Russian space chief proposes designing nuclear-powered spaceship

Russian space chief proposes nuclear spaceship

Panel says NASA should skip moon, fly elsewhere; suggests landing on asteroid or Martian moon

WASHINGTON — NASA needs to make a major detour on its grand plans to return astronauts to the moon, a special independent panel told the White House Thursday.

Cosmic population boom: European astronomers find 32 new planets outside solar system

WASHINGTON — European astronomers have found 32 new planets outside our solar system, adding evidence to the theory that the universe has many places where life could develop. Scientists using the European Southern Observatory telescope didn’t find any planets quite the size of Earth or any that seemed habitable or even unusual. But their announcement increased the number of planets discovered outside the solar system to more than 400.

Cosmic population boom: Europeans find more than 2 dozen new planets outside solar system

WASHINGTON — European astronomers have found 32 new planets outside our solar system, adding evidence to the theory that the universe has many places where life could develop.

Obama hosts White House party where the stars (and the moon and Jupiter) are the real stars

WASHINGTON — Call it a star party with real star power.

Argentine astronomer calculated orbits of Halley’s Comet and Saturn’s outermost moon

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Pedro Elias Zadunaisky, an Argentine astronomer and mathematician whose calculations helped determine the orbit of Saturn’s outermost moon, Phoebe, as well as Halley’s Comet, died Wednesday. He was 91.

NASA’s Spitzer telescope discovers gigantic never-before-seen ring around Saturn

PASADENA, Calif. — The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced late Tuesday.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spies water ice in craters halfway between north pole and equator

PASADENA, Calif. — A spacecraft orbiting Mars has spotted water ice in several impact craters midway between the north pole and equator — the first time ice so close to the surface has been discovered so far south on the red planet.

A cosmic but too hot place to stand: Astronomers find first rocky planet outside solar system

WASHINGTON — Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there’s a firm place to stand — if only it weren’t so broiling hot.

Failure to launch: Obama space panel says Bush’s $100 billion plan moon return plan won’t fly

WASHINGTON — A White House panel of independent space experts says NASA’s return-to-the-moon plan just won’t fly.

Paper moon: NASA’s grand return plans may fall short due to of lack of money, experts say

WASHINGTON — NASA will test the powerful first stage of its new Ares moon rocket Thursday, a milestone in a program that has already spent $7 billion for a rocket that astronauts may never use.

Doomed planet: Astronomers find planet so big and close to star it may be killing itself

WASHINGTON — Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet.

NASA engineers deny that human space flight program, Constellation, is too risky, expensive

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Engineers designing NASA’s next moon rocket denied Wednesday that the human space flight program dubbed “Constellation” is too expensive, too risky and would unnecessarily delay man’s return to space.

Panel reviewing NASA plans for human spaceflight holds public hearing at Ala. rocket center

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The panel reviewing NASA’s future plans for human space flight is convening for a session in Alabama.

NASA: Aussie amateur astronomer spots Earth-sized scar on Jupiter, likely from comet crash

LOS ANGELES — An amateur stargazer in Australia spotted an Earth-sized gash on Jupiter, possibly caused by a collision with a comet, NASA scientists say.

NASA’s new chief sees Mars and beyond as goal within generation; space station to be extended

WASHINGTON — NASA’s new boss said Tuesday he will be “incredibly disappointed” if people aren’t on Mars — or venturing somewhere beyond it — in his lifetime.

New NASA images show scar on Jupiter apparently made by impact of space object

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers say Jupiter has apparently been struck by an object, possibly a comet.

On 40th anniversary, Apollo 11 astronauts meet Obama, who makes no promise of moon or Mars

WASHINGTON — The same question that could have been asked 40 years ago moments after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon is still being asked today: Now what?

Researchers: Apollo moon rocks still offering clues to origins of solar system, life on Earth

ST. LOUIS — Forty years after the Apollo 11 astronauts made their historic lunar landing, the rocks they collected are still helping researchers learn more about the moon, the solar system, even about how life on Earth began.

Apollo 11 astronauts meet President Obama as part of 40th anniversary of first moon landing

WASHINGTON — Hailing the Apollo 11 astronauts as “three genuine American heroes,” President Barack Obama said Monday that exploration spurs ingenuity and inspires students in math and science.

About to meet the president, Apollo 11 astronauts say Mars beckons more than moon return trip

WASHINGTON — The first astronauts to walk on the moon want President Barack Obama to aim for a new destination: Mars.

Moon landing is old news to Apollo 11 astronauts, who call for giant leap to Mars

WASHINGTON — The astronauts who first landed on the moon aren’t dwelling on their small lunar steps. Instead, two of them on Sunday urged mankind to take a giant leap to Mars.