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2009

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  • Beyond Apollo: Moon Tech Takes a Giant Leap

    April 8, 2009

    1960s technology worked for the Apollo program, but next-generation lunar explorers are going to need an upgrade. NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program is working on new and improved tools for NASA's return to the Moon.

  • Mt. Redoubt Gives Alaskans a Taste of the Moon

    April 3, 2009

    By coating the countryside with gritty, abrasive, electrostatically-charged volcanic ash, Mt. Redoubt is giving Alaskans an unexpected taste of what it's like to live on the Moon.

  • Deep Solar Minimum

    April 1, 2009

    How low can it go? The Sun is plunging into the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.

  • Mars Rover Update

    March 26, 2009

    Back in 2004, most experts would have said this story is impossible. No rover could possibly survive long enough on Mars for a five-year update. Yet here it is. Mission scientists reveal what Spirit and Opportunity are up to on The Red Planettoday--and what their prospects are for the future.

  • Spacewalkers Test Planetary Protection Concept

    March 20, 2009

    On March 19th, Astronautsonboard the International Space Stationchecked themselves for microbes before stepping outside on a space walk. It was a first-ever test of planetary protection technology that, one day, could keep humans from contaminating the sands of Mars.

  • Space StationConstruction Visible Through Backyard Telescopes

    March 17, 2009

    Space ShuttleDiscovery launched Sunday, March 15th, on a construction mission to the International Space Station. Perfect timing for sky watchers! The mission coincides with a series of ISS flybys over North American towns and cities. People who go outside after sunset can see the shuttle-station combo with their naked eyes and view the changing outlines of the ISS through backyard telescopes.

  • Ares Super-chute

    March 13, 2009

    NASA and U.S. Air Force test pilots have just dropped a 50,000-pound "dummy" rocket booster on the Arizona desert--and stopped it before it crashed. It's all part of NASA's plan to return to the Moon.

  • Kepler Mission Rockets to Space in Search of Other Earths

    March 6, 2009

    In a night launch of stunning beauty, NASA's Kepler spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Friday night, March 6th, on a mission to find Earth-like planets circling other stars.

  • Pretty Sky Alert

    Feb. 26, 2009

    The crescent Moon and Venus are converging for a conjunction of rare beauty on Friday evening, Feb. 27th.

  • Otherworldly Solar Eclipse

    Feb. 25, 2009

    For the first time, a spacecraft from Earth has captured hi-resolution video of a solar eclipse while orbiting another world.