With no consensus on the safety of the Starliner crew capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday they need another week or two before deciding whether to bring two astronauts back to Earth on Boeing’s spacecraft or extend their stay on the International Space Station until next year. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, stricken by suspect thrusters and helium … Read more
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish. August has delivered many spectacular sights in the night sky: a supermoon, meteor showers, and supercharged auroras. Mars and Jupiter also currently appear unusually close together in the night sky, in what’s known as a conjunction. They appeared closest during the … Read more
When Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore set off in early June on the Boeing Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS), they thought they’d be away for a week. But two months on, after issues with faulty thrusters, it’s still not clear when they’ll be able to return. There are few people on earth … Read more
Satellites go through a lot. As they hurtle around our planet at up to 17,000 miles an hour they must cope with the extreme vacuum of space and vast temperature swings, all while trying to precisely train their antennas back to Earth. And that’s after launch, where they’ll be shaken like a can of paint … Read more
During a news conference on Wednesday, NASA officials for the first time publicly discussed divisions within the agency about whether the Starliner spacecraft is really reliable enough to return two veteran astronauts—Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—back to Earth from the International Space Station. The space agency also confirmed key elements exclusively reported by Ars over … Read more
NASA is considering keeping two astronauts on the International Space Station until February, after their Starliner spaceship encountered issues mid-flight. The agency said it is still evaluating options to bring NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth safely, and no plan has been made yet. But officials acknowledged they may decide to … Read more
Get ready to see a double meteor shower featuring one of the biggest and brightest meteor showers of the year, the Perseids! In addition to the Perseids, the Southern Delta Aquariids continue to be active in August while the Perseids peak, creating a double meteor shower that those in the northern hemisphere will be able … Read more
It has now been eight weeks since Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched into orbit on an Atlas V rocket, bound for the International Space Station. At the time NASA officials said the two crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, could return to Earth as soon as June 14, just eight days later. Yes, there had … Read more
When is it OK to kill an alien life-form? In the movies, the answer is usually pretty simple: It’s OK in self-defense, especially if it inspires a rousing speech about human exceptionalism. But in the real world, the choice is neither straightforward nor abstract. Many missions to neighboring worlds could, accidentally or intentionally, disrupt extraterrestrial … Read more
This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian. Their existence had been disputed for decades, but now we can finally we can say for sure: There are caves beneath the surface of the moon. This week, an international research team led by the University of Trento in Italy published a … Read more
