IAU proposal would increase planet count to 12
Posted: Wed, Aug 16 7:46 AM ET (1146 GMT)
A proposal announced Wednesday by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) regarding the definition of the term "planet" would retain Pluto as a planet while including...

Loral to build second TerreStar satellite
Posted: Wed, Aug 16 7:27 AM ET (1127 GMT)
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced Tuesday that it has won a contract to build a second satellite for a mobile satellite communications company. SS/...

NASA studying shuttle antenna bolt problem
Posted: Tue, Aug 15 8:27 AM ET (1227 GMT)
NASA shuttle engineers are studying whether bolts that hold an antenna in place on the shuttle Atlantis needs to be replaced, a task that could...

Russia, Kazakhstan debate Dnepr crash compensation
Posted: Tue, Aug 15 8:16 AM ET (1216 GMT)
The governments of Russia and Kazakhstan are debating how much money Kazakhstan should receive in compensation after a Russian Dnepr rocket crashed there last month,...

Ariane launches two satellites
Posted: Sat, Aug 12 10:47 AM ET (1447 GMT)
An Ariane 5 successfully launched French military and Japanese commercial communications satellites Friday night. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at...

Report: IAU group to recommend keeping Pluto as planet
Posted: Fri, Aug 11 8:44 AM ET (1244 GMT)
A working group is expected to recommend to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that Pluto be retained as a planet, opening the door for other...

Hubble discovers distant exoplanet's star
Posted: Fri, Aug 11 8:37 AM ET (1237 GMT)
A distant extrasolar planet discovered three years ago has now been matched up with its parent star, astronomers reported this week. the planet was discovered...

James Van Allen dies
Posted: Wed, Aug 9 1:41 PM ET (1741 GMT)
James A. Van Allen, the scientist who was one of the pioneers of the early US space program and the discoverer of the Earth-girdling...

Chandra measures Hubble constant
Posted: Wed, Aug 9 8:55 AM ET (1255 GMT)
Astronomers have used data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory to make an independent measure of the Hubble constant, a key metric of the...

Proton launches communications satellite
Posted: Sat, Aug 5 7:29 AM ET (1129 GMT)
A Proton rocket launched a European satellite Friday night on the first commercial mission for the rocket since a failure five months ago. The Proton...