A photo of

The Expedition 36 trio aboard the International Space Station is stepping up science work after several days of treadmill installation activities. The crew also had an opportunity during an orbital pass to photograph the tornado damage surrounding Oklahoma City, but it appeared cloud cover obscured the area. Commander Pavel Vinogradov set up and worked with the ongoing Russian experiment Kulonovskiy Kristall. The study observes the dynamics of charged macroparticle systems in a magnetic fiel [...]

Listened to the NASA and ...

The Ring Nebula's distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the glowing gas shroud around an old, dying, sun-like star reveal a new twist. "The nebula is not like a bagel, but rather, it's like a jelly doughnut, because it's filled with material in the middle," said C. Robert O'Dell of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. He leads a research team that used Hubble and several ground-based telescopes to o [...]

Magnetars -- the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation -- are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other satellites shows magnetars may be more diverse -- and common -- than previously thought. When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses to form a neutron star, an ultradense object about 10 to 15 miles wide. The gravitational energy released i [...]

One of the major benefits of space travel is the new perspective it brings, both to the people who experience it, and to those who experience it vicariously through them.

I believe that this perspective shift is just as  important as any scientific knowledge or new technologies we gain through space travel. We are feeling, living, spiritual beings who crave a sense of purpose and a deeper understanding of our place in the universe than mere data can provide.

The Apollo 8 astronauts who took the famous Earthrise photo started the modern environmental movement by providing the first view of our home in space, in the context of space. It was their Christmas gift to the world, and it’s what we remember best from that mission nearly 45 years later.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield gave us another such perspective by recording a music video shortly before departing the International Space Station this month, expressing through music the feeling that seeing our home planet from the outside can evoke. The video conveys more than reams of data can. It conveys a feeling. It inspires.

We need people in space who can express themselves through the arts every bit as much as we need scientists, engineers, and pilots. And as more and more people are able to get to space by their own means, we will have them. Prepare to be inspired.

With this new view of a spectacular stellar nursery ESO is celebrating 15 years of the Very Large Telescope — the world's most advanced optical instrument. This picture reveals thick clumps of dust silhouetted against the pink glowing gas cloud known to astronomers as IC 2944. These opaque blobs resemble drops of ink floating in a strawberry cocktail, their whimsical shapes sculpted by powerful radiation coming from the nearby brilliant young stars. This new picture celebrates an important  [...]

The UK private space organisation "Spacefleet" has a new website at http://spacefleet.co.uk. The organisation also has several new news items and more imagery of the EARL spaceship design. Founded in 2004, Spacefleet's goal is developing a novel low-cost launch system for human and cargo to LEO. Contractor Found For Scale EARL Model They have recently found a contractor and agreed terms on building a scale model of the EARL spacecraft. http://www.kingfisher-aviation.com/ "We  [...]

Welcome to the March/April 2013 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.

PASADENA, Calif. - A massive and rare merging of two galaxies has been spotted in images taken by the Herschel space observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation. Follow-up studies by several telescopes on the ground and in space, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, tell a tale of two faraway galaxies intertwined and furiously making stars. Eventually, the duo will settle down to form one super-giant elliptical galaxy.  [...]

Stewart Money writes about the ...

As mentioned earlier, ...

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's

A message from

TOMSK – Russia’s new reusable spacecraft that is being developed by the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation will be able to make up to five space flights, the rocket maker said on Wednesday. The spacecraft’s technical design has been finalized but is yet to be officially approved, Energia deputy general designer Alexander Chernyavsky said on the sidelines of the Innovus forum. The new reusable craft is to replace the Soyuz carrier rocket and is expected to ensure a breakthrough in t [...]

The Expedition 36 trio is continuing ongoing fluids science work and the installation of a new treadmill. On the ground in Kazakhstan, three more crew members are preparing for their May 28 launch and docking to the International Space Station. Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy continued his work with the Capillary Flow Experiment-2, also known as Vane Gap. He worked in conjunction with scientists on the ground analyzing the behavior of a dyed fluid in specially-developed science hardware. The s [...]

Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusua [...]

Jeff Bezos fails to get ...

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Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recently flipped an adapter -- no easy feat when you're talking about 1,000 pounds of aluminum -- furthering progress toward Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 in 2014 and providing early experience for Space Launch System (SLS) hardware ahead of the rocket's first flight in 2017. The flip is an important step in finishing the machining work on the adapter, which will attach NASA's Orion spacecraft to a United Launch Alliance (UL [...]