The launch of the first private capsule from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), dubbed the “Dragon” capsule, had to be put on hold earlier in the month to make time for more testing. Now, NASA has given the green light for the capsule to launch, and SpaceX says that a launch is expected in late March.

SpaceX has already successfully completed a trial run of the Dragon capsule back in 2010, but the only purpose of that test was to send the capsule into space and successfully retrieve it after it took the plunge back to Earth. The March mission will take SpaceX’s Dragon capsule a bit further, with the capsule intended to park itself by the International Space Station, where astronauts aboard may retrieve it with a robotic arm.

“Today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, and this year, SpaceX’s Dragon will become the first privately developed spacecraft to visit the International Space Station,” SpaceX officials wrote in a statement. “Space travel is one of the most difficult of all human endeavors, and success is never a guarantee. This flight introduces a series of new challenges and new magnitudes of complexity; if even the smallest thing goes wrong, we will be forced to abort the mission.”

SpaceX’s goal with the Dragon capsule is to be able to deliver various items to astronauts aboard the International Space Station, but the company has their sights set further than that. They’re also looking into developing a modified version of the capsule that could potentially be able to deliver astronauts to the ISS.

[Image credit: SpaceX]

SpaceX’s ‘Dragon’ capsule set to launch late March is a post from: The Inquisitr

California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced today that it has delayed the launch of its “Dragon” space capsule.

SpaceX’s capsule was scheduled to launch on February 7 aboard its Falcon 9 on a mission to the International Space Station, but the company had to delay the launch so that more engineering work could be done.

“In preparation for the upcoming launch, SpaceX continues to conduct extensive testing and analysis,” spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said in an email announcement today.  “We believe that there are a few areas that will benefit from additional work and will optimize the safety and success of this mission.

The company isn’t saying just how long the delay would last, be it a few days, a few weeks or even longer, but Grantham said that SpaceX is working with NASA to determine the best time to launch the test flight.

“We are now working with NASA to establish a new target launch date, but note that we will continue to test and review data,” Grantham explained. “We will launch when the vehicle is ready.”

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is intended to deliver various essentials to the International Space Station including food, water, equipment, provisions and science experiments. The company is also working on a modified version of the capsule, DragonRider, with the goal of possibly launching astronauts to the ISS within 3 to 5 years.

[Image credit: Illustration by NASA/SpaceX]

SpaceX delays mission to International Space Station is a post from: The Inquisitr

Last week Comet Lovejoy flew into, then out of, the sun, and NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank had the best seat in the house. Burbank, who is currently the commander of the International Space Station, took over 100 photographs of Comet Lovejoy as it shot through space on Wednesday night.

Burbank said:

“It was (the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in space. And that’s saying an awful lot because every day is filled with amazing things.”

Space.com reports that at the time of the photographs, Comet Lovejoy was traveling about 240 miles above Tasmania. But at the time, Burbank wasn’t exactly sure what he was photographing.

Burbank said:

“I had no idea what it was; it was a long green glowing arc. It turns out that it ended up being a comet.”

Here’s the video of Comet Lovejoy from the International Space Station.

Last week Comet Lovejoy flew within 87,000 miles from the sun’s surface. Many astronomers predicted that the comet would be destroyed by the sun, but surprisingly, the comet emerged on the other side of the sun.

Watch Comet Lovejoy From the International Space Station [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Draconid Meteor Shower peaks this weekend with some forecasts predicting up to 600 meteors an hour. The hyperactive meteor shower will be a treat for sky-watchers, but NASA is keeping a close eye on the International Space Station and orbiting satellites to make sure that nothing gets damaged.

Jérémie Vaubaillon of France’s Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides (IMCCE), said:

“I hope that my prediction will underestimate the level we are going to see, because [a Draconids outburst can be] just a fantastic thing. If you’ve ever seen the Perseids in August—it’s going to be like twice that amount, at least!”

National Geographic reports that the spectacular sky show has NASA a little worried about the ISS.

Raminder Singh Samra, staff astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada, said:

“Satellites and the ISS are at some risk of collision with particles. However, other than avoiding spacewalks, there isn’t much the space station can do to avoid such hazards, aside from hoping the damage is minimal.”

According to National Geographic, the biggest danger to satellites during a meteor shower is the elctrostatic that occurs during impact. National Geographic writes:

“When a meteor hits a satellite at high speed, the tiny rock vaporizes into hot, electrically charged gas—or plasma—that can short out circuits and damage onboard electronics, causing the satellite to spin out of control.”

Samra notes that all meteor showers pose a threat to satellites and the International Space Station. Earlier this year astronauts aboard the ISS were forced to evacuate due to incoming space junk. 

The Draconid Meteor Shower peaks on Saturday with the biggest burst of activity expected between 3 to 5 p.m EST. Unfortunately for those living in the Western hemisphere the daylight could make the Draconids impossible to see. People in the Eastern hemisphere will have a better shot of checking out the Draconids, but a full moon could make it to see as well.

Will you try to get a peak of the Draconid Meteor Shower?

Draconid Meteor Shower Could Put Space Station at Risk is a post from: The Inquisitr

For most of us, this time-lapse video taken from the International Space Station is the closest we’ll ever get to actually orbiting the earth. Which is ok, because this video is awesome.

Science educator James Drake created this one-minute time-lapse video from 600 photos taken from the International Space Station. The photos, which came from a stockpile of more than 600,000, were collected by the  Johnson Space Center’s Gateway to Astronomy Photograph of Earth.

The IBTimes reports that the photos used by Drake to make the video were taken from as far back as the 1960s.

The time-lapse video brings you from the Pacific Ocean, up over the Americas, toward Antarctica.

Drake explains:

“Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.”

Here’s the time-lapse video from the International Space Station.

Drake has more images of the universe on his blog, Infinity Imagined. 

Drake’s video gives a glimpse an amazing view of the world from the International Space Station. Of course, it isn’t the only interesting thing currently in space. NASA just announced that it discovered a real life version of Star Wars planet Tatooine, as well as a brown dwarf that is the site of the largest space storm ever witnessed. 

Orbit the Earth in One Minute From the International Space Station [Time-Lapse Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

For the first since 2001 the International Space Station may soon go unmanned. Last week a Russian spaceship crashed back to earth, leaving Russian engineers to determine what caused the crash with only a short term fix available if they decide to relieve the six astronauts currently aboard the space station.

According to Space.com, three of the six astronauts are scheduled to return home in November, however NASA will not allow their astronauts to board a Soyuz rocket until the issue is fixed and several unmanned launches have been successfully performed.

With three  expected to return home in September, astronauts currently have enough supplies to last for an extended stay.

According to  CNN the Russian space agency was planning to launch a manned mission on Sept. 22 and will now postpone that mission until early October, possibly early November.

NASA officials say that if the ship is left unmanned they will continue to operate it from the ground and the ISS will remain in orbit “indefinitely.”

Too bad NASA recently retired the Atlantis space shuttle, that sure could have come in handy at this point.

International Space Station May Be Unmanned Following Russian Space Failure is a post from: The Inquisitr

First it was the last launch, and landing, of NASA’s space shuttle and now we find out that our other bastion in space, the International Space Station will come to the end of its life in 2020 with the ignoble crashing into an ocean somewhere.

The reason given for sending it into the depth is this way it won’t end up becoming a huge hunk of space debris that could endanger satellites and any future space travel above the earth.

“Right now we’ve agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 202 … After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it’s too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish” Vitaly Davydov, deputy chief, Roskosmos space agency

via SlashGear

This news of course comes on the heels of China’s announcement that they are preparing to build their own space station.

China’s new space palace, called “Tiangong” (or “heavenly palace,” see?) will be far smaller than the ISS, tipping the scales up here in zero-g at a mere 60 tons to the 450 tons or so of the ISS. It’ll consist of one primary module (the one in the above pic, launching before the end of the year) along with two experiment modules and some extra docking ports for cargo craft.

via DVICE

The International Space Station to join the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean in 2020 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Space shuttle Atlantis has successfully docked with the International Space Station for the last time, marking the final docking for the 30 year old NASA space shuttle program.

Docking to the station, space station astronaut Ronald Garan Jr. proclaimed:

“Atlantis arriving,” while adding, “Welcome to the International Space Station for the last time.”

The shuttle, which carried four tons of food and provisions to the outpost will allow astronauts aboard the ISS to conduct business as usual for the next 12 months.

The station docking marks the 46th and last of the shuttle program.

Now all that’s left is for the shuttle to return to Earth after ending a 12-day mission at which point it will be retired from services for good.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Docks At International Space Station is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier today the International Space Station had a near-miss with space debris, prompting all six members on board to temporarily evacuate to their rescue craft.

The debris missed the space station by only 820 feet which, in space terms, amounts to a close grazing. The astronauts spent nearly half an hour in the rescue craft, after which time the space debris safely passed by the space station without causing any damage.

“There was a piece of space debris that came near the station and we didn’t find out about it in time to perform a debris avoidance maneuver so we had the crew shelter in place in their Soyuz vehicles,” spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz of the US space agency told AFP

Because the debris wasn’t detected in advance, the space station didn’t have enough time to maneuver the station out of harm’s way.

A NASA spokesperson downplayed the situation, calling it “unusual but not unheard of.” After all, a similar close call occurred back in 2009 when the crew had to evacuate to the same rescue craft as another piece of space debris had a close call with the space station.

“We monitor space debris pretty closely so this is not, sort of, out of the realm of what we know can happen,” Schierholz said. “But obviously we are concerned about the safety of the crew so that is why we had them take shelter.”

Source: AFP via Gizmodo

Astronauts Aboard International Space Station Forced to Evacuate as Space Debris Closes In is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s taken thirteen years and somewhere between $35 billion and $100 billion but today marks the day that the International Space Station has officially completed construction.

The final official piece to the Space Station was the laser-equipped extension boom for the station’s robot arm.

Even the ‘officially completed’ stamp is now on the space station that doesn’t mean that it won’t see more things being added over the coming years with the Russians planning on adding another science module called Nauka in 2012. Additionally there is talk of things like inflatable habitats and something called the VASIMIR thruster, meant to help the space station hold it’s altitude.

To celebrate the DVICE blog has put together a bit of an image gallery of the space station from which I picked my few favorites.

Break out the champagne folks, the Space Station is officially done. is a post from: The Inquisitr

That kid that checked into Foursquare at the North Pole back in April? He can totally suck it, as someone has just checked into Foursquare in space.

Not only does astronaut Doug Wheelock get bragging rights and a relatively low possibility of someone using the check in to totally blow up his spot while he’s just trying to down some PBRs, he also has the distinction of unlocking the totally phat “Space Explorer Badge” seen above. (Which makes my new “Swimmies” badge look incredibly boring in comparison.) Amusingly, the Twitter feed of Wheelock unlocking the badge went just like regular check-in and badge unlocking you might see on Twitter for any Foursquare user:

Astro_Wheels I’m at The International Space Station

Foursquare history: First space check-in! is a post from: The Inquisitr

How did we miss this earlier! The floating tool bag, the set of tools lost by Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper during a spacewalk to repair a part of the international space station last week has been spotted in the night sky over Ontario, Canada.

Kevin Fetter video taped the bag through a high-powered telescope, and naturally the footage has made its way online.

NASA told reporters that they’d like to retrieve the bag, but are mostly concerned at the moment that it might end up slamming into one of the solar panels on the international space station.

Unfortunately there has been no sign of the missing spider yet.

Footage as follows. It’s not terribly exciting, but we are looking at a tool bag in the sky, which is somewhat amazing in itself.

Floating tool bag spotted in night sky is a post from: The Inquisitr

Brin is one of six people slated to be on the first Space Adventures tourist trip to the International Space Station, according to an announcement made this morning. Brin evidently made a $5 million investment in the company, which likely helped land him the hard-to-secure spot. A normal ticket would be in the ballpark of $20-30 million.

Space Adventures is planning to use a Soyuz — a Russian spacecraft designed, oddly enough, by another guy named Sergey — to take paying customers on its own private missions to the ISS. So far, five space cowboys have dropped big dough on out-of-this-world journeys, but they’ve all been traveling with NASA. Brin’s trip would be the first private launch. He has mentioned the year 2011 as a target date.

In an interesting twist, NASA is apparently looking at using some seats on the Soyuz in the future as well — which could put Brin in an awkward position, given his company’s relationship with the space agency.

ZDNet’s Larry Dignan has some perspective into other potential problems that could arise, too, raising the question of whether Brin needs a “risk-limiting clause” in his Google contract.

Google Co-Founder Books Space Journey is a post from: The Inquisitr