Space & Astronomy News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts from the US space shuttle Atlantis ventured into open space early Monday on the third and final spacewalk of their mission to maintain and install more high-tech equipment on the International Space Station.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts from the US space shuttle Atlantis began the third and final spacewalk of their mission aimed at building the International Space Station, NASA reported on Monday.

Two astronauts, one a proud new dad for the second time, will venture outside the International Space Station Monday on the third and last spacewalk of their mission.

Talk about one proud papa. Astronaut Randy Bresnik beamed with joy Sunday after hearing news of the arrival of his new baby daughter, who was born on Earth while he orbited above on the International Space Station.

A member of the first three-person space crew whose flight was onboard a vehicle he helped design, cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov passed away at age 83 on Saturday, according to a statement by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Shuttle Atlantis astronaut Randy Bresnik awoke early on Sunday to a much-anticipated call that his new daughter had been born.

Astronauts aboard the linked shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station took some well-deserved time off Sunday to rest up from their mission to stock up the orbiting lab, with one spaceflyer overjoyed after hearing news of the birth of his new baby daughter.

MOSCOW - Russian spaceship designer Konstantin Feoktistov, the only non-Communist space traveler in the history of the Soviet space program, has died at the age of 83.

Two astronauts raced through the second spacewalk of their docked shuttle mission at the International Space Station Saturday, getting so far ahead of schedule they took on jobs scheduled for future excursions.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts aboard the International Space Station delayed their second spacewalk Saturday after being jolted awake by a false alarm, NASA said.

Astronaut Randy Bresnik may be expecting his wife Rebecca to give birth, but that hasn't shaken his focus for a planned spacewalk outside the International Space Station today to install new video antennas and other equipment.

NASA has joined astronaut Randy Bresnik, who is in orbit now, in the waiting game for the birth his daughter, just one day before the spaceflyer is poised to make his first spacewalk.

Astronauts on the linked shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station said Friday that they're not worried about recent false alarms that disrupted their sleep with erroneous reports of calamity.

WASHINGTON - The camera that captured many of the Hubble Space Telescope's most famous images and the "contact lenses" that focused the observatory's flawed mirror debuted Wednesday at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. along with the first phase of a new interactive gallery devoted to humans living and working in space.

A space shuttle is no tinker toy. But is it the most complex machine ever built?

NASA's stuck Mars rover Spirit took a tiny step Thursday, its first progress in months, during the latest attempt to extricate the robot from deep Martian sand.

An aerospace engineer from Maine, the reigning champion of NASA's Astronaut Glove Challenge, held onto his title Thursday to win first prize in a competition to build a better space glove than those worn by astronauts today.

MOSCOW - Russia lacks a viable program for developing a new spacecraft and risks losing its place as a leader in space travel, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said in an interview published Friday.

It may be the mother lode of all bad timing: Atlantis shuttle astronaut Randy Bresnik is stuck at the International Space Station, hundreds of miles from his pregnant wife Rebecca, who is expected to give birth to a baby girl as early as today.

NASA offered a total of $400,000 to inventors who can make stronger and more dexterous spacesuit gloves Thursday in the second Astronaut Glove Challenge.

Two astronauts breezed through the first spacewalk of their mission Thursday as they upgraded the International Space Station with a spare antenna and other gear.

Teflon-coated frying pans may scratch easily, but a souped-up version, a nanomaterial 10,000 times more durable than the ordinary non-stick stuff, is headed for the space station to see if it could someday coat the mechanical moving parts of spacecraft.

Two astronauts will step out of the International Space Station today on the first of three spacewalks to stock the orbiting lab with spare parts.

NASA engineers are set to take a second go at extricating the stuck rover Spirit from its sandy trap on Mars.

A fireball over Utah overnight Tuesday was the talk of the state. And an asteroid that could have delivered nearly half the energy of the Hiroshima atom bomb whizzed past Earth earlier this month, NASA reported recently. Meanwhile, a meteor shower dazzled skywatchers around the globe early Tuesday morning.

The space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of six arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday to drop off some massive spare parts for the orbiting laboratory.

A new image of the bulge at the center of a distant spiral galaxy, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is giving astronomers insight into how these galactic paunches form.

SRINAGAR (AFP) - Wildlife experts in Indian-controlled Kashmir have fitted black bears with satellite-tracking collars to study their behaviour and help conserve the endangered animals, officials said Wednesday.

NEW DELHI - Thousands of stargazers across Asia stayed awake overnight to catch a glimpse of what was advertised as an intense Leonid meteor shower, but the show fizzled rather than sizzled for many because of cloudy conditions.