Orion Blog

Science editor Alan Boyle’s Weblog: NASA gives the green light for what’s likely to be the space shuttle Atlantis’ last launch, opening the final chapter in the orbiter fleet’s 29-year history. Read More…

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, blasted NASA’s new plans for future space exploration Wednesday, adding that President Barack Obama was poorly advised when he canceled the space agency’s previous course for U.S. human spaceflight earlier this year. Read More…

Atlantis is set for one more liftoff before the program is officially mothballed by NASA. Read More…

FRANKENMUTH — When war calls, American men and women respond. It’s their stories that Stanley Bozich wants you to remember. Read More…

NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis is set to launch its last-ever space mission on May 14, officials said Wednesday. Read More…

NASA is testing a new launch abort system to help astronauts escape an exploding rocket. But exactly how will the system work? Read More…

(PhysOrg.com) — Sophisticated new technologies created by NASA and university scientists are enabling them to build an instrument designed to probe the first moments of the universe’s existence. Read More…

NASA today tested a new way for astronauts to escape during an emergency on the launch pad or liftoff, even though the spacecraft intended to use the system may never carry humans into orbit. Read More…

NASA has tested a new way for astronauts to escape during an emergency on the launch pad or liftoff, even though the spacecraft intended to use the system may never carry humans into orbit. Read More at Update1…

Another bit of the canceled Constellation project just actually rocketed into the skies: A testbed Orion space capsule has followed the Ares I-X atop a fiery plume off the launchpad. But unlike Ares, Orion may actually reach space. Possibly. Today the Orion capsule, a 16-foot diameter, 11-foot tall space ship roughly the same shape as [...]