Only hours before SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the first private company to carry out a cargo test-run to the International Space Station (ISS) is ready to make history. Shown here on Friday, the Falcon 9 rocket stands proud on the launchpad.
The launch is still “GO” for 4:55am EST… For updates, follow @Discovery_Space and @astroengine on Twitter!
Killer ‘Hot Jupiters’ Could Abort Formation of Alien Earths
This December, Jupiter will rival the brilliance of Venus in the night sky as Earth makes its closest approach to the giant planet for this year (no doubt 2012 soothsayers will mistake it for the final approach of the mythological doomsday planet Nibiru).
December’s “Christmas Star” appearance of Jupiter will belie the fact that this 318 Earth-mass monster had the potential to snuff-out Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.
POR QUE ESTOS HOMBRES SE ARRIESGARON A SALIR AL ESPACIO CUBIERTOS CON PLASTICO Y ALUMINIO :O
Shuttle Discovery Begins New Life as Museum Piece
Sad day out at the Kennedy Space Center Monday for those of us who’ve been around the shuttle program for a while. Sure, we know the ships stopped flying last year, but watching preparations for Discovery’s final flight — in the horizontal, not vertical orientation — was sobering.
“I almost feel like I’m at a funeral and there’s the hearse,” said one of my long-time space reporter pals, Bill Harwood, with CBS.
