‘We are close:’ SETI astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol on the search for life

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A leading astrobiologist melds her passion with the weighty nature of trying to grasp for answers to two key questions: Are we alone in the universe? How did life on Earth begin in the first place? Nathalie Cabrol’s book, “The Secret Life of the Universe: An Astrobiologist’s Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life” (Scribner/Simon & Schuster), released last month, offers an insightful and reflective view of the search for life — a mind-stretching quest not only looking “out there” but also right here on Earth. Perhaps part of…

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Tropical Storm Helene delays SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut launch to Sept. 28

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SpaceX’s next astronaut mission has been delayed by a powerful storm. The company had been planning to launch the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 26). However, that target date has slipped by at least two days, thanks to a maelstrom named Helene. Helene is a tropical storm at the moment, but it’s expected to slam into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday as a Category 3 hurricane. Thus, NASA and SpaceX now aim to launch…

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Astronaut José Hernández Boards Discovery

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NASA/Jim Grossmann In this photo from Aug. 7, 2009, Jose Hernandez, mission specialist, smiles at the camera as he waits for his turn to enter the space shuttle Discovery as part of STS-128. It was the 128th Shuttle mission and the 30th mission to the International Space Station. While at the orbital lab, the STS-128 crew conducted three spacewalks. Hernandez joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in 2001. There, he was a materials research engineer in the Materials & Processes branch; eventually, he became branch chief. In 2004, he…

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NASA Awards Contract Extension for Solar Science Instrument

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NASA has awarded a contract extension to Stanford University, California, to continue the mission and services for the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on the agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The cost-reimbursement, no fee contract extension provides for support, operation, and calibration of the HMI instrument, which is one of three main instruments on SDO. In addition, the extension provides for operating and maintaining the Joint Science Operations Center – Science Data Processing facility at Stanford as well as the HMI team’s support for Heliophysics System Observatory science. The…

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NASA Relaunches Art Program with Space-Themed Murals

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The inaugural murals for the relaunched NASA Art Program appear side-by-side at 350 Hudson Street, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York City. The murals, titled “To the Moon, and Back,” were created by New York-based artist team Geraluz and WERC and use geometrical patterns to invite deeper reflection on the exploration, creativity, and connection with the cosmos. NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA launched the next phase of its art program with two new space-themed murals in New York’s Hudson Square…

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SpaceX fishes Starship Super Heavy booster out of the sea (photo)

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SpaceX has pulled some pieces of its Starship megarocket from the sea. On Sunday evening (Sept. 22), SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk posted on X a photo of dripping and damaged rocket hardware being lifted out of the ocean. The mangled metal is part of the first-stage booster that flew on the most recent Starship test flight, Musk said. “Like the ruins of a futuristic, long-dead civilization,” he wrote in another post a few hours later. SpaceX is developing Starship to get people and payloads to the moon, Mars…

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New Video Series Spotlights Engineers on NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission

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Learn about some of the engineering work being done by five members of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which aims to launch Thursday, Oct. 10. NASA With NASA’s Europa Clipper just weeks away from launch, five short videos give a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the engineers dedicated to making the mission a success. What does it take to build a massive spacecraft that will seek to determine if a mysterious moon has the right ingredients for life? Find out in a new video series called “Behind the Spacecraft,” which offers…

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