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.

NASA photos reveal moon strike may have yielded important data

LOS ANGELES — NASA’s much-hyped mission to hurl a spacecraft into the moon turned out some worthwhile data after all, scientists said.

Moonstruck: NASA hits the moon twice looking for water; only fuzzy photos so far

WASHINGTON — Take that, moon!

Moonstruck: NASA hits the moon twice looking for water; no live pictures yet, but coming

NASA makes as-yet unseen hit on moon with probes

First of 2 NASA planned moon crashes is a hit; Scientists look for water in kicked up dust

WASHINGTON — NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon’s south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos.

Smackdown: NASA probes about to connect with one-two uppercuts of moon’s south pole

WASHINGTON — Two NASA spacecraft are barreling toward the moon at twice the speed of a bullet, about to crash Friday into a lunar crater in a search for ice.

NASA’s moon probe separates as planned, ready to smack into lunar surface Friday morning

WASHINGTON — NASA’s moon probe has separated into two pieces as planned, a major milestone toward a Friday morning double-barreled crash into the lunar surface.

NASA lunar mission combines romance of moon with lust for cosmic violence

WASHINGTON — For as long as man has looked up, the moon has inspired romance, poetry and songs. Man also likes blowing things up. Now we get to do both — in the name of science.

Crash course in geology: Water-seeking probe to smack into moon as world watches

WASHINGTON — NASA will throw a one-two punch at the big old moon Friday and the whole world will have ringside seats for the lunar dust-up.

ATK Space Systems laying off 550 space shuttle engineers, other workers in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The phase-out of the space shuttle program brought 550 layoffs on Tuesday to a Utah company that makes the booster rockets.

Moon River? Not quite, but three space probes spot surprising sigs of water in lunar soil

WASHINGTON — The moon isn’t the dry dull place it seems. Traces of water lurk in the dirt unseen.

Forget Pluto, NASA probe finds darkest parts of moon are coldest places in the solar system

WASHINGTON — Astronomers have found the coldest spot in our solar system and it may be a little close for comfort. It’s on our moon, right nearby.

Entrepreneurs’ rockets vie in simulated lunar landing competition

LOS ANGELES — A privately built rocket vying for NASA prize money lifted off in the Mojave Desert and flew half of a simulated lunar lander mission Wednesday before an engine problem forced its developers to call off the attempt until next month.

2nd rocket competitor in simulated lunar landing contest calls off mission at halfway point

LOS ANGELES — A privately built rocket competing for NASA prize money has been grounded halfway through a simulated lunar landing mission in the Mojave Desert, but developers plan to make another attempt.

Congressmen say don’t ditch moon plan; panel says it could still work with extra $3 billion

WASHINGTON — NASA’s weakened return-to-the-moon program got a lift Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

China starts work on Hainan launch center highlighting satellite, space exploration ambitions

BEIJING — China broke ground on its fourth space center Monday, highlighting the country’s soaring space ambitions six years after it sent its first man into orbit.

Global puzzle: Some Apollo moon rocks are lost, perhaps not all by mistake

AMSTERDAM — Attention, countries of the world: Do you know where your moon rocks are?

NASA contractor pleased with test firing of moon rocket in northern Utah

PROMONTORY, Utah — The first test of NASA’s powerful moon rocket went off without a problem Thursday as more than a million pounds of propellant ignited in a split second, sending a towering plume of sand and dust high into the Utah sky.

Failure to launch: Obama space panel says Bush’s moon return plan too costly, won’t fly

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

India abandons satellite after losing contact with orbiting satellite

NEW DELHI — India’s space agency has abandoned the country’s only satellite orbiting the moon after efforts to revive communication with it failed, an official said Monday.

Space agency loses communication with India’s sole lunar satellite

NEW DELHI — India’s national space agency said communications with the country’s only satellite orbiting the moon snapped Saturday and that its scientists were no longer controlling the spacecraft.

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.

SKorea to launch 1st rocket into space months after rival NKorea’s rocket test

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea prepared Tuesday to launch its first rocket, just four months after rival North Korea defiantly launched its own and quickly was slapped with U.N. sanctions.