The Big Bang: What really happened at our universe’s birth?

It took quite a bit more than seven days to create the universe as we know it today. SPACE.com looks at the mysteries of the heavens in our eight-part series: The history & future of the cosmos. This is Part 5 in that series. Our universe was born about 13.7 billion years ago in a massive expansion that blew space up like a gigantic balloon. That, in a nutshell, is the Big Bang theory, which virtually all cosmologists and theoretical physicists endorse. The evidence supporting the idea is extensive and…

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Olay erects statue of rocket engineer Mary Golda Ross to promote STEM equity

In life, Mary Golda Ross helped develop a rocket stage that served as a rendezvous and docking target for astronauts preparing to go to the moon. Now, a new statue of the trailblazing Native American woman will help steer a new generation toward the stars. Olay, the skin care company, is unveiling the new statue of Ross on Monday (Feb. 7), ahead of it going on public display on Feb. 23 at the First Americans Museum in Ross’ home state of Oklahoma. The monument was designed with advice from the…

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How does terraforming work in the Alien universe?

The subject of terraforming lies at the center of James Cameron’s Aliens, at least when it comes to worldbuilding. Released in 1979, Ridley Scott’s Alien already saw a group of space truckers visit an unknown “planetoid,” which would later become LV-426 in the 1986 sequel. And spacesuits weren’t needed anymore to walk on its surface when Hadley’s Hope went silent.  After Ellen Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo came across a massive ship of unknown origin filled to the brim with xenomorph eggs in 2122, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation knew…

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Watch SpaceX launch a US spy satellite and land a rocket in this mesmerizing drone video

A stunning new video from SpaceX captures what it’s like to watch a rocket launch from mid-air and then witness the booster return to Earth. The video, captured by a flying SpaceX drone, shows the company’s launch of the classified NROL-87 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The mission lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday (Feb. 2) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.  “Drone shot of today’s Falcon 9 launch and landing,” SpaceX wrote on Twitter Wednesday after the launch.…

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US Space Force’s ‘Orbital Prime’ project aims to attack space debris by recycling or removing junk

A new U.S. Space Force video “demands action” on space debris and asks the private sector for their help cleaning up the growing space mess. The video was released Jan. 5 on the Space Force’s SpaceWERX website (its technology branch) to push a program called Orbital Prime, which aims to test out an on orbit-system within two to four years. The first solicitation is due Feb. 17. Space debris, said Vice Chief of Space Operations Lt. Gen. David Thompson in the video, “demands action and provides an opportunity for partnership…

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