Category: Solar System

Our solar system

New record: Blue Origin launches youngest woman beyond Kármán line

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Blue Origin set a new record on its latest space tourism flight. That mission, called NS-26, sent six people to suborbital space and back this morning (Aug. 29) from Blue Origin‘s West Texas spaceport, reaching a maximum altitude of 64.6 miles (104 kilometers) above ground level. One of them was Karsen Kitchen, a 21-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). According to Blue Origin, Kitchen is the youngest woman ever to cross the Kármán line, the 62-mile-high (100 km) boundary that many people regard as…

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Private astronauts of Polaris Dawn mission patiently await SpaceX launch amid multiple delays

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The four astronauts of SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn mission that will perform the first commercial spacewalk are taking delays to their launch in stride. The mission was initially slated to launch Aug. 27, but was delayed to Aug. 28 due to technical issues. Polaris Dawn was then postponed two more days, to no earlier than Friday, Aug. 30, due to splashdown weather concerns for the end of the mission. Now, the launch depends upon the completion of a mishap investigation required by the Federal Aviation Administration,…

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Netflix’s ‘Terminator Zero’ restores faith in an ailing sci-fi franchise (review)

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Warning: Mild spoilers ahead! Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger plucking out his cybernetic eyeball in director James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi classic “The Terminator” would tend to have a traumatic effect on any youngster seeing the film on a grainy VHS copy in the ’90s. That’s exactly what happened to “Terminator Zero’s” writer, creator and showrunner Mattson Tomlin when he was just eight years old. This new adult animated series from Netflix is that timely Terminator-centric project that fans have been praying for after suffering through the last two sequels, “Terminator Genisys” and…

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Astronaut John McFall carries Paralympic flag at opening ceremony Aug. 28

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Astronaut John McFall returned to the Paralympics today (Aug. 28) to carry the games’ official flag in the opening ceremony in Paris. McFall earned a bronze in the Paralympics Games in 2008, competing in the men’s T42 100-meter race in Beijing. Today McFall has a different career, involving considerable medical expertise and participating in the European Space Agency as a reserve astronaut. “I am truly honored to be standing here today, as a Paralympian and a member of the astronaut reserve with a physical disability,” McFall said in a statement.…

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FAA requires investigation into SpaceX Falcon 9 landing failure

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SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded, at least for a little while. A Falcon 9 successfully launched 21 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites this morning (Aug. 28), sending them to orbit on the record-breaking 23rd mission for the rocket’s first stage. That booster encountered a problem during its return to Earth, however, toppling over shortly after landing at sea on a SpaceX droneship. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that it’s requiring an investigation into the failed touchdown — and that the Falcon 9 won’t fly again until…

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Mock shuttle Pathfinder restored atop its stack at Alabama rocket center (photos)

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Pathfinder is back in its “space,” three and a half years after it “landed” on Earth. An early mockup of NASA’s now-retired winged orbiters, Pathfinder was returned to its position atop a space shuttle propulsion “stack” at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Wednesday morning (Aug. 28). The lift signaled that a multi-million-dollar restoration effort is nearing completion. “Returning Pathfinder to the shuttle stack after an extensive restoration process is a major milestone for us,” Kimberly Robinson, CEO and executive director of the Space & Rocket…

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Scientists find surprising clue about Venus’ past in its atmosphere

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Scientists have observed something unexpected in Venus’ atmosphere — an increase in the level of deuterium relative to hydrogen. Okay, sure, that doesn’t sound like the most exciting statement. However, the consequences of this discovery could actually upend our current understanding of the amber world. As it turns out, it would affect our assumption that Venus is a perpetually barren, inhospitable planet. Here’s how. “Venus is often called Earth’s twin due to its similar size,” said Hiroki Karyu, a researcher at Tohoku University and one of the study’s scientists, in…

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‘Star Wars Outlaws’ enters our galaxy this week! Watch the new launch trailer (video)

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Star Wars Outlaws: Official Launch Trailer – YouTube Watch On After what might seem an interminably long wait, Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft’s third-person sci-fi adventure game, “Star Wars Outlaws,” arrives Tuesday, Aug. 27 in early access for those who ponied up a bunch more pennies for the Gold Edition, Ultimate Edition, or a Ubisoft Plus membership, prior to its standard global release on Friday, Aug. 30 for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. An energetic new launch trailer for “Star Wars Outlaws” was recently introduced this past Thursday at…

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NASA’s DART asteroid crash really messed up its space rock target

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Rogue asteroids, to put it simply, pose a threat to Earth. Though there hasn’t been a cataclysmic event in about 65 million years, that’s not to say there haven’t been nail-biting moments during space rock flybys — in 2013, for instance, the Chelyabinsk asteroid slammed into Earth’s atmosphere “blazing like a second sun” and sending shockwaves through the surrounding area. Space agencies around the world understandably want to be prepared. To this end, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft in 2022, its first mission dedicated to demonstrating…

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SpaceX Polaris Dawn astronauts will conduct high-flying research in Earth orbit

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Call it one high leap for astronaut science. The Polaris Dawn mission, funded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Tuesday morning (Aug. 27). It has two major operations goals: to perform the first-ever private spacewalk and to fly higher than any crewed spacecraft since the Apollo era, at about 870 miles (1,400 kilometers). The four-person crew includes Isaacman as commander (who previously funded and commanded the private Inspiration4 orbital mission in 2021); pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a business…

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