
You can imagine what thoughts go through an astronaut’s mind when he or she looks at our planet from space. But I think that ‘that’s still far away’ might be a good option. But for 62-year-old former NASA space cadet Ron Garan, there was only one thing on his mind… the “sobering realization” that we … Read more
Enlarge / Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft made its final landing on the International Space Station last month. Before Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule is allowed to leave the International Space Station and head back to Earth, NASA managers want to make sure the spacecraft’s troubled control engines can guide the two-person crew home. The two astronauts who … Read more
The two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station last month in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft said Wednesday they have no concerns the capsule will be able to bring them home safely, even though their return has been postponed indefinitely as NASA and Boeing try to determine what caused a series of booster failures … Read more
Wearing Boeing spacesuits, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch on June 5, 2024. Miguel J. … Read more
Wearing Boeing spacesuits, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch on June 5, 2024. Miguel J. … Read more