nasa

National

First Black NASA Administrator Charles Bolden 'Pleaded' To Get Into Naval Academy

7:49pm February 09, 2016

by Laura Wagner

Bolden grew up in segregated South Carolina. One of his state senators, Strom Thurman, blocked his efforts to get to the Naval Academy, but a Hail-Mary letter to Lyndon Johnson helped him get there.

Science

Massive Space Telescope Is Finally Coming Together

10:52am January 25, 2016

by Geoff Brumfiel

In a NASA facility just outside Washington, D.C., workers are building the James Webb Space Telescope, an $8 billion successor to the Hubble. It'll be the largest ever, and it's set to launch in 2018.

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2015 was the warmest year on record — and by the widest margin ever, according to a new analysis by NASA and NOAA.

A 'Scorcher': 2015 Shatters Record As Warmest Year, NASA And NOAA Say

3:54pm January 20, 2016

by Bill Chappell

The Northern Hemisphere saw the biggest rise in land temperatures, finishing 2.59 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the 20th century average.

The inset image shows X-ray arcs that astronomers say are signs of galactic burping in the Messier 51 galaxy system, captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Science

Scientists Spot 'Burping' Black Hole In Nearby Galaxy

3:06pm January 06, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

Astronomers observed two arcs of X-ray emissions near a supermassive black hole. They say this shows "black holes can create, not just destroy."

The Mars rover InSight will not launch as scheduled in March. A seismometer it was supposed to carry has experienced a series of vacuum leaks and cannot be repaired in time.

Instrument Malfunction Causes NASA To Suspend Next Mars Mission

8:04pm December 22, 2015

by Laura Wagner

The decision means a significant delay in the InSight program, because Earth's and Mars' orbits are aligned in a way that makes a launch possible only every 26 months. Blame a faulty seismometer.

A detail of an image captured by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows exposed layers of mudstone and sandstone in contact with one another.

Science

Curiouser And Curiouser: NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Piles Of Silica On Mars

12:30pm December 18, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Potential answers for the unexpectedly high levels of silica all involve water. The space agency also says it found "a mineral named tridymite, rare on Earth and never seen before on Mars."

Ed White completes the first American space walk in 1965.

NASA Is Seeking Astronauts. Do You Have The Right Stuff?

7:59pm December 16, 2015

by Adam Cole

Less than 1 percent of applicants make the cut. But there's more than one way in. Passion helps. Be persistent. Oh, and be tops in what you're doing right now.

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Ceres, with bright spots in its Occator Crater, is seen here in a "false color" image that reflects its surface composition. New analysis says the spots are caused by a type of salt.

Science

Bright Spots On Ceres Aren't Signs Of Alien Civilizations, Studies Say

12:40pm December 10, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Two new studies of the dwarf planet might make it harder for people to imagine Ceres as a space colony or way station for an advanced race.

Pluto's shoreline of Sputnik Planum is seen in the highest-resolution images yet to come from New Horizons. John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute says the details support the idea that the mountains "are huge ice blocks that have been jostled a

Science

NASA Releases New Video Showing Higher-Resolution Closeup Of Pluto

2:42pm December 05, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The best photos from the New Horizons spacecraft that buzzed Pluto earlier this year are now making their way back to Earth, providing resolutions of less than 100 yards per pixel.

A building called Sustainability Base, at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., has an energy-efficient design that allows in sunlight. So for most of the year, the interior is illuminated by natural light.

NASA Uses Lessons From Space To Design An Efficient Building

7:24pm November 30, 2015

by Joe Palca

Named Sustainability Base, a NASA facility in California is a model for energy-efficient federal buildings. It's powered by a fuel cell like those used on spacecraft and recycles water for flushing.

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