Astronomers find first carbon-rich exoplanet
Posted: Fri, Dec 10 7:47 AM ET (1247 GMT)
Astronomers announced this week the discovery of the first extrasolar planet dominated by carbon, a world whose interior may be filled with graphite and diamonds....

Dragon capsule returns safely
Posted: Wed, Dec 8 9:38 PM ET (0238 GMT)
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, launched for the first time Wednesday morning, parachuted to a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Wednesday afternoon, capping what company...

Falcon 9 launches Dragon
Posted: Wed, Dec 8 1:53 PM ET (1853 GMT)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully placed a Dragon cargo spacecraft into orbit on Wednesday morning. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at...

Japanese probe fails to enter Venus orbit
Posted: Wed, Dec 8 6:14 AM ET (1114 GMT)
A Japanese spacecraft has failed to enter orbit around Venus this week as planned, the Japanese space agency JAXA announced Wednesday. The Akatsuki spacecraft, launched...

Falcon 9 launch postponed
Posted: Tue, Dec 7 7:22 AM ET (1222 GMT)
SpaceX has delayed the launch of a Falcon 9 spacecraft carrying the first Dragon spacecraft to at least Wednesday to investigate a cracked engine nozzle....

GLONASS satellites lost in Proton launch failure
Posted: Sun, Dec 5 12:32 PM ET (1732 GMT)
Three GLONASS navigation satellites launched Sunday on a Proton rocket reentered the atmosphere and were lost. The Proton rocket, using a Block DM upper stage,...

SpaceX completes Falcon static fire test
Posted: Sun, Dec 5 9:56 AM ET (1456 GMT)
SpaceX carried out a static fire test of the main engines of its Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, clearing the way for Tuesday's scheduled...

NASA postpones STS-133 to February
Posted: Sat, Dec 4 9:19 AM ET (1419 GMT)
NASA officials announced Friday they were delaying the launch of the space shuttle Discovery again, this time to at least early February, in order to...

X-37 lands at Vandenberg
Posted: Sat, Dec 4 8:56 AM ET (1356 GMT)
The US Air Force announced Friday that the X-37B, an experimental robotic military spaceplane, landed safely at Vandenberg Air Force Base in the early...

Arsenic microbe discovery has implications for astrobiology
Posted: Fri, Dec 3 7:10 AM ET (1210 GMT)
NASA-supported researchers announced Thursday the discovery of a terrestrial microbe that make use of the element arsenic, a discovery that could have implications for...