​On this day ten years ago, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus laboratory was launched into orbit, safely nestled in the mammoth cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis.

  ISS ESA feiert zehn Jahre Weltraumlabor Columbus Redaktion / Pressemitteilung des DLR astronews.com 8. Februar 2018

COLOGNE, Germany (DLR PR) — The Columbus space laboratory began its journey into space on 7 February 2008 and has now been the scientific heart of European research on the International Space Station (ISS) for ten years. In microgravity, researchers gain unique insights from a wide range of…

  LISA PATHFINDER Noch besser als gedacht Redaktion / Pressemitteilung des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gravitationsphysik astronews.com 12. Februar 2018

LISA pathfinder three times better than required, 10 times better than expected.

A very small, very powerful atomic clock will ride the next Falcon Heavy to space.

A bold life-hunting mission to the surface of Jupiter’s ocean-harboring moon Europa was shut out in the 2019 federal budget proposal, but NASA still aims to see it fly.

Ein schneller Zugang zum Weltall, Bereitstellung von High-Speed-Datenverbindungen und ein einzigartiger Aussichtspunkt sind gute Argumente für neue kommerzielle Möglichkeiten auf der Internationalen Raumstation ISS. Das ausgefeilte Design des neuen Service namens „Bartolomeo“ erlaubt vie…

A Russian cargo craft is getting ready to roll out to its launch pad for a Sunday morning lift-off to resupply the International Space Station and the Expedition 54 crew. The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the station are also preparing for the new space shipment and continuing a variety of life…

A Russian Progress resupply ship to the International Space Station aborted its express delivery mission just a few seconds before launch early Sunday. The cargo vehicle will now launch on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 3:13 a.m. EST (2:13 p.m. Baikonur time) to send three tons of food, fuel and supplies to…

Wenn Alexander Gerst wieder auf Weltraummission ist, wird seine Gesundheit mithilfe der TU Dresden überwacht.

  ISS Vögelbeobachten aus dem All Redaktion / Pressemitteilung des DLR astronews.com 13. Februar 2018

Aufatmen und Freude am Kosmodrom im kasachischen Baikonur, im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Bonn und im Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie (MPIO) in Radolfzell am Bodensee: eine…

For Valentine’s Day we bring you a little heart-shaped island, which has been imaged from space by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Lying about 20 km off the coast of India’s state of Karnataka, in the Arabian Sea, the uninhabited island of Netrani may be small, but is perfectly formed.…

This multitemporal Sentinel-1A radar image shows the Aral Sea, located on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.The Aral Sea is a striking example of humankind’s impact on the environment and natural resources. Once the world’s fourth-largest inland water body, it h…

Saturn’s cratered moon Rhea passes in front of the hazy giant Titan in an image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which completed its mission by diving into Saturn in September.

This image of Jupiter’s southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed a close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 16, 2017.

No doubt, Mars is holding its secrets tight — but if the ongoing work to detect life proves positive, what protocols are in place to confirm such a verdict?

This image of distant interacting galaxies, known collectively as Arp 142, bears an uncanny resemblance to a penguin guarding an egg. Data from NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have been combined to show these dramatic galaxies in light that spans the visible and infrared parts of the…

This illustration depicts the strange case of the backwards hotspot researchers have found on the hot exoplanet known as CoRoT-2b.

New Horizons tummelt sich weiterhin um den Pluto und hat nun einen neuen Rekord aufgestellt, indem es das am weitesten von der Erde entfernte Foto geschossen hat. Das Ergebnis: zwei Farbpunkte.

NASA has released an absolutely beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of PLCK G004.5-19.5, a massive cluster of galaxies in the constellation Sagittarius.

NASA’s 2019 budget proposal will include plans to end funding for the ISS in 2025, but leaves open handing part or all of it to private operators.

The Trump administration wants to turn the International Space Station into a commercially run venture, NASA document shows., Washington Post

Advocates for the space station in Congress and industry are making the case for keeping the station operating well beyond a potential mid-2020s retirement.

I asked #NASA CFO what happens after 2025 if commercial users do not show up to pay ISS operating expenses. Does @NASA Abandon ISS? If so who owns U.S. assets on ISS if NASA not longer uses them? Answer: „I do not know the answer. We are starting to work on this“ pic.twitter.com/Ldo6KNuCF9

„This addendum includes additional funding for a limited set of Administration priorities, but notably, it also proposes to use higher spending caps as an opportunity to fix some long-time budget gimmicks that the Congress has used to circumvent the spending caps and add billions to the Nation’s…

„Lightfoot will provide a „State of NASA“ address to the agency’s workforce at 1 p.m. EST from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. His remarks will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.“

Keith’s note: Yesterday NASA held a briefing with Acting CFO Andrew Hunter. When asked about how NASA plans to operate the ISS after 2025 when funding by NASA will cease, Hunter had no answer. The only clue he offered was that CASIS would continue to be part of the NASA space station utilization…

NASA is beginning to study a contingency option for maintaining access to the ISS should commercial crew vehicle development experience delays.

Seit Anfang des Jahrtausends ist die Internationale Raumstation eines der wichtigsten Forschungsprojekte der Menschheit. Die US-Regierung will aber wohl nicht mehr bezahlen und die Station der Privatwirtschaft überlassen. Ob das möglich ist, ist unklar.

I was told by a SpaceX VP at the launch that they offered free launches to NASA, Air Force etc. but got no takers. A student developed experiment or early tech demo could have led to even more new knowledge from the mission. The Tesla gimmick was the backup. https://t.co/R00OSjf4DF

NASA’s 2019 budget proposal under the Trump administration calls $19.9 billion in funding, an increase, but cuts funding for the International Space Station while cancelling a space telescope and five Earth missions.

Winter remained with a firm grip on Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday when a Soyuz 2-1A emerged from its assembly hall and rolled to its launch pad for a Sunday liftoff with the Progress MS-08 cargo spacecraft on an expedited, two-orbit rendezvous with the International Space Station.

It was a Déjà vu at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday when a Soyuz rocket stood fully fueled for an express cargo delivery to the International Space Station but suffered a last-second abort of its countdown moments before lighting the engines – scratching plans of a record-setting rendezvous…

The planned launch of the Progress 69 cargo spacecraft at 3:58 a.m. EST (2:58 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been scrubbed. A backup launch date is under review.

Carrying more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the International Space Station Expedition 54 crew, the Progress 69 cargo spacecraft launched at 3:13 a.m. EST (2:13 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A Russian Soyuz rocket launched an unpiloted cargo ship toward the International Space Station Tuesday (Feb. 13), kicking off a two-day delivery mission to the orbiting laboratory.

„NASA has spent more than $15 billion to try and develop their own heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), with a first flight planned in roughly two years – assuming all goes according to plan. Once operational, SLS will cost NASA over $1 billion per launch. The Falcon Heavy, developed…

NASA’s next Mars lander is in the final preparation phases before heading out to its California launch site later this year.

Statt Autos zum Mars zu schießen solle die Raumfahrt sich lieber auf die Klimaforschung konzentrieren, erklärte der 84-jährige Weltraumpionier der Apollo 8.

Ein altes Auto mit einer Puppe am Steuer zieht im Sonnensystem seit dieser Woche seine Bahn. SpaceX-Chef Elon Musk hat sie ins All schießen lassen. Werden sie mit Mars oder Erde zusammenstoßen? Astronomen haben nachgerechnet.

Während sich SpaceX über das Manöver zum Verlassen des Erdorbits und die Folgen ausschweigt (und die grob falsche Bahngrafik immer noch nicht aus Elon Musks Twitter-Feed gelöscht wurde, leider bere…

Was für eine Premiere für die schubstärkste Rakete der Gegenwart, die Falcon Heavy der kalifornischen Privatfirma SpaceX, mit der deren Chef Elon Musk bald den Startmarkt für schwere Satelliten aufmischen – und zugleich mit eigenen […]

  SPACEX Erste Falcon Heavy erfolgreich gestartet von Stefan Deiters astronews.com 7. Februar 2018

SpaceX achieved a momentous feat on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 when successfully launching the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket on a high-stakes shakedown mission – successfully boosting into orbit and later off into Deep Space a midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster as a novelty-payload chosen for this…

SpaceX’s triple-core monster rocket leapt off its LC-39A Launch Pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 20:45:00.49 UTC on February 6, 2018, embarking on a long-awaited shakedown mission and in the process becoming the most powerful rocket currently in service. Falcon Heavy successfully…

When SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon Heavy booster Tuesday (Feb. 6) from the same Florida pad used by NASA’s Apollo missions, the company claimed the title for the most powerful rocket. But more is on the way.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he knows exactly why the Falcon Heavy core booster crashed. Also, SpaceX is building a third droneships for rocket landings at sea.

Elon Musk has launched his sportscar into deep space. Stellar radiation is going to wreck it.

The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal for NASA fully funds the development of a new supersonic airplane that could transport commercial-airline passengers faster than the speed of sound.

Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket rolled out to its French Guiana launch pad in preparation for a Thursday liftoff on the vehicle’s year-opening mission, tasked with deploying a pair of innovative satellites to a Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit peaking 45,000 Kilometers above the planet. Stacked…

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket, flying with a single Solid Rocket Booster, lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 0:48 UTC on January 20, 2018 with the fourth satellite of the Space Based Infrared System, set to complete a critical U.S. Missile Warning…

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket, flying with a single Solid Rocket Booster, lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 0:48 UTC on January 20, 2018 with the fourth satellite of the Space Based Infrared System, set to complete a critical U.S. Missile Warning…

On 7 February 2018, 10 years to the day that Europe’s Columbus space laboratory was launched to the International Space Station, 20 lucky clubbers got a taste of weightlessness – not to conduct gravity-free science but to party with superstar DJs Steve Aoki, W&W and Le Shuuk.Taking of…

Elon Musk is in on the conspiracy, according to flat-Earthers, who say the shots of a Tesla Roadster in space, above a round Earth, are totally fake.

Buzz Aldrin has announced a new addition to his „Mission to Mars“ fashion line: a $150 solar panel backpack.

Elon Musk: „This vehicle opens up a whole new class of payloads and it’s up to customers what they want to launch.”

A trio of future explorers take part in a ‘rover sim’, practising driving a virtual rover across a rocky lunar landscape.Hannah and Lukas, from Gymnasium Michelstadt, and Lilly, from the Schule auf der Aue, in Münster, were at ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, recently, …

Personal Radiation Shielding for Interplanetary Missions (PERSEO): Today the crew performed an initial checkout of a radiation shielding garment for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) PERSEO Project. They filled the garment with water, donned the garment, and later doffed the garment before draining…

Sue Finley, one of the longest serving women at NASA, celebrated her 60th anniversary with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory this year.

In a time when women were discouraged from studying math and science, Nancy Grace Roman became a research astronomer and the first Chief of Astronomy at NASA. Known today as the “Mother of Hubble,” she was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality and…