Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

April 30, 2013

SpaceShipTwo Breaks Sound Barrier In First Rocket-Powered Flight
Mojave CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2013
Virgin Galactic has completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites (Scaled) and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic's entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico. "The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt, our single most important flight test to date," said Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richa ... read more

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Spacecraft returns dramatic images of massive hurricane on Saturn NASA says the Cassini spacecraft has sent back the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. ... more		Stress to rest On Sunday, ESA's bedrest volunteers began lying down for their second three-week session with their heads angled below the horizontal to help research the effects of weightlessness on the human body ... more		US-Australia agreement promotes space situational awareness A new agreement made between the United States and Australia represents the first in what U.S. Strategic Command's commander hopes will be many that promote transparency in the space domain. A ... more
				Against-the-clock rehearsal for Station immunology test Simply getting anything into space is tough, but doing so against a strict deadline can be really stressful. Researchers in an ESA laboratory nervously checked the clock as they extracted immune cel ... more		Global experts agree action needed on space debris There is an urgent need to remove orbiting space debris and to fly satellites in the future without creating new fragments, Europe's largest-ever space-debris conference heard last week.. The ... more

Responsive Access To Space And Space Materials Symposiums

Space Weakens Human Immune System Spending time in space could be bad for your health and the culprit could be microgravity, US military researchers said after a two-year experiment that compared human cells that went up on the spac ... more		NASA's Chief Defends Commercial Spaceflight Agreements NASA chief Charles Bolden found himself defending the U.S. space agency's practice of investing in commercial companies to ferry cargo - and one day crew - to the International Space Station. The gr ... more		India signs $7 bn deal for 97 domestically made fighter jets France doubles down on threat to build future fighter jet alone US approves $1.2 bn missile sale to Germany		NASA Prepares For International Space Biology Research Mission NASA and the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, are collaborating on a space biology mission aboard an unmanned Russian biosatellite to understand better the mechanisms of how life ad ... more
				Asteroid Could Fly 8,600 Km From Earth in 2026 A celestial body 20 meters in diameter will pass dangerously close to Earth's surface in 13 years, according to new data published on Thursday. The flyby of 2013 GM3 on April 14, 2026, may bri ... more		O3b Networks' first four satellites arrive for the next Arianespace Soyuz launch The initial four O3b spacecraft to be launched by Arianespace on Soyuz have arrived in French Guiana, taking the global satellite operator one step closer to its goal of deploying a next-generation ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Solar systems for home and business installations

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Virgin Galactic tourist spaceship breaks sound barrier Virgin Galactic's passenger spaceplane, which is designed to take tourists to the edge of space, flew its first rocket-powered test flight Monday, breaking the sound barrier at high altitude. ... more		Bizarre binary star system pushes study of relativity to new limits An international team of astronomers and an exotic pair of binary stars have proved that Albert Einstein's theory of relativity is still right, even in the most extreme conditions tested yet. The re ... more		Simulations of Exoplanet Formation May Help Inform Search for Extraterrestrial Life Ancient hot springs reveal how microbes thrived before Earth gained oxygen Framework proposed to study planetary scale impact of life		Astronomer studies far-off worlds through 'characterization by proxy' A University of Washington astronomer is using Earth's interstellar neighbors to learn the nature of certain stars too far away to be directly measured or observed, and the planets they may host. ... more
				On the record with... Stephane Israel, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stephane Israel, who became Arianespace's new Chairman and CEO this month, brings experience in aerospace business and government space policy to his top executive role at the world's leading launch ... more		NASA Invites the Public to Fly Along with Voyager A gauge on the Voyager home page tracks levels of two of the three key signs scientists believe will appear when the spacecraft leave our solar neighborhood and enter interstellar space. When ... more

On the record with... Stephane Israel, Arianespace Chairman and CEO

O3b Networks' first four satellites arrive for the next Arianespace Soyuz launch

Vega's three-satellite payload is integrated and ready for launch

Dutch reality show seeks one-way astronauts for Mars

Accurate pointing by Curiosity

NASA Mars Orbiter Images May Show 1971 Soviet Lander

Characterizing The Lunar Radiation Environment

Russia rekindles Moon exploration program, intends setting up first human outposts there

Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

	NASA Probe Observes Meteors Colliding with Saturn's Rings NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn's rings. These observations make Saturn's rings th ... more		Astronomer: Asteroid could make close flyby in 2026 An Italian astronomer says new data suggest an asteroid 65 feet in diameter could pass dangerously close to Earth's surface in 13 years. ... more		Cargo spaceship docks with ISS despite antenna mishap An unmanned cargo vehicle on Friday successfully docked with the International Space Station, in a delicate manoeuvre after its navigation antenna failed to properly deploy following launch, Russian mission control and NASA said. ... more		Rights group launches campaign to ban 'killer robots' A global rights group launched a campaign on Tuesday to ban Terminator-style "killer robots" amid fears the rise of drone warfare could lead to machines with the power to make their own decisions about killing humans. ... more

Uranium enrichment: Why Iran refuses to step back

Redwire to Deliver Solar Array Wings for Axiom Station's First Module

Germany's Merz rejects claims he is slowing green shift

Piezoelectric 'taxel' arrays convert motion to electronic signals for tactile imaging		Robot-building helps Canadian kids develop skills for high-tech world		Baby sea turtles and flipper-driven robot reveal principles of moving on sand		Humans feel empathy for robots		Google's Brin keeps spotlight on future technologies
Star-and Planet-Forming Regions May Hold Key to Life's Chirality		Russia Plans to Launch First Angara Rocket in 2014		NASA Prepares For International Space Biology Research Mission		ISS Communications Test Bed Checks Out; Experiments Begin		UCLA space scientists find way to monitor elusive collisions in space

Mysterious Hot Spots Observed In A Cool Red Supergiant

Flexible partnership allows lichens to occur in different habitats

Orbital Selected By NASA for TESS Astrophysics Satellite

Space debris problem now urgent - scientists

The SPHERES Have Eyes

Has Kepler Found Ideal SETI-Target Planets

Orbital Sciences launches Antares rocket

Vega's three-satellite payload is integrated and ready for launch

Kepler Discovers Its Smallest Habitable Zone Planets

Space experiment sheds light on immune struggles

The New and Improved ISS Facilities Brochure

Kepler Discovers its Smallest Habitable Zone Planets

Mysterious water on Jupiter came from comet smash

Spacewalkers Deploy Plasma Experiment, Install Navigational Aid

The human immune system in space

Dutch reality show seeks one-way astronauts for Mars

US eases export rules on aerospace parts

Study: Lack of magnetic field could render many exoplanets lifeless

Coelacanth genome surfaces

What makes a good astronaut?

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