Cosmonaut says colours represent his university, after earlier saying they were chosen because they had a lot of yellow material
Russia has rubbished reports suggesting its cosmonauts wore yellow suits with blue accents to show solidarity with Ukraine.
The three cosmonauts wore the suits, bearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag, when arriving at the International Space Station (ISS), leading to speculation they were a show of support for the country Russia is attacking.
Continue reading...Head of Russian space agency has made provocative comments about ending cooperation with US but missions are proceeding
The Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, has played down hostile comments by the head of the Russian space agency, after Russia said it would stop supplying rocket engines to US companies.
“That’s just Dmitry Rogozin,” Nelson told the Associated Press. “He spouts off every now and then. But at the end of the day, he’s worked with us.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Trio appeared to get changed shortly before arrival at space station and one said every crew could choose their own suit
Three Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, colours that match the Ukrainian flag.
The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.
Continue reading...Picture is a test shot to see how a new telescope’s 18 hexagonal mirrors work together for a single coordinated image
Nasa’s new space telescope has gazed into the distant universe and shown perfect vision: a spiky image of a faraway star photobombed by thousands of ancient galaxies.
The image released on Wednesday from the James Webb Space telescope was a test shot – not an official science observation – to see how its 18 hexagonal mirrors worked together for a single coordinated image taken 1m miles (1.6m km) away from Earth. Officials said it worked better than expected.
Continue reading...Mark Vande Hei, who is set to break the US single spaceflight record, will be riding a Russian capsule back to Earth
The US astronaut Mark Vande Hei has made it through nearly a year in space, but now faces what could be his trickiest assignment: riding a Russian capsule back to Earth in the midst of deepening tension between the two countries.
Nasa insists Vande Hei’s homecoming at the end of the month remains unchanged, even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in canceled launches, broken contracts and an escalating war of words from the leader of the Russian Space Agency.
Continue reading...Nasa confirmed the ISS will plunge into the Pacific ocean to join other decommissioned space stations, satellites and space debris
The International Space Station (ISS) will continue its operations until 2030 before heading for a watery grave at the most remote point in the Pacific, Nasa confirmed in a new transition plan this week.
More than 30 years after its 1998 launch, the ISS will be “de-orbited” in January 2031, according to the space agency’s budget estimates. Once out of orbit the space station will make a dramatic descent before splash landing in Point Nemo, which is about 2,700km from any land and has become known as the space cemetery, a final resting place for decommissioned space stations, old satellites, and other human space debris.
Continue reading...$10bn observatory manoeuvred into position at four times the orbit of the moon, with first images expected in June
The world’s largest and most powerful telescope has reached its final destination – an observation post one million miles away from Earth.
Nasa’s $10bn James Webb space telescope launched on Christmas Day last year from French Guiana on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe. Due to its sheer size, Webb had to launch folded inside the Ariane 5, a European rocket.
Continue reading...From lunar missions to anti-asteroid defence systems, there are plenty of exciting scientific developments to look forward to
This year promises to be an important one for space exploration, with several major programmes reaching the launch pad over the next 12 months. The US is to return to the moon, undertaking a set of missions intended to establish a lunar colony there in a few years. China is expected to complete its Tiangong space station while Europe and Russia will attempt to land spacecraft on Mars, having failed at every previous attempt. India, South Korea and Japan are also scheduled to put a number of missions into space.
Continue reading...Successor to the Hubble telescope takes off on board rocket from ESA’s launch base in French Guiana
The most ambitious, costly robot probe ever built, the $10bn James Webb telescope, has been blasted into space on top of a giant European rocket.
Engineers reported on Saturday that the observatory – which has been plagued by decades of delays and huge cost overruns – was operating perfectly after going through the most nervously watched lift-off in the history of uncrewed space exploration.
Continue reading...Nasa’s flagship mission counts down to launch at 1220 GMT on Christmas Day from Kourou, French Guiana
Final checks and fuelling are under way for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, a flagship mission for Nasa that aims to observe worlds beyond the solar system and the first stars and galaxies that lit up the cosmos.
If all goes to plan, the $10bn (£7.4bn) observatory will become the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space when it blasts off at 12.20pm UK time on Christmas Day onboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Continue reading...Nasa’s new administrator discusses the space race with China, UFOs, billionaire ‘astronauts’ and building a ‘mission control’ for climate change
When Apollo 11 launched in July 1969, Bill Nelson was an army lieutenant on leave behind the iron curtain, listening with colleagues to the BBC on shortwave radio.
“There were three young Americans standing on the hills overlooking Budapest, screaming at the top of our lungs, cheering as that rocket lifted off,” Nasa’s new administrator recalled in a video interview.
Continue reading...The James Webb space telescope, considered the Hubble’s successor, will stay on the ground an extra day due to high winds
Dangerously high winds will keep Nasa’s newest space telescope on the ground for at least an extra day, with the launch now targeted for Saturday – Christmas Day – at the earliest.
Nasa announced the latest delay Tuesday. Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.
Continue reading...The instrument will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever to be launched into space
The much-delayed launch of the James Webb space telescope will go ahead on 24 December, Nasa and the company overseeing the launch have confirmed.
The project, begun in 1989, was originally expected to deploy the instrument – which will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever to be launched into space – in the early 2000s.
Continue reading...The Parker probe is exploring the corona to help scientists better understand solar outbursts that can interfere with life on Earth
A Nasa spacecraft has officially “touched” the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.
Scientists announced the news Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Continue reading...Billions of dollars over budget and years late, the most expensive, complex telescope to be sent into space will launch next month. What will it learn?
In a few weeks, the most ambitious, costly robot probe ever built, the £6.8bn James Webb space telescope, will be blasted into space on top of a giant European Ariane 5 rocket. The launch of the observatory – which has been plagued by decades of delays and massive cost overruns – promises to be the most nervously watched liftoff in the history of unmanned space exploration.
The observatory – built by Nasa with European and Canadian space agency collaboration – has been designed to revolutionise our study of the early universe and to pinpoint possible life-supporting planets inside our galaxy. However, its planning and construction have taken more than 30 years, with the project suffering cancellation threats, political controversies and further tribulations. In the process, several other scientific projects had to be cancelled to meet the massive, swelling price tag of the observatory. As the journal Nature put it, this is “the telescope that ate astronomy”.
Continue reading...The spacecraft will travel 6.8 million miles through the solar system in an attempt to nudge moonlet Dimorphos a fraction off course
Nasa is preparing to launch its $330m Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) probe, testing the space agency’s ability to alter an asteroid’s trajectory with kinetic force.
The plan is to crash a robot spacecraft into the moonlet Dimorphos at 15,000 mph and change its path just a fraction. If the mission is successful, it will mean that Nasa and other space agencies could deflect an asteroid heading towards Earth and avert an Armageddon-style impact.
Continue reading...Test drive of planetary defence system aims to provide data on how to deflect asteroids away from Earth
That’s one large rock, one momentous shift in our relationship with space. On Wednesday, Nasa will launch a mission to deliberately slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to try to alter its orbit – the first time humanity has tried to interfere in the gravitational dance of the solar system. The aim is to test drive a planetary defence system that could prevent us from going the same way as the dinosaurs, providing the first real data about what it would take to deflect an Armageddon-inducing asteroid away from Earth.
Our planet is constantly being bombarded with small pieces of debris, but these are usually burned or broken up long before they hit the ground. Once in a while, however, something large enough to do significant damage hits the ground. About 66m years ago, one such collision is thought to have ended the reign of the dinosaurs, ejecting vast amounts of dust and debris into the upper atmosphere, which obscured the sun and caused food chains to collapse. Someday, something similar could call time on humanity’s reign – unless we can find a way to deflect it.
Continue reading...Russia fired missile at its own satellite, generating debris that US says ‘threatens interests of all nations’
The US has accused Russia of “dangerous and irresponsible behavior” after it conducted an anti-satellite weapons test that forced astronauts on the International Space Station to prepare for evacuation.
Russia fired a missile at one of its own satellites over the weekend, generating more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of pieces of smaller debris, which the US said “now threaten the interests of all nations”.
Continue reading...Astronauts who will leave the International Space Station on Sunday will have to use diapers on the way home, because of a broken toilet in their SpaceX capsule.
The Nasa astronaut Megan McArthur described the situation as “suboptimal” but manageable. She and three crewmates will spend 20 hours in the capsule, from the time the hatches are closed until a Monday morning splashdown.
Continue reading...Saturn-sized planet candidate has been identified in Whirlpool Galaxy 28m light years away
A possible Saturn-sized planet identified in the distant Whirlpool Galaxy could be the first exoplanet to be detected outside the Milky Way.
The exoplanet candidate appears to be orbiting an X-ray binary – made up of a normal star and a collapsed star or black hole – with its distance from this binary roughly equivalent to the distance of Uranus from the sun.
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