NASA said on Friday that its Parker Solar Probe was "safe" and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the Sun by any human-made object. The spacecraft passed 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the solar surface on Dec. 24, flying into the sun's outer atmosphere called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about Earth's closest star. The agency said the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received the signal, a beacon tone, from the probe just before midnight on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: An artist's concept shows the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft flying into the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about the Sun. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/S...
Read MoreTag: spacecraft
Daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard soars to space aboard Blue Origin rocket
The eldest daughter of pioneering U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard took a joyride to the edge of space aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocketship on Saturday, 60 years after her late father’s famed suborbital NASA flight at the dawn of the Space Age. Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, who was a schoolgirl when her father first streaked into space, was one of six passengers buckled into the cabin of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft as it lifted off from a launch site outside the west Texas town of Van Horn. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of ecommerce company Amazon.com Inc, sits with the crew of a scheduled flight before they board Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket near Van Horn, Texas, U.S. December 11, 2021. Blue Origin/Handout via REUTERS. The crew capsule was carried aloft atop the fu...
Read MoreAmazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos said on Monday he and his brother Mark will fly on the first crewed space flight from his rocket company Blue Origin next month. "Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother," Bezos, who is one of the richest people in the world, said in an Instagram post. Bezos, who is due to step down as Amazon's chief on July 5, will join the winner of an auction for a seat on the first space flight from Blue Origin. FILE PHOTO: Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of Amazon Jeff Bezos unveils his space company Blue Origin's space exploration lunar lander rocket called Blue Moon during an unveiling event in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Bezos, fel...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.